U.S. Air Guitar Championships

On July 14, at Hollywood's Key Club, the nation's best air guitarists battled it out for the national title and a chance to represent Team USA in the 10th Air Guitar World Championships in Finland.

In a fierce competition that came down to a near tie with New York champion Dan “Bjorn Turoque” Crane, Fatima Hoang aka “The Rockness Monster” won the 3rd annual US Air Guitar Championships.

Rockness defeated the winners of 6 other Regional contests around the country, including:

Charlie “Double Wide” Wilson (Asheville, NC)

Daniel “Glitter” Alvarez (Austin)

Rob Brown (Boston)

Andrew “William Ocean” Litz (Chicago)

Randy “Big Rig” Strecker (Denver)

Dan “Bjorn Turoque” Crane (New York)

Late in August, Rockness will join the 2004 US and reigning world champion MiRi “Sonyk-Rok” Park in Finland for the 10th annual Air Guitar World Championships. As the defending world champ, Sonyk-Rok gets an automatic by all the way to the world finals.

Team USA is hoping one of them will make the USA the first country to ever “three-peat” in this growing global phenomenon. In both the first two years of organized competition, the US national champs won the Air Guitar World Championships. Last year, Sonyk-Rok captured the US title and went on to defeat the world’s best ­ including her mentor and 2003 US champ David “C-Diddy” Jung.