Air Guitar 2008 Washington DC, Seattle, and Portland!
East Coast
The Fro went to Washington DC to rock out with the US Air
Guitar 2008 competition in the 9:30 Club. The world famous 9:30
club has hosted Bob Dylan, The Beastie Boys, The Red Hot Chili Peppers,
The Police, Cindy Lauper, the Go-Gos, The Bangles, and more!
Alas, the show was not a smooth ride as one might think.
Washington D.C. was hit by a huge storm that evening, taking out power
in the city, flooding some streets, and leaving some people with no
DirectTV. It was insane. See video below!
First a VERY Special Thank You to Janis
Marie Photography, for the tour's quintessential shot of The Fro
reaching Airness (to the left)! Janis, you are Frodacious!!
To continue the drama, about 2 hours before
the show was to begin, The Fro realized he left his carefully prepared
CD containing the music for his show. Without this, The Fro would
have no way to compete! He happened to luckily bring his sliced
and diced tune on his MP3 player for practicing backstage. With
one trip to a Kinkos, one to a Best Buy, and the sheer selfless help of
"Forrest", the super friendly and handsome gentleman to the
right, The Fro was able to make his CD and save the show.
"Thank you Forrest!!!" - The Fro
Of course, Fate has a sense of humor and
decided to let us ride behind an old truck full of tires as we raced
into D.C. trying to make up for lost time.
Balcony shot before the show!
We made it fine though, and here are a few
shots from the show: Moonwalking...
Spits...
The Fro flexing those rippling pecs to
emphasize Bjorn Toroque's comment that The Fro was ...
"ahem...sinewy".
The Fro's favorite shot - Right after
everyone jammed to Freebird, The Fro grabs a shot with Bjorn, the front
man for US Air Guitar.
West Coast
The Fro also rocked out with the awesome folks in
Seattle and Portland!!
You can read U.S.A.G.'s blog here: http://usairguitar.blogspot.com
Look for the Seattle/Portland section. I felt like this is where I
really became part of the U.S.A.G family - Hot Lixx, Kriston, Bjorn,
West, and the other team mates whose names I didn't grab! That's a sweet bunch of "air"
heads - much love for ya, guys!
Chop Suey in Seatle
The Chop Suey Stage
The Fro and Mass
Hystereo, the MOST generous rocker in
the Air Guitar circuit. Mass traded his 12th place position
with The Fro's 1st place position. 1st place is THE hardest spot,
because the Judges are as rough as sandpaper to start out. By doing so,
Mass directly helped the Fro land his 3rd place position in
Portland. Thank you, Mass Hystereo - I
couldn't have done it without you!!
The Fro playing Smoke Guitar at Dante's in
Portland.
Freebird and sillystring - The Fro and
everyone else gets jiggy on stage to finish the show. Another
awesome shot from Janis! :)
The U.S.A.G. bus - very coooooool.
The Fro Placed in Each City. He snagged:
4th place in DC out of 23
3rd place in Portland out of 22
2nd place in Seattle (lost
by 3/10ths of a point!!) out of 16+
Next year... number 1 baby! Already cooking
up a wig full of ideas. :)
A special thank you to my man Trey
for recommended "Crazy Train" by
Ozzy Osborne and Randy Rhoades. That was a huge hit for the crowd!
Washington Times:
"A huge crowd came out to the 9:30 Club
Wednesday, June 4, 2008 for the U.S. Air Guitar Championships. This is
the sixth year that the United States has held a championship
competition. Twenty-four cities across the country hosted competitions,
and the winner of each will go on to San Francisco to compete in the
National Championships in August. That winner will represent the United
States in the World Air Guitar Championships in Finland. photos by
Barbara L. Salisbury June 19, 2008" The latest
gallery is here - look for "Air Guitar": http://www.washingtontimes.com/media/photos/
The Fro is not sure how long those photos will be
available, so he's borrowed a couple of them below:
"The Fro" has a drink backstage at the 9:30 Club while waiting to find out if his first-round score in the U.S. Air Guitar Championship was high enough to advance him to the
compulsory round. Twenty-three competitors came out to the 9:30 Club on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 to try their best at playing air guitar. The winner moves on to the National Championships, which take place in San Francisco in August.
(Barbara L. Salisbury / The Washington Times)
"The Fro" mentally prepares himself to go on stage during the U.S. Air Guitar Championships at the 9:30 Club on Wednesday, June 4, 2008. (Barbara L. Salisbury / The Washington Times)
Preview
The Fro's 2008 Graphic Novel! All The Fro characters, associated music,
logos, and other creations are copyright 2003-2008 Chris Harden. All
other media and likenesses presented on this site are copyrighted by
their respective owners.
