While I deeply miss everyone that is currently busy shredding up the music industry in Austin, some of us had to stay here in Chico to report about real news. Now, lets get to the hard core media coverage, shall we?

Karen Lee Cooper, a 49 year old Aussie chick, brutally stabbed her boyfriend during a fight about the Boss. Reports are showing that the controlling boyfriend was limiting her music choices, and apparently when she banned Springsteen, the jig was up. Cooper grabbed a knife out of the kitchen, went into the living room and repeatedly stabbed the man. In another wise decision, she then took a bunch of pills, called the cops and told them she’ll be dead before they get there. Sounds like a good Tuesday night in these parts. From CNN:

An Australian woman pleaded guilty Thursday to fatally stabbing her boyfriend because he objected to her listening to Bruce Springsteen’s music.

The national news agency, Australian Associated Press, reported that the Supreme Court in the city of Brisbane sentenced Karen Lee Cooper to eight years in prison.

Cooper told arresting officers she “just got tired” of her boyfriend, Kevin Watson, bossing her around during their two-year relationship.

“I couldn’t even play Bruce Springsteen on my stereo. Can you believe that? Can you believe that?” Cooper told police, according to the Courier Mail newspaper.

Later, in a formal police interview, she repeated her claims: “I mean, who doesn’t like Bruce Springsteen? I am 49 years old and I want to play my own music.”

The couple had been drinking at their rental home the night of the stabbing two years ago when they began arguing over Cooper’s choice of music, the Australian Associated Press said.

Cooper’s lawyer told the court she experienced a “brain snap.” She ran to the kitchen, grabbed a knife and stabbed Watson, 49, after he said he didn’t want her to listen to a Springsteen CD, the newspaper said.

Cooper took a handful of pills before calling police. She told officers she hoped the pills would kill her before they arrived.

According to the press reports, Cooper regretted the stabbing and did not think her boyfriend deserved to die.

I’m pushing for a new law that legalizes the brute killing of anyone that censors Bruce… who’s with me?

Keep locked in for more coverage of SxSw and Aussie stabbings over classic American songwriters.

Since you may have forgotten to mark your calendars, we’re hitting you with this info today. Tomorrow, October 16th, is National Boss Day. And while I initially thought, “Shit yeah, a day devoted to Springsteen? About frickin’ time!” I quickly realized that tomorrow is actually about this:

Wikipedia says that Boss Day is a time honored tradition. It dates back to 1958 when Patricia Bays Haroski registered October 16th as a thank you to her loving boss…who also happened to be her father. However, the entry also notes that Boss Day is widely criticized as a Hallmark Holiday, and just another way to kiss ass. And since my boss told us that we should do more blogging today, I guess this is my way of doing both. Happy Boss Day, Bill.

Anyone who read my last post about this knows exactly how I feel about stolen band gear and what I think should happen to the culprits. Jodi Hates The World, whose music I didn’t really like at first, but has since grown on me (think Jane’s Addiction meets the Smashing Pumpkins), recently got their tour van stolen in Oakland, CA. If you frequent pawn shops and seedy neighborhoods, be on the lookout for this stuff:

1994 Doge ram 1500 17 passenger van WA lic 808 SVT

1976 black Gibson Les Paul Custom

Worn finish on neck, star decals, ink drawn “SAI” on back of body where finish has worn off..a big ding right behind the tailpiece…it’s hard to miss this guitar….serial number starts with 001…will get the rest as soon as I locate it

1979 Natural Finish Gibson “The Paul”
Large Chip in headstock. Charlie Brown decal on body..if you look close at the headstock you can see where someone had placed some little heart stickers under the Gibson logo….lots of wear just under the pickups, and where your arm would rest on top of the body…..again, pretty hard to miss…

1970’s Fender Bassman 100 Amplifier (master volume)
Blue powerlight, post-factory power cord with a big yellow plug, hum balance pot has been removed from the back of the amp..has an airplane decal with JHW on it just under the power light…also the faceplate is a little dented under the power light

1990’s Fender Tonemaster 4×12 Speaker enclosure
Lots of duct tape over torn tolex cover.
“JHW” stenciled on the side..it has also been modded to run on 4 ohms instead of 8….

90’s six string Ibanez bass guitar
SR series maple wood body, light brown/tan finish

2003/04 six string Ibanez bass guitar
SR series, mahogany wood body, dark brown finish

3 blue Garcia custom drums (seattle drum shop. jerry garcia. hard to miss)
18×22, 16×20, 18×16

1 Mac Book (white)

2 cymbal bags
1 large black case of drum hardware
1 Kepplinger custom steel snare (holy shit these are amazing snares)
1 Fender Roc Pro 1000 amplifier
1 Marshall 2×12 speaker enclosure

::PEDALS::

2 Boss DS-1 distortion
1 Boss GE-2 qualizer
1 Ibanez Toneloc Phaser
1 Boss DF-2 Distortion/Feedbacker
2 Digitech PDS1002 2 second delay samplers/didital delay…pretty rare to find…one of them has some scorching around the power jack
2 Digitech XP-100 Whammy-wah(both have JHW printed on them)
1 Digitech XP-300 Space station(has Jodi Hates the world printed on it)
1 DOD analog delay..missing the battery cover
1 Electro-Harmonics “Holy Grail” reverb
1 Boss RC-20 Loop Station
1 Boss Tu-2 Tuner
1 Boss flanger (80’s, made in Japan chipped paint…REALLy rare to find nowadays)
1 line 6 delay modeler
1 ART A/B/Y footswitch
1 Hartke head HA5000
1 Hartke cabinet 15xL
1 Hartke cabinet 4.5xL
1 Boss bass overdrive pedal (yellow)
1 Boss DD 3 digital delay pedal (white)
1 Ibanez Toneloc bass distortion pedal (grey)
1 Ibanez Toneloc bass synth pedal (grey)
1 Boss bass pre-amp multi effects
processor (red)(GT6B)
1 BossRC 20XL loop station (red)
2 Shure microphone SM58

Please anyone call me if you hear anything.
CHRIS VANDEBROOKE
415-336-2698
CARGO@EMOCORE.COM