Sunday, February 15, 2009

Love In a Good Cause!


Saturday, February 14, was -- of course -- Valentine's Day, or as "someone" in the band keeps calling it: Halloween. This year The Tim and Bob Show helped about 25 couples [and a few singles] celebrate the saint most associated with romance by providing the entertainment at a fundraiser at First UU of San Antonio.

The fundraiser was designed to raise money for -- and awareness of the need for -- an electronic door for the First UU Church of San Antonio's sanctuary. This will help the church become even more welcoming to members and visitors with mobility issues. This is a cause that means a lot to us, since both Vicki, the leader of our CD release event co-sponsor Pet Pals of Texas, and Pam, our most enthusiastic fan, will benefit directly from the acquisition and installation of this door. We raised a good bit of money last night, but there's still more that's needed. Hopefully, the good vibrations that came from our concert event will help increase the flow of donations.

Since this was a "specialty concert," it differed somewhat from a usual Tim and Bob Show gig -- if there is such a thing. For one thing, we dressed up. Steve and I even wore white shirts[!], although Steve drew the line at wearing a tie of any kind. The women looked SENSATIONAL -- definitely "woof" material.

It's no surprise that many Tim and Bob nationals attended, since so many know us from the First UU campus. There's really too many to mention here, but we hope they know we value their support always, and most especially for the generosity they showed last night, not only with their donations, but also with their applause.

There were several musical highlights -- Steve and Kathy debuted "Way Back Into Love," from the recent movie Music and Lyrics, and the band did a rare a'capella version of the old Johnny Mercer jazz-era hit "Dream." All of us had a chance to show off our individual talents a little. Mary Lou and I even recited some poetry. But, for all of us, the greatest highlight was having Steve and Kathy's daughter Bethany announce to us that she and her Matt are engaged. Let there be no doubt that there was a group hug after that became news.

Well, our concert gig is over, and it's back to playing at our favorite live music venues in and around the Alamo City. We hope to see you all as we continue to perform the music that we love to play and sing. Check out our upcoming gigs list on our home page. Until then, TELL US WHAT YOU THINK!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Road Trip to Austin!

The Tim and Bob Show ventured up the dangerous straits known as I35N to Austin on Thursday, February 7, to play at the Texas Association of Alternative Educators [TAAE] annual convention at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

We hadn't played in Austin in more than a year, so we were looking forward to the trip. We were especially looking forward to it because if there's anyone who deserves entertainment more than folks who work in alternative education, we don't know who they are. Steve brought along his Epiphone, because we knew we'd have some sort of elevation on our stage, and that we'd have more room than usual, and that we'd have a pretty good chance to rock out. We also took advantage of the space to involve the women more than we usually do. It seemed that about 3/4 of the songs featured Kathy, Mary Lou, or both.

It was a casino night for the educators, and there were lots of good prizes to be had -- including donated copies of our CD, Take It Outside, and Steve's CD, Be. Everyone enjoyed the music, and we kind of expected that. But nobody expected the reaction we got to "Barefootin'." While we had one brave woman dancing with a beer bottle for a partner to "Mustang Sally," there must have been 20 people crowding the floor to this old Robert Parker standard. Where Steve normally takes a minimal lead excursion on this song, he must have taken six or seven choruses of searing lead licks, just to keep the dancers on the floor. When we finally ended the song about 3 minutes later than we normally do, there was a huge round of applause.

All too soon it was time to call the evening to a halt, to pack up, and to drive back home. But we'll remember how much we enjoyed playing for these wonderful folks. I especially enjoyed chatting with a bunch of folks from El Paso, my birthplace.

Thanks to all the great folks at the Crowne Plaza, to the dedicated educators of TAAE, and to our good friend Joe for setting everything up.

It was tough getting up the next morning, but we'd all had a night to remember!

Where to next for us? Check out our NEXT GIGS page. While you're at it, TELL US WHAT YOU THINK!

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Open House and Open Bottles

The last two days of January saw The Tim and Bob Show wrap up a very busy first month of the year. On Friday, January 30, we returned to the campus of Warm Springs Rehab Hospital in the Medical Center. This time, instead of serenading patients, therapists, nurses, and doctors, we were assisting OASIS in their open house. We played from 1 until 3 to about 80 or so people. It was "concert style," and we had everyone's attention and support from the very beginning. Because we weren't going to have the ladies with us on Saturday, Steve and I designed two sets that used every four-part and most three-part songs in our repertoire. The gals hardly left the stage. When they did, it was to sell what turned out to be a total of 11 CDs. Amazing stuff, considering I didn't think we'd sell a single one. Another surprise was that our good friend Nan was among the audience. How cool! It was a great day for us, and I hope it was successful for Ginny and all the folks at OASIS.

On Saturday, we returned to WineStyles at Stone Oak. After being rather cramped the last time we played indoors, Jerry suggested that we scale down the band to just Steve and me. It had been a while since we performed as a twosome, but we did our best. We had a relatively small group of very appreciative listeners, and made some new friends in Bob and the three charming ladies that accompanied him. We also chose this venue to debut two new songs. "Crazy Mo" was written by our friend, local singer/songwriter/real estate man Jerry Bailey. I've had it "in my back pocket" for a while, and put it into the mix. It was well received, as was our newest Tim and Bob Original "Ain't Too Tired," a sweet and slightly naughty song best appreciated by the older crowd. Another highlight for us was the lady who danced to one of our songs ... outside on the patio ... by herself. Love it!

Where to next for us? Check out our NEXT GIGS page. While you're at it, TELL US WHAT YOU THINK!