Beloved Blues Musician Seeks Public’s Help After Thieves Steal New Amp in Arcata
A longtime North Coast blues musician is asking for the community’s help after a thief stole a prized amplifier from his vehicle Thursday night in Arcata.
According to a friend who works with blues guitarist Buddy Reed, someone stole Reed’s Fender Tone Master Bassman amplifier from his car while it was parked in front of his home near 30th Street and Alliance Road.
The theft is especially painful because, after more than 60 years performing the blues, it was the first brand-new amplifier Reed had ever owned.
Now 79 years old and living on a fixed income supplemented by gig income, replacing the amplifier will be difficult.
“Stealing from a 79-year-old musician living on a fixed income and gig money is low and hurts,” the friend wrote.
A police report is being filed, and local pawn shops will be contacted. Anyone who sees a Fender Tone Master Bassman matching the one pictured, or who is offered one for sale under suspicious circumstances, is asked to come forward.
Anyone with information can email:
Even a small tip could help return an instrument that represents decades of hard work and dedication to the blues.
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Buddy is a local treasure! If I see a donation jar I’m slipping a $20 in it.
If 100 of us do the same we could buy him a new one.
One of Humboldt County’s long-standing and deeply-rooted community traditions remains alive and well:
“If I want it, what is yours is mine.”
That’s really terrible.
I hope some kind people step up and help him get a new one.
That said, a 79 year old should know better. I bet he does know better and is kicking himself for leaving something like that in his car.
Empty your car at night!
Don’t leave even the tiniest thing visible that might attract a crack head to break into your car.
I used to live right around the corner from him.
It is a relatively safe neighborhood, but I’d still never leave anything in my car.
Don’t even leave spare change visible in a cup holder.
I lived in the Haight, in San Francisco, for many years and didn’t have a garage, had to park on the street. One learns to be preemptively cautious.
Let’s be sure and sell this type of Humboldt experience and behavior with one single, unanimous, positive, cohesive message…
Let the sugarcoating begin…
Doesn’t everyone everywhere want to rush to Humboldt to experience this very same sort of unforgettable trip…???
I got panhandled by druggies for food and/or money at In N Out in Eureka, and at Rays food place in Garberville…
Be sure and frequent those two places if you want to “share” in the Humboldt Experience…
Let’s not kid ourselves…
If we are going to “Sell” Humboldt, I highly recommend truth in advertising…
Because I abhor deception…
Maybe Gregg Foster can buy this guy a new amp…
“Let the sugarcoating begin…”
Kym Kemp is in the pole position.
I’m relieved to learn crime has been eliminated everywhere else. Somebody should let the rest of the country know.
Ain’t that the truth…
RHBB lesson of the day…
“Crime is perfectly normal and acceptable in Humboldt County, because it hasn’t been eliminated everywhere else…”
Is, say, racism, also perfectly normal and acceptable in Humboldt County, because it hasn’t been eliminated everywhere else…???
I don’t know about sugarcoating but Buddy Reed sure woulda been a great name for a saxman.
Buddy Brown and the Hound Dogs.
Raise you one Merv George.
G.E. Smith Jams on the Guitar That Killed Folk! 8:14
G.E. Smith (be)holds – and plays some prime Michael Bloomfield licks on – the ’63 Fender Telecaster used by Bloomfield in the ’60s, including when he appeared with Bob Dylan at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Bloomfield used the guitar to record the self-titled first album by The Paul Butterfield Band and Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited.” For Smith’s turn, the guitar is plugged into an early-’65 Fender Concert and a Fender reverb unit.
Bet he’s really got the blues now.
Swish. Thank you for the laughs.
Tweakers suck!