[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 in Hawaii)
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 for Star Bulletin article and LARGER PICTURE

Stolen guitar irreplaceable
Musician Tiffa Cruz Garza says it was a legacy from her father
By Rosemarie Bernardo
rbernardo@...

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.