Christian Solorzano [00:00]

Hello, you are listening to Underscore, a show by the Chicago Graphic Design Club. I am your host, Christian Solorzano, and today I am sharing my conversation with Coby Regehr, the son of Carl Regehr, somebody who shaped Chicago's design landscape and whose legacy continues to be felt through our city. Carl was born in 1919 into a Mennonite family and spent his life building a body of work that helped the city reimagine itself as a place with culture, architecture, and something worth showing to the world.

Coby first reached out to me in late 2025 after listening to an episode of Underscore, a conversation that I had with Rick Valicenti, and told me it reminded him of a journal entry his father had written the week before the moon landing in 1969. A reflection on technology, power, and what we choose to do with human energy. It's the kind of writing that holds up, and it's the kind of mind this episode is about.

I admire Carl Regehr as somebody with a restlessness and passion that I am familiar with. Aspirations to leave behind a positive impact through design and its ability to shape culture and dialogue. Getting to hear about his life through his son's eyes it is an honor and one of the reasons why I love doing this show so much. As always, if you enjoy conversations like these, I appreciate your support when you leave us a rating wherever you listen and that you share with your friends.

It really helps expand our reach and the impact of this show. Thank you so much for tuning in and enjoy the conversation. Welcome, Coby, to a very special episode of Underscore. Very special episode of Underscore. In this series of conversations that I have, usually the feature is the person that I speak with, but in this case, I'm speaking with you, Coby, and you are the son of Carl. And I would love to have you introduce yourself and tell us where you're located.

Coby Regehr [02:24]

I'm Carl Regehr's son, Coby. I'm located in right outside of Salt Lake City in an area called Suncrest, living at an altitude of about 6,700 feet. Been here since on and off since 1974, 75 when I left the Chicago area.

Christian Solorzano [02:44]

And when and the last time that you and I were speaking, you mentioned that you did spend some time living in Illinois. In your childhood, correct?

Coby Regehr [02:54]

Yeah, I grew up in Glenview, went to Maine East High School was a swimmer, swam against RB, Riverside Brookfield, probably close to you. Oh, nice. Went to the University of Southern Mississippi, graduated with a bachelor's degree in Russian language. Never used that at all and became a salesman after I left school.

Christian Solorzano [03:21]

And what was your childhood like?

Coby Regehr [03:23]

Typical middle-class neighborhood, little baseball park. I was a, I was in Little League. We had a park at the end of the street where I grew up. So we all hung out there as kids. We had a basketball court. We had an ice skating rink, just a typical North Shore Chicago neighborhood.

Christian Solorzano [03:43]

Did you grow up— I'm guessing, well, I can say with confidence that you grew up around a lot of creativity. What was that like?

Coby Regehr [03:49]

Yeah, I grew up with a lot of creativity because my dad never stopped creating. He was creating all the time. Yeah, continuously. And I spent a lot of time I spent a lot of time as a kid in his studio. He was he was at 200 East Ohio until he moved into 333 North Michigan Avenue. But I would go down on the weekends and watch him do layouts and watch him design various projects that he was working on. So I was around the creativity.

We weren't— as kids, my sister and I, we weren't permitted to watch cartoons. We there were a lot of things we were not permitted to do. And I think that was probably because of my dad's background as growing up in a Mennonite family where everything was super strict. So it was a strict household as far as what you're going to watch. And if it's not creative and it's not holding any value, you won't be watching it.

Christian Solorzano [05:00]

Yeah. And as a kid, did you hold any resentment towards that attitude of No restriction.

Coby Regehr [05:07]

No, because my dad and I were really— we were really tight. We were buddies. When I got older, we were definitely buddies.

Christian Solorzano [05:18]

Yeah. And as you were growing up, did you understand the work that he was doing? Did he explain it to you? And did you have interest in understanding it?

Coby Regehr [05:28]

Lots of times on the weekends we'd do museums or we would go to art shows. The Old Town Art Festival, we always go there. My dad would always— knew half the artists there and they would trade back and forth. He'd give them something, they'd give him something. It was a respect for one another. We had property down the Indiana Sand Dunes.

We used to go to the Indiana Sand Dunes on the weekend and meet with a lot of the same people that he was in the business with. So I knew the names of most of the guys that he was competitive with or were in the same business that he was in. So I grew up around a lot of those people myself. So I knew a lot of the various people and I knew their names, most of them.

Christian Solorzano [06:21]

Yeah. And your father's work that I've been familiar with is that there is always a strong sense of social responsibility. As the overarching theme in a lot of the personal work of his that I've explored. And was that social responsibility or awareness instilled in you as you were growing up in regards to politics and just sort of social issues?

Coby Regehr [06:50]

There were always social issues. There was always, I mean, I grew up in a very liberal household. What was exposed to LGBTQ as a young kid. That was just not an issue. That was just something that was there way before anybody discussed that sort of thing. Not much religion was discussed, basically because of the heavy-duty religious background my dad came from. He really didn't want much to do with it. My sister and I were exposed to a lot of things at a young age.

So I can remember the beatnik area or the beatnik time. Parents would have a party, lots of smoking, lots of cart— lots of martinis, lots of alcohol. That would have been in the Late '50s, early '60s.

It was there. It happened. I came home from school in the late '60s with a girlfriend, and my dad says, hey, I know you guys are living together, so don't— feel free, whatever you want to do in this house. And by the way, if you're going to smoke dope, I don't want you driving. So it was, it wasn't that he didn't care. It was like, it's there. If you're going to do it, you should.

Christian Solorzano [08:22]

Was your father born in 1919?

Coby Regehr [08:23]

He was born in 1919 in, I think, Hillsboro, Kansas. Kansas, I believe. Yeah.

Christian Solorzano [08:30]

Yeah. And he grew up as a Mennonite. And then how did he manage to leave and develop his own point of view on things? Independently.

Coby Regehr [08:42]

All the kids in the family— there were 4 kids in his family— they all left home when they were 18 years or 17 maybe. I mean, I know my dad just ran away and went to the West Coast. I think got a job as a painter out there in the West Coast, took on the art, was doing a little at Woodbury College. Then he got drafted. Then my uncle got drafted, and my uncle was in a POW camp.

And then there were 2 girls left in the family. They both ran away. I think my grandparents only saw one of their children married, my dad and my mom. The others just, they just took off. They couldn't take it. It was really a super religious household. Can't chew gum, can't dance, can't do this, can't do that. Strict. Ruled by God all day long.

Christian Solorzano [09:36]

Yeah. And as he once he moved away from that, did he keep in touch with the people that he grew up with?

Coby Regehr [09:44]

As far as I know, he didn't communicate with anybody in his community. I don't think he hit— he was a basketball player and he was a good basketball player. And I think there were a couple guys on his basketball team in high school that maybe he touched base with once in a while. But essentially, no. And then my grandparents moved into the, into the Denver area, or they were in Fort Morgan, Colorado, then they were in Denver, then they were in Colorado Springs.

And my dad just really never went to see him, didn't have a whole lot to do with him, and then started his own life in Chicago or in Denver.

Christian Solorzano [10:24]

And then in what year when does he come to Chicago? At what year?

Coby Regehr [10:29]

I believe he came to Chicago in '59.

Christian Solorzano [10:33]

Okay. And I remember you mentioned that one of his one of his ambitions was to redesign Chicago.

Coby Regehr [10:42]

I'm going to tell you a little story and then I'll backtrack into this and it'll answer your question.

One of the things that used to drive me crazy in trying to start my own career was I would ask my dad, I'd say, Dad, I need to make some money. When am I going to make some money? I'm just not getting paid enough. And the standard answer was, hey man, you've got to pay some dues. You're not going to make any money till you pay some dues. Well, when you're 21 years old, you're not sure what does that mean?

What does it mean to pay dues? So I worked 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 years, still wasn't popping down the kind of salary or the money that I wanted. And then all of a sudden, because I was getting a track record, things started to happen a little bit better for me. So what I learned from that procedure and that process was my dad came to Chicago. And started paying his dues with a small ad agency, Burt Ray Studios. One of his first accounts was Abbott Laboratories.

So he had Abbott and he was doing pretty well. And he was, he was networking throughout the city, networking with everybody he could. And his favorite thing was do your own thing. Network, make relationships, absolutely don't burn bridges. So I think what happened to him was, or what I know happened to him was, he made terrific relationships with all the people that he did business with, and he wasn't burning bridges. So then he goes out on his own, forms his own studio.

And I was looking today at the clients that he had way before he did Chicago Magazine. Abbott Laboratories, Allstate, American Medical Association, Aspen International Design Conference, Champion Papers, Container Corporation of America, Doubleday Books, Fansteel, Hopper Paper. And then this one we've all heard of— excuse me— ITT. Did he design their logo for them? So all this time he's building relationships. Tuthill Pump. And his favorite thing was using really bright colors, stuff that's in your face.

Then he did the symbol for the Committee for Cultural Economic Development of Chicago right here. So all of this ties together on what his social responsibility is. His social responsibility was for himself. I'm really tired of working for the man. I'm really tired of it. It got to the point where I started learning about what was really going on in the business. Things that people really don't know unless you're in the business and how the business works. You're the creative guy.

You get hired by the art director or the VP of marketing or the CEO of the company. So you're essentially working for 2 or 3 people, or maybe you're working for a committee. That's all fine and dandy, but then the day comes where you've penetrated pretty well into a company, and maybe you get an art director who says, hey man, I can give you some more work. I need some favors for myself.

I remember a particular incident because I happened to be in my dad's studio the day that this happened, where a rep came in.

That had given my dad leads on several things. And my dad's paying him a commission, obviously. The guy comes in and tells him, you can have XYZ account. And I won't mention who the account is. Substantial, big account in the Chicagoland area. Everybody would know the name if I used the name. He says, I can get you 5-year contract with this company. You will do everything. You'll read Redesign everything, but I need this back in my pocket. That was it.

My dad said, nope, sorry, I don't operate that way. Do yourself a favor, out the door and don't come back. Then he sat me down and he said, this is what just happened to me, and I don't play ball that way, and I'm not paying anybody under the table. So I think that sort of thing started happening. It takes place. I've had it happen to me. I've had, I had guys when I was in business want me kicking them back and I'd just leave.

I wouldn't do that. So what I think happened to him was he, or what I know happened, he had such good relationships with the mayor and the Committee for Cultural Development in Chicago. He decided to— he wanted to change the image of Chicago from being a hard goods town and from being— having that shadow over the head of Sam Giancana, Tony Accardo. We control the city, the mafia, the Outfit. And that's what Chicago was known for, the Outfit.

Even when I went to school in Mississippi, oh, the mafia's up there. Oh, it's the mafia city.

Do you know any of those guys? It was that type of deal. He went in and he sold Chicago. And what's interesting is, and this is something probably people wouldn't understand at the time, but I think this makes a good story. This was the initial issue. 10,000 copies sold out overnight. This was to show a new image of Chicago. This is what Chicago is. So what did he do? So what did my dad do?

He subcontracted out the best photographers, the best writers, the best people that were in the arts industry to be in the magazine. So then new issues would come out. Okay, we'll do an issue. This is what goes on in Chicago in the summertime. We have a lake, we sail boats. So the whole issue is, this is what goes on in Chicago in the summertime. So he's covering that, showing a whole new deal. Oh, well, let's talk about Our medical industry in Chicago.

Let's talk about what kind of medicine, what kind of doctors do we have, what goes on here, and on. Let's go a step further. Let's talk about our architecture. Let's talk about our culture. So everything had a theme to it, and all of that was—

Christian Solorzano [18:28]

The '80s.

Coby Regehr [18:30]

This is who we are. This is what we represent. So it was really showing what the whole city of Chicago was all about. And nobody had done that before. And I think after he had finished that, he was like, I've just had it with corporate life. I will— he had opportunities from IIT to teach there for a time. And he was a guest. He was a guest teacher there on and off.

Then U of I offered him a position to come down and head up the design department, Champaign. And I think he was doing that part-time. And I think all of a sudden he said, it flipped the switch. I gotta get outta the city. The city's driving me nuts. So they moved. He and my stepmom moved down to Urbana, and he started teaching there.

And I think what he wanted to do, I think his objective was, I want to mentor the younger generation and let them know how I got to where I am, and I have something to offer to these kids. Because he ran a classroom totally different than any other teacher did. He came in the beginning of the semester. He had a project. This is going to be your project for the semester.

The grades that you get on in this project is going to help to determine where you're headed in the future. So now what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you an opportunity to come to my studio for an hour each week and meet with me, and we're going to discuss the project that you're working on. And basically what he gave them was a design project on— this is XYZ Company. What are you going to do for them? Brand them?

What are you going to do? You're going to do annual reports for them? You're going to do everything for them? And everybody had a different approach. So they'd come to his studio and they would discuss it. And very unique way of teaching somebody rather than in a classroom situation. Was a real deal. So I wish somebody would've taken me into a room and said, this is how you have to sell.

Because even today, the professors and the people Teaching a marketing or a sales class have no clue what they're doing. So I think he kind of laid it down. This is what's going on, man. And those that did a really good— those that succeeded at his course for the semester, man, he helped those kids get jobs, man. He had the contacts across the United States with everybody. He could call up Pushpin Studios in New York and say, hey, I got a kid here that's really good.

Will you take a look at him? And because they knew his reputation, they'd take a look at the kid. So he did a lot of good for a lot of students. And he gave me a story one time. He said, well, most of these kids would come of course, I had some deadbeats. I had a lot of good ones. He said, I had a girl one time. She showed up for her appointment. She said, Carl, she said, I just don't know what to do.

I don't know how to do this. I'm in touch with the Lord, and the Lord hasn't given me any direction on which way I should go on this project. Well, this went on. For about 2 months. Girl came back in to see him. She had done absolutely nothing. And she said, the Lord is just not leading me in the right direction on this project. My dad was pretty cool. He's, yeah, well, you gotta get something together here.

You get— so anyway, it's like the week before the project's supposed to be done, she comes in, she's got nothing. She says, Carl, she says, I've spoken to God again. He's just not leading me in the right direction. My dad says, well, he says, I spoke to him also, and he tells me you get an F. That was his sense of humor. So he had a great sense of humor.

And story I'll relate to you was something that he taught me that I thought was really interesting. The year before he died, we were dealing with the fact that we knew he was going to check out. We knew time was— the time was getting short. Final approach was on its way, but we just didn't know when. So he says, I want to, I want to go up on the East Coast.

He says, I want to go up to the top of Maine, spend a couple of weeks up there. I said, all right, cool. So we went up to this haughty toddy. 100% ultra right-wing conservative old-time resort that had been there since the beginning of time. And on the beach outside of Kennebunkport, I think it was in Sanford, Maine, maybe not Sanford, but outside of Kennebunkport. We go to dinner every night and it was the Tie, sport coat, nice slacks.

And it was— no one knew him, so he's kind of like the guy over in the shadows. But people would stop by and say, oh and who are you? We haven't seen you here before. I'm Carl Regehr. It's my son, Coby. Oh, what do you do, Mr. Regehr? I'm an educator. No one was using that term then. They'd walk away. And so at the end of this 2 weeks, as we're driving back to Philadelphia, I was living in Pennsylvania for the time being.

He says, how'd you, how'd you enjoy the club? I said, what club? Well, you got to see the East Coast club. This last couple weeks. So what do you mean by that? Well, he says, you got to see the Ivy League. That's the club. They've been going there since they were kids, all the way up till they're 80, 90 years old, and they die up there. That's the folks that run the country out in New York City. That's the group. He made a good point.

I got it. And that's why I never went to the East Coast to work. He made the point and you're seeing it and you see it more and more now running. It's the, it's the club. So I thought that, he did things in a subtle way.

Christian Solorzano [25:46]

And what were his, where was he pulling inspiration from? Or did he have a mentor or who was his, you mentioned that for many students he was a source of, inspiration, but did he have someone to also look up to and get guidance from, or how was he developing these ideas and testing them?

Coby Regehr [26:10]

I think that his— it was a never-stop learning process, which right behind me here's 100 books back here. His face was in a book continuously.

Christian Solorzano [26:23]

He was—

Coby Regehr [26:25]

He never stopped learning. Always a design book. He was real tight with at Krack and Brentano's when it was like the top bookstore in Chicago. Knew the buyer there. He always got the first books that came out that were limited edition books by graphic design guys from around the world. His nose was always in a book. I don't know of any single individual that he looked up to.

Christian Solorzano [26:55]

What was his typical day like? Monday, start of the week, what time did he wake up? What did he eat?

Coby Regehr [27:04]

4 o'clock in the morning. He'd be up at— he'd be up at 4. The stereo would be going full bore, pretty much jazz blues, both of them. Lots of jazz. Coltrane, Miles, lots of people that you've probably never even heard of. And then it would be create, do what I got to do. Then probably around 8 o'clock, have breakfast and out the door.

Christian Solorzano [27:36]

What frustrated him? Laziness?

Coby Regehr [27:40]

Yep.

Like he'd say, I have some students that just aren't motivated by anything. There's some students I just can't get through to. He's— he brought up a really interesting thing one time. He said, the students, my top performing students are kids who are working their way through school. Some of the students that I get whose parents have got rolling in money. They do nothing. They're not interested in anything. They just want to get a grade and get out the door. He was always there to help somebody.

Christian Solorzano [28:18]

I teach as well, and when you were speaking about your father meeting with students individually, that reminded me of something that I've been doing recently where instead of teaching to the whole class, I run individual classes to small groups and they all get a very distinct lecture from me that's directly related to what they're working on as opposed to just an overall—

Coby Regehr [28:44]

Well, I think what it comes down to today is in order to provide a solution for anyone in your particular business, which I'm not in, but I understand the business, you have to be focused. You have to be willing to take a risk. You've gotta have relationships. You can't burn bridges behind you. And you just got to be able to— I don't think you're going into a situation today where you're just designing a bubblegum wrapper.

You could do that, or you could go in and provide a total solution. I mean, I have a friend that has a little tiny advertising agency in Pennsylvania. He's in a little niche market. He does full turnkey services for people. He does the graphic design, he does the printing, he does everything so they can come to him and get everything done. He does packaging, he does ship— ships out direct marketing mailers. He does everything for them.

And I think today, to succeed in the graphic arts business, I think you have to provide a total solution. It's not just, I'm going to do a brochure for you. Do you, what do you, what is it you really want me to do? And you're only going to get that after you've done some work for them, you've proven yourself, and you can give them value added. And I think the value added thing is a big thing. What else can I add?

Christian Solorzano [30:24]

And the fascinating thing is that your father was doing most of his work with no computer, with no technology that makes things so easy now.

Coby Regehr [30:35]

So cut and paste paper, not on the computer. Yeah. Cut paper out. If you saw his drawing board, I mean, his drawing board, you could sand for years and it would still have X-Acto He was cutting all the time. Cut, paste, off to the typesetter, off to the printer, do the proof, come back. And you have to be a professional, as you well know. You've got to be a pro in the printing business.

You've got to go do a press check and see what the hell's going on.

Christian Solorzano [31:13]

It seems like he also had a very a very disciplined Writing practice. Was he always writing, like journaling and sort of documenting his state of mind and his ideas and his thoughts? Because I've you and I, we spoke a little bit about this book when we last spoke, and here's—

Coby Regehr [31:34]

Well, I mean, take a look. There's— there were 27 books there. Yeah, there were actually, there were actually about 35. I have 3 that were done to me, for me, done for me, to Coby from Dad. He never stopped. He never stopped. He was writing, he was creating all the time. And he, he's usually— he was usually in bed 7:30, 8:00 and up 3:30, 4:00 all the time.

Christian Solorzano [32:10]

And, you mentioned that you were so close to him. When you look at the state of design today, or the visual landscape, or design culture, do you tend to have a part of you that sees things through your father's eyes? And is there a little voice in your head that maybe says, Dad would have liked that, or, he would have hated that?

Coby Regehr [32:36]

Oh yeah, all the time.

Christian Solorzano [32:38]

Okay. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Coby Regehr [32:40]

It's just when you're raised with good design, you understand it.

I see stuff sometimes and I go, if my dad saw that, he would just— he'd lose it. He'd absolutely lose it. But, his home, he always had really nice— he had nice furnishings. And one time he said to me, he said, if I had my— if I really— He said, if I really could do the house the way I want it, he said, I want one gigantic room. I want a kitchen at one end, a bathroom at the other end.

I want a $100,000 Persian rug on the floor. I want a couple of Corbusier lounge chairs, and I want the best stereo money can buy. And there you go. That's what I want. Less is more. He kind of liked the less is more type philosophy. I can take you into a whole nother arena, which I will someday. I'll send you a paper. We won't do it now.

On, in 1971, at the Aspen Design Conference, there was a revolt with the with the West Coast designers going up against the East Coast designers in the Midwest. And it basically dissolved the Aspen Design Conference. It actually blew it up.

Christian Solorzano [34:11]

What were they arguing about?

Coby Regehr [34:14]

Remember you had the Vietnam War going on, you had riots going on in the street, and you were blessed with Dick Nixon, and you had pretty vocal radical group of people about design, about what's going on in the country, about who controls it, who's right, who's wrong. I will send you a copy of my dad did a my dad did a poster there. With a Black guy from Chicago, Herb Jackson.

And he and Herb wrote up a whole— their ideas on the way that the design conference in Aspen should be run. Okay. Then they printed up a poster and then they handed out their poster. Unfortunately, I have what the poster said on it. The only available copies of the poster that my dad had was in a mad fury of probably too many scotches or too many gin and tonics. He spray painted it with fluorescent colors so you couldn't read it.

And that's— I don't have, I don't have a copy, but I have, I do have what he wrote. That was presented to Stewart Udall at the time, who was the Secretary of the Interior. And basically what they were saying is, we live in a white racist society, it needs to change, and the Aspen Institute should be the people that start to instigate that change. And we need to become aware of what's going on around us.

And we need to set up a media tent in Aspen that covers everything worldwide on what's going on in the graphic arts business, in the arts business, and what's going on generally. And we should participate in that. My personal belief after reading that is He presented it to Udall, and Udall was non-commentary at the time, but I think Udall might have also been— he may have been the head of Aspen Institute at the time.

In the meantime, that's been passed on, that paper I'm talking about, to Herb Jackson's daughter, who's Real, who grew up with Obama, with Michelle and Obama. And she's going to talk to Walter Isaacson about it. He was the head of the Aspen Institute for years, several years. He's an author. He teaches at Tulane in New Orleans. She wants a definitive answer on if he ever saw this paper, and did this paper ever get circ— circulated around?

Because the Aspen Institute today is kind of followed the blueprint of what was written. So I wonder, she wonders, and of course we'll never know because it's got to be tra—

Christian Solorzano [37:45]

Tra—

Coby Regehr [37:45]

Tracked down, and probably no one's going to be able to say yes or no. Yeah, maybe. But you'll find it interesting, and I will— Get you a copy of it for you to read.

Christian Solorzano [37:55]

Yeah. And with your father having such strong convictions, did he— was he viewed as a threat, or were there any enemies that he made along the way for being so bold and having strong morals? Because I noticed that in design today, I see that there's, the designers that accept the status quo and sort of give in to business as usual. And then there's the people that are desperately pushing back, being provocative. And there's some divide there.

And was your father— did he upset and did he disturb anyone?

Coby Regehr [38:41]

I don't think outright. Offensive to anybody. I think he voiced his opinion in a— if he voiced his opinion, he backed it up with fact rather than BS. I'm sure there's some people that probably didn't like the way he thought. He was— he knew when to pull the gun out, and he also— and he knew when to fire the gun, and he also knew when to get the stick out and poke somebody with it.

And if he was going to fire the gun, he was going to let him have it with both barrels. But he was going to back it up with, like I said, he was going to back it up with fact. The man was highly educated. Book knowledge, fact knowledge. And he had a super high IQ. So he'd call BS out when he had to, but he did it in a, in a manner where people, I think, understood.

Unless he was hanging around with some of the guys in the business, like Bruce Beck was a good friend of his. John Massey was a good friend. Those guys were all friends and they respected each other's work. Those guys weren't enemies. Towards one another, 'cause a lot of times they had to work on the same project together. My dad worked on projects with John Massey at Container, and— 'cause John was at Container continuously, and my dad worked with him.

And my dad and Bruce were really good friends. Herb Pinsky all the, all the old guys, Mort Shapiro, the photographer, they all were after the same work, but they had respect for one another. And I don't know what it's like now, if any of these guys have respect for anybody.

Christian Solorzano [40:38]

Yeah, I think the internet landscape has drastically changed everything. I collect design history books and specifically about Chicago. And back then you'd get your portfolio in print and it'd be a big deal. And today just about anyone can create a portfolio in a matter of seconds. So I think— The entryway to design has made it so that anyone can now practice, but I think the bar—

Coby Regehr [41:08]

Excuse me, I didn't mean to interrupt. You have an ADD audience. If you want to get your point across today, and it seems that the only people that really know how to get their point across are 8 to 15-year-old kids that do a 20-second TikTok.

And they get the point across. It's viral. You can't do something— you can't do a portfolio today, a video portfolio today that lasts for 2 minutes. You lose the audience. Yeah, it's— I agree with you. You can create something instantaneously. It's instantaneous gratification, and I don't know where that's going to go.

Christian Solorzano [41:56]

Yeah. What do you think your father would have made of artificial intelligence?

Coby Regehr [42:02]

Well, he would've gone all the way back and he would've said, okay, you've got search engines that are running 24/7.

Are the search engines picking up bullshit? Yeah, because you know they are. And they're picking up truth. And now they're gonna combine the two and then they're gonna give you an answer. I've seen it. Yeah. I've seen it with myself. I've asked the computer who I am and they got that all screwed up. Artificial intelligence. They got half of it right and half of it's wrong. How are they going to fix that? I mean, how are they going to fix that?

Christian Solorzano [42:40]

I feel like people are losing, I mean, they've been losing trust in big tech for many years now. And I think critical thinking is now more important than ever.

Coby Regehr [42:51]

It's absolutely 100%. It's, is there that opportunity anymore? Because I've had arguments with— I've had arguments with guys that are doing various projects to grab an audience, okay, via the computer. How many hits am I getting? How many hits am I getting? Is there any degree anymore of ethics? Is there anybody trying to go further? Outside of the computer and get away from it? Or are they allowing the computer to run their lives? It's a necessary tool, granted, but is it now running people's lives?

Christian Solorzano [43:39]

I think so. I know that for myself, I've been using AI for many things, and I think the argument in the beginning was that AI was gonna make work Happened faster, but I noticed that I'm now working more as a result of using AI. And it's this curse of convenience that I think is very difficult to escape.

Coby Regehr [44:09]

My personal experience, and I called on all the high-tech companies, every single one of them when they first started, you name them, I was there in their office talking to them. And at the time, in the early or mid-'80s till the mid-'90s, I was talking to the guys that today own them. None of them knew what the hell they were doing. They had a focus, which they carried their focus through, but I don't think any of them knew exactly what was going to happen.

I don't think any of these guys knew that they were going to end up being billionaires because it just happened. I mean, I remember being on the Microsoft campus in the mid-'90s or the late '90s, and it looked like an exotic car lot. Ferraris, Maseratis, Lamborghinis. At that time, I think there was 30,000 people on the campus. Maybe not quite 30,000. And, a third of those people were millionaires on stock. I mean, this instantaneous wealth has driven a whole new culture too.

Christian Solorzano [45:25]

And are you someone that is pretty hopeful about the future?

Coby Regehr [45:31]

What bothers me right now is I don't see protest. If this crap that's going on right now happened when I was a kid growing up, my generation would be on the street burning buildings down, going crazy, raising hell until it stopped. I mean, we have a government right now being run by one idiot, followed by all of the ones that are in his party. It's the guy handing the cheese out to everybody and they just Won't go against him.

I'm wondering, when are people gonna start to speak up? And I think right now I'm starting to see it. Where's the protest? Where's the posters on— where's the posters in the subway? Where's the posters on the street? Where's street art?

Christian Solorzano [46:23]

Where is it?

Coby Regehr [46:23]

Where's the rebellion? It's not in a little parade that's got 20 people there that are upset about something. Where's the protest? And I'm, I've been waiting for it to happen. I don't see it happening. I see the media right now starting to ask some serious questions and some senators on the other side starting to cave a little bit, but this has gotta stop. We got a madman running our country.

Christian Solorzano [46:54]

Yeah, that's true.

Coby Regehr [46:55]

Insane madman running the country. My dad would've been crazy. The artwork that he'd be— he would be cranking out right now would be unbelievable. So I don't see that. Where is that generation that wants— do they not wanna speak out? Are they afraid to speak out?

Christian Solorzano [47:15]

In Chicago, it's pretty vocal. Just about anywhere in the city, you'll see stickers and posters and things that are protesting against Trump and ICE, for example. But I think the overall sentiment that I feel is people feel kind of numb, and there, there's a sense of numbness that I gather. From— and I think it— and I think it's quite sad, but I feel like the antidote to that is hope and positivity and optimism.

Coby Regehr [47:54]

Yeah, there's all— there's going to be a whole set of new opportunities for everybody in 3 years, 2 and a half years, because this oppression is going to let up. This guy's not going to be there forever. Yeah, he's going to be gone. I think that's going to open up a lot of new things for everyone because it's going to be a whole new process, a whole new thought process.

I've been wondering, when are people going to speak out? Where is the— like I said, back in my era, we wouldn't have put up with this crap had it not been for my generation. We shut the Vietnam War down. We forced Nixon, shut this damn war down or we're going to tear this country up beyond anything you've ever seen. He had no choice. I don't see that anymore. Not that was right.

Christian Solorzano [48:54]

Maybe you should run for president.

Coby Regehr [48:57]

I mean, I saw, I saw my dad come home after being gassed in Lincoln Park at this— wow, at the convention.

That's when he did the piece with the United States of America with the star on Chicago with the blood coming out and going down into the Gulf. And he took that, he did, it was a big piece and he took it to NBC in Chicago because he knew John Chancellor and he got on the program that following morning after the cops had gone crazy in Chicago and they showed that on the show.

But see, I don't see, I don't see anybody being active in that kind of manner right now. You see a handful of people on the street. We're fed up. Go away. Hey, at least they blew the— they were supposed to have a camp here. They shut it down this week. Cops said, we're not participating with ICE.

Got a million square foot warehouse out here. That's identical to the other 3 or 4 that they built, obviously built while he was out of office. I mean, I see a plan that was there, but we're not putting up with it here. Even I'm, even I'm in an ultra-conservative state, but cops didn't want to get involved in this stuff. But anyway.

Christian Solorzano [50:29]

So before your dad passed, was there something that he was working towards? Was there any incomplete body of work that he was focused on, or what kind of conversations or what kind of things was he talking about that he felt like he still wanted to do or was eager to get started?

Coby Regehr [50:48]

Well, interesting. Well, I'll backtrack a second. When we go, we'll go back to Maine for a second. We were sitting at the table having drinks and he said to me, he said, Everything in the world's gonna happen for you. This was 1982. I said, what do you mean, Dad? And he says, hey, there's some guys out in California, man. They're putting together a computer.

He said, I don't know what it's gonna be, but he said, what's gonna be interesting is, he said, first and foremost, you're in the wrong business. You need to get out there and you need to find out what's going on in Palo Alto. I said, oh, it's easier said than done, Dad. I don't have the money to just pull up and go out there. Well, you need to. Well, of course I never did. But he sat there and he said, we're going to have a device.

He said, it's going to be small. And he said, I don't know exactly what it's going to be yet. But he said, you are going to be able to communicate face-to-face worldwide with anybody you want to communicate. The Mac wasn't out yet. These iPhones weren't out yet, but he foresaw that. He said, oh yeah, it's— your generation is going to go into something that never happened before. You're going to be able to speak to somebody in Tokyo instantaneously, face to face.

So he was thinking ahead all the time. And he always used to— he would always tell me— I talked to him like every other day. He'd say, man, you— I said, I look forward for what's going to happen to you in the future because you're going into a whole new realm of something we've never seen before. So he could foresee it, but he was doing— I've got a whole bunch of collages that he did that are pretty nice that nobody's seen.

I've got a bunch of hidden stuff that I haven't even— I find new stuff all the time. I have box after box of stuff that I just haven't had the time to go through. I find new stuff all the time, like that jazz thing I sent you the other day. I just ran across that. But what happened was he was diagnosed with his brain tumor in May and he was gone in September.

And the last time I saw him, I flew out to see him, I think in August before he died, and he died in September, first part of August. He was pretty coherent for 15, 20 minutes, and then he'd go bonkers. It was, he had melanoma. It's not a good way to go out because I picked, he was a, he was, he was 6'2. 6'3 maybe. He was down to about, I'd say about 185 pounds. He didn't dwindle down into a skeleton.

I helped him get into bed and I was holding his back while he laid down. His back felt like a, like if you filled up a pillowcase with golf balls.

Because that damn cancer had just exploded and it was everywhere. And those were just all tumors. Thank God brain cancer doesn't have any pain to it. So he went out pretty easy. But after that, I couldn't talk to him anymore because he was just too goofy. But he wrote a whole he wrote a whole letter to me and to my wife about his death. He wrote this whole thing about how I got diagnosed, what I've done with my life.

And there's no one that's going to save my ass, and this is going to be it, and you guys carry on. And it was just right straightforward. I read it at his memorial service. Excuse me. He just didn't pull any punches. He just said, this is it. So he was— he dealt with it, and I don't think he had any fear of checking out. I don't think he had one iota of fear of I think he was like, I want to see what's next.

What's on the horizon here? I'm on final approach and could be something new here. I think that's the way he looked at death.

Christian Solorzano [55:16]

Yeah. So he was born in 1919. What was his birthday?

Coby Regehr [55:20]

February 27th. He was a— I guess that's a Pisces.

Christian Solorzano [55:26]

But I'm just so glad that you reached out. And that I had the opportunity to like learn more about him through you and also get a chance to learn about you as well. Because I know we didn't talk too much about you on this, on this episode, but you, you've lived a pretty interesting life in the music industry. And—

Coby Regehr [55:49]

Let me tell you something. Yeah, I had a lot of fun. I had a hell of a lot of fun and I got to meet a lot of the musicians. I had dinner with, I had dinner one time, it was about 1995, '96. My wife and I had dinner with Buddy Guy and he was on one of our labels. And I said, hey, Buddy Guy. Yeah. I said, come on, sit down and eat with us.

He sat down with my wife and I, and I was talking to him about all the old blues guys in Chicago, and he was telling me where they were and when they died. And a really interesting man with no ego whatsoever. I just saw the other day, he's 89. I think he's 90 now. And the guy's getting ready to— he's been off the road for a while. He's getting ready to do like a 3-month tour again.

Good for him. Oh, I know, doggone, I know, I know for a fact in my mind, I know this. Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson, the Highwaymen. I gotta know in my mind that Kristofferson, Waylon and Cash all had to say, Willie's going to be the first one to go. Oh yeah, who's left? Willie. Willie's the only one left. Yeah, and he's still performing.

Christian Solorzano [57:32]

Yeah, and I've heard he's like a really highly ranked martial artist that still practices like every day is what I read. He's like a red belt or something.

Coby Regehr [57:43]

I met some, I met some characters. I mean, yeah, I knew I saw a lot of things I probably shouldn't have seen. But what's up? What surprises me to this day is I was talking to a really good friend of mine 2 days ago. He was the drummer for the Loggins and Messina Band. You probably don't know who they are, but they were a huge band in the '70s. Huge.

And he's— he played with Poco Loggins and Messina, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Pure Prairie League, all the '70s groups. And his roommate for like 2 years was Greg Allman. So I was telling him, I said, Greg Allman's got a documentary that came out last week. He says, yeah, I won't go see it. He says, I don't want to see it. He says, I lived with Greg. I know everything about Greg. They'll just do harm to him. He was a beautiful person.

I just don't want to, want to see what they have to say about him because it'll be BS. So I thought that was interesting hearing that. But the amount of drugs that these guys did in those days was phenomenal, and everybody kind of cleaned their act up. But I understand now through friends of mine out in LA that the cocaine hasn't gone away. People are doing it more now than they did it in the '60s and '70s. So yeah, I knew Boston George Jung.

Do you know who he is?

Christian Solorzano [59:24]

No.

Coby Regehr [59:24]

George Jung. Did you ever see the movie Blow?

Christian Solorzano [59:29]

Yes.

Coby Regehr [59:29]

With Johnny Depp?

Christian Solorzano [59:31]

Yeah.

Coby Regehr [59:32]

That was George Young. I went to college with him.

Christian Solorzano [59:37]

Oh, really?

Coby Regehr [59:38]

Yeah. He controlled 85% of the cocaine in the United States and got busted and had $100 million in the bank and lost it all. Not because he was doing the drug. He honest— when he got out of jail, he said he was a thrill junkie. He got high doing the deal. He said, I got high doing the deal. And he said, of course I was doing it, but not all the time. It didn't interest me.

He said, I got, I got off looking at a 12 by 12 room stacked with boxes all the way to the ceiling. All $100 bills. He said, we didn't even count it. He said, we counted a box and weighed it. We knew exactly how much $100,000 was. We knew exactly what it weighed. So we would just weigh everything. And he'd say, it was 22.6 pounds. That was a million bucks or whatever.

He said they literally took a— he was dealing marijuana on the West Coast in the late '60s.

He said, we literally took a van from California, drove it all the way to Miami, a Hertz rent-a-truck that you couldn't even get in the back of it. It was just full of money, boxes full of money. So we just would take it to the bank and put it in the bank. Because Miami was the only place that was taking it at the time. They weren't even hip to where it was coming from. So I've met some crazy people, man.

Christian Solorzano [61:22]

What do you spend your time doing now?

Coby Regehr [61:23]

I got a couple buddies I golf with. Not a lot anymore. Just kick back. I cook all the time. I love to cook.

Christian Solorzano [61:34]

What makes you happy? When are you your happiest?

Coby Regehr [61:39]

Probably when I'm cooking up a meal for about 15 people.

Christian Solorzano [61:42]

Okay. And what do you cook?

Coby Regehr [61:44]

Oh, this weekend I did a big, I did a big feast for everybody. I did a Key West pink shrimp fettuccine with shiitake mushrooms, bits of capicola, green onions, shrimp in olive oil and butter, of course. And fresh basil and some really good wine.

Christian Solorzano [62:11]

And as you've been unearthing, new things that you've never seen that your father has done, whether it's his drawings or his collages or his writings, what is— what feeling goes through your body when you, when you look at this stuff for the first time?

Coby Regehr [62:26]

It's like, where was he at this time? I'm finding some collages that he did where he just literally I think he just literally cut magazines up and then just put them together into a contemporary magnificent image. I mean, I think I sent you that one, Pablo Encounters Django Reinhardt. That's the kind of stuff I'm finding. And I've got a lot of stuff that's just incomplete that was laying out that he didn't finish.

Christian Solorzano [62:58]

Yeah. How often do you find yourself thinking about him?

Coby Regehr [63:02]

Oh, I don't know. On and off. There for a while after he died, I was thinking about him all the time. Not so much anymore. I, I— only time I think about him is when I see this idiot that runs this country. I always think, oh my God, he would have this guy down perfectly in a drawing and he'd be irate. My dad would have been really irate with this guy. Yeah. And I'm sure he would have, he would have absolutely loved Obama.

He would, he would love to see that whole new center that Obama put in. Architectural masterpiece, which nobody would understand that when they look at it. Seems to work on the inside when I saw him do the tour in there.

Christian Solorzano [63:55]

Yeah, it's beautiful. I still need to go check it out. It's on my list.

Coby Regehr [63:59]

I mean, what he did was— I mean, that man Obama's got it. I see Obama in my dad. I see a lot of things in Obama that I saw in my dad. The ability to be— to have a thought process like Obama said, we did studies on all these presidential libraries and found out that after 2 or 3 years, no one goes to them anymore. You get a handful in there every day.

So I think the idea that he did— he's basically created a campus is what he's done. That's what it appears to me like, a campus. And it's for everybody. I like the idea that Michelle said, oh, I always wanted to have a hill that I could go down on my sled. So they built a hill there for the kids to have a sled or a toboggan. That mindset, Obama and my dad would have been, they would really have gotten along. Oh my God, they would have.

Same, my dad has that same mindset that Obama had. I see a lot of my dad in Obama.

Christian Solorzano [65:10]

It was interesting to see that happen. And then just a few days before at the White House, a fighting match. It's like, it feels like a comedy skit. It feels so—

Coby Regehr [65:23]

It absolutely does. Yeah, it's, he's appealing to a whole bunch of people that couldn't appeal to anybody.

And I don't mean that in a racist sense. Those people that he appeals to could neck— neck— couldn't get a corporate job if their life depended on it. I mean, it's— they should move all those people up to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, up with the white nationalists. They're all there. I mean, really, that— and then for him to say he was going to leave the structure up, and now he's fixing the pool again on our money. Horrifying. The algae in there. Oh man, it is.

It's like you say, all you can do is all you can do is laugh.

Christian Solorzano [66:13]

Excellent. We're at time for the episode, but I just want to want to mention to you, I'm super thankful again that you and I connected, and for everyone that's listening, your father will be featured in our upcoming issue of our magazine, and I'll make sure to send you a few copies. Of that once we have it in our hand. And we're just super delighted. When you see the publication, you'll notice that there's a pulse running through it that I think would make your father really proud.

Coby Regehr [66:43]

So I'm sure of it. And yeah I'm taking— I reshot these photos to get to you. This week. I got a problem. And the problem is the paper that these were written on is coarse. It's a coarse paper. It's not a smooth paper. So when you take it with a digital camera, when you're taking a picture with it, the damn digital camera picks up the coarseness of the paper, which throws a funny tinge and shadow onto the image.

Christian Solorzano [67:16]

That tinge and shadow will be a cool effect. I'm not upset about that. I actually I prefer that there's a natural texture to the, to the images. Yeah.

Coby Regehr [67:29]

Gotcha. Because it's not a slick, nice, smooth—

Christian Solorzano [67:32]

Yeah, we don't want slickens.

Coby Regehr [67:33]

I caught that on several things. Also, would you kindly send me your address?

Christian Solorzano [67:39]

Yep, I will do that. I'll text it to you.

Coby Regehr [67:42]

Because I have something that I'd like to send to you.

Christian Solorzano [67:44]

Do you do you ever come to Chicago?

Coby Regehr [67:46]

No, anymore. I used to all the time. I used to be there all the time. I just don't get in there anymore.

Christian Solorzano [67:54]

I'd love to, I don't know, at some point maybe pay a visit and just go through your archive of things.

Coby Regehr [68:01]

Sure. Well, I'm 20 miles, 25 miles from the airport. Next to me is Alta and Ski Snowbird ski areas, Brighton Solitude. And then another 30 miles, you're in Park City. And I, and I don't know whether we're going to have ski areas here because it was bad last year, man. I don't know how long this, quote, drought's going to go on. I'm sorry, we don't have global warming. I forgot. Seriously, these resorts.

Really hurt last year, man. I've never seen it. They hardly got any snow. And we're supposed to have the Olympics here in 2034, the Winter Olympics. Right now, I don't know what's gonna happen. I mean, we got issues with the dam south of here. Lake Powell. They may have to shut the turbines down there. And then we're in real trouble. Not us. The whole country's in trouble. Because that's feeding all of the crops in California and Arizona. So there's just no water, man.

Christian Solorzano [69:20]

What's the view out of your window right now with the fires and everything? Is it—

Coby Regehr [69:26]

I'm looking at the mountains, right? The mountains right in my backyard. It's pretty doggone smoky. Really smoky. And the wind's blowing pretty good. And everything, every— everything's brown, man. I mean, we've got some trees out here that are green, but not good. They're dry. If a match hits them, they're gonna just explode. But it's on 60% of the Great Salt Lake has dried up. That's gonna be a national disaster if that thing does that, totally dries up. It's not good.

I mean, there's just no water, man. It's— Of course, they don't think of that. They don't think ahead. Everybody's been telling everybody here in our government this is going to happen, and it's happened. Can't water. We're going to be on water rationing, I guarantee you, here soon, because there's just no water, man. Our reservoirs are down. We're draining a big reservoir up on the Utah-Wyoming border right now.

Called Flaming Gorge to help fill up— not help fill up, but give more water into Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Same thing. It's— we're dry out here. It's not good. So anytime you want to come out, you're welcome.

Christian Solorzano [70:47]

Okay, I'll let.

Coby Regehr [70:49]

So yeah, no problem. Do you ski or anything?

Christian Solorzano [70:53]

No, I'm a— I don't ski.

Coby Regehr [70:55]

You a hiker?

Christian Solorzano [70:57]

I like to hike. Yeah.

Coby Regehr [70:58]

See, our biggest problem right now, which will make you shudder, we got a real rattlesnake problem right now.

Christian Solorzano [71:06]

Oh, really?

Coby Regehr [71:07]

They were fighting a fire up by the University of Utah night before last, and the guy said there were so many rattlesnakes. The fire guy said there were so many rattlesnakes, it was beyond belief. And I know I got a warning a week ago. That in my backyard, there were several rattlesnakes reported right back in here. I've only seen one on my front porch that I stepped over not too long ago.

So I didn't know that I stepped over it till I came back from the mailbox and saw it at my front porch coiled up, hissing at me. And everybody in my neighborhood heard the F word louder than they've ever heard it when I saw that. Scared the hell out of me. So I've got in my backyard, I've got in the wintertime, I've got, we've got mountain lions up here. I've never seen one. I've seen their tracks. We've got elk. I've seen a moose up here.

We got tons of deer and we've had a few bear reports, but I've never seen one. There's great trails around. Real nice hiking trails around here.

Christian Solorzano [72:23]

Yeah, just got to worry about the bears, the mountain lions, and the rattlesnakes.

Coby Regehr [72:27]

Fortunately, rattlesnakes will let, you know that. Yeah, they make the noise. Yeah, but bears are very rare, more higher up on the mountains. And I've got a I got a peregrine falcon that I see every night that sits on this guy's— right behind me on his gutter up there. Looks all around, and then all of a sudden you see him go 500 miles an hour on the ground and grab something. I mean, they're unbelievable.

And I've got a pair of bald eagles that I see every single solitary night that have been here probably 8 or 9 years. They're always cruising together. Yeah, lots of interesting wildlife, lots of birds up here, lots of really interesting birds up here. Lots of hawks, different kinds of hawks. Plus I got hummingbirds like crazy in my backyard.

Christian Solorzano [73:20]

Beautiful. All right, Coby.

Coby Regehr [73:22]

Thanks so much.

Christian Solorzano [73:24]

Thank you so much, and we'll keep in touch. Thank you so much for sticking around till the end. As always, if you want to learn more about us, visit www.chicagographicdesign.club. Thank you and talk to you soon. Goodbye.