Guest Book

Just when you think you know everything about a person..... The Indianapolis Star November 2, 2003 Sunday BYLINE: BY DAVID LINDQUIST DAVID.LINDQUIST@INDYSTAR.COM It's fitting -- and perhaps also surprising -- that Gregg Allman collects yo-yos. The "Midnight Rider" rock star knows ups and downs, ranging from drug arrests and a stormy marriage to Cher to transcendent performances with the Allman Brothers Band and induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Whenever the going gets low, the rough-and-tumble survivor bounces back to the top. The 55-year-old sings about life on the run and being mistreated by hard-living women. He's crafted a persona easily matched to a hobby such as collecting knives. (He does, in fact, own a machete made from a helicopter blade.) At the same time, he's seriously infatuated by toys on a string. "I have a yo-yo that will spin for 30 seconds," he says. "This guy really goes." Allman says balance is crucial to the performance of this marathon model, which was marketed by Harley-Davidson. A fan once mailed him a silver yo-yo adorned by the singer's initials and a black silk string. Unfortunately, it's "too heavy to come back up," Allman says. Among his most prized is a Duncan yo-yo from 1955, the first year the company made a plastic model.