An all-out search is on for stolen music history artifacts meant for display at a Colorado Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony next month.
Pawn shops have been put on notice about the items stolen from a fabricator in the Turnpike Business Park in Adams County early Sunday. Colorado Music Hall of Fame director G. Brown
said thieves broke into Blue Goose Inc. , where displays for the items were being built, at about 3 a.m.
He said could not affix a price tag to what the items are worth.
“They’re priceless, one-of-kind artifacts,” he said. “And anyone in the Colorado music community should be upset this stuff was taken. It’s irreplaceable.”
Adams County Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Terrance O’Neill said investigators were examining surveillance video from a nearby business Monday afternoon, which might yield clues.
The items taken include:
• Sam McFadin’s signature Flash Cadillac guitar (a Fender Stratocaster with flames painted on the body and the band’s name on the neck in pearl inlay).
• Linn Phillips’ leather jacket with the name “SPIKE” across the back in studs, along with a leather shark mask.
• Warren Knight’s gold record for the “American Graffiti” soundtrack.
• A circa 1962 blue plaid stage suit worn by Bob Demmon, a member of the Astronauts.
Brown said he doubts the museum pieces were targeted. Two neighboring units in the business were also burglarized, and the thieves also took tools and a boom box from Blue Goose.
“These were not professional museum thieves,” he said. “My hunch is they were just stealing stuff when they said, ‘Wow, here’s a cool guitar and a couple nice jackets,’ and they don’t know what they’ve got.”
He said the items would be difficult, if not impossible, to sell without attracting attention — including from honest collectors who alert authorities.
Anyone who wants to return the items — no-questions asked — can contact him at GBrownCMHOF@comcast.net, “or they can leave them at the Blue Goose. I promise, we don’t have surveillance.”
Brown said all the pieces, except the gold record, were donated by the families of deceased band members, giving them sentimental value, as well.
AEG Live concert promoter Chuck Morris, chairman of the Hall of Fame’s board, he board, would “devote any possible resources to the return of the artifacts,” Brown stated
Brown said he took photos of the stolen items to surrounding pawn shops that were open Sunday, as well as looked for them at a local flea market.
The permanent exhibits were to be debuted at a Sept. 8 event at the Boulder Theater during which the Astronauts, Sugarloaf, Flash Cadillac and KIMN Radio are to be inducted to the Colorado Music Hall of Fame.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174, jbunch@denverpost.com or
