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"BB will cause some sort of strong reaction -- whether it's vitriolic, sympathetic or indifferent."

.... since when is indifference a strong reaction?
heh.

heh, good call on semantics -- but trust me, the indifference is usually paired with scorn. so maybe "scornful indifference" -- which is pretty strong -- is more precise! :)

Do you suppose that anyone will ever know what makes Bob tick? Who knows, maybe decades from now some psych grad student will write their PhD thesis on obsessive-compulsive disorders amongst badly dressed music fanatics.

I've known Bob for close to 20 years, not in any real sense of course. I do begrudgingly respect his tireless devotion to music and his mostly unrewarded promotion of bands and musicians he likes. I'm generally indifferent to his awkward, rhythmless, dancing (unless you're dumb enough to be standing within the arc of his wildly swinging legs it's hardly worth a strong reaction). I do greatly loathe the subterfuge he uses, and has used over the years, to attend concerts that we mere mortals must pay to see.

But then hey, I get to drive home when it's over and sleep in a nice warm bed. Who knows what Bob does.

BB has always been part of going to shows, but his tragic story still don't excuse his sometimes arrogant behavior.

The thing that really gets my goat is that he's given free tickets nearly every show! He's a "life-long fan" of music, so why the freebies? Seriously, I'm a life-long fan of music, but I actually pay to see shows! I might not have an iconic look or dance very well (truth be told neither does BB), but at least what little money I have goes mostly to helping bands get paid.

That said, I'm glad he goes to shows, I'm glad he has fun, but he's gotta get off the Beatle Bob headtrip that's obviously inflating his ego.

PS : I was at that Garrison Starr show, but I was entirely too drunk to remember most of it. Word of warning : at Off Broadway, don't drink the Murder City Special. Which is a shot of Old Crow and a Stag. At least, don't drink 5 of them.

WORDSWORDSWORDS. Who's going to a show tonight? Will BB be there?

I like Bob. I don't like people who think they should be able to control their concert experience just because they paid howevermuch for a ticket. Chill out!

I've been to a good amount of shows in St. Louis, but my most memorable was the last Guided by Voices show at Miss Nights. The final encore song was "Glad Girls" and Bob got pulled up onstage by the band, and then he pulled a few other people up, including me. It was such a rush seeing the packed club from the stage and jumping around like a fool up there without a care in the world. Thanks Bob!

I have never minded BB's "big head", his style, or his dancing--that's actually the only thing I like about him. One time i saw him coerce a girl probably a third of his age to dance at Off Broadway, which is fine. But he proceeded to grind himself on her in a VERY unlike BB way...it kind of creeped me out but I guess even BB needs to get freaky and the girl didn't seem to mind.

My main problem is the stealing. I don't even really care about the lying, that's just strange. Once again at Off Broadway, an old band I played in was opening for a Swedish group called Cake on Cake. Me and my lead singer caught him grabbing a stack of their cds, wrapping them up in a poster and bolting for the door. We chased after him and caught him and made him return them. We were pretty mad cause these folks from Sweden were nothing but nice and sweetish (swedish, sweetish, get it?). Steve Pohlman, Off Broadway's demigod and all around swell guy, was totally cool and defused the situation.

there's obviously something wrong with the guy but he's a "staple" and a "legend" so most club owners put up with it.

I personally don't care for him but I also don't personally care if he gets into shows for free and whatnot. But when he steals that's going too far, mental problems or not.

By the way, I hear he's banned from Cicero's for stealing cookies....is this true? wow.

i am mostly intrigued by the theory that beatle bob is homeless. never even considered that.

i see the bob/rodney connnection, but here's the difference: rodney is a lonely fellow - that scene in _sunset strip_ where the girl disses him on camera is heartbreaking. but consider that rodney, for all his shtick, has actually had some modicum of success and respect as a dj, club promoter and tastemaker. in contrast, beatle bob demands respect and freebies for his beatle bobness and little else.

in the end, though, both of them represent a theory that i've long held: music can ruin your life if you're not careful about it.

Like anything coming out of local scene to a national publication, its expected that everyone will have an opinion, but this time, I'm excited it's not something polarizing like a band with a particular sound or a ridiculous fad that appeals to hipsters--it's a guy who is going out and enjoying music in St. Louis, getting one of our best venues names printed in a national publication and showing that St. Louis is a great music town. I'm grateful that STL is receiving national press not for some passing fad or sound, but rather for some good old-fashioned local folk lore that helps elevate this city's scene apart from trivial genre preferences or "we're not like Chicago or Seattle, etc..." whining. This proves Beatle Bob has risen above alot of bullshit that has gotten St. Louis nowhere and done something good for our reputation. Couldn't be happier!

st. louis really was just sort of a passing background to the story, sadly.

i'd rather all of the excellent music -- which sort of transcends genres -- get the national attention instead of someone whose reputation is so poor in town. but that's just me.

A few years ago Beatle Bob had a phase where every Saturday afternoon he would ransack the dumpsters behind the Hi-Pointe Theatre for pieces of cardboard and drag them down the alley towards St. Mary's. I think the club was still around then. I never figured out where he was taking it, but he would make multiple trips up and down the alley. I saw him do this like, five or six weekends in a row. I never asked him why, because I didn't want to embarrass him, and besides, all my other experiences talking to people who rifle through dumpsters were generally not positive. He might still do it for all I know.

Also, on the one or two occasions he came into the theater, I would watch him like a hawk because I was well aware of his reputation and I didn't want him walking out of the theater with some vintage piece of decor that was going to be impossible to replace. I watched him fish a spent large soda cup out of a trash can, hide it in his coat, and smuggle it over to the self-serve coffee carafes where he filled it up with coffee. And I was like, I could really humiliate this guy right now, but a man who's drinking stolen coffee out of a used soda cup that's been sitting in a trash can for hours or days is probably humiliated enough on a daily basis without me piling it on further.

In conclusion, Beatle Bob is a strange and slightly unsavory character and I think it may not be such a bad thing that Blender didn't tie him TOO closely to St. Louis.

Yeah, glad you didn't kick him while he was down. Blogging about it publicly was probably a much better decision for his well-being.

caleb, did you even read this blog entry? show me where i'm "kick[ing] him while he was down." i reported on this story in a nat'l magazine, pointed out what's missing from it, gave context from our local coverage from the past and in the end say i feel "sadness." not exactly harsh.

as a local musician, you're for him. that's you're prerogative, and i respect that. but i can name five folks immediately in the music scene who are against him. that's fact; not my opinion. look at the comments in this thread alone.

oh hey annie-

just from a reader's perspective i think caleb's comments were meant more for PF Doom.

I think Caleb's response was to the comment of the mysterious "PF Doom" and not directly to your blarg entry, Annie.

That said, I was there when the event with the coffee and the fished-out soda-cup described by "PF Doom" occurred and can corroborate its truth down to the detail.

This and other events I've witnessed involving Beatle Bob directly or indirectly have led me to a range of response from spite to indifference to pity. I will be somewhat interested to see that movie that's being made about him, but ultimately I think anyone that gets too passionate about him either way is giving him more credit/attention than he deserves.

No worries, Annie. I did read your blog, and the article and Blender and I have no qualms with the way in which you spoke about Beatle Bob or your feeling towards him or your take on the article in Blender. My comment was in response to PFDoom and I see that my choice of the word "blogging" rather than "commenting" may have indicated that it was for the blogger rather than the commenter. Sorry for the ambiguity.

So, to clarify, with less sarcasm this time, I think it's distasteful to publicly post stories like the one PFDoom volunteered. Beatle Bob is a person and no person deserves to be spoken about that way--ESPECIALLY PUBLICLY AND IN PRINT. It doesn't elevate our city or anything about it. In fact, it does quite the opposite and further proves that what Beatle Bob has achieved in receiving national attention from reputable outlets transcends the usual townie bitching and belly-aching about this and that.

I recognize that not everybody's a fan of Beatle Bob, (I'm not exactly crazy about out-of-time dancing at the center-stage during my sad-bastard ballads...) but that he's attracted any attention to St. Louis and the music in our city (even if it wasn't a 5-page spread on why STL is the next Portland, or something...) is actually something, rather than our usual nothing of empty complaints of how we're passed over nationally or beyond hope of developing something more substantial. Having folk-lore about a city is usually a good thing that helps immortalize a place and draws positive attention to that city--so long as the natives don't destroy and/or disown it, which is what it would appear many would like to do.

To me, the complexity, mystery, and controversy surrounding Bob sounds like something helpful in St. Louis' ever-developing story as a great music city that might actually contribute to more positive national attention that we all believe the river city deserves.

Forgive me for grand-standing. I'll take any further discussion to my myspace blog - www.calebtravers.com will get you there.

Caleb, get over yourself already. The reason we're all reading and posting to this blog is because we want to know more about Beatle Bob. Like it or not, the Beatle is a public figure and people are interested in his story. If he doesn't want the attention and follow-up questions, he can end his shtick and live a quiet life at home -- or an alley -- or wherever he spends his time between shows. PFDoom's comments were not disparaging. They merely provided us with a better understanding of Bob's curious background.

I know this is from months ago but I thought it worth commenting on now. Caleb says, "Beatle Bob is a person and no person deserves to be spoken about that way--ESPECIALLY PUBLICLY AND IN PRINT". True enough I suppose but in the end he is a person famous for being famous. And when one seeks publicity and such they must understand that they may get more than they bargained for in the process. For my own two cents I think he's just too cheap to buy coffee.