The new Hard Rock Cafe New York will officially open at its new location at 1501 Broadway upon the smashing of more than 100 Gibson guitars, branding the moment as the World's Largest Guitar Smash. The historic guitar smash and opening of the Times Square cafe will kick off a month-long celebration, which will include rockin' concerts and special events, as well as a grand opening party, featuring a live performance by super group Velvet Revolver. The grand opening celebration will benefit Peace Games, a non-profit organization dedicated to ending the trend of violence in the U.S. by teaching children to become peacemakers in their schools and communities.
http://www.hardrock.com/corporate/press/content.aspx?id=129
I ran across this on the web and in the recent isse of Guitar World and I was appalled. While smashing 100 guitars may sound like fun, it seems to me to be a waste and a shame. At a time when musicians are swpet out of their homes in New Orleans and all over the Gulf Coast, and schools cutting back on music programs it seems a terrible shameful waste to destroy instruments.
Not only that, but as a benefit to aid anti-violence programs, it seems that smashing guitar isn't the right message to send.
Sorry to bother people with my tirade, and I am sure that some people will say "Yeah... smashing good", but I had to express my opinion with someone.
I am afraid I would have to...... Agree with you 100%
How is smashing guitars going to teach children non violence. I just don't get it.
Why not give these 100 guitars to children so they can take up and activity that will keep them off the streets?
I have forwarded my concerns about this to the people at Hard Rock. If you feel compelled, please do the same. Unfortunatley the only email address I could find was this general address at [email protected]
Totally in agreement with you.
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
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Wow, me to. I am sitting here trying to figure out how to scrape together pennies to get a cheap guitar and they are smashing 100 of them. Not to mention the kids programs like you mentioned, which is much more important than me, and so forth.. sigh
GEoo
“The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn” - David Russell (Scottish classical Guitarist. b.1942)
Well, I'm guess by the speed at which I got a reply, I am not the first person to say something. Here is their reply.
Dear Hard Rocker,
Thank you for contacting Hard Rock Cafe International.
Hard Rock Cafe takes great pride in providing assistance to organizations benefiting a worthwhile cause. For the guitar smash in Times Square, we were given 100 defective "scrap" guitars from Gibson to use and for every guitar smashed, once was donated to Peace Games, a long with $200.00 donated from every attendee to the New York Grand Opening. Hard Rock Cafes worldwide are participating in a "Crank It Up" program in which cafe guests round up their checks to the nearest whole dollar. These extra funds are being donated directly to the American Red Cross. Additionally, we recently held a benefit concert with rock super group Velvet Revolver at Hard Rock Live in Orlando and a guitar autographed by the band members is up for auction on our website with all proceeds benefiting the Red Cross. Our cafes are also holding individual fund raisers and within the next few weeks we will be offering a special Katrina relief pin which will be on sale at http://www.hardrock.com . To learn more about all of these relief efforts, check out http://www.hardrock.com/promo/CrankItUp/default2.asp
Best wishes.
Take Time To Be Kind.
Customer Care Team
Hard Rock Cafe
What is interesting is that Gibson destroys all of their defective guitars by throwing them into a chipper shredder (at least that is what they told us on the Memphis guitar factory tour).
I agree. Even if the guitars are defective, it's still shameful. What a waste.
Well we all shine on--like the moon and the stars and the sun.
-- John Lennon
Defective my behind. There are kids the world over who would love to have one.
I'm not sure. Most smahing on stage nowadays happens with speaker-less cabs and esteban-like guitars, I really doubt they will smash a hundred fixable guitars. If they do shame on them.
Defective my behind. There are kids the world over who would love to have one.
+1, they should sell 'em for cheaper, without a warranty or anything, as fix 'em up guitars, like they did back in the good ol days.. 8)
..At least thats better than throwing one of God's greatest gifts into a wood shredder! :lol:
Stairway to Freebird!
yoyo's got it right
if it's a little cosmetic flaw or something that can be fixed I'll buy it becuase you still have a gibson, mainly for the quality control and the wood, and the only thing you might need to do is replace a bridge.
Okay, so I'm a grown up and really, I guess I've been around long enough that I ought to understand what it means when somebody smashes a guitar on stage, but I don't get it.
I know, Hendrix lit one on fire at Woodstock and it was a major part of The Who's stage show, but having attended few live concerts I've never seen it done and never really understood it.
Obviously it's terribly theatrical and all.... A sacrificial act of reckless abandon, an overt statement that the artist's talent and it's associated earning power is great enough that the artist can afford to destroy his/her instrument on a whim, an act of rebellion against an anal retentive music establishment. But even if I look at it like this, in this day and age, Hendrix and The Who all being ancient history and the shock value of smashing a guitar being similar to the shock value of finding dried cranberries in your oatmeal, I tend to see the the statement made by a guitar smash as this:
"I'm a spoiled brat with (your) money to burn."
Hey! I get it now! That's why I've never gone to Hard Rock Cafe.
But anyway what I'm saying is that even if the guitars being smashed are total and unplayable junk I find the message misguided anyway. A big show of wallowing in excessive waste and selfishness. Typical boomer crap.
HEY! Where do I sign up for that “smash festâ€!!!! :roll:
Give me that axe and show me the Coordinators! I'll use all 100! :evil:
I'll show those kids what NOT to do! :wink:
Without reading their reply, it seemed pretty stupid to me too. But, they are giving money to charity. Gibson doesn't want their name to be smudged even more, by putting defective models on the market. This seems like a good way of getting rid of them to me.
Okay, 1000 people need a shirt. I burn 100 shirts that have some defect just as part of a show. Next I give $10 per shirt burned to charity.
So I gave $1000 or enough to buy 50 shirts to charity.
How about I give 100 shirts and $1000?
It's just stupid.
If it wasn't for the fact that it's after the fact I'd do something about it.
Just to prove it's idiotic, what's the point in destroying something that's valueless? What a bunch of rebels they are.
