I'll watch you burn

Bounty Hunter had a show on Thursday night at a bar called the Frequency in Madison.  We've played there a few times, it's usually a pretty cool place for a Thursday night bar show.  But for some reason, we never can draw a decent crowd in Madison, no matter where we go, with the exception of the battle of the bands we swept a bit ago.  This show was no exception, a smaller turnout, but still had some a friend or two there, which is always nice.  Nothing like the 13k days, at all.  Anyhow, while we were playing, in the middle of one of our songs, I look over and notice something.  I had to take a double take.
Really?
Again!?
Man.
Wally threw up on himself, as well as Andydrummer's cymbal.  I guess I shouldn't laugh...but how can you not?  So the rest of the set, my head was filled with "I bet everyone is staring", "Stop Staring", "I think they're still staring" type of thoughts.
The thing is, this isn't the first time he's done that.  It was the second!  I won't go into any more details about that tonight.
But the fun begins after our set is over.

We're starting to load our gear into our vehicle, when I go up to my guitar case, which is laying on the ground.  Odd, because I had set it upright when I put my guitar away.  Okay, carry on.  Next thing I notice is that the latches are unlatched.  This is starting to seem bad.  I open up my guitar case.

empty.

After running around the venue, I come to realize that my guitar had been stolen.  Shit.

But, because I knew most people at the show, I asked around, played a little bit of detective, and found out who had stolen my guitar.  His name was Caleb Murray.  He had gotten kicked out of the show for starting fights with other kids for no good reason.  He snuck in the back door of the venue, grabbed his backpack, skateboard, and my guitar.
After finding out his name, I was able to get his phone number, where he lives, and where he works.  Good information to have, and to keep for later.  My friend Kyle had a mutual friend with this shitbag, so Kyle thought he would have a better chance getting it back if he called and said it belonged to his band.  He told him 'no harm, no foul, we just want our guitar back.'  At first, he didn't deny stealing it, nor did he confess to stealing it.  So, we're left with nothing but the knowledge that he did take it, but no proof.  Kyle stayed persistent, and after an hour or so of talking to him, texting him, and coaxing him, he ended up getting him to admit to stealing it, and now return it.  I guess it was due to his fear of getting jumped, he decided he was going to "drop it off in a SAFE PLACE and let you know where it is".  Shit, that's not too assuring.  >> Fast forward a little while, Kyle, Anthony, and myself are waiting in my car outside god knows where waiting for a text to tell us where my guitar is.  Ends up, dude sets it outside the tobacco shop he works on in the middle of state street.  For those who don't know state street...it's a busy street, at all times of the day/night.  Great, we're speeding to get there ASAP, we call Wally, who was on State Street to head over to the place.  I drop Kyle off on the street, and he takes off, hoping nobody else gets to it before he does.  Ends up, we get the guitar back, yet I'm not satisfied.

Why not?  Well, doing something like this and getting away unpunished?  Not how the system works.  After a little research, I found out that because of my guitar's worth, the theft of it classifies as a Class H felony, which also means the perpetrator can face up to a $10,000 fine and up to 6 years in prison.

Am I going to pursue this to the end?  I am certainly going to try.  Tomorrow I will be calling Dane County Sheriff's department to see what needs to be done to begin pressing charges.  Even if I am moving away in a week, I want this to be on his record.

Your actions have consequences, and I'm going to see that you face them.