THE 2011 US AIR GUITAR CHAMPIONSHIPS BEGIN MAY 12
CHICAGO TO HOST NATIONAL FINALS JULY 23, 2011 @ METRO
TICKETS IN ALL CITIES ON SALE NOW
Star of Air Guitar Nation, Björn Törque, Returns to Host
2008 World Champion, Hot Lixx Hulahan, Returns to Judge
USAirGuitar.com Re-launched, Including New Merch Offers
Twitter.com/USAirGuitar Has All Breaking Info
2011 REGIONAL COMPETITIONS
May 12 Chicago @ Double Door
May 13 Denver @ Larimer Lounge
May 19 Kansas City @ Crosstown Station
May 21 Austin @ 501 Studios
June 8 Milwaukee @ Turner Hall
June 9 Kalamazoo @ The Strutt
June 10 Minneapolis @ Cabooze
June 11 Washington, DC @ 930 Club
June 15 New York City @ Bowery Ballroom
June 17 Boston @ Brighton Music Hall
June 18 Philadelphia @ Johnny Brenda's
June 24 San Francisco Show 1 @ Independent
June 25 San Francisco Show 2 @ Independent
July 8 Seattle @ El Corazon
July 9 Portland @ Dante's
July 14 Los Angeles @ Key Club
July 15 San Diego @ The Casbah
2011 NATIONAL FINALS
July 23 Chicago @ Metro
***All Tickets On Sale Now***
Dear esteemed members of the US Air Guitar Community,
OK. First off, here's the deal with buying tickets for the shows...
This year we wanted to find a way to offer up tickets to fans that didn't have high ticketing fees attached to them. Well, the only way we are 'allowed' to do this is by selling bundles of tix+merch directly to fans (did we mention we have some badass new shirts?). So, while people can still purchase individual tickets from ticketmaster or whoever the venues use, our community are also able to purchase advance tix with reduced ticketing fees together with a discounted shirt. We kept the tickets prices as low as possible this year, and the shirt is the cheapest we have ever sold it. So hopefully you guys dig it. Here is the link:
http://usairguitar.com/fanclub
Second off, in most cities there are still slots available to sign up and compete! So if you think you can shred an Air Guitar with the best of 'em, sign up! The winner in each city will win a trip to Chicago to compete in the National Finals. The winner of the National Finals wins a trip to Finland to compete in the World Air Guitar Championships. Sign ups are here:
http://usairguitar.com/entry
Third off, the blog is revamped...
And Air Traffic Control will be well drugged up moving forward to make the in-appropriate updates.
www.usairguitar.com
Lastly, we're announcing new tour tour dates and info contstnatly on our Twitter page. So follow us there if you want the inside scoop.
http://twitter.com/usairguitar
OK, now on to the stuff the professionals tell us we should send out. Looking forward to an awesome year of Air! Lets turn this bitch up to 11.
-US AIR GUITAR
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THE 2011 US AIR GUITAR CHAMPIONSHIPS
THIS IS US AIR GUITAR
TURN IT UP TO '11
"To the man who plays, it is quite serious - a primal and private dance. [They] identify with the great rock guitarists the way they do with sports legends, and we mimic their gestures and attitudes in an instinctive quest for grace." – Adam Liptak, New York Times Supreme Court Correspondent & veteran US Air Guitar Celebrity Judge.
"Turn it up to '11" is more than just a quote we borrowed from the documentary This is Spinal Tap, it's more than a notch on our amps, and it's more than all the little gizmos on our sound board twitching red. It's one louder.
With a renewed sense of determination and urgency, our mission lives on: to find America's best professional Air Guitarist. US Air Guitar embarks upon its 9th year with more shows, more fans, more merch, and more power.
In the off-season, multi-national "air bands" achieved great heights including America's Got Talent finalist's AIRPOCALYPSE (Seattle/Portland), Brazilian-Canadian-American trio GUITARRA IMAGINÁRIA who last month were broadcast on TV Globo to an estimated 100 million viewers, and THE SHRED leading the Guinness Book Of World Records biggest Air Guitar Ensemble to raise money for the HEADstrong Foundation, an organization committed to finding a cure for all blood cancers.
In Regional news, Kansas City, Seattle and Kalamazoo each made successful bids for official entry into the National Championships, while out west San Francisco demanded we hold back-to-back competitions. Meanwhile, Los Angeles offered back to us her historic Key Club and New York has confirmed they've finally finished cleaning up after hosting last year's US Finals.
In 2011, US Air Guitar will once again trek our fair country to extract the greatest professional Air Guitarists from 20 cities, and send each winner to the National Championships in Chicago on July 23. At the National Finals, one winner will gain the title of 2011 US Air Guitar Champion, and will book passage to Oulu, Finland, and represent the stars and stripes against 30 other countries at the AIR GUITAR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS. Since HOT LIXX HULAHAN took the World Crown in 2008, France's GUNTHER LOVE has won back-to-back World Championships in 2009 and 2010. In 2011, America has an imaginary axe to grind.
Air Guitar Hall of Famer BJÖRN TÖRQUE (star of cult classic documentary Air Guitar Nation and author of To Air is Human) will return to his post as "Master of Airemonies" and host another season of US Air Guitar. HOT LIXX HULAHAN (2008 US & World Air Guitar Champion), will return as our recurrent judge. Hulahan has shared his gavel with various celebrity judges over the years, including Jason Jones (The Daily Show), Malcolm Gladwell (The Tipping Point), Bret McKenzie (Flight of the Conchords) Jason Sudeikis (Saturday Night Live) Rachel Dratch (Saturday Night Live), Adam Liptak (NY Times), Josh Lucas, Andrew W.K., Greg Proops (Whose Line Is It Anyway), Ben Moody (Evanescence), Nina Gordon (Veruca Salt) Kaitlin Olson & Rob McElhenney (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) The Sklar Brothers Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine) and Jello Biafra (The Dead Kennedys). Just wait 'till you see who's judging in 2011...
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CHICAGO TO HOST US AIR GUITAR NATIONAL FINALS
JULY 23, 2011 @ METRO
Air Guitar's Best and Brightest Blow Through Windy City, Seek Nation's Top Air Guitar Honor. Chicago's Biggest Thing Since Obama, Deep Dish "Twice as Big as Oprah"
For the first time in history, Chicago will host the US AIR GUITAR NATIONAL FINALS. On July 23rd at METRO, US Air Guitar's nationwide search for the country's finest professional air guitarists will culminate in what will doubtlessly become Chicago's premiere summer event. The 2011 US Air Guitar National Finals will pit nearly two dozen handpicked winners from 18 cities across the country against one another in a battle for Air Guitar supremacy, immediate fame, and lifelong bragging rights. The winner of this event will be forever crowned the 2011 US Air Guitar Champion. The champion will go on to represent USA in a worldwide competition against over twenty national champions from around the globe at the Air Guitar World Championships in Oulu, Finland.
For nearly a decade, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and DC have consistently outbid Chicago for the honor of hosting the US Air Guitar National Finals. But Chicago's audiences and, most of all, her regional champions, have made an inarguable case for their beloved "Shy" in 2011. After hearing the announcement, Chicago's native son and three-time champion NORDIC THUNDER (Justin Howard) proclaimed he would emerge from retirement with the hope of winning the Championship Belt in his hometown. NBC quickly picked up the story, which airs during the "Dance Friday" segment on The Morning News on May 6th.
Chicago will also be hosting opening day of the US AIR GUITAR REGIONAL COMPETITIONS on May 12 at the DOUBLE DOOR. Cities who will be hosting Official Regional Competitions and sending winners to the Finals in Chicago include Denver, Kansas City, Austin, Milwaukee, Kalamazoo, Minneapolis, DC, New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles and San Diego. Visit usarguitar.com for real-time blogging from each event, awesome merch, and the news that matters most.
2008 US and World Air Guitar champion HOT LIXX HULAHAN will return to judge the competitions, and Author of To Air is Human and star of the hit documentary Air Guitar Nation, BJÖRN TÜROQUE has returned to host another year of the Regional Competitions and the National Finals. Mr. Türoque will later head to Finland, where he has hosted the World Air Guitar Championships for the past three years. Upon accepting our invitation, the air guitar wunderkind released this statement: "Chicago? Lots of 'air puns.' We better not blow."
"Chicago has always been one of our favorite stops on the competition circuit, and has even produced our reigning National Champion, Romeo DanceCheetah. So it was with unmitigated delight that we accepted the Windy City's airtight bid and agreed to bring our nation's top virtual event to her number one second city."
–The Office of the Co-Commissionership of the United States Air Guitar Championships
"We've supported US Air Guitar since 2007 and with this being our fifth year of having an event at Metro, we're stoked to have the US Finals land in Chicago and in our venue, for the first time. Metro has seen some amazing regional and local shredders but to have THE cream of the national crop perform on our stage is an honor we proudly accept with great humility."
– Chris Baronner, Señor Talent Buyer for Metro
VENUE SITE
http://www.metrochicago.com/
LINK TO PURCHASE TICKETS:
http://www.etix.com/ticket/online/performanceSearch.jsp?performance_id=1467506&cobrand=metrochicago
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US AIR GUITAR DOT COM EXTREME MAKEOVER
To Keep Up With All This Excitement, We Have Released An All-New Line Of 80's Throwback Merch On Our All-New 80's Throwback Website, Now Powered By Tumblr. The 2011 Angel Of Death T-Shirts are available now to their fan club. Hoodies, Hats and iPad cases will be available April 8, 2011.
Take A Gander:
Www.Usairguitar.Com
Looking Directly At This Design May Cause Immediate Face-Meltage. You've Been Warned.
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USAG COMPETITION OVERVIEW
Each US Regional and The National Finals consists of two rounds. In Round 1, each competitor performs to a song of their own choosing. In Round 2, the top competitors from Round 1 perform to a surprise compulsory song. In each round, contestants perform for one minute of a song and are judged on a combination of technical merit, stage presence, and "airness." All guitars must be invisible. In each city, the jury is a panel of independent judges that are hand picked by US Air Guitar. The results of the jury cannot be protested.
One winner from each city will be flown to a now-undisclosed location (look for an official press release in the coming weeks) to compete in the US Air Guitar Finals for the crown of US Air Guitar Champion. The 2011 US Champ will then be sent to Oulu, Finland on August 26th to represent the USA in the World Championships, where he or she will compete against national champions from all around the world.
Founded in 2003, US Air Guitar is the official Air Guitar Association of the United States and is responsible for operating the US Air Guitar Championships, official Regional events, and specialized championships. US Air Guitar is devoted to taking our nation's unofficial pastime out of the bedroom and putting it up on the world stage. US Air Guitar is an official member of the World Air Guitar Association. Entering its 9th year in the US and its 16th year worldwide, official national championships currently are held in 24 countries around the globe including the USA, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Switzerland, United Kingdom, South Africa, with more countries participating every year. The 2011 Air Guitar World Championships will take place this August 24 - 27 in Oulu, Finland.
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A NOTE FROM OUR FOUNDERS
"When we set out to build a broader platform for our nation's most promising virtual virtuosos, we knew air guitar was an endeavor that America could—nay, should—dominate on a global scale, without the controversy and cynicism that hinder so many of our other global designs. C-Diddy, and soon after his protégé Sonyk-Rok, gave living credence to this belief. But there was one nation we feared in those early years—Japan, that last bastion of support for the likes of Nigel Tuffnel. And rightly so, as it wasn't until our 6th year that we re-gained US air supremacy, thanks to our very own Hot Lixx Hulahan. But what came next would surprise even the most contrarian follower of our sport. Back to back world titles for…France. If ever there was a time our fair land needed to dig deep, to reach higher, to turn it up to '11, this is it." – Kriston Rucker & Cedric Devitt, Founders and Co-Commissioners of The US Air Guitar Championships
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FOR MORE INFO ON US AIR GUITAR:
US Air Guitar Official Site:
www.USAirGuitar.com
www.twitter.com/USAirGuitar
www.facebook.com/USAirGuitar
www.youtube.com/USAirGuitar
World Air Guitar Championships Official Website:
www.AirGuitarWorldChampionships.com
US Air Guitar's hit documentary AIR GUITAR NATIONAL on DVD now.
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