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In large, block letters, local musician Ted Bowne wrote a quick message on a piece of plywood to the people responsible for taking his favorite guitar.
“Dear neighborhood thieves, the things you stole are very meaningful to me. Please return them. I will forgive you. God bless you,” Bowne wrote on the board he stuck in the front yard of his two-story home in the 300 block of Savannah’s East 60th Street.
Although he remains optimistic, the 29-year-old front-man of nationally touring reggae/rock band Passafire realizes chances are high that he’ll never again see the Gibson guitar he’s played at thousands of gigs across North America for nearly a decade — the instrument he calls “an extension of my soul.” But, he emphasized, getting the guitar back is not the entire point.
“I don’t care how much it costs,” said Bowne, who’s called Savannah home since enrolling at the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2004.
“Even if I don’t get the stuff back, even if the thieves who stole it don’t have any remorse for stealing it, if they ever roll through this neighborhood again and see that sign, hopefully they’ll at least have some kind of feeling of doubt about what they’re doing with their lives.”
The guitar — and more than $8,000 worth of equipment including another guitar, basses, keyboards, amps and protective gear, according to a police report — were stolen not long after Bowne, his roommate, Jason Fooks, and other bandmates had returned from a cross-country road trip after Passafire played gigs in California.
“We got back here Wednesday night, and we were all very stoked to be home; it was like a four-day trek to get back home,” Bowne said.
“We hang out until like 3 (a.m.) and everything was good, but when I got up, I looked out the window and I was like, ‘That’s not good.’”
The doors, which he’d left padlocked, to the trailer where the band stores its equipment while touring were flung wide open on the street in front of his house.
“I got down there, and I was looking, and you see the lock is still there but it had been, like, snapped with some bolt-cutters,” he said. “And, inside, you know, they got a lot, and ... it’s not just gear. It’s the tools of our trade, how we make our living.
“It was just a huge blow, you know, right away. It hurt.”
Bowne reported the theft to police, who classified it as a larceny from vehicle.
He said he’s seen plenty of officers in the neighborhood since the crime, but he has his doubts any leads will go anywhere.
“These guys seemed like they knew what they were doing, and you know there’s got to be a good black market for quality instruments and music equipment,” Bowne said. “The cops were helpful, and they were nice — probably the best experience I’ve had with police anywhere — I doubt this (stuff) will turn up, though.”
Fortunately, said Bowne and Fooks, the band has great fans, who within days had donated enough money to replace most of the lost equipment.
“We put together a PayPal and put it on Facebook and stuff, just hoping we could get enough to get though the next tour,” Fooks said. “The fans are crazy; they’re awesome, and they came through big time.”
Still, Bowne said, the only guitar he’s ever called his favorite is gone.
“I mean, that’s the thing, you know, that’s my guitar; any picture you see of me playing, that’s the one,” he said.
“I love it. All I do is play music, and that guitar was a big part of that.
“That’s why I made the sign, really. I want these thugs who did it to know it wasn’t just stuff — it’s like a piece of me is gone.”