Accordion crime

Zed Lopez from MemeMachineGo! sent me a link to this BBC story about an accordion thief in the southern counties of England (that’s Fatboy Slim’s stomping ground, yo!) who got caught because he wasn’t a 1337 5KW33ZB0X0R:

Richard Browning was stopped in his car with the instrument hidden behind his driver’s seat, Lewes Crown Court was told on Monday.

The ?£150 price tag was still attached to the accordion although Browning, of Midhurst Road, Eastbourne, claimed he had been using the instrument to busk on the streets of Seaford, East Sussex.

But the police officer, who stopped the 31-year-old in August last year, challenged him to play a tune to prove it was not stolen.

When Browning failed to raise a note on the instrument, the officer arrested him for shoplifting.

Here’s the photo that was included in the BBC story.

I have no idea of if it’s the accordion in question, but if it is, it’s a helluva lot nicer than both mine put together. Hey, I’d have bought it — £150 is a mere CDN$340 (US$250) at today’s exchange rate. That’s not bad for an accordion with that many sets of reeds and clappers to boot, and challengege you to find an instrument that yields more bang, beauty and volume per buck.

(At the recent Om Festival, the acoustic guitarists werstrugglingng to be heard over the zillions of hand drums around the campfires, but my Titano student accordion cut through the din like a chainsaw through butter.)

And had I swiped it, I would’ve:

a) Removed the tag

b) Rocked the house if asked to play it!

Recommended Reading

I once had to establish my bona fides to a duly appointed officer of the law with my accordion in this story about The Star Spangled Banner and anal sovereignty.