Forget this music writing thing, I'm gonna start an L.A. crime blog. Become the next James Ellroy. Yeah, that's the ticket.
Recently, though, it seems that one could make a healthy living combining music and crime writing. On the heels of Oscar weekend's double-dose of musicians' misdemeanors comes word that on-the-rise L.A. band Eastern Conference Champions got their gear jacked. On a post on their MySpace, the band explains that while they rested peacefully late Monday night/early Tuesday morning, their van, parked on the street, was broken into. All their instruments and other assorted electronics were taken. ECC says they'll soon post the serial numbers of everything stolen so that fans and concerned citizens can keep a lookout for the items if the perpetrators try to sell them on Craigslist or Ebay.
Not to yet again slip into the editorial, but it's hard not to blame the band for bringing this on themselves a bit. Apparently they never got the memo that you don't leave anything in an automobile parked on the street in L.A. And I mean anything. Hell, I don't even leave a water bottle in my car when I park it on the street. In the post, ECC complains that the van was parked "on a quiet little neighborhood street" off of LaBrea, but that's just showing their naive nature even more. Don't they think crooks might target nice neighborhoods, since the rather well-off people living there might live good stuff to grab in their cars?