join the mailing list! add | remove

Thursday October 9th, 2003

photo courtesy of Stephen Green

Chicago Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood caught in clubhouse with Les Paul Standard

All-Star pitcher #34 Kerry Wood, who leads the Chicago Cubs against the Florida Marlins in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series tomorrow (10/10), is hard to beat when he's on the pitcher's mound, but in the clubhouse with his Gibson, it's another story.

Gibson presented Wood with a BluesHawk guitar last year, and this year he's playing a Les Paul Standard in Sapphire Blue (make that Cubbie Blue) finish, but his picking is not quite up to the level of his pitching.

"I bought my first guitar after hearing one of my uncles play 'Stairway to Heaven,'" Wood told Dan Long in an interview for Chicago Vineline. "But I still can't play the song. I get about a minute or 45 seconds into it, and then I just fall apart."

The article goes on to say that Wood outfitted Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder with a complete Cubs uniform and wardrobe in exchange for a guitar and amplifier. Wood saw Vedder play one night and Vedder destroyed his guitar, which led Wood to make him the offer.

Wood says he will take guitar lessons in the off-season, and he's trying to convince his wife Sarah to take up the piano. You know what they say - the family that plays together, stays together.

---

Jack Black 'Schools' Gibson Beverly Hills Showcase

Irreverent funnyman Jack Black is no stranger these days to movie goers - as the leading man in the new Paramount Pictures film School of Rock, he's seen slinging a Gibson SG Standard. The movie was No. 1 at the box offices last weekend.

Black portrays Dewey Finn, who impersonates a substitute teacher and turns a fifth grade class into high-voltage rock and rollers. It's the first major movie role for Black, who also appeared as a smart-alec record store clerk in 2000's High Fidelity. He's also half of Tenacious D (the other half is Kyle Gass), the acoustic metal/comedy duo who landed a major record label deal, releasing a self-titled album in 2001.

Jack Black grabs a Gibson Hummingbird
for gigging with Tenacious D
at the Gibson Beverly Hills Showcase.

Two SG Special Fadeds signed by Jack Black will be given away in separate promotions at fuse.tv.com and rollingstone.com. To view the "School of Rock" trailer, go here.