Burlap to Cashmere Tragedy

Burlap to Cashmere was a band from the 90's that I followed and whose music I loved. They were fresh, different, and extremely talented musicians. I thought their live performance was exhilarating - the dudes are just plain wizards of the fretboard. Apparently they were in process of recording a new album, and one of the main members was assaulted and left for dead in NYC. He is alive, but under a medically induced coma. Very sad. Pray for him. Here's the article from the New York Daily News...if you get a chance to hear any of their music, check out the disk "Is Anybody Out There?"

Road-rage horror
Musician in a coma after beatingin Brooklyn fight - suspect arrested
BY AUSTIN FENNER and ROBERT F. MOOREDAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
A Christian rock musician - who once played for Pope John Paul II - was nearly beaten to death early yesterday by an off-duty airport security agent during a Brooklyn road-rage clash, cops and relatives said.
Johnny Philippidis, 27, lay in a medically induced coma last night at Lutheran Medical Center, and his mother, Jannine, was keeping vigil at his bedside.
"He was beaten and left for dead," said his stepfather, Bill Eisenhardt, 54. "It's a shame to be attacked over something as minor as a fender-bender."
The Christian rocker was attacked shortly after leaving a Manhattan studio where he had been recording a new album, his family said.
Jonathan Goody, 25, was driving from his job at Kennedy Airport when his luxury sedan and Philippidis' SUV collided at 12:40 a.m. at 65th St. and Third Ave. in Bay Ridge, police said. Both men got out of their vehicles after the wreck and allegedly exchanged heated words.
Police said the federal Transportation Security Administration agent hit Philippidis several times and then sped away.
A concerned passerby tried to help Philippidis as he lay in the street, less than a mile from his home, a police source said.
The passerby called 911 and an alert cop - who had earlier ticketed Goody for parking in front of a fire hydrant - heard the description of the vehicle over the police radio.
The cop already had Goody's address, and drove to his Brighton Beach home and arrested him.
Charges were pending last night, police said.
Goody's mother said her son is a quiet man and an Army veteran who was honorably discharged in January 2003 after serving in the Mideast before the Iraq war.
"The police told him he was in a hit-and-run," said Brenda Goody, 47. "They had to search his car."
Philippidis suffered a broken nose and fractures to his jaw and eye socket.
The coma was induced to relieve pressure on his brain.
Philippidis, who played for the Pope in Rome in 2001, was a member of the now-defunct Christian group Burlap to Cashmere.
The Brooklyn-based group, begun by Philippidis and his cousin Steven DeLopoulos, recorded an independent album in 1997 and signed with A&M Records the next year.
"His music is about living," his stepdad said, adding that the 5-foot-8 140-pounder would never have started the fight. "His hands are his livelihood. He would never attack anyone."