This review is based on the Thursday night show (they also performed on Friday). The show was filled with what Bobs fans have come to expect and love. Improvised patter, improvised theatrical expansions of their music, improvised cover-ups, and a general feeling that most of this has never happened before, and likely won’t ever happen again.
There’s a singular beauty to that kind of a freedom on stage that a band just starting out can’t really manufacture. The Bobs are almost like a comedia del’arte troup, with the exception that as they gain new players in the place of former Bobs, the troupe simply adapts and develops around the new and unique characters represented by the current personnel, rather than trying to replace the character of a departing Bob. So, Harlequin Bob has left the group? OK, we’ll see what Amy Bob brings to the mix. Or Dan Bob… The delivery is half of the show with the Bobs, and that’s what’s constantly on the move.
The show opened with an almost startlingly coherent chronological history of the group. After basso profundo Richard Bob Greene set the stage, quite literally, with where popular music was in 1981 when the Bobs began, Gunnar Bob Madsen and Matthew Bob Stull demonstrated what they and been doing at the time, delivering singing telegrams for Western Onion. Matthew actually brought out his copy of the Western Onion Singing Telegram Songbook (OH, HOW I WANT A COPY OF THAT!). Richard Bob then joined them and they shared a piece that they’d sung in their very first gig together (as a trio), “You Really Got A Hold On Me” (later released by the original quartet).
One expects co-founders Richard Bob’s and Matthew Bob’s voices to be in good shape and fully up to the task of the evening, and they were in every way. But the other co-founder, Gunnar Bob, was probably the most impressive stand-out of the former Bobs on stage. He was at times light and gentle, at times spastic and forceful, and at all times completely in the groove both creatively and musically. One got the sense that he’s been singing and entertaining without a break ever since he left the group. Funny thing. It turns out that he has been singing, and entertaining, and writing books, and recording CDs and raising a family ever since he left the group (www.gunnarmadsen.com).
Gunnar Bob shined particularly well on his signature hit, “Mopping, Mopping, Mopping (Charlotte’s On The Way)”, which featured a staged nervous breakdown that was a masterpiece to behold. Honestly, he’s probably the only current or former Bob that can give Amy Bob Engelhardt (who counts many years of stage and improvisation experience to her credit) a run for her money on the acting side of things. He’s a gifted performer, and his energy and connection with the audience is missed, no matter how brilliant his successors have been - and both Joe Bob and Dan Bob have been brilliant.
Gunnar Bob was also featured at various points singing leads on “Helmet” (which inspired some Bobs fans to bring collanders to their gigs for years after it was recorded), and “Welcome To My Fog”. In “Fog”, he played a simpleton, seemingly forgetting lyrics, describing his life, and yet being so adorable that the audience just wanted to hug him. He took that character all the way to the point of inviting the audience to sing along at a point in the song when we’d all been singing along for about a minute, already. Cracked everyone up! And he seemed so genuinely pleased that we were going to sing with him (not that we already were) that he just beamed.
After the trio of original Bobs was done, they brought out Janie Bob Scott, now a resident of Portland, Oregon (and the proprietor of a dog grooming service there), to round out what many of us knew as the “original” Bobs. They were the first quartet, anyway, and they were the group that started recording and performing regularly. Janie was warmly received by the audience, and she dusted off her rarely used chords (and showed with at least four different outfits that she’d also maintained her dancer’s figure over the years) to great effect all night. She was featured through the evening on “My Baby Loves Trash”, “Polky Rhythm In My Soul”, “Change of Heart” (about the recipient of a heart transplant!), and one of her signature tunes, the jazz standard, “Fever”.
The coherent flow soon fell by the wayside as they got to the point in the band’s history (about 10 years into it) when Joe Bob Finetti joined to succeed Gunnar Bob. Joe Bob was represented by an 8 x 10 color glossy photograph of his smiling face, taped to a long stick. This was because Joe Bob was somewhere in Ohio performing with The Diamonds, his current gig. The photo made many appearances through the evening, but for the most part, Dan Bob sang his parts, and sounded wonderful doing it.
Lori Bob Rivera was introduced, and though she was only with the Bobs for a little over a year, she did record one album, and it had some real winners. One was a meditation on love and flatulence, and another was a song of love and automotive attributes. Many times in song, cars have been used as a poetic device to describe women. This is the only time I know of where a woman described her men in terms of vehicle options.
Since leaving the group, Lori Bob has sung at the Vatican for Pope John Paul II, at Carnegie Hall, and in Dallas at a memorial on the 40th anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination. She now resides in Santa Cruz, California, where she sings, teaches music at a private school, and performs with a Sufi fusion band called Ishq (appearing February 11 at The Cayuga Vault, in Santa Cruz).
Amy Bob was then introduced (even though she’d already taken the stage a few songs before) and featured on “Sandwich Man”, a new composition of hers describing a disturbing love for a man walking around dressed as a sandwich. She was also front and center for her hit, “Fluffie’s Master Plan (for World Domination)”, which describes the nefarious plans of cats around the world to take control (and, among other things, to deny basic education to dogs).
For sheer vocal talent, Dan Bob Schumacher may have had the edge over everyone else on stage. He can execute the insanely tricky backgrounds that the Bobs are famous for having brought to the world of a cappella, and he has a vocal range measured in parsecs rather than octaves. But his leads carried a sheer power that was unmatched by anyone else on the stage. His interpretation of “My, I’m Large” was impressive enough, but his solo turn on “White Room”, an authentic cover of the Cream hit, was not just an a cappella version of the rock original. It was a convincing performance that could have ridden over Marshall stacks turned up to eleven. The good news on this one is that it’s included on “Rhapsody in Bob”, and it stands up every bit as well in the studio version.
Too bad that Amy Bob’s distortion pedal didn’t work for her guitar solo (it’s fully engaged on the CD), but it didn’t make that much difference, really.
Richard Bob was featured singing leads on Randy Newman’s “Lonely At The Top” (on which Matthew Bob took over the bass duties to very entertaining effect), and on a song I didn’t recognize, but I’m guessing was called “Love Bird”. Dan Bob took over the bass role during that one, but only after initiating a four-part looping sequence of vocal percussion, thanks to an electronic gadget or two.
Matthew Bob sounded great on a bunch of lead turns through the show, as well, and along with Richard Bob provides a consistent link from the origins of the group to the present.
One of the highlights of the show was the pairing of Gunnar Bob and Janie Bob with Dan Bob and Amy Bob for a tag team version of “The Boy Around The Corner”. Gunnar and Janie started, and from there each of the men and each of the women would point to the other and they’d be responsible for taking over their respective parts of the duet. It was an awesome piece of theater, kind of World Wrestling Federation meets 52nd Street jam session.
As with any Bobs show, the music is not the whole point. Playing around with each other on stage, the small bits, and especially the improvised lines that crack each other up are part of what sets them apart from anyone else in a cappella. During that love song that Lori Bob sang about cars, Dan Bob almost brought it to a screeching halt when he ad libbed, “Could I interest you in a Hummer?” Everyone on stage cracked up, but they were able to maintain enough composure to keep the music going. It reminded me of watching the old Carol Burnett Show, where catching the moments when they would be able to crack each other up was one of the main reasons to watch.
At another point, Faux Joe (as his glossy portrait was called) was somehow morphed into Amy’s “Faux Me,” which Dan heard as “Foamy,” and asked if she wanted a paper towel for that, to which Amy remarked, “That’s a latte to ask!” and it continued for another couple of puns from there. Memorable moments from the space BETWEEN the songs.
The three encores (and well deserved call-backs, they were) included all seven Bobs, combining particularly well on “Art For Art’s Sake” and “Psycho Killer”. For some reason, all of them were able to combine for a blended, yet sharp sound on those two. And when “Psycho Killer” devolved into a shuffle, it was yet another dramatic opportunity for Gunnar Bob, this time taking him from his manic David Byrne persona to some kind of a lounge lizard (appropriately attired in a lime green leisure suit).
By the way, there were multiple videographers on hand, and audience members were encouraged to take pictures during the performance, so there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to see some kind of documentary based on these two performances at some point in the future. You’ll be able to see me, stage right in the front row!
The evening ended too soon, but only partly because Gunnar Bob had to get home before 11:00 to get his baby sitter home on time. Hey, his primary gig right now is being a father, after all.
Other photos from this event are here: http://casa.org/index.php?option=com_zoom&Itemid=80. And if you have photos from these concerts, please send them to us at editor@casa.org.
Stephen Saxon is a singer, arranger, clinician, and trumpet player based in Oakland, California. He has performed with Chanticleer, Kitka, The PM Singers, The San Francisco Klezmer Experience, and currently sings bass and arranges for the a cappella jazz quintet, Clockwork (www.clockworksingers.com).
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