Last weekend, the practice space where our band works out had an open house to show off the facilities and to entice new bands to rent spaces. One of the owners of the building is ex-Black Crowes and current Train bassist Johnny Colt. During the day, I was tooling around with a couple bandmates when he walked passed and froze. He stuck his head inside and inquired about my upright.
We spent the next 30 minutes or so talking shop and he was just fawning over the bass. He said he had an upright a long time ago and wouldn't mind having another one some day. He asked if i had cinder-blocked it.
He explained that a lot of upright players back in the day used to cut a small door in the side of their uprights and mount half a cinder block inside. They used it for balance when they stood on it and it gave a modicum of support. I had no idea about that. I don't stand on mine because I'd snap it in two. After a awhile he said he was coming to our show that evening (which was part of the open house).
That night he came up to me and said of all the bands playing, he really wanted to see The Rayguns because I had the only upright. After the set, he come up and thanked us before heading back to Atlanta.
He was a really nice guy who had some...interesting stories about the Crowes that I will not mention here...
