Tuesday night was the NYC (Eastern) US Air Guitar Semi-Finals! This will be an in-person recap, since a big Boston air guitar contingent made the drive down, including your faithful correspondent, and despite some of our bodies being a little the worse for wear this morning, it was an excellent evening and a huge success all around.
While I was just spectating and taking pictures, Captain Airhab, Rockupine, Ghost of Operation Rockapussy, and Filthy Fingers all competed, as did Jean-Luc Pickguard (who actually lives in Brooklyn, and from whose desk I began writing this post... thanks buddy!). And that was just the Boston Qualifier team! We also saw a who's who of NYC/Brooklyn air guitarists, and because the Northeast region was a bit sparse, and the Midwest a bit packed, Kansas City also funnelled into this semi-final. In addition, a few air guitarists who have won or competed heavily in the past were also invited - after all, just because there was no Philadelphia qualifier, for instance, Philly's past winner Windhammer couldn't just be left out!
The fun started before the competition even got under way. Mathromancer and Mitt Umlaut went on a local morning news show and got the correspondent to join them in a little air guitar... which kind of blew up and now this guy is a local hero, obviously.
This took place at the One Mile House, next door to the venue, where you could also find customized tap handles on their various beers with the names and photos of famed air guitarists! Now, let's be honest: these beers tended to be on the pricier side, because who could resist sipping an Airistotle or a Nordic Thunder (smart move, One Mile House... smart move). Once we had all figured out how to make air guitar work in tandem with our marketing departments, it was over to the Bowery Ballroom where the evening got started in earnest.
The place was packed. Yes, it was a Tuesday; yes, it was 2 days before a holiday. Some air guitarists had to either forgo holiday pay by taking off work the day before a holiday, or even sucked it up and flew back to their hometowns that night so they could work in the morning in order to avoid that fate - dedication! But in the moment, all that was forgotten.
This was a return to form, at least for the East Coast, after the homegrown qualifiers - this was like competitions of years past with all the US Air Guitar luminaries you'd expect. Your host for the evening, the man whom I don't think it would be unfair to call the face of US Air Guitar, Bjorn Turoque, reprised his traditional Master of Airemonies role. Hot Lixx Hulahan, the US Champion from 2006 and 2008 and World Champion from 2008, was there to help kick things off and also served as a judge. The other two judges were rounded out by past competitor AWESOME, and Saturday Night Live's Aidy Bryant. A word on celebrity judges. Sometimes they do not work out. Sometimes they think their job is to be hilarious, rather than to judge the performances in front of them on some kind of consistent scale. Not that judges shouldn't be hilarious, but in better judges, it comes naturally while they, you know... judge. Aidy Bryant may be a hilarious comedian, but she was also an excellent judge - she "got it" right away and hopefully we'll see her again at future competitions!
So, off went the competitors, and let me tell you right now, this semi-final was worthy of its level - packed with winners and stars, everyone delivered, and it was one of the highest-scoring shows I've seen. When a competitor's first-round scores add up to higher than 17 (remember, there are 3 judges each giving a maximum of 6 points) and they STILL don't necessarily make it into the second round... whew. Some highlights:
- Shreddy Mercury disqualified himself and his broken arm by "playing" Airistotle
- There were flips off the stairs leading down from backstage, successful stagedives (on the part of Mathromancer, who is a diminutive fella), unsuccessful stagedives (on the part of Mean Melin, who is not, but who chose the 2 second-smallest guys there to catch him), spraying beer, confetti cannons, and baby powder
- Windhammer freaked us all out by being less terrifying than usual - glasses on, shirt on, no chaps, no gimlet stare... holy shit.
- Spudboy, the "Devo guy" from Philly, was there in full Devo regalia
- Danny Tanner Tantrum brought a Bob Saget cardboard cutout and played from behind it for part of the first round
Danny Tanner Tantrum with Danny Tanner
From left to right: a cardboard cutout of Danny Tanner, Mean Melin, Danny Tanner Tantrum, Jean-Luc Pickguard, Windhammer, and Rockupine