Ghost of Gloria Wins Hard Rock Battle

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Don't tell the boys from Ghost of Gloria that South Florida isn't a rock market. The Fort Lauderdale band's co-manager, Brandon Young, says the foursome committed last year to making being in a band their day job in the hopes of making it big within three years.

"The hope is that we'll break out of the South Florida rock scene, and hopefully other bands will follow us," Young said. "Hopefully we'll be part of having a rock scene down here again."

Last night the band won the first round of Hard Rock's Ambassadors Of Rock. They played in front of a crowd of about 250 in the Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood, and their win means they'll pay on April 30 against the winner from the second round on Thursday.

Then, maybe, comes that part about leaving the South Florida rock scene.

The two bands will be videotaped on the 30th. Then the tapes of 20 winners from around the country will be watched by a panel of celebrity judges, including my favorite Sopranos character, Steven Van Zandt. Five of those tapes will then be put online, where viewers get

to vote for a winner who will get flown to London to play Hard Rock Calling with Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Dave Matthews, and The Killers.

The band will be out of town for this Thursday's round -- they're

headed to L.A. to play an ASCAP show. But Young said they'll be ready

to play in the semi-final round on the 30th. Young says the strategy is

simple: "Frankly, in those competitions, you don't play against other

bands, you have to just put on a good show."