Cisco Live 2010 Las Vegas

*** This just came in from Eman Conde of CCIE Flyer

Cisco Live 2010

Viva Las Vegas BABY!

Deep in the catacombs of the CCIE Agent™ offices there is a cache of guitars owned and loved by me Uncle Eman. That’s right I love my guitars they all have stories too. My favorite is a twelve string Taylor acoustic similar to the model played by John Denver back in his Rocky Mountain High days. This beauty was sitting in a pawn shop window being beaten and ruined by the sun in the shop window. I drove by it for several weeks before I finally stopped in and asked the proprietor to take it out of the direct rays of the sun. I explained that it was being ruined by the heat and direct sunlight. To this he asked if I wanted to buy it. I said no and tried to explain again that he was ruining the guitar. He told me to pound sand and get out of his store. I drove by that shop window for a few more weeks before I finally had to save the guitar. I walked in and confronted the proprietor with what he was doing to the guitar, again. He asked if I was going to buy it, again. This time I said yes and convinced him that they had in fact damaged the wood and the neck was warped thus I talked him down on his price considerably. I picked it up for a song!

Then there’s the Charlie Daniels guitar I bought for my Christmas gift a couple of years ago. This beauty is one of two built and the twin is in Charlie’s office in a glass case. Mine was played by guitar players in 38 Special, Marshal Tucker, Little Texas and Charlie Daniel’s band. This gem was a fund raiser as part of a raffle to raise money for a children’s hospital in Florida. The winner disappeared with the guitar and for three years folks wondered where it went. I found it in the back of a small guitar store in Elkton, Maryland. No one knew the guitar’s origins and I bought it thinking it was a Japanese made knock off of a much more expensive guitar. When I was handed the case I found the passes issued to the winner of the raffle inside. I called Dave Fullerton of Fullerton guitars in Florida and learned what I had was a very unique guitar.

Well this year at Cisco Live I will bring with me, what could possibly be the most sought after prize of the event, the Elvis Presley model Epiphone guitar. You might ask,

“Uncle Eman, how many of my children will I have to give you for this wonderful instrument?” I would have to tell you to keep your children, (I have my own and they are over rated)!

Instead, all you have to do is find me on the exhibition floor and place a business card in the instrument. I will pull one lucky winners name from the sound whole of this unique and very classy guitar and that person will walk away from the show with a souvenir of Las Vegas to be proud of! Yup you don’t have to be a CCIE to win! I will announce as we get closer to the event date where the drawing will take place and where you can find me. Yes this fine instrument will come with a music lesson! You will learn to play and sing not one but two great Elvis Presley classics. I will teach you to play Blue Suede Shoes and (the house lights please) Elvis has left the building, “Viva Las Vegas”. Yes you will learn these two exciting songs before I release my grip on the guitar and before you walk away into the sunset!!!!