The primary yr I attended South By Southwest I used to be at a present and spied a well-dressed man, dancing. He was doing a form of ’60s factor, but it surely was additionally freeform. It was on the intersection of fine dancing and really form of “unhealthy” dancing, which made it glorious dancing.
Think about Merce Cunningham doing The Jerk. 

I turned to my buddy and mentioned “try the dude with the form of Beatles haircut over there shakin’ it. He’s cool.”
“He mentioned “oh that’s Beatle Bob!”
I laughed, as a result of I assumed it was like calling some man hobbling down the road “Limping Jake” within the second.
“Oh look, it’s Slowpoke Nancy over there,” pointing in direction of some rando simply shuffling alongside the sidewalk.

No, as I might discover out later, this man was truly referred to as “Beatle Bob.”
Had been for ages.
Apparently a nun had laid that sobriquet on him when she busted him, in school, studying a music journal tucked into his textbook.
In order that second at SXSW had been a real sighting.
What luck!

Through the years I’d see him at music festivals. He’d normally be at a present you’d anticipate a man dressed like that to attend: the offshoots of the Paisley Underground, neo-Beat Bands, enjoyable Psych Rock, Energy Pop, but additionally generally he’d shock you. Throughout the room you’d see mates flip to one another, and also you simply knew they had been saying “oh wild, Beatle Bob got here to this present? No means!”
He was type of just like the dancing Rodney Bingenheimer. If he was at your set, it was most likely an excellent signal that you just had been doing all the fitting faux British issues.
Talisman stuff.
He was from St. Louis however wow did he get round.

It’s true that some individuals had been irritated by all of it. He did take up numerous area, and more often than not he didn’t pay to get into live shows. Legend had it that Bob had seen a present each day since Christmas Day, 1996, despite the fact that he’d been an avid gig-goer since lengthy earlier than then. Apparently the streak was 9,439 nights straight, lastly interrupted by COVID.

So it was most likely truthful to only comp the man entry to any present, as a result of he’d completed the fan work. Bands must make a residing, however I do know I wouldn’t cry over a misplaced 5 bucks if Beatle Bob got here to bop to any of the 900 bands it looks like I’ve been in.
These are the superfans you need hanging round.

He’d dabbled in ‘zines and completed a bit of DJ’ing. Primarily, although, he was only a social employee, who had additionally been a supply driver, that simply favored to don a three-button, “bum freezer,” mod jacket and dance at rock exhibits.

A couple of years in the past he was identified with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, aka ALS, certainly one of nature’s most sadistic illnesses. Nerves quick circuit, and muscle groups cease doing what they’re speculated to. Mind and spinal twine capabilities diminish, and most of the people die inside a 3 or 4 years. There isn’t a remedy, and it’s a thriller as to why it even occurs.
For an individual who is known for dancing to contract this can be a significantly merciless destiny.

He succumbed to the illness yesterday, on the age of 70.
Robert E. Matonis, January 12, 1953 – July 27, 2023

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