Newsworthiness

There was partial stripping and a flying leap resulting in mild injury. Liquid was sprayed over the judges, and a part of the human anatomy was drawn in marker. It's no wonder that the First Annual Syracuse Air Guitar Competition has attracted so much media attention.

See some of the post-event coverage, including video, here:
http://videos.syracuse.com/post-standard/2011/04/syracuse_air_guitar_competitio.html
http://www.syracusenewtimes.com/newyork/blog-16-rock-you-like-a-hurricane.html

And before the fact, here are a few of the articles that appeared:
http://www.dailyorange.com/feature/air-guitar-competition-redefines-rocking-out-1.2186828
http://blog.syracuse.com/entertainment/2011/04/fridays_best_bet_air_guitar_na.html
http://insidesu.syr.edu/2011/04/05/first-syracuse-air-guitar-competition-will-be-april-22/

World Peace: Achieved at last!

Air guitar is meant to help create world peace by bringing everyone in the world together to play imaginary instruments. To achieve this, every air guitar competition throughout the world concludes with those present joining together to rock in harmony. Mission: accomplished!

The Judges' Table

Judges Daniel Hege, Theo Cateforis, Ulf Oesterle, and Mark Bialczak can feel the rock pulsing through the Red House, but aren't sure they want to.

Airmione

Airmione magically rocked the button-down shirt in a high-energy effort, teasing us by undoing that top button halfway through.

Cornelius Airelius

While there was some debate over whether the use of a human footstand counted as a prop, we were blown away by Cornelius's self-recorded, classical-turns-Paranoid performance that landed him in the top of the heap after the first round.

Was

What Was was was hard to describe. Cathartic? He was loud, and also he accomplished the first known use of the Adam's Apple as part of AG choreography.

The Fantastic Solo Artist of Flint Hall

She was so fast the camera couldn't keep up. But we will most remember her for her introduction of the "peek-a-boo" move during her compulsory performance to "Rock you like a hurricane."

What about Bob?

"What about Bob" impressed with his unexpectedly technical performance of Yes. We hope to see him again next year, that's what.

Satan's Closet

Satan's Closet was so startled by his scores in the first round that he resorted to stripping in the second! Apparently, Satan has less clothing in that closet than you might think.

The Wizard Meat

The Wizard Meat had some surprising moves - including borrowing the judges' paper to draw a dirty picture during the second round!

The Math Romancer

The Math Romancer romanced us by numbers and leaped his way over the sound board to Syracuse gold.

Björn Türoque hosts

Björn Türoque (a.k.a. Dan Crane) flew in from L.A. to host the Syracuse competition.
The first time I wrote that sentence, I said he flew in to hose the Syracuse competition. Which might be what he does next time around.

Results of First (Annual?) Syracuse Air Guitar Competition!

Syracuse's first ever city-wide air guitar competition took place last night, April 22, 2011, at the Red House. The place was packed beyond capacity to see eight competitors battle it out for the coveted title of Syracuse's #1 Air Guitarist. Here are the long-awaited results:

1. The Math Romancer
2. Satan's Closet
3. The Fantastic Solo Artist of Flint Hall
4. What about Bob?
5. Cornelius Airelius
6. The Wizard Meat
7. Was
8. Airmione

The Math Romancer was awarded $79 to fund his trip to Boston to represent Syracuse at US Air Guitar's Boston regional competition. Good luck, Math Romancer!

The Math Romancer and other competitors also received prizes donated by The Sound Garden, Wings Syracuse, and New Video.

The competition benefited from the expertise of five judges:
Daniel Hege, conductor of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra
Mark Bialczak, music critic for the Post-Standard
Ulf Oesterle, professor at SU's Bandier program and K-ROCK deejay
Theo Cateforis, professor of popular music in SU's Dept. of Art and Music Histories
and Emmett Van Slyke, the Red House's resident rock star and director of Syracuse's Rock Camp.

The competition was organized by Sydney Hutchinson and made possible by Syracuse University co-curricular funds, the Department of Art and Music Histories, and the Arts Adventure Learning Community as well as the Red House. Thanks to everyone who made this possible!

Stay tuned for more details on this year's competition, the rest of the 2011 air guitar season and upcoming air guitar events in Syracuse...