- Welcome to Kalamazoo Lively Arts.

The show takes you inside Kalamazoo's vibrant creative community and explores the people who breathe life into the arts.

I'm Jenifer Moss, here-- (long silence) - [Announcer] Support for Kalamazoo Lively Arts is provided by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, helping to build and enrich the cultural life of greater Kalamazoo.

I'm Jennifer Moss here at Miller Auditorium.

On today's show we meet Bryan Klinesteker, a singer/songwriter who's been performing since the 70s and released a new album recently that spans his career.

But first let's get to know Tyree Broadway, a multimedia artist with amazing paintings and a bright future.

- Okay, so I'm here with Tyree Broadway who does a lot of different things.

You're a fine artist.

You are a potter, you're a saxophonist.

- Mm-hmm.

- And thank you so much for talking with me here today.

- Thank you for having the time to talk with me.

- So we're, we're standing in this gallery-like setting, right?

And looking at your artwork, it's just amazing to look at like this, but then you bring out the black light, right?

- That's like the secret.

- Tell me about that.

- I've been really supported by my parents and, and my grandma and myself, and like investing in art supplies.

So it's actually like happenstance that it is like UV reactive.

It's just from having so many different medium.

I think one night I was laying on the bed and I thought I saw like a light on the wall.

So I turned on the light, I didn't see anything.

I turned it back off and I figured out it was coming from the painting.

Apparently some of the media I was using was UV reactive.

- Yeah.

- That glowed in the dark.

So once I figured that out, that was pretty cool.

So now consciously when I see different UV reactive stuff, I try to use it in my process of painting.

- Tell me what's the art community like in Kalamazoo.

- It's about the network.

Like I have a very supportive network of like Yolonda Lavender, James Palmer, he's one of my mentors.

So I have some great artists that support me in like great ways to like showcase my talent.

Prior to meeting like those individuals, I felt it was like kind of hard to break into the art scene.

It's like you had to know someone and even if you have the most amazing piece without a way to be able to show it, - Yeah.

- You're just kinda like stuck there.

Just like my room was just crowded with all this art.

So now I have a chance to get out the house and walk around my bedroom.

(Kim laughs) - And so do we, right?

- Yes.

- We, we get to enjoy the art as well.

[Kim] - So I'm here with Yolonda Lavender, who is a community leader.

You're a national recording artist and the CEO of Soul Artistry and this space that we're in it is called "The Space", right?

[Yolonda] - Yeah.

Yep.

- [Kim] It's beautiful.

- [Yolonda] Thank you - [Kim] I mean, as soon as I walked in, I told you I just, the music was going I just felt the vibe and, and looking at the art, it was someplace that you could kind of hang out.

- [Yolonda] Yes.

- [Kim] And just enjoy yourself.

So how did you curate this whole place?

- [Yolonda] So I have tried to be intentional about not really having a lot of expectations of what The Space was going to be.

I just knew that my responsibility was just to make it available for artists and specifically black and brown artists.

And those who have been historically excluded from being able to be in space, have places where they can perform, create, practice, do whatever they need to do creatively.

So the community of artists here in Kalamazoo from those groups that I just mentioned have really developed what this is and are continuing to develop what it's gonna be.

So-- - [Kim] And what do you hear from like maybe little kids that come through?

See an artist that looks like them doing what they love?

- It's so important.

I...

So another thing about "The Space" is that I wanted little kids, grownups, whoever, to be able to like touch things, not feel like this is a museum because it's not like they can interact and, you know, be in The Space in whatever way that they need to show up.

So the oohs and aahhs and who is that, and I wanna meet that person.

How was this created?

All of that really inspires me to keep being intentional about this space, not being like a typical art gallery or a museum space.

- Yeah.

- But like for the people to exist and be in.

- [Kim] Did you grow up with artists in your family?

Did your parents encourage you when you were growing up?

- I was a fidgety kid (Kim laughs) So my mom and dad gave me like pencil or paper, and I would draw whatever kids do.

You know I would always get the feedback of like, it was awesome, what I was doing.

So I just kept getting better and better and you know I, it seemed that I make everybody smile and I guess that's my goal now to, you know, kind of bring people into like my creative bubble and peace and you know, like even here tonight, you know, seeing all the smile and the people enjoying it.

- [Kim] Yeah.

- [Tyree] It's really rewarding for me.

And I would say it's like really reciprocal, especially when, you know, you create a portrait for somebody.

- Yes.

- And then, you know, like years later they're like, "Hey, you know, my dog died.

- Yes.

- I'm so glad you made that painting for me."

where, you know, like, "Hey, it's our anniversary again.

And we love the portrait did for me."

So that kind of gives me you, like, on my down days, like the pick me up that, that you know what keep creating and doing the thing that I guess keeps me motivated.

- When you give somebody a painting, it's they sell somebody a painting, you have a permanent connection with them right?

You're giving them part of yourself.

- I just had a friend today had to fly back to Bangladesh and I gave him three paintings for his family.

And he's not even there yet.

They're already on the phone saying, "Thank you so much!

We saw your work on Facebook."

So now I'm excited that I got work overseas.

- [Kim] So this is Tyree's work.

- Yeah.

- And how did you meet Tyree and why did you wanna bring him into your space?

- So I previously served as the executive director of The Black Arts and Cultural Center here in Kalamazoo.

So I met Tyree through my work there and service at BACC you know, provided, you know, opportunities for him to come and showcase there.

And so of course, once we opened The Space, it's like, yeah, "Who are all the artists that I've connected with over the years?"

And just want to, you know, extend another opportunity for them.

- [Kim] And I read when you were a little kid that your parents had paintings in the house and you'd feel them.

- Yeah.

They, my mom had like some abstracts and they were just like "All bumpy and like super textured."

And I would literally just walk up the stairs, like running my hand across the, across the artwork, like every day.

So part of those paintings-- (both people laugh) Part of those pains are gone, but I think, you know, I've had shows, you know, where people like, they look both ways and they like touch the painting 'cause of like the screen of the texture.

So I try when I create to make it like super durable so that the little kid running around with all the energy can touch it and have the painting not be ruined.

- You participated in ArtPrize - Mm-hmm - And you've won awards as well, right?

- Mm-hmm.

What were some of the works that you won?

- Well, oh man.

It was a long list - Yeah.

- I don't even remember.

It was a long list of just how ArtPrize was featured last year.

You know, some of them was like inspirational prize.

Like every category I think was what was more rewarding was the actual feedback.

And it was the actual surprise of like being a finalist.

When I was thinking my venue is off the beaten path I haven't, I don't see any foot traffic, like really, honestly, truly tonight.

I feel like there's more people here that I'm actually able to interact with than I did during ArtPrize.

- Wow.

- But, you know, I just got a call that I was a finalist.

I was like, like how?

Wow - Wow.

- So it just like blew my, blew my mind and like made my day.

And it subsequently has led to me being able to showcase my art more.

So it just got, keeps growing and growing and growing.

- Since you super serve marginalized people, how did that passion come about?

I know you said the way that you were raised, but a lot of people kind of can look back at that.

- Yeah.

- But don't really do anything about it.

- Absolutely.

So my own personal experiences have informed the way that I approach that.

So there's been times where I have been excluded from opportunities.

I actually started Soul Artistry because in Kalamazoo, when I was first starting to sing professionally, there were no venues that would, you know, welcome or allow me to be able to perform outside of Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative, which was the first place that I sang, like for an audience outside of church.

So I have just continued to provide that kind of opportunity that I wish that I had when I was first starting for artists, black and brown artists who are starting out now.

- What would you say is your proudest moment as an artist?

- Actually, that my, it's not really a moment.

It's more so when kids like gave me compliments, cause they're like more genuine.

- Yes.

- I have a friend, his son he's like, I gave them a painting and the kid's standing like this, (Tyree shakes his head) I said "What's the matter?"

He was just doing like this.

I said, "What's the matter?"

He was like "Tyree, you're just amazing."

He was like four years old.

I was like, "Oh, I'm gonna cry.

Oh my God."

So like, things like that, you know, like, you know, sometimes the adults were like put their nose up when they want to know like find out what school you went to.

And I tell them, "I'm self taught," but like the kids are like the more genuine-- - Yes.

- You know, like feedback for me.

And then it's like, and as far as like buyers, you know, [Tyree] like if buyers are like me, if I want something, I get it.

So I don't really-- - Yeah.

Right.

- Doesn't really bother me, what their opinion is.

- Yes.

- I'm bringing other people into my bubble and things that I think are beautiful either they're gonna participate or not.

- Hey, listen, thank you so much for talking with me here today.

I just love, I mean, it's you go from the wildlife to the teenage mutant ninja turtles to an abstract, to a painting that has, you know, some texture with beading on it.

I can't wait to see what's next.

Thank you so much for talking with me here today.

- Awesome.

Nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you as well.

(light guitar music playing) - ♪ Time out ♪ ♪ I need some time to clear my mind out ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ There's so much going on ♪ ♪ And I'm holding on ♪ ♪ To something that ain't ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ - [Kim] Well, today I'm talking with Bryan Klinesteker, who is a Kalamazoo musician, acoustic guitarist, a baritone, a singer songwriter.

Thanks so much for talking with me here today.

- Oh, it's great to be with you.

- Bryan, do you remember like where you were, what you were doing when you first heard your song on the radio?

I think WKZO played it, right?

- Yes.

Yeah.

I did.

The one that had a lot of radio play was this first single, if anyone remembers what 45 records are.

(Kim laughs) But back in 1974, I did a 45 record called Umbrella Girl.

And that got radio played.

I do remember distinctly when that one came on WKZO, that was very exciting.

I, I was home just listening to the radio - I think - That might have given me a heads up that I was gonna be on.

- So let's start at the beginning.

Like when did you first pick up a guitar?

- My parents got me my first guitar when I was 10 for Christmas.

- Yes.

- And a couple years later they got me another guitar, which is the one that you can see over my shoulder here.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's a Gibson J-45.

They really couldn't afford it, but they got it for me when I was 12.

And, I've had it ever since it's aged much better than I have.

(Bryan laughs) Yeah.

So this is the beautiful J-45.

- Mmm, and its beautiful.

(Kim laughs) - So, anyway, this is a shout out to people because they are the ones that kind of taught me how to play ♪ Puff the magic dragon ♪ ♪ Lived by the sea ♪ ♪ And frolicked in the autumn mist ♪ ♪ In a land called Hannah Lee ♪ ♪ Little Jackie Paper ♪ ♪ Loved that rascal puff ♪ ♪ And brought him strings and ceiling wax.

♪ ♪ And other fancy stuff.

♪ - I love that so much.

So Bryan, tell me a little bit, like if I wanna write a song, where would I start?

- I usually begin with, you know, just personal experience.

I think we've all been out to nice restaurants, you know, with somebody special.

There was this one restaurant in Los Angeles.

It was at the top of the Bonaventure Hotel and had a revolving restaurant.

And it was kind of darkly lit and candles.

I remember taking my wife there when we first met.

And, and so this, this line came into my head City nights, candle lights and wine.

And, and so I started playing around with some lyrics, and some melody, and finally came up with, I'll just do the beginning part ♪ Wish you were back in my arms again ♪ ♪ I was loving you.

♪ ♪ I wish you were dancing cheek to cheek ♪ ♪ Like we used to do ♪ ♪ Resting your head upon my shoulder, ♪ ♪ Made me feel so fine ♪ ♪ Sitting next to candlelights and wine ♪ ♪ Oh yeah ♪ - Ooh, that's nice.

- Thanks - That's nice.

I love it.

And you play professionally too.

How long have you been doing that?

- I was going to Grand Valley State College and I was doing an open mic one night in Downtown Grand Rapids.

And this guy Ted Meters, approached me and said, "Hey, I hire the entertainment for a music circuit."

And it was the Holly's Bistros of Holly's Landings.

And they were often part of a Holiday Inn, and for me at the time it's like, that's the big time, right?

- Oh yeah.

- It's like... - You know, you know, for a 19 year old.

And so, yeah, I actually went on that circuit.

And I played from, you know, Muskegon to Saganash to Kalamazoo, to Grand Rapids, to Fort Wayne, to South Bend and Michigan City, usually staying nine to twelve weeks in each town, six nights a week, five hours a night.

- And a lot of people see, like, they'll look at a musician, or some sort of celebrity and say, you know, I want to be on stage but they don't see all the hard work and really the practice.

- You know, if somebody came up and gave me a request, I would go back to my hotel room and I would learn it that night.

And so, because I didn't know if they were gonna be back the next night.

I wanted to have the song ready for them.

- When you look back over your music career, where has it taken you?

- I eventually wound up back at Western Michigan University, which is where I actually started.

I played music for six or seven years.

I sort of hit a point where, you know, I was having some success, you know, I'd been on the, "The Buck Matthew Show" for instance.

- Oh yeah.

- I was on "the Ren Wall radio show", you know, I did some things like that, but I was looking at my bank account and it really wasn't getting very much so.

- Right.

- I decided at age, like 26 to go back to college.

So I went back to college and I got my master's degree, working with blind and visually impaired students.

I got a job out in Los Angeles at the foundation for the junior blind, but yeah, I still played music, you know, every time a student would graduate, you know, I'd be the one that would sing, you know, happy trails or, you know, some song as when they graduated.

And I kept my song writing up.

I've never stopped song, writing songs since I was maybe 16.

- So Bryan, you came up with City Lights, Candlelights and Wine And then how did you come up with the melody for that?

- I thought about the restaurant and the candle lights and the wine.

And I thought of an old, you know, like a 40s jazz club.

And I started thinking about some of the, you know, singers, you know, Bing Crosby and, you know, Nat King Cole.

And so I thought, well, okay, you're gonna need to come up with a few, you know, chords are a little jazzier, you know, than just major and minor.

So I've got some major seventh chords in here.

Yeah.

I'm not a expert jazz guitar player by any means, but I decided to take it in a jazzier direction.

So that's why I came in.

Yeah.

(Bryan playing guitar) Yeah.

So that's kind of how that, that came about.

(rock music) ♪ Kalamazoo, Michigan is my hometown ♪ ♪ You can go to the lake or just hang around ♪ ♪ There's always lots to do ♪ ♪ In Kalamazoo ♪ - You just finally released your album and it's called "Timeline Trilogy Volume II" Right?

- Mm-hmm.

- So first of all, tell me about how you conceived that whole idea and what that album's all about.

- Well, like I mentioned earlier, I started writing songs when I was really young, like 10 and I've written songs throughout my whole life.

And I've recorded a few over the years, but it was never like an album, or it was just kind of here and there.

So I started collecting all these songs and I got to the point that I was getting ready, you know, to retire from teaching and it occurred to me, you know, Bryan, a lot of years have gone by and you collected, you've written a lot of songs.

What are you gonna do with them?

So I actually started going through boxes of, of cassette tapes because, and I had forgotten that I'd even written some of this.

- Right, right.

- I decided to come up with this idea of timeline, trilogy volumes, one, two, and three.

In general, I tried to put my early songs in Volume One when I was a little older, you know, Volume Two, then I've got Volume Three that'll hopefully be out next year.

♪ Be sure ♪ ♪ Juump in clear blue water ♪ ♪ Who could ask for more ♪ ♪ You can enjoy the view ♪ ♪ And go fishing too ♪ ♪ Later in the evening the sun goes down ♪ - Now I'd love for you to tell me about your love letter to Kalamazoo.

- Oh, good question.

I had written, I knew that, that I was gonna be retiring.

I worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District for almost 30 years.

I knew I was gonna be retiring in 2011.

So I wrote this song called "Kalamazoo" when I was still in Los Angeles, knowing that I wanted to make a music video when I got back here.

So I actually recorded it in Los Angeles.

But when I got back here, I called up the film department at Western Michigan University.

And I just put it out there, asked if there were any students that would like to make a music video of my song.

And it gave me three wonderful students that worked really hard, went to a lot of different locations downtown Kalamazoo, we even wound up going out to South Haven, walking along the beach there.

And I've noticed several of them had gone on to careers in the film industry.

And it just looked like everybody had so much fun making there's other songs that have been written about Kalamazoo, but this one was so... - Just so beautiful-- Well, you know, everybody knows that ♪ I Gotta Gal in Kalamazoo ♪ - Yeah.

Right.

(laughing) - Right.

- This was so personalized though.

- I wanted to give my, my little take on it.

Yeah, it's had a really good response.

I mean, I couldn't believe it.

Video went up on YouTube in December of 2011.

I mean, I was looking at the views and it was like a 1000 and 2000 and the President of Western called me at the time.

They gave me a front page article in the "Kalamazoo Gazette" and, yeah, just different things.

Totally unexpected and I think it's over 43,000 views now.

- Bryan, thank you so much for talking with me here today.

It's been fun getting to know you.

- It's been a pleasure.

Thank you.

- Thank you for joining us on this week's episode of Kalamazoo Lively Arts.

Check out today's show and other content at wgvu.org.

We leave you tonight with music by Bryan Klinesteker.

I'm Jennifer Moss.

Have a great night.

(guitar music) ♪ Damn the news ♪ ♪ Deja Vu ♪ ♪ Here we go again, ♪ ♪ down that road again ♪ ♪ Borders crossed, ♪ ♪ lives are lost ♪ ♪ The poor and innocent ♪ ♪ always pay the cost ♪ ♪ I'm hoping for a change in the weather ♪ ♪ Hoping that things will get better ♪ ♪ Hoping the sun will shine again ♪ ♪ for you to see ♪ ♪ I'm hoping the skies will get brighter ♪ ♪ Hoping your burdens get lighter ♪ ♪ Hoping that peace will come again and you'll ♪ ♪ Be free ♪ ♪ You'll be free ♪ ♪ My heart's with you ♪ ♪ Your children too ♪ ♪ Hope you get away ♪ ♪ Find a better day ♪ ♪ And I will pray ♪ ♪ For those who stay ♪ ♪ To try and save your homes ♪ ♪ You are not alone ♪ ♪ I'm hoping for a change in the weather ♪ ♪ Hoping that things will get better ♪ ♪ Hoping the sun will shine again ♪ ♪ for you to see ♪ ♪ I'm hoping the skies will get brighter ♪ ♪ Hoping your burdens get lighter ♪ ♪ Hoping that peace will come again and you'll ♪ ♪ Be free ♪ ♪ You'll be free ♪ (guitar solo) ♪ We're hoping for a change in the weather ♪ ♪ Hoping that things will get better.

♪ ♪ Hoping the sun will shine again ♪ ♪ for you to see ♪ ♪ We're hoping the skies will get brighter ♪ ♪ Hoping your burdens get lighter ♪ ♪ Hoping that peace will come again ♪ ♪ and you'll be free ♪ ♪ You'll be free ♪ ♪ You'll be free ♪ ♪ You'll be free ♪ (music ends) - [Announcer] Support for Kalamazoo Lively Arts is provided by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, helping to build and enrich the cultural life of greater Kalamazoo.

(upbeat music) ♪ Can you whisper ♪ ♪ Can you whisper ♪ ♪ Can you whisper ♪ ♪ The bittersweet between my teeth ♪ ♪ Trying to find the in-between ♪ ♪ Fall back in love eventually ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Can you whisper ♪ ♪ The bittersweet between my teeth ♪ ♪ Can you whisper ♪ ♪ Trying to find the in-between ♪ ♪ Can you whisper ♪ ♪ Fall back in love eventually ♪ ♪ Can you whisper ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪