Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Rock Around the Doc: SkinnerRat founder Dr. Gary Telgenhoff balances career, music

On May 28, Dr. Gary Telgenhoff watched as an orderly wheeled up a gurney carrying a body covered with a white sheet.

The experience was hardly new for Telgenhoff. As a forensic pathologist for Clark County, he works with cadavers every day.

Except that on this night, he wasn't in the coroner's office. He was onstage at the Fiesta Rancho.

And on this occasion the body on the gurney didn't remain prone, awaiting Telgenhoff's autopsy.

This time, the sheet pulled back to reveal a very animated personage, guitarist Dick Wagner, who is known for his work with Alice Cooper, Peter Gabriel and Lou Reed, among others.

The event marked the first live appearance of Telgenhoff's rock 'n' roll project, known as SkinnerRat.

Though his position as a medical examiner pays his bills, the 47-year-old drummer and vocalist said he relishes his evenings and days off, when he can write, record and rehearse his original musical compositions.

"This is just my day job," Telgenhoff said. "The other stuff is what I love. Rock 'n' roll is my passion."

A love for drumming

Long before he ever considered attending medical school, Telgenhoff was a drummer, pounding away on cardboard boxes at his childhood home in Cadillac, Mich., when his parents balked at the idea of buying him a drum set.

"I was raised in a baptist home," Telgenhoff said. "They didn't want any rock 'n' roll influence going on."

Undaunted, Telgenhoff continued to mimic Ringo Starr's Beatles' parts on his makeshift skins, until his parents eventually acquiesced.

"They found out it wasn't a passing fad," he said.

Hardly. Telgenhoff went on to play in bands throughout high school and college, and made a career in music for 10 years after graduating from Spring Arbor College.

"I was making a living at music," Telgenhoff said. "It wasn't great, but life was fun. I had no responsibilities, so it was all beer and cigarette money, even though I didn't smoke."

In time, however, work began to dry up for Telgenhoff's bands, as the music business in Michigan began to change.

"We were playing clubs and bars, and you could see that times were changing," he said. "Bars were phasing out bands and going with DJs."

Back to school

Telgenhoff decided to return to graduate school, studying physiology and biology at Eastern Michigan University and then attending medical school at Michigan State. He said the latter step was one he took rather grudgingly.

"If you look at me, I'm just not the physician type," said Telgenhoff, a silver-haired gentleman with a slightly sinister glint in his eye. "And as soon as I got around patient care, I knew I didn't want to do that. I didn't want to be responsible for people's well-being."

It didn't take long for Telgenhoff to find something more suited to his tastes, however.

"I had my first rotation in forensic pathology and I knew it was for me," Telgenhoff said. "I'd always been more into the science of medicine."

Telgenhoff also vowed to jump-start the music side of his life again, writing and home recording.

He performed as a one-man band called Badd Medisin, playing half of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album onstage alone.

"I did it to keep my sanity," he said.

Then, six years ago, Telgenhoff moved from Michigan to Las Vegas, taking his job at the coroner's office. And it wasn't long before the next musical opportunity came knocking at his door.

Birth of a rat

While doing research for then-fledgling television series "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," producer and creator Anthony Zuiker met Telgenhoff one day while Telgenhoff was performing an autopsy.

The two struck up an immediate friendship, and Telgenhoff began working as a frequent consultant for the show. He said the program's medical examiner, Dr. David Robbins, is in part based on his own character.

"I enjoy teaching and answering all (Zuiker's) questions," Telgenhoff said.

In an e-mail exchange with the Sun this week, Suiker said Telgenhoff "is instrumental in 'CSI' being a success."

"He was crucial during the pilot-writing stage. I was awestruck by his calm demeanor and wry sense of humor," Zuiker said. "I experienced my first autopsy with Dr. T."

Telgenhoff is not paid for his assistance, but at the end of "CSI" season No. 1, the Las Vegan received something he considers far more valuable: musical exposure.

One of his songs, titled "Speak For You," was featured on the season finale, and his name was even mentioned on screen.

Excited by the turn of events, Telgenhoff immediately hatched an idea for an ongoing musical project. SkinnerRat was born.

Since then, Telgenhoff has self-released two CDs under the SkinnerRat moniker, 2001's "Speak For You" and 2002's "In the Box."

The latter features Wagner, a longtime Michigan acquaintance of Telgenhoff's, on lead guitar.

"He called me up and asked if I would play guitar on it," Wagner said. "I said, 'Send me the music,' and when I got it, I was very impressed. His concept is perfect for rock 'n' roll songs."

That SkinnerRat concept centers around psychologist BF Skinner and his principal regarding behaviorism. Skinner held that pleasure and pain could be learned and unlearned, and devised a "Skinner Box" -- in which rats pressed on levers for food rewards -- to prove his theories.

Telgenhoff observed similar patterns in his hometown,

"I see people in casinos tapping on machines and they look like a bunch of rats in a Skinner Box," he said. "We're all out there just trying to satisfy our desires without any thought. We're just pressing down on the food lever."

Telgenhoff approached his first SkinnerRat album from the point of view of a medical examiner. The results, not surprisingly, were rather dark.

"It's not for the suicidal," he said.

The follow-up CD, on the other hand, is more about observations relating to the Skinner theme, bringing together metallic tunes with titles such as "Pain and Pleasure," "In the Box" and "Food Chain."

Out of the box

In May, Telgenhoff brought SkinnerRat to the stage. Wagner flew in from Michigan to participate, providing veteran guitar chops and a healthy dose of name recognition.

"I'm so honored to work with him," Telgenhoff said. "He's such a great musician and such a great friend. It means a lot to me to have his approval."

Filling out the band for the visually spectacular event: local musicians Jeff Isom, Rudy Miller, Keith Larson and Terry Lively, along with performer Shawna Shields.

Telgenhoff expects to have DVD versions of the event available soon through his Web site, www.skinnerrat.com.

Wagner said he would love to see SkinnerRat mount a full-fledged tour, but don't look for Telgenhoff to leave forensic pathology behind anytime soon to do so.

"That's my dream, but it costs money and you have to have a good job to afford it," Telgenhoff said. "So if your dream ever comes through, what happens to that job you studied so hard to do?"

For now, Telgenhoff said he'll be satisfied trying to perform a few times a year, working on his next album and continuing to work days in order to sit down at his drum set at night.

"I may be a doctor, but I don't think of myself that way," he said. "I've always just been a musician, and that's what I'm most proud of."

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