| Guitar Center Crowns Matt ORee King Of The Blues
Showcasing his musical talents in front of a packed house at the House of Blues Chicago, New Jerseys Matt ORee was crowned the nations best undiscovered blues guitarist at Guitar Centers (Nasdaq:GTRC) 2006 Guitarmageddon: King of the Blues grand finals. In addition to the King of the Blues battle between the nations top seven amateur guitarists, Guitar Center helped kick off the Chicago Blues Festival with a collaborative performance by legendary blues guitarist B.B. King and GRAMMY award-winning artist John Mayer, who paid tribute to the genres roots, according to Jay Wanamaker, Executive Vice President, General Merchandise Manager for Guitar Center.
"Guitar Center's King of the Blues gives aspiring artists the opportunity to become nationally recognized for their talents and further their careers.
Colin Meloy's Early Work to Be Released
These days, Colin Meloy fronts the Decemberists. But that wasn't always the case. During his college days, at the University of Montana in Missoula, Meloy was in a band called Tarkio. The band, which took its name from a small town in Western Montana, was comprised of Meloy, Gibson Hartwell (guitar), Louis Stein (bass), and Brian Collins (drums). There was a self-titled debut, followed by an LP, I Guess I Was Hoping For Something More (1998), and an EP, Sea Songs for Landlocked Sailors (1999). In an interview with Amplifier, Meloy said: "We [Tarkio] had aspirations of being able to base ourselves as a band out of Missoula, Montana, like Low is from Duluth and Modest Mouse is from Issaquah [Washington], but I think we pretty quickly discovered that the reason why those bands succeeded was that were within an hour's drive from a major metropolitan area." All of the band members weren't able to leave Missoula, and Meloy relocated to Portland, Oregon with hopes of starting another band.
Gibson rocking as pricey American icon in guitar-loving Japan
A visitor to the Tokyo Guitar Show tries out a classic Gibson as staff help tune an amplifier at a local Gibson shop's booth in Tokyo on Saturday, June 24, 2006. Gibson makes a range of guitars solely for the Japanese market, including rocker Tak Matsumoto's signature Les Paul in special guitar shades like canary yellow and sunburst. Although Gibson is making marketing pushes elsewhere where demand is expected to grow, such as China, Japan is still Gibson's biggest market outside the United States and twice as large as its biggest European market, Great Britain. (AP) .
CA Metal Band Wins Bodog Contest, Gets Ripped Off
Laura McCutcheon of California's Ukiah Daily Journal reports that Ukiah, CA-based metal band DEFINITION UNKNOWN (MySpace) won round one in a national contest, but band members lost something near and dear to them in the process: their equipment. About the same time the announcer of "Boot Camp" — also known as round one of the Bodog Battle of the Bands, held earlier this month at the 12 Galaxies in San Francisco — informed the group they'd won first place, their van, parked around the corner with $10,000 worth of musical equipment inside, was stolen, drummer Tommy Shannon said. "We lost every single guitar, including the bass. We lost all of our guitar amplifiers, one speaker cabinet, my kick pedals, my snare drum, two snare stands, a Roland TD-6 drum machine, one drum pad trigger, two China cymbals, and two cymbal stands ...
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