The Detroit Jewelry "Heist"
Hello again, Heepsters!
As promised in "Protectin' the Band" here's the story of the Detroit, Michigan jewelry heist.
When I was a kid growing up in San Francisco, a whispered legend among the theatrical crowd had it that every time the famed Boston Pops Orchestra conductor Arthur Fiedler came to town, there would be a great and spectacular fire. And Fiedler was usually there to witness it, being a great fire "buff".
I've heard of other coincidences of differing nature that occur when performing artists or groups arrive in town. And with Uriah Heep it seemed that every time we played Detroit, there was a murder. David mentioned it to Del and me more than once in dreaded anticipation of performing there. All members of the band seemed to equally exhibit feelings of apprehension and anxiety during our time there.
I don't have my faithful weekly planners from that period of 1972 handy so I'm going to guess that it was in the Fall of 1972, and our second performance date in Detroit (possibly the Free Trade Hall). The stage was about 5 feet high and seemed to provide reasonable protection from over-exuberant fans wishing to join the band on stage. Still, Del and I kept sharp watch over the faces directly in front of the stage anticipating trouble. Sometime about two thirds of the way into the set there was a blur of motion directly in front of me. A young man had jumped onto the stage and in a flash rushed passed the front of Ken's organ grabbing Ken's pendant necklace and ripping it from Ken's neck. Continuing his sprint directly for David, he grabbed David's two necklaces and ripped them from David's neck.
I was directly behind the youth as he completed an arc of mischief and lunged off the center of the stage into the crowd below. Behind him by maybe five feet and half a second, I too made the leap while trying to keep him in sight. The fans had created a small clearing as the youth flew toward them, and he apparently ducked down to the floor. As I hit the floor and slammed into several of the less fortunate witnesses, I frantically searched for the miscreant. I LOST him! I was furious that the stage security had not only been breached, but personal property of members of the band had been brazenly stolen in front of maybe 12,000 fans! I purposely pushed through the crowd toward the side of the stage and climbed back up.
This happened to be one of the few nights when Gerry Bron, Heep's producer and manager was present and, as I approached my usual duty station on the side of the stage, he came over and discussed what had just occured with me. I was still mad and told him with authority that I had a plan. He looked a little astonished and more than a little curious as to my next move. I asked him for permission to offer a reward of $200 for the return of the stolen necklaces and he approved.
The remainder of the set was very lackluster and it seemed as though the band couldn't wait to finish and get out! In fact, they were so upset about the ripoff that there was no encore. Curiously, the fans seemed to accept the fact there'd be no encore. Now was time for my move.
I stepped to the stage center microphone and said "I'm sure most of you witnessed what happened up here a little earlier. I'm offering a two hundred dollar reward for the return of the jewelry... and a FIVE HUNDRED DOLLAR REWARD FOR THE PERSON WHO TOOK IT!!!" There came a mild cheer from some of the audience at the act of bravado I'd just offered. Since it was clear that the show was over, the hall began to empty and Del and I began the pack-up. Maybe 10 minutes later, a young man approached the edge of the stage and called to me. I walked over and he said that "his friend knew who took the necklaces and could get them back". Not being born recently, I told him to bring the jewelry back and collect the reward. He walked slowly back to the entrance of the hall, and I continued to pack up. Shortly he returned with another "friend" and showed me one of the necklaces. As luck would have it, it was Ken's. I called out to Gerry Bron who was standing just off stage. I took the two over to Gerry and told him that these folks were here for the reward. Gerry took them back to the dressing room to negotiate the return.
As I was to learn later, Gerry balked at giving them anything untill the other two pieces were returned. While they were backstage I looked to the front of the hall and THERE was the thief. He had been watching me and was well out of range from my getting to him. I slipped off to the side of the stage and sprinted around the building hoping to intercept him at the front. But he no doubt anticipated my move and was no where to be seen. We never did recover David's necklaces, but the band took precautions from that moment on to reduce the likelyhood of a repeat of the "heist".
-Todd