I ended up declaring the block in 'root', which got it working:

<reference name="root"> <block type="core/text_list" name="bottom" as="bottom" translate="label"> <label>bottom</label> </block> </reference> 

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/23227610/confusion-with-magento-blocks-and-layouts

I ended up declaring the block in 'root', which got it working:

<reference name="root"> <block type="core/text_list" name="bottom" as="bottom" translate="label"> <label>bottom</label> </block> </reference> 

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/23227610/confusion-with-magento-blocks-and-layouts