thefts scaring musicians away from STL

[crownvetch]

ST. LOUIS - It's a sour note to the St. Louis live music scene. Some say the city has a reputation so bad that traveling musicians are passing us by.

Coordinated, efficient, effective; those can be good qualities but bad when you're talking about burglaries. Musicians around the country say they're hearing the warning that criminals are targeting small bands in St. Louis.

The rapper called "Spose" is based near Portland, Maine, but when he was set to take his show to St. Louis, he said he was repeatedly warned about burglaries targeting bands.

The show went well but on his way out of town Monday, "It's as if I owned a restaurant and I was watching it burn down right in front of me," he said.

While he and his band were eating at Pappy's Smokehouse around noon, somebody broke into their van, stealing nearly $30,000 worth of equipment.

"It's gut-wrenching," he said.

John May, co-owner of B-B's Jazz Blues and Soups Club in downtown St. Louis, is not surprised.

"Rash of musicians being targeted," he said. "Within the last six months, there's been at least seven."

"The things that have been happening here are not smash and grab. They are not. It's definitely an organized group of people."

May formed that opinion after watching security footage of one break-in. A band performing at his club last month parked its van across the street.

Under security lights and cameras, he says a team of men, wearing gloves, punched locks and methodically went through the equipment, choosing what to steal.

"It is so casual that if you walked right by it, you would have no idea what is going on," said May.

"There's two kinds of bands: the ones that have been robbed and the ones that are going to be robbed," said Kati Liston, lead singer of local band Bottoms Up Blues Gang.

"Middle of the day, broad daylight, around people, you know, they're not scared, they're not worried, they're not looking suspicious," she said.

Qualities that will keep Spose from coming back.

"St. Louis is dead to me and you could come see me in Chicago," he said.

Aside from the equipment, the rapper said he lost recorded music meant for his next two albums.

St. Louis police report three band burglaries since last month. Nobody's been caught. Investigators do believe they are connected.
they have just reason to be put off

[Balmvng]

As an artist, I do sympathise for Spose, and any other musician who gets their equipment jacked. But in another light, you need to have the common sense to have multiple backups of your recordings, and not keep them all in the same place (for instance, travel with them).

As well, as someone who lives in Saint Louis, Pappy's, the place where his gear got jacked, has signs in their parking lot telling you to not leave any valuables in the car due to break-ins. Even venues have been instructing musicians on how to protect their valuables. If you ignore the advise of venues and restaurants who are aware of break-ins in the area, then you're ******** yourself over, and blaming an entire city and vowing to never come back is rather childish.