Boston Air Guitar Blog

Philly's Qualifier, the last one of the 2015 US Air Guitar "regular season," took place the same night as the Chicago semifinal. I feel like it got a little overshadowed by the bigger show taking place at the same time, especially since the bigger show had controversy and whatnot. But it was just as valid as any other competition, so let's not ignore it!

Boise, Idaho just had its first-ever official US Air Guitar qualifier! I want to say something about "things got noisy in Boise" but I'm sure that's just way too original.

The other weekend (I'm catching up, you guys), LA had their qualifier, and by all accounts it was a killer show, filled with talent and - it's LA - total babes. More on the babe factor in a minute. Six String General piloted this plane, to great effect - having a whole airline theme which was fantastic. I've got him penciled in to win the "Relentless Commitment to the Bit" award this year. Maybe one year he will make my head explode by playing a song by Providence, RI's Six Star General. Also fun: a handful of competitors were part of a group traveling the world having once-in-a-lifetime experiences, and competitive air guitar was one option on their list. I hope they liked it enough to make it a more-than-once-in-a-lifetime experience!

I am lumping three qualifiers together into this post and it's still going to be super short. The reason for this is twofold: unsaved livestreams, and general lack of tweeting and social documentation. Sometimes those two go hand in hand, and it's going to be the death of me. And/or of this blog. Report on yourselves, air guitarists!

Can I just begin by saying how much I love everyone for livestreaming their qualifier whenever possible? It enables me to write a real recap and not just piece it together from scraps on the internet... and it lets everyone see the glory. Today, I'm going to go back in time a minute to the Des Moines US Air Guitar Qualifier, which I skipped over in favor of talking about Boston while it was still fresh. Note: I realize I have skipped Nashville entirely. They were unable to livestream since it was both an air guitar competition and a burlesque show, so the burlesque part precluded livestreaming. I know who won - Noche! - but that's it. But Des Moines has video of the entire show. To save you a couple of hours, here's the recap!

It was a night of new beginnings. It was a night of a lot of things, to be fair, but there were new names, new performers, and new judges, and everyone came away happy and excited for next year. And, as an indication of a good show, there was plenty of rehashing how people did later on - should this competitor have gotten this score, how amazing was that move - so the crowd was engaged and thinking about the performances. I love that!

Portland is the home of the US Air Guitar Nationals this year, but first they have to have a qualifier. That went down on May 29th. Kara Picante hosted the event, and rocked the audience's world with an intro featuring herself and her "Hell Hussies" - bellydancing minions who, as in air guitar, told a whole story with just their bodies.

Deep in the heart of Texas, and deep in the heart of rock and roll, Brock McRock - everyone's favorite guy with a Texas-shaped belt buckle - put on Houston's US Air Guitar qualifier on May 28th.

Columbus, Ohio, a place that always surprises me by having a hockey team, is now ready to surprise you by delivering a US Air Guitar qualifier: their first, but hopefully not their last. This brings competitive air guitar back to Ohio (there had been several Cleveland competitions lo these many years ago), and it looks like it converted everyone who was lucky enough to be at the Woodlands Tavern.

Kansas City! Home of last year's US Air Guitar National Championships, and of 2013 World Champion Mean Melin, and for that matter of possibly a higher concentration of air guitarists than anywhere in this country. And every one of them is really good. You can already get an idea of the caliber of competition to expect. That said, it means that someone could kick total ass, get great scores, and still not come close to winning.