Back in 1999, the wife and I ventured up to New York City to ring in the new millennium in Times Square. After standing for more than 12 hours in a small corral with a couple of hundred other revelers, which in turn was surrounded by hundreds of other similar enclosures, we got to personally see the ball drop to ring in the New Year.

From there we set off in search of a restroom (12 hours is a long time to hold it) and finally found one 45 minutes later after hiking to Grand Central Station and waiting in a line a mile long. Later, we experienced the thrills of New York City that can only come from sitting down next to a guy who turns out to have a 10-inch-long filet knife concealed in the leg of his jeans. I never did get to properly thank that Ports Authority cop who disarmed the guy in the most nonchalant manner I have ever seen.

The reason for this New Year's Eve story is to show why I generally don't go out on that night anymore.

I mean, how does one top Times Square? So this year, like most years since 1999, I spent a quiet evening with family. Actually, it wasn't all that quiet. If I remember correctly, there were fireworks and a bonfire involved. Also, the reason I'm attempting to remember correctly is because there were more than a few adult beverages thrown into the mix. Good times, good times.

For those of you who did venture out Dec. 31, the entertainment choices were plenty. From the Dirty Dozen Brass Band at the Music Farm to the Blue Dogs at the Windjammer and First Night celebrations downtown, if you wanted to party down into the New Year (or, in the case of First Night, until 10 p.m.), the opportunities were there.

Over in Mount Pleasant at a place by the name of The Dog and Duck a large contingent of festive folk spent New Year's Eve enjoying the comedic music stylings of Tuba Jim & Roy. Was I there? Nope, but I did attend the encore show the following evening. Hey, I might not go out on New Year's Eve anymore, but Jan. 1 is a totally different animal. I must say that seeing an act called Tuba Jim & Roy is amusing enough, but attending the performance in a bar called Bubba & Snort's makes it absolutely silly.

That's a good thing though, as Jim Wilson and Roy White, the duo who make up Tuba Jim & Roy, are very, very silly themselves. The two men were friends in college, and later crossed paths here in Charleston, where White settled and Wilson was eventually stationed in the Navy. The two men shared a fondness for music and wanted to start a band, and since White played guitar and Wilson played the tuba, what in the world was stopping them? The act has been at it for more than a decade, and only recently contemplated calling it quits when Wilson moved to Tampa, Fla. Instead of quitting show business outright though, Tuba Jim & Roy decided to scale back the band's shows to just one or two a year.

Saturday night's performance at Bubba & Snort's demonstrated why there are more than a few Lowcountry music fans that are glad the pair didn't pack it up for good. Wilson and White stock their performance with a combination of original songs, funny songs by other artists and straightforward covers. In addition to White's acoustic guitar and Wilson's tuba and electric bass, the duo uses a laptop computer and a drum machine to round out the band. Think of it as comedy rock played by a couple of self-professed geeks.

From a comic take on Hootie & the Blowfish's "I Only Wanna Be With You" that focused on one man's -- how should I put this -- shortcomings, to a tuba-fueled version of Devo's "Whip It," Tuba Jim & Roy kept the crowd at Bubba & Snort's (admit it, those two names together are comedy gold) amused.

The pair's song subjects often dealt with scatological or anatomical subjects that are best not repeated in a family newspaper, but rest assured, most of those songs were pretty funny.

Bad puns and double entendres were the order of the night, as witnessed in songs such as "The Fish Song" (sample lyrics: "I lobster and never flounder") and "Drop the Soap" (a cautionary song about prison life sung to the tune of "Rock the Boat"). One of my personal favorites of the night was the advertisement for Flintstones vitamins by Grace Slick, sung to the tune of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" ("One pill looks like Barney/And one pill looks like Fred").

Lest one think that Tuba Jim & Roy is strictly a comedy act, it should be noted that the evening's entertainment also included no-nonsense covers of Bill Joel's "Piano Man," The Beatles' "When I'm Sixty-Four" and Marc Cohn's "Walking in Memphis." Other comedic compositions included "Doing the Hokey Pokey" (to Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca"), "Hotel Carolina" (the Eagles' "Hotel California") and "Itchy Scratchy Crotch" (Billy Ray Cyrus' "Achy Breaky Heart").

There was even a disco medley of parody songs played while White and Wilson donned headgear to imitate two members of the Village People.

Was Tuba Jim & Roy's brand of entertainment mindless and juvenile? Well, yes it was. Did I have a god time at the show? Absolutely. It is a shame that geography is all that is keeping these guys from playing locally a little more often. If you happen to hear that Tuba Jim & Roy are playing in town in the near future, and you happen to be feeling a bit silly that night, then definitely check the pair's show out.

Imagine if Weird Al Yankovic had two step-brothers who lived in the south and one of them was a clasically-trained tuba player. Is a mental picture forming yet? No? Good - I wouldn't want you to be scared off and miss the opportunity to see Tuba Jim & Roy perform their unique brand of musical comedy.

A musical/comedy/variety act, Tuba Jim & Roy work it all in, but manage to succeed where those Mandrell sisters failed. From original comedy numbers set to the tune of classic songs, to rap, disco, country, reggae, television theme songs and more, these guys aren't afraid to make laughingstocks of themselves in any musical genre. In fact, they go out of their way to make laughingstocks of themselves in several musical genres. You are just as likely to hear a tuba inspired version of Devo's "Whip It" as you are to witness a rap version of the theme song to "Green Acres" (makes you wonder what Zsa-Zsa Gabor and Busta Rhymes' love child might look like).

Other highlights of the Tuba Jim & Roy experience include, well, tuba songs, including versions of the Commodores "Brick House" and a self-described "Tuba-Disco-Hell" medley which features K.C. & the Sunshine Band's "Get Down Tonight" and their original "S.P.C.A." (complete with Village People headwear). And while the tuba may not have been as popular an instrument in middle school as say, the rockin' clarinet, it makes for a very interesting nightclub act. But how you might ask, did they end up working in the big brass instrument? Tuba Jim explains: "originally, we brought the tuba just because we wanted to play a Leon Redbone tune called 'I Want to be Seduced' and because nobody else was using a tuba. We never really thought we'd use it for much more than that. In those days, we didn't even call ourselves Tuba Jim & Roy. It was C.I.A. (cash in advance). But to our surprise, the tuba was much more of a hit than we'd anticipated."

Having met in college, Jim Wilson & Roy White reunited when they both found themselves living in Charleston. After playing a few gigs for friends, Tuba Jim says they "got to thinking we might be able to sucker... I mean convince a few club owners to hire us." Originally playing a combination of regular songs and maybe a half-dozen comedy tunes, they quickly found that along with the tuba numbers, comedy seemed like "the thing we were meant to do." Their original comedy songs highlight localized issues, as in "The Citadel Song" (sung to the tune of "Copacabana") as well as spoof national issues and products, including a new song about Viagra. Sworn to secrecy, Tuba Jim could not "get up" the gumption to reveal any details about the new impotency drug song, other than the lyrics do not contain the obvious rhyme "niagara," because "that would have been too easy."

One thing that isn't easy is catching up with Tuba Jim & Roy. Because the performers live 200 miles apart (Jim now lives in Jacksonville) and are currently keeping their day jobs, the duo only performs about one weekend a month. A future comedy club and radio show tour is possible, and they've also talked about cutting a CD, but Tuba Jim says that right now they're in "the very early stages of figuring out who would be gullible enough... I mean, how many people might actually buy the thing."

Greetings all! Talk about variation on a theme, I'll bet you've never heard Devo's "Whip It" done on acoustic guitar with that devilishly infectious bass line played on a tuba. How about Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" done as a tribute to Flintstone's vitamins: "one pill looks like Barney, one pill looks like Fred..." SPCA instead of YMCA?? You bet, complete with costume headwear and arm spelling. Don't even get me started on their originals, like the bestiality-themed "Moo Moo, I Love You. I know You're a Cow But Anything Will Do." Tuba Jim and Roy are best described as "the Smothers Brothers on acid" or "Weird Al Yankovic and Jimmy Buffett's two-headed love child."

Born and inbred in North Carolina, Roy White (acoustic guitar, banjo, and vocals) and Jim Wilson (tuba, bass guitar, and vocals) are now Charleston based. Jim lives in Jacksonville, but drives into town about once a month just for gigs. These guys do it just for the fun and they are all about fun. If you're one of those people who don't like to laugh (you know the ones who don't think it's funny when someone farts in a movie theater.), then come to this show. These guys will break you out of your posh, uppercrust shell (not that there are many of these types in Charleston.) They also play hits in-between the comedy and could very well be a great contemporary combo, but they are just a little too demented for that and demented people are my friends.

I've seen them several times but most recently at Jimmy Dengate's on Faber street downtown. It would be worth your while to get there early to reserve a table up front. Their first set is usually more family oriented, but as the night goes on, send the kids home. Their comedy is done very tastefully. You won't hear a lot of bad language, but you will hear why Frankie Avalon never got any in the latest Tuba Jim & Roy hit "You Can't Make Love When You're Covered with Sand." check out the Tuba Jim and Roy webpage; it is just as funny as their show. http://www.tubajim.com or access through Lowcountry Web.

A funny thing happened at the Tuba Jim and Roy show

I thought I might share a personal note on an event that occurred while seeing Tuba Jim and Roy recently. I brought a date to their show. Not just any date, but a first date. You see, bringing a date to a comedy show is a good thing because you only have to entertain her on the ride there and back home. Good comedy is like date auto pilot. Anyhow, as the night progressed and Tuba Jim and Roy were playing their misses (hits), she began laughing hysterically. Then, all of a sudden she stopped, grabbed me firmly by the arm, pulled me close and said "we have to go...now." I knew what that meant. At the risk of sounding sexist she was "in the bag."

"Now," she said again. I nodded towards the waitress to close my bill and didn't even notice that she had slipped out the door. Once outside she looked at me very seriously and said "take off your shirt." We weren't even close to the car. My adrenaline was on fire and I leaned to kiss her. She pushed me away and started unbuttoning my shirt. This is as far as this erotic "Around Town" gets because once I was shirtless and confident, all my hopes were shattered when she informed me that she had laughed so hard at Tuba Jim and Roy that she had wet her pants. She needed my shirt to cover herself. Needless to say, I took "Tee-Tee" girl straight home.

Good comedy is like date auto pilot, just pack some plastic in the trunk. More adventures with "Tee-Tee" to come in a future article.