Zona Foto Air Guitar Session - Part One

http://zonafoto.tumblr.com/post/34381754417/i-started-a-series-about-air-guitar-what-feels

Claw was just reading a little from the book, The Martial Way, talking about Funakoshi's history (founder of Shotokan Karate). It went into great detail about it not being just about martial arts, but about what we do, be it sports, work, etc. It's about how we believe in what we do. The passion. The dedication. The honor and respect we hold for what we do, no matter what others think, simply because they do not know or understand. All of you who play and compete, not just the AirForce elite, but everyone who believes, consider yourself...

WARRIAIRS

Emmy Award Winner, & air guitarist...

While not necessarily air guitar-related, this accolade is one of Hollywood's top honors, and way worthy of a mention. Second only to the Academy Award, the Emmy is a most honorable award in and of itself. And one of our own has received just such an award, for his work in the field of television. On behalf of AirForce Command, Claw would like to congratulate AirForce member and air guitar veteran, Greg "Shred Boy RD" Pittelli, on his Emmy Award-winning performance.

Best Performance for a Grip in a non-foreign language mini-series drama, on the CBS Soiled Dove western mini-series.

New AirForce Member..

Claw and the AirForce would like to welcome it's newest member, Captain LittleMiss IronMiss, based out of Tennessee, and representing the Mid-Atlantic Chapter, under Chapter Commander Tommy Fretless. If Claw ever traveled east, this girl would definitely be hired as Claw's bodyguard. The motto is "lift big, eat big", which Claw has followed religiously. Welcome to the club Talia..

New member/chapter, plus update notes

The AirForce welcomes it's newest member, a veteran himself, Thunderstrook, representing the newest chapter, the Capitol Chapter (Washington DC). He was this year's Nashville Regional Champion, and even made the trek to Finland, to represent Air Amairica. Site update news: all of us are listed in the ranks, but not everyone is represented with videos, below the ranks, until now. Today, Claw spent pretty much all day, and into the night, adding each of you to the video section. Most of the time was spent waiting for Google (youtube/blogger) to upload, refresh, etc. Check out the site to see for yourself. If you want anything added, changed or removed, drop Claw a line. Also, membership has been mostly by invitation. But looking at the numbers (37 members in 14 chapters), it appears the AirForce has become a great way to showcase the art of air guitar, through the many videos of all of its members. Most of the regions are represented, with multiple members in each region. Of course, there's always room for one more region, if Claw can creatively come up with a name for it. He's been lucky so far. (You gotta love Capitol for DC.) So at this time, Claw would like to extend an open invitation to anyone who would like to be a part of it, and have your name and video performances highlighted on the site.

Congratulations AirForce Regional Champions

Minor changes to the site. No longer separated by chapters. Now by rank. Now, without further ado... The AirForce salutes the following AirForce members for their success in winning their US Air Guitar Regional Competitions. Tony Tapatio - Portland - a repeat win from the year before, moving up from Major to Lt. Colonel. Um - Seattle - our newest member to the AirForce, coming in as a Major, with the Seattle win. Mean Melin - Kansas City - what did you expect? Lt. Facemelter - San Diego - hometown advantage, no fair, up to Lt. Colonel, with another regional win. Six-String General - Los Angeles - also now a Lt. Colonel, with more than one regional win. Flying Finn - Minneapolis - Major props, not just for the regional win, but also, the awesome posters. Tommy Fretless - Wash, DC - taking the lead, for the rest of us to follow (baahaahaa). Van Dammage - Chicago - according to AirForce protocol, the DarkHorse is considered a regional, because you compete in the Nationals. Well done, troops.

2012 Air Guitar post-season

Greetings, troops. It was way cool to finally meet most of the troops in our AirForce, through the Tiger Claw West Coast Air Guitar Tour, ending at the Nationals in Denver. Claw didn’t have a chance to do any filming (too busy drinking, are you not surprised?). Claw also has no clue how to upload a video from YouTube, to the AirForce site. But there are alternatives. One is links. The other, is refreshing your bios on the left side of the AirForce site. The site will automatically add current videos, since both Blogger and YouTube are owned by Google. Some things just take care of themselves. Take a second to check out the ranks to the left. Promotions are in order for several of our officers, in addition to the last update, after Portland and Seattle. Promotions after SD, LA & SF, Six-String General (LA) is now a Lt. Colonel, after taking LA. In addition to Flying Finn moving up from Sgt-Major to Major, with a first-time regional win, is Van Dammage (Chicago, winning the Dark Horse in Boulder, CO). Yes, the Dark Horse counts. If a Dark Horse win entitles you to compete in the Nationals, alongside other regional winners, Claw will allow it. AirForce is proud to add Mormon Rockwell, as a new Captain. His dedication to air guitar was only overshadowed by his undying efforts to document the SoCal leg of the TC tour, which was accompanied by his Houston cohort and AirForce member, Brock McRock, and LA AirForce member, Shred Boy R.D. Special thanks to Boy R.D. for opening up his home and allowing the three of us to spread out on the floor, leaving only a few square feet for his son to continue with his Lego, on his quest to become the premier architect of his generation. Claw knows everyone regularly checks out the USAG site for more information. www.usairguitar.com. There are also a ton of videos up on www.youtube.com and www.vimeo.com, as well as other video and streaming sites. Congratulations to Airistotle for a kick-ass performance, and taking the National title. If the TC WC AG tour blog doesn’t end up on the USAG site, it will be posted here. Many times, the best stories happen off-stage, but in the case of Claw, it’s actually outside the venue, and on the road. I think you’ll enjoy it. 2012 was over-the-top, but only to be topped by 2013. Bring it on. Take a look to your left, and scroll down. We’ve amassed quite an impressive set of ranks here. Claw believes we are unmatched when it comes to global standings. We are elite. You are elite. Fuckin’ A.

Promotions in the Ranks..

The season isn't even over, and we got promotions in the ranks. Tony Tapatio, the 2011 Portland defending champion, took the 2012 Portland Regional, and jumps from Major to Lt. Colonel. Mean Melin, our MidWest (KC) Chapter Commander, took KC again. Tommy Fretless, our Mid-Atlantic (VA) Chapter Commander, took DC again, and is now a Lt. Colonel. Flying Finn is now a Major, taking Minneapolis this year. With San Diego, LA, and SF, still yet to be determined, the AirForce is strong.

And well represented, in Denver. Claw will even be there, but not competing. Claw's role is one of motivation and support nowadays. But also a force to be reckoned with, if y'all choose to attempt to party alongside. Try and keep up. There is no respect for lightweights.

Welcome Aboard..

...to the first couple of air guitar, Cleo Plectra and Van Dammage, the newest members of the Chi-Town Chapter of AirForce Command. Check the site. You're in the ranks. Unfortunately, when Blogger got bought by Google, and limited the video uploads to YouTube only, since YouTube is also owned by Google, everything went downhill from there. Now, Blogger has been redesigned. As soon as I figure it out, you guys will have your spot, alongside all the others. Google - kiss my fucking ass.

2012 Down and Dirty

The sleeping giant of the underworld, known as air guitar, has awoken, and is hungry like no tomorrow. The dates have been announced, however preliminary. There may be additional dates added, but SF is one day this year, there is no Houston, and the Nationals are scheduled for Denver, in spite of no regional at that location. It may still be added. But those that are scheduled, make plans, and get your ass in gear. Friday June 15 Portland Saturday June 16 Seattle Wednesday June 20 Boston Thursday June 21 New York Friday June 22 Philadelphia Friday June 22 Kansas City (first time for two on one date) Saturday June 23 Washington, DC Friday June 29 Chicago Saturday June 30 Minneapolis Thursday July 12 San Diego Friday July 13 Los Angeles Saturday July 14 San Francisco Nationals Saturday July 21 Denver Only 12 regions this year, down from 17. Some of youz will have a distance to drive. Mark your calendars. Dates subject to change, added, and deleted. Given the locations, all have AirForce representation. Elite air force in effect. More to follow.

Cold Steel in Times Square

Thanks to Southern Chapter Commander Brock McRock for catching this little diddy in New York's Times Square, featuring 3-time SF Regional Champion, Cold Steel Renegade.

The Fro, converting the enemy, for good...

This just in: The Fro, along with an army of air guitarists, dominates the Taliban, carrying our message across the globe. Half of this army just happens to be AirForce. BOOYAH.

Millie Wah Wah Keeee

Happy Holidays from the AirForce.

Red Fang Onslaught

October 25, 2011. Portland AirForce elite, Tony Tapatio, dominated the Red Fang Air Guitar Battle to rise to the top. As it should be. If you're going to stage a battle, expect at least one elite special force member to show up, air guitar axe in hand, to be swung, with vengeance, taking out everyone else in its path. Check out this over-the-top, excellently-represented performance that shows why Tony is elite.

tiger claw holiday snippet

Hey everyone, Claw was at a vendor holiday party, and the band saw me airing to them. during a break, air guitar was explained, as well the real guitar background, as a way of respect that we have for both. They also got the TC USAG trading card. During the second set, the band called out to Claw to join them for an impromptu cameo performance to J.J. Cale's The Breeze, made famous by Skynyrd. The video was taken by a work associate on his iPhone, so please excuse the grittiness on the visual. Also, it's only one minute, but hey, when we go onstage, all we get is a minute, as well.

Now if you look closely, the singer/guitarist is playing rhythm, and Claw was hearing Skynyrd in his head, so leads were being dropped in, up until the solo, where Claw was trying to match the singer's leads.

Enjoy.

Happy Holidays from SFAF HQ

Greetings from atop SF's Nob Hill, home of...The Claw, Commander-In-Chief of the SF AirForce, the world-wide elite air guitar special forces squadron. What you see above, is the ice skating rink in the downtown financial district of SF. Claw works right across the street, in the landmark Ferry Building. This is Claw's donation to the cause. You'll be proud to know, all the other signs along the wall, are paid for by sponsors. But Claw saw an open spot, and an opportunity to further our cause, at minimal expense, took our artwork to Kinko's to enlarge and laminate, and posted it to the wall, without anyone noticing. Why pay someone to promote you or your cause, if you can do it yourself, for a fraction of the cost.

Happy Holidays everyone.

(Coming shortly, which just happened tonight at a vendor's Christmas party, where the band saw Claw air guitaring to their music, at which time they asked Claw to join them onstage (in the corner) for The Breeze (they quoted J.J. Cale, since he was the original artist, even though Skynyrd made it famous), and Claw obliged. A co-worker got a minute of tape, for the benefit of us all.)

Hot Lixx in Rio - Live 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd2AdfM6bKY&feature=youtu.be

now this is something we need to incite, back here in the states...

Cold Steel @ El Rio

SF AirForce 3-time SF Regional Champion, in action, yet again. This time, at El Rio's, in the Mission. This guy has the club scene dialed in. check it out.

Conquest For Death..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lT8AbQnk6dI

Conquest For Death had a killer show tonight, courtesy of former US Air Guitar world champion and SFAF general, Hot Lixx Hulahan, at the Knockout, in SF's Mission District, kicking off a world tour, starting in Brazil, tonight.

http://www.conquestfordeath.com/

It also was a reunion of the elite of the elite special forces. Two 3-time regional SF champions Awesome and Cold Steel Renegade, veteran air guitarist and even more a veteran of the metal club scene, Gobo, going back as far back as Claw himself, and joined by Tony Dilemma, we controlled the pits up front. Hot Lixx held down the stage, Gobo, thrashed in the pits, Claw held the line, and Awesome and CSR not only had our backs, but backed us up when things got a tad out of hand. My God, it was like the old times in the 80's. Thrashing, moshing, holding the line, protecting those behind us. How'd Claw do, guys? Damn, that was fun. Like riding a bike. Judas Priestess, you are dinged for not being there. LOL

Stay tuned for a video of CSR from a recent show. Hope all is well with our brothairs and sistairs. Please forward to Tony Dilemma and Nordic Thunder, as their emails are not on file yet. Thanks, from the Claw.