They say politics makes for strange bedfellows. Apparently the same is true of the music biz, as I learned when I went to Experience PRS 2008 and found myself riding in the shuttle with Fox News anchor and host of Saturday Afternoon, Brian Wilson. After finding common ground through our mutual respect for Ricky Skaggs, PRS, and vintage RCA mics, Wilson and I had several lively political discussions as well.
During the holiday season, Wilson airs a segment on his show entitled “Bah Humbug,” where he attempts to “right a Christmas wrong.” On his Dec. 20, 2008 show, Wilson featured Jeff Gilbert, President of the Waco Eagles Motorcycle Club, in Waco, Texas. Gilbert organizes a toy drive every holiday season and this year, someone unclear on the concept stole all of the toys before they could be distributed. The Guitar Player angle on the story, however, is that Gilbert’s personal guitar was stolen along with the toys. Wilson provided information so his fair and balanced viewers could replace the purloined playthings, but he went a step further. He called his friends at PRS to see if they might be able to help Gilbert out. Much to Gilbert’s surprise and delight, Wilson got Paul Reed Smith on the phone during the interview to inform Gilbert that PRS would be giving him the West Street LTD model pictured here. —Matt Blackett