Tonight I got to hear The Bobs with current Bob lineup, Richard Bob Greene, Amy Bob Engelhardt, Matthew Bob Stull, and Dan Bob Schumacher at the Lakeshore Theatre. Let’s just say I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The Bobs have been “bobbing” along for 25 years with two of the original members still intact. This is really acappella singing and arranging at its best with built in stand up comedy. Because I knew that The Bobs were a humorous group, I was really impressed by and did not expect the beautiful range and quality of each singer’s voice. They really are on a par vocally with a group like The Manhattan Transfer, and it’s a joy to listen to them. In the band’s early stages, The Bobs’ material consisted of uniquely arranged cover tunes. As they began writing their own songs, the need for another voice became apparent and an auditioning process led to Janie 'Bob' Scott. Appearances helped the stage show gel and soon a contract with local record company, Kaleidoscope Records, produced their first album, The Bobs. A Grammy nomination for their arrangement of The Beatles’ "Helter Skelter" and a national concert tour resulted in radio airplay and television appearances, followed by concerts and festivals in Europe.
Highlights of the group’s career include performing with Jason Alexander on the Emmy Awards telecast, and providing musical commentary for National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition”. A particularly notable avenue of statement for The Bobs has been collaboration with artists in other disciplines. Their first commission was a series of songs, "The Laundry Cycle," for the Oberlin Dance Collective in 1987. Later that year, they met the dance troupe Momix, (later known as ISO). Improvising with them yielded a show that toured fine arts venues worldwide over a period of years, resulting in a commission from Lincoln Center and a one-hour “Lonesome Pine Special” for PBS. The program is now part of the media archives at the Smithsonian Institute's Museum of American History. The Bobs were also featured in a tribute special on comedian Andy Kaufman for NBC, on PBS’ Great Performances in “The Beatles Songbook” and in a special with Harry Shearer for HBO.
2007 will herald the release of Sign My Snarling Movie: 25 Years Of The Bobs, a documentary about the group’s history and evolution. In addition, The Bobs are currently recording their 14th album.
I brought my mom along to this performance and she totally enjoyed The Bobs, too. At one point, when I was listening to The Bobs’ soaring a cappella rendition of Hendrix “Purple Haze”, I really got the feeling that the human voice, when used at it’s highest level particularly in harmonies like these, is all the musical instrument one could ever need.
For more information and to get a little video taste of The Bobs in action be sure to visit their website at www.bobs.com!
