Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls

August 5th, 2007--2007

O.K. I've neglected the site. I appologize!!! I've got a TON of new pictures up, and even put a couple links to some bootleg-concert-footage on our front page. Lots of Fun stuff.

Here are a couple things I'm looking forward to:

1) A two week vacation in Turkey. The country not the samich. Plan on listening to me tell A LOT of stories that start, "Well in Turkey...."

2) We're doing a couple shows with our friends Pike from Ohio. Did you see them with us last summer? Well, you should catch these shows. Did I mention the shows are on LEO'S BIRTHDAY WEEKEND!

3) Wicked Liz has been super creative and productive lately. She showed up with another great song (is it titled "No Place Better"?...I don't know). Look for it to be working into our live sets soon.

April 24th--2007

People, we gotta take care of one another! This life is hectic enough without anyone being mean to anyone else. I'm comin' off a bad stretch here. I had a head cold for about a week & a half. Once I recovered from that, I had surgery on my mouth (I still have stitches in), and then last night at Pilates I slipped something in my lower back. I cursed when I got home. How many weeks can you walk around and not feel like yourself? On top of that, today I walked in somewhere for work, and the person at the desk gave me an earful. Then, as I was walking out, they said, "oh, you're not who I thought you were, so never-mind." Not, "hey sorry, I was a complete ass. My mistake." No, just, "you're not who I thought you were." Come on people, this is it. There is NO dress rehersal, this is life. Do your best, and be as nice as you can.

ABOVE: This is me and my brother Leo... I am very lucky to get to play with such a fantastic guy and a phenominal guitar player. He is way cool!

April 1st--2007

Yikes! Has been that long since I've written anything here? Well, we have been BUSY! Liz has written a couple of new songs, Leo, Greg & I have been working on our singing and playing with a side project called Superfly Samurai and I've changed my day job! Just updated the dates for everything we know we're doing from now until September...I'm hoping there will be a LOT more to come.....we're still waiting to hear about Summerfest. Don't be afraid to e-mail them and request us! O.K. Please check out Scott Miller's new CD and Paolo Nutini....discovered Paolo in London a few months back. Scott Miller & the Commonwealth are one of Greg & my favorite bands right now.

October 16th--2006

There are a few things for which I am truely grateful. The fact that none of my friends, nor myself, talk like the idgits on the Taco Bell commercials. So what? These three young, urban professionals are having lunch outside in a park or at a bench somewhere and they're trying to invent a word to describe the crunchy gordita? At their age those people should be making mistakes, but not trying to come up with a word to describe grade d meat with last week & this week's taco shell wrapped around it. The conversations should be more like, ".I'm actually scared to go to the doctor to find out what it is," or, "I got so drunk I woke up with Philis Diller," or "Have you ever microwaved a Twinkie?" or "things aren't going well at the power plant. Sometimes my poo glows in the dark."

Who does Taco Bell think they're kidding? And if they're not kidding, if they've actually found the geekiest smoodges ever born, congratulations to them. Congratulations Taco Bell, you've found just the right mix of crap and tortilla to stimulate these jags for the entirety of their lunch hour. Here's my words to describe them, "Stupi-dick-less," or "Numbskull-icious," or "Syphi-lucky-ish." Let's hope they are equally stimulated an hour after eating their almost food.

Sorry, sometimes I get annoyed by completely stupid advertising.

October 8th--2006

How great is life? Quite great. We had a good time in Dubuque Friday night. I saw some of my old class mates that I haven't seen in years and years. Aaron, Brad, Tony, and Bridget & all of her cronies....everyone is doing great. It is great to have those people see this band. I got to sing a new song, "Sooner or Later," and I think it went o.k.

I've been seeing a lot of ads on tv lately, and I'm confused on who to vote for come next month. Should I vote for candidate who worships Satan, or should I vote for the candidate that pokes orphan children in the eyes with sticks? It's tough to figure out. On the one hand, you have a Satan worshiping wife swapping gargoyle, and on the other hand you have a Cretin with designes on starting a war with Canada & Tahiti who likes poking children's eyes out with sticks. Tough to figure out.

I've added a "Bob Jumps" photo. The bottom right photo was taken by Jen Neuhaus Friday night.

- Bob

August 5th--2006

Thanks to everyone who came out and made Bix such a great night! I've put up some of my favorite "Bob's Jumping" pictures. The first one on the top left is one taken by Jeff Wros at QC Live a couple years ago. The other two are more recent. Our pal Mongo got me jumping at Summerfest in Milwaukee, and then Jeff Wros caught me and Leo jumping at the Wells Fargo Street Fest last weekend.

I lost 4 pounds during the Bix show....I didn't even run the race. For the record, I am an exceptionally gifted jumper. I once skipped rope for almost 12 minutes straight.

Bob

July 5th--2006

O.K. It's been a while since I've written. I appolgize. I have been laughing a LOT the last couple days...which has been great. Had a fun weekend.....got to see Jake play baseball, Cannon got stuck in a sticker bush, and we played at Summerfest in Milwaukee. Being in this band is so much fun...I think my verticle (did I spell that right?) has increased, my bass playing has improved, and as a singer, I'm probably O.K., but as a story teller, I think I'm pretty good.

I hate to say it, I'm writing this with little sleep in me, and don't have that much to say. Last night had a great time watching "Dirty Jobs" with Leo and my brother-in-law Tom (look up the phrase "great guy" in the dictionary). If you've never seen the show, I'm pretty sure I could be related to the guy who does things like....work in a mushroom farm, fish for catfish with his bare hands, help bee keepers, etc. Maybe we were all a little tired, maybe it was the sun or the holiday, but it was espescially funny yesterday. O.K. I'm going to keep this short, and promise to write more soon.

Bob

March 14th--2006

So my friend Amanda Weeks and I were sitting in her neighbor's front yard, taking a poll
on which we'd see more of; blue cars or green cars. Eventually we realized neither of us
was right and we saw more blue cars! We were about 7 or 8 years old and sometimes just
sitting and counting cars is enough at that age. Out of nowhere comes an 8 foot snake.
No kidding. This thing could have swallowed a puppy whole. And at 8, I wasn't much
bigger than some puppies. Well, the snake slithers right over my lap and stops
moving. Amanda has, what can only be described as a conniption. She runs away and
leaves me sitting on the hill, shaking with fear, trying to count cars, and scared to
death that at any moment this snake is going to just gobble me up. Whole. After about
45 minutes Dan Weeks, Amanda's dad comes around the corner of the house. Dan was a tall
lanky guy with a mustache and a smile. Dan is carrying a hatchet. Amanda is with him.
It's June or July and now she's wearing a Halloween mask of Wonder Woman, and stops at
the corner of the house. I'm leaning back on both of my hands, the snake's head is by my
left hand. "Well look at that!" Dan says, and a second later the hatchet slams into the
ground, inches from my hand, taking the head of the snake clean off it's body. The body,
by the way, starts going into convulsions and is now flopping and wrangling all about me,
covering me in blood and snake juice. It is a wonder I did not shit myself.

The last two times I've seen Dan Weeks he's been so excited to see me. He hugs me and
asks what I'm doing now and tells me how much he and Lana loved all of us kids in the
neighborhood. A few years ago, when the band was just starting out, he came to see us
play at O'Meara's Pub in Bettendorf. My own father never got to see the band, and having
Dan there was the next best thing. When Amanda & Ben got married a couple years ago we
also had a good laugh.

Dan lost his fight with cancer on Saturday, March 11th. He was a great husband, father
and friend. He will be missed by everyone who knew him. I have a lot of great stories.
I have a lot of great friends. Bob

March 10th-2006

I'ts been a tough couple weeks for us. Randy Archer, the bass player in Leo's other band Spatterdash passed away on February 28th. It seems impossible to me, and I keep thinking I'm going to hear from him. Randy was always encouraging to Wicked Liz & the Bellyswirls, espescially when we were first starting out. There were some rocky nights, and he was always there to say an encouraging word. For me personally, Randy was a musical mentor. He always had time to talk to me about my bass playing, show me some cool licks or just have a good laugh. Please check out Spatterdash's web-site and download some songs. Road Trip, Learning to Crawl, and Vander Veer are standouts available on the site, but all of the songs are great. Randy was an awesome friend and awesome bass player. He will be missed. Bob

February 12th-2006

Our pal Will Veber made it to 2 shows this week! He's the super hero. Not just for that reason, he also got to meet BB King when he was in town a couple weeks ago. If you're out and about on the web, check out his web-blog. Next week we're back in Chicago for our DVD release party. What a fun couple weeks....Dubuque, St. Louis, Davenport, Chicago!!! Keeping it short today. Bob

February 8th-2006

My pal Bill Stage asked me for a list of my top 10 favorite CD's. Right now I've only got 6 done. Here's the partial list:

1) Peter Wolf-Fools Parade & Sleepless---Two great blue eyed soul sounding albums. The Memphis sound, Muscle Shoals horns, etc. "Nothing but the Wheel" has Mick Jagger on it, and "Anything at All" should have been played on every radio station in the country.
2) Ike Reilly-Salesman & Racists---This album kicks ass. "Last Time," and "Hip Hop Thighs" and "Put a little love in it" are standouts.
3) Fountains of Wayne-Welcome Interstate Managers---It's a shame that the radio only latched on to "Stacey's Mom" cause the whole album is filled with Beatle-esque great songs.
4) Chris Trapper-Songs from the Drive In---Lead Singer for a band called the PushStars. This is a unique sounding album. Good for relaxing. Each song paints a story. "Elvis Presley Blvd" "Summertime is here" and "Starlight" are the standouts.
5) Martin Sexton-The American---Again, unique and unlike anything I've ever heard. Reading about Martin makes him sound like a singer/songwriter. However, this album rocks. "Glory Bound" "Beast in Me" and "Way I am" are standouts, though the album works as a whole. Great for road trips.

6) Scott Miller and the Commonwealth-Death to all Tyrants and Upside Downside. This guy is an awesome song writter! His new CD comes out March 14th, and I'll be getting it. Plus, I'm tyring to recruit people to go see him in Chicago with me.

February 7th- 2006

It's been too long since I've written…I have too much to say. First, 2005 was amazing!
Bob's Top 10 things about 2005:
1) We recorded our 3rd CD "Hulathong" in January with Tom Tatman n…..I love it when we go to work and make new friends! Tom & his wife Kitty were great to us while we were recording.
2) Playing Live From Studio One on KUNI was awesome!
3) Kelly's Irish Pub's St. Patrick's Day Celebration…..5,000 people in green all cheering for us!
4) Seeing my buddy Bill Stage's band the Blitzkrieg Brats at QC Live, and discovering another great Quad City band, The Afterdarks. A mix of the Stray Cats & the Munsters. This band blew me away!
5) Playing Crystal & Chad's wedding. They met at a Wicked Liz & the Bellyswirls concert….we played at their wedding. Friggin' Disney couldn't have scripted that!
6) Opening for Sugarland. Beside the fact that one of the members of Billy Pilgrim is in the band, they put on a great show, and had nothing but encouragement for us!
7) Recording songs for Living in Iowa on IPTV & having our concert from Cedar Rapids played all over the state. We've gotten such great support from everyone in the Midwest!
8) The Party at the Pond. Look for it on our web-site, plan on attending. This is a riot. Skydivers, swimming in a pond, sleeping in a tent. What more can I say?
9) Overcoming a life-long fear of singing, and starting to sing a song in the band. No, I didn't write it, though I have written a song I'm going to start singing in 2006. The song was written by Scott Miller, who Liz & I saw play at Schuba's in Chicago.
10) Getting to continue playing with Liz, Leo & Greg. I am so lucky. I get to travel, play and laugh with my brother and my two best friends. I'm so proud of everything we've accomplished. Our new DVD is AWESOME! HULATHONG is the best music we've written, and the best production we've received.

Last week we played our first full show of 2006. Dubuque is so good to us! My friend Ben Hopkins, a Quad City Comedian put it this way, "Dubuque Loves Wicked Liz & the Bellyswirls the way Germany loves David Hasselhoff!" What a riot! We broke out some new tunes, jumped around and put on a great show. O.K. I've got to get away from the computer. Bob

December 13th--Well, I had a fantastic case of the flu for the last couple days. I spent most of Saturday night out of bed and getting sick. I'm feeling better, but still a little weak. I was supposed to spend a couple days in Chicago with a friend of mine after the show in Rockford Saturday night. Well, that didn't turn out as expected. Anyway, I'm excited about Saturday's show at Southpark Mall. We only get so many all-ages shows a year. We have different fans that show up for different shows. Does that make sense? Anyway, I'm also hoping to hand off my old red Fender Jazz Bass Body (see me dressed as a beaver below) to our friend Collin. Collin has officially painted one guitar body. But, the finish on it looked incredible. I'm excited to hand this off to him and see what he can do with it. Now I'm going to have to find a neck for it!!! Sorry folks, not much new on my front. I get to see my brothers Dave & Jerry tomorrow and hear all about their Honolulu Marathon experience! Jeeze, they ran a friggin' marathon! Bob

DEC 3, 2005 Throwing a few old pictures on here for all the Bob fans!!!

Here's Bob deep in thought... the music business requires a lot of concentration. This is at Cocktails in Marion Iowa... right next to Cedar Rapids. A quiet community that drinks more Jaegermeister per capita than anywhere else in America! (PHOTO: Sperring)

Here's Bob and Greg on one of our first gigs at BOOZIES!!! (He's dressed as a giant beaver!!!) Remember when Bob played Fender basses?!?!?! That's so yesterday... what you need is a mid-70's Gibson Grabber... just like Gene Simmons!!!

I will be an old man, and these will be some of the best memories of my life! I just left lunch with Karen & Ross Hacker, and Tim O'Brien. We laughed and laughed and told stories and everyone congratulated me on the new DVD. Wow do I love this life! Ross & Karen escaped New Orleans, and O'Brien just helped move them back here. The characters they knew and talked about sound like people out of a great novel!!!

Heard today that Troy Martin passed away. Troy has always been a great friend and a supporter of the band. I can remember him coming to our shows at Boozies, and recently when Spatterdash was playing at Rookies, we had a great laugh. He hugged Greg and I and gave us a pep talk. What a great guy! On the DVD, during our curtain call, Troy was in the isle of Circa chanting, "Jake, Jake, Jake!!!" He thought for sure that Jake Kelly was going to come out and play with us. We have been so lucky to know so many great people. Tomorrow's Thanksgiving. Give the people you love a hug. This life is so good.

Posted online: November 11, 2005 4:40 PM
Print publication date: November 14, 2005

Photo: John Greenwood
Bob Kelly, the bass player with Wicked Liz & the Bellyswirls, says his first grown-up job
was in Osaka, Japan.

1. Name: Bob Kelly

3. Occupation: Sales representative for Cumulus Broadcasting; bass player for Wicked Liz & the Bellyswirls; performer at Comedy Sportz.

4. Hometown: "Davenport. But I went to college in Dubuque, Iowa, got my first grown-up job in Osaka, Japan, and I live in Rock Island. All of them feel like home in one way or another."

5. Family: "Four brothers, one sister, lots of nieces and nephews; my mom, Nancy; Brady the dog, and Lucky the cat."

6. Favorite food: "Reubens from Kelly's Irish Pub, or Okinomiyaki from YOU in Amagasaki, Japan."

7. Favorite music: "On a national level, Peter Wolf's last two albums are incredible. Locally, Spatterdash, Jim the Mule and, of course, Wicked Liz & the Bellyswirls."

9. Favorite book: "Cat's Cradle" by Kurt Vonnegut and "Norwegian Wood" by Haruki Murakami.

16. One thing I feel strongly about: "Education. It has opened the door to the best parts of my life."

17. Most people don't know: "Tomatoes are a fruit. Saturn's rings are not solid. I've
never been to England, but I kinda dig the Beatles. I'm a genius. You can tune a piano,
but you can't tune a fish."

19. I wish I knew how to: "Speak Spanish, build a boat, ride a horse -- the list is endless."

20. Motto or favorite quote: "You can lead a horse to water but a pencil must be lead."
-- Oliver Hardy (advice given to Stan Laurel).

Have a suggestion for 20 Questions? Send your nomination to life@qconline.com, or write
to 20 Questions, c/o Life, 1724 4th Ave., Rock Island, IL 61201. Be sure to include your
daytime phone number.

Dear Fox:
As a faithful television viewer for over 25 years, I should tell you, this is the first time I've felt compelled to write to a major network. Fox should be proud of itself for television shows like Arrested Development, The Family Guy and The Simpsons.
However, The War at Home, your new 7:30 program on Sunday nights, is unique. If I were to call the program crap, I would be insulting crap. Rob Lotterstein, the program's creator, would not fare well if this program were being broadcast in a different time. Not time slot. Time. For instance, if this were the old west, they would bury him up to his neck in the desert, and then cover his head in honey. If this were ancient Egypt, they would castrate him, boil his genitals, then force him to eat them. In the middle ages he would NOT have been burned as a witch. He would, however, have been slapped until he urinated.
I wish Mr. Lotterstein nothing but the best. However, don't you think he would fare better as say, a clerk at a Home Depot or perhaps the Big Dipper at a local Dairy Treat? The War at Home is not working. I get it. See there's a war overseas, and the name of the show is supposed to be funny....there's also a war at home! The war is between everyone in the home. The daughter hates the mother and father. The mom & dad fight all the time, but hey, they really love each other. The older son is not gay or a cross dresser, but the dad thinks he is, and while the mother accepts him for this, the dad hates him. And the youngest brother, well, he's just not written well at all. Kind of a blob, probably waiting to get fleshed out in future episodes. Please don't flesh him out. Don't flesh any of them out. Flush them away. The War at Home is terrible.
Americans want to watch the Simpsons. They also want to watch The Family Guy. We're a pretty lazy nation, and quite frankly, we don't want to get up to change the channel. Or use the remote. Or floss. The flossing is another issue all -together, but believe me, we don't want to change the channel. Please cancel the War at Home as soon as possible. The prisoners at Abu Ghraib weren't forced to watch anything this vile. They were shown re-runs of Barney Miller. I'll take rehashed stories about Wojo and Fish getting in a fight over a prostitute in Brooklyn any day. Hey, Abe Vigoda is cranky, but loveable as Detective Phil Fish. Just get the War at Home off the airwaves. Thank you for taking my letter.

Had a great 3 day weekend. I've been trying to spend a little more time at the YMCA the last couple weeks. So Saturday I woke up and did 50 minutes on the stationary bike. I felt great. I keep wanting to do more & more. Tonight the band is getting together to put the finishing touches on the DVD. Everyone's pretty excited. Friday we're back in Chicago. I love that city. Something funny happens with every show there (last time we were in Chicago I challenged the other bands we were playing with to a fried chicken eating contest....luckily none of them took me up on it.....I don't like fried chicken!). Hope we can see you in Chicago Friday night-Bob

What a fun weekend! We played in Muscatine Friday night...thanks to Dave & Mary for having us again! The Brew is one of our homes away from home....great view of the river, terrific sound, good people, cold beer. What more could you want in the summer? By the way, Nikki Lunden's band was great! Catch them if you get a chance....I'm sure we'll be playing together again in the near future.

Sunday I went hiking at Maquoketta Caves State Park. Beautiful day....just warm enough to break a sweat during the up-hill climbs. Sometime in the near future I'll get back up there with my dog. He's brown and likes to hike. After a couple of hours of hiking we ate at Linda's Bluff Lake Cafe. One of Iowa's great family owned restaurants. I ate enough shrimp to be considered a threat to the world-wide shrimp populace! Talk to you soon-

We're playing the Brew in Muscatine tonight....I'm excited about the show....Nikki Lunden & the Heinous Canis are opening. Everything I'm reading about the band I like. With so much time on the road, it's always nice to meet new bands that are working as hard as we are!

O.K. That does it, I can eat no more grilled meat. This weekend I think I set a new record. Friday night, brats, Saturday morning, I went to the farmers market and had some kind of grilled breakfast sandwich, followed by grilled meat Saturday afternoon. Sunday, grill, grill, grill. Monday more grilled food. For the next couple days I'm going to eat Tofu. Grilled Tofu.

We had an awesome time in Dubuque Saturday night. Thanks to everyone in Dubuque for treating us so great! The new CD has been out about 3 weeks, and we had a whole row of people singing the new songs along with Liz....that is so cool! I freaked out and jumped around and generally had a great time. April & Storm (do those sound like super-hero names?) always impress me with their knowledge of Nuclear Medical Technology, and our music. We are trying to make some preparations for the Bix Fest. If you can make it to town, this will be a great concert!--Talk to you soon-
Bob

What a fun weekend! Friday night we played in Epworth to a roudy and enthusiastic audience! Thanks to Jess & Ellen for all of their hard work at our merchandise table. The new CD is out, and so far the response has been great! Saturday morning after the Epworth show Leo & I got up early to cheer my sister Kate on as she competed in her first ever Tri-Athalon. Kate really impressed and inspired me! Her husband Tom & I watched her get in the water, and her swim looked great. Then she shot past us on during the bike part, and still looked good. By the time we met up with Leo & my mom, we were waiting for her to come running by. I am still stoked for her! Saturday we had a great turn-out at Kelly's for our Quad City CD Release. I saw so many people I know. I can't believe how fortunate we have been! Looking forward to the BBQ Round-Up this Friday, and the Taste Saturday. Check out Leo's run-down on the new CD-Later-Bob

Our show with Cheap Trick got cancelled due to a scheduling conflict....owch, that one hurts! I've loved the music of Cheap Trick my whole life.....I'm sure we will cross paths with them somewhere down the road.

The photo on the left is from our show last Thursday at the Cubby Bear in Chicago. I'm getting comfortable with my "modified" Grabber Bass. These basses were made from the mid-70's to the early 80's by Gibson. I've got 2 of them...Leo painted this one...there's a shark on the front, as well as some cool pychodelic stuff, and on the back...well, if you see us live, ask to see the back of the bass.

This week we've got 3 show. I'm looking forward to it...I haven't been jumping enough! Thanks to Jenny Butler for this photo. Jenny's been getting a lot of really cool photos for us lately...wait till you see the CD!

Things have been going so well with our current CD effort. I was on the phone last night with Tom Tatman, our producer, and he had nothing but positive things to share with me about how the CD is coming out. We're supposed to jump in the car and drive to Cedar Falls next week to hear the final mix, so I'm pretty excited about that.

I've been working out on the bass, playing some jazz scales and walking bass lines the last couple weeks. I've had some pain in my right hand and arm, so I'm trying to take it easy before we get going again. I've changed my playing stlye a little (nothing anyone would ever notice), and hopefully will be pain free come summer tour time.

Last weekend Greg and I went to Dubuque to see our pals Jim the Mule play the Busted Lift. What a great weekend! Everytime I see those guys play, I need to come home and practice! To all aspiring bass players I say, go listen to the Jim the Mule song "Glen the Swede." Jason's bass playing on that song is awesome.

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BOB KELLY!!!

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