Guitar Town

There have been stories in the paper and on TV about the 10-foot fiberglass guitars strewn about the city, so we not surprised to encounter one at the City Hall (when we were shopping for the Owl Shack) but I had not realized how impressive they were until I got close to one. The concept is not original – I think it started with fiberglass cows in Chicago – decorated whimsically and then auctioned off for charity. That’s been repeated in Kansas City, Houston, and New York City, but fittingly for the “Live Music Capitol of the World” Austin has guitars, not cows.

The Gibson Guitar Company provided 35 oversized guitars and three dozen artists from around the country were chosen to decorate them, illuminate them, or somehow transmogrify (can you believe the spell checker okayed that word?) them into objets d’art (and flunked that one?). At some future date, they will be auctioned off, along with the 35 real Les Paul Gibson models that have also been decorated and signed – though less outrageously, I understand. And of course, they will have a big concert and party down at Zilker Park when they do. This is Austin, remember? We don’t actually need an excuse for a party but why pass up such a marvelous opportunity? Proceeds will benefit, appropriately, Health Alliance for Austin Musicians and several museums around town.

Here’s the guitar at the City Hall.

That’s the way cool New City Hall building in the background, by the way. The sidewalk coffee shop and the City Store where we went shopping are on the other side, so you’ll have to wait until I blog about City Hall to hear about them.

And if you want to see the rest of the guitars, here is the link to a photo gallery.

Photo gallery: 'GuitarTown Austin'

Now, I’m thinking: how cool would it be to have your very own 10-foot guitar signed by the Dixie Chicks? I could put it next to… no, maybe in the… well, maybe not.