In The Spirit of Things (1988)

Very little has been written regarding my
association with the rock band, Kansas. I
will present the unique facts and anecdotes
behind this association.

First, a few facts.  Most of the original mem-
bers of Kansas went to the same high school
that I attended, Topeka West High School,
Topeka, Kansas.   Now, I am nowhere near
as old as them (sorry guys).  Most of them
graduated a good fourteen years before I
did.   There was no real communication be-
tween any of the members of the band and
myself until one day in October, 1987.

While working for the Kansas State Historical
Society, I received a phone call one afternoon
from Richard Williams, one of the guitarists
for the band.  He had just picked up a copy of
Ghost Towns Volume Two at a local book store
and he was amazed and excited.  It seems
that the band had always wanted to do a con-
cept album revolving around a typical Kansas
ghost town.   And here was an entire book of
them.  He called two other members of the
band, Phil Ehart and Steve Walsh, who were
equally as excited.   They flew in to Topeka,
Kansas from their homes in Atlanta, just to
meet and come up with the perfect ghost town
that would be the subject of their next album. 

I had to meet their menu of "needs" with regard
to the perfect ghost town.  They wanted one
that was very picturesque.  They wanted a town
which had been abandoned in recent decades. 
They wanted one where people were still around.
I narrowed the possibilities down between
Bushong, in Lyon County, and Neosho Falls, in
Woodson County.  After explaining what they
would eventually see, the final winner was Neosho
Falls.  

Neosho Falls fit all the criteria.  An entire main
street of abandoned buildings.  Some fun and very
entertaining townspeople with their own stories. 
A relatively recent casualty of the 1951 flood. 

The following day all of us piled into my Chevy
Blazer and took off for Neosho Falls.  It also helped
that they had actually played a concert in that town
years before.  Tons of pictures were taken, towns-
people were met, and an inspiration was born. 

Shortly after the trip, the band went back in the
studio and cut their album for MCA Records, In The
Spirit of Things.  The album took nearly a year from
start to finish.  In the meantime, I wrote liner notes
for the album, donated pictures, worked for Bud Carr
in writing promotional material for radio stations, and
even entertained a famous photographer who came
all the way from England to visit and photograph the
ghost town of Neosho Falls.

In The Spirit of Things came out in October 1988.  It
was a commercial failure for the band, but it was free
publicity for my books.  During that time, my Travel-
ers Guide was released, which included a history of
Neosho Falls.  It actually helped sales on my books
in a round-about way.   Since that time, Neosho Falls
has become legendary, a tourist mecca for fans of
the rock band.  It has also changed a great deal. 
More buildings have disappeared and lots of stuff
has been carted off.   Nevertheless, folks still come
and take pictures.   Critics were sympathetic, even
complimentary, regarding the album.  The fans were
not, at least initially.  As time has passed, however,
many fans have changed their mind and they have
commented positively on the Neosho Falls concept.