| « 'Fork Fashion 2011 | Gillian Welch Breaks Your Heart This Friday » |
Preview Wed Jul 20 2011
Preview: US Air Guitar National Finals 7/23
It's time: The US Air Guitar Championships National Finals arrive at the Metro, 3730 N. Clark St., Saturday night. The finalists are chosen (except for one -- the "Dark Horse Invitational" at Parlour Thursday night will settle that), with an amazing three Chicagoans in the lineup. Past champion Romeo Dance Cheeta, who supplied the amazing intermission performance in the Chicago regionals, joins them in this video:
Here's a full lineup of contestants, in order of their win on the regional circuit:
Chicago: Nordic Thunder* (Justin Howard)
Denver: Dreamcatcher (Ryan Alva Layman)
Kansas City: Mean Melin (Eric Melin)
Austin: Vlad DM Wailer (Kolb Ettinger)
Milwaukee: Dry Ice* (Aaron Alonso)
Kalamazoo: Thundergland* (Matt Barats)
Minneapolis: Airisol (Cami Phillippi)
Washington DC: Tommy Fretless (Adam Lee)
New York: Airistotle (Matt Burns)
Brooklyn: Shreddy Mercury (Seth Leibowitz)
Boston: McNallica (Erin McNally)
Philadelphia: Windhammer (Rob Weychert)
San Francisco 1: Shred Nugent (Kurt Brown)
San Francisco 2: Cold Steel Renegade (Matthew Feldstein)
Seattle: Lt. Facemelter (Jason Farnan)
Portland: Tony Tapatio (Antonio Cervantes)
Los Angeles: Shred Boy R.D. (Greg Pittelli)
San Diego: Six String General (Tim Granlund)
* Chicago-based
This is an exceptionally strong group of air guitarists, including several past champions. Expect our hometown heroes to do well, however. This is Nordic Thunder fourth trip to the Big Show, and Dry Ice nearly beat his veteran mentor his first time out. Thundergland won in Boulder's regional last year, so he's no slouch either. With the home town crowd advantage, my guess is at least two if not all three will make it to the final round.
Hot Lixx Hulahan and Björn Türoque return as host and head judge once again; stay tuned for the identities of the guest judges. Doors open at 8pm at Metro, 3730 N. Clark St. Tickets are $20 in advance or at the door.
But wait! You could win your way in! We've got two pairs of tickets to give away. Email us at contests@gapersblock.com with the subject line "GET AIR" by 5pm Thursday for your chance to win! We've got our winners! Congrats to Kurt and Aaron!
