NASHVILLE |
DATE: JANUARY 5, 2011
FROM: TODD BRODGINSKI/ALEXANDRA GREENBERG/ANGELA VILLANUEVA
MITCH SCHNEIDER/MARCEE RONDAN
OZZY OSBOURNE
TO SIGN 10-FOOT TALL GIBSON GUITAR
AT THE SUNSET STRIP GUITARTOWN
MONDAY, JANUARY 10 AT 2:00 PM
AT HOUSE OF BLUES IN WEST HOLLYWOOD
OSBOURNE TO PERFORM TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1 AT
GIBSON AMPHITHEATRE IN LOS ANGELES
On Monday, January 10 at 2:00 PM, rock legend OZZY OSBOURNE will appear at House of Blues to sign the one-of-a-kind 10-foot tall fiberglass Gibson Les Paul model art guitar designed in his honor as part of Gibson GuitarTown on The Sunset Strip. The ceremony will also serve to celebrate the launch of the second leg of OZZY’s U.S. Arena tour, which includes an upcoming Los Angeles area performance on Tuesday, February 1 at the Gibson Amphitheatre. Longtime friend and musical collaborator Slash (featuring Myles Kennedy) will open the Gibson Amphitheatre show.
OZZY’s guitar joins an impressive array of 25 other fiberglass Gibson guitars designed to honor rock legends and the people and places that shaped The Sunset Strip. The guitars are placed along The Sunset Strip as part of a public art project that was launched in August 2010 with the completion of the 1.6-mile Strip’s beautification project.
OZZY’s guitar–which was designed by Los Angeles photographer Nic Adams and utilizes photographic imagery to celebrate the icon–is in good company with other custom-designed Gibson guitars inspired by the music of Slash, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Mötley Crüe, KISS, The Runaways, Brian Wilson, Peter Frampton, Cheech & Chong and more.
In September 2009, OZZY–who has sold over 100 million records both with Black Sabbath and as an award-winning solo artist–was honored for his achievements and his impact to the legacy of The Sunset Strip at The Sunset Strip Music Festival. The multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer also performed a headlining set at the festival, where for the first time a significant portion of The Strip was closed to traffic for a multi-stage music event. In June 2010, OZZY raised the roof with a red-hot performance at House of Blues for lucky contest winners, encompassing material from his 2010 release SCREAM and his many classics.
This past August, THE SUNSET STRIP and Gibson Guitar launched GuitarTown, a public art project that features 26 10-foot tall fiberglass Gibson Les Paul model guitars strategically placed on the legendary Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. The oversized Gibson guitar sculptures were created by locally and nationally acclaimed visual artists and placed along the 1.6-mile Sunset Strip in front of the boulevard’s landmarks and businesses, including the Whisky A Go-Go, The Roxy Theatre and Sunset Marquis. Each guitar sculpture celebrates a musician, personality or artist unique to The Sunset Strip’s history and Gibson Guitar. The project unites The Sunset Strip’s art, music and business communities and will later raise funds for numerous charitable organizations. The Sunset Strip GuitarTown opened in mid-August, prior to the third annual Sunset Strip Music Festival (August 26-28). The Sunset Strip GuitarTown is supported by the City of West Hollywood and the West Hollywood Marketing & Visitors Bureau.
About Gibson Guitar
Gibson is known worldwide for producing classic models in every major style of fretted instrument, including acoustic and electric guitars, mandolins, and banjos. The Gibson Les Paul guitar is the best selling guitar of all time and bears the name of the late, great Les Paul. Gibson’s HD.6X-PRO Digital Guitar, the Gibson Robot Guitar, Gibson's Dark Fire and the new Gibson Dusk Tiger represent the biggest advances in electric guitar design in over 70 years. The Gibson Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Gibson Guitar Corp., and dedicates its time and services to making the place a better world for children through its support of music, education, health and human services. Founded in 1894 in Kalamazo, Michigan, and headquartered in Nashville since 1984, Gibson Guitar Corp.’s family of brands now includes Epiphone, Dobro, Kramer, Steinberger, Tobias, Echoplex, Electar, Flatiron, Slingerland, Valley Arts, Maestro, Oberheim, Baldwin, Sunshine Piano, Take Anywhere Technology, J&C Fischer, Chickering, Hamilton, and Wurlitzer. Visit Gibson’s website at www.gibson.com.
About The Sunset Strip
The Sunset Strip is a 1.6 mile stretch along Sunset Boulevard that runs through the heart of West Hollywood. From its beginning as an unregulated "strip" of land along Sunset Boulevard outside Los Angeles' city limits, The Sunset Strip has served as a notorious entertainment destination for celebrities, tourists and California residents. It is an iconic locale where fashion, music, architecture and a unique history combine. The Sunset Strip has birthed countless music and entertainment careers, and it continues to blaze its own path as a leading destination with a vibrant and entertaining landscape made up of more than 150 restaurants, shops, nightclubs and hotels. The Sunset Strip became part of the City of West Hollywood when it was incorporated in 1984. For more information about The Sunset Strip, please visit www.thesunsetstrip.com.
About Nic Adams
Nic Adams is a Southern California photographer whose passion for creating images began at the age of 16 and has evolved to encompass many different subjects, cultures, and lifestyles. Truly his art is inspired by his life adventures from his laid back, hippie, surfer upbringing, to his Bohemian travels internationally and his love of photographing bands and fashion. Some of his early music photography was recently on display at the Class Fashion and Art Tradeshow at the Santa Monica Civic Center and at KIN on Sunset Boulevard, including images of work from the early ‘90s between Paris and L.A. including Rage Against The Machine, Scott Ian, Beck, Sublime, Fugazi, Pharcyde, Fishbone, Run DMC, Iggy Pop, Perry Farrell, Sugar Ray, Suicidal Tendencies, No Doubt. Adams is currently working on finishing a series of art photos on canvas created from black and white Polaroid film shot on a Polaroid Land Camera.
About The West Hollywood Marketing & Visitors Bureau
The West Hollywood Marketing & Visitors Bureau is a 501(c) non-profit organization dedicated to marketing the City of West Hollywood as a “living forward” visitor destination to business and leisure travelers by promoting awareness of the city’s unique location, image, businesses and industries and by providing support for the city’s economic development efforts. For more information on West Hollywood’s cutting edge businesses or to plan the ultimate getaway, please visit www.visitwesthollywood.com. For the latest offers and tips on living like a West Hollywood insider, visit www.WHinsiders.com. Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/westhollywood and Twitter at www.twitter.com/westhollywood.
www.thesunsetstrip.com
www.gibson.com/sunset-strip
www.ozzy.com
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Contact for THE SUNSET STRIP:
MSO 818-380-0400
Alexandra Greenberg x223, agreenberg@msopr.com
Todd Brodginski x239, toddb@msopr.com
Angela Villanueva x232, avillanueva@msopr.com
Contact for OZZY OSBOURNE:
MSO
Mitch Schneider x235 mschneider@msopr.com
Marcee Rondan x248 marcee@msopr.com
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