The King of Soul, Otis Redding, was honored today with a Gibson Art Guitar on The Sunset Strip at the Whisky A Go-Go. His son, producer, musician and recording artist Otis Redding III autographed the nearly 10-foot tall Gibson Guitar along with artist Raphael Saadiq and then performed acoustically “I’ve Got Dreams to Remember” and “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” in tribute to his father.
The painted guitar was created by artists Raphael Saadiq and Upendo Taylor as a tribute to Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Otis Redding and will be displayed on the legendary music boulevard in conjunction with Gibson GuitarTown Sunset Strip. This guitar along with many others will be featured as part of the Gibson Experience during the Sunset Strip Music Festival (SSMF) on September 20 and 21, 2014. The art guitar signing event signified Redding’s West Coast debut at the Whisky A Go-Go in 1966 and the impact he made on the famous Sunset Strip Boulevard. Known for such legendary hits as “(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay,” “Try a Little Tenderness” and “These Arms of Mine,” Redding was one of the greatest singer/songwriters of our time and influenced many musicians performing today.
Gibson GuitarTown was launched on the Sunset Strip in 2010, a public arts project that features 10-foot tall fiberglass Gibson Les Paul model guitars strategically placed on the legendary Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. The oversized Gibson guitar sculptures were created by locally and nationally acclaimed visual artists and placed along the 1.6-mile Sunset Strip in front of the boulevard’s landmarks and businesses, including the Whisky A Go-Go, Andaz (Riot Hyatt) hotel and The Roxy. Each guitar sculpture celebrates a musician, personality or artist unique to The Sunset Strip’s history and Gibson Guitar. The project unites The Sunset Strip’s art, music and business communities and will later raise funds for numerous charitable organizations. A new round of guitars, with works created by Shepard Fairey, John Kosh, Risk, Tristan Eaton, among others, was launched in 2012. Gibson GuitarTown on The Sunset Strip is supported by the Sunset Strip Business Association, Hornburg Land Rover on The Sunset Strip, City of West Hollywood and Visit West Hollywood. Gibson GuitarTown on The Sunset Strip is administered by the Gibson Foundation, the philanthropic division of Gibson Guitar Corp.
SSMF is a not for profit festival created in 2008 to promote, preserve and perpetuate the legendary Sunset Strip music experience. Now in its seventh year, the festival has expanded to two days and features JANE’S ADDICTION headlining the first day on Saturday, September 20 with other performances by Failure, Cold War Kids, ††† (Crosses), Minus the Bear, Kaiser Chiefs, The Birds of Satan, Nightmare and the Cat, Beware of Darkness and Say Say. EMPIRE OF THE SUN will headline day two of the festival on Sunday, September 21, with additional performances by Mayer Hawthorne, Iration, Big Data, Tove Lo, Big Freedia, We Came as Romans, Nostalghia and Fenech-Soler, plus more to be announced.
For more information, visit www.thesunsetstrip.com/guitartown
