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Tuesday, 29 November 2005 11:33 |
| John North
Editor & Publisher
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?®In the white room, with black curtains, near the station.
Black roof country, no gold pavements, tired starlings.
Silver horses, ran down moonbeams, in your dark eyes.
Dawnlight smiles, on you leaving, my contentment...?∆
?? ?®White Room?∆ by Cream
?ÿ
The Bobs presented a phantasmagoric blend of new-wave a capella singing, featuring mostly rock music, before a full house last Thursday night in Diana Wortham Theatre at Pack Place in Asheville.
According to Pulse Magazine, ?®The Bobs are the Beatles of the a capella world.?∆ All hype aside, to get a grasp of The Bobs, think in terms of an ?®acid?∆ barbershop quartet singing style with instrumental sound effects, blended with a strange brew of irreverant humor.
Indeed, the zany show, titled ?®The Bobs: Rhapsody in Bob,?∆ proved to be a hit with the crowd. Yet, from my vantage, the performance smacked of a thinly disguised marketing tool, with all-too-brief singing and comedy sandwiched between incessant pitches to the audience to buy Bobs-related merchandise ?? conveniently available, it was emphasized, just outside the exit doors. Commercialism seems to know no limits in these times.
As billed, the group??s piano-accompanied version of George Gershwins??s
?®Rhapsody in Blue?∆ was the intended centerpiece ?? and The Bobs?? ability
to simulate its intricate melody was quite impressive. However, the
presence of a much-too-showy piano accompanist greatly distracted and
detracted from an otherwise mesmerizing performance. For this, the
magnum opus, the focus should have been squarely on The Bobs ?? and not
on the pianist.
Alas, my tired starlings, the show??s highlight for me was seeing and
hearing The Bobs?? incredible rendition of ?®White Room,?∆ which many
consider to be Cream??s masterpiece. The group??s ability to recreate the
sounds ?? music and percussion ?? of this complex 1968 psychedelic song,
along with exaggerated acid-period antics, was quite stunning and
almost beyond belief. ?®White Room?∆ also happens to be among my favorite
songs, but I saw a number of fellow audience members who appeared to
have no familiarity with the original, so I doubt they appreciated The
Bobs?? rendition of it as much as I did.
While last week??s show was enjoyable, perhaps my undercurrent of disappointment with it stems from the
pleasure I experienced three years ago, when I saw this eccentric West
Coast group perform in casual jazz club settings in Santa Cruz, Calif.,
and in Seattle.
On the West Coast, The Bobs seemed more in synchronization with what
was, on both occasions, more revved-up, tuned-in and turned-on
audiences.
In contrast, in Asheville, there seemed to be a bit of a disconnect.
Here, The Bobs?? wacky humor sometimes seemed forced and awkward, and
the group??s professed disdain for the South and all things Southern
drew laughs, but did not really seem to resonate with the Pack Place
audience.
For instance, when one of The Bobs used the phrase ?®y??all,?∆ the others
mocked him repeatedly for sounding ignorant ?? and Southern. This
mean-spirited humor also was manifested in several negative references
to a competing show in town that night, with The Bobs praising the
crowd for its discernment in not choosing the other performance.
On behalf of the group, one of The Bobs noted that it was great to be
?®... in this town,?∆ perhaps trying to be funny, but more likely
indicating that the group did not even know ?? or care ?? where it might
be performing in North Carolina, a state that The Bobs clearly
regarded, through various references, as a cultural backwater.
Too bad The Bobs will never know about Asheville ?? one of the
Southeast??s most progressive and arts-oriented cities ?? indeed, one
that??s similar to, if not an even more desirable locale than, many of
the quartet??s favorite West Coast locales.
For example, Asheville has a rich literary tradition that includes
Thomas Wolfe, F. Scott Fitzgerald, O. Henry and nearby Flat Rock??s Carl
Sandburg, among others.
Despite the show??s flaws, the generally older, buttoned-down Asheville
crowd lavished much applause on The Bobs throughout the show and gave a
standing ovation after ?®Rhapsody in Bob.?∆ Later, the audience rose to
its feet, clapped, cheered for ?? and received ?? an encore.
Obviously, The Bobs?? high-energy style of a capella singing requires an
occasional breather, but it appeared the group over-indulged itself in
joking and clowning, rather than singing ?? perhaps to keep the clock
running on its requisite stage time.
The current lineup of The Bobs ?? none of which are named Bob (but each
member takes ?®Bob?∆ as an honorary middle name) ?? includes Richard
?®Bob?∆ Greene, bass; Matthew ?®Bob?∆ Stull, vocal percussion and sound
effects; Dan ?®Bob?∆ Schumacher, groove-master and oral instrumentalist;
and Amy ?®Bob?∆ Engelhardt, the femme-Bob.
Other highlights of this performance included lively renditions of
songs by the Beatles, including ?®You Can??t Do That?∆ and ?®Helter
Skelter.?∆
Showing a flair for innovation and humor, The Bobs also did interesting
interpretations of The Coasters?? 1958 hit ?®Searchin,?∆ with a rap beat,
and The Doors?? ?®Light My Fire,?∆ in a madrigal setting, turning it into
a fugue-like prayer.
For the finale of the encore, The Bobs performed, gospel-style, ?®Join
that A Capella Choir in the Sky.?∆ This struck me as a cosmic irony ?? an
a capella quartet was singing about the ultimate dream group in its
genre... with piano accompaniment.
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