Losing a guitar is like either losing an arm or a girlfriend for a professional musician like Harry Manx.
So he panicked just a little bit when a miscreant swiped his prized 20 string Mohan Veena — a custom built Indian instrument blending the sounds and styles of a guitar and a sitar — from an airport luggage turnstile in Chicago. Luckily thanks to an outpouring of support on social media which mainstream media soon picked up on, the perpetrator was 
nabbed trying to steal another piece of luggage.
Manx is glad they caught the miscreant.
“I have to go to Chicago and pick it up and talk to the detective. The detective said all of the media attention really put the heat on him. And the guy already had a long record with rape and armed robbery,” Manx observed adding he will be glad to get his Mohan Veena back.
“I’ve had it for 20 years. I watched the guy craft it and learned how to play on it,” said Manx from Quebec.
“ I’ve had to learn how to play all of my songs on just the guitar. It felt like I lost my girlfriend,” he said. Maybe even worse.
“Just don’t tell my wife,” chuckled the B.C. based musician who plays Southminster United Church to play a show for the Geomatic Attic, March 10 with special guests, Australian Hammond organist Clayton Doley and guitarist Kevin Breit.
The Mohan Veena is a key component to his east meets the west blend of the blues and East Indian music
Manx, never one to look on the dark side of things, was touched by the outpouring of support once word spread.
“ I have another one at home, but it’s in pieces. I would have had to fly home and put it back together. But three guys offered me Mohan Veenas and I’ve had people offer me guitars. It has brought a lot of attention. It really couldn’t be better PR,” he chuckled.
“People really care about this kind of thing,” he said. The story almost immediately had 80,000 views which quickly expanded to over 5 million.
He has a busy year of touring in support of last year’s CD “ Ohm Suite Ohm” scheduled including stops all over Canada, The United States, Europe and Australia.
He will also release a new CD later this year.
“ It will be called ‘20 Strings and the Truth’ though maybe I should call it ‘Crime Doesn’t Play,’” he chuckled.
He will be playing a few new songs in the current tour.
He is excited about touring with Clayton Doley and Kevin Breit.
“Kevin Breit is wonderful guitar player. He was playing with Hugh Laurie. And this fellow out of Australia, Clayton Doley, is a great Hammond organ player. Kevin can play anything. I think he even had a punk band when he first moved from Northern Ontario to Toronto,” he enthused.
Breit will always try something different from jazz to blues to more experimental music. He has played with everybody from Frank Zappa’s band the Mother’s of Invention to Norah Jones. So there will be a lot of experimentation and jamming during this tour. Breit’s last CD was a mandolin orchestra.
“He played everything on that album. But he’s in trouble now, because people think he’s actually an orchestra, so they want to hire the orchestra,” Manx observed.
Harry Manx , Clayton Doley and Kevin Breit play the Southminster Church for the Geomatic Attic, March 10. The show begins at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $37.50.
— by Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
