Gibson Celebrates 1st Summer Jam and Opening of Its New Custom Factory

Press release
Source: Gibson Guitar

Gibson Guitar announced the 1st Annual Gibson Summer Jam event and the official opening of its new Gibson Custom factory and headquarters at 1612 Elm Hill Pike Drive which will be celebrated with a 3-day extravaganza July 28-30, 2006. With a host of performances by some of the world’s great Gibson performers and a series of guitar clinics and special events, the three day jam will give press an opportunity to exciting news and coverage.

Press are invited to attend a series of daily guitar clinics hosted by such legendary performers as jazz great Larry Carlton and guitar techs Greg Howard from Aerosmith and Kevin Brier from INXS. On July 28, Gibson Chairman and CEO Henry Juszkiewicz will join Carlton at a special ribbon cutting ceremony officially opening the new Gibson Custom plant at Elm Hill Pike. Tours of the new facility along with expert luthier appearances will also take place each day. Press are invited to attend and cover. All Gibson divisions will be represented at the event.

On Friday July 28, 2006 Devon Allman’s Honeytribe and Marty Casey and the Lovehammers (Rockstar:INXS) perform. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum will host the regional finals of the Fortune Battle of the Bands on Saturday, July 29, 2006 beginning at 5pm and in the evening press will enjoy special performances by country great Lee Roy Parnell, award winning female artist Gretchen Wilson and legendary rock group Cheap Trick.

The 6th annual FORTUNE Battle of the Corporate Bands will hold their qualifying regional finals for the very first time at the Gibson Custom Summer Jam on Saturday. Six corporate bands made of up musicians who would rather quit their day jobs to make music will compete for a place in the final competition to be held at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in October in Cleveland, Ohio.

The competing corporate bands include executives from “The Loaners” from Quicken Loans (Livonia MI), “VanGo” from Bank of Montreal Financial Group (Chicago IL), “Soul Focus” from American Century Investments (Kansas City MO), “Center Stage” from Wells Fargo (Minneapolis MN), “SUGI Band” from SAS Institute (Rocky Hill, CT), “Miller Rhythm & Brews Revue” from Miller Brewing Company (Milwaukee, WI). Competition begins Saturday at 5pm. Band members range from men and women in executive suites to mailroom workers and truck drivers.

THURSDAY, July 27, 2006

12:30pm-1:45pm Guitar Clinic: Frank Hannon from Tesla

2pm-3:15pm Guitar Clinic: Larry Carlton

5pm-5:30pm 100 Watt Opera

5:50pm-6:50pm 3rd Degree (with audience jamming)

7:10pm-8:10pm Vinyl Tap (with audience jamming)

8:30pm-9:30pm Dixie Peach

FRIDAY, July 28, 2006

1:45pm-2:45pm Guitar Tech Clinic: Greg Howard (Aerosmith)

3pm-4pm Guitar Tech Clinic: Kevin Briers (INXS)

5:30pm-6pm Claire (with special guests)

6pm-8pm Dinner

6:25pm-7pm Dixie Peach

7:20pm-8:05pm Devon Allman’s Honeytribe

8:25pm-9:10pm Marty Casey and Lovehammers (Rockstar: INXS)

SATURDAY, July 29, 2006

3pm Gibson Gear Clinic: Hank Ettle (Product Demo and Q&A)

3pm-4pm Artist Clinic: Frank Hannon from Tesla

4pm-5pm Artist Clinic: Larry Carlton

5pm-8pm The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Presents the FORTUNE Battle Of the Corporate Bands Regional Finals

6:30pm-8:30pm Dinner

7pm-7:45pm Meet and Greet with Tesla

8:10pm-8:55pm Lee Roy Parnell Performance

9pm-9:30pm Gretchen Wilson Performance

9:45pm-11pm Cheap Trick Performance

Gibson is known worldwide for creating classic models in every major style of fretted instrument, including acoustic and electric guitars, mandolins and banjos. The Gibson HD.6X Pro digital guitar represents the biggest advance in electric guitar design in over 70 years. Founded in 1894 in Kalamazoo, MI, and headquartered in Nashville since 1984, Gibson Guitar Corp.’s family of brands includes Epiphone, Valley Arts, Dobro, Kramer, Steinberger, Tobias, Slingerland, Maestro, Baldwin, Hamilton, Chickering and Wurlitzer. Visit Gibson’s website at www.gibson.com.