Some years back I was playing bass from the sound board at a VFW in Marshall, Illinois, when a rather road-worn fellow came in and started asking questions about the bass I was playing. He said he used to play bass and jammed with a guy back in the late 50s or early 60s who later played a guitar kind of like what I was playing, and his bass player had one as well. So muscle memory kicks in and we had a really nice chat about lots of things. He said the guitar player was in a band called The Warlocks. My memory is fuzzy on this one, because it's been a few years, but I think I've posted the story somewhere on the site not long after it happened. At any rate, this fellow was pretty disconnected from pop culture and had more questions than answers about things, but his questions were really interesting and convinced me that he was genuine. Anyway, he seemed rather forlorn that the guitar player had moved-on musically and left him behind in that sphere. I don't know that he wasn't too broken to realize how famous the Grateful Dead had become. They were just some people he knew when he was young and very high in San Francisco. He was just really interested in that bass and the memories that it brought out.
Again, fuzzy memory, but the oddity of the interaction sticks with me and knowing how life works, I believe he was there.
John
