As I was walking up to the Vogue tonight, I stopped for a moment outside of the Comet Tavern to listen to the band. No idea who it was, but they were playing a somewhat celtic-folk-rock sound, complete with fiddle and upright bass. While I was standing there, I overheard another couple standing near me and looking in the window talking.
They appeared to be fairly average middle- or upper-middle-class folks in their mid-20’s, but the guy was trying to explain to his companion the concept of an upright bass. “It’s like a violin, just a lot bigger, and deeper…they use that instead of a bass guitar….”
Now, okay, admittedly, I have a somewhat stronger grounding in music than many people (I come from a long line of musicians and music teachers, everyone in my family plays at least one instrument, I sang in an award-winning children’s choir for ten years while growing up), but I am having real difficulties trying to envision how someone could make it to their mid-20’s and have absolutely no idea what an upright bass is.
Absolutely mind-bogging to me.
“Bethel” by Repetto, Marco from the album Sound of Superstition, The Vol. 5 (1997, 7:43).