Last night was the Brooklyn US Air Guitar Qualifier! The action went off at St. Vitus Bar and when I say action, I mean there was a Skull of Doom... and a stool got destroyed. Brooklyn goes hard, my friends. Now, obviously I am in Boston. I was not at the Brooklyn Qualifier. This and other recaps for events that I do not attend are going to be cobbled together from eyewitness reports from other people. Any pictures from such events are likewise not mine!
Hosted by the iconic Shreddy Mercury and 2007 and 2009 US Champ William Ocean, Brooklyn had 14 competitors ranging from veterans to newbies. The thing about air guitar, though, is that while having a following and a history definitely help your scores, you can still win from out of nowhere. If you bring the rock, you'll START a following and a history! That's foreshadowing, by the way. We'll get there.
The evening started off with some technical problems, but those were soon overcome and the shredding began in earnest. The judges, all epic competitors in their own rights (Windhammer, Juris Rocktor, and Awesome!!), weren't shy about throwing down high scores early on, giving Dr. Rocktapus (who went 4th) 5.7s.
Incidentally, if you're new here, you can find out more about the scoring and whatnot on the What is competitive air guitar? page.
Things really started heating up with veteran Jean-Luc Pickguard in full uniform pulling down a couple of 5.9s, followed shortly by Mitt Umlaut with 5.8s and G T$o Money delivering not just the famed Asian Fury, but full-on Asian Intensity to grab the first 6.0 of the night! And then, in the vaunted last slot of the first round, a new competitor: David C Roth. He came out of nowhere to comments like "Holy shitballs"... and wound up leading the pack into the second round!
So, the standings at the start of the second round:
5. Dr Rocktapus
4. Mitt Umlaut
3. Jean-Luc Pickguard
2. G Tso Money
1. David C Roth
There was a different format for the second round than most air guitar competitions - rather than everyone playing the same song, there was a Skull of Doom from which competitors selected a song. One of which was Electric Six's Gay Bar... which some people may recall from Thundergland in 2010... so there's some tough mental competition there.
After all was said and done, Jean-Luc Pickguard had destroyed a stool, and the second round scores were in: the winner was new competitor David C Roth! He and second-place finisher G T$o Money will be continuing on to the Northeast Semi-Finals in NYC on July 2nd.
Your Brooklyn Winner! David C Roth - photo from @usairguitar
Soooo... that sounds fantastic. And you're probably regretting not Fung Wahing it down to see it. I am. But I have a job, so, y'know. BUT you still have a chance to get it happening here in Boston... tomorrow night at Radio. And if you're thinking about this year finally being your year...
