The Bobs
The story of how I discovered these guys is a little convoluted, but here goes. I had, of course, noticed them as a prominent band in the PAC Catalogue, but had no real reason to try them, and there was so much other great stuff in there that I barely gave them a second thought. Then come Christmas time, the CD Too Many Santas piqued my curiosity and I got it to see what it was like. The songs were cute, I thought; my brother, Gordon, loved it. To me the group was different and a little weird, but then so's Gordon. He found the group's web page and kept an eye on their concert schedule. One day he came up to me and said, "The Bobs are going to be at the Birchmere [where we first saw Rockapella] in July." That's all he said, but his eyes were saying, Can we go? Please! Can we, can we, can we? So we went and though I haven't changed my opinion that they are different and weird, I've decided that they are extremely good and have now added all their CDs to my rapidly growing collection.
I have seen them several times now, and though I consider some of their songs to be too weird for words (She Made Me Name You Earl springs to mind, among others) for the most part I love their music. Light My Fire, madrigal version is probably my favourite of all the songs I've heard them sing in concert. (Mom's too; remember we have our roots in classical music.) And in a sharp about-face, my second favourite is probably Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix. I just love Joe Bob's vocal electric guitar. Wow! He's also pretty good in the vocal percussion department.
And while we're on the subject, Joe Bob Finetti is without a doubt my favourite Bob. Besides his proficiency at making weirdly musical noises with his body, he is also extremely sweet. And quite tall. I am 5'7" myself and am used to being close to eye level with most of the men I meet. But Joe at (I'm guessing here) 6'2"(?) is just the right height for me to comfortably rest my head on his shoulder. Really. I have a picture to prove it.
Most importantly, though, Joe is a really nice guy. When speaking to him after concerts I feel like I'm talking to an old friend I haven't seen in a while. Which is not to say that the other Bobs aren't fan-friendly; Joe is just more so.
It took me a while, but I have finally gotten around to writing reports of the Bobs concerts I go to see. Their respective links will appear below as they become available.
At the Birchmere, 11/2/00
Chapel
