Moonalice performed on the massive 70 foot “Willpower” main stage at the BottleRock Napa Festival on May 9. It was the first official outing for Pete Sears’ “Dragon” bass, recovered after having been stolen 35 years ago during a riot at an event in Germany.

On his Facebook page, Pete Sears dedicated the Bob Minkin photograph of himself playing “Dragon” at the BottleRock Festival to bass Guitar builder, Tom Lieber, with these words, “I'd like to dedicate this photo to the bass guitars builder, Tom Lieber. Tom was a luthier at the Doug Irwin Custom Shop where he fashioned this beautiful instrument in 1976-77 under the Doug Irwin Shop name. While he was designing and building my "Dragon" bass, Tom also worked with Doug on the early designs of Jerry Garcia's "Tiger.” Tom left Irwin Guitars in 1977 and has been steadily plying his craft ever since, fashioning instruments for many notable musicians including the great Stanley Clark. The dragon inlay is actually made out of silver...but over 35 years the guitars finish has given it a beautiful gold hue. Thanks Tom.”

Pete also described the background to him being reunited with “Dragon,” “Actually, I'd offered a $2,500 reward (no questions asked) for the return of the bass through Tom Lieber's Doug Irwin Tribute site...he put it up about four years ago. The fellow in Germany, Klaus Wilm who came forward definitely wasn't the person who stole the bass...he purchased it in 1991. However, he did insist on 2,500 euro's rather than dollars...which was $3,200. I was fine with that...under German law you have ten years to reclaim ownership of stolen property so Klaus felt the bass was his (of course my next step would have been Interpol...the instrument is a one of a kind work of art after all).

However, Klaus loved the instrument and didn't really want to sell it...he had only just found out it was stolen property and felt he could never play the instrument knowing it had been stolen...so he contacted us, which he didn't have to do. I am very grateful he came forward...the bass had been sitting in his closet for a very long time and he only recently decided to get back into music...which is when he decided to do an Internet search and came across Tom'spost on www.RUKIND.com with a photo of his (my) bass. If he hadn't come forward I may never have seen it again. Thank you, Klaus. After it arrived back in the USA a couple of weeks ago Tom Lieber began restoring the pick-ups, cracked peg head, refrettng etc. All in all the bass has cost me over $4,000, which is a lot, but not much for an instrument like that...and I had offered $2,500 as a reward four years ago. The most important thing is that I have the instrument back...that is my perspective anyway.”

Roger McNamee, also photographed by Bob Minkin playing Pete’s “Dragon” at the BottleRock Napa festival had this to say about the experience, “Best bass ever! I am honored to have played it at BottleRock Napa. The expression on my face says it all. Wow!!!"