All of my DJ gear was stolen. FML

[SubFunk]

you left your shit in the car? not even the trunk?

i would not even leave stuff in the trunk. a car is no save place anywhere in the world.

[Tone Deft]

you can't get into my trunk from the car. owning a convertible in the city for 15 years teaches you a few things. man, the crap that car's been through. stoked to have two car offstreet parking, not that I drive anymore.


edit - btw I feel you Silverfish, I'm shocked. it's a super shitty feeling to know a stranger went into your car and how they have the stuff you loved and are missing. go buy yourself some new gear to cheer up, time to upgrade!!

[Punky921]

No no, the stuff was with me in San Diego. It was still in the car because I thouht we were going out again that night. We didn't and I forgot all about it.

The thing that's weird is there were only two cars broken into in the garage. Mine and the guy that brought the PA. The stuff taken from his car was not visible from outside the car. I'm kind of wondering if it was someone from the wedding party (there was a guy that left in a hurry after we all went in to the hotel).

Anyway, thanks for your concern/criticism.

Sounds like an inside job to me.

This is seriously one of my biggest fears in life. I even have the fear that if I had a laptop on me in a venue somebody is going to run up, punch me in the face, and run off with it. The only way I might be comfortable is if I was wearing a kevlar vest and the laptop was packed between that and my chest. For this reason I won't even consider doing a gig with a laptop until I get a second laptop that is specifically for gigs and then I would either have it on me at all times or use that security cable thingy attaching it to something solid.

I can understand leaving large gear in a car but never over night and something I would never "forget about". If it's something like a laptop or extremely portable I wouldn't leave it in a car for even 10 minutes.

Yeah does sound like an inside hoodwink. Really sucks man. You have my sympathy. And yeah, I have the exact same fears. Got robbed a few times in my life, and now I'm paranoid.

[H20nly]

they making you feel better yet?

sorry dude. lame no matter what. it was YOUR gear and that should be reason enough for the rest of the world to leave it the hell alone.

[Silverfish]

Ya know, I've always been VERY careful with my belongings. I keep my stuff tidy. Make sure it all gets back to me if I loan it out. I close and lock doors at an almost OCD level.

I got careless ONCE, and this is the result.

However, the fact of the matter is that we can all say I should have done this or shouldn't have done that, but what's done is done. All I can do now is look forward and make the best of the cards I've been dealt. The next step is to talk with my insurance agent, find out if I'll be compensated in any way, and move on. I've still got gear to make music with. (Just no lappy to perform it on, lol).

I started this thread to vent, and to share my frustrations with some people I knew would fully understand. Thanks for listening.

[hacktheplanet]

Buy a broken amplifier or CD player or something... It must look pretty enough to steal from your car, but must not work, and must be cheap. Then, fill it with cockroaches or bedbugs or something. Maybe Anthrax or perhaps even your shit in a plastic bag. Maybe even open it up and solder the power connector to itself, so when the thief plugs it in it will short circuit, trip their breakers, and possibly start a fire. OooOOo maybe solder the power leads on the inside of the unit to the chassis so they will get zapped when they try to turn it on.

You must have your revenge on thieves!

[crofter]

Chop their fucking hands off, they won't do it again.

[biologik]

this is my biggest fear.. even in my house... so sorry to hear that man

[3dot...]

sorry to hear that.. sad fuck theives..
get insurance... the 'what if' payment is worth the peace of mind (to me)
I don't own a car anymore ..
but I have my studio insured...
sometimes I wish someone would rob my apartment...
I'll collect the insurance claim and build a new setup...
(really want a new laptop but can't afford it)

still .. probly feels pretty shitty..
I had my car windows smashed while playing a gig once..
but nothing was stolen..
apparently somebody broke in..
ate a McDonalds meal in my back seat.. then left

[McQ714]

what's with the "Fuck you California" comment??? California didn't steal your shit. I think you owe California an apology! After all, if it weren't for California, Las Vegas probably wouldn't be what it is. I bet half of Vegas' income is from Californians. It's about time we get something back for spending so much money in your town...


j/k that sucks man! i hope your not jaded now. San Diego is such a great place to visit... without your DJ gear.

[Silverfish]

@the_planet, crofter- both of those are good ideas. However, I'd do more than chop off their hands and rig the gear to light on fire.

@3dot- I should be covered under my insurance policy. I haven't been in contact with them yet to talk about details regarding my gear (weird timing with my work schedule and the weekend). Right now I'm trying to list everything in the bag and figure the cost of getting new stuff. My laptop was quite old (like five or six years old. The fucker won't get 100 bucks for it), so I don't really know how to go about pricing a new laptop. Go with a similar make, model, and spec? Find something comparable in price to what I paid for this new?

However bad my loss is, it's not as bad as the other guy who had his stuff stolen. He lost his $2000 camera and all of his wedding and honeymoon photos.

[3dot...]

do you have receipts for the laptop?

[oblique strategies]

Ya know, I've always been VERY careful with my belongings. I keep my stuff tidy. Make sure it all gets back to me if I loan it out. I close and lock doors at an almost OCD level.

I got careless ONCE, and this is the result.

Sorry to hear of your loss.

I'm the same way: extra-cautious. A similar thing happened to me once:

I was living in San Francisco at the time, & figured that I was just asking for it if I ever left anything in plain view, so I never did. Except for this one time when I was doing a gig & left ONE thing in my car. As far as I remember it was a minor thing too, nothing very tempting.

When I got back to my vehicle the window was smashed & the glove box had been rifled through & a few minor things stolen.

I guess having my car broken into only once for all the years I had cars in San Francisco isn't bad!

[Tone Deft]

my car was hit 11 times in the left front fender (half the people left notes,) broken into more times than I can count since I leave the windows halfway open. roof slashed once, speakers stolen, trunk lock jacked up when they failed to get in there and more stuff I'm probably forgetting. all that over 12 years. nice trick is to wire the ignition into the cigarette lighter (you guys can't tell anyone that my car is rigged like that, it's a secret.) it's not a town for cars, share a cab, walk or bike. I've done 2,000+ biking miles in 2010 and only bought 6 tanks of gas (rainy season and trips to ride my bike in other parts of the Yay Area.)


oh, and put your gear on renter's insurance.

[synnack]

Keep an eye on ebay or the local pawn shops.

One of my friends bands had their tour van broken into and all their gear stolen. They had a police report. Then they saw several items show up for sales on ebay and one thing in a pawn shop. By showing the police report to the pawn shop and ebay abuse people they were able to recover a few things.