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.