Rather, it was because two local entertainers were there to help put some umph in the otherwise uneventful midweek bar scene.

For their first time, Teri Dahlbeck of Saratoga and Greg Menacho, the newly created two-member rock band GTO, performed at Black Watch on Feb. 11 before a crowd of enthusiastic patrons. In fact, they were the first-ever live entertainers in the 45 years of the Los Gatos bar.

"We wanted to try something new to help boost business, so we decided to give these guys a shot," says the co-owner of the Black Watch, Steve Anzalone, who met Dahlbeck and Menacho through a mutual friend. "They do pretty good work and seem to be a good fit for our type of clientele."

The two singers and songwriters are also very much in sync when it comes to musical compatibility. Both possess vocal talents, and they are also experts on their own instruments, with Dahlbeck taking lead in percussion and Menacho awing listeners with his swift strokes on his guitar.

"We click very well on and off the stage," Menacho says. "It's almost like we have a spiritual connection."

One of the several reasons why the two get along so well is their effort to recognize and complement each other's talents.

While Menacho claims that "Teri has a way with making people connect with her lyrics," Dahlbeck says she appreciates Menacho's talent for accompanying her lyrics with "the right groove."

Looking at the chemistry between Dahlbeck and Menacho during their performance on the quasi-stage at the rear of the bar, it may be surprising to learn that it was less than a year ago that the two met.

Dahlbeck began her musical career at age 41 as a backup singer for a local band called Cover Story, which was created by Menacho. After a couple of months, the two decided to spin away from the group and start their own.

"There was and is something magical about our voices put together," Menacho says. "I knew it when I first heard it."

Before Dahlbeck started singing onstage, she was giving PowerPoint presentations to several of her fellow high-tech company executives. An MBA graduate from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Dahlbeck worked as a programmer for Apple and later became the president of CI Labs, which is a joint venture between IBM and Apple. In 1999, she spearheaded her own startup company, Got Marketing, specializing in email software. Juggling her time as a mother, wife and president of her company, Dahlbeck became the senior vice president of marketing, product management and business development for Vicinity Corporation, which was later purchased by Microsoft.

"[The buyout] gave me the freedom to pursue my passion as a singer," Dahlbeck says. "I love to sing and express emotions. It's something that I always thought would be fun to do, but I was highly discouraged by my parents, who thought that the music profession was not a lucrative choice."

This is ironic, considering her mother was a model and singer in Los Angeles and her grandmother sang live for news/talk radio KGO in the 1930s.

The first gig for the two was at a park in downtown San Jose. They performed once a week at "Lunchtime in the Park" last summer.

"It was a bit daunting, considering that the last time I sang in public was in grade school," Dahlbeck says. "But our first gig went pretty well."

It was a slightly different story for Menacho, who had more experience in music and relatively less in high tech. For the 40-year-old musician, their first gig was not as nerve-racking, since he's had a head start of several years. He entered his first band at age 16 and later found himself writing musical scores for movies such as Blood Kiss and Bag Man. Meanwhile, he worked in the business world as a project manager at Apple for seven years and transferred to Adobe, where he worked for another three years.

"Working in high tech was a way for me to support my musical interests," Menacho says.

Luck seemed to follow the two after they got their first gig. As their reputation grew, they went on to perform at local pubs and private functions. They got what Dahlbeck calls "the opportunity of a lifetime" when an acquaintance, who spotted the pair during a performance at a charity event, asked them to sing at Bill Gates' private birthday party, which was attended by several high-profile figures.

"We had a blast," Dahlbeck says. "We were supposed to sing for 45 minutes, but ended up staying for two hours."

Dahlbeck says she hopes to someday open for a large band. In the meantime, she and Menacho are working on their first CD, which they are aiming to release before summer.