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No fret: just air on guitar string

Contest pits players playing at playing

By John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published June 19, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Prepping for their performances in the Denver edition of the Regional U.S. Air Guitar Championships are, from left, twins "Stryker" Ryan Layman and "Big Rig" Randy Layman, along with "Madness" Ben Klibaner. The ultimate goal for the contestants is to compete for the world title in Oulu, Finland.

Photo by Linda Mcconnell / Special To The Rocky

Prepping for their performances in the Denver edition of the Regional U.S. Air Guitar Championships are, from left, twins "Stryker" Ryan Layman and "Big Rig" Randy Layman, along with "Madness" Ben Klibaner. The ultimate goal for the contestants is to compete for the world title in Oulu, Finland.

'D-Licious' Zach Hendrix, 27, does his air-guitar competition thing Wednesday at the Bluebird Theater in Denver.

Photo by Linda Mcconnell / Special To The Rocky

'D-Licious' Zach Hendrix, 27, does his air-guitar competition thing Wednesday at the Bluebird Theater in Denver.

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"Where are your shoes?" someone asked Zach Hendrix as he played an imaginary guitar on the East Colfax pavement in front of the Bluebird Theater on Wednesday night.

"I kicked them off in a fit of joy," the 27-year-old Aurora air-guitarist replied without missing an imaginary riff, tossing back his gold lame cape.

Hendrix ("just like Jimi" he explained), also known as "D-Licious," kicked off the Denver edition of the Jose Cuervo Black U.S. Air Guitar Championships.

The competition pits contestants from 24 cities who will vie for the U.S. crown in San Francisco. That winner goes on for the world championship in Oulu, Finland. ("Hey, why not?" the Master of Air-remonies pointed out.)

Players are judged by their stage presence, how much they really look like they really are playing notes and something called "airness," which - like obscenity - is hard to define, but you know it when you see it, the M of A explained.

Clearly it was something Hendrix's younger brother Cody did not have Wednesday night. The judges aired him out for his performance as a blindfolded guitarist performing Interstellar Hard Drive.

"You can't play the frets with both hands," one judge chided. Another said he would have broken his guitar in half. Ouch.

Zach Hendrix scored higher, perhaps for his bold move of jumping off the stage after parting the crowd in front of him.

"You jumped in when nobody was there to catch you," gushed one judge.

After hearing that, Hendrix walked off the stage in his bare feet as if he were walking on, well, air.

Comments

  • June 19, 2008

    3:46 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    agentdragon writes:

    Just got back from the doctor and I broke both of my heel bones. Rock on. ohhh and my name is Z-Licious. but it's all good. thanks for the write up!

    -Z-Licious