You Can't Call Nobody?

I read today that a Guinness world record was broken on Sunday afternoon, and nobody called to ask me to participate.  Yes, I could have been a world record breaker if only I'd gotten the memo.

On Sunday afternoon at Community America Ballpark in Kansas City, Kansas, 1,683 guitar players gathered together and played a world record version of a song that was the first many of them learned to play.  The players, ranging from kindergarten kids to folks in their 80s, played Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water".  The previous record for the most people playing the same song simultaneously was 1,323, set in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1994.   If only I could have been there. 

Kansas isn't all that far, and if I'd known about this ahead of time, I would have tried my best to be there and be a record breaker.  Thank goodnes they didn't all play "Stairway To Heaven" or else I wouldn't even considered it.  But "Smoke On The Water" is a different story.  People that don't even play the guitar, nor have any desire to play, will pick up a guitar and attempt to play the opening riff of the song.  I beg to differ.  The first time I picked up a guitar, I tried to play the opening riff to Heart's "Barracuda".  After learning that, then I decided I wanted to play the opening to "Long Cool Woman."  But you can still visit music stores all across America today, and kids who've never heard of Deep Purple will be holding a guitar and playing the opening of "Smoke On The Water" - the same way that people who can't play the piano will sit down and start pounding out their version of the ever popular "Chopsticks."