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The Days that Make Life Worth It

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Thusday – The Independent hosts a astonishing and amazingly entertaining event.
On Thursday, Ryan and I traveled to the city to witness the San Francisco regional chapter of the US Air-guitar Competition. Tickets to the show were going for $10 each, which seemed pricey to me at first, but only until I learned that the name of last year’s air-guitar champion was “the rockness monster.”

OMG. What a must-see event.

Ryan and I arrived at the venue about half an hour early, and joined a long line young people in waiting for the Independent to open. The marquee boasted a sold out show; scalpers went up and down the line muttering “tickets…. tickets…” under their breath.

I was excited just to be in line. I had been looking forward to seeing the people who attend this type of event and I was finally surrounded by them. Would they be weird? Funny? Over-zealous rocker geeks? To my surprise they were extremely attractive, young, and dressed as if it were any other party night in the city. I was the one who stood out: underdressed and especially under-cool compared to the air-guitaring crowd.

By the time we got in the door, the room was packed with people mobbing the stage for a view. Ryan and I found a very good view on the right side of the stage, and watched the crowd of seasoned air-guitar specators got drunker and rowdier as they waited for the show to begin.

The first contestant who walked on stage wore a brimmed hat and a blue suit, and "guitared" to a blues piece. He moved up and down the stage somewhat clumsily, holding his left hand out to the side as if fingering the chords, and strummed the strings with his right. I didn't really know what to expect, and I felt a bit nervous for him, because he had to go first. I hated having to go first whenever I’ve had to perform for something, and he must have been nervous up there.

The crowd boo-ed him off stage.

In fact, aside from a couple great performers, the only people who didn't get boo-ed off stage were a girl who tore her shirt off during Bon Jovi, and a guy who won the audience's sympathy for being 15 years old. Other than that, the crowd pleaser of the night was Rodney Thunderpants, who performed a metallica piece with a blonde mullet wig and black spandex pants, and finished off the performance with a stage dive. The tall, skinny guy who Ryan was acquainted with got boo-ed off stage, but Hot Licks Hoolihan performed in a giant sombrero and bushy mustache, and won the competition. It was fantastic.

To the right, Rodney Thunderpants (whose extremely embarrassed wife was standing behing us) is pictured performin his Metallica piece, and a video link to the air-guitar champion of the New York City regionals is below. I highly suggest watching -it’s only 1 minute long, and will give you a great idea of what the event was like. Plus, it's ridiculous, and ridiculous is great.

Video of William Ocean

  ¶ 12:48 PM