Tom Petty’s April 12 appearance at the Malibu Performing Arts Center was done for charity but it was also done for a rare guitar.
The benefit concert, which raised money for downtown’s Midnight Mission, was organized by Norman Harris, owner of Norman’s Rare Guitars in Tarzana. Harris has been putting on the concert for the last few years and has called on many of his musician friends such as Richie Sambora and Jackson Browne to play the event.
Harris said he always wanted Petty to play the show, but the scheduling never worked. This year, when Harris asked Petty to play the show, he told the rock star that he’d be willing to trade a guitar that Petty had long coveted if the musician would do the gig. Harris gave Petty the guitar a few months ago in exchange for a handful of guitars that Petty had played on stage. The guitar, valued at $60,000 to $100,000, was Petty’s only payment. Petty played the show with Mudcrutch, his recently reunited original band.
The rare ax is a 12-string Rickenbacker that was made in 1965 and originally sold at a guitar shop in Liverpool, England, where the Beatles did their instrument shopping.
“That’s the guitar he used at the Super Bowl halftime show,”
Harris said. “It’s his favorite guitar.”
A Dying Art
Claudette Hill, owner of Lamb’s Reweaving in the Park Mile area, likes to say that she practices a dying art.
Since 1965, Hill has been reweaving torn and ripped sweaters and suits, meticulously piecing clothing back together by hand. Over the years, such celebrities as Harrison Ford, Eddie Murphy and Mr. T have relied on Hill to revitalize vintage sweaters and other items.
Once, the actor Larry Hagman wanted a sweater fixed that his mother had knitted for him. It couldn’t be done.
“It was quite old and a moth had just done a job on it and it couldn’t be repaired,” Hill said. “I hated that, but it wasn’t possible and that doesn’t happen very often.”
Hill said that she would like to teach someone her art because there’s only one other reweaver in L.A.
Real Moving Experience
NorthStar Moving, a local moving company, has three new packages for its high-end clients: The Paris, which offers pet pampering during a move; the Angelina, which offers babysitting for kids; and the Britney, which offers the help of professional organizers to make moving easier.
The program is the brainchild of Laura McHolm, NorthStar’s co-founder. So, which service would she use?
The Britney, McHolm said. “I don’t have a pet so I can’t use the Paris and I don’t have children so I can’t use the Angelina.”
Tattoo You?
One local PR man has an unusual marketing idea he will buy space on your body to advertise his company with a tattoo. Darren Shuster, 39, recently paid a man an undisclosed sum to have a tattoo of a barcode and the name of Shuster’s company, Pop Culture PR, inked on his neck.
The human billboard, Robert Borst, said he’s happy being a walking advertisement for Shuster’s company.
“In my opinion, we are all just a number and part of corporate propaganda,” said the 24-year-old Borst, who met Shuster because they work in the same building.
Alas, Borst’s number at least his barcode doesn’t work. He went to a Home Depot near his home in North Hills and the barcode reader failed to recognize it.
Daniel Miller can be reached at
[email protected]
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