Larken Productions
Media and Entertainment
Larry Kinder
Larry Kinder was born and raised in beautiful downtown Burbank. He got his first guitar at the age of 10. It quickly became apparent he had an ear for music. While taking lessons he would learn popular songs by ear and practice the mandatory (though less exciting) songs given to him by his teacher to improve technique. His first band - David and Friends - was a rock instrumental band that played for weddings and parties. His next band was Lonnie’s Legends and the Currents. This band was formed and managed by the father of Lonnie and his two sisters (Nancy & Donna). They played bars, restaurants, and high school dances. It was also Larry’s first experience in recording an original song written by Lonnie’s father for the band.
After a family relocation to Sunnyvale, in northern California, Larry joined The Nubreeds. This band was a top 40 rock band with no original material. They played dances and private parties. They won a “battle of the bands” contest which sent them to Hollywood, Ca. with a recording contract. Unfortunately, because of a lack of original material they never recorded anything and missed what might have been a fortuitous opportunity. This unfortunate event convinced Larry to become a song writer.
Several rock bands followed after The Nubreeds broke up. Each lasting no more than a year or so. Brimstone Carriage, Shifty Henry,
and Nevada were the highlights during that period.
Larry met Kenney at this point in his music career (lar-ken) and they formed two groups, Felix and Genesus. Tired of the expense and hassle of five to nine member bands they quit the band scene and formed an acoustic duo. They played popular songs at the local steak houses and bars for about a year until Kenney was offered to go on the road with another band. Unwilling to continue on this path Larry decided to finish college. He moved to San Diego and in three years graduated from SDSU with a B.A. in music. During this period Larry helped form the Classical/Spanish guitar quartet Orion. The Orion guitar quartet performed for about a year at colleges, libraries, and at outdoor concerts. They completed one album, “The Orion Quartet”.
He continued for another two years and completed an M.A. degree in music composition. The following year Larry taught music at one of the San Diego elementary schools. He soon decided he wasn’t cut out to be a teacher and through a series of events moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. It was there that Larry joined a local country-rock band in need of a guitar player. Jubal was already established in Utah and played regularly at clubs, ski resorts, and private parties. Larry married during this time and had two daughters. After about a year Jubal was in need of a singer, percussionist, front-man type guy and Larry thought of Kenney. The timing was right. Kenney had just come off a divorce and needed a change. Larry invited him to move to Utah and the rest, as they say, is history. Jubal never recorded an album although they had a lot of original material. The reason is not clear though money had to be a part of it. A lack of commitment to that kind of goal was more likely the reason. Their last band together was Orion (taken from the guitar quartet). Designed as a top-40 rock music group they played dance clubs for a year or two. Larry remarried during this time and had another daughter. Although Larry has continued to compose, practice, and record in his “home studio” he never joined another band. Going “Solo” seemed to satisfy his creative needs until he reunited with Kenney as “LARKEN PRODUCTIONS”. The purpose of which is to archive, sell, and create anything that seems to be of interest artistically, e.g., music, books, plays, or other marketing ideas related to one of these categories.
Kenney Ruano
He played in various obscure groups through high school Gilded Cage, Lotion,
and Avalanche, and then in the early 1970’s met , what would become a lifelong friend through their girlfriends, Larry Kinder and the two formed a group, Felix, which became, believe it or not, “Genesus,” before the very famous Phil Collins’s Genesis. It was then that Kenney got a wild hair and went on the road with a group formed by Linda and Al Poole that would be based out of Denver for several years called, “South Bay Express.” They eventually landed back in the San Francisco Bay Area where they recorded and released a 45 single locally. Kenney left the music industry for a time got married, had children and moved to Redding California. Then after a divorce Kenney found Larry again in Utah where Larry was playing with a group known as Jubal. Kenney vacationed in Utah to visit Larry and the group asked if Kenney would consider becoming a member of Jubal because they were going through some personnel changes. Kenney accepted and moved to Utah. This group was together eight years and made some recordings produced then by Sam Foster the Drummer for the Osmund’s. Eventually like all good things this came to an end. Larry, Kenney and Dennis Prestwich formed another group called Orion to play just for fun. Kenney then found the Martial Arts and left music. He then found it was a missing piece of his life and the two got together and decided it would be great to create things together again. SO LOOK OUT! HERE THEY COME… AGAIN!
At that time Kenney was also attending San Jose State University with a major in Theater and a minor in radio and Television. Larry then agreed to teach Kenney to play guitar so the two might form an acoustic duo. So they set out to conquer the local bay area bar scene. The two played briefly with a local thirteen piece horn band and a 1950’s group, “Daddy O.”
