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Bob Nyswonger - The Bears

J

jeffwo

Feb 16, 2010
207
11
Leesburg, Virginia
#1
One of my all time favorite bass players, who plays in Adrian Belew's side band The Bears and also plays in The Psychodots with the other two Bears guys without Belew. I'm a huge Belew fanatic, and The Bears LPs are just awesome material, and Nyswonger's bass parts are super cool. Not bad for a real estate agent! This guy deserves a lot more attention, here's one Psychodots/Bears tune with a killer bass break:




I like The Bears recorded version better, but this one is just so damn funny with these lyrics and a bunch of little kids dancing around at the Redsfest (Momma's little baby likes fear and torture - momma's liitle darling likes violent sex - she thinks she's Queen Victoria - rides the pony express!). Such a juxtaposition!
 
#4
Welcome to TB--there are lots of great players here. (I'm not one of them.:D) I usually see Bob posting in the Amps forum.

BTW: Adrian's current bassist, Julie Slick, also posts here!
 
#5
Yep, Bob is a native Cincinnatian, a TB member (nysbob) and has provided the venu for the last 2 Cincinnati GTGs(currently working on Cincinnati GTG 2010)! I also got to play thru his Ampeg rig! :hyper: (sorry James!)

The song you are referencing, Fear Is Never Boring, was recorded by The Raisins who were a very popular band here in the 80s. :cool:

Russ
 
#7
Love Bob! "Fear is Never Boring" is one of my favorite Bears tunes. I saw them here in Nashville in the late 80s. I talked with Rob Fetters and Adrian before the show and they said Bob had the flu that night. You never would have known it by the way he played. Absolutely amazing.
 
#9
Aw shucks, guys.

"kicks dirt"

Thanks for the props Jeffwo. I haven't done anything with Adrian since he started doing the trio, but we never say never. I don't know if you have the last Bears release Eureka, but I'm real happy with the way it came out - they cranked me up in the mixes and I got to cut loose a little bit! :D

I still play with the Psychodots twice a year, but do the majority of my gigging with trios Tickled Pink & Bucket - I play a fretless jazz special and a Clevinger EUB with both those bands. If you are ever in the area, I post all my gigs on Link Removed
 
#10
Bob - I love you man! In a purely platonic way of course! Of course I have Eureka, and everything else Bears. I have to pick up the Psychodots stuff as well. I had a fretless Jazz Special very much like yours years ago. I saw Belew down here with the Slicks last year - she is damn good but not you! Of course she might be a little cuter and has time to catch up! I always seemd to be out of town or unable to go for some reason or another when The Bears came through my area - I hope you guys have at least one more CD and tour in you.
 
#15
jeffwo said:
I'm in northern Virginia now but grew up and did most of my playing around the Baltimore area. I'm back to playing out again after a long layoff in the real world. Working on putting together a power trio and some Bears tunes are top of the list!
Click to expand...

If you want to cover one of my tunes and make it a hit, I'd be be forever indebted. ;)

All the best in diving back into playing - it's good for your soul. I'll be sure to let you know if and when we play in VA.
 
#16
It is indeed good for the soul Bob! Maybe we can do something newfangled with Rabbit Manor! BTW, are the first two albums available on CD yet?

I never realized how much I missed playing (besides playing in the basement that is) until my first gig back. Absolutely I will keep an eye out for any nearby gigs - hell I may even have to travel to Cincy for a Psychodots show!
 

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