Tweaked on pumpkin bars and Twizzlers,
Bret Hedican is ready to jam. "This is going to be a fun day," he says, taking two stairs at a time into his tiny basement studio with his cousin
Dan in tow. Out here in the Minnesota lake house Bret shares with his wife, Olympic gold medalist
Kristi Yamaguchi, there are plenty of pleasant diversions to make any day fun. But for the Canes backliner, all else pales next to making music.
"This is where I lose myself," he says, plucking the opening bars of
Lenny Kravitz's "Rosemary" on his Taylor acoustic. "It's addictive. After late games, when I should be sleeping, I just play and play."
His other addiction: rock stars' guitars. The 12-year vet started collecting seven years ago when he did a charity event for Big Brothers Big Sisters.
"To thank me, my friend from the organization got
Angus Young of AC/DC to sign a replica of his Gibson," Hedican says. "It's weird, but it made me feel really connected to their music."
Since then, Bret has scored a signed Epiphone from
Hootie & The Blowfish, a scripted Martin from
Babyface and two Stratocasters Hancocked by
Peter Frampton ("Keep Rockin'!") and
Bryan Adams.
His jewels? "A friend got all the Rolling Stones to sign this red Fender Strat. How cool is that?" But his favorite was a gift from Kristi: Southern rocker
Edwin McCain's Gibson. ("Merry Xmas, Bret!") "I don't play my collection," Hedican says, "but this one sounded so sweet it was hard to put down."
As he plucks an assortment of G, D and C chords, the former Blues man explains the origins of his musical passion: "I taught myself when I was a rookie in St. Louis. I was really frustrated and needed an outlet." At this, cousin Dan starts strumming the Taylor acoustic. Bret laughs and picks up the melody. After ripping though "Tell Her This" by
Del Amitri, it's time to put the axes down. They have a
Santana concert to go to tonight.
"He's amazing," says Bret. "I'd never ask, but I'd love to have one of his guitars."
Wayne Henniger is a frequent contributor to ESPN The Magazine.
