For those of you that love Alice Cooper I ran into this local story that I thought was pretty cool.
If listening to his music and playing the game Guita hero will make children even walk into a library, then good for all those parties involved. I would love to walk into the library and hear music like that. haha
NOBLESVILLE -- Squealing guitars and teens rocking out to the music of singer Alice Cooper might not seem like something you'd hear at the library.
The teen advisory board at Hamilton East Public Library, however, is hoping Thursday's Guitar Hero III Tournament is the first of more gaming nights to come in the library's TeenZone.
The 21/2-hour event put two contestants side-to-side in the newest edition of the popular video game series in which players press up to five colored buttons on a guitar-shaped controller to simulate playing notes as they scroll in-time with the music on a big screen.
"It makes you think you can actually play guitar," said Joey Richey, 15, Noblesville, the tournament's first contestant.
"After you play it awhile, you just become good," said Richey, a Noblesville High School freshman. He "rocked" according to the screen, allowing him to move on to the next bracket of competition.
Richey and his 12-year-old brother, Ethan Shepherd, who also competed, said for a while the siblings were playing against each other every day, from the time they got home from school until bedtime.
"Your fingers cramp up after a while," Richey said.
Paul O'Boyle, 12, a seventh-grader at Our Lady of Grace, offered advice for the novice: "You want to start out with the easiest song possible."
Abby White, 13, one of two girls in the contest, said she became good with "a lot of practice. . . . It's more about eye-hand coordination and knowledge of the songs." During the first round, the NMS eighth-grader "almost had it," but she said the other contestant "beat me at the very last like 15 notes."
Classmate Brandie Gaebel, 14, said the gaming night was among many activities the teen advisory board has planned to attract teens in Grades 7 to 12 to the library.
Gaebel, who said the board is looking for more boys to join the board, said they've also started a craft night, movie night and a book club.
Jackie Humphrey of Fishers, who coordinates TeenZone programs and who loaned her sons' Guitar Hero game for the tournament, said other libraries around the country are buying Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Wii games. She said the game night contest was "kind of a way to test the waters to see if we'd have enough interest in getting something like this."
Call Noblesville Ledger reporter Betsy Reason at (317) 444-5542.
