Guitar IDOL 2004 Guitar Contest

Gand Music hosted the Guitar IDOL Guitar Contest offering many prizes. The winners of the contest received:

• 1st Place: Washburn WI67 Pro Idol Guitar, Ritter Top Quality Bag and a Monster Stereo Pro 1000 Cable.
• 2nd & 3rd Place: Washburn WI14 Idol Guitar with Deluxe Bag
• 4th Place: Audio-Technica ATW102G VHF Wireless Guitar System
• 5th Place: Yamaha Magic Stomp Box
• 6th & 7th Place: Ritter electric guitar bag and Fender Tuner
• 8th Place: Teac SL0D80 CD Player, Marshall Accessory Bag and Fender Tuner
• 9th Place: Teac SL0D80 CD Player and Fender Tuner
• 10th - 12th Place: Monster Pro Link Guitar Cable and Marshall Accessory Bag
• 13th & 14th Place: Marshall Accessory Bag and Fender Tuner
  
  All finalist received a goodie bag with cool accessories from D'Addario and Planet Waves.

Preliminary Rounds & RULES - Contestants have 33 seconds to play their best, fastest, loudest, or most outrageous guitar riff. Celebrity judges will critique your performance, appearance, hairstyle and overall state of consciousness.

Contestants bring their own instrument. Show off your favorite electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, banjo, mandolin, or ukulele solo. We'll plug you in so that you are heard. Contestants are limited to wearing a maximum of 3 instruments at one time.

Four Finalists will be chosen from each of the three preliminary rounds. Contestants not chosen for the final round will be given the opportunity to come back next week, (or stay and spend lots of money at our store).

Final round contestants will be allowed up to 3 minutes and 33 seconds performance time with or without recorded accompaniment. Points will be deducted for bad (as in suck) factory-demo drum machine accompaniment.

Fabulous prizes will be awarded to the top 3 finalists. Other contestants in the finals will receive a version of the home game "Guitar Idol at Gand". (If the game is not available, a T-shirt may be substituted)

And the FINALISTS are... 1st Place: Jim Green 2nd Place: Max Steeger 3rd Place: Chad Berardi 4th Place: Sean Erl 5th Place Richie Ormiston Click on photo to enlarge. Finalists: Phil Ajarapu, Andrew Miller, Dex Reese, Daniel Dowd, Marcus Maloney, Ben Melnick, Bryan Barnes, Nicole Brahin. Click HERE for finalists photos Wednesday night, April 28, 2004 was the final night of the Gand Guitar Idol Contest. Over 100 fans packed the store to hear and vote on the 13 finalists. Finalists performed for 3 minutes and 33 seconds and they were all GREAT! The winner, Jim Green, won the beautiful Washburn Idol semi-hollowbody guitar. Jim's unique two-handed, percussive style wowed both the judges and the audience. Click here for video. Second and third place winners Max Steeger and Chad Berardi also won Washburn solid body idol guitars. Prizes awarded also included an AUDIO-TECHNICA ATW102 WIRELESS GUITAR SYSTEM, YAMAHA MAGIC STOMP BOX, RITTER ELECTRIC GUITAR BAGs & FENDER TUNERs TEAC SL0D80 CD PLAYER, MARSHALL ACCESSORIE BAGS, MONSTER PRO LINK GUITAR CABLES, AND ACCESSORY GOODIE BAGS FROM D'ADDARIO/PLANET WAVES. Thanks to all the sponsors for providing great prizes and support. Thanks to all the judges including: Jim Tullio, music producer Hugh Daly, pro audio sales rep Allison Augustyn, rock critic, Pioneer Press newspaper Roger Adler, guitarist and music producer (Wild Chicago) Bill Rowe, Washburn guitars sales rep David Nordschow, designer, Eden amplifiers Althea Legaspi, editor-in-chief Illinois Entertainer newspaper Bob Sheffield, pro audio sales rep Jamie Medina, Yamaha sales rep Dan Greggerman, music dept. Niles North High School David Nordschow, designer, Eden amplifiers A special thanks to our M.C. Ken Mottet and our store manager Bob Tjarks for organizing the contest. More Photos Click HERE