Of Friends & Families, Beautiful Brides, and Go-to Girls!

Things have been really crazy for Steve and Kathy recently. Now we're not talking actually insane [although there are times ...], we're talking about frantic, frenetic, exhausting times. All of that has been coming on top of all of life's usual craziness: jobs, unexpected remodeling, the aches and pains of ... uh ... the decade they share, and the "robust economy" we're all navigating. And, all of that is on top of all the busy-ness associated with The Tim and Bob Show -- the gigs, the fundraising for our favorite causes, the accumulation of new repertoire, the strange family they're partnered with in that particular enterprise. It's enough to drive a normal couple LEGITIMATELY insane. Well, there's two things to be thankful for: (1) They AREN'T a normal couple, and (2) The crazy times are gradually returning to a more manageable level of insanity.

For the last several months, a central part of Steve and Kathy's life has been getting ready for the marriage of their daughter Bethany and her guy, Matt. Now, Mary Lou and I don't have children, but for some reason, both Bethany and her twin sister Hillary love us and we love them right back. We'd do anything for these beautiful, willful, talented, compassionate, passionate young women. And so it was that the first week of November would culminate in the wedding of Bethany and Matt. And that wedding would help restore a bit of normality to Steve and Kathy's every day life. That's assuming that being in a rock 'n roll band can be described as "normal."

Weddings mean family gatherings, and this was going to be the case for this wedding. Kathy's parents -- Irv and Muriel -- flew in from Florida to attend. Steve's parents -- Herb and Bertha -- arrived from New Jersey. We know them all, and enjoy their company. It was especially nice to see Herb and Bertha, because it meant that "Bert" was healthy enough to fly. And so, we gathered at Steve and Kathy's house on Thursday afternoon for an impromptu "house concert." Irv and Muriel had heard us play before -- Muriel on multiple occasions -- but Steve's parents had only heard our recorded voices. Almost all of the equipment was being stored at our house for the duration of the wedding week, but there was enough for everyone to hear Kathy's new bass chops, Steve's new guitar, and some solid four-part harmony. Everyone enjoyed it, and that included Mary Lou and myself. As it turns out, when you love people, not only do you love their children, you also wind up loving their parents.

More family was on the way, of course, in the form of Steve's sister Faye , her husband Arnold and daughter Ilana, Steve's brother Jeff, Jeff's wife Monica and daughter Madeline and son Robbie. They missed the concert, but they were there for the main event.

And what a main event it was. My father always told me that there was no woman so beautiful as a bride on her wedding day, and -- face it -- Bethany had a HUGE head start. Mary Lou got to the church around 4:30, which was a good thing since she had custody of the wedding dress. I arrived about a half-hour before the ceremony was to begin. The womenfolk were all hidden away, of course, so I had a chance to talk to Matt and his dad, Steve, as well as long-time Tim and Bob National Marcelo who was in the wedding party. Everyone looked great, especially OUR Steve, who was wearing a tux for only the second time since I met him. There was a bit of nervousness around, so I decided to walk into the sanctuary to get a seat. Bethany's choice of music consisted of about six songs, two of which were Tim and Bob Show songs. I couldn't have been prouder.

Finally, it was time for the wedding. The grandparents and parents entered, followed by the bridal party. Bethany's twin Hillary was beaming as she strolled down. Finally, Bethany entered on the arm of her father. It was an amazing moment for everyone, and I was overcome with emotion seeing my partner so incredibly happy. Reverend Bret took over then and vows were exchanged and readings were made. At one point in his discussion of Bethany and Matt's voyage to the alter, Bret referred to Matt as Bethany's "go to girl." The male attendants were, somehow, able to keep things together. And then, suddenly, we were introduced to Matt and Bethany as husband and wife.

Mary Lou and I led Muriel and Irv down to Southtown for the reception at the Blue Star Art Gallery. We chatted with dozens of people, and exchanged stories. We did a lot of hugging there, especially with Steve, Kathy, and Hillary. Long before the party began to get rowdy, I exercised my "old age option" and Mary Lou and I drove home. It was a memorable night.

Good-bye to Bruce

Yesterday, at Ft. Sam Houston [San Antonio, TX], there was a full military funeral service for Bruce H. Limpus. All four of us were there, because Bruce touched each of us over the course of his life. Bruce had one career in the USAF, followed by another as a high-school English teacher in San Antonio’s poorest school district. During all this time, Bruce was also an artist – a painter, sculptor, poet, playwright, director, actor.

In his life, Bruce inspired hundreds of young artists, writers, actors, and directors. He also influenced the lives of literally thousands of young students, many of whom left San Antonio’s Edgewood and Memorial High Schools to go on to an Ivy League education. As for the four of us, well … .

Steve and Kathy’s daughters both are involved in careers in the arts, and Bruce found the time to nurture their ambitions and talents. Kathy, Mary Lou, and I had the great honor of performing in his “murder mystery/comedies” in roles written specifically for us. The fact that Mary Lou sings in a band is directly down to Bruce, who cast her in several singing roles in his British-style holiday pantomimes.

As for me, Bruce was my very first stage director [in 1967] and directed me in my last role nearly 40 years later. Almost as soon as we met, Bruce and his wife Sheila began to teach me about art, music, theater, philosophy, and psychology. In the span of a 42-year close friendship, Bruce and Sheila stood up for me at both my weddings, welcomed Mary Lou into their family, and spent hours with us going to theater, having dinners, and talking, talking, talking. Some time in 1976, Bruce handed me a piece of paper with 23 words written on it. I took those words and, with Steve’s help, finished a song that is on our CD and is very popular at our gigs.

Bruce and Sheila used to love to come to our performances and, when his health began to fail him, welcomed us into his home for an “unplugged” concert. He loved us all and we loved him right back.

While most of the service consisted of an impressive display by a USAF ceremonial team – complete with a rifle salute and taps – the culmination of the service was Kathy singing to Steve’s accompaniment. The family requested this of Kathy, one of Bruce’s most favorite chanteuses and dancing girls, and she was happy to comply. Bruce’s favorite film was Casablanca, so Kathy sang a very touching rendition of “As Time Goes By,” to Steve’s guitar.

And that was that, after 81 years on this earth, Bruce was gone. It’s a terribly trite cliché, but in this case, there’s no denying that he lives on in the hearts and souls of all of us in the band, and many, many others. Good-bye, our friend.

Tim and Bob Join in with Voices of a Grateful Nation

On Sunday, August 23, The Tim and Bob Show joined 1855 of our closest friends standing in a ditch in the middle of the make-believe town of Luckenbach, Texas. Why were we there? Well, there were two basic reasons. The first was to take part in a fundraiser in support of Voices of a Grateful Nation, a group associated with The Welcome Home Project. The second was to take part in breaking a world’s record for the greatest number of guitar pickers ever playing the same song together.

Sunday morning broke clear, blue, and hot. We knew that 104 degree temperatures were forecast for the day, so we set off together with grapes, cherries, Diet Dr. Pepper, and plenty of water. We had already played that weekend, but there was no way we could resist this opportunity to contribute. We’ve done several fundraisers for several worthy causes in the four years the band has been together, but nothing on the scale of this. As we were to learn, the guitar-picking and The Welcome Home Project were a more natural match than one might have expected. The project is very concerned with the plight of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans whose wounds include severe head trauma. One of the treatments most successful in repairing the brain’s control over physical activity has proven to be music. Specifically, many soldiers have enhanced their therapy once they were taught to play guitar.

And so, there we were, on the top of a hill overlooking the ditch. We got there pretty early in the day, and located a spot set aside for members of The Texas Music Coalition. Since we’re their current Artist of the Year, it seemed the natural place for us to set up our chairs and wait for the event to begin. Of course, being in the middle of all those guitars makes it difficult to just sit there, so it didn’t take long for Steve and me to get into a couple of jam sessions.

Soon, “the professionals” in residence mounted the stage on the other side of the ditch from us, and began to entertain. About 15 minutes later than advertised, those of us with the white, numbered tee-shirts on were invited to take our guitars and find someplace to stand in the official area. Counting would soon begin. Naturally, there were delays. But these delays allowed for more jam sessions. During one of them, we heard someone say, “What a great way to spend my 40th birthday!” Steve and I looked at Mary Lou and Kathy, and a split second later, we launched into The Beatles’ “Birthday.”

The delay, we learned, was to ensure that everyone who was arriving would have a chance to get in place and be counted. While we waited, we played several songs, including “London Homesick Blues,” and “El Rancho Grande.” Finally, the final count was given – 1,859 guitarists were about to let ‘er rip. This was a full 56 more pickers than the total attracted by the German group that set the previous record. While they played “Smoke on the Water” for 10+ minutes, we had something entirely different planned.

It had been decided that the group would play TWO songs of 5 minutes duration each. Since we were where we were, the first song we played was “Let’s Go to Luckenbach, Texas.” And, since we were where we were, the second song was “This Land is Your Land.” When we finished the last notes, we lifted our guitars into the air and hollered as loud as we could. The effect was amazing.

As more jam sessions broke out, the four of us decided that we had been baking our brains long enough. We packed up and drove away from dusty, remote, ecstatic Luckenbach with a memory it will be exceedingly difficult to erase from any of our minds.

If you’d like to see some photographs and videos of our adventures, go to The Tim and Bob Show’s Facebook page. If you’d like more information about Voices and The Welcome Home Project click here -- oh, and there’s an “official video” on that site also.

SWUUSI Thursday and Friday

On Thursday, we left the resort after breakfast and drove the van into Tulsa. We enjoyed ourselves touring the downtown area and looking at the deco buildings and following Tulsa’s downtown guided walk. After a great lunch at a downtown diner. We then spent most of the afternoon touring the Gilcrease Museum – a must see for those who enjoy Native American artifacts and history, as well as paintings of events and people important to the history of Oklahoma and the American West. The traveling exhibition documented the first diplomatic contact between the British government and the Cherokee Indians – then still residing in Virginia, Carolina, and Georgia. Since much of the activity centered around Williamsburg, VA and London, two areas Mary Lou and I have lived near, we found it especially interesting. Kathy was so taken by the collection of artifacts on the lower level, she brought the rest of us down there to share the trove with us. It was an impressive collection, impressively stored.

Once we had returned to Rainbow Hills, we began preparations for the Thursday night gig. While we were setting up, four members of the Hogwarts group greeted us VERY enthusiastically. It appeared that all of Kathy’s hard work had paid off. Several of the group had, indeed, become Tim and Bob fans. I asked them if any of them had made the Monday concert, and one 12 or 13-year old girl responded, “I was about to come in, but then I saw my grandparents dancing, and I turned around and left.” They weren’t going to leave on this night, however, as they quickly made “seats reserved” signs for themselves, and then spent the hour or so before we performed making suggestions on how we could better promote ourselves and sell more CDs.

As expected, there were not quite as many folks on the Thursday concert. Since this one wasn’t being filmed, however, more of the house lights were up and we could see how much they were enjoying themselves. The evening had two highlights. The first one came when I told the audience about an earlier concert where we had several people “snake dancing” to “Locomotion” – which was the song we were about to perform. The audience took that as a challenge and at least 30 of them joined up in a multi-generational conga line that lasted the entire song. The only drawback to this is that since all four of us were playing, none of us could take a picture of it!

The second highlight occurred, believe it or not, right after I broke a string on my guitar. As Mary Lou and I left the stage to replace the string, Steve broke into “Rocky Raccoon” and Kathy grabbed her bass and started playing along. I was a little stunned to discover later that she didn’t have the tabs for this song with her, and played it all from memory. Kathy definitely deserved the cool bass-player hat that Steve bought for her to perform in. As was true with Monday’s effort, we scheduled as many four-parters, bass-playing songs, and Epiphone songs as we could. Everyone who was there approved.

We ended the concert amid cheers and handshakes and “thank you’s.” We exhorted everyone to come over and buy a CD and a “Take It Outside” bag. And many of them did. All four of us were invited to a party in one of the larger cabins, but Mary Lou and I were wiped out by the time we finished breaking down, and left Steve and Kathy on their own. I don’t know how much they enjoyed the party, but Kathy’s toes were painted a bright color and Steve had a tattoo! Relax, folks, it was a temporary one.

Once Friday morning came around, we were ready to leave for home. We attended the lakeside farewell service, loaded up the van with luggage, musical gear, snacks … and Hillary who would be traveling with us. It was around 9 on Friday evening when we got to Steve and Kathy’s house, and past 10 by the time Mary Lou and I got home.

It had been a remarkable week. The band functioned very professionally while working and had plenty of fun during whatever down time was available to us. Everyone in attendance seemed to approve of what we were doing, and it was certainly nice being able to meet and talk to the folks we had entertained earlier in the week. I don’t know if there’s any group of people anywhere so dedicated to enjoying themselves and sharing the joy with others than are UUs. They were great to us. We hope we did them some good.

Now that we’re back home, we’re maintaining contact with a lot of the folks that we met up there – primarily through Facebook. We’ve heard some nice things from them, and we’ve received a lot of photographs of our concerts. The moment we heard we had been selected for this position, we were excited and sure that we’d have fun. As it turned out, we weren’t wrong. To slightly paraphrase the Hoyt Axton song recorded so many years ago by Three Dog Night, “We’ve never been to heaven, but we’ve been to Oklahoma.”

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SWUUSI Tuesday and Wedesday

On Tuesday, Steve and I completed our song-writing course, while Mary Lou and Kathy visited as much of the nearby wildlife that could be found. They especially enjoyed photographing a wide variety of butterflies, and watching the falcons, hawks, eagles, and owls being fed and exercised. In the afternoon, we splashed around in the pool. Steve and Kathy’s daughter Hillary was there with quite a few Young Adults, one of which could be heard saying, “I didn’t realize it was ‘bring your parents to the pool day’, Hillary.” I hope we didn’t embarrass her too much. That evening, we let the YA’s feed us at their BBQ. They were also sponsoring a dance on the tennis courts, but we decided to give that a miss, as the weather had turned as hot and humid as … as … as San Antonio!

Wednesday was Kathy’s day. Kathy’s a former teacher and took the afternoon Hogwarts mini-concert as her own special chore. We had even added seven new songs to our repertoire specifically for this concert. The Hogwarts group was facilitated by our friend Shari, and they received our hour-long performance well, but somewhat quietly. As a matter of fact, we weren’t sure that we had any effect on them at all. We were about to find out differently – in spades. Wednesday evening was supposed to be divided between watching the camps talent shows [one for adults one for children and youths], and dropping in on the Young Adults “bunkhouse” for some chat and guitar picking. All four of us watched the youth talent show, but only Steve and Kathy watched the adults. I wasn’t feeling all that well and passed on the YA get-together. Unfortunately for Steve and Kathy, the YA’s were so exhausted from the community project that they’d worked on all day, nobody had the energy left for a jam. So Steve and Kathy went to the adult talent show. I’m very sorry I missed it since it included some of the people from our song-writing class performing a song they wrote as their assignment.

Monday at SWUUSI

On Monday, after we’d familiarized ourselves with the camp and met as many folks as we could, Steve and I conducted the first day of our class, while the ladies toured the resort, cameras in hand. We had about 8 or 9 participants with various levels of experience in writing and performing music. We put together a decent overview of the craft and of the wide range of themes, modes, and styles of song. We sent everyone away with what we hoped were helpful hints and new ideas, and exhorted them to return the next day with at least a partially written song. As our group disbanded, Steve and I were delighted to discover that Kathy and Mary Lou had brought with them four Sonic Rt. 44 Diet Cherry Limeades!

That evening we performed the first of our two concerts. We had the main hall and had plenty of time for us to set up with our “sound guy,” Chris. We were able to hang the “The Tim and Bob Show are proud to support Pet Pals of Texas” banner in a very visible spot [where it stayed for the remainder of the camp], as well as tune our various instruments. On this trip there was an additional instrument because Kathy chose SWUUSI to debut her skills as a bass player. Mary Lou and I had no idea that she had gotten an instrument and had been working on several songs until about 10 days before we left for Oklahoma. We had decided that each concert would feature songs that allowed her to do her stuff.

The concert went well. The Young Adults came en masse to listen to Steve. In his many years as a youth counselor, Steve had known and had the privilege of being advisor to many of these young people, and they all seemed to love him. They congregated off to the side of the band, and provided us with a lot of energy. As a matter of fact, there was plenty of energy on all sides from folks under 5 years of age to a couple who had to have been past 80. There was a lot of cheering and a lot of dancing. We often get a few children to dance at our gigs; they haven’t yet learned that it can be embarrassing to enjoy yourself so publicly, you see. But we had people of all ages dancing, and it was a wonderful thing for all of us to experience. Mary Lou got a chance to demonstrate that she’d completely recovered from her thyroid surgery by using her full vocal range, and Steve got plenty of use from his Epiphone electric guitar. And, of course, Kathy played her bass. We had a wonderful time and played about 15 minutes longer than we had expected.

More to come.

Well, We’ve Never Been to Heaven …

Early in the morning of August 2, The Tim and Bob Show began our biggest road trip to date, both in terms of mileage and importance. We set off from Steve and Kathy’s house before breakfast to drive to Western Hill Guest Ranch on the shores of Fort Gibson Lake in northeastern Oklahoma. We were going there to take our posts as “Artists in Residence” for the Southwest Unitarian Universalist Summer Institute, popularly known as SWUUSI. For an entire week, each of us would be acting primarily as members of a band. Our day jobs, our volunteer work, and even my increasing addiction to Fulham Football Club were all taking a very long and very distant back seat to acting as artists. Amazing. As our trip would take 10 hours to complete, however, we’d have plenty of time to acclimatize ourselves to the concept, as well as to do crossword puzzles, snack, search for radio stations playing “our kind of music,” snack, and generally chatter and snack.

It was a hot morning on its way to another all-too-typical South Texas triple digit day when we stopped for breakfast on the north side of Austin. We weren’t really all that hungry by the time we got to West, but our ancient rented minivan [alright, only 3 years old, but with 50,000+ miles] was, so we stopped for gas and, of course, for coffee and kolaches. West is famous for these Central European treats, and justly so. My first kolache was eaten by the time we reached freeway speed! Thankfully, the other three had more restraint than me, so we were able to enjoy these throughout the week. Good stuff.

Once we crossed the Red River, our trip took us through most of Eastern Oklahoma. The farther north we drove, the less the landscape looked like the flat, bleached out, parched oven that we left behind. There were plenty of hills along the way, lots of lakes and rivers, and several shades of green fields, hills, and trees. Steve and I traded off the driving duties, only stopping for gasoline and food along the way. Kathy and Mary Lou kept us hydrated, loaded with snacks [grapes and cherries, yum], and entertained as we drove. We got to our destination with plenty of sunlight remaining in the day.

Western Hills is near Wagoner, OK. The “ranch” facility where we stayed is on a narrow peninsula surrounded on three sides by Fort Gibson Lake. There were lots of tall trees, egrets, and deer. While SWUUSI has been held annually for years, this was the first year for this location, so Mary Lou and I were as much in-the-dark as were Steve and Kathy about the resort’s amenities. We didn’t know whether the accommodations would be spartan, and we weren’t taking any chances. We were pleasantly surprised, then, when we discovered that our adjoining cabins each had a flat-screen TV[!] along with a comfortable queen-sized bed and a nice bathroom. Steve and Kathy’s room had a small refrigerator, a hot plate, and a microwave, so it only seemed fair that we eat and drink in their room and use ours as the repository for everyone’s guitars, music stands, luggage, and miscellaneous band paraphernalia. Had Mary Lou and I experienced a sudden emergency in the night, it would have been easier for us to escape through our partners’ room than through our own front door only a foot or two away!

We knew that the Artist-in-Residence responsibility included two evening concerts, as well as a small private performance for the middle-school aged group called “Hogwarts.” In addition, Steve and I volunteered to teach a two-day course in song-writing. In between there were to be opportunities to swim in the pool – and maybe in the lake? – as well as perusing the nature trails, looking at the horses in the nearby stable, watching the daily feeding of the predatory birds that have found a sanctuary there, and attending other classes. Additionally, we had planned a day “off campus” to visit Tulsa’s historic Deco District, as well was examine the artworks and historical objects in the Gilcrease Museum. We planned for each evening to end with the four of us polishing off a bottle of wine and noshing on cheese, fruit, crackers, and the like. And some time during the week, darn it, Steve and I were determined to find a stretch of grass where we could play catch.

More to come, stay tuned.

Tim and Bob at Lake Houston AGF Gig

On the morning of Saturday, May 9, Steve and I loaded up his Mazda with four guitars, a dozen or so music books, a few snacks, some unbreakable [evidently] picks, capos, music stands, guitar cords, implements of percussion, bottled water, and a couple of bottles of The Elixir of Life [also known as Diet Dr. Pepper]. Once suitably packed, we were off to IH10 to travel east to Houston – or, more specifically, to a Marina on Lake Houston on the outskirts of Humble, Texas.

What could possibly cause two reasonably sane and reasonably mature gentleman to give up much of their weekend to drive 450 miles round trip? Well, there was food, there was drink, there was music, but most of all there was the fellowship of some of the Texas membership of the Acoustic Guitar Forum. Once again Joe [The Guitarman] and his wife Vickie were the hosts of the annual Lake Houston AGF jam. These jams feature fantastic BBQ chicken, spicy crawfish, corn-on-the-cob, and baked potatoes – all supplied by the hosts. Participants bring soft drinks, desserts, help out with the cooking, or – in the case of Steve and me – by providing song books for jamming. And, of course, the reason for our being there was the reason for the very existence of the AGF: the love of looking at, admiring, handling, and playing some wonderful acoustic guitars – and one electric [Steve can’t leave his Epiphone at home, after all].

At The Guitarman’s request, Steve and I started the music off by plugging in to the “open mic” and singing a few songs. After Stetson and Tania followed us up there to sing and play, it was time for food and yakking, for meeting new friends, and greeting old ones. And then came the circle jam. Using books that contained about 25 of the songs that are Tim and Bob Show staples, about a dozen of us grabbed guitars and traded licks. Stetson's wife and Aggie 182 took care of the percussion beautifully. A highlight for Steve and me was franchelB’s arrival. Francis knows more songs than we do, and he can play any instrument we can think of better than either of us ever hope to. Most fun.

The highlight for me was hanging with Chris and Mo [Antonio Salieri & Mo’sArt], and borrowing her Alvarez 12-string. Steve got to play a lot of strange guitars, and I got to do an old country song with yet another Steve [Stetson]. Wildbill962 stopped helping Joe with the cooking long enough to grab a guitar and play with us, JNowlin provided some tasty leads, Tania helped immeasurably with the vocals, and Aggie182 contributed a weird but highly useful box that was the key to the gates of percussion heaven.

It was well after 6 when we left, and it was 11:30 in the evening by the time I got back to my house. I’d racked my voice up singing [shouting] so badly I had to sit out choir the next morning, but it was well worth it.

Thanks to Joe and Vickie for hosting, and for everyone who was there to make it a grand day out. Next year, we hope to get the whole band to attend. Here’s the final list of AGF members and players:

The Guitarman [wife Vickie, son Shawn, and Uncle Floyd], Mo’sArt, Antonio Salieri, franchelB [and family], JNowlin, Larry H. in Texas, Stetson [and wife and daughter], Aggie182 [and his wife], Tania, wildbill1962 & [and wife], and Phuufme [Steve], DonBob [Don]

July Road Trip

This upside down summer continues to flummox us. Roasting in May, broiling in June, and not a drop of meaningful rain into the bargain, and then here comes July. Temperatures are no longer flirting with the century mark every day. Instead they’re in the low 90s and upper 80s. The reason? The rain has returned. This is good, right? Well, there are reasons to go against my native Texan nature and curse the rain, but that’s a matter for another blog. This entry is about our second foray into the wine country, Saturday, July 5, 2008.

Fifth of July is not just the name of an excellent play by Lanford Wilson, at our house it’s the day after the big BBQ/pool party marking mid-summer and our national birthday. It means moving slowly and groaning about our lack of restraint with a knife and fork [even the plastic kind], and how perhaps we should have reapplied that sun screen. We collectively waddle in front of our collective television sets and watch commercials exhorting us to “come on down for our 4th of July mattress event!” Mattress event? The mind races.

But there we were on the 5th, loading up Steve’s Mazda3 with portable chairs and softball gloves as well as Kathy’s picnic hauler loaded with fruit, hummus, prosciutto, cheese, and crackers of all sorts. We also took a map with the locations of three Hill Country Wineries. Why? Well, for one thing we needed a bottle of good wine to wash down all that picnic food. And, while it wasn’t like we didn’t have 50 or 60 bottles at both our houses, wine is always a healthy part of a Tim and Bob Show road trip.

We got a little later start than I thought we would. Although Steve and Kathy stayed the night in Casa de Smoked Ribs, Steve had a few errands to run before we left. But it was still the right side of noon when we set off. We took advantage of the lack of holiday traffic to connect to US281 and head north towards Lake Buchanan. There, near a little village called Tow, we found Fall Creek Wineries. It’s within sight of Lake Buchanan and, as a matter of fact, we could have taken our freshly purchased Viognier to a picnic table overlooking the lake had we preferred. However, there was a band playing the blues, and we just can’t resist live music. So we found ourselves an empty table, destroyed some tasty groceries – and all of the wine – while tapping our toes to the band, at least two members of which (as Steve delighted in telling me) were even older than me. This being a holiday weekend, all the Hill Country wineries had some sort of event going, and the tasting rooms were very busy. While we had a great lunch and tasted some swell wines, we didn’t get a chance to talk to the owner or manager or person who books the music. We left our promo-pak with Wanda and retraced our steps to Johnson City.

Being well-fed and with the taste of good Texas grape on our lips, we piled back into the Mazda and did a little re-tracing of steps. The second leg was easier on us. This could be because we weren’t torturing ourselves with the NY Times Crossword Puzzle Book, or it could be because we were enjoying the tunes on KITY as we drove, or it could be because it was a shorter trip. In any event, it didn’t take long to locate Texas Hill Country Vineyards in Johnson City. Texas Hill Country’s tasting room was being run by two hard-working and cheerful young ladies. Not only did they hook us up with some good tasting material, but one of them even left her post for a minute to locate Gary, the co-owner. As we were paying the tab for some Due Blanco and Kick Butt Cab, we chatted with Gary about the possibility of entertaining his clientele sometime in the future. Gary is a convivial sort and showed us most of the property including the performance space. He said he’d check us out on our website and we said we’d love to hear from him. Leaving another promo-pak behind, we drove off estimating the amount of time it would take some of the more adventurous Tim and Bob Nationals to get to Johnson City for a gig. We’re looking forward to hearing from Gary.

The last stop was Dry Comal Creek in New Braunfels. We continued on down US281 until we turned east on Texas 46. Once there, all we needed to do was look for Herbelin Rd, and there it was. Once again, the tasting room was hopping. It was after 4:30 by this time, and there were mini-buses bringing folks from the surrounding big cities. I managed to taste two wines, but I’m afraid that the rigor of the 4th and the wine of the 5th got the better of my old carcass, and I left the rest of the tasting/purchasing to “the younger members of the band.” As they tasted and sounded out the management about the possibility of gigs, I found myself a comfortable chair on their expansive porch. It was partly cloudy, and this made the blue of the South Texas sky stand out even more brilliantly. There was a nice cooling breeze, and my eyes might have even closed from time to time.

And then it was back into the car to talk about the adventures of the day, and to speculate about the possibility of new venues and new audiences. We also took the time to think about the birthday of the nation, and about how we’re luckier than most – playing music, meeting new people, eating good food, drinking good wine, and hanging out with our friends. Life is good.

A Mini-Road Trip -- with CRAWFISH!!

The Tim and Bob Show celebrated a rare gig-less weekend by driving from San Antonio to Houston Saturday morning to attend the almost annual Acoustic Guitar Forum Guitar Show, Jam Session, and food fest at the Lake Houston Marina. This get-together is a very important event for The Tim and Bob Show and we hate to miss it. Somehow, though, we've not made it to Houston yet with the full group. This time, Mary Lou was missing [in California still]. Next time, darn it, it'll be all of us.

We (Don [aka DonBob], Steve [aka phuufme], and Steve's wife Kathy) set off a little after 0900 to the rare accompaniment of a light drizzle -- we haven't had any real rain since mid-May! The high gasoline prices and the hour of the day allowed for relatively light traffic as we cruised east on IH10 listening to the radio and doing the NYT Sunday crossword! With a brief stop at Columbus for the most expensive gasoline we saw all day [$3.99 for regular unleaded], we got to the Marina fairly close to 1 o'clock. Mr. & Mrs. Guitarman [also known as Joe and Vicky] were already there along with Mo's Art [Mo] and Antonio Salieri [Chris]. Larry H from Houston [uh, Larry H from Houston] arrived shortly afterwards. Joe Gallego and Joe and Vicky's son Shaun-Bob [it's a long story] were also there along with some friends of theirs whose names escape me.

The cooking was well underway when we unloaded our car and helped get the patio is shape for the more than 30 people who said they hoped to attend. Several guitars were lined up in their cases, but nothing was ready to be played until everything was squared away. The corn-on the cob, potatoes [spicy and regular], crawfish, and BBQ chicken were already well on their way to ready before the first guitar cases were opened.

Mo's music stand was already set up, when Kathy, Steve, and I started setting ours up. Joe had provided two microphones and two speakers with a primo mixing board. As was the case last year, he asked Steve and I to get the ball rolling on the PA and we agreed. After playing a couple of songs, one of the listeners on the non-AGF side of the marina came over and dropped $10 on Kathy. Later on, obviously still pleased by the music we were making, he brought us some hot dogs!

As was the case last year, there was absolutely nothing in the way of a rush to replace us on "the bandstand," even though Kathy joined us for a couple of numbers. Soon, we abandoned the microphones to take part in the real fun of the day. Mo had brought several guitars and generously let me play her Taylor 414 [what a sweet, true high-to-low sound that guitar makes], as well as her Alvarez 12-string and its 6-string twin brother. Steve, meanwhile, introduced Mo to his koa. I think there was some love there. Mo used the koa to play and sing a song that's a long-time favorite of mine, "Streets of London." Unable to resist, I hopped over and provided her a harmony that I hoped she enjoyed.

By this time, a friendly looking gentleman dropped by, guitar in hand. He introduced himself as Hondo [Rob] and we all nearly fainted. Hondo is the AGF's version of Godot. At most of these get-togethers we all look for him and some folks even doubt his existence. Well, I'm here to tell you that he's here, he can play more than a little bit, and he's got a great voice. The jam had begun, and even slopped over into the microphones again where we got Larry H and Mo to join us for some tunes.

And then the food was ready. Man, what a feast!

After we'd all stuffed ourselves pretty good for about 45 minutes or so, we assembled ourselves in sort of a lumpy circle. In the absence of other songbooks, Steve and I took out our Tim and Bob repertoire and hunted for rockers. Shortly after we started, Kego [Keith] and his lovely lady Lrgo [Lisa] showed up. Shortly after he sat down Kego blew everyone away with some of the cleanest, smoothest, and most economical leads anyone has heard for a long time, played first on a beautiful Martin and later on his #48!. Lrgo brought her bag of acoustic percussion instruments to join those that Kathy brought from San Antonio, and each song was "everyone participate."

My fingers gave out first, and finally we started to realize that we had a long drive back to SA, and that none of us is as young as we like to act. So, around a quarter to six, we said our good-byes to all the pickers and singers and cooks and percussionists and eaters, loaded up Steve's Mazda 3, and headed back to San Antonio.

It was a little before 10 when we arrived back at Steve and Kathy's, and everyone was wiped out. It was a great day, though, and the soreness in my four left fingertips as I type this is proof enough that I had a ball. If there's a better way to spend a late Spring afternoon than playing guitars with new friends and old, I haven't heard of it. Thanks to our gracious hosts. Thanks to our fellow pickers. Thanks for the memory of great food, great music, great conversation, and great good will.

Take a look at the pics HERE.

We hope to see y'all next year!

Tim and Bob, Who Are on the Road ....

This is kind of an unusual blog entry. We create these blogs to document the cool places we play in South Texas and the fun we have entertaining new and veteran Tim and Bob Nationals as they enjoy the great food and drink to be had at the many venues who hire us. We list names of the cool folks who come out, talk about individual performances, and try to convey how much fun we have contributing to y'all's evening out. This blog, however, is about an hour or so of music with none of our loyal fans listening, as we played a late morning "engagement" two entire time zones away from home.

If you noticed that it's a rare weekend without a Tim and Bob gig, it's because all four of us are in California's beautiful Bay Area taking a mid-winter vacation and visiting Steve and Kathy's daughter, Hillary. This morning we drove from Oakland over the mountains to Santa Cruz. Why? Well, when Don was in Monterrey in the Spring of 2006, he dropped into a guitar store and was first introduced to the fantastic instruments created by the Santa Cruz Guitar Company. Since then, Don has driven Steve so crazy with his lyrical descriptions of how the guitars felt, played, and sounded, that when we realized we'd all be back here this winter, we decided to visit the factory, and, maybe get a chance to play these wonderful instruments.

Well, we did tour the factory, and it was an impressive place, but all the guitars that SCGC make are already pre-consigned to stores, so there is no "show-room" where we could sample the finished products. Well, the great folks at the Acoustic Guitar Forum tipped us off to what we think is the best guitar store we've ever seen -- Sylvan Music. It's in the city of Santa Cruz, probably no more than a mile from the factory as the crow flies, and we decided to give ourselves an hour there before we did the factory tour.

We got there about 10 minutes before they opened, but one of the guys who worked there let us in early. Well, we started playing -- and we're pleased to report that Steve can still cook after his trigger-finger surgery -- and, by the time Mary Lou and Kathy showed up, the boys had played about a dozen instruments and had sung a good half-dozen songs. At this point, some of the employees of the store had begun to play attention. As a matter of fact, we were just into our 3-parter Teach Your Children when we realized that someone had picked up a third guitar and, on the last chorus, we had a fourth voice. Al, who owns the joint, supplied the voice, and then encouraged the four of us to come out with Monday, Monday.

Once we finished, we did a tour of Al's store, and departed good friends. We look forward to going back there again some day, but -- until we do -- we'd encourage all of you who may visit the area to check out this fabulous store.

By the way, of the dozens of guitars that Steve and Don played, the two that stood out over all the rest were the two Santa Cruz guitars you can see in the pictures taken by Mary Lou, Kathy, and Hillary. I guess Steve knows now what Don found out a couple of years ago.

View the pics here HERE

And you guys? Well, we'll be playing again real soon, so look for us, come out, and have some fun.