Rhino’s Youth Center

Rhino's Sweet 16

Q&A with a Rhino's Sweet 16 Guitar

By Andy Graham
From The Herald-Times (Section D, Page 1)
Originally published April 24, 2008

Rhino's spokesguitar

Rhino's Youth Center celebrates its sweet 16th birthday Friday with dinner and a fundraising auction at Oliver Winery. Tom Roznowski emcees, Jenn Cristy and her band plays, more than a dozen restaurants will supply food. Festivities include Rhino's inaugural GuitArt Auction, featuring six new solid-body electric guitars with unique, hand-painted decoration from six local artists. The Herald-Times conducted an interview with a spokesguitar earlier this week. Its amp was turned to "11." Excerpts follow:

Q: Whomever you go home with Friday night, do you aspire to eventually end up with somebody from The Grateful Dead?

A: I assume you reference the Dead because of the skulls and roses adorning my body? Frankly, I expected more from you. My creator, Lindsay Hine, infused a spiritual essence in me that transcends genres and simplistic associations with stereotypes. When my strings are struck, the resonance of life will flow from the ether into my single coil pickups and race into whatever amplification system is being used and then explode into the cosmos for the pleasure of the universe.

Q: What do you think of your five siblings?

A: All of my siblings are quality instruments and beautiful works of art. With that said, it is obvious, since you have chosen me as spokesguitar, that I am the most elegant and sophisticated of the ... (Editor's note: the conclusion of this answer was drowned out by screeching feedback from the other guitars.)

Q: Are you looking forward to Friday's event and auction?

A: Indeed. To be able to be at the beautiful Oliver Winery on Friday night and be auctioned to the highest bidder is literally what we were made for. The artists who created us – and the skillful craftsmen at RoadWorthy Guitar and Amp who perfected us – donated their time to ensure that the public could purchase a one of a kind musical instrument and support Rhino's. What's not to like?

The spokesguitar describes its siblings: "Joe and Bess Lee's barbed wire and roses guitar urges the player to find the balance between pleasure and pain that only music can illuminate. Danielle Urschell and Izzy Jarvis, a mother and daughter team, created a Houndstooth design that begs to played and played loud. Jet One has brought to life a city-threatening robot guitar that evokes an uncertain technological future while embracing the majestic glory of the power chord. Joel Washington's vivid and frightening monster axe is a prime example of the unleashing of primordial rock and roll. And I have no frickin' idea what Laura Brikmanus's "Baby Head" guitar is all about. That one freaks me out."