Thank you Tommy B

There is someone in custody. To my knowledge they have not located the guitars yet. The person that they arrested was not at the ill fated party but it is someone I identified as an accomplice based on information I gathered from some of the kids at the party. This person was known to the kids as someone that the prime suspect might call to help him with this kind of robbery. Why is he in custody?

The police went to question him on another matter and the kid took off. They caught him and noticed that he was wearing an unusual watch. I didn't know the watch was missing until the police asked me if I was missing a watch. I checked my most valuable watches and other jewelry and nothing was missing. I don't think they ever entered the rooms where this stuff is kept because the dogs were locked in that room. What I failed to think about is that I left a Tommy Bahama watch in the kitchen in a little chest that I use to put loose change and other miscellaneous things. The watch turns out to be distinctive because it has an inscription on the back. It was a gift at an industry golf outing. I described the watch to the police including the inscription and, bingo, the kid was wearing my watch. I have to go ID the watch tomorrow. This is an unbelievable twist...my "inscribed" watch on the wrist of someone that, to the best of my knowledge, was not ever in my kitchen. I know and the police know that this kid knows who took the stuff and hopefully they will get him to tell them who gave him the watch and where the rest of my stuff is located. I am 99% certain who that other person is and the good news is I think the police know it too.

I spoke to the mystery suspect myself a couple of days after the event. He categorically denied knowing anything about it. But, of all the kids I talked to, he was the only one that I caught in a lie. If you are indeed innocent of a serious crime why is lying necessary? If you are not innocent, lying comes easy.

I gave these kids every opportunity to bring back the stuff, no questions asked. Amnesty. Nope, these punks thought they were smart. Well, it looks as though they are not so smart; they are stupid beyond reason. Chances are good that they will now pay the price for their actions and I believe they begged for that to happen.

Stolen Xbox - $499
Stolen Guitars - $10,000+
Stolen Tommy Bahama Watch - $250
The police finding your stolen Tommy Bahama watch on some idiots wrist - Priceless

I think we got em!

I will provide details as they become available but it looks like the thieves are cornered. The only question now is whether they still have the guitars or not. My detective skills were good but not as good as a professional. The police are now involved and it looks as if they are going to be able to solve the crime.

C'mon law and order...

I have me

I am becoming resigned to the fact that my guitars are gone for good. Man this has been a lot harder than I ever could have imagined.

I have replaced one of the guitars I thought I might have trouble finding. It's the one in the picture. Its the 50th Anniversary Fender Stratocaster. It's coming Monday and I am going to play the frets off it when it arrives.

For all you guitarists, keep all your paperwork for your babies together, take their picture and most of all, safeguard them.

To the jerk that stole my guitars...you are scum. You will always be scum. You took my stuff but I have integrity, pride and the respect of those who know me. You are trash. You are worthless. Civilization marches forward despite you. I lost stuff. Somewhere along the line you lost you. I win.

Be on the Lookout for Walking Guitars!

Well it's official. My guitars were not stolen. They apparently ran away from home. All these 19 and 20 year olds that always seem to know everything don't know a thing about what happened Friday night. Selective stupidity is kind of convenient.

We know who stole the guitars

I'm pretty sure we know who took them. Now we have to get our stuff back. The suspected kid is nothing but trouble. If we can't convince him to give them back without consequences we are going to have to do whatever it takes. We may have to contact the authorities and deal with the issues that come along with that. Or we may have to get more convincing with this idiot and hope that this kid can see the light before it's too late for him. If the authorities get their hands on him he's going away for a long long time.

Did a lot of talking to a lot of the kids that were at the house. It was an ugly scene. And the loss of our stuff was just what was needed to have it leave an indelible mark on us.

We are not a happy campers. We obviously suck at being victims. And all of those involved are victims...thanks to the sleazebag(s) that did this. We need to do a 180 on who gets to be the victim here.

That is not my actual Gibson 335 up there. Mine is left handed and had gold hardware...

I can't believe this

Hello out there...sorry I've been away so long but my life has been speeding by but the travels are over for a while. Phew...

Here's whats going on in our little house today. I am totally stunned.

My wife and I were in Florida for the weekend catching some sun with some friends and closing up our house there. We had a wonderful time. We came home late last night. I am really bummed.

What Happened

We come home to find out that 19 year old daughter decided that a party Friday night would be a good idea. 21 year old son left town to see a buddy so he was gone. We have told the kids over and over (i think a million times is a conservative estimate) that there is no underage drinking at our home and no parties while we are gone. The consequences are too severe and we don't want any part of it. We were not ambiguous on this point. You guessed it...a million reminders is not enough...there was a party and apparently some drinking. We lock up our booze but the kids obviously brought their own.

We found this out because 19 year old daughter came clean today because there was an altercation with one of our neighbors. It seems one of the party attendees attempted to get in his front door at 4:00 A.M. and left peacefully after being told to get the fuck out of there by our neighbor. Another neighbor had CD's and DVD's stolen out of his car on the driveway. Daughter figured we would hear about this. She was right. I am really freaked out.

19 year old daughter is a little freaked out herself...I think her desire to host parties is gone. Hard way to see what it was your parental units were trying to lay out for you...Her mother has grounded her for an eternity I think.

Why I am freaked out

I came home from work today to find that 5 of my guitars had been stolen. You heard me 5 of my guitars. I am numb. They left 3 guitars...Nice of the bastards.

They stole my Melancon custom which was one of my favorites and the one in the picture, the Gibson 335 custom that I got for my 50th birthday, my Fender 50th Anniversary Strat, my other Fender Custom Strat and my Les Paul Custom. Fuck you whoever you are. I will find you and you will not be happy about that. You stole my music...these were my instruments...I cherished them.

Whose kids are these that steal from people they know? What kind of garbage did you foist on us?

Why not call the police?

We can't call the police because we will get cited for the underage drinking party that was happening at our house while we were away. Well, isn't that special? We get robbed and if we report it we go from victim to victimized. There is there something wrong with that.

We will have to try to find the worms ourselves and get our stuff back.

I am heartbroken...just this side of devastated. I am angry. I am disappointed.

I just want em back...

Note to G Dub

Mr. Bush, I believe Ben was trying to tell you something all those years ago...



"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759US author, diplomat, inventor, physicist, politician, & printer (1706 - 1790)

To My Fellow Ticketless Fans...What the Fo

I'm still pissed off about what happened with the Crossroads Guitar Festival Fan Club presale. I have never had a problem getting my Eric Clapton fan club tickets before and, in fact, have had great success in getting tickets to see EC. I have never gotten my tickets and sold them to a broker. Apparently the "secret" code for fan club members hit the internet in advance of the sale. Hence, all tickets were gone immediately. Gee, I wonder if any brokers got them? The more appropriate question is, I wonder how many fans got them? All the fan club members I know had the same story. Basically locked out...immediately. I don't think this is what Eric Clapton had in mind for his fans. Maybe he has nothing to do with it but I'd like to think he appreciates those who appreciate him...

Tickets for the festival are likely to cost me a fortune. Having been fortunate enough to attend the original Crossroads festival, I was really hoping to share the experience of this with some of the other music fanatics in my life. $$$$$$$$$$$$$ Ouch! Man I hate that concerts have gotten out of reach for most people...

General admission tickets are going for around $300...I don't think I am young enough to do the general admission thing in a venue this large. I might get crushed and if it's hot enough on the field I might beg someone to crush me to save me from slow roasting in the inevitable sea of drunken fools.

If you want to sit in a seat it will cost you form $500 to $1000 per. WTF! Let's see, if I need 6...thats a minimum of $3,000...maybe I should wait until the DVD comes out. I could buy 6 of them, a new HD TV and a new HD DVD player for the cost of the tickets. Ridiculous...just frickin' ridiculous.

Home at last

Well I am back in the good old USA. It is really nice to be home again. I am not going to complain a lot about being in Italy for about 3 of the last 6 weeks but it is harder than it might seem. The 7 hour time difference is tough to recover from.

My trusty iPod served me well on the flights to and fro...I don't think I could have made it without the music.

I will post a few stories from my travels in the coming weeks but I am a little brain dead right now. Well...a little more than usual anyway.

Two musical moments from the trip...I went in to get a piece of pizza in a little slice shop in Siena and the sweet sound of Grand Funk Railroad was coming from the ceiling...the song was Inside Looking Out. The pizza was good; the song; food for the soul.

We were walking through a piazza in Florence when I spotted a very ratty looking dude...obviously homeless. Coming out of his clump of belongings was the sound of Led Zeppelin. Nothing like a little Whole Lotta Love to help you connect with an Italian street person. It sounded really good to me.

I missed you all and I missed being in the US. As wonderful as Italy is, there is no place like home...