Tim Leopold

posted at 2007-10-26 16:16:10

Returned to Wichita after living in Eugene, Ore., and Lawrence, Kan., during a 10-year period. He returned to Wichita this summer to be with family as he prepares to move to New York City to pursue his career as a musician.

“I have to say I feel like a visitor. Although I lived here for 18 years, but I haven’t lived here in the past 10. I‘ve been here two months.”

When you get to New York, what are you going to tell them about Wichita?
“I would tell them that I’m almost totally disappointed in Wichita. We’ve got $200 million going into a facility and we don’t have sidewalks along all of the streets. I can’t ride my bicycle around this town because of the lack of sidewalks. It’s little things like that
“You cater to the very wealthy people in town. This event (WAM Final Friday) caters to the very wealthy people who are in this town. These kinds of events are only advertised to certain community. If it’s in the newspaper or on the radio, you don’t have to search for it, but with word of mouth it doesn’t fly around.
“Things that I remember really appreciating are some of the events in parks where all of the families can come and bring their children. Everybody could be involved, no matter what income level they were. It seems to me that’s what brings a community up … bottom level up, not top level down.
“What would I say about Wichita? I would say that it’s an unbalanced city.”

With that in mind, is there anything that is cool about Wichita?
“The people are very genuine here. It’s easy to feel at home if you’re an outsider, or an insider because most of the people that I come across are genuine. I don’t feel a hoity-toity kind of atmosphere. I can see a hoity-toity atmosphere, but I don’t feel that. I don’t feel that people are looking down on me because I have a T-shirt on. That sort of defines the Midwest.
“But also Wichita is a big enough city you have all of the income brackets, all the different types of people, all interests.
“If I could bring somebody into Wichita at any time of the year, it would be during River Festival because there’s so much energy involved. People come out. And it breaks the borders of income.”

If somebody was to visit Wichita, what would they be surprised to find out you could do here?
“It’s a blue-collar town. You don’t find too many blue-collars actually searching for entertainment. … Things like this (Final Friday) are not easy to find.”

If somebody has only four hours to spend in Wichita, what should they see?
“Wichita has an interesting history. What I would do, I would take them downtown. The first thing I would show them is the ‘Keeper of the Plains’ and describe a little bit about the history of Wichita -- the industry boom, what types of industries have been involved in Wichita.”

Is there anything else you want to add?
“One of the things that has impressed me recently is the level of musicianship in this town. We’ve always had the mainstays at WSU. The professors are working in the symphony. There’s the Grand Opera. There are two community theaters happening. Then you also have Friends University. … You have all of the best musicians in town. They’re in wind ensembles. They’re playing around town. It seems there’s more music from the top down. Not just kids who want to get involved in the bar scene.
“There are more people in this town with money than used to be. There are going to be a lot more providers for the arts. But also the interest grows it. You have musicians who are interested enough and skilled enough to put together a band like that or to make the opera what it is or make the symphony what it is.”