Rick Bostock strums his guitar for 30 to 40 minutes every morning and for another hour every evening. A professor and former department chair of plant pathology, Bostock keeps busy with both his vocation and avocation, often jamming with other part-time musicians on the weekends.

Julia Simon has been playing with her blues band, Black Cat Bone, for about a year. In her day job, Simon serves as chair of the French department. But after the sun sets, she plays drums for a combo that includes Spanish assistant professor Travis Bradley on bass and Spanish lecturer Charles Oriel, Simon's husband, on guitar.

Randy Southard probably travels farthest for his gigs. The associate dean for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences by day, Southard often travels to the Lake Tahoe region to play guitar and occasionally drums for the Simpletones. The band's members hail from an area that stretches from Reno to San Leandro, so their gigs are few and far between.

Southard, Bostock, Simon and the others are among a growing breed on campus that toil by day in a variety of academic and administrative fields, but share a love for performing music whenever they can sneak away from the books.

"Music and research are both very creative processes," says Bostock, who sees parallels between the two. "Music involves experiential learning. You can't read this stuff in a book. You have to just get in and do it. It's the same with science."

All of the musicians have unique musical backgrounds. Bostock took the "start early and never stop" route; he's been playing guitar since age 12. These days, says the jazz guitarist, "I really have to play every day to keep my chops up."

Bostock performs with the Davis Jazz Combo, a group that includes John Cowan of Risk Management Services and former campus police Chief Calvin Handy. The seven-piece band, which practices in Bostock's garage, has played on campus and off, including the Vacaville Jazz Festival, the Davis Farmer's Market and the UC Davis Teaching Prize Gala Award Dinner last year. Bostock and Cowan also play weekly with a 17-piece rehearsal band in Citrus Heights. That group performs a couple of times per year.

Bradley also was introduced to music early. He learned the piano and guitar in his childhood, and switched to bass five years ago. Bradley was a graduate student at Pennsylvania State University when Simon and Oriel were professors there, but the three did not unite until they after they had all moved to Davis in 2003.

Simon, on the other hand, was a classical flute player through high school and college before giving up music. It was not until six years ago that she decided she wanted to learn to drum.

Today, Bradley, Simon and Oriel practice weekly and perform two to four times per month as Black Cat Bone. The band has a regular gig at the Sacramento Brewing Company and also plays at Oasis in Citrus Heights and JJ's Saloon in Winters.

Southard started with the tuba in sixth grade, but later moved on to the drums and guitar. Southard said he paid his undergraduate tuition at Utah State by playing gigs, and later dropped out of graduate school for a year to play with a bar band in Alberta, Canada, "much to my mother's dismay."

Beginner's mind

And then there is Matthew Hargrove. Though a lifetime listener, the director of state government relations had never picked up an instrument until his wife gave him a guitar for his 30th birthday. Five years later, he has played several live shows, including one in front of a standing room-only crowd at Sacramento's Hard Rock Cafe.

Hargrove taught himself to play along with some of his favorite recordings, and three years ago he decided to take the next step. He signed up for "Weekend Warriors," a program offered through Skip's Music Store in Sacramento that brings musicians with similar tastes and skill levels together into temporary bands. The program, which runs several times a year, provides each band with four fully equipped rehearsals and a venue for one performance — the Hard Rock Cafe in Sacramento for Hargrove's last two bands. After the gig, the band members go their separate ways.

"It's cool because these are folks just like me. They've got kids, jobs and a passion for the music," Hargrove said. "We're a lot of folks who were playing by ourselves in basements and offices."

Hargrove has signed up for "Weekend Warriors" three times. His bands have played everything from AC/DC to Janis Joplin to Led Zeppelin, and Hargrove, who was a college radio DJ and owns more than 3,500 albums, is hoping to sneak some Nirvana into his next group's repertoire.

For Hargrove, the required commitment for "Weekend Warriors" is ideal.

"I don't have the time or skill to be in a real band. It's just impossible," said the father of two young children. "So to be able to do something fun as an outlet a few times a year is perfect."

Southard is not surprised that so many professors have bands on the side. In fact, he sees the two crafts as having a lot in common.

"There's a connection with teaching," Southard said of performing. "Teaching is kind of like a show in that you're trying to convey information in a memorable way. People who like to teach are attracted to that. They're interested in putting on a show."

The musicians all acknowledge the benefits of playing music. The stresses of publishing a paper or handling an avalanche of administrative work can fade while wailing away on a guitar. But there's a deeper level, too.

"Playing music allows me to connect with other people in a way that is sometimes difficult to do with words," said Bradley. "Because creating music with fellow band mates requires a team effort, there is a feeling of camaraderie that develops, as well as a rewarding sense of accomplishment when we really get the crowd going."

Added Bostock: "There's an emotional thing with it. There's a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, but it's also about how you relate to the music emotionally."

Finding time to play is another matter. Balancing work and music can be tricky, especially for someone like Bradley who is working toward tenure.

"In the end though," Bradley said, "it's definitely worth it. Playing the blues is usually a bit more fun than trying to get a journal article through peer review."

Simon has gone so far as to combine her music with her profession. She is teaching a freshman seminar on the blues this quarter. And yes, Black Cat Bone will perform.