Hi! I'm sort of a creative factotum with 30 years of experience as a writer, editor, publisher, designer, musician, filmmaker, producer, baker, promoter and overall visioneer. I am dedicated to enriching my community and the world beyond in everything I do.

A pretty varied sampling of my work is available at the links below.

Please send email to wichitavortexlimited@gmail.com if you have a project for me. I work on a freelance basis and quote by the hour or the job, depending on the details.

WRITING

SEEN Magazine/F5 Weekly: I founded the monthly magazine SEEN in 1997, covering music, art, culture and politics; it ran monthly for three years, but no online evidence remains. Shortly thereafter I was hired as the founding managing editor of the local weekly newspaper F5, which existed in two runs between 2002 and 2015. At various times I wrote (among many other things) a regular political column, music reviews and an ongoing series on Wichita history. Later I wrote and edited for the short-lived weekly Wichita City Paper as well. Here are a few selected articles from what remains of the F5 company website.

Dunbar Theatre Leads McAdams Neighborhood Renaissance

Do You Like American Music?

Municipal Airport (History of the First Wichita Air Terminal)

In Hybrid Country, Car Drives You

Wichitarchaeology Wichitarchive (Under Construction)

Honk Journal: My newest writing project, an online magazine covering music, movies, art and other popular culture. Not much posted there yet but more to come.

Power Pop: Echoes of the British Invasion

The Eternal Struggle Playlist

SEO Copywriting: In recent days I have been writing search engine optimized copy for a local media company. Here are a few of the articles I have produced in 2019.

Plumbing Repairs: Call a Pro or Do It Yourself?

How to Fix Frozen Pipes

Are New HVAC Systems Tax Deductible?

What You Should Know About HVAC Systems and the Rain

Energy Saving New Year's Resolutions for 2019

American Standard: A Brand You Can Trust

Other Writing: A lot of my writing is lost in limbo due to the old F5 Weekly web server having gone down some time ago, but one photo essay, about an impromptu trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to witness the digging up of a Plymouth Belvedere buried there in 1957, is here:

Tulsarama!

DESIGN

In addition to writing, much of my professional life has been dedicated to graphic design. I worked for well-known regional powerhouse agency The Design Centre in addition to several sign shops. In the decade I operated the Donut Whole I created 100% of all our advertising and marketing — both words and images. Here are some samples of my design work, including a large number of posters for local rock & roll bands.

Michael Carmody Design Portfolio at Flickr

MUSIC

I have been a practicing musician since my teens and have taken part in many projects, from solo acoustic guitar to scoring feature films and covering a lot of territory in between. My band the Sluggos has continued in various forms from 1989 to present, and I have been a member of numerous other groups over that same period of time. Here are links to a few places you can hear some of my music. (See also the "video" section below.)

Michael Carmody Music Portfolio at AloneTone

DJ Karma D (Hip-Hop) Music Portfolio at AloneTone

The Sluggos • "Epic Center" on "Wichita Sessions"
(song now used as theme for this locally produced public TV series)

VIDEO

Since I first bought my own Super 8 movie camera as an adolescent, I have always enjoyed filmmaking, whether it's shooting documentary style, making music videos, creating experimental art or recycling old public domain footage into something new. Below are a number of videos I have made for various promotional, musical and artistic purposes. Videos made to accompany my own musical projects are in bold.

The Pents • "Monkey"
(1920s Felix the Cat cartoon remixed)

Marzipanda • "Into Your Heart"
(2017 home recording/2019 video)

Gorgonodon • "Talons of the Eagle"
(2017 recording for "Lost and Found" film soundtrack/2019 video)

Michael Carmody • "The Mighty Cherokee"
(2014 home recording & video)

The Pents • "Elephant"
(public domain elephant footage kaleidoscope mashup)

Michael Carmody • "Untitled (Solstice)"
(found footage remixed)

Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014
(world's largest working steam locomotive visiting Salina, Kansas, set to music)

Chris Aytes & the Good Ambition • "Put On Love"
(Christian music video, 2020)

Augusta Historic Theatre Neon Marquee Fundraiser
(2018 informational video on history of regional Art Deco movie palace)

Obstinément Indépendant
(Donut Whole sponsor spot, 2011 Tallgrass Film Festival)

Something Special
(Donut Whole online promo spot)

Pickin' & Flippin'
(quasi-documentary of 2010 Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas)

Eclipse Hunters
(documentary short on 2017 total eclipse of the sun)

Glass Eye • "Christine"
(an old favorite song with no video of its own, so I made one)

Galaxie 500 • "Snowstorm"
(another old fave, couldn't resist when this snowstorm hit Wichita in 2011)

Rite of Autumn
(experimental art short, 2018)

Country Life
(experimental art short, 2018)

OTHER STUFF

Here are a few other examples of my work, harder to sort into the categories above.

Background Noise
(six-episode music series produced for Wichita State's WSUiR internet radio, 2007)

Wichita Then & Now
(site comparing vintage pictures of Wichita with modern Google Street View images)

Art Chatter PechaKucha
(invitational presentation on record collecting at Wichita Art Museum, 2017)