Guitarmagedon compitition At GC almost started a gang fight!

[Buck Cannon]

sadly enough,
It looked like teeth would be laying on the sidewalk, TOTAL EGO UGLYNESS!

IMHO this is all 100% Guitar Centers falut, it was fueled when NUMBERS / scored points were disclosed. or judges papers were grabbed?? the total of, 3- judges with a max 150 is given,, but...NEVER from each judge.. thats PERSONAL...

the older contestant who feuled the flames, Somehow felt his Gary Moore Blues routine was really GREAT.. he's been playing fo 30 years..
he scored a... 50/50/27....
I'm the judge that scored him low.. SO I was singled out and verbally attacked and questioned after the fact.. buy him and 3 other's in his party.

I HONESTLY felt his switching to a Gary Moore Blues style from his agressive rock style from the previous weeks. was a bad move on his part, it was intended to impress us judges that were Blues players for the most part.. or so I'm told?
His gary Moore impression.. serioulsy lacked.. it didn't go anywhere or even match up with Gary Moore's true greatness. Yet his buddy's all cheered away for his every move as if it was the greatist BLUES ever, I'm a full time blues player I know fake cheers when I hear them.... they were obvioulsy trying to coax high scores from the judges.. I think it worked on the other two Judges..?
So as the backing track plays a jazzy blues in G,
he was suddenly not fluid, he was not very unique, he showed very little technique during this tune-- one bend and one pinched harmonic both of which didn't hit the mark and sounded out of place. then way too many long duration bass string bends, his stage presance was not anywhere as great as his first night, overall preformance was nothing like when he won the first weeks round-1, It was like TEEN IDOL when the contestant gets out of therown box and the judges liked them better the last go round.

The 18 year old kid got a 50/50/50..total 150 a perfect score.. And honestly-- age had nothing to do with it the kid was slicker then snot! every trick in the book and then going beyound and very much from the soul.. somethings are not just learned behavoir. he was fluid and consistant two weeks in a row.. showing strength and a shot at going further into the finals then any of the others who praticipated..


So--- after it was over i was playin a few teles out on the floor, and I was visited then surounded buy the older guy and his 3-4 bro's and a girl and then put through a buch of question's.. later on after this.. I found out the other judge almost went balistic and took off his shirt and went outside to fight em all earlyier.. This happened when he learned these guys probably followed the host and bullyied the individual judges scores out of the GC employee.. and this the broke judges confindance!

giving out 1st-2nd. 3rd. places etc... is all cool of course maybe even total combined points????

___ but letting them see each judges points...!!!! Now That was not... I don't think that is policy and if it is?-- I rally to see it change tomorrow before someone gets hurt..

so I was verbally attacked and basicially told off and told my playing sucks and the older guy can cut my head anyday of the week..bla-bla-bla.. LOL!!
...Whats sucks is these guys who were my FRIEND's for the last four week's... suddenly all HATE ME NOW!


I see these same guys all over town.. this sucks..

The judges did not get paid... and now they broke our confidance and cost us friendships..
I now got four guys who were supportive of my playing last week at the clubs we all frequant ... now I got 4 guys HATING MY GUT's...

I wished i could sue GC over this?

all in all, One has to ask them self what the heck is a guy in his 40's thats been playing for 20-30 years doing at a guitar compitition in the first place? seems rather odd that they would take it so serious at that age....

MY GOD!~ what a night!
Lucky no one hurt anyone ...

still ya never know down the road... what if this all flares up at another night at another club..?

[RevMike]

Totally, uncool. Your scoring should have never been disclosed. Even so, when you enter a contest, you have to expect a certain amount of critique. If people can't take criticism, they have no business entering a contest in the first place. You made your judgement honestly, and you should hold your head up and stand by it. Don't worry about bumping into those guys. Let it be their problem, not yours.

[Tim Armstrong]

That's ridiculous! I've judged for a number of bluegrass competitions, and folks DO get all riled up when they don't get high scores. I'm quite sure that I avoided bodily injury because of the fact that the scoring sheets didn't have my name on them!

You might consider writing a letter to GC about this, as I suspect they'd issue a directive to their stores pronto to keep that info confidential!

Cheers, Tim

[Jakedog]

That info is supposed to be confidential. No way they should be able to find out what the individual judges scored them. And if they have half the maturity of a 6 year old, no way they should be trying to find out. Contests are contests. You take what the judges give you, and you move on.

The only thing I have ever done when I scored low at a competition was to approach all of the judges, thank them for their time, and ask what I could do better next time. At times I thought my scores were personal, or a crock, but being an adult, I kept it to myself and moved on.

Sorry this happened to you Buck, but don't let it get you down. You did the right thing, you judged as honestly as you could. You have nothing to feel bad about. If what you did is affecting "freindships", doesn't sound like those friends are worth having.


Jake

[rmconner80]

Sheesh, that does put you in a bad position, and for no reason at all.

I second the idea of writing a letter to GC to tell them what happened. Make sure it does not happen again to someone else.

[Paul in Colorado]

That guy is a total egomaniac. You lost, get over it. Wha, wha, wha! What a baby.

Sorry you had to be in the middle of this jerk's emotional issues, Buck.

[mark norwine]

Art isn't a contest...the whole concept is flawed from the begining....

...and anyone who'd enter an "art contest" in the first place....well, is such a person an artist at all?

The paradox & contraditions here are extreme....why subject yourself to this by being a judge?

[Pigsfootpeete]

You should stomp his foot, then play Born Under A Bad Sign while he's "dancing". Ha!

[Joe-Bob]

I agree with Mark.

[reverbbb]

Originally Posted by Buck Cannon

all in all, One has to ask them self what the heck is a guy in his 40's thats been playing for 20-30 years doing at a guitar compitition in the first place? seems rather odd that they would take it so serious at that age....

Now you guys are making me feel bad for entering. That is my demographics .

The way I see it, I just enjoyed the competitve aspect at a personal level. It put the presure on myself as a test of my abilities. I never intended to win. I came in forth place. The scores of the top 5 on my night was 127, 106, 105, 104 & 103. I am OK with this scoring. I know that I was beat out by more exciting or better players. The reason I want to test my abilities, is that I notice that I get too uptight when I play in front of "some" audiences. At my church of 300, I am perfectly at ease, even with my mistakes. This event gave me a chance to get out of my comfort zone.

I over heard that this year's competition was plagued by unhappy contestants. There are some that want to sue for not winning. There was rummored that there was also some other situation where an endorser was upset that people were photographing and video-taping these events (apparently because their products were not getting the show-case that their sponsorship contract entitled them).

This event, though very fun and rewarding for me, seems like a PR technique that is falling apart. I would highly suspect that future events are in jeopardy of being over regulated or cancelled altogether.

[J-man]

If you enter a competition and you're found wanting it seems logical just to accept it, walk away and work to improve so that next time you do better....

[TheGoodTexan]

Originally Posted by Joe-Bob

I agree with Mark.

Me too.

[Durtdog]

It sounds like you entered the contest with a healthy attitude.
But whenever I see all those wankers in the local GC just sitting there for probably HOURS going on and on, competing with each other with their ridiculous riffing...it doesn't surprise me that such a contest could turn into an ego-fueled rumble.

[Buck Cannon]

((((Now you guys are making me feel bad for entering. That is my demographics )))).

LOL!! no worrys.. your were a true sport !!

revebbb-- Your location read's, "Just Plano Texas"but you here now..?

You never mentioned to me your one of the TDPRI gang here? maybe ya didn't really know it was me???

ghessh... we could have struck up a real friendship..


anywho.. lets try it again soon.. Please come out to Martini Blues WEd. or also Mon. 9-12mid. and hit the open jam with us.. man weve had alot of TDPRI'iers out their .. even "Bill Lawrence" -- Bill is a wonderful player!![/quote]

[reverbbb]

Buck:

I don't know where you are. Yes, I'm in Plano. You seem to imply that you are here in Plano also. Where is Martini Blues?

I'm also confused at what you are saying:

ghessh... we could have struck up a real friendship..

As if to say, it is too late for that now. Please elaborate.

[Buck Cannon]

LOL!!.. I misread the thread..I'm a jug-head ... sorry,

I really thought you were at the Fountian Vally store in Calif....

some times I just read these post 900 miles an hour..

especially when i'm sneakin a peek at em from work ---LOL! :D

[kerc]

What can you tell me about Kevin, the guy who did some awesome tapping?

He's a buddy from another forum. 8) I wasn't there though , but I've seen and heard his stuff. He was a bit disappointed about not winning, but he took it ok.

[Buck Cannon]

I called GC, and spoke with the managment, and he is going to aleart headquarters in the dangers of giving up individual scores from each Judge.. and he also went on to mention that NO ONE LIKES TO LOOSE and every year, there is a BAD SCENE thrown by the guy who places second... then they all complian about their scores..
they should ditch the scoring point thing.. its just numbers..
the right thing to do is to send the most qualified player on to the next level... and by Golly we managed to do that.. thats for sure.. we sent our BEST onward..

Guys don't like getting points... so they should not ever be made public.. just announce the Placing and let it end their...
far less blows to the artist egos..

[tiktok]

Originally Posted by Buck Cannon

I called GC, and spoke with the managment, and he is going to aleart headquarters in the dangers of giving up individual scores from each Judge.. and he also went on to mention that NO ONE LIKES TO LOOSE and every year, there is a BAD SCENE thrown by the guy who places second... then they all complian about their scores..
they should ditch the scoring point thing..

I wish they'd ditch the entire competition. Music isn't something you grade. I've always thought that all the uptight classical musicians I've met (like, all of them) can be largely attributed to their eternal fear of being graded, since that's the way it's done in that world. There's no kidding yourself about who's first or second chair.

[mark norwine]

they should ditch the scoring point thing..

They should ditch the whole friggin' concept.....

"scoring art".......shameful

[rdchapman]

To me it's just another reason to stay away from GC as a rule. I only go in if they have something I need right away that I cannot get elsewhere. The wankers drive me nuts
r

[reverbbb]

You guys are certainly entitled to your opinions. But I for one, really enjoyed watching the other players and playing in it myself. I was the oldest geezer out there this year. I could go to blues jams or just jam at folks houses (which I already do both), but I enjoyed the aspect for a different venue to play. It was only for 2 minutes, but I practiced and many songs for many weeks. It was a goal that helped push my dedication to practice and expand my knowledge of different styles.

I agree, that there are a lot of problems with people getting judge and scored for their talents. And many folks are going to put their egos right in the middle of all that mess. But at the same time, that was not what it was about for me. I am perhaps in the minority in my purpose for playing in the contest. I cannot change the egos or attitudes of the other contestants. So, if it makes the world a better place to not hold guitar/drum/singing contests, then let's get rid of them for sure.

[Dana]

Slightly off topic.

If anyone who participated in that contest and still has the backing track CD and wouldn't mind burning me a copy please let me know. I really liked some of the tracks on it, but my local GC wouldn't give me one because I didn't participate.

[1612112]

Originally Posted by Buck Cannon

I'm a full time blues player I know fake cheers when I hear them....

Ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!! What a riot.
Bagsy bogsy that for my new signature!