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Subject: URGENT/SY
GEAR STOLEN!
From: krakkak@aol.com (Krak kak)
Date: Sun, 04 July 1999 03:46 PM EDT
URGENT/SY GEAR STOLEN!
july 4 1999
LA/Orange County
Hello all, this is Lee from Sonic Youth here, we have had a fucked up
situation come down on us over this last night--a brand new Ryder truck
parked at a Ramada Inn in Orange County with ALL OF OUR GEAR IN IT was
STOLEN! All of our guitars, tools, amplifiers, drums, synth -- EVERYTHING.
We are fucked, both for the show tonight at the "This Ain't No Picnic"
here in Orange Co., and for shows upcoming this week in Austin and Santa
Fe. Our guitars are all mostly older and either very modified and/or fucked
up/beat up. They are unmistakably ours, as are some of the amps, including
my own 60s Fender Concert with the red/blue/yellow "Jasper Johns-style"
target on it.
We are asking ANYONE with ANY INFORMATION about this to get in touch with
us as soon as possible by calling our man Aaron Blitzstein in New York
City at 212.343.2314, or via email to "Mascaras66@aol.com". Call collect
if you want to. Please no pranks, all, this is really serious--all the
gear we've used to write our last few LPs worth of stuff, instruments
used for songs old and new which if truly lost will mean those songs will
be lost forever.
Help us out if you can, there will be a reward for any info, I'm sure.
All our road cases, etc, are fully marked up with our name on them, the
gtrs are so unusual that they won't really be too hard to mistake. ANY
info at all will be appreciated.
If the thieves themselves read this, I'm sure we'd rather buy the stuff
back from you than lose it forever (you fukkerz).
here are some descriptions of gear:\
drums: green satin flame 60s Gretch kit
(w "paisley" glow in dark kik head)
Fender ToneMaster head and 4x12 cabinet
Fender blackface Concert (4x10)
w "Target design" spraypainted on front
PeeVey RoadMaster Head
Marshal 4x12 cab
Mesa Boogie 400+ bass head/4x10 cab/18" cab
Fender Bassman head (two!)/ 2x12 fender cab
Fender presicion Bass
Gibson Les Paul Jr w snoopy sticker
Fender Jazzmasters and Jaguars--lots of 'em,
mostly modified to hell
(orig electronix pulled, diff p/u's etc)
and usually way beat up.
Travis Beans--1 koa wood, one red beat to shit
White roadcase/briefcase full of gtr tools
we will post more equip info later...
thanks in advance for any help...
PLEASE PASS THIS LIST ON TO ANYONE
WHO MIGHT BE OF HELP!
---Lee/Sonic Youth
SY Gear Theft Saga, part 2
austin tx 7.8.99
the truck was found in downtown LA, crowbar'd open, nothing left inside
at all...
we've cobbled together new stuff and the two shows here went pretty well.
one more in Santa Fe...
at some point a complete list of what was stolen will be posted -- it's
gonna be awful hard to replace some of that stuff...
thanks to all the votes of sympathy and all the help...
---Lee/SY
7.12.99
SONIC YOUTH GEAR STOLEN!
Hi, if you are reading this you have been identified as a sympathetic
party by us or by someone who knows you and us. Sometime between 1 a.m.
and 7:15 a.m on July 4th our Ryder truck was stolen from the parking lot
of the Ramada Inn, 101 State College Dr. in Orange, CA. This truck contained
all of our touring equipment; the list of missing items follows and we
would appreciate any help or ideas leading to the recovery of any of it.
Some general information: All of the guitars have been adapted specifically
for use by Sonic Youth. Most of them will have strange pick ups, none
have the original electronics. All have extensive notes about tunings
either written on the paint, headstock, or pieces of tape on the body.
Drum stands all have tape or hose clamps to mark adjustment heights. The
Kick drum has a glow in the dark head with a custom swirl design. This
was touring gear, it was all in road cases, and those cases were stencilled
Sonic Youth. Should you hear anything about any of thses things or areapproached
by someone offering to sell them to you please contacteither or both of
the following:
Aaron Blitzstein (GAS Co. East)
212-343-2314
Mascaras66@aol.com
Shauna O'Brien (GAS Entertainment Co.)
310-526-1950
sobrien@den.net
Thank you very much in advance for whatever help you can provide.
Yours, Nic and Luc with SONIC YOUTH
7/12/99
Further Answers
hi Matt, no news since they found the empty truck... still looking and
hoping... here's some answers to yr questions:
1. What made your instruments so unique?
they were unique in that they were customized to our needs in terms of
the electronix, and we had 'hand-chosen' the various gtrs over the last
15 years or so, and had come up with a group of them that worked really
well for our uses--all of which are now gone. same thing for the amplifiers,
we have amassed a group of them that worked for our 'sound', and now we
will start looking (and listening) again.
2. How much does a band like Sonic Youth depend on this gear and can't
you replace it?
we will start again and collect anew. we have already played 4 shows on
hastily cobbled together gtrs and the shows went off well--it's just more
of a struggle to use unfamiliar instruments.
3. How will you continue and what will you do if you don't get your stuff
back?
we will go on, buy new gtrs and proceed from there. some gtrs are left
behind in our studio which we will take a new look at, and we will replace
others, and the amps, pedals, etc which we rely on. in other cases we
will find new things, and that might lead to new directions, so that is
a promising result of all this badnews. as we are starting out to make
new music these days, we will adapt and use new gear...
—Lee Ranaldo
From: James Bochenek
Subject: stolen back line
Hi: Sorry to hear about your band gear. I can relate. Picture this summer
1978, Holiday Inn, Houston Loop. Park truck, go in sleep, come out truck
gone with New Riders of the Purple Sage complete back line including lots
of custom guitars. Dave Nelsons' Telecaster with the Clarence White string
bender on it. Buddy Cages' custom pedal steel hand built by Edmonds or
Emmons. (pedal steel guru) The old Grateful dead tie dye amps and speaker
cabs. My suitcase with almost all my stuff in it. All of it gone and never
seen again. We had to go do a show that night at the Armadillo World Headquarters
in Austin. The band played on the opening acts gear. Next day off to music
row in Manhattan to purchase an entire new round of stuff on credit also
a new ryder truck from the big lot over in jersey. Back on the road two
days later. Never heard so much whining as from the band boys on that
one. It was all our fault. (the "crew" me and my friend dave) Hope you
see your stuff again but don't hold your breath. You would most likely
need to go to Mexico to find it.
Rock On!
7/14/99
Michael:
Hello!
Just back from brief--tho very eventful!--tour of W coast and SW w SY.
did you hear? all our gear stolen in truck fr hotel parking lot in orange
county s of LA. EVERYTHING. it's been all over the net so i assume you
may have heard by now. everyone's generosity and interest has been most
wonderful. we have insurance which will pick up a good part of the bill,
we hope, but it's the unique quality of some of our stuff which will be
a tedious thing to rebuild/replace. the loss of the actual instruments
themselves, which have been lovingly worked over and modified over years,
not to mention the selection process by which we arrived at them in the
first place. ah well, no-one hurt...
probably most identifiable would be the fact that these gtrs are WELL
PLAYED (as in mighty beat up) and usually with great electronic modifications--we
tend to rip out all the fancy electric knobs and switches, leaving just
a volume control and pickup selector switch. Usually 60s Fender Jazzmasters,
often with the stock p/u's replaced with other ones (which no collector
would ever do to a 60s Fender, ruins the value immediately...)
The bright side, as I see it, is that a line has been drawn for us in
the sand (and thankfully at the beginning of a new round of recording;
we are dragged into the future kicking and screaming. we'll have to find
new instruments and look forwards instead of back...
our subsequent 4 shows went very well anyway, on borrowed and hastily
purchased replacement gear (mostly not likely to be long term posessions),
so there is hope.
regards, and thanks in advance for any help which might come our way,
Lee
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