July 22, 2005
Music in The Air
I've become obsessed with Air Guitar. For those of you not following along at home, Fatima "The Rockness Monster" Hoang has been declared the new 2005 US champion. Check out his air guitar video of Old 97's In the Satellite Rides a Star (when you get addicted to that song, as I did, download this file). This is, admittedly, a bit high-brow for newcomers to Air Guitar; a sampling from the Air Guitar Hall of Fame might be a better place to start if you are new to the medium, such as this classic performance by David "C-Diddy" Jung.
It's hard for me to explain why I'm so in love with Air Guitar (or Air Drumming, for that matter; check out Tom Sawyer Air Drummer. That guy is on) without coming across as a total geek, but, suffice it to say, this is my bag, baby. I love the fact that something requiring no skill at all is taken, refined and elevated to an art form, to the point that we have a US Champion of Air Guitar. Some might bemoan the corporatization of the art form as a blatant attempt at co-opting the medium towards mass-market appeal, but I say, hey, we've been down this road before, and if it fosters artistic expression, then I'm all for it.
I think Frank Zappa said it best when he said, "Music, in performance, is a type of sculpture. The air in the performance is sculpted into something." So true, man.
I'm still stuck on air-blogging. I thought I had it down for a bit there: over a year owning a blog without a single post, just style points. Then I found the publish button and screwed it up. Gonna start air-commenting too, right after this one. Good luck with your air-band.
Posted by: AbbaGav at July 24, 2005 6:59 AMgreg: isn't this disappointing? evidently Air Guitar is not as popular with the masses as the hot-button school tuition issue. Can't we work some scandal angle in the air guitaring world? someone slighted for a nod into the hall of fame?
last week's comments were so fun to watch unfold.
