Our Greatest Bands Series My Dog Bob

Our Greatest Band Series

Presents

My Dog Bob

 

The 1980’s was a hotbed for great music in the Tri-Cities. It seemed as if music was everywhere from back porch cornpone to rock clubs with enough punked up pizzazz to keep everyone happy. The clubs were always packed to the rafters; every show was a big show. From 1981 to 1986 My Dog Bob was living proof. They produced a big full sound with great lead vocals and three tiered vocal harmonies. They were the best band with the best players in a scene that had already had incredible bands vying for the number one grid spot. The band consisted of:

Doug Sheltraw;  guitar, vocals

Mark Miller bass, vocals

Rollo Woodring, drums

Jim Schmidke, keyboard

Jim Perkins, Lead Vocals, guitar

 

This was a fully serviced band with the best gear. Gary Westendorf did sound and lights; Curt List did sound. The band had a huge PA system courtesy of Watermelon Sugar (Schmidke and Al Limberg). Perkins claims that Schmidke got the equipment from Styx in a coup ‘de etat. It was a chance in a lifetime to get the best professional equipment. This was the era of big bands and big sounds. All the clubs were packed to the rafters and it was always a big show. Production and sound were paramount in this 4^th stage of rock & roll, the packed houses lived and died by a careful reading of what was hip and what would be danceable. The band mixed covers with a few originals. A typical setlist consisted of;

 

Frankie Goes To Hollywood -  Relax

The Beatles -  Strawberry Fields

Pink Floyd – Comfortably Numb

Talking Heads – Once in a Lifetime

Tears For Fears – Shout

New Order – Blue Monday

Sex Pistols – Stepping Stone

Chilli Peppers – True Men Don’t Kill Coyotes

And a few originals like Mark Miller’s punk anthem Surf’s Up and Jim Perkins’ love ball number Candy Cane.

 

Perkins recalls his time with My Dog Bob with affection.

“I loved Sheltraw’s work. He was like a 70’s guitarist, reminiscent of Queen with big solos. The equipment was excellent, it was through Watermelon Sugar. Schmidke and Al were great sound technicians. They would do the sequencing for our backing tracks.”

 

Perkins is clear about the vibe in the eighties. It was a far cry from today’s ennui, a lethargic doublespeak within an uptight scene that cannot permit what the eighties took for granted. It was vibrant and exploratory.

 Jim explains, “The clubs were packed all the time – 5 nights a week.  The Fordney was HOT, lines of people out of the door! Old Town came into its own; it was hopping 3-5 nights a week. We played the Hamilton Street Pub and rocked it hard and even got asked back for several more gigs. All the bands toured regionally Kalamazoo (Club Soda), Grand Rapids (Intersection, Millies). We had a horn band at Mackinaw Island, our audience came to us!”

Perkins recalls My Dog Bob as a great band but then corrects himself, “we were a good band…we weren’t the Stones! There were a lot of good bands that were playing new music like Valentine, Mick Furlo Band, The Flies and the Burdons. In the end what brought us down was our lifestyles, travelling a lot and having musical differences and directions.”

Perkins recalls those halcyon days with some measure of wonder, pride and a subtle melancholy. “It’s no longer a scene or a subculture; it’s a fringe culture. Music is not the focus anymore. People are listening to music on their cell phones, never hearing the full spectrum of sound. But now there is a new movement happening at record clubs and conventions and the rebirth of vinyl.“

 

 Though the My Dog Bob dissolved in 1986, their legend continues. They were a band like no other before or since and for good reason. Gary Westendorf was a critical component of the band’s sound.  He did sound, lighting, staging and had a flair for doing the right thing at the right time.

 Gary recalls, “ Watermelon Sugar was the retail arm of the business and Snowbound Sound  was an arm Watermelon Sugar. It was all based on Hamilton Street. There were three floors that included a retail music business, a second floor rehearsal room and a third floor that housed a music studio known as Snowbound Sound.” Westendorf laughs as he confides that nobody made much money but they sure had a lot of equipment. Jim Schmidtke was recognized as a programming genius for the band. This was the beginning of the digital age and My Dog Bob was in the vanguard of musical expression and the creation of incredible sounds, all programmed by the incredible genius of Schmidtke. Gary gives credit to My Dog Bob as a band that opened up the scene to experimentation and creation of ambient sounds. Pink Floyd had nothing on them. They set a musical tone in a scene that was expanding like a nuclear explosion. They had a tri-amp PA with lows, mid range and highs. It was concert level equipment, 50,000 watts of shear power!

 

The very first gig was @ JB Meinbergs, still owned by Mary Ellen Cady. She was an integral part of the Hamilton Street scene and brought legendary folk singers such as Joni Mitchell. There was plenty of action and diversity within the scene including cool places like the 8th Day Coffee House, the Wherehouse as well as head shops that sold hippie clothes, bongs, posters, black lights and Krishna art work.

Westendorf asserts that the band members in My Dog Bob were not a match in personalities or interests, “they were a diverse group of characters.”

According to Westendorf Jim Perkins was incredibly prolific at the time. “He had a duo with Bill Nanke called Raintree and they played all over the place even during the age of rock but the band that really led to My Dog Bob was Ono Bono, a combination of Yoko Ono and Sonny Bono. It was Jim’s band and it included Mark Miller and Rollo Woodring.”

The band coalesced despite their differences and the result was pure magic. Mark Miller had a fretless bass, fans loved him. He had the look and he was a great player.  They were the first band to do reggae and punk side by side. They were hugely popular at Mackinaw Island, it was a paid vacation of sorts but the contacts with big money and influential players was a coup d’etat.

Jim Schmidke just may be the unsung hero of this story. He was shy and unassuming but he was a great engineer.

Westendorf agrees, “He was more than smart. He had brain power. He had an Apple 2T and a QXI Yamaha music sequencer. Schmidtke could program all those sounds. He had to get the right match for the sound. He could reproduce helicopter sounds, anything. My Dog Bob would never do the obvious hits but they would do deep end stuff like Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd. He programmed the sounds of a mellotron and harpsichord for their version of the Beatles Strawberry Fields. It knocked out everybody.  You would never hear it in a bar but My Dog Bob was not a bar band – it was a concert event”

 

The band had a way of bringing out the best songs, best vibe and best sounds. Westendorf remembers, “Rollo knew Doug Sheltraw, everyone knew him. Doug was a rocker and he brought revolt into style. He emulated Bill Nelson of Be Bop Deluxe and Brian May of Queen. He was so good, and so fluid, he could do it all. Sheltraw would get into a flow state that went from his brain to your ear! It is no doubt that anyone that heard Sheltraw realized he was more than a technical player and soloist, he was a master of sound like Hendrix.

In an early interview with Bob Martin at the Pub, Westendorf was asked what led to all the success and he said, “My Dog Bob do everything better than any other band in the area.” But in retrospect he says what he really meant was that we had a great guitarist in Doug Sheltraw and a great lead singer in Jim Perkins, he had great phrasing…an incredible singer. Each member of the band was integral to the success of My Dog Bob.

 

CODA: Perkins recalls…

“I was eleven years old when I saw Dick Wagner at Larry Wheatley’s house. Wheatley was in Count & the Colony and Wagner was the leader of the Bossmen. Wagner would come over quite a bit for a while. He would play out in the backyard or down in the basement. Wagner would play Spanish or electric guitar and he would sing up real high, and hit those impossible notes. I didn’t realize the talent he had, Wagner was great. He was an icon, it was like seeing John Lennon…or the Bossmen. Ed Sullivan and The Beatles inspired me.!