Beatle Bob, a figure who polarizes the St. Louis music scene, has a new title to add to his name. He is now Grammy Award-nominated Beatle Bob.
Notorious for shaking his mop of hair and dancing near the stage at concerts, Bob is both loved and hated.
Sunday, he rearranged his schedule to watch the Grammy Awards at 7 p.m. Usually an evening concert-goer (he set his 5,000 concert mark in August), he instead dropped into Hammerstones in Soulard for its afternoon blues session so he could get to a TV in time to watch the show.
Bob contributed a spoken word piece to a double disc that was nominated for the Best Spoken Word Album For Children at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.
Although Bob didn’t walk away a winner—the top honor went to a Julie Andrews’ collection of poetry—he says he loved watching the show and being part of a night with so many artists he admires.
“It was nice just to be included on a Grammy nomination night, the same time both The Beatles and Paul McCartney were nominated,” he says in an e-mail to friends.
The album, Healthy Food For Thought, is a spoken word and musical double disc that promotes healthy eating habits for children. All proceeds benefit the New York Coalition for Healthy School Food.Bob says his contribution was a natural move for him—he’s been a lentil-cooking, salad-washing vegetarian for nearly 30 years.
“I wanted to impart to kids that not only is this food tasty and hip thing to do, you can go hang out with your friends and have some fun eating it,” he says.
His piece—“Down at Big Green’s"—is about a vegan diner, and Bob’s voice narrates a scene of food and friendship over the sound of clanking dishes. He wrote the piece and recorded it at a friend’s studio in Soulard.
“I can’t sing worth a lick,” he says, “So all I had to do was talk, and I said, 'Well I can do that.'”
Paula Lizzi, a producer on the album, says she contacted Bob about writing a piece for the album after seeing his name pop up all over Facebook.
Kevin Mackie, the first producer and contributing artist, says the producers didn’t know all the details of Bob’s St. Louis fame. They didn’t know that he is notorious for shaking his mop of hair and dancing right up at the stage.
“We didn’t know any of that,” Mackie says. “To us, it was just this Beatle-looking figure who was popping up everywhere. No matter where you looked, there’s Beatle Bob.”
Note: in the image above, Bob is getting a much more important trophy...a "5,000 Award," from Joe Edwards, in recognition of Bob's attendance at music shows for 5,000 consecutive nights.
