Ice Cream Man

Guitar Center King of the Blues, also: Levi's adventure

Words by CraSH, Ice Cream Man
Photos by CraSH, Matthias Ingimarsson

It’s very rare when you can pinpoint days ahead of time that might be tipping points in your life or the life of your business. Not too long ago we had one of those. The stars aligned and we had meetings all over Los Angeles about a bunch of great projects. I can’t go into too much detail right now about some of the stuff we’ve got coming up but, as always, I can assure you it’ll be fun.

After a stop in Pasadena and Burbank, we headed over to Levi’s to talk about getting the crew outfitted with some custom Levi’s clothes for summer tour. We had stopped by the Levi’s/Fader Fort in Austin during SXSW, but the selection at their showroom on Melrose was probably twice the size. I had no idea how many lines they had (Vintage, Andy Warhol, Capital E, red, and more) and it was fun to try on different styles to see what fit best. I briefly tried on the blue and white striped jacket in Austin but wasn’t sold. Once I had some white Warhol Bermuda pants on, I finally got it. Plus, everyone else there was telling me it looked good and that it was a perfect fit for an ice cream man . I think part of it is, if you’re going to rock a jacket like that, you have to own it. After Rachel, Matthias, and Craig got some gear we headed to the parking lot to shoot some photos.

Our next stop was Toi Thai on Sunset before heading a block over to the Hollywood Guitar Center for the King of the Blues Competition. We pulled up right out in front of Guitar Center and slang a bunch of cream to the contestants, store employees, judges, and whomever else was passing by. Craig headed in to shoot the contest and wrote some words below on how it all went down.

The night ended with a Dewar’s Scotch Whiskey tasting and dinner at the Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard. It took me a while to find my way to the penthouse but eventually I got my bearings and made it to the festivities. We tried five or six different whiskeys and even though they were pushing their White Label, my favorite was the 12 year old. I’m not much of a whiskey drinker (less than 2 shots a year on average) and this was the first time I actually tasted the difference between them. Thanks to Bryan for the invite and for putting it all together. It was the perfect capper to a memorable day.

Guitar Center "King of the Blues"

Guitar Center is at it again with their "King of the Blues" guitar contest. As they scour the country for the unfound talent that hide and perform in the back alley bars and garages. Kind of a "Crossroads", but here they compete against other guitarists to represent their region in the Finals…and not the Devil.

Having just recently covered the Finals for the "Drum Off" and seeing the four finalists out of thousands compete. Tonight is only an in-store semi-final contest. Where six competitors compete to move on to the store finals…then hopefully the regional final. The only way to move on is to impress the judges with one's technical skill, artistry, and showmanship. The four judges tonight were Rob Torres, Pocket, Reggie Boyd, and Gregg Wright. All having many years of local experience in the LA music scene.

The contest got started with Jon Croft, store manager, emceeing the event. Each contestant played lead guitar to their choice from one of 15 backing tracks. Tonight's contestants were: Evo Stantchev, Rob Del Campo, John Kabbash, Eric McConnell, Zack Wiesinger, and Phil Gates. Each with their own interpretation of what blue's guitar should sound like. In the end it was Zack Wiesinger who prevailed and moved on.