Thursday night in LA, at a bar called Bar 107, the US Air Guitar Dark Horse competition will be contested. Today, I'm going to run over exactly what the Dark Horse is, for the newbies among us, who's in it this year, and why it is amazing. You're going to get so amped that you won't be able to sleep tonight... and you're going to hope that Nationals are in your city next year so the Dark Horse can be there too.
What's the Dark Horse?
The Dark Horse, aka the Fung Wah Invitational, is an invitational competition where US Air Guitar hand-picks air guitarists who didn't win their respective cities/semi-finals but still deserve another shot at the finals. The Dark Horse has the same format, rules, and scoring as any other official competition, although the number of competitors who advance has varied in recent years (top 3 vs top 5). So, in essence, it's a second-chance round, but it's very like the national finals in that it draws competitors from all over.
Who's competing?
Who isn't competing? Seriously, this is a huge field; bigger than most if not all past years. It's going to be a really tough competition! It's not just "the best of the rest" as it is sometimes phrased - it's going to be basically just straight up "the best."
- 3 competitors are coming from right in town: the LA contingent includes classical maestro Andres SegoviAIR, LA qualifier winner Soulstice, and the man with the staple wounds to his chest, Six-String General.
- There are also 3 competitors (as far as I know) from Brooklyn, namely Lady Airabella, Jean-Luc Pickguard, and Mathromancer (who may have shaved his beard off, in which case you may find me staring sadly into my beer, trying to make sense of this mixed up world)
- Portland's sending (at least) two - host of their qualifier, Kara Picante, and new competitor (but sister of veteran Arora Nasty), Sahexy.
- Kansas City is planning on victory through sheer volume by sending SIX competitors: The CorpAIRation, Air Jesus, Thunderball, Sonic Bitch, Crystal Richter, and the man, the myth, the legend... Peter "Stiff" Dickens. I can't even deal with this slate of total excellence.
Of course, there are other people coming too who aren't competing as part of a Dark Horse dream team - Cleoplectra is going to join the festivities, although she won't be joining us in celebratory cocktails since both she and Sonic Bitch are air guitaring with a baby on board. We'll also get to see Chicago's newbie qualifier winner, Midnight Maniaxe, whom I'm really looking forward to seeing, and professional wearer of hats Lost Heartbreaker, who has been MIA from this year's competitions, much to everyone's dismay. Be not dismayed! The long LHB drought is over. Oh, and I think if I don't mention that my awesome husband, Captain Airhab, is going to be sailing on in on a wave of other people's spilled beer, I might wind up coming back from LA alone.
And why is it so awesome?
At this point, you should be getting the picture for yourself, but if you insist:
- It's basically "opening night" for the weekend's festivities - most of us haven't seen each other in a long time, maybe all year, and now here we all are, ready to party for 3 straight days.
- It is, as you can see above, chockablock with talent.
- It's usually at a small bar - generally, actually, a gay bar, although not this time.
- It's freeeeeee!
It should be pretty obvious what this is a picture of. A dark... horse... playing air guitar.
P.S., I'm going to be live-tweeting all night long. Get it by following @camillestweetin.