A lenghty preface this’ll turn out to be, methinks… Here goes:
On the longish car rides to the Michigan Renaissance Festival in 1992 friend, Mike Ameloot, would share music theory and history with me – knowing full well that I planned on becoming a music major in a couple of years. He also was an a cappella fanatic. He introduced me to bunches of a capella groups like Rockapella, The Nylons and Manhattan Transfer – but one stuck with me: The Bobs.
The Bobs are pretty quirky – Born out of the 1980s they mix jazz, rock and (sometimes) avante garde asthetics to their tunes. They became semi-famous for their version of Hendrix’s ‘Purple Haze’ for a little while and always write their songs with tongue firmly planted in-cheek. They might not be for everyone (heck, I still find myself apologizing here and there for them) but they’re always fun.
Though they have a bit of a revolving cast, The Bobs are still around – They were just included on the bill of a small Christmas tour that Harry Shearer and his wife, Judith Owen, did. Below are some of their (in my humble opinion) best tunes – If you only download one, make it ‘Spontaneous Human Combustion’.
Helmet
Mopping, Mopping, Mopping
Banana Love
Little Red Riding Hood (live)
Spontaneous Human Combustion
Mr. Duality
Rainbird
Slow Down Krishna
Purple Haze (Jimi Hendrix)
You Really Got A Hold On Me (Smokey Robinson and the Miracles)
White Room (Cream)
Particle Man (They Might Be Giants)
There Is A Mountain (Donovan)
Disco Inferno (The Trammps)
Killer Bees
MP3hursday – The Bobs edition.zip (88MB)
As always, MP3s are for evaluation purposes only. Please support this artist by buying their albums here.
January 11, 2008 at 10:04 pm |
Sweet, the Bobs!
That was one of the first things I liked about you, Philly. That, and calling you “Philbo Phaggins” (I still chuckle at your chagrin).
Another Bobs thing: http://www.bobs.com contains the earliest known reference to me on teh entire internets.
January 11, 2008 at 10:07 pm |
The guestbook, right?
January 11, 2008 at 10:21 pm |
Yup!
January 11, 2008 at 10:29 pm |
Diggin’ First There Is a Mountain right now. Thanks so much for the trip down memory lane.
April 4, 2008 at 5:28 pm |
I found your Phlog while looking for Michael Ameloot online. Actually, he played the fanfare at my wedding at the MI Ren Faire in 1992.
Lost track of him not long after that and miss him. Any idea where he is today? I know he’s still involved in theater in MI, but that’s it. Be glad to pass along my info to pass to him, so you wouldn’t have to give me his private info. Ta!
April 11, 2008 at 9:11 pm |
Anne – I actually haven’t talked to Michael for quite a while. He was on MySpace for a bit but then deleted his account without any forwarding info. Last I knew, he was in the Detroit area performing in a men’s chorus… Wish I could be more help.
November 13, 2008 at 4:07 pm |
Anne and Phil – Mike bumped into me today in Madison Heights. He was on a run to Rochester Hills so I am figuring he’s still in the area, but our conversation was brief. He’s looking healthy…
More hair on top than me… but no other info either.