Bob DeBoo and the curious alley sitar
On Sunday, April 7, Bob DeBoo was heading home from a kids' concert with his wife and two daughters, the older of whom had just performed at her nearby school. At roughly 3:15 p.m., with his car pulling into the alley, DeBoo saw a case propped up against a dumpster, seemingly there as part of the bulk pickup trash that was scattered throughout said alley. At 3:21 p.m., he posted a photo of the case’s content to social media; the item inside was, improbably enough, a sitar. And within minutes of that posting, one of St. Louis’ finest jazz bassists was inside his home, playing this sitar with no small amount of curiosity for how this had all come to be.
What happened next, well, that’s a very modern story.
DeBoo’s Facebook page immediately came alive. Dozens of likes were accompanied by dozens of comments. Eventually, the likes grew into the hundreds and the comments kept on coming, too. They were broken down into various sub-categories. Some folks saw the karmic, the cosmic; they suggested that the universe was gifting him this instrument. Others expressed a basic sense of appreciation for his good fortune, while some cracked wise about DeBoo’s dumpster-diving skills, or the riches of his particular, Shaw neighborhood alley. But at least a vocal slice had put on their detective caps, musing about the sitar’s most recent life, assuming a theft-and-ditch was involved.
For the bulk of this week, DeBoo has been thinking about, talking about, and typing about the sitar, which came at a point when he “was very busy. Like, real life’s been going on. This last weekend, I played a big show with some nationally renowned artists and posting about that show got me about 100 likes, which is really good for me. And this one’s already at around 400. So this [event] has been different.”
Among the theories about the sitar’s recovery, DeBoo says he’s not completely shutting down the idea that a musician was supposed to find this, something that he says, “I’m open to. I am a musician and that’s what I’ve dedicated my life to, music. And to find a serious instrument like this—not some toy keyboard, or kid’s beginner guitar—yeah, I think there’s more to it. Without coming right out and saying it, yeah: It’s a really odd coincidence.
“From my point of view,” he continues, “there’s a time of the month when they pick up bulk trash. I’m used to seeing that. On Sunday, we saw a bunch of things, like suitcases. My initial reaction was that someone cleaned out a basement; that was my wife’s, as well. I didn’t think of the possibility of it being part of a robbery. That idea came to my attention through the post.”
Some folks were little more obvious in suggesting that DeBoo not become attached to the sitar, convinced it’d be burgled. The “call the cops” contingent can be satisfied with the fact that DeBoo has, in fact, been in touch with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, which hasn’t, yet, found any link between the sitar and any recent crime. That said, DeBoo’s very much aware that such a call could come. At any time.
A soft-spoken gent, DeBoo says that “I still don’t consider it mine. It is fun to play. But I didn’t go to the store to buy it, no one gifted it to me directly. I consider it a little bit like a lost puppy. You want to take care of it, not put it back out on the street. It’s been funny to see the differences in how people are responding. Like those who say, ‘It’s amazing that this instrument found you.’ And there’s also this slightly accusatory thing, people immediately saying that you need to call the police and get it into the right hands.
“I’m taking it moment by moment,” he continues. “I don’t have a plan for this. If the police do call, it needs to go where it needs to go. I’m just a placeholder for this instrument. My bass is over 100 years old. It came from Germany and I know who I bought it from, but I don’t know the legacy of it beyond that. This may be a similar legacy instrument to someone else, and I can’t imagine holding onto it if someone had a legitimate claim to it. Then they should have it. But in my own sense of curiosity, even if it’s only in my life for a week, is that I want to play it. As a musician, I find this a fantastic instrument, and that’s all there is to it. I don’t have plan to become proficient on it. As I’ve said to everybody, this isn’t a toy in my eyes and for me, there’s such a deep history attached something like this.”
Despite his skills and reputation, DeBoo’s humble about his own work on upright bass, let alone sitar, suggesting that when he’s able to wrest some time away during the evenings, he’ll still be dedicating an hour-plus of personal rehearsal time to bass. Via this new, less-than-a-week-old hobby, he’s watched YouTube videos, downloaded transcriptions of sitar work, and has been recalling his onetime lessons in Indian classical music.
Within the first session with it, he found himself able to pick out some simple jazz melodies, but he doesn’t want to disappoint another small faction of his Facebook commenters: those who want him on the sitar at a local club sometime soon, despite “giving myself 20 or 30 minutes a night to let loose on this."
“I thought all of that was funny, too,” DeBoo says of the want to hear him play the sitar. “No. No. It’s out of a respect thing. It’s one thing to play this at home. I have this piano at home, I have synthesizers at home, but I’m not going to bring them out for a jazz gig. Maybe at some point, if it ends up not being returned to whoever…. whatever a circumstance may be to do so, but… no. No. That’s not my interest at this point. I have a lot of work to do on my main instrument.”
Friends and fans might suggest he’s pretty good on that one. In fact, just a couple months ago, we noted his involvement in the new The Sound of St. Louis Jazz Compilation Volume 1. He’ll maintain a presence around town, at the jazz clubs, an occasional studio date, teaching. Along with parenting, this will be the focus of his busy life. And yet, he may have a new appreciation for the mundane aspects of traveling city alleys.
“The case,” he says, “was clearly made for an instrument and I’d only gotten past it by a few feet. Someone who’s not a musician may have mistaken it for a piece of furniture. Always be curious. You never know what you’re going to find.”
