[img]http://www.starpages.net/photos/7/4/1117221774.img_113.jpg[/img]
Date: Jan 18, 2007 3:17 PM
Subject PLEASE HELP!!! (please repost on other Hawaiian Forums)
Body: Aloha kakou,

For all of you who have the pleasure of actually knowing Tiffa and Imua,
you know that they are two of the most wonderful people in the world. This
is just awful! Please help!

kehau

From: Opihi Pickers
Date: Jan 18, 2007 3:04 PM

Hey guys,

Tiffa (Imua's wife) had her guitar stolen right before we left for our
Hilo gig. If you have any info please contact us through MySpace, call our
manager Brett at (808) 478-8176 or call Tiffa at the phone number listed in
the article.

Click Star Bulletin article and LARGER PICTURE

Stolen guitar irreplaceable
Musician Tiffa Cruz Garza says it was a legacy from her father

An acoustic electric guitar with sentimental value to local musician Tiffa
Cruz Garza was stolen from her pickup truck parked at her Aiea Heights
home.

"It would mean the whole world to me to get it back," Garza, 23, said
yesterday. "I'm just desperate for it."

At about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, Garza arrived at her home in the 99-1000
block of Kahua Place. She and her band, the Girlas, had performed at the
Centennial Welcome-Back Bash at the University of Hawaii at Manoa's Campus
Center courtyard.

She and her husband, Imua Garza of the band Opihi Pickers, were packing to
catch an early flight to Hilo. Garza left her guitar in its case in the cab
of her 1999 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck.

When she headed back to her truck at about 3:30 a.m., Garza noticed the
vehicle's rear window pried open and her guitar missing. "I was just
crying hysterically," she said.

Garza had gotten the guitar as a gift from her father, well-known musician
Ernie Cruz Sr., when she graduated from Hilo High School in 2001.

"It's my father's guitar. It has his fingerprints," Garza said, adding
that it is worn on the fret board and on the back of the guitar from years
her father played the instrument. "It represents his heart and love for me
and for music."

Garza's father had taught her how to play on the instrument in 1993, when
she was a teenager. "It's a way of life for me. I use it in all of my
gigs. It's been part of my life," she said.

She described it as a Takamine-brand acoustic electric guitar made of koa
wood. The guitar is a 1992 special edition with golden-brown tuning pegs.
It has a "unique sweet sound that has been cultivated by many years
played," Garza said. "Nothing can compare to it."

Police were called about the theft.

Garza said she would not press charges and just wants her guitar returned.
A substantial reward, as well as a collection of CDs from Garza and her
family members, is being offered for the guitar.

Along with a talented father, brother Ernie Cruz Jr. is part of the Ka'au
Crater Boys. Garza's other brothers, Guy and John, have successful solo
music careers.

She said other break-ins have occurred in her neighborhood, and her
neighbor had stolen from a PT Cruiser over the weekend a medal earned in
the military, cleaning supplies and books.

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of the guitar can call Tiffa
Cruz Garza at 258-7242.

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