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Whilst
crossing The Solent to the Isle of Wight we spotted a group of hairy
blokes practising their riffs and widdles on the top deck of the
ferry - the wind whistling through their hair.
Little
did we know that these guys were in fact the rock band Miss Black
America. The lads were due to play at The Royal Squadron in Ryde
the following night but decided to stop off at the venue a day early
to take part in the competition themselves.
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| For
those about to rock... |
After
a long wait at the club - mainly due to those already signed up
getting in their orders at the bar for some Dutch courage - the
heat was finally underway.
Competition
organiser, Wade, took to the stage to explain the marking process.
Unfortunately, his microphone cracked and fizzed and then died.
Somewhat ironic to have sound problems at an air guitar competition!
Once the mic was sorted we were told that contestants would be judged
on artistic expression, technique and audience reaction and given
a mark out of a possible 30 points.
First
to strut his stuff was Miss Black America's Cooper, who was going
under an alias we couldn't possibly repeat. He
head-banged, lunged and leapt his way through The Final Countdown
by Europe with style and set the standard for the night.
One
by one the contestants showed off their skills, each with a more
ridiculous stage name than the last. They windmilled and squealed,
star-jumped and riffed their way through tracks by the likes of
Marilyn Manson and Guns'n'Roses. They tried every gimmick in the
book to catch the judge's eye, including a bloke going by the name
of Naked Man who turned up, um, naked.
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| Let
us rock |
One
of the highlights was arguably when someone's dad got up and played
air guitar with his teeth to Jimi Hendrix's Foxy Lady, making himself
a particular hit with the crowd.
Then
it was the turn of BBCi's very own Indy Almroth-Wright. As the only
girl in the competition it was up to her to show that it's not just
men who can play air guitar.
Going
by the name of Rock Chick and wearing a pair of impossibly tight
silver trousers, she gave an impressive performance to The Darkness'
I Believe In A Thing Called Love.
Coming up with rock pose after rock pose, she writhed around the
stage with her imaginary guitar and stormed straight into the lead.
The
last contestant was the one to beat though. As last year's regional
winner, 13 year old Harley was already an old pro. Choosing a funked
up version of the Ghostbusters theme tune, he had all the moves
licked as he moon-walked and chicken-walked his way across the stage,
even adding the extra effect of doing the traditional guitarist's
gurn whilst he played.
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| Rock
Chick rocks out |
The
judge shortlisted four contestants out of the group: Harley, Rock
Chick, a hairy bloke with lots of tattoos and Naked Man (although
he made it through just because he was naked). Each of the remaining
four guitarists then had to perform a difficult Van Halen solo to
prove their worth.
It
was up to the audience to decide who won overall by cheering for
their favourite. After a close call, the judge just couldn't decide
who got the loudest cheer, Harley or Rock Chick, so they were declared
joint winners.
Indy
and Harley now progress to the national final in London. Have you
any cool air-guitar poses? E-mail a picture of your move (as a jpg
or MMS phone picture) to southampton@bbc.co.uk
and we'll add it to our Air Guitar Gallery.
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