Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
1 Plays3 seconds ago
kgmr is a composer, songwriter, keyboardist, field recorder, sampler, and noise maker. kgmr writes for solo piano, rock trio, larger ensembles, and electronic instrumentation. Her music has been used in films, theater, and radio. She appears elsewhere as a guest keyboardist.kgmr started writing and recording music in elementary school using a Casio keyboard, a Magnus organ, and a tape recorder. Her first compositions were imagined as soundtracks for horror films. Early sampling projects using prank phone calls and the tape recorder were unfortunately stopped by the police. As a child, she formally trained under Mlle. Yvonne Combe at the French School of Music.
The kgmr band is a Portland-based duo made up of kgmr (keyboards, samples, field recordings, noise, vocals) and Bobby Read (guitar, bass, drums, violin, samples, field recordings, noise, vocals).
They invite collaborators on projects locally, nationally, and internationally.discography: Backlash of the Hunter (Live EP), kgmr, 2025 St. Roch (LP), kgmr, 2025 Keep Going Mystical Rider (EP), kgmr, 2022Spin Down Night (EP), kgmr, 2021 this happened (LP), Half Ass West Studio Band, 2009evening with fallen tree (LP), kgmr, 2008 migrate to carnivora (LP), kgmr, 2007i nstant confidante (LP), kgmr, 2005body language (EP), kgmr, 2003
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Podcast and Hosts
00:00:02
Speaker
You are listening to Something Rather Than Nothing. Creator and host, Ken Valente. Editor and producer, Peter
Unique Approach: Philosophy and Art Blend
00:00:10
Speaker
Bauer. What you do, your approach is very unique, you know, blending the philosophy part with art, and then you just have
00:00:25
Speaker
like a killer lineup of guests so i mean those two things to me make it a really unique thing in the podcast world that's groovy thank you and the you know the dissemination of entertainment and news and everything else is different now there's things kind like a shiny quarter sitting on the sidewalk you know people are gonna I appreciate that. Trying to be conspicuous. That's so kind of you. Like, in in talking, we're recording now. Like, even... Like, I realized ah just, like, about the
Independence in Creative Ventures
00:01:00
Speaker
show, right? It's, like, such a...
00:01:02
Speaker
Strange, strange thing to do. Hey, and and and listeners, we got KGMR here and you'll you'll hear the excitement throughout my voice, my voice throughout the entire show. Listeners, recent performance of ah ah dedication sounds of the great 1970s show, the Rockford Files. I'm wearing the shirt. We're to put some video on.
00:01:29
Speaker
ah clips But just listeners, so you know what you popped into. But um ah about the show, like, yeah, like it's independent, right? Like who tries independent things now? i like i've Like, well, you do, right? But like – and in Portland we do. And I like independent ah doing the show, but it's like in this world – Like looking for things, right? Being conspicuous, like said, Bob, right? like Like the shiny quarter. I was reading an article two or three days ago.
AI Content and the Human Element
00:02:03
Speaker
And let's talk about AI podcast slot. Let's talk a spot really dirty, right? There were... there were Hundreds of shows like this one day from this one publisher about everything in the universe, even have fake AI names. And it's about like everything ever to be created. So like the amount of content, like this flood of like, what the fuck is it Like history of everything ever with...
00:02:38
Speaker
You know, Janie Robot and Johnny Robot, your favorite AI robot guest host. Like even just the finding like or the looking. I bumped into one, so I'm a baseball nut. So I find this – I didn't look at the the heading or the description. was a baseball thing, baseball nut for me. Talking about pitchers, a pitch 80 years ago, players. I'm listening to it and it was the first AI – AI when I read into it, like all the words were misspelled on the front. I'm listening to this. I'm like, I don't even know what I'm listening to is. It was like blips and blops. And it' be like, the words were all wrong. And that was my introduction, the little old me. yeah But I was shocked. So even in podcasts right now, like the what and the where, it's like, I have never seen a flood of
00:03:34
Speaker
whatever the
Beauty in the Creative Process
00:03:35
Speaker
word is. So that's just me I like that you use the word slop. um I was just having this conversation with some folks who are c pro using AI in the creative process. So videos, music, et cetera.
00:03:51
Speaker
i mean, and not only is the output slop, but I was explaining how the creative process, right? When you come up against ah an obstacle or a hindrance, you're,
00:04:05
Speaker
It's a beautiful process. And I use the the backlash of The Hunter as an example. you know We're framing this hour long um entertainment piece. And in doing that, we'd get to points where like we knew something didn't sound right and we couldn't figure it out, couldn't figure out. And then middle of the night, he would have an idea and then we'd be so fucking excited about that idea. and it's like,
00:04:33
Speaker
Yeah, if we were using ai it would eliminate that whole creative process and that struggle and then the excitement and the spark and anyway.
00:04:45
Speaker
To the core of like even doing the show and at any point, Bob, let me know your
Philosophy's Role in Creativity
00:04:50
Speaker
thoughts on this. But it's like, for me, there's an abdication that I can't stand. All right, so I'm a trained philosopher. In in in this world, what is a trained philosopher like and classically trained and all that stuff?
00:05:02
Speaker
But it's like... When did people abdicate the desire for like what it is to be human, like on the creating, like on the thinking, and like when we're like individuals like, I don't want to do that thinking anymore. I don't want like that magic or I'm not saying everybody's doing it, but like, I'm like, I thought that was the why me doing the show. I like that. I thought that was the thing like in my head. And I'm not trying to be naive. Yeah.
00:05:29
Speaker
I think it kind of gets a little tricky, having thought about it quite a bit, because if you go back, even there's arpeggiators and and tools that aid and in creation, but at some point you turn the corner and it just takes the people out of it entirely.
Rockford Files Project: Setup Insights
00:05:54
Speaker
But back to what kit Kim was saying, the setup for what we've got going on with the Rockford files, uh, with the backlash of the Hunter is, is a lot more complex. And I, and neither of us are great at setting up synths and midis and the interfaces. And yeah so part of it, uh,
00:06:21
Speaker
is kind of like trying to jump a bicycle or something for me. You know, like we go in and set up and let's see how this works. Are we going to lose a speaker? Are we going to lose... the signal and there's a lot of things that are super helpful just inside the, the Ableton live program that yes could kind of tangentially be considered to be AI because there's a lot going on under the hood with the sound processing and, and elimination of feedback and things like that, where in the past, you like drag these huge amplifiers and equipment in and it's,
00:07:01
Speaker
It's all on you to try to figure out how to keep them from howling and and and being terrible. So in some ways, it's easier. But in other ways, just as you were saying, of it starts to remove the human aspect.
00:07:19
Speaker
I was thinking we'd go and visit my aunt at her apartment and she'd have some YouTube thing on that was just on a loop. And it was, it was just of a robot telling a story and it would just loop.
00:07:35
Speaker
And she didn't notice. It was kind of, ah really disturbing.
Technology's Impact on Creativity
00:07:40
Speaker
So kind of like your baseball thing that it's just almost seems like nonsense. Mm-hmm.
00:07:45
Speaker
And it reminds me of that Fahrenheit 451 or whatever, where that they put the show on and it's just gobbledygook. trying to stay away from that and and then also pulling a lot of more vintage equipment into the mix to try to keep the the human aspect there with the...
00:08:11
Speaker
yeah i love I love the discussion because like – and I like to like queer up the discussion like just in the sense of like – because what you're saying is true. Like there's going to be a process that ain't like tied to our hands, you know, like that in that tech that's going to do that. So I think that there are distinctions, right? For me, i was like – like
00:08:35
Speaker
There's questions, I think, like that we're navigating, like how close is it to us? Like how like do we control it or not? And I think me being exposed to like somebody who typed in, please talk about the history of like really good baseball players from 1900 1950. and put it into 26 episodes. Well, like, you know, like that was it. But it's a great point with technology. It always is doing something unto itself a bit. um So, oh, man, we got so much to talk about. Like, and this is about the Rockford Files, too, and everybody.
Rockford Files: Performance Reflections
00:09:08
Speaker
So let me tell you, KGM are... um ah a ah Kim and I and know each other and and Bob. Is Bobby good, too, ah for you? Everyone's fine. but And Bobby? I just...
00:09:21
Speaker
I discovered there's another Bobby Reed and our wires kind of got crossed a little bit, probably thanks to AI. so Oh, totally thanks No offense to the other Bobby Reed, R-E-A-D, saxophonist and accomplished composer who's got a pretty heavy online presence, but...
00:09:39
Speaker
God bless all the Bobby Reads. And if we just take the first initial, take first the first initial and the last name, but we're going to go, we're going to go like bread or something. We're just, we're just workshopping it right now. We're just workshopping it. So, but I want to tell everybody because people have to know, all right, so I do the show and obviously some, I get to meet a ah great guests, like, but, but,
00:10:03
Speaker
People that and never thought I would ever meet, like like for me, Frances McKee of the Vaseline's, like you and haven't interviewed her once and she's a yoga practitioner, but.
00:10:16
Speaker
ah fans might not know and listeners show my know that I'm, I'm, I'm going back on KGMR like a few months. This isn't just because of the Rockford files kind of like bait that you put out for me, but I, I mean, I got the album like, and, and if you're looking at this video clip, I got the, I got the album. And, and recently what we're talking about here was ah in Portland a few days ago, my partner, Jenny and I went to,
00:10:46
Speaker
the performance of KGMR, which included, um ah for me, it was the Rockford Files. Now, the Rockford Files, ah you're going to tell us a little more about, but for me, ah was a show I really enjoyed. And I like the particularities, not to be analytical, but 70s TV shows were gritty,
00:11:10
Speaker
You all talk about all the different colors, the weird drama. It's like it feels like completely different. Action show.
00:11:21
Speaker
My brother Chris is close in age and I, we both watched The Rockford Files on reruns, which would run before we could access everything at the same point. You'd have to watch at a particular time. They'd already go on And me and my brother were had the type of heads where Well, we watch everything, let's say, like of of the show. So, you know, we were big on it.
00:11:46
Speaker
And so when I heard about this show, I said, well, Portland does this sometimes. It sometimes creates something that's just for me. I don't care about the rest of the world. I do. I really do.
00:11:58
Speaker
But this is for me. And um you had already recorded ah parts of your performance at and ah that I think might have been late 2025. So I'm like, already, I'm going to get a taste of it.
00:12:11
Speaker
um But for me, quick description, I want you to talk about um the project. But for me, it was like,
00:12:20
Speaker
The colors were amazing. As a painter and artist, I was like, the colors on this show, that's right, you're showing this me right here. The sound and the loops and the experimentation and what you did to like for me, was like expanding out the ethos ah and the feel of this show and almost having like an internal soundtrack to pull back onto the show that came from
Rockford Files Project Execution
00:12:48
Speaker
the show. So I was tripping in my head, like on the ideas of what you were doing and anything Rockford files, I'm in the door and then you expanded it out. But as a matter of curiosity, I'm an audience for that.
00:13:05
Speaker
How did you trip out on the Rockford Files? What is your project? What are you trying to do? Like indulge me. Like this is my show and Rockford File. i don't if maniacs have a title. I'll find all this out, but talk to us like about this.
00:13:23
Speaker
know So like you the first time that I saw it I was pretty young and it was in syndication. So it was the second time around. um My dad was a huge fan of the Rockford Files. And he was also into like getting the first VCR.
00:13:44
Speaker
So he has a collection of Rockford Files. pop And initially, it still had the original advertisements from the 70s. He killed it. Yeah.
00:13:59
Speaker
I started thinking about it kind of in that context and grabbed one of his tapes. And then oh Kim and I watched a few that were available on Roku or something, um but with ads.
00:14:14
Speaker
And the the pace of the show initially is what I really like because there's tension there, but it... it's very relaxing because I think there's probably more talking in the first couple of commercials when we watched it with commercials than there was in the entire first episode.
00:14:36
Speaker
ah Wow. There's just a lot of space. yeah Yeah. And, and a lot of Los Angeles in 1974, just,
00:14:46
Speaker
just as it was, cars driving by. And um so that kind of got us into it. And then I found that you we we found that you could order the whole entire series on DVD for like $22. So that's kind of a no brainer. It's a box set.
00:15:08
Speaker
And- ah I'm not going to my phone at the moment. Keep going. And so- With that, we were able to to start to zero in and and identify some of the parts.
00:15:22
Speaker
What really got me started on it was you know Mike Post, who is this prolific oh writer of music for for mostly for television.
00:15:34
Speaker
um that when they started doing these shows in the seventies, they would, I mean, he did the theme song and it was a number one hit, but they also did, they also did the incidental music,
00:15:50
Speaker
for the entire show. They would present the episode to him with no music and he would call up the people from, i think it was the wrecking crew who were these top studio musicians. You They would sit down and watch the show and say, all right, we're going to put some harmonica here. We're going to get a trombone, call the slide guitarist for this part.
00:16:13
Speaker
And you can hear when the keyboardist picks up an early synthesizer that the Moog synthesizer starts to to show up.
00:16:24
Speaker
And so that aspect of it for me was was really interesting. and This music is banging, listeners. this music I mean, it's some banging music. And thanks for telling me like that background. like There's some chops behind it. i didn't have the words and the names, but for sure.
00:16:44
Speaker
he's He's somebody that's worth looking into because with the Rockford Files the theme song, he saw that it had potential and he he went ahead and promoted it and they released it and it it was a hit song.
00:16:58
Speaker
And then he just he had had enough of being out in front of the curtain and and continued. He did the song the music for the Law and Order. I mean, there's too many to list, and I'm not super, super knowledgeable about it, but he's an amazing and overlooked, I mean, he really is a genius, and he worked closely with Stephen J. Connell.
00:17:21
Speaker
I think that's how you say his name. Yeah. Who isn't a musician, but he's a guy that was apparently really integral to music the development of the ideas for how this there's there's a through there's a through line with canal that goes like i don't know how far back but like in the 70s because even the eighty s it was action shows that were retranslated like team and like riptide which was right after it but it even goes beyond that i'm not an expert on canal but there's a there's a true line of like the action like show with cool ass music and like
00:17:59
Speaker
good actors and actresses. You see a lot of upcoming like people in the shows. So yeah, shout out on the canal and plus the post, right? Mike post you say?
00:18:11
Speaker
Mike post is, uh, I think he's, he's a genius and he's overlooked and the music doesn't sound like anything else, especially the incidental music.
00:18:21
Speaker
A lot of the theme songs are so, what is it ubiquitous like it's just part of our childhood really anybody who's kind of our age that's what we grew up with the you know the chips theme song and night rider and all of these were ingested and stored and so great great great great songs great song and brain like You hear it, well, like I said, watching every episode, right? So like how long long do you listen? How many times you listen episode?
00:18:55
Speaker
Well, 500 times. i wonder I wonder if it's seared into my brain. I might talk to my brother. 500, 700 times, that song? but Well, and the in-between music, the incidental In-between, that's playing off of like the the mood, right? So it's just ah an echo, right?
00:19:16
Speaker
Yeah. And so we started to work with that and we zeroed in on this first episode because we really liked the visuals and ah the entire series is too much to tackle.
00:19:31
Speaker
So with ah with this first piece, we we concentrated on that and ah and it really resonated with people.
Art's Impact and Audience Reactions
00:19:40
Speaker
Like I know that you were excited about it. We were super excited about it. But there were some people that it was like something happened to them.
00:19:48
Speaker
and I'd never experienced that just going in and like, hey, listen to these songs that we're going to play. People are like, yeah, great. Those were great songs. And this was more like there was sort of a almost a mania. It was like a frenzy. Some after the show, actually. People's brains are going. Go ahead. Yeah. Yeah. And what's interesting. So we played a shorter, we did a shorter version that was mostly improv back in the fall at the Portland Improvisation Summit.
00:20:21
Speaker
an audience that was much younger who didn't even know what the Rockford Fowles were. the same thing happens, like just people coming up to us afterwards in this kind of frenzy. But but this last show, i mean, it it just even topped that. It was so exciting to see people so excited and like having this other kind of experience that they probably weren't expecting.
00:20:48
Speaker
uh kim on that too like that fascinates it doesn't surprise me but it fascinates me like i think like i thought about in terms of this like and maybe it's like portland and just the sheer you know oddity of the project it's a you know we end up circumscribing things like in this way or that way right like serious non-serious and everything but what do you do with like like ah a show or a piece of media that's thoroughly enjoyable. You didn't pick out in your head, like the music. I didn't in my head, I didn't step back and say, Holy shit, that's a hell of a groove. And like, you know, like, but like people have experienced it or to come in contact with, and there's something there. The colors for me as a painter, I mean, obviously it's weird to, to trip out like in listeners, like, but it's beautiful. um You'll hear,
00:21:43
Speaker
voice of like mentioning particular colors that are pulled out in this l LA from 1974 and you giggle at first because you're like what what are we up
00:22:02
Speaker
buccaneer red carmel beige cameo white star white bronze porcelain blue
00:22:19
Speaker
But then you're looking at it and like there was this contrast, Bobby, that that you had mentioned about like black, white and gray. So I'm I-5, 2026, and you know what happened?
Nostalgia in 70s Media vs. Today
00:22:31
Speaker
you You planted the seed and I'm driving and I'm looking, black black car.
00:22:40
Speaker
black car Black car, gray car, white car. Fucking Trump sticker, white car.
00:22:51
Speaker
but but But then I'm like seeing how I was tripping watching that show. And like my brother and I, whether it's nineteen in 1982 or in this bright colored bar in Portland is like I'm a painter. I have a painter's sensibility.
00:23:11
Speaker
Look at that fucking yellow. Like, look at that green. Like, look at that weird. Like, that green's almost gross, but it's gorgeous. Or, like, that shiny brown. And, like, that's big, right? It's an eccentric little thing to point out. But I'm like, it's at a different landscape that you're looking at. Like,
00:23:35
Speaker
It looks completely different than the thing that has the name LA. God bless l LA. It's colorful as hell right now. I'm not saying it's bland, but what you point out was like, this was a moving picture or something.
00:23:50
Speaker
So it's interesting. You mentioned the colorful bar because it's not a colorful bar. Yeah. it's It's white and ah it's very tastefully ah put together by Alan Hill.
00:24:05
Speaker
It's Bar Botellón and it concentrates on Spanish wines. Originally, he had it called something else, but he got a cease and desist from a Boda Box company. Jerks.
00:24:19
Speaker
Is this like an EU type of thing? Jeez. All right, we'll figure it out. but So to to give a shout out to Alan, you know, he's very strict about... how he feels about his wines and how things should present.
00:24:31
Speaker
And he was willing to take a chance on having us show up out there. Um, and there was a little bit of a question about whether or not he knew what he was getting into, um with having us come to perform backlash of the Hunter, uh,
00:24:47
Speaker
But it was a great spot to have it, I think. And I recommended it for for people to go and enjoy his corner spot.
Creative Philosophy: KGMR Project
00:24:57
Speaker
It's been there for about nine years, but it's never crowded. so Beautiful, beautiful spot. yeah Back to the cars, Ken.
00:25:06
Speaker
What I reflect on, it's like, okay, what is the different experience emotionally and like with your perception, if you are existing in a world where like in the seventies where there's all these colors, right? And I feel like for me, what that does, i I feel a certain kind of freedom and a freedom of expression. and then when I think about being in a less colorful world, right, it feels more staid and robotic, right?
00:25:37
Speaker
i I feel that. And maybe it was the warm clay Adidas suit I bought recently and I said, hey. And maybe it's the Rock Profile shirt that I tracked down, but you have an influence on me. You're making me feel ah you know more comfortable um in my skin. Talk about your aims with KGMR as a project like like overall. i I listened
00:26:10
Speaker
to the album. as it saint I forget the pronunciation. st wrote It's rock. St. Rock. and rock R-O-C-H. St. Rock, folks, um is what I'm referring to.
00:26:23
Speaker
And um ah really enjoyed this album. And like I said, had seen the recent experience. So like I'm around, your art, but what about the art project itself? And, you know, obviously I dig on it. What, a what, what, do you know, what,
00:26:42
Speaker
You know, why art, right? Like, why like what what do you what do you what are you trying to do? You having fun? It's high quality? Like, what's going on?
00:26:53
Speaker
Well, i we come up with ideas and flesh them out. And some of them make it into songs and some of them do not.
00:27:04
Speaker
I think for me, a lot of times, ah I sort of toe the line between clever and stupid. And we try to you know come up with stuff that's gonna be hopefully up to, but not beyond into just being stupid.
00:27:24
Speaker
ah Now you're hitting the spot. I mean, I'm a particular audience, but in the performance, people were digging on that for sure. i you know We're both such long time musicians. Both of us were those.
00:27:41
Speaker
little kids who actually practice their instruments every day, you know, and um when we both go really far back playing music. um For me, it's always been
00:27:57
Speaker
emotion led so I feel things and it literally comes out of my fingers at the piano and um so some of the very first creative things i did was like a little kid and i had a mini Casio just a lot like the one we used in Backlash of the Hunter I had one of those plug-in like two octave Magnus organs and I would pretend I was creating soundtracks for horror films.
00:28:33
Speaker
And then at one point decided like I wanted basically a sample of all different people saying hello. was prank phone calling people and I had my tape recorder. And as soon as they said hello, I'd hang up and then I move on to the next person and I do it. And so I did. I had this cassette tape of like all these different people saying hello. Well, the last one I did, people had a tracer on their phone and next thing the cops were at our house. But anyway, It's going to end. Everything's going to end sometime.
00:29:05
Speaker
But i' it's a long story of a way of saying that I think for both of us, you know, Bob's been in bands is basically his whole life.
Balancing Cleverness and Silliness
00:29:14
Speaker
um Just a way to emote, really.
00:29:19
Speaker
And it looks a lot of different ways. And so when I think about the aim of KGMR, like we don't have one. If if you go through all our whole discography, like it's so different and that's not even incorporating a lot the stuff that that Bobby's made on his own.
00:29:38
Speaker
Yeah. i mean, for for me, i my folks had me playing violin when I was in kindergarten. And then I think I was 13 and I came home one day and my dad had bought a an electric guitar that he claimed was his.
00:29:52
Speaker
ah But I don't know. What do they say? Like... give a man a fish and they'll be hungry tomorrow, teach a person to fish and they'll spend the rest of their life drinking beer in a boat.
00:30:07
Speaker
think this I think there's a parallel there with, you know, ah giving a teenage boy an electric guitar. Yeah.
00:30:19
Speaker
you're You're rolling the dice with how they're going to be ah spending their time and where they're going to be spending their time and what they're going to be doing. but And then we had tape recorders around. and i would record you know tennis shoes in the dryer and terrorize my brother with it. and um i don't Some of the things i feel like I think of ideas and initially even to me, I think that is just totally silly and kind of stupid.
00:30:52
Speaker
But when I really look at them and start to pick them apart, there is some something there that's that's has more to do with serious things than just a silly idea. you know there's There's a depth to it. And just because it comes initially through silliness or something that sounds like that's just a zany and and wild idea, you flush it out and and start to really look at it. And and and it means something different.
00:31:23
Speaker
than it did initially, like why you had this idea of something that seems ridiculous and even stupid. And then it turns out that it's, it's not.
Nostalgia's Revival of Emotions
00:31:38
Speaker
Yeah. I, like for me and, and, and having so many conversation with the artists, but like a huge influence of David Lynch upon me was like, almost like the idea of just quite simply that,
00:31:54
Speaker
he would capture the image in full or, and, and pull it in with his net and his brain. So it was like trying to eliminate the prejudgment. Like, why is there a horse in a room standing there? That's a white horse. I don't know. That's what I pulled in like in on it. Right. And um so just like, kind of like a different approach of like,
00:32:22
Speaker
I can't predict what I put – like I put my net into a dark pool of liquid and there's this thing here, but i there it is. you know like and so for me, that everybody creates in a different way, but that like just opens so much – like more about it of being like, okay, that's a new thing.
00:32:45
Speaker
And just open up for our minds, like what works, you know, you're not trying to hit the target audience of ah Ken Vellante and Chris Vellante, Rockford files, know,
00:32:56
Speaker
you know, put out whatever I'll put out because these guys will take will take it up. But it's like, not just simply the nostalgia, but it's like reviving like the colors and the sounds in that. um Where I walked out of there and i was like, i wasn't like, I want to just watch one episode, but I want to like watch and hear all of them. And then like, on the soundtrack idea of like,
00:33:21
Speaker
like hear this flow of sound and how it how it how it impacts us. ah Anyways, like so, so, so fun. you know, like thank you like so much on on on that ah project and asking you about the band. Like, do you um do you plan on ah expanding out this
Future Performances and Recording Plans
00:33:42
Speaker
performance? Because I listened to the the track that you had on this episode. and It was a good amount of time, like 30, 35 minutes. And then I saw it live. You went on for a while. And then I was wanting more. Like, what's like 2026? Like, what do you want to experiment with or have fun with? Like, whether it's this project or another project art wise. Yeah.
00:34:05
Speaker
Well, so when we got done with our performance over there, we had neglected to press record. So... I got some of it.
00:34:17
Speaker
Yeah, I think people got some of it. But so we came home and and since it was fresh, it just set the stuff up and and did it again. would be different every time.
00:34:28
Speaker
Yes. The looping that that we're doing is through a couple of 1980s guitar pedals. So there's no way to lock them into the rhythm or ah or control them that way. You're kind of...
00:34:45
Speaker
ah pulling stuff as it comes up and see what's there and then moving on to the next thing. And so we we actually got a good recording of it and we've got some video aspect and we're gonna try to assemble that and get it put together in a way that people will be able to watch and listen, you know hopefully without running into copyright problems with anybody.
00:35:13
Speaker
Yeah, the bits and clips. the but Other than that, I think we've kind of happened on a way of working on stuff that feels a little more freewheeling than what we've done in the past.
00:35:26
Speaker
And also, you know, after... oh playing music together for 27 years, um starting to finally settle into having this comfortable way to interact musically with each other and move through stuff and settle on things without,
00:35:49
Speaker
without tripping each other up or getting too hung up on things that maybe don't matter and and working that way without like, oh, this is what we're gonna do next.
00:36:04
Speaker
It's more, there's more of an aspect of, well, kind of like the guitar pedals, like a little bit of randomness and this is what's next because I made this recording on my phone of,
00:36:19
Speaker
some kids in the park on a squeaky so swing or something like that, you know, which is another great part about the accessibility of high quality music equipment and recording equipment.
Creating Art for Joy and Audience Delight
00:36:34
Speaker
I mean, you sent...
00:36:37
Speaker
something to us that you recorded on your phone and the picture and the sound quality were actually excellent. You know, they're passable. So it really opens up a lot of of freedom in how to work on stuff.
00:36:53
Speaker
So that's, I think what we're looking forward to doing. Yeah. For, for me, When I write music, it's it's just for me. Like, i don't I don't give a shit if anyone likes it or not.
00:37:08
Speaker
But it really did move me again, like seeing people so delighted performing this. And so we kind of like, last time, like we thought that'd be the last time we performed the Backlash of the Hunter.
00:37:21
Speaker
And now thinking like, it really delighted people so much and it entertained people that we maybe want to do it again. And even if we don't want to do it again, i'm very attracted now to this idea of creating something that delights people, like you using our creativity and talents to create something that is truly delighting people and giving them that experience that you were talking about. So I've never i've never thought about that before until, what, like a week ago at that show.
00:37:56
Speaker
It's part of, like, the the learning experience. I don't like in the 70s and stuff, too, like, for me growing up. like Like, for me, there was, like, oh this is just my my my take on it. There was, like, it seemed like real, like, cultural, like, advancement in, like,
00:38:20
Speaker
African-Americans on TV and other cultural groups. It doesn't feel the same as like modern type of stuff. And I don't follow the trajectory, but like, whether it was sound in like and inclusion and all stuff, it's just, I don't know. I had a feel to me that always seemed like more, more authentic. And so like bringing out the colors in the sounds for me is like, it felt totally like, um,
00:38:47
Speaker
that 70s and it's a different world so like kind of allowing that world to exist again and this is not a well I don't know what 20 I don't know what the world it's going 2026 I don't know what I don't I just don't even know but like as ah as a live culture, like, when people are tapping into that, even with an not being necessarily familiar with the TV show, they're like, oh, shit, that's my grandpa. Like, for me, like, I was watching, I'm being like, oh, shit, that's my freaking uncle, like, chilling out, right? That's, like, that's what's going on, and, like, that's the
James Garner's Legacy and Influence
00:39:23
Speaker
deep piece. And, again, not to be overly analytical about it, but, like, pulling that back out, allowing people to, like, live and breathe in that, it's, like,
00:39:33
Speaker
In this world right now, sure. Sure. Like, do it for a bit. Yeah. I don't know. It's the it feels to me. I think that there there is that, especially in the early seasons. And I think it's important to mention that, you know, James Garner was a social activist. He was heavily involved in helping to organize the March on Washington, D.C. Good man, James Garner. He was very early advocate of legalization of marijuana.
00:40:04
Speaker
um He stood up for... his actors that were working with him and he encouraged them and mentored him, mentored them. And he, you know, he took on the MGM, I believe in a lawsuit that most people told him that they were going to ruin his career. He was going to ruin his own career, taking these people on and he won.
00:40:30
Speaker
And then after that, they asked him to be on the Rockford files. Yeah. And ah a lot of the early episodes have some really strong female characters. And some of them, when we were watching them, you know, they they have warnings about things that have since come to pass, like the collection of people's personal information in data centers. I mean, is pretty uncanny.
00:41:01
Speaker
And... he's ah He's an interesting and complex character who who came up from nothing, you know?
00:41:12
Speaker
Yeah, shout out. Thanks for thanks thanks thanks for bringing that out. i knew I knew some pieces of that. And for me, I was always like, if I had half the looks of James Garner, I could go a long way in this world. I mean, God bless...
00:41:25
Speaker
God bless the man. I don't know him intimately anything, but, but I knew that too. And I knew we dealt with a ton of shit on the show and the contract and the physical pieces. I mean, you even alluded to that in the performance, like he dealt with that shit as a worker on there and probably wanted to do things a certain way. And they were giving them, I don't know the whole thing, but.
00:41:45
Speaker
ah Gretchen Corbett ah is an actress who's from Portland. or Her, her, Her name, Corbett Avenue, is named after her family. wow And she plays a lawyer in the early seasons. And they she ran into something where they were going to do more with her and pay her the same amount or less. And ah James Garner encouraged her to just...
00:42:15
Speaker
to just walk away. you know She was an important part of the show and then all a sudden she's just gone. ah And you know she went on to do a lot of other things and she's still alive and active in in working in drama and in Portland.
00:42:29
Speaker
But he ah he wasn't one to like, oh, well, you you please don't leave. We need you for the show. he just, you know he he helped people a lot.
00:42:44
Speaker
get your mom Selleck to help Selleck. They were getting Tom Selleck set up to be either of a replacement for Rockford, but then they decided to put him in Magnum PI and Magnum PI initially, I guess was going to be this show with this womanizer schmoozy, pretty boy thing. And, and Tom Selleck really didn't want to do it. and James Garner encouraged him that like this is your chance to try to get what you want.
00:43:09
Speaker
You're never going to have a better place to be able to do it than right now. and so You ended up with you know however many hundred seasons of Magnum P.I., which is another one. Wow. so Wow. He appears as this pretty boy, like everything always goes right for him. You probably remember in the Rockford Cuts. I do. I do. The shirts were impeccable. The cases came through at the end. Yeah. With a certain amount of, you know, there were different, Rockford had to put a little more blood and guts, I think. Yeah. Yeah, always. It's in a case. Paid for it physically, mentally, social time. Heart hits to the head. There's a pretty robust fan site on Facebook for the Rockford Files. And I loved someone posted the other day and said, what was that episode where, where Rockford gets like the crap beat out of them and he doesn't get paid in the end? You know, it's just like. Every episode. Every episode. How many episodes were there? Those episodes. Yeah. Like you imagine at the end of like a really rough day, like you're getting stiffed
Rockford Files Fan Culture
00:44:35
Speaker
on the paint. I can't imagine. Right. You know, in this world, but like, then you're going to be like, look, pay my ass too. Pay my ass. I'm almost dead. I'm calling from the freaking hospital.
00:44:48
Speaker
Pay my ass. Like this whole check's going to the hospital bill. This is 1970s America. I'm not tied to an employer. I'm a freelancer. know Oh, poor guy. Anyways, made it through. So, um, no, uh, anyways, Hey, you want to answer any of the, like the huge concept concept you want to just like, uh, like, why is there something rather than nothing? you want to answer that quickly? I mean, we've been kicking Robert files and art. You want to be like, like the, you know, going from, from, from all this, like, like, like,
00:45:25
Speaker
Let me ask each one of you, or at the same time, like ah two of the big ones, but what is art? What is art?
00:45:38
Speaker
Kim warned me about these questions. ah and so I've been thinking about them. I was in an airport probably more than a decade ago.
00:45:53
Speaker
And this guy's in a suit. He's coming up the escalator and he's waving his arms around and talking loud and making all these weird faces. People were kind of looking at him like, and he gets to the top and I see that he's got, you know, one of these, like an earphone thing end and he's yeah he's on a phone call and he's waving his arms around and making all these weird faces and talking all loud and And I think
00:46:29
Speaker
art is the earphone that lets you do things in a way that people aren't gonna judge you as being insane because Well, i it's okay that
Philosophical Reflections on Art
00:46:54
Speaker
they're doing that. It's art. you know So I don't know if it's just a construct. I mean, I think you could go on and on. when People use it use art to to hide their wealth and um make statements about things. But in some ways, it's sort of a slippery
00:47:14
Speaker
a slippery definition, but I think that part of it is that, you know, give giving yourself permission to do things That helps me a lot, what you said right there, because like one of the things I kept bumping into early on, because like in in doing this show, I kind of expanded my identity myself as an artist. And I realized there was just this inflection that was very simple. like like It had to do with like that you know like in your head, okay, that was an artist. It had to do with inhabiting that space and say,
00:47:53
Speaker
fuck all like it but it's a big jump to do it was for me to be like like where people would look at you as like you're doing an artistic thing and you're like wait a second I am the artist right here like you know and and so like the way you describe that like for me in that space that it's doing it's like okay they're doing that thing there's a man it just clicked for me like definitely
00:48:21
Speaker
Kim For me, it's really about taking the intangible human experience and making it tangible, right? Because again, like for me, my creative process almost always comes out of emotion. so intangible ways of being and feeling as a human and and art makes that tangible. And I i think about, you know, our our dog dying two days ago.
00:48:55
Speaker
um you know, we spent all day crying and then at some point in the evening, we just started playing music, not we were listening to music. So, you know, like,
00:49:08
Speaker
Bob first put on this Thin Lizzy album. The Friendly Ranger of Klontarf Castle. We started there. Lizzy. And the with the line in that song that says, ah you know, say goodbye to a very good friend. And then after that...
00:49:24
Speaker
we ah We were just for little listening to music for hours and you know listening to things that were helping us process all of the grief.
00:49:35
Speaker
and And all of those songs we listened to helped make it become more tangible, this human experience we were having of loss and grief and sadness.
00:49:49
Speaker
Yeah, thank you. And thank you for sharing
Music's Role in Emotion and Connection
00:49:53
Speaker
that. um ah Also, today's, as we're recording, is Record record Store Day.
00:50:03
Speaker
Oh, really? is Record Store Day. um so ah
00:50:13
Speaker
I got to go search for album. yeah Maybe it's this like this compulsive thing. There was one album I saw advertised that I really, and somebody who I've had on the show, April, March.
00:50:25
Speaker
And she does um kind of ah french ah French, like retro songs. She's completely fluent in French and English. But it was interesting. She used to be the lead designer and animator for Ren and Stimpy.
00:50:43
Speaker
hu the cartoon as well. Interesting. Anyways, I'm going to, I'm going end up hunting down or trying to hunt down the April, March, uh, album, but like, yeah, just the music. Like for me, I grew up, I grew up, uh,
00:50:57
Speaker
my My parents listen a lot of those a lot of 60s and 70s Motown stuff. A lot of variety music. But um as a kid, it was like ah early hip hop and rap. And as I went along, like I really like to be able to get into like angers and frustrations and music was like just the one place.
00:51:21
Speaker
um yeah But you found the magic alchemy of the Rockford files. You've tapped into it. At least, you know, with this small subset here, but you've tapped into something.
00:51:35
Speaker
One thing I want to say about like you talking about growing up and the music your parents were listening to. So I love to dance. Like I really love to dance. I had dance all the time. No, but I think the reason I love to dance is because growing up, my parents were disco dancers and they would, you know, it was whatever Thursday night or whatever. Move the furniture.
00:52:03
Speaker
Yes. Not only, but for the friends, they'd roll up the rug in the living room. They'd put the vinyl on. My mother would strap on her heels. And they would practice and my brother and sister and I would sit on the couch, just like wide eyed and watching them, watching them dance and you know the beat and that beat just got in me. um And so it was this kind of like birth of happiness around a beat for me. And so like, that's lifelong, you know? Yeah.
00:52:41
Speaker
Yeah. it's ah it's ah it's It's a beautiful thing. I grew up, well, my parents were young too. Like my my mom had me, she 17, right? So- They're still kids. No, it's going to get a Friday night sometime. Right. Like, I don't have to explain shit. You're like, can they get these little kids and they're like, they're in their early they're in the late twenties. I mean, shit, Friday night. But yeah, the part. Oh, and then the parties too. Like, i don't know. It's just like the way with like resources that were put in a few dollars here or there. I remember like a big.
00:53:19
Speaker
big trash can and it was like the generic beer where it be like b-e-e-r on it and like in the ice so you got the record you got all those records you got the the beer and ice thing it was probably like that's like the repo man beer it's like three dollars a case or something yeah and Yeah. This is Rhode Island. There's no like returnable. There's no deposit. This is like hardcore, like 70s to 80s. No, but anyways, um music and dance, like what do you have? Like it's not that difficult to explain. Like at the tenement, like 20-some people there, like there's a lot of energy that needs to get out. Yeah. Yes. Yes.
00:54:08
Speaker
that is ah that is That is beautiful. Where do where do people find ah KGMR stuff? I've been talking about it. I have tangibles. I have an album. But where where do people stream stuff?
00:54:22
Speaker
Rockford Files or not? Lovers of Music? what Where do they go? Yeah, it's on all the places. yeah It's on all the places. is We maintain a website too, KGMR.com.
00:54:35
Speaker
ah which is like a cure like if you just want curated like we have a a page of instrumental songs a page of you know rock songs of words we break it out in that way which I think is more listener friendly but you know it's in all the it's in all the usual streaming places
00:55:00
Speaker
I think ah personal indulgence, you know, and just make sure you keep going with the Rockford files, not to extend it out too far where you get bored and start to hate the project. But if you could choose in between putting some more ear into the project or not, I would say go toward the ear the project. what I'll you what. I'll show up with, with my T and geez. And even talking about, you know, some of the things James Garner did to kind of help people like get along, like in the workplace. and last I read Hollywood is a decent workplace for, you know, a certain amount of people, but it is a tough ass job that never seems to end for a lot of people working in the field. So, um, Anything else you want to drop in or or throw out there or or whatever? um
00:55:50
Speaker
Anything else we need to know or what have you?
00:55:57
Speaker
I think the only other thing that is so meaningful to me is, I mean, Bobby was talking about a little bit, but it's that aspect of creating as a couple.
00:56:08
Speaker
Yeah. Tell us cost what that means for That is intense and it looks a lot of different ways. And he was alluding to it. um You know, at its best can be, um you know, say I come up with something and i remember this one time in particular, i'm like, okay, I want the guitar to make the song feel like you're underwater.
00:56:36
Speaker
Like, what the hell is that? Right? But that's like what I was feeling. I wanted to feel like you're underwater. And then he plays this guitar part and it's just effing perfect. And so the aspect of knowing each other so well and, ah you know, especially, especially you, like you will really anticipate stuff with me. And that's amazing. And at the same time, you know,
00:57:05
Speaker
Sometimes it, you know, not I wouldn't even say arguments, but... Gets a little sideways. Yeah, it gets a little sideways. No way. No way. No way. It's impossible. Impossible. The other day he was playing some guitar solo and I didn't even realize it, but I guess I was making a really horrible face. And...
00:57:28
Speaker
and He stops. He's like, that is the meanest face you've ever made at me in your life. and like That is so discordant from what I'm doing right now. And I got to let you know.
00:57:42
Speaker
um But so cool to like, you know, to do all that as a couple and it's beautiful and amazing and it's messy and it's, you know it's a lot easier to get the other people to show up too. For band practice. Yeah. yeah there's you know yeah yeah and um and to have somebody that's uh more tolerant with things that when they're first presented a lot of people would just shake their head and be like you know hey thanks uh i can't make it ever again because yeah i've got other things that i need to do and you're embarrassing you know or So so there's that part of it's ah really good to.
00:58:34
Speaker
Well, even for like ah my partner, Jenny and I, we were like, it was like earlier in the week and like, It was like super nice outside and we had all this spray paint and I had just take it down the Christmas tree after the Easter. And then we put it in the backyard and we're spray painting It was like, now we can have the tree in the backyard for the rest of thing. But it was just like spray painting and stuff like together. It's like, you know, like haven't always done it in my life or indulge myself in that type of way.
00:59:07
Speaker
And um so once I started to like, I'm going to be doing that. Like I could probably kill over spray paint in a tree, like years and years from now, because it just do it, do it. Like I missed too much time and not doing it being too, too, too, too precious in my own head about what is it that it's going to be? And just get rid of all that. Still have the tree back there.
00:59:33
Speaker
It's still back there. Yeah, it's like it's it's the I don't know what the neighbors think about it, you know, in the mid in the mid in the mid valley down here, but they got a colored decorated ah spray paint Christmas tree for sure.
00:59:46
Speaker
and So here I think there may be an event that's still coming up that's run by a printmaking studio in town. Jane Paglio Rulo's studio, Atelier Meridian.
00:59:59
Speaker
yeah um she rents an asphalt roller. So if the tree's still around, maybe we can ink it up and run it over with a steamroller. You see, this is this how it all, this this is this is dangerous, right? This all happens. The next step is then the next episode we have, look, look, look, little we freaking did after this and look what happened. I love it. Yeah, you definitely need to be a part of that. And and just real quick, I love that story so much um because it reminds me, ah we fell in love on Easter.
01:00:31
Speaker
Yes. Because we had, um we blew out eggs and and like painted them. And I think we even put like offensive s sayings on them or images. There you go. Like he is risen or it' something like that. Anyway, there's this collection of very silly Easter eggs. And then we went downtown and we snuck them into the the front window display of an art gallery.
01:00:56
Speaker
um They were nice. You know, we didn't know what to do with them. we had little stands for them. That was the moment. So um I stayed there for a few days, too, because it was kind of up, you know, where people walking by on the sidewalk would see it. But no one who's working there, they change the display out every month or whatever. But for the most part, I think when they're out the door, they're out the door, you know. So that was kind That's why I do this podcast so we can at least get to the point where we got to that story. Right. Yeah, that's like maybe we'll encourage encourage some people to plant some artwork and art galleries around town. There's plenty of them to pray. was You know, sometimes it's like, what's the most beautiful you know piece of art ever produced? I don't like Mad Magazine 52 is pretty good. I mean, like, you know, I mean, at a certain point.
01:01:44
Speaker
Good work on that. ah Everybody, um ah KGMR, ah ah great music. and and And obviously, you know, drop into some of the fun around the Rockford Files. Listeners, if you have not watched the television show from the 1970s called the Rockford Files,
01:02:06
Speaker
at at least put your toe in the water, ah you know, enter the stream as the Buddhists would say, like wherever you are, enter the stream. And so the Rockford Files, I would say at other media, Stephen J. Connell.
01:02:20
Speaker
And ah so thank you for your for your unique art. And um at the essence, I don't know, like what is art? It's like to kick it around, have some fun, think of some ideas and be like,
01:02:36
Speaker
ah this is fun to talk about. going to focus on what we're talking about now, you know? So really appreciate the the both of you and couldn't thank you more.
01:02:48
Speaker
Thanks, Ken. Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. really appreciate it. Really fun to talk with you.
01:03:14
Speaker
Seven cents a mile. Seven cents a mile. Seven cents a mile.
01:06:19
Speaker
This is than nothing.
01:06:41
Speaker
how this is something rather than nothing