Steve Bentz and Todd Kirsten are paid to chill with and entertain a revolving crowd of liquored-up college kids. They earn their keep as musicians and benefit from access to tons of free booze.

You can't blame these two for being some genuinely content, mellow dudes.

For two years, acoustic duo Steve & Todd has provided the laid back, kick-back-a-Monkey-Boy ambiance for Fridays' happy hours at The Saloon, 101 Hiester St. The duo recently released a live CD, aptly titled Happies, recorded at The Saloon during last year's Blue and White weekend.

"It's not like we recorded a whole bunch of shows and got the best stuff," Bentz said.

It's more like they set up a soundboard and played their friendly style of roots rock covers for a gloriously inebriated crowd. They didn't scrap the slurred sing-a-longs, the between song banter or even the audience's "it's Friday and there's football and I'm with my friends" buzz. Happies boasts 11 tracks, including songs from Tom Petty's "Mary Jane's Last Dance" to Jimmy Buffet's bar- basic "Margaritaville."

"We like good songwriters of the '60s and '70s but also modern bands like Phish, which is not the easiest thing to pull off acoustic," Bentz said. "We can go from the Violent Femmes to James Taylor."

It's the duo's free-flowing mixtures of genres and decades that makes them extremely appealing as a cover band, said Craig Dixey, who has bartended at The Saloon since Steve & Todd kicked off its happy hour act two years ago.

"They let people get on stage and sing with them," Dixey said. "They create a friendly, happy environment, so everyone feels comfortable."

Both Bentz and Kirsten forgo nine-to-five stability to work as fulltime musicians. In addition to the Steve & Todd acoustic duo, Bentz jams in '80s cover band Velveeta, Kirsten runs the show at The Saloon's karaoke night and the two gather forces with drummer John Harper and bassist Mike Lee to perform as The Steve & Todd Band, Tuesday nights at The Darkhorse Tavern, 128 E. College Ave.

"We're getting out of the bar at 3 a.m. and not able to go to bed until four at the earliest," Kirsten said. "We don't do the typical job. I figure all the alcohol consumption pretty much kills all the bacteria in my body, so I'm OK without health insurance."