And the cellist, Peter Stumpf, feels bad about it. He must be a good guy because most of the musicians who talk about him in a story in today's Times empathize with his costly night of absent-mindedness. For the record, Stumpf left the rare, 320-year-old Stradivarius in its case on the front steps of his Los Feliz home, not the back porch as I said before. The theft, by a youth on a bicycle, was caught on a neighbor's videotape; an anonymous donor has offered a $50,000 reward for the cello's safe return.

Previously on L.A. Observed: He left it outside??