Springfield's my hometown and I visit fairly often. I had been into the Rock Shop several times and bought picks, strings and so forth. So one day I'm there to pick up a capo and there's a nice, vintage Gibson archtop by itself in a glass case. Not cheap, but reasonable if it was in good shape and didn't need a lot of work. I asked one of the guys there if I could play it. He said, "It's not in tune." I said, "I can tune it." He stared at the ceiling. For a while. I took that to mean, "No, you can't play it." On my way out I left my business card with the other guy and asked him to ask the owner to give me a call.
On my way over to House of Music to buy the capo I didn't buy at The Rock Shop, my phone rang. It was the same fella I'd recently left staring at the ceiling, who as it turns out was also the owner of The Rock Shop.
I said something to the effect that I'd never been treated like that in my adult life, which was a bit of an exaggeration. He said I was an asshole and shouldn't think I'm some kind of big deal just because I'm from Los Angeles. I agree with that second part, actually. And I live there but, as I said, I'm not from there. read more