ENDPGM > 2008

Who’s in the Band?

Bob Luebbe covers Lynyrd Skynyrd and the System i

It sounds like a scene straight out of an Abbot and Costello comedy routine. Imagine that you’re at a bar in Omaha, Neb., listening to an awesome cover band rocking out standards by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Pink Floyd, the Eagles and ZZ Top.

You turn to the woman dancing next to you and ask, “What’s the name of the band?”

“It’s the Bob Who Band!” she yells back.

“Well, don’t ask me,” you reply, confused. “I’m a stranger here. How am I supposed to know Bob’s last name?”

Of course, the band really is named the Bob Who Band and the Bob in question is Bob Luebbe, who also happens to be chief architect at Linoma Software, a company that develops and sells software products for the IBM* System i* platform.

Now 43, Luebbe has been involved with the System i platform and its precursors ever since he graduated from college in 1985. He heard a company in Omaha was looking for a programmer on IBM System/38*. “I had no idea about that machine when I started working on it, but I quickly learned to appreciate it,” Luebbe says. “I loved from the beginning how easy it was to develop on the 38 and have stayed on IBM midrange systems ever since.”

It was in Omaha where Luebbe met his wife and married her 18 months later. In 1994, the couple started Linoma Software as an IT consulting firm. Two years later, Luebbe developed the RPG Toolbox to help one of Linoma’s customers modernize its source code. Thinking the tool might be of interest to other companies, Luebbe made the RPG Toolbox available for purchase and download on Linoma’s Web site. Within just a couple of days, the software was downloaded 50 times and the product side of Linoma Software was born.

Starting a company is fun, but it’s also hard work. Luebbe was looking for a way to relax when he took up guitar a few years ago and began taking lessons from a guy at the local music store. He practiced at home, playing as much as his wife and two daughters could tolerate.

As he got better, Luebbe started jamming with some friends who also loved classic rock. They talked about forming a band, but realized that they lacked a true lead singer. Luebbe had been trying to play guitar and sing at the same time, but he admits he wasn’t cutting it.

One day when Luebbe was out of town on a business trip, the band auditioned a new singer, a captain in the Lincoln, Neb., Police Department who blew them away with his talent. “We’ve got to tell Bob about this guy!” said one member.

“Bob who?” joked another—and the band’s name was born.

With the new lead vocalist in place and Luebbe focused on playing guitar and bass, the band started playing gigs at family reunions, building up to corporate parties and barroom gigs. As word has spread about the Bob Who Band, the concert crowds have grown into the hundreds, and the band has been playing progressively bigger venues in the Lincoln and Omaha region. The band sometimes plays for free at family reunions or homecoming events for troops who’ve served in Iraq.

But Luebbe doesn’t plan to quit his day job anytime soon for rock stardom. He says: “We’re not doing this for the money—we just love to play.”