It's a few minutes before 10, as I'm walking down the stairway, of the Doug Fir. We have trouble making it through the door there are so many people stacked about. This wouldn't surprise me on a Friday or Saturday, but it's Monday people! As the band files out on stage, the crowd starts to cheer wildly, with choruses of "I love you Bob", being shouted all over the room.

They bypass any form of introductions, and get to playing, and I'm shocked and amazed because I never new people in Portland danced! Who knew? Bob's got one hand on the mic and the other is playing...well the keyboard, as the music has the crowd moving and bouncing out on the floor, boppin' on the benches, everyone is dancing including some that probably shouldn't be. You see a few air guitarists, one intrepid air drummer, and few people doing their best ballroom. This is at the beginning of the show!

He's been called the Elvis of Austin, the Uncle of Indie, you might know him as Batman, but you can call him Bob Jack, Mr. Bob Schneider has been around for awhile and by the look of it, he has no intention of slowing things down. He's on tour for most of the last quarter of the year, which makes it all the more surprising to see how much energy he brings to his shows. They played for over 2 hours and there was never a low point in the evening.

Several songs went by before taking a short breather just to say hello, and then right back into it, this was more like an outdoor festival than an underground club, rarely have I gotten to witness such a big sound confined to such a small venue. The log walls shook from the stage to the back of the bar, and all the way down to the illuminated floors.

I think "Tarantula" was definitely the song that brought the evening to its knees, even Bob's little pause to inform the audience how to sing the chorus was funny as hell, "This is for those of you who aren't familiar, it's only four verses..." And then jumps back into it without missing a beat. A special shout out to the trumpet player, Oliver Stack...I think, anyone who blows that well should be in porn!

So all in all Monday was an evening of learning. I learned that 40 year old white guys can rap, people in Portland can dance, and the kids still like to do jazz hands, but hey who doesn't? Anywho the bar for small venue concerts just got raised, lets see if anyone is willing to accept the challenge, and if there's no jazz hands...you fail.

Where to go check out Bob Schneider:

Bob's official website.

Bob's Myspace Profile.