Monday, June 1, 2009

Hail and Farewell


Well, May is finally over. The month started out with an extended [and unplanned] down time, but it ended with six gigs over the last three weekends, and some of the "older" members of the group are a bit tired. Well, okay, ONE member. Okay, me. And with a free weekend in front of us, it's time to celebrate the last two gigs of the month.

Saturday night found us in a familiar location on a very unfamiliar night. We play at Orderup in the Colonnade on a regular basis, but always on a Friday. Kathy's play had ended, but she was leaving on business the next morning, so we loaded up on our recently-neglected four-part specialties. We also invited our friend Karen along -- she of the breathtaking flute work on "It Ends, It Begins" on our CD. We'd jammed a little with her at our Memorial Day BBQ, and so she showed up prepared to play on three consecutive numbers -- on three different instruments. We had fun running through them, and hope that Karen picked up the performing bug again. it would be great to be able to go and watch her perform soon.

Tim and Bob Nationals Matt and Casey were there, and we made some new friends, one of whom made a quick stop by our tip jar and dropped in $20. Whoever you are, we love you too.

Sunday was perhaps the highlight of the year for Steve. In addition to being a guitar god, Steve devotes a lot of his time to church work. For several years, Steve was a youth advisor. On Sunday morning, four of his former youth group members -- now all grown up -- showed up for services and announced their plans to come to our show. Katie and Elizabeth had heard us play before, but Shira and Bryn had only heard Steve play at youth gatherings.

Our Sunday night gig was our final one at Fralo's Art of Pizza -- the very first place The Tim and Bob Show ever performed. We had played there regularly for almost four years, but it was becoming difficult for us to resolve our calendar with theirs. The presence of Steve's young friends -- and new friends to Mary Lou and me -- merged with the knowledge that we were playing Fralo's for the last time, made for an interesting mix of emotions.

Since former youth group members were there, we had to do "Rocky Raccoon," and I can guarantee that they really enjoyed watching their former youth group facilitator sing Ringo Starr's "The No-No Song."

Long time Tim and Bob friend Deedy was also there, along with a pretty full table that included Tim and Bob Nationals Steve and Jackie and friends. We made new friends in Chris and Cara, who promised to come back and hear us in the company of her father, who taught her and her brother the songs we sing when they were both very young. All in all, there was a great crowd for our last gig, and we think we gave them a good performance. Steve especially ripped into his solos on the Epiphone with zest.

So, hail to new friends, hail to old friends from whom we've been separated, and farewell to the place where it all began.

Here's to a weekend's rest for the band. And You'll find a list of our upcoming gigs HERE . And, while you're perusing our web site, stop HERE and tell us what you think!

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