Guitar Heroes? Not at B&C

It was an ignoble appearance to say the least. Monday night my colleague Alex Weprin and I ducked into the Mediabistro Hacks vs. Flacks Guitar Hero contest at Artica Bar on Third Avenue in the hopes of gleaning some industry gossip (or at the very least taking advantage of the two-for-one drink special) and calling it a night. But the rock gods intervened.

No sooner had we walked in the door then we were roped into signing up for the contest, in which six-string slinging journalists and PR reps go mano-a-mano in a battle for…two free passes to a panel discussion in which web journalists debate future online business models. Maybe it’s not a ‘72 Telecaster Deluxe but this is a recession, you take what you can get.

I’d like to report that Mr. Weprin and I were B&C’s version of Hendrix and Page, but that would be a stretch. After Alex’s early-round exit from competition, I took the stage with the hopes of the brand riding squarely on my shoulders. My opponent, who requested we duel to Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion” immediately affected his Joe Perry poseur, flamboyantly rocking out, bobbing his head and grooving like a pro. His bark turned out to be worse than his bite: We were both finished less than a minute and a half into the tune.

Amazingly, the journalists still turned out a victory despite B&C’s ineptitude. Apparently AgencySpy’s Matt Van Hoven is a Guitar Hero dead ringer. For the rest of us hacks, it’s back to the keyboard.