News

Something in the Way He Moves

Continued from page 5

O'Dea, who formerly worked at the RFT, is a strong supporter of Beatle Bob's and reserves her criticism for his detractors. "I think St. Louisans don't embrace their own," she says. "They have a negative attitude about where they live and the people around them. The truth is, we should be celebrating those things instead of being so hypercritical. Beatle Bob has done nothing but promote the music community of this marketplace to people all over the country. Everywhere he goes, he does nothing but promote the good side of St. Louis. He doesn't get anything for it, except that he's a character. I wish we had more of those, not less. In my opinion, he's just who he says he is, and he doesn't have anything to hide from anybody."

But Beatle Bob seems less communicative with people the closer he gets to home. The phone number that O'Dea has for him has been disconnected. The number he currently uses is unpublished. His calls are normally screened through an answering machine. When he accepts a ride from someone, he usually asks to be picked up or dropped off in a public place -- a street corner or a restaurant. He uses a post-office box as his mailing address. Asked where he now resides, he says he lives in Overland.

This much is known: After his grandmother died, Beatle Bob bought her house on Ponce Avenue in 1994, according to Federal Housing Authority records. The government foreclosed on the mortgage in 1998. Beatle Bob told a friend that the house burned down. He tells a reporter that he rented the house to a cousin, who flooded the basement, prompting him to relinquish the property.

Beatle Bob attributes much of the negative attention he gets to the fact that he dances alone. "I've never done the solo-dance thing to get attention from either the audience or the band," he says. "(If) you're out there dancing by yourself, for some reason it gets more people's attention than if a whole crowd is doing it. As a teenager, I always danced with partners, even in early college days. I've danced with girls before. If I would be out there with a partner, a girl, probably nothing would be said. Just us two -- dressed in the same clothes -- doing the same dance moves. I'll bet you that those people who are doing the detracting wouldn't say a word. So what's the difference?" he asks. "Think about it."

Sometimes Beatle Bob is seen walking early in the morning in the U. City Loop, wearing a heavy winter parka and carrying a black duffel bag. In the afternoon, he can be found studying the RFT's "Calendar" section at the St. Louis Bread Company, circling the week's musical offerings like so many long shots on a dog-eared racing form.

On the night of the Blue Mountain concert at Blueberry Hill, Beatle Bob asks to be picked up at the Hi-Pointe Cafe. When he isn't there at the appointed time, the driver circles the block and finds him coming out from behind a Dumpster parked at the back of the Cheshire Inn. Early the next morning, after an exhausting night of dancing, he declines a ride home, saying that he is scheduled to meet a friend up the street at Cicero's. But the lights have already been dimmed at the restaurant, and the busboys are mopping the floor. Within moments, Beatle Bob has disappeared into the night.

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