Memo To The World At Large: Quit. Stealing. Shit. (Plus a Ray of Hope)

What the hell is it with this time of year, y’all? I mean, I know we’re headed into the hot months, and people get desperate when jobs are scarce, but damn…

I’d meant to post a while back about Major Miller (of {Western Standards} getting stuff stolen) & missed it, timing-wise — sorry, Major! — but it’s been simmering in the back of my mind quite a bit lately, and came back to the boil recently with the news of two more thefts in the past couple of weeks.

First off, Sean Hart of Houston/Nawlins kids {Caddywhompus} (and formerly of the sorely-missed Riff Tiffs) posted about a week back on the duo’s Chinquapin Records site that they, too, had been robbed — some fucking asshat happened to wander by the band’s N.O. practice space and walked away with a box filled with about $1000 worth of pedals, cables, & whatnot belonging to guitarist/singer Chris Rehm, thereby dealing the band (who, if you know them at all, rely pretty heavily on those pedals) a fairly crippling blow.

Then comes the news that touring band Maserati also got hit when they swung through Houston recently — during/after their show at The Mink, another asshat grabbed a laptop belonging to one of the guys in the band (or their tour people, not sure which). Which (obviously) really, really sucks; if somebody stole my laptop, I know I’d be well and truly screwed (which probably isn’t a good thing in terms of this site’s disaster-preparedness, come to think of it). If you know anything about the theft, get a hold of the band via their Facebook page.

All of these things bug the hell out of me; people, I’m sorry if you need the cash or whatnot, but stealing somebody else’s shit to get your own is never a good thing. Especially when said shit belongs to a band or musician that’s probably just a few steps from being dead broke to begin with (because, y’know, making music in the indie world doesn’t often pay the bills). I’ve said it before, repeatedly, but c’mon folks: QUIT. STEALING. SHIT. You — yes, you — are responsible for destroying good music, and you deserve to get your ass beat.

Now, for the good news… No word on Major’s gear or Maserati’s laptop, I’m afraid, but the Caddywhompus dudes did a benefit show recently in New Orleans and were able to raise an astounding $900 from kindhearted friends and fans, enough that they even took the PayPal button off their site. Holy fucking wow, y’all…