The second episode of Cool Cars, Interesting People features Kyle Gruninger who is currently performing in New West’s Christmas Show, All Spruced Up. Kyle is the front man for the theatre rock band Incura. I’ve interviewed Kyle a number of times over the years and I’ve always found him to be honest and forthright. He is a down-to-earth guy with a nice dash of quirkiness. He is someone who as a teenager playing heavy metal music in his parents’ basement dreamed of one day making it a career. He has succeeded where many others would have given up. He loves to come home to perform on the Yates stage with who he considers to be his best friends. He transforms that rock star persona into a memorable member of a fun musical-comedy revue which is a staple of New West.
The “cool car” we used is actually a truck-a 2015 Ford 150 from Dunlop Ford. I’ve never been a truck guy but I was surprised at how comfortable and easy it was to drive. The highlight for me was the massaging seats. They sure didn’t have that feature in my Hyundai Pony back in the 1980s. Thanks to Tony Esford for the great presentation and for sort of laughing at my “Climb Every Mountain, ‘Ford’ Every Stream” joke.
Side notes:
We were able to use a couple of Go-Pros in this episode. I was surprised at how good the quality is.
Total coincidence that the server at the Lodge was named Kyle. Ooooh…eerie…
I asked the Lodge if we could park the truck right outside the front doors in the loading area. (I didn’t want any dents.) Sorry if it seemed pretentious.
I paid for the coffee.
The value of the truck we used was more than what I paid for my house in 1981.
I’ve known Kyle’s hair-dressing mother for years but didn’t connect the two until I dropped off Kyle at his parent’s home and there she was. She was part of a radio contest when I was doing mornings at LA FM. I had just finished doing Jesus Christ Superstar where I was required to keep my hair long and grow a beard. To make me look “presentable” again we asked hairdressers to enter their names and tell us what they would do to me to achieve that. The winner would then come poolside to the Lethbridge Lodge Hotel (where I did my radio show on Fridays) and proceed to cut away. Kyle’s mom and her hair salon partner won. They thought it would be funny to cut just half of my beard. Thankfully they weren’t serious.
I really enjoyed the interview. Go grab your own coffee and find out what makes Kyle tick. Then go see him at the Yates. https://www.newwesttheatre.com/
It’s 30 minutes long but it’s totally worth it.
Mark Boogieman 