There's good karma and there's bad karma and the thief who stole Todd Park Mohr's custom-made Gold Benedict Groove Master guitar just broke even.|

Big Head Todd and the Monsters closed out the Flathead Festival in Whitefish, Mont., Aug. 8, sharing the bill with John Prine and R.B. Morris. But after the band finished its set to a crowd of 4,000, someone stole Todd's favorite guitar right off the stage. A spokeswoman for the Big Mountain Ski and Summer Resort said because the festival takes place in an outdoor setting, no one is really sure how the thief made off with the guitar, but they had their ideas.

When asked whether she had spoken to Todd, she responded that he was disappointed but that the townspeople were more upset. "They were disappointed that someone would steal it," she said, "Because they didn't want Big Head Todd to have a bad impression of their area."

Fortunately the folks at local radio station KBBZ got together to spread the word about the theft. The bad guy returned the guitar to the steps of the radio station, wrapped in a blanket, according to Jean MacDonald, the band's publicist at Revolution Records. No questions were asked and the guitar was returned to Todd without a scratch. MacDonald said that Todd was "stoked to get his guitar back and really excited that the radio people were so helpful." (AB)
(photo courtesy of WEA Records)