Here I thought I was actually getting ahead of the game by posting my last journal on December 17th. Alas, time continues to fly and here I am, a scant 48 hours shy of two weeks later. At least it’s been a busy twelve days.
Sadly, the news has not all been good.
My cell phone rang yesterday and I was delighted to see that it was my great good pal Kevin Gorman calling. He and I had not spoken since a day or two prior to Christmas, so I was looking forward to hearing how his visit with his folks worked out.
But he didn’t tell me about that straight away.
KG was calling to tell me that he’d come back to find his studio had been broken into (the police figure it happened on Christmas Eve, of all nights) and a good deal of his recording equipment taken. Vintage microphones, keyboards, effects racks, processors, cables, sound-proof foam and much more, all gone.
I visited Kev shortly after he called. Luckily, his pal Joey was there, as they are working on their continuing renovations anyway (remember that KG was at another location this past spring, where the roof caved in during a rainstorm and put him out of business and Kev could do little as the landlord did even less. Thus, he is still “rebuilding” this current location, his third within the year). Kev and Joey were in decent spirits. When all else fails, keep to those you love most. And so Joey and I did our best to surround Kev with positive thoughts and offers of support.
I was at KG’s again today to offer what help I could as he slogs through years of paperwork to try and verify what was taken and what it’s worth. At least I learned a lot about catalogue numbers for various audio cables, manufacturers and suppliers and we cross-referenced original receipts to try and verify what had been taken and what had not.
What a world.
I admit my initial reaction to Kevin’s news was of anger. I wanted a face; a pair of eyes to look into, and someone to stare back at me and try to make sense of what they’ve done. I wanted vindication. I wanted to look into this person’s eyes and show them that I was not afraid of them, that I pitied them.
The feeling passed.
I’m still angry. But I’m more sad than angry. I am sad that there are people that feel they have to resort to that kind of behaviour. I wonder who their friends are. I wonder what kind of a relationship (if any) they have with their parents. I wonder if they have anyone to love them, or anyone for them to love.
The equipment can be replaced. KG will recover from that. Joey and I and all his pals will support him – as we have been doing during this challenging year – until things begin to turn positive. And then we will support him some more.
I can tell you this: there is no one thing, no inanimate object or group of objects or possessions that matters more (or anywhere near as much) to me than the love of my family and friends. So I can’t help but wonder: if you have to steal from others to give your life purpose, what is it that you are really missing?
That is the sad part.
To the thieves: I’m not angry at you anymore. We’ll replace what you took. And we’ll continue on. And, believe it or not, we’ll hope and pray that you find a little love in your life. I don’t even want you to say you’re sorry. I want you to find what it is you’re truly missing, and then pass that along to someone else. Good luck.
Meantime, I’ve been calling this a “recording journal,” so I should probably talk about our progress with recording our CD, because we got some good work done before all this happened. But that seems secondary right now. So I’ll tell that story another day.
Actually, I look forward to getting back to that line of thought. Right now the “No Schedule Man” has been derailed. But he’ll be back. Just needs a break right now. As the Trews so brilliantly put it, on their live acoustic album:
“There are those who still believe
That to live your life is to deceive
But I find it hard to breathe
In a den of thieves”
We’ll be back.
– Kevin
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J59ePHE7sw&w=420&h=315]
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