With Carlos back in the news following his on stage collapse (click here) it made me think of Paul Reed Smith. Here is how I made that connection:
Long time ago I had a couple classes with Paul Reed Smith at St. Mary’s College (SMC) before he moved on to start making and selling high end guitars. (Quick aside here – note that Paul dropped out and I eventually graduated from SMC. Paul is now rich and famous interviewing the likes of Carlos Santana and I am stuck behind the counter at Buzzy’s listening to a discussion of what tastes better yellow corn or white corn. Go figure.)
I used to joke to anyone who would listen that I was SMC’s second most famous person to attend SMC with Paul of course being Numero Uno. This was a joke, keep in mind, as neither of us have actually made SMC’s official listing of Notable Alum (click here for that listing.) However, I am very glad to see that my friend Donnie Bryan is included on that list. Maybe I’ll have to amend my joke to say that I am the third most famous SMC alum.
But back to Paul, here he is talking about how he first met Carlos at Merriweather Post and the rest is, as they say, musical history (click here.)
Then check out this video of the two of them talking about – what else? Guitars! Carlos comparing playing a guitar to state of health seems only a little ironic after him passing out on stage like he did last week. See what you think.
Here is Carlos playing one of his more famous Rifs and yes, he is playing a PRS guitar: