Jam!lton

Hamilton, Ohio – Photographer. Artist. Journalist. Educator. Marketer. Musician.

Might as well throw in raconteur, too. One of Hamilton’s tallest men-about-town, Bob Weber comes to the Fitton Center as the featured speaker for the November 5 Celebrating Self luncheon. With all those arrows in his quiver, Weber weaves the story behind the story of how - back in 2017 - Hamilton Mayor Pat Moeller dubbed the city Jam!lton.

And why it’s still true today.

Yes, he’ll talk about David Shaw and the Revivalists. About the Big River Get Down and all the national attention from big-name touring acts playing at nearby RiversEdge.

Roger Troutman and Zapp? You bet. The funk pioneers were making a name for themselves locally – and blowing up nationally - around the time Weber was in college and seeing shows in upstate New York at venues like the famed Eastman Theater on a near-nightly basis.

Do you know why Scott Walker is scarcely known in Hamilton, but got chased like the Beatles in “A Hard Days Night” in England? Were you aware the song “Black Betty” by Ram Jam has local ties?

Bob Weber knows that. And a lot more. After all, he taught media and culture classes about the music industry for 18 years at Miami University.

He comes by that musical knowledge honestly. His mother was a pianist set to accept a music scholarship to Miami. World War II may have interrupted those plans, but she still instilled a love of music in her boy.

Weber has been playing guitar for decades in local bands and at open blues, funk and country jams with artists like Sonny Moorman and Bootsy Collins.

He bought his first guitar from Swallen’s while working in the photo department at the dear, departed Cincinnati retailer after graduating from Hamilton Taft High School in 1973 and studying commercial photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Nowadays he makes his own custom instruments.

In fact, no less a star than Grace Potter plays one of the guitars Weber made. Musicians like Shaw, Moorman, Jackie Venson, Raelyn Nelson, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Zack Feinberg, The Lemon Twigs, Johnny Fink, Maggie Koerner and local favorite Casey Gomez all have what calls "BobCasters," too.

If Hollywood plays six degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon, Hamiltonians can get six degrees from just about any musician by way of Bob Weber.

“It’s just a love of music,” he said. “Music is so personal. It makes you feel something. When you know the people who make the music, you feel it a little more.”

Weber said Angela Combs – one of the Crimson Sisters, who played at the Fitton Center earlier this year – will be on stage with him to play and sing some of the tunes he’s going to highlight in his presentation. Don’t be surprised if some other musicians hop up, too, and make it more of a jam session than a classroom lecture.

Tickets for the Jam!lton Celebrating Self luncheon are $26 for Fitton Center members, $32 for non-members, and are available online right here, by phone at 513-863-8873, ext. 110 and in person at the Fitton Center box office.

Building Community Excellence through the Arts and Culture