Feature Stories

The Boom in Esports Means Growth for Wichita’s Agent Ink

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When Wichita Story editor Tim O’Bryhim saw the new jerseys for the esports team at Wichita’s Education Imagine Academy [where he teaches history] he was curious about the jersey’s origin. He sought out Agent Ink’s CEO, 24-year-old Joey Nowlin, to talk about the Wichita-based company and its place in what is a very new industry. Tim O’Bryhim: What is Agent Ink? Joey Nowlin: An esports merchandising company specializing in jerseys and performance gear as well as streetwear and lifestyle wear for esports teams. What we do is design and produce merchandise for esports teams, content-creators and streamers, as well as setup online fan stores for those teams and fulfill all of their orders. TO: What motivated you to start this company?

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THE JAZZ FEST RETURNS WITH ‘BOP SOUL’

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WICHITA – The late, great Count Basie once said: “If a guy is gonna play good bop, he has to have a sort of a bop soul.” Wichita Jazz Festival representative Lisa Sillaway is confident that Wichita has sufficient bop in their soul to enjoy his orchestra Saturday night because they’ve been here twice before. This week, a new generation of Wichitans will have a chance to come to the festival and enjoy that band and other practitioners of America’s great musical creation: jazz. This year’s fest includes The Legendary Count Basie Orchestra directed by Scotty Barnhart, Bobby Watson and The Delano Jazz Orchestra, Betti O., Carmen Bradford, and a new documentary about Louis Armstrong called Little Satchmo. The festival is celebrating their 50th anniversary with four nights of Jazz greats, Wednesday through Sunday, at Wichita’s Crown Uptown Theatre and at The Bartlett Arboretum.

Feature Stories

Closed: A Grocery Story

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It’s the first day of July in 2021. The exterior of what used to be O’Bryhim’s Thriftway looks unchanged at first glance.
Time travelers from 1995 (or 1985, or 1975) might whiz by on Maple Street without noticing much at all. The tan metal and brown brick remain the same. The word “Thriftway” is still on the signs. Only a local would notice “O’Bryhim’s” has been replaced by “Overbrook.”
I’m an O’Bryhim. This was partly my store and is partly my story, and the absence of our family name is one I feel in my gut.

Feature Stories

The Wit of Stillman

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Cinematic villains come in several predictable flavors: the capitalist (Avatar, The Muppets, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo); the war-monger (Avatar again, A Few Good Men, Platoon) the upper-class snob (Titanic, Harry Potter, The Lion King [Jeremy Irons’ Scar might be the first lion to attend Oxford]); the upper middle-class salesman (sometimes an asshole [Glengarry Glen Ross] and sometimes a fraudster [The Wolf of Wall Street]); and the entitled rich woman (101 Dalmations, Game of Thrones [not a film, but literally entitled]). If they are not the enemy, these archetypes are at the very least portrayed as boring buffoons who represent “the Establishment.” It is no surprise that writers and directors, part of society’s avant-garde, make this choice. West Los Angeles bursts with refugees from banal, suburban Midwestern childhoods. It is from this collection of “types” that writer and director Whit Stillman selects the heroes for his first two films: Metropolitan and Barcelona. Along with The Last Days of Disco, these films constitute an unofficial trilogy.