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‘Guitar Hero’ Tour Takes Over Universal City

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Last night (July 8), participants in the opening stop of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith ROCKS the Hard Rock contest — sponsored by Spin and the Hard Rock Café — looked more like those professional pretenders (translation: actors) working at nearby Universal Studios, rather than the real life rockers who perform regularly at the adjacent Gibson Amphitheatre, which – like the Hard Rock Café – is also located along Universal City’s busy, tourist-y CityWalk. To further drive the point home that these gamers are, alas, mere video game mortals, players were flanked by a display case featuring Paul McCartney’s Hofner bass to their right, and one of Ron Wood’s well-worn Fender guitars to the left.

Nevertheless, after roughly two hours of string-less guitar heroics, Inglewood, CA’s Mario Golden emerged victorious out of an original field of 16. Although Golden doesn’t even know how to play a real guitar, he still went home with an armload of swag and a chance for win a trip to Boston to meet Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, and — if the rock gods are smiling down on him — take home that classic rocker’s custom Guitar Hero: Aerosmith/Hard Rock Café/Red Wing Motorcycle. Golden won’t likely see any of his musical hardware autographed and displayed on Hard Rock Café walls any time soon., but — to paraphrase a David Bowie lyric– he was a hero, just for one day.

We Asked: Who is your favorite guitar hero in real life?

Read the fans’ answers >>
More photos from this event >>

We Asked: “Who is your favorite guitar hero in real life?.”

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More photos from this event >>

Lat night’s winner Mario G. / Photo by Auxy Espinoza

Photo by Auxy Espinoza

Photo by Auxy Espinoza

Photo by Auxy Espinoza

Photo by Auxy Espinoza

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Read the fans’ answers >>