Peter
Continued from page 6
had already flown on ahead. And we were
told that this tragedy had happened, and
it was a tragedy, because of the people that
had lost their lives. And so it put losing
the equipment pretty much in perspective
at that point. Yes, I was upset. But I was
more upset for the families of the people
all gone.” But they lied. It was 30 years
later when I opened up an E-mail from
someone in Curacao, which is an island
off the Venezuelan coast, and there were
12 or 15 forensically-taken photos of that
same guitar.
IE: But over the years, you’d heard unsubstantiated reports that it had popped up
in Caracas, right?
PF: Well, from what I can gather, the guard
that was put on duty to guard the debris
thought that the guitars that made it –
which we didn’t know about – would be,
uhh, much safer in his apartment. So he
took them home, and then he sold them,
one by one. That’s what we think happened. But it’s pretty much a gray area
because it was such a long time ago. But
03•2016
who didn’t survive. The plane didn’t even
get off the runway. They think that a strap
broke loose, and the equipment slid to the
back and it pulled the plane’s tail down.
And the tail broke off.
IE: Then what happened?
PF: I sent my guitar tech down a week
later, after we finished the rest of the tour
that we managed to scramble and do. And
he took pictures of it, and it was just disgusting, just awful. And he said, “Did
anything make it?” And they said, “No,
everything went back to the Earth.”
Because it was such a huge fire. So he
came back and told me, “No, they said it’s
8 illinoisentertainer.com march 2016
apparently, a professional musician in
Caracas bought that guitar and played it
around town for 15 years, until one day
there were too many people telling him,
“Hey – that looks just like the guitar that
Peter Frampton used to play!” So I think
that’s when he sold it to someone on the
island of Curacao. And from there to how
I got it back is really convoluted, and a
long story. Because no one wanted to
bring it back to me, since they thought
they were going to be arrested by the F.B.I.
for stolen merchandise.
IE: How did it finally show up?
PF: I had to convince people that this was-
Frampton
(bottom
left)
Matthew
Curry
with Humble Pie