I underwent a much more dramatic experience back in 1979 while touring the US for 2 months with the Toulouse Chamber Orchestra. The group had 11 strings and we zigzagged around the country playing 32 concerts in 40 days.

The only case that they had for me was one made out of straw. Sounds strange? Not really.

These cases were the only thing around at the time and 8 of them were made by an association of blind people in town. They were not conceived for touring, only land travel.

The one I had held up well, up until the next to last concert in Pensacola, Florida. I opened the case and the inevitable had taken place. The neck had snapped off due to a “smart” baggage person.

That same evening, a local TV station wanted to film us, but I refused to take part in the show. The Orchestra had obviously agreed to pay for the repair once back at home, but our principle violinist still wanted me to quickly find another bass within 3 hours time for the filming. That’s what I call “sympathetic solidarity!” There was nothing around in the area, so I ranted and refused to take part in the performance sequence of the news report. The only thing that calmed my fury was a 5 min. interview on the “joys” being an American musician in a French group. Whoopee!

Here’s an interesting anecdote to top things off: A few days later on the way home, I preferred carrying the neck with me and not in the case. I didn’t want the fingerboard to come off as well. All I had at hand to cover it were a few T-shirts and rubber bands. While going through security, I was stopped and questioned. The security guards wanted to know what type of suspicious looking machine gun I was trying to conceal and carry on the plane!

I later had the orchestra buy a Stevenson case and on our next 2 month tour in 81, things went very smoothly. Nevertheless, this experience was valuable in revealing the “Bassist-Racist” feelings that we all encounter in our life, sometimes even from our own colleagues.