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Marina City band gear stolen

8-Mar-12 – The band that named itself after Chicago’s Marina City is asking fans for help after two guitars, two synthesizers, and other gear were apparently stolen Wednesday night, just a few weeks before “the biggest show of our lives,” headlining at Marina City’s House of Blues.

Sometime between 8:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., as the band was at dinner, a car owned by rhythm guitarist Brian Johnson was broken into as it sat in a parking garage at 600 South Clark Street. The band had just auditioned for a music competition at nearby Columbia College, where two band members are students. When they returned to the car, they found the rear passenger side window smashed and the equipment missing.

Gone were a Gibson SB guitar and case, a Schecter Blackjack guitar and case, two types of music synthesizers, a MicroKorg XL and a Kaoslilator, a four-channel mixer, and other gear. Lead singer Ryan Alan told Marina City Online the equipment was worth about $4,000.

Marina City Band

Calling the loss “the worst thing that could happen to a musician,” the band made a video and took to social networking sites to try to raise money or at least put people on alert for the stolen gear.

(Left) A frame from the video shows damage to a car owned by Brian Johnson, a member of the Chicago band Marina City.

Without the gear, the band says it will not be able to perform at the House of Blues on March 31. They are scheduled to appear with three other bands at a show called “The Action Blast.”

“Playing the House of Blues has been a dream of ours since we picked up a guitar,” the band wrote on the fundraising site IndieGoGo. They say the loss renders useless $3,000 worth of tickets to show.

According to the band, they have sold 200 copies of their first album, In The Wake Of Dreaming, which will be released this spring. They will also perform in June at Metropia Music & Arts Fest 2012 at 4325 North Ravenswood Avenue.

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