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"facebook dialogPinterest\n\n This past Saturday the sixth annual Shred For Your Life competition took place at Webster Hall. Twelve brave guitar heroes stepped up to the footplate and performed in a knock-out contest to find the best guitar soloist. After an intro from the event's MC and an electric guitar interpretation of the national anthem, it was game on.\n\n The battles were fierce: the first and second rounds consisted of head-to-head 60-second performances (either solo or backed by a house band) of strumming, shredding, fretting and a few crazy amazing techniques that might not even have names yet. The winner of each battle was decided by the judging trio--Jaleel Bunton of TV On the Radio, Les Savy Fav's Seth Jabour and hard-partier Andrew WK.\n\n The first two rounds halved the field to six and then to three with some memorable performances from Chris Johnston (who played barefoot, covered in paint) and Brooklyn's \"manthesizer\" Josh Anzano. Next was a surprise wildcard round--audience cheers decided which of the eliminated guitarists got a second chance. The fans chose sentimental favorite Rusty Goldbaum, whose single-minded heavy metal style shredding put him back in the race.\n\nfacebook dialogPinterest\n\n Blindfolds can't stop the raw guitar power of Damian Parris.\n\nBut sadly just briefly. As an added twist, a \"Wheel of Destiny\" was out to further test the final four contestants. Though the options included 'dealer's choice', 'blindfolds' and 'lightning rounds,' on both occasions it was spun to land on the epic 'gulag' category. This meant a 20-second performance blindfolded and following the rhythm band (the guitarists had no idea what style the band would be playing in advance).\n\nRusty was up against Dylan Brenner, 15 year-old prodigy from the band BYS. Dylan's slower-paced solo with an indie-twang left Andrew WK saying he'd been brought to tears (but he was wearing sunglasses, so we'll never know for sure). With that praise, Dylan advanced. In the second battle, Lily Maase of The Suite Unraveling beat Damian Parris, guitarist for The Giraffes in a close match that seemed to come down to a matter of taste.\n\n For the finals, both Dylan and Lily had 90 seconds to rock out. Both did. It was too close to call, so the judges called for a bonus round--a back-and-forth battle over 2 minutes with the band.\n\n It's fair to say that Dylan was the fan favorite at this point, with a trio of stellar performances behind him. But a stumble with the amp on the first switchover saw his nerves flare up and ultimately cost him the title. Lily Maase was crowned the 2010 Shred For Your Life champion. She played the night out with style and a smile; a deserving winner and guitar star for sure, ripped leggings and all.\n\nFind out more about Shred For Your Life at shredforyourlife.com.\n\n--Alex Rees"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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