Watch Catching Air (2023) Full Movie For Free
Transcript
00:00:00 (music)
00:00:05 Like a lot of people in the community, it's something that is just always done.
00:00:10 I was always that guy that's, "Oh, I love this song," so I'm just automatically playing the guitar.
00:00:17 I grew up watching MTV more than like Sesame Street.
00:00:21 That's what I would see is people, you know, on stage rocking out, and you just try and mimic that.
00:00:26 It just becomes your way of expressing what you love about a song.
00:00:30 It was something I was born to do, you know, because I've always worked in mailrooms,
00:00:34 but I never really found my calling, and I always played air guitar at home.
00:00:39 That was always my number one passion.
00:00:42 And then when I heard about the air guitar thing coming to San Francisco in 2006,
00:00:47 I was, "This is it. This is my calling." (laughs)
00:00:51 That's what air guitar is truly about, which is having fun and driving 18-plus hours
00:00:58 to perform for one, maybe two minutes at most, which is an odd thing to do.
00:01:07 (music)
00:01:26 An air guitar contest is one-third rock show, one-third comedy show, and one-third sporting event.
00:01:31 Everybody who competes in an air guitar contest is like part of the air guitar family.
00:01:35 If you're weird enough to travel halfway across the country to pretend to do something for 60 seconds,
00:01:41 we think you're awesome. That in and of itself is pretty awesome.
00:01:45 The purpose behind air guitar was to spread the idea of world peace.
00:01:51 You're bringing competitors in from around the world.
00:01:53 Why can't we all just hang out and rock out together and be silly and have fun
00:01:59 and ignore all of the other shit that might come up between countries and between people?
00:02:05 Because we all know that we love music and we're all human.
00:02:09 Life and peace are more important than any sort of silly arguments that we might have.
00:02:17 If you are holding an air guitar, you can't hold a gun.
00:02:20 Wars would end, violence would stop, everybody would be happy, and it works.
00:02:25 I've seen this happen. I can be going head-to-head with somebody.
00:02:28 You can be angry, you can be grumpy, and then you start playing air guitar with your mortal enemy.
00:02:33 Everything is good and everything is right with the world.
00:02:36 In Finland, a bunch of college kids had an assignment.
00:02:39 Realistically, what's the best way that you can make world peace?
00:02:42 And their answer was, if everybody in the world picked up an air guitar,
00:02:46 theoretically, they couldn't be holding a rifle.
00:02:49 So there'd be no more war. Boom, we did it.
00:02:52 And they were like, that's actually kind of a fun idea.
00:02:54 So air guitar competitions started. They were like, come, be peaceful, put your guns down and pick up air guitars, kind of stuff.
00:03:00 And that has just grown and grown and grown as the defining message of why we do all this.
00:03:07 The scoring system in air guitar is on a 4.0 to 6.0 scale, which is just like Olympic gymnastics,
00:03:14 because really, it's that tough. And it's not that tough.
00:03:21 We're scored on three things, technical merit, stage presence, and airness.
00:03:26 Technical merit is whether it kind of looks like you might be playing an actual guitar.
00:03:32 Believe it or not, that's a little important.
00:03:34 Stage presence is how you light up the crowd, and I think that one is really, really important.
00:03:40 And airness, of course, is that certain je ne sais quoi that people either have or they don't.
00:03:46 Airness, it is one of those things, it's undefinable. By definition, as they say, you can't really define it, but you know it when you see it.
00:03:56 So I'm just going to kind of leave that for your interpretation.
00:04:00 The momentary suspension of reality, but it's so believable, and you just bring everyone into that space.
00:04:05 So it's one person playing their heart out and showing you who they are, or a version of who they could be.
00:04:10 To make that believable and entertaining is its own little art form.
00:04:15 Sometimes I don't think it's a matter of getting it, it's just a matter of having it. Some people just have it naturally.
00:04:20 It's charisma. I think it's the kind of thing where sometimes you see people talk and you can't take their eyes off them.
00:04:26 Someone on stage, like when they get up on stage, you just can't keep your eyes off of them.
00:04:31 And you can be a terrible air guitarist, but have lots of airness.
00:04:35 There's a moment where the people that are watching a performer realize that they are fully enjoying with every fiber of their being what they're seeing on stage, and they can't explain why.
00:04:48 It no longer matters that that person isn't holding a guitar, that their performance has gone beyond and has become a whole other thing that is completely entertaining.
00:05:02 You get this electricity going that it transcends the medium. It becomes a real thing in that one minute.
00:05:11 And those people that are standing in the crowd get moved for half a second, you can see it on their faces like, "What?!" Yeah, that's airness.
00:05:20 There's airness that you judge on the stage, and then there's this other airness which I think also bleeds into the performance.
00:05:25 And if you're willing to look with a pure heart, you can really see someone's airness.
00:05:29 When you see airness, it is dreadfully apparent. It takes you away. You forget that you're watching some asshole flailing around on a stage.
00:05:38 A lot of air guitar is some asshole flailing around on a stage. Honestly, that's what I'm there for. It's amazing.
00:05:43 But, when you see Matt Burns take the entire crowd on a journey with him by flailing around on a stage like an asshole, that's airness. But I can't explain it.
00:05:58 There's so many people at every show who's never been there before. But one of the things I love about this so much, it's like a challenge.
00:06:04 How do I entertain a crowd with nothing? I have a minute to make people love it, to be happy that they spent money on a ticket.
00:06:10 A lot of people show up and they're like, "Did you hear these guys are going to pretend to play guitar, but the beer's cheap. Let's go."
00:06:16 And they start laughing at first. And then after three people go, they see it a few times.
00:06:22 And then somebody is awesome. Like the guy that's going to win that night, whenever he goes, you feel it in the crowd.
00:06:29 That it clicks for everybody that didn't understand it before. They get it then.
00:06:34 And immediately, the rest of the night, that dude who came here to laugh at it, the next person will go and be like,
00:06:40 "You know, his left hand was a little bit sloppier. I don't know."
00:06:42 Everybody becomes an expert on it by the end of the show.
00:06:46 I've seen people who have never been to an air guitar performance before buy a beer so they can throw it at a judge who gave a score that they disagreed with.
00:06:54 Air guitar has been such a great hobby for me for the last decade.
00:07:00 It's been a huge part of my life. When I'm not at work or playing with the kids, I'm practicing air guitar.
00:07:07 And it's such a release, because I work at a desk job. I wear a shirt with a collar and sleeves.
00:07:14 So it's really nice to have an outlet where I can be creative and I can use my glue guns and get crafty.
00:07:20 I get to play up on stage. I get to be a grown-up kid. And that's like the best feeling in the world.
00:07:25 Air guitar definitely does infringe a little bit with me being a good dad, a regular guy, a guy with a job.
00:07:35 It's tough because it takes a lot of time to practice, to be ready for a show.
00:07:41 So I wake up and I go to work. I get done with work. I take the kids to whatever activity that they're doing that night.
00:07:47 Softball, basketball, or just hanging out and eating dinner. Get them taken care of.
00:07:52 And then only after they're done with their day and they're in bed, that's when I get to work on my air guitar.
00:07:58 It really more infringes on the amount of sleep I get, not the amount of work that I get to do with my kids and my family.
00:08:06 So I'm usually sleeping a lot less because I stay up to play air guitar. It's an extra job that I have to do.
00:08:13 My game is strong. I feel like it's better than it was last year. And last year I finished 8th in the nation.
00:08:18 There's only a couple of spots better than that, so I figured I've got a chance. A legit shot.
00:08:22 A lot of the spouses in air guitar are very supportive of one another.
00:08:27 We have two kids that still go to school, need things like a lunch pack. And we're a team on that kind of stuff.
00:08:33 But then there are nights or afternoons on a weekend or whatever the case may be where he needs to practice.
00:08:40 And I can tell when he's stressed coming up to a show and I'm constantly asking or observing,
00:08:47 has he had enough time to practice for a show, get prepared for a show?
00:08:52 But I don't get to see a performance before he does it. I just kind of know that he's gotten enough practice time
00:08:58 and whether he's feeling well prepared for the show or not.
00:09:02 What you guys are going to see tonight are 20 of the best air guitarists from the entire Midwest
00:09:08 who have all gathered here for your enjoyment to pick. And this is what we're going to do tonight.
00:09:13 This is a really big deal. Three people are going to advance to national finals in Austin, Texas.
00:09:19 I was 22 when my first band got signed, Truck Stop Love. We were from Manhattan, Kansas.
00:09:30 And it was right after Nirvana got popular. That moment, that explosion where the record companies realized
00:09:36 alternative music is a thing in itself. So everybody was looking for a grungy band.
00:09:41 And we were the grungy Midwestern guys who played Americana, pop, rock stuff, but filtered through really fuzzy guitar.
00:09:49 We were signed to Scotty Brothers Records, home of Survivor and Weird Al.
00:09:53 I first met Eric, his old band Truck Stop Love played at the Outhouse in Lawrence.
00:10:02 And I really liked him and thought he was an amazing drummer and went up afterwards just like,
00:10:08 "Wow, you're an amazing drummer!" And we just started talking and hit it off and have been friends since.
00:10:15 I was going to K-State for college, of course, but also I was like, "Dude, I hear there's a lot of good bands there."
00:10:22 And Eric was in one of those bands, Truck Stop Love. But I'd known him already.
00:10:27 He worked at Streetside Records and I worked at The Subway.
00:10:30 Him and I would always hang out, come over, have a sub, we'd talk some rock. It was great.
00:10:35 In '97, I joined Ultimate Fakebook. And Ultimate Fakebook is the band that I would eventually make a living at for the first time.
00:10:43 And we were able to all quit our day jobs and we went on tour.
00:10:47 It was me and Bill McShane, our singer/songwriter, and Nick, who would later become known as Peter "Stiff" Dickens.
00:10:54 Fakebook, we had a cup of coffee with Epic 550. About a good year and a half with them. Maybe two years.
00:11:03 So, we got our major label.
00:11:05 When I joined the band, it was like this weird moment where we actually sat together, the three of us in a circle,
00:11:12 and put our arms together and were like, "We're doing this. We're going to make this our career."
00:11:16 The goal was to be the band that we always wanted to see.
00:11:20 And so we dedicated ourselves to not just writing really catchy, fun songs,
00:11:26 but making sure that our live shows were really present, really fun, really energetic.
00:11:31 I think about it now, that was kind of the beginning of me wanting to do more than just play the drums.
00:11:38 We were putting on a show and it was all about connecting with the audience.
00:11:42 Then that band broke up and that's when the Dead Girls started.
00:11:46 After Fakebook broke up, both Eric and I were pretty burnt.
00:11:52 I mean, we toured all the time. I didn't have a day job for like five and a half years.
00:11:58 So when the Dead Girls kind of started, Eric was the first one, he was like, "No practice. We're not doing anything.
00:12:03 We're only recording songs and playing shows."
00:12:05 The old curmungent old men are like, "Oh, dude. I don't want to go to Columbia, Missouri.
00:12:11 Come on, give me a break."
00:12:12 We played a lot with that band, but we didn't really ever tour or make a lot of money.
00:12:17 It was mostly for fun. It was just like friends making music.
00:12:20 We all had day jobs. You're in the normal world paying rent and doing that kind of stuff.
00:12:27 You have to kind of do something creative to satisfy yourself.
00:12:30 The Dead Girls never had any career aspirations.
00:12:33 We shot ourselves in the foot many times, you know, first off with our name.
00:12:39 When Air Guitar came along, I immediately was like, "Oh my God, I have to do this."
00:12:44 I really felt like I needed to be about 10 years younger.
00:12:48 2009 was an expansion year for U.S. Air Guitar, and they came to Kansas City for the first time.
00:12:54 Of course, I called up Nick and Cameron and I was like, "I'm entering this. You guys should come."
00:13:00 Meemily, he was like, "Uh, dude, I'm doing this Air Guitar competition. You should come out. This could be great."
00:13:05 And I'm like, "You gotta be kidding me."
00:13:07 So I went to go support him, and I kind of got into it.
00:13:11 And I thought he killed, and Bjorn gave him a somewhat questionable score at first.
00:13:17 Nick just went off on him.
00:13:27 He was trying to hold off and make it seem like he was going to give me a bad score,
00:13:31 and then he was going to be the final six of a perfect six.
00:13:36 Can you do better, Nick?
00:13:39 I've seen you. It's not as good.
00:13:42 No, that's why I'm sitting here.
00:13:44 Bring it! Bring it! Go! Go!
00:13:46 Hey!
00:13:47 Save some! Save some!
00:13:48 Minus you a challenge!
00:13:52 Sorry! Sorry, I called you out!
00:13:54 Is that guy your friend?
00:13:57 He's going to lose that battle.
00:13:59 I will stick the fork in your head, dude.
00:14:03 I've done this to Spades many times.
00:14:06 You are such a tool. Get out of here.
00:14:08 I know.
00:14:09 All right, ladies and gentlemen, despite that fucking idiot, I give you a 6.0!
00:14:15 I was just a drunk asshole in a bar yelling for my friend,
00:14:19 and then later on I was like, "Oof, sorry, dude."
00:14:23 You know what's really weird is I'm finally getting--
00:14:25 Yes, I'm finally getting some recognition for doing what I used to do by myself in my bedroom.
00:14:31 The other guy who was there was Hot Licks Houlihan.
00:14:33 He was the world champion in 2008, and so to see him at the show as well,
00:14:38 it was like another movie star moment.
00:14:40 Hey, guys. My name is Matt Burns.
00:14:59 I'm 27 years old.
00:15:01 I live in Staten Island, New York,
00:15:03 and I've been competing in U.S. air guitar competitions
00:15:07 under the stage name Aristotle since 2008.
00:15:11 When I was in high school, I got really into improv,
00:15:13 and I got really, really into theater.
00:15:15 I was a waiter, and I was also a professional mascot for a while.
00:15:19 Actually, it completely helped my air guitar career.
00:15:22 The summer that I graduated high school, I got a phone call from my friend Nick,
00:15:25 and he was like, "Dude, come over. I just bought this movie.
00:15:28 It's ridiculous. You've got to come see it."
00:15:31 And I went over his house, and it was a documentary called Air Guitar Nation.
00:15:35 And I saw the documentary, and I was like, "This is ridiculous, and this is dumb,
00:15:38 and this is stupid, and this is beautiful, and this is gorgeous,
00:15:41 and I have to be a part of it."
00:15:43 And I went to the next competition in Philadelphia.
00:15:47 It was my first competition, and it was Windhammer,
00:15:49 who's another U.S. Air Guitar Hall of Famer.
00:15:51 Windhammer just destroyed me, and ever since then, I just haven't stopped competing.
00:15:56 [music]
00:16:01 In 2009, I won in Kansas City, which was great,
00:16:05 and I was feeling really good about it,
00:16:07 until I got to Washington, D.C., and went to nationals,
00:16:10 and I saw the level of competition that I was facing.
00:16:14 Eric got me into air guitar reluctantly.
00:16:18 Once I really saw the national championship in 2009, that changed my world.
00:16:24 He's been an air guitarist all his life,
00:16:27 so the idea that there's a competition for air guitarists,
00:16:30 I mean, he was that already before this even happened.
00:16:33 I was clearly, on the outside, not realizing that there was more of him out there.
00:16:39 And when I saw nationals, like, "Holy crap! These people are electric."
00:16:45 Like, some of them were just like, "Oh, yeah, my mom makes all my costumes."
00:16:48 And I was like, "That is, like, the coolest, cutest little thing ever."
00:16:52 I don't know, there's some kind of energy there.
00:16:54 It's like, when you get that many A-type personalities together
00:16:58 that are all having a good time and supporting each other,
00:17:01 it's just infectious.
00:17:03 So there's just no way to get around it.
00:17:05 Like, once you get involved with them, you're just like,
00:17:07 "Oh, my gosh, these people are amazing."
00:17:12 Philly '09.
00:17:13 I couldn't get in because Jose Cuervo was the sponsor that year,
00:17:17 and I was underage.
00:17:19 And they were like, "Nuh-uh, no way. You look 12.
00:17:21 You're not allowed at this place where we're giving out free Jose Cuervo."
00:17:25 I was like, "That makes sense."
00:17:26 So I snuck into the bar.
00:17:28 I showed up about seven hours early,
00:17:30 and when the bouncers changed shifts, I ran inside
00:17:32 and just waited for the place to fill up.
00:17:34 And when it did, that's when I started walking around all willy-nilly.
00:17:40 And that was another good time.
00:17:41 I ended up coming in third place that contest.
00:17:44 Windhammer and Fender Splendor ended up winning that one.
00:17:47 I really had the air guitar bug, hardcore.
00:17:50 And in 2010, they listed the tour dates,
00:17:54 and U.S. Air Guitar was not coming back to Kansas City.
00:17:57 I came up with this really dumb idea of the Air Guitar Tour,
00:18:01 and I immediately called Nick.
00:18:03 And Malin was like, "I booked tickets.
00:18:05 I booked five shows.
00:18:08 We're flying everywhere.
00:18:10 And you're my plus one, and you're going with me.
00:18:13 No way fans are butts. Air Tour. Let's do this."
00:18:16 And I was like, "That seems ridiculous."
00:18:19 Honestly, I don't know why he went with me.
00:18:21 I think he was just like, "Well, we haven't been on tour in a while.
00:18:23 This will be fun. Let's just do this."
00:18:25 So you have to pay to get into each one of these competitions.
00:18:28 So you pay $20, or you can pay $21 and compete and get free beer.
00:18:36 So why would you pay $20 to get in the door
00:18:39 if you could pay one more dollar and be able to drink all the beer
00:18:42 just to go hang up on stage and just do your stupid routine?
00:18:45 And so he wanted to do the shags, and he thought this will be hilarious
00:18:48 because you can't judge technical merit
00:18:51 when the person playing the guitar that you're miming can't play their instrument.
00:18:56 Our first competition was in Chicago at the Metro.
00:19:00 Me, Malin, and I had played there before in our old band.
00:19:04 So I kind of knew the layout of it, and I was like, "Oh, well.
00:19:07 This is a packed house. This is a big stage.
00:19:10 We've got to pull the suckin' move. We've got to go up there and just bomb."
00:19:13 I went out there. I did my work.
00:19:16 The crowd booed a lot.
00:19:18 I believe there was a shoe that was thrown at me.
00:19:21 I don't know who brings a shoe to throw
00:19:23 because I don't think you would take off your shoe and throw it.
00:19:25 I left the stage, and every single one of those air guitarists in the back room
00:19:29 were just going and clapping and loving it.
00:19:32 And I was like, "Oh, yeah. I'm home. This is good."
00:19:35 And Nick hanging out by the bar, somebody's talking to him about the shags,
00:19:39 and the bartender goes, "Are you that guy that did the shags?"
00:19:42 And Nick was like, "Yeah." And he's like, "Free drinks for the rest of the night."
00:19:46 And that was when Nick was like, "Hmm. I think I'm onto something here."
00:19:51 That whole tour was amazing, and I was listening to what judges were saying.
00:19:54 One guy told me, "You can't do Van Halen if you're going to call yourself Mean Malene
00:19:58 because Van Halen's not heavy enough."
00:20:00 I did Slayer the next night, immediately got better scores.
00:20:02 So I was trying things out.
00:20:04 We came back from that tour, and I still didn't have a first-place win.
00:20:09 My brother and my husband decided that they wanted to sign up.
00:20:13 We decided to drive up to Milwaukee for the show that they were having there.
00:20:17 Got to Milwaukee, everybody was in costume, they put on this show,
00:20:22 there were no women signed up.
00:20:24 So at the end of the first round, Dan Crane says,
00:20:28 "Would anyone else like to try it?
00:20:30 Any women in the audience who want to give it a shot?"
00:20:32 And they literally pulled me up onto the stage
00:20:35 and just played my brother's song, which was Iron Maiden's Phantom of the Opera,
00:20:39 a 60-second cut of that.
00:20:41 Because I had heard that song on repeat for two hours
00:20:45 on the drive from Chicago to Milwaukee,
00:20:47 I just knew every second of it, so I killed it.
00:20:51 And all of a sudden I was tied for first place with Eric Mean Malene.
00:20:54 That was the biggest adrenaline rush, just to be able to do that.
00:20:58 And everybody in the bar was cheering for me.
00:21:00 I was hooked after that.
00:21:02 I got my picture taken with Hotlix Wilmingham and Bjorn DeRocque,
00:21:05 and I just felt like that was the coolest thing ever.
00:21:08 So after that I was kind of addicted,
00:21:10 and we signed up for everything for a little while after that.
00:21:13 My first persona, Cleoplectra,
00:21:19 I like to describe her as being a little bit heavy metal,
00:21:23 a little bit hairband, a little bit belly dancer,
00:21:26 a lot of black and gold.
00:21:28 Every time she performed was a different costume and a different song,
00:21:32 which I don't even know if anybody ever even noticed,
00:21:34 but that actually takes a lot of work.
00:21:36 But the problem with her was,
00:21:38 she was a little bit too much of who I really am,
00:21:41 so I would get kind of nervous before and after I'd go onstage.
00:21:46 And I came up with the name because at the time,
00:21:49 my hair was dyed jet black,
00:21:51 I had a haircut that looked like Cleopatra,
00:21:54 and Cleoplectra, plectrum being guitar picks, put them together, perfect.
00:22:00 I came up with the idea for Mom Jeans Jeannie
00:22:03 because after I had my son going through a department store
00:22:08 and trying clothes on, I could not find anything that fit.
00:22:12 I felt like I was deformed, which some girls can,
00:22:15 I swear they can pop back into their clothes with no time at all.
00:22:18 Not me. So Mom Jeans are like a real thing.
00:22:22 It was a combination of seeing the world's ugliest pants
00:22:27 at the thrift store, which were actual vintage mom jeans,
00:22:31 combined with the fact that I probably now should be wearing them.
00:22:35 It just sounded like a perfect idea,
00:22:37 and I wasn't having a lot of fun anymore as Cleoplectra, my former character.
00:22:42 I just wanted to have fun again if I was going to do any air guitar,
00:22:46 and I was like, I'm going to do it, I don't care.
00:22:48 I've had so much fun doing air guitar as silly characters,
00:22:51 I don't care what anybody thinks, I'm just going to go for it.
00:22:55 So that's where she came from.
00:22:58 2010, I competed in DC and didn't do very well.
00:23:03 But I turned 21 in July, and national finals were at the end of July.
00:23:08 Nationals just happened to be in New York that year.
00:23:10 So I got invited to compete in the Dark Horse Contest.
00:23:13 The Dark Horse Contest is the contest that they do the night before nationals,
00:23:17 and it's an invite only. They don't tell you where it is.
00:23:20 You know it's in the city of the nationals,
00:23:22 but you don't even know where the bar is until that day.
00:23:24 And there were about 30 air guitars, everybody came in for this,
00:23:27 and it was really awesome, and I was able to advance to the national finals that year.
00:23:31 So my first nationals was 2010.
00:23:34 My friend Scott at work said,
00:23:37 "Hey man, my brother's going to be in an air guitar competition this weekend.
00:23:41 You should come."
00:23:43 And I said, "Ha ha, no!"
00:23:48 I was single, and it was only $10, and I didn't have anything better to do.
00:23:53 So I went, and it was flipping amazing.
00:23:57 And they rocked my socks off.
00:23:59 Scott, his friend from work, is my other brother.
00:24:02 Eric is my eldest brother, who's doing this weird air guitar thing,
00:24:06 and he got them to come to Kansas City, so hey, we should all go.
00:24:10 I go to the show by myself, my brother's there with two guys from work.
00:24:14 At the end of the night, you do Free Bird, and everybody goes up on stage and rocks out,
00:24:19 and we're rocking out, and then we're talking after rocking out,
00:24:23 when the stage has cleared, and we're maybe tipsy and totally flirting.
00:24:28 And he hands me a business card from the corporation with his phone number,
00:24:32 and he's like, "Hey, you know, you could call me sometime if you wanted."
00:24:36 And I was like, "Okay."
00:24:40 Initially we dated for four years.
00:24:45 We talked about getting married, and one day he officially popped the question
00:24:51 after a date that we had, and we got married in three months.
00:24:55 When I proposed. Air guitar season was coming up.
00:24:58 I didn't know you put this much thought into it.
00:25:01 I didn't do that on purpose, but it was just there.
00:25:04 We're planning the wedding. Who are we going to invite?
00:25:07 Our family and our friends. Who are our best friends?
00:25:10 Air guitar competitors. Air guitar is going to break out whether you plan it or not.
00:25:15 It's going to happen. It's what we love to do.
00:25:18 We like to be on stage, we like to rock out, so it's going to happen.
00:25:22 How it happened at the reception is that I personally love Queen,
00:25:26 and while Bohemian Rhapsody might be seen as a little pretentious by some people,
00:25:32 it has some fantastic rock, and what do air guitarists love
00:25:36 is being total goofballs and having fun.
00:25:39 So I basically put on Bohemian Rhapsody, and everything else just sort of happened.
00:25:56 We practiced together. There was no rivalry. We practiced together.
00:26:00 We give each other pointers, we record for each other so we can look at it
00:26:04 and see how terrible or amusing we might be.
00:26:07 I always try to hedge my advice. Like, "Look, I don't know, but maybe this."
00:26:12 What?
00:26:14 Whenever you're asking me for advice, you're begging me,
00:26:17 you're like, "What do you think? What do you think? I'm doing this!"
00:26:19 And you've got all these plans, and I'm like,
00:26:22 "You know that I very rarely in the second round, right?"
00:26:25 So I always am tiptoeing through my advice. "Well, maybe..."
00:26:30 So you think because you haven't made second round that your advice is any less valid?
00:26:34 I made second round some, but not a lot.
00:26:37 It doesn't make it any less valid. You're still a connoisseur of the air guitar.
00:26:42 Carnivore, yes.
00:26:44 That too. And I appreciate all of your advice.
00:26:47 One of the things that I did in 2011 is I decided if I have a song that is beloved,
00:26:55 then I already have a leg up on everybody else, because I'm doing a song everybody loves.
00:26:59 So that year, Cliff and I got together and we made a one-minute edit of "Bohemian Rhapsody."
00:27:06 It was challenging getting it all down to a minute, but it was kind of cool,
00:27:10 being that I had the multi-tracks that we could combine two or three elements together at the same time
00:27:20 and get more of the song in in less time that way.
00:27:28 It took a couple of hours, and then once the edit, everything was in place,
00:27:34 then it took me a while longer to actually mix it, because it was 24 tracks of stuff.
00:27:40 He put together parts of the song that don't even go together.
00:27:43 Really kind of amazing, but it was not good for me.
00:27:47 I don't have Freddie Mercury's body type at all, but for some reason,
00:27:51 I decided to grow a mustache, wear red and white, and try to evoke Freddie Mercury.
00:27:59 And yes, I had the horrible costume change. I ripped off pants to reveal more pants,
00:28:04 because I don't get naked.
00:28:06 The judging was particularly harsh. Hot Licks was the only one that gave me a good score,
00:28:10 but the scores were too low, so I didn't even make the second round.
00:28:15 In 2011, Nationals were in Chicago. I came in second place.
00:28:19 Nordic won Chicago. Top two best air guitar performances ever. It's insane.
00:28:24 Nordic owns Chicago. It's awesome to see.
00:28:28 Won the US title. That was in Chicago at a famous venue there called the Metro,
00:28:33 and it was sold out, which was awesome. The Rolling Stones have played at this place.
00:28:37 It was really cool to be on that stage.
00:28:39 My mom was also in town, so she got to see me win.
00:28:43 And then getting to go to Finland, that was the first time I'd ever left the United States.
00:28:48 And then just meeting all these other people from around the world that are just the same as us in the US
00:28:53 as far as air guitarists are concerned, who are just really good people,
00:28:57 like outwardly spewing love and good energy, it was amazing.
00:29:01 I came in second place. It was just like, whatever. This has been amazing.
00:29:16 We had this thing in Ultimate Fake Book called the Rock Box,
00:29:19 which is a big wooden box with lights underneath it and a piece of clear fiberglass over the top of it.
00:29:27 And whenever Bill jumped on the Rock Box to do a guitar solo, it would light up and smoke would come out of it.
00:29:33 The Nationals in 2012 were in Denver, so we resurrected the Ultimate Fake Book Rock Box,
00:29:38 and it was amazing. And so out of nowhere, this rock box appears and lights up
00:29:43 and smoke starts coming out of it, and I end my routine. That helped me get into the second round.
00:29:47 And it was a really fun year, and it was a great routine, but it wasn't enough.
00:29:51 I was a little exasperated. What else do I need to do?
00:29:54 That was probably the best pure air guitar routine I had.
00:29:57 And I also had the Rock Box, and I still didn't win.
00:30:02 If I'm going to continue to do this, I've got to have some kind of breakthrough.
00:30:07 I've got to figure something out, because I wasn't getting any younger.
00:30:12 [music]
00:30:18 2012 in Minneapolis, that was my first championship that I won, and I beat some heavy hitters to get that.
00:30:26 I got straight 6.0s in the second round.
00:30:30 The second round of that one, it got out of control really quickly.
00:30:34 Everybody started bringing out their big guns.
00:30:37 Van Damme jumped off the stage into a knee slide right before me, which was the greatest move I've seen.
00:30:43 Also, he stole my move, which I'm really happy about, because I probably would have broken both of my legs.
00:30:49 So I had to up the ante.
00:30:51 So I ran over to the back of the bar, climbed up a spiral stairwell, and shredded up on the railing, and then jumped off of it.
00:31:00 I want to say I was up like 30 feet, I think, maybe 40.
00:31:03 I was probably closer to like 7 or 8 feet, but I was so up there.
00:31:08 I jumped down, and it was like Batman jumping down with my friend just coming straight down.
00:31:13 So in 2012, I beat Nordic at the Nationals to go to Worlds, and then he went to Dark Horse, got into Worlds, and then he beat me at Worlds.
00:31:22 So it was this little, like, flip-a-rood real quick.
00:31:26 I went and competed as a Dark Horse, and then won the World Championship that year.
00:31:31 I've seen pictures of my face. Just the look on my face is, "That guy looks so happy!"
00:31:36 It was really the happiest moment of my life, winning some contests, I know, but it was just...
00:31:43 I really felt that I'm going to represent all these people that I love and this thing that I love.
00:31:48 And now I have an even bigger voice to preach living good and being a good human being,
00:31:54 because I have the title now. People are going to listen to me because I'm a world champion.
00:31:58 So it's just, it's given me a voice, and it's allowed me to be unapologetically just myself.
00:32:06 Nordic Thunder, 2006, my first contest was his first contest.
00:32:12 And I placed third, and he placed first.
00:32:15 So, obviously, starting then, it was a real one-sided rivalry.
00:32:20 I wanted to beat him, and he probably didn't even care, because he's awesome. He's Nordic Thunder. He's amazing.
00:32:26 So, for the next five years, I competed against him, and I feel like I went right before him in that first contest.
00:32:34 I lit up the crowd. That crowd was electric when I was done.
00:32:38 And then he goes right after me and just rides that wave and wins that contest, and like eight other contests,
00:32:45 national championship, world championship.
00:32:47 So he pretty much owes it all to me, as far as I can tell, for lighting up that crowd before his first contest.
00:32:53 I've been through breakups, and I've been through jobs, and I've been through all this stuff,
00:32:57 but the one consistent thing in my life has been the joy that air guitar and the family of air guitarists has brought to me, for sure.
00:33:04 Like many other air guitarists, I put a lot of work into my routines when I compete.
00:33:08 Probably too much work.
00:33:09 Whether it's the editing process and listening to a song 180 times to get it just right,
00:33:14 and then to practicing it in the living room until it's just right,
00:33:17 and then listening it in the car and in the shower and everywhere I go.
00:33:21 And my wife would tell me, "You know, if you're going to listen to your song, for the love of God, put headphones in."
00:33:26 Like, I can't hear Metallica one more time.
00:33:28 And in 2012, she told me, "You spend so much time on this, and we put our whole summer on hold,"
00:33:34 which is what a lot of people do, so they can wait for the date, and then so they can plan their trips,
00:33:37 and then be able to go to weddings and do all these things.
00:33:40 And we were going to a lot of weddings back then, and we had a lot of plans with family and friends.
00:33:43 She's like, "You know, we keep holding ourselves to air guitar, and we're missing out on a lot of other stuff.
00:33:48 Maybe we shouldn't be doing this anymore."
00:33:51 And I was like, "Shit."
00:33:53 I was like, I was feeling--I was really coming into my prime, you know?
00:33:57 I was like in my third year, and I was feeling really good about things.
00:34:00 And then after 2012, I came in third, and I was like, "You know, I think one more year, and I have a chance.
00:34:05 Like, maybe I can actually win."
00:34:06 A partner in hers in crime is Lieutenant Face Melter, so I'd like to call you up.
00:34:12 This is in no particular order, by the way.
00:34:14 [applause]
00:34:17 Jason Carnon here.
00:34:18 Jason!
00:34:21 Also helped with planning all of the local qualifiers this year.
00:34:26 Was also my secretary for contact@usairguitar.com, so every time an email came in, he was like,
00:34:30 "Hey, did you see this? Hey, did you see this?
00:34:32 Did you read it yet? Did you read it yet? Did you read it yet? Did you read it yet?
00:34:35 Hey, hey, hey."
00:34:36 [laughter]
00:34:38 Thank you.
00:34:39 And, you know, there's moments in life when you work, and you're like,
00:34:44 "God, that person's really fucking annoying."
00:34:46 And then one day, you're like, "That's really helpful."
00:34:49 [laughter]
00:34:51 They're family, you know? It's just--it's our summer camp.
00:34:54 We get to see each other once a year for three to four days, and everyone gets together,
00:34:59 and it's just a lot of big hugs in the beginning, and a lot of hugs and a few tears,
00:35:03 and then we say goodbye, and it's just--you know, we're all--
00:35:06 everyone's kind of naturally outgoing and fun if you're silly enough to do air guitar.
00:35:11 So that kind of just carries over into everybody here, and, you know, it's just--
00:35:14 it's such a great group of people.
00:35:17 I'm more of a technical player.
00:35:19 My goal is to play the note for note, and I've been known as the most advanced technical player in air guitar.
00:35:26 So I'll either stand in one place or just walk back and forth across the stage.
00:35:31 The Hall of Fame trading card, and it was issued in 2011,
00:35:35 they were giving them out to 25 total.
00:35:38 I got number 14.
00:35:39 They issued them on Tuesdays and Thursdays for champions and legends,
00:35:43 and there it was.
00:35:44 It was Memorial Day weekend.
00:35:45 Mine was a special issue.
00:35:47 The Tiger Claw Award came out in 2013.
00:35:49 I got two awards that year.
00:35:51 The first one was the Freebird Award,
00:35:53 and I guess that's dedicated to the last song on every competition
00:35:57 where everyone goes on stage, including the audience, for Freebird.
00:36:02 And then I also got the Tiger Claw Award named after me
00:36:05 for dedication and passion in the field of air guitar.
00:36:08 I have a lot of close friends in San Francisco.
00:36:10 San Francisco is a huge air guitar market,
00:36:13 and I always kept in touch with them because they were more than just air guitar friends.
00:36:16 They became close friends.
00:36:18 My stroke occurred on May 13, 2009, and five weeks later,
00:36:23 I remember it was June 21, I was up there competing.
00:36:27 I don't think a lot of them knew about the stroke,
00:36:31 except when I told them, because that one was kind of quiet.
00:36:35 The one in 2013 was a lot more serious.
00:36:39 That one put me in the intensive care unit.
00:36:41 I was out for six days.
00:36:43 In 2013, I was in San Francisco,
00:36:47 and I met up with a few people at a bar.
00:36:49 And two of the people there were supposed to be staying with Tiger Claw,
00:36:54 but they had all their stuff with them.
00:36:56 And we were like, "What's going on? Why aren't you at Claw's place yet?"
00:37:00 They're like, "I don't know. We called him, and we haven't heard from him."
00:37:03 And we're just like, "That's not like Tiger Claw at all."
00:37:06 He's just, you know, "It's time for people to come to town.
00:37:09 He'll call you back the second he misses your phone call."
00:37:12 I was kind of concerned, because that just seemed very out of the ordinary to him.
00:37:17 Come to find out he had a stroke that day, and he couldn't make it to the show.
00:37:21 You know, you never want to hear that about anybody,
00:37:23 especially a member who's so tightly involved in your community.
00:37:27 Someone who puts in so much blood, sweat, and tears into U.S. Air Guitar
00:37:31 to have them miss it is just--that was a bummer.
00:37:34 And we all just wanted to make sure he was doing all right.
00:37:37 And the only thing we could do, because most people found out the night of the show,
00:37:41 I just took pictures for him, and then I took a video
00:37:46 where we all kind of wished him well and did a Claw salute to him.
00:37:50 [crowd cheering]
00:38:00 [crowd cheering]
00:38:05 And then even for that night, in honor of Tiger Claw,
00:38:08 for San Francisco 2013 to start your song, you put a claw into the air.
00:38:13 [crowd chanting "Claw"]
00:38:23 Family.
00:38:25 I even wrote a paper on it that the U.S. Air Guitar published on their website.
00:38:28 And it's all about family.
00:38:30 They're like brothers and sisters.
00:38:32 We call them "brothers," A-I-R, and "sisters."
00:38:36 And, I mean, you don't even have to tell me.
00:38:40 When they put together that video for me, I mean, that was my family.
00:38:44 So, yeah, it's--that's one word.
00:38:48 It's all about family.
00:38:50 I had this idea kind of germinating in the back of my head for a while
00:38:56 because there are moves that I had brainstormed since 2009
00:39:03 that I had been trying to fit into songs.
00:39:07 I had this weird idea that if I just wrote the song,
00:39:11 then I would be able to use all the moves I wanted to.
00:39:14 I called my friend Doug Minner, who played in this band in Manhattan
00:39:18 that we used to play with when I was in Truck Stop Love called Pukweasel.
00:39:21 Doug is an amazing guitar player who can do anything.
00:39:24 And I was like, "Well, I don't really know what you're asking,
00:39:27 but sure, let's give it a try."
00:39:29 We started building the song three to four seconds at a time,
00:39:33 and it would be based on a move.
00:39:36 And so I wanted to put together a song that introduced the air guitar.
00:39:40 What is this thing that I have?
00:39:42 When am I playing it, and when am I not playing it?
00:39:45 When is there space in the song?
00:39:47 So I knew right away, the first riff has to have space in it.
00:39:50 And then I wanted to put a kick in it,
00:39:52 so we came up with a riff that had a moment that went...
00:39:55 [imitates guitar riff]
00:39:57 I wanted to wear a hat, and I wanted to reveal that I had long hair,
00:40:01 and the best way to do that would be to throw the hat off dramatically.
00:40:05 I'm going down anyway, so I could do a little air bass.
00:40:09 I do a lot of absurd whammy bar action.
00:40:12 And then we needed to end with something that was big and rising.
00:40:15 It has to bring the audience to its feet,
00:40:18 so I devised this double lead guitar, and it ended on a really big note.
00:40:22 I would have these brainstorms, these ideas in the shower,
00:40:28 in the morning when I'd get up, and then I'd get out
00:40:31 and I'd turn on the cell phone and go... [imitates guitar riff]
00:40:34 And then I'd send these to Doug,
00:40:36 and we'd construct it little pieces at a time,
00:40:38 and he'd say, "How's this, how's the timing?"
00:40:41 I'd stand up, and I would air guitar,
00:40:43 and gradually we just started building this demo track.
00:40:46 I tracked the drums, and then Doug tracked the bass
00:40:49 and all of the lead guitar on top of that.
00:40:52 I had already known that he had been working on a song,
00:40:55 but he was playing it for me and playing the parts of the song for me,
00:40:59 and it was that time that I was sort of like overwhelmed
00:41:03 by the idea that, holy crap, you built this song.
00:41:08 You didn't just like mine the best parts of songs that you love
00:41:13 and somehow put them all together,
00:41:16 but you actually built part of your ideas for the routine
00:41:20 and then created the music to make those fit.
00:41:24 I was hosting shows at this point.
00:41:27 I was using this track as my introduction to the shows,
00:41:31 and I was seeing how it was playing with audiences.
00:41:34 Yes!
00:41:36 I could tell that there were things that were working
00:41:39 and things that weren't.
00:41:41 I was talking to Bill from Ultimate Fakebook,
00:41:43 who now edits trailers for a living,
00:41:45 and I was like, we need some sound effects on this.
00:41:48 I need a whooshing sound, I need the sound that catching a guitar would make,
00:41:52 and I need the sound of a record going backwards.
00:41:55 My first show competitively that year was at the New York semifinal.
00:41:59 I'd do the routine, they loved it.
00:42:01 I could just feel like this energy.
00:42:03 I'd done it so many times by then, and I won, and it was awesome.
00:42:07 But nobody understood that we had gone backwards.
00:42:10 My voice.
00:42:11 So now when you hear it going backwards,
00:42:13 you also hear a human voice backwards.
00:42:15 And people can recognize in an instant, this is going backwards.
00:42:19 Peter Stiff-Dickens does not get enough credit
00:42:22 as being my creative inspiration.
00:42:24 But he was like, you've got to sell the backwards thing with emotion.
00:42:28 You've got to actually turn the record.
00:42:31 You're losing your air guitar completely just to mime this one moment,
00:42:35 and then he also said, put your hand up to your head,
00:42:38 because that's the ultimate shortcut for DJ.
00:42:42 2013 rolls around, and I am the defending champion.
00:42:52 I had just been to Finland,
00:42:54 dipped my toes in the international pond that is the world championships.
00:42:58 The Nationals were in LA.
00:43:00 Me and Malin's routine was just insane.
00:43:02 Lieutenant Face Melter, however,
00:43:04 was the next biggest favorite to win.
00:43:07 Face Melter's routine was insane.
00:43:09 So technically just tight and sound, he had sound effects, it was funny.
00:43:13 He had light up green, everything.
00:43:16 Lieutenant Face Melter is like the king of laser light shows.
00:43:19 They're on him, like he's the greatest thing we've ever seen.
00:43:22 In the first round, I was in first place.
00:43:24 The very first time I've ever been in first place
00:43:27 at US Air Guitar National Finals, and I just killed it.
00:43:30 I knew right then, I was like, this is it.
00:43:33 Everything I designed was made for this moment,
00:43:36 and I'm in the lead going into the second round.
00:43:39 2013, in my opinion, was the greatest year of air guitar.
00:43:43 It was my personal best. I placed 7th that year.
00:43:46 And to put it this way,
00:43:49 I know I could never have a better performance than that,
00:43:52 and yet 7 people were still better than me.
00:43:55 I worked my ass off that year.
00:43:57 I went through so many different cuts,
00:44:00 and songs, and routines, and sound effects.
00:44:03 My whole goal was, I want to be on the world stage.
00:44:06 I just want to compete on it.
00:44:09 So if I don't win this year, let's go to Finland anyway.
00:44:12 So we bought tickets to go to Finland just in case,
00:44:15 and I signed up for the dark horse there.
00:44:18 And just kind of knowing that if I didn't win
00:44:21 the national championship, we'd be going anyway.
00:44:24 I had a brief respite watching Peter "Stiff" Dickens
00:44:27 do his second round routine.
00:44:30 And I couldn't even concentrate on the music
00:44:33 because I was having such a good time watching him.
00:44:36 He decided that he was going to go up there,
00:44:39 and he was just going to blow up the second round.
00:44:42 He said, I'm going to do every jackass gimmick in the book
00:44:45 because those fuckers never should have put me there in the first place,
00:44:48 and I'm going to blow it up, and that's exactly what he did.
00:44:51 And it was just like this glorious one minute of jackassery,
00:44:54 and in the second round it was between him and Facemelter.
00:44:57 Malin coming up to me and saying,
00:45:00 do you need to help me with this timing and these stops?
00:45:03 And I knew how important this was to him.
00:45:06 I wanted to help him more than anything
00:45:09 because he's such a proponent of air guitar
00:45:12 and so he brings such a positive vibe,
00:45:15 and I really was pulling for him and Facemelter.
00:45:18 I saw Flying Fin and Thunderstruck.
00:45:21 They had some sort of thing they were covering up.
00:45:25 They rip away this makeshift curtain
00:45:28 to reveal that he's got this enormous head
00:45:31 strapped onto his real head, this big cardboard
00:45:34 full-color cutout of his face making this ridiculous Facemelter face.
00:45:38 And I saw that, and I was just like, oh...
00:45:42 oh my god.
00:45:44 And then he knew the song really well, and he killed it,
00:45:47 and it was a really good performance.
00:45:50 The talk amongst the community at the time,
00:45:53 which I still refuse to believe, was that Malin and I
00:45:56 were the favorites that year to win it all.
00:45:59 And sure enough, it came down to the two of us in the finals,
00:46:02 separated by .1, and I beat him.
00:46:07 I felt like I crushed his dreams,
00:46:10 but at the same time achieved my own.
00:46:12 It was a very bittersweet feeling, but for once in my life
00:46:15 I got to say I was the best in the country at something,
00:46:18 and that was pretty cool.
00:46:20 Facemelter had won, and he was going to Finland,
00:46:24 and I was not.
00:46:27 And it was exciting to watch him celebrate.
00:46:33 He came back, and I saw his face, and I was just like,
00:46:36 oh, am I going to enjoy this knowing that he's so upset right now?
00:46:41 He came back, he gave me a huge hug, though.
00:46:43 I was just like, you're still going to Finland, though.
00:46:47 We're going to go, and we're going to make that happen.
00:46:50 If there was anyone to beat me, I wanted it to be him.
00:46:53 So it was this mix. I was really happy for him.
00:46:55 But at the after party, it was just crushing.
00:47:00 Everybody was hanging out, and they were like,
00:47:03 well, of course you're still going to Finland, right?
00:47:06 Well, you can get in the dark horse and try to win Worlds that way.
00:47:10 You should fly to Finland.
00:47:13 You should fly to Finland.
00:47:16 The dark horse is like a last effort onto the national or the world stage.
00:47:26 If you compete in the qualifier and you come in the top two,
00:47:29 then you go on to the semifinals.
00:47:32 And if you come in the top three, then you go on to the nationals.
00:47:35 The dark horse, they hold a dark horse as a last-ditch effort
00:47:39 to get on the national stage, and it's the same for the world, too.
00:47:42 Because if you don't win on the national stage,
00:47:44 you can fly yourself to Finland to compete in the dark horse,
00:47:48 and then the top five go on to the world stage.
00:47:52 And I talked to Jason, and he's like, dude, I'm going to Finland.
00:47:56 And I want you to come. We should be doing this together.
00:48:00 And I was like, well, that's awesome, but I can't really get there.
00:48:03 The dark horse is probably filled up already, and he's like, yeah, but I just won.
00:48:07 And I'm like, so what does that mean?
00:48:09 He goes, well, that means they have an extra slot at dark horse.
00:48:13 And you can have my slot.
00:48:16 So I chose the name Mother Feather because the competition I had planned for
00:48:20 in Brooklyn, planned to compete in, I was on Mother's Day.
00:48:23 And I just thought it was a funny play on just something mom-oriented.
00:48:27 I had gone through a lot of chemo and surgery, and I was in radiation.
00:48:32 And I just decided to compete, and I needed to practice.
00:48:37 So I chose the name based on a future date, and then just kind of rolled into
00:48:41 Staten Island to practice for the first time.
00:48:43 And I was like, I was two weeks into radiation for breast cancer treatment at that time.
00:48:47 Technically, I'm still in treatment.
00:48:49 I have a chemo port still in my chest, and I fly home Sunday night.
00:48:54 And I arrive in JFK around 1 o'clock in the morning, actually Monday morning.
00:49:01 And at 10 a.m., I will be in the chemo chair.
00:49:05 And it's actually my birthday. I'll be 37.
00:49:07 I was diagnosed October 9th. I'm terrified.
00:49:11 I started chemo, some hardcore drugs, on November 2nd.
00:49:15 Between October 9th of last year and not even a month later,
00:49:19 I went to doctor's appointments almost every day.
00:49:21 So I'm terrified, and I don't want to tell anyone.
00:49:23 And when I would call someone, they would cry.
00:49:25 I had to relive my diagnosis by telling someone.
00:49:28 I'm so used to talking about it now that I don't cry finally,
00:49:31 but I would cry because they would cry.
00:49:33 And they're my best friends since kindergarten, and everyone's crying.
00:49:36 And I'm like, it's going to be okay. They say it's going to be okay.
00:49:39 It's got to be okay, please.
00:49:41 So I told air guitarists first.
00:49:43 The women of Air Guitar have a Facebook group.
00:49:45 And I told them as a way of branching out.
00:49:49 It was a small group that is supportive, and they were so lovely.
00:49:52 People sent me gifts. I didn't ask. I didn't need anything.
00:49:55 I just wanted to touch my toe into being like, how can I be this person?
00:50:00 I don't know who I'm going to be at the end, so how can I do that?
00:50:03 And the women of Air Guitar are extremely supportive.
00:50:06 They're so even supportive. I've become even closer.
00:50:09 And I'm very thankful to that.
00:50:12 I shaved my head bald on New Year's Eve, fully bald.
00:50:16 And I brought my son with me to be part of the experience.
00:50:20 So through my chemotherapy, I had a friend of mine
00:50:23 who was actually our wedding photographer.
00:50:25 One of my husband and I got married in 2010.
00:50:28 And a makeup artist friend, and a generous donation of dresses from Rent the Runway.
00:50:33 So I turned my chemotherapy appointments into kind of a glamorous moment
00:50:37 when I actually feel quite terrified.
00:50:39 I don't know what the outcome will be.
00:50:41 And to sit for 8 hours and just have an IV hooked up.
00:50:45 Women around you are sobbing.
00:50:47 People are not having good days. It's not a good day for anyone.
00:50:51 The photo project helped me face it with a little bit more dignity
00:50:55 and helped me also find a way where I could tell a broad group of people
00:51:00 and have it not be sad. I wanted them to see I can do this.
00:51:04 So the pictures really showed the best possible face.
00:51:09 Eden, who is the makeup artist, she offered to do the other women's makeup.
00:51:14 She would do my makeup. Casey, the photographer, would be taking photos.
00:51:19 She would do someone else's if they asked.
00:51:21 Once you're on a regular chemo schedule, you see the same people when you go.
00:51:25 They're like, "Hey, what are you wearing?" "I really like your hair this time."
00:51:28 You can change and transform a situation that is really quite terrible
00:51:37 into something with some creativity.
00:51:39 You can make it better for yourself and for others,
00:51:42 which is something I think could extend to the rest of the world too.
00:51:45 I think we see stuff and we think, "Oh, that's sad. Oh, frowny face.
00:51:49 I'm so tired of clicking frowny face."
00:51:51 I think we should talk to our community and figure out how we can make things better.
00:51:57 I really hope it can extend.
00:51:59 So I guess that's a long-winded version of saying that the Air Guitar community
00:52:03 was the initial support network that I reached out to
00:52:06 because of how wonderful they've been to me for quite a number of years.
00:52:10 Going through cancer made me feel that you only have so much time here.
00:52:14 Let's make it count and let's try to be authentic.
00:52:17 I'm trying to make my inside match my outside and be authentic with what I feel.
00:52:22 I've decided I have a national stage and I'm going to hopefully do something that's beautiful.
00:52:27 I've brought 100 white balloons, and I am writing the names of the last 100 people
00:52:33 that have died because of gun violence on each of those 100 balloons.
00:52:37 At the end of my performance, I'm going to have a brief message of peace,
00:52:41 and it's an anti-gun violence message.
00:52:43 It's not anti-guns. I want people to recognize how harmful it is for families,
00:52:48 and I want people to say the name on the balloon.
00:52:51 I ended up doing a GoFundMe site, and my friends gave me anything from $5 to $20 each
00:53:02 and paid for my ticket to go to Finland.
00:53:04 In Finland, I qualified. I was in the top five.
00:53:07 I was in, I think, fourth in the dark horse, and I made it to compete in the World Championship.
00:53:13 It was great. I flew in from a red eye. I picked a number.
00:53:17 I performed two hours later, and the next day I was in the world.
00:53:20 It was really surreal. It was great.
00:53:22 I've never been in a competitive environment where everyone is helping each other.
00:53:28 It's just the best group of people that help you with making something fun and energetic and entertaining.
00:53:36 It's just a great group, so it means a lot.
00:53:39 He bought the ticket, and I was like, "Oh, man, that guy's competition,"
00:53:44 because I had already planned to go, and I was like, "Okay, I'll have to beat this lieutenant face melter."
00:53:50 And then I heard me and Malin was going, and I was like, "Oh, man, he's going to beat me."
00:53:54 I had a plane ticket with nowhere to spend the night.
00:53:58 I made it clear to everybody else I knew that was going,
00:54:01 "Hey, if you can put me up for a night, I'll sleep on your floor.
00:54:04 I don't want to be a burden, so I'll just couch-surf."
00:54:07 I was looking forward to having this room all by myself and quiet and space in Finland,
00:54:15 and then he goes and buys his ticket and comes out, but he doesn't have any place to stay.
00:54:19 So he was just going to sleep on people's floors and stuff like that.
00:54:23 I was like, "I can't let this guy sleep on someone else's floor."
00:54:26 And I have another bed right there, so I was like, "Oh, please, share my room. Come in."
00:54:32 And he did, which was great, but I did lose my peace and quiet nearly instantaneously
00:54:37 because he snores so loudly, so loudly.
00:54:41 So he was sleeping wonderfully, and I was awake most of the night because it was so loud.
00:54:46 So Dark Horse and Olu is this legendary thing, this really small club,
00:54:51 and everyone is there for air guitar.
00:54:53 The moment that you go up on stage, it felt like a movie where the flashbulbs are going off all the time
00:54:59 because this was it. I flew from Kansas City to Finland for one minute on stage,
00:55:03 and that minute was about to happen.
00:55:05 So I jump up there, and like I had done in previous shows,
00:55:10 I just immediately point to the ceiling to get the song started.
00:55:14 It was the best I'd ever performed that song.
00:55:17 And when I was done, I felt really good about it, and the audience just exploded.
00:55:22 And I was like, "Oh, I think I might advance. I think this might happen."
00:55:28 And Doug was amazing that night as well.
00:55:31 We were roommates at this point, and for us both to make it through,
00:55:34 knowing that we're going to be on the world stage the next night was pretty amazing.
00:55:38 The next day after Dark Horse, the very first thing that you do in terms of competition is draw numbers.
00:55:44 It's a very stressful time because all the air guitarists are finding out
00:55:48 at what point in the evening they're going to be performing, and you never want to be first.
00:55:52 First is the kiss of death, right?
00:55:54 First thing at the beginning, the audience is still getting warmed up,
00:55:58 the judges are still getting warmed up, scores are traditionally pretty low.
00:56:01 We drew the numbers, and I drew second.
00:56:05 So I was like, "Well, this has been an amazing experience.
00:56:10 I can just relax and have fun now because I'm not going to win."
00:56:13 2013, I ended up judging the World Air Guitar Championships that year,
00:56:18 which kind of went down in history.
00:56:21 We were on a five-member judging panel,
00:56:26 each judge representing a different region.
00:56:31 We were basically given this heavy task of finding the greatest air guitarist in the world
00:56:40 among 25 or 30 of the world's best air guitarists.
00:56:47 We knew that anyone from the top five in the U.S. that year
00:56:51 would have done phenomenally well in Finland.
00:56:54 I went out there and I did the thing that I'd been doing,
00:57:00 which is just run out there and immediately point to the ceiling,
00:57:04 or to the sky in this case.
00:57:06 This is the first time I ever performed outdoors.
00:57:09 [music]
00:57:30 This went by really, really fast, and I can feel the moment
00:57:34 that I felt really good about was the backwards moment.
00:57:37 The music starts happening, and I'm doing the backwards, slow-mo headbang thing,
00:57:42 and there's this catwalk in the front and all these people around that.
00:57:46 I had walked the stage earlier and decided I'm going to use the whole catwalk,
00:57:49 so I'm going to do the forwards-backwards thing on that catwalk.
00:57:52 And as I was going backwards, I could hear all the people on either side of the catwalk going,
00:57:57 "Ahh!"
00:57:58 [music]
00:58:02 The whole crowd exploded.
00:58:04 [applause]
00:58:07 So Facemelter goes out there, and he's got the Zuba pants that everyone hates
00:58:13 until you see the light hit him just right.
00:58:15 You start to kind of like him a little bit, even though they're total guilty pleasure.
00:58:19 And he's got these glasses, and he's got the big cardboard face,
00:58:22 and he had this yo-yo whip thing that he was kind of doing.
00:58:26 I never had any doubts in my mind that that year would be between Facemelter,
00:58:33 me and Malene, and maybe this upstart named Doug Thunderstruck
00:58:38 who kind of surprised us all.
00:58:40 The first round was complete, and Doug and I were near the top.
00:58:46 We were in it. We were actually going to be competing for this.
00:58:49 In the world, all bets are off because they're using local music,
00:58:52 they're using Finnish music, and you never know who it's going to be.
00:58:55 And it was this song that was just not mean at all.
00:58:59 Like, it did not work with my character.
00:59:01 And I ran to the front of the stage where all the security people are
00:59:06 and the photographers are, and I was practicing while Facemelter
00:59:10 and Nordic and everybody else was performing the second round song.
00:59:14 When I got up there, I felt really good.
00:59:16 I had the routine worked out in my head.
00:59:18 I'd listened to it six times at that point.
00:59:20 And then the scores didn't look that great.
00:59:22 Like, when they came back, the judges had been really mediocre the whole time.
00:59:27 Like, nobody was really going over the top for anybody.
00:59:29 Lisa, Jason's wife, she's like, "I think it's Doug and Eric."
00:59:35 And we're on stage, and I'm like, "What?"
00:59:38 And she goes, "I think it's Doug and Eric."
00:59:42 And sure enough, they announced the winners, and we're all standing on stage,
00:59:46 and they're going from 10 to 1, and they get to the final thing,
00:59:49 and it's not Nordic, and it's not Facemelter.
00:59:52 It's me and Doug tied for first place.
00:59:58 And we're both just kind of standing there.
01:00:00 We've been on this journey together as roommates
01:00:04 and going to meeting all these crazy people, and both Dark Horse competitors,
01:00:08 and just being like, "What the hell?
01:00:11 What do we do now?"
01:00:14 We decided just to go straight up to Chicago and do the semifinal instead.
01:00:19 And that did not turn out so well for me.
01:00:24 So I think if I remember correctly, I went second.
01:00:30 Actually, I got decent scores for going second,
01:00:32 but the scores from there just got insane.
01:00:35 Everybody was getting all sixes, and I was just really bummed out
01:00:39 because for the very first time ever, I actually had all these family members
01:00:44 and people that I went to high school with and stuff came out to this show
01:00:48 since we told them about it ahead of time, and they thought it was funny.
01:00:51 I just felt like I let everybody down.
01:00:53 So in 2016 Kansas City Regional, I was super excited to go,
01:01:01 super excited to be there with a whole bunch of my friends from Kansas City.
01:01:06 Some of my favorite people in air guitar were at that show.
01:01:09 I had a great set all lined up, ready to go.
01:01:12 It's probably the one set that I've done where I got off the stage
01:01:17 and really felt like I blew it.
01:01:20 The judges have a tendency not to score me as well as I would like them to
01:01:24 on a lot of occasions, but at that one I felt like I kind of earned it.
01:01:28 I had a beard comb maneuver.
01:01:31 I pulled the comb out of my pocket, combed my beard,
01:01:34 and chucked the comb into the crowd.
01:01:37 It got stuck on my fringe when I went to pull it out.
01:01:41 I missed that move, and then it screwed up my entire rest of my set.
01:01:45 When I was done, I was crushed that I just didn't do it right.
01:01:51 I changed a few things.
01:01:55 I got some pep talks from some good air guitarists,
01:01:57 gave me some attitude adjustments.
01:02:01 That was good.
01:02:03 From there on, I went to Dark Horse in Texas,
01:02:08 and my whole goal was have fun.
01:02:10 If I could make it from Dark Horse into Nationals, that would be cool.
01:02:16 A lot of it just has to do with not the fact that I really desired to win anything.
01:02:21 I love this character so much.
01:02:24 I'm selfish for stage time.
01:02:27 I just want people to look at me.
01:02:29 I just want you to laugh and stuff.
01:02:31 I felt like the best way I could do that was if I was an official part of the show
01:02:35 instead of just a weird lady walking around handing out fruit snacks,
01:02:38 which probably would have happened.
01:02:40 Somehow, I ended up with an invitation to the Dark Horse
01:02:48 for the National Championships in Austin, Texas.
01:02:51 I knew that that was my last shot that year to make it to the National Championships
01:02:58 and have a shot at the title.
01:03:00 All through the night, I was nervous.
01:03:04 That bar was hot.
01:03:06 I mean, it's Texas in August, and this bar had no air conditioning.
01:03:09 I had a good number draw, but that meant that I went so late
01:03:13 that I was just completely soaked.
01:03:15 I ended up getting into the top five, so I make it to the second round of the Dark Horse.
01:03:19 I was like, "Yes, this is great."
01:03:21 Second round comes, and it's an old Aristotle track,
01:03:26 so I just basically harnessed my inner Aristotle, if you will.
01:03:30 Judges liked it. Judges liked it like they like Aristotle, and that really helped out.
01:03:34 I got through the Dark Horse. I got into the National Finals.
01:03:39 I went up, did my act, and I ended up all of a sudden winning the Dark Horse.
01:03:46 So I was not seeing that coming at all.
01:03:49 I went to the Nationals competition that Saturday, Austin, Texas, 2016,
01:03:56 and my goal was have fun, and if I can make the second round awesome,
01:04:00 I can show off a little bit more.
01:04:02 For the first time, I'm busting out my new fur vest.
01:04:07 It was awesome, and it looked really cool,
01:04:10 but a fur vest in Austin, Texas, in August, is really a bad idea.
01:04:16 Didn't get the scores that I wanted. Didn't get the judges' approval.
01:04:21 I'm again watching the second round from the crowd,
01:04:24 and it's your usual cast of characters, but there's also mom jeans out there.
01:04:29 She had to go through the Dark Horse with me,
01:04:32 which meant that she went super early in the night.
01:04:35 When you go that early in a show, you don't really expect to be getting the good scores that you want,
01:04:41 but she did, and she got through there, and I was like,
01:04:44 "This is going to be the first time we've got a Dark Horse go on to win the National Championship,"
01:04:49 and I was unbelievably blown away by her whole performance,
01:04:53 and next thing you know, they picked Aristotle again.
01:04:57 I was really crushed for mom jeans, because I was like, "It was her turn."
01:05:02 She's been working at it for years and years.
01:05:05 The character of mom jeans, she kind of came into her own.
01:05:08 I feel like she really owns who she is now up on the stage, and totally deserved to win it.
01:05:14 I think most of us, we love Aristotle, but we're all kind of like, "All right, dude. Retire already."
01:05:20 I was a judge in 2016 Nationals, and the moment that me and the other judges saw Aristotle's routine this year,
01:05:30 we knew that he was going to be a competitor at Nationals. He was going to be really good.
01:05:34 Aristotle has this ability to conjure up that moment of magic,
01:05:41 something insanely creative or fun that makes him stand out from the rest of the people,
01:05:46 on top of his innate ability to listen to a song and figure out how his body should move
01:05:52 and accentuate all the best parts of it.
01:05:54 In the second round, he did that in America, and everybody was thinking,
01:05:59 "At this point, mom jeans is kicking ass, and her first round was so good."
01:06:05 When Aristotle was done, it was clear that he's still the champion.
01:06:09 Nobody does the second round like he does.
01:06:14 I don't think I mentally was prepared to win. I always feel like I sabotage myself in some way.
01:06:22 But I'm actually totally cool with that because Matt Burns won.
01:06:25 Once again, I really wanted somebody to beat him, too. I love Matt, but he's won so many times.
01:06:30 I was really hoping Flying Finn or somebody would beat him.
01:06:33 It looked like it was going to have to be me if anybody beat him, and that didn't happen.
01:06:37 So Matt won, and last minute, my husband decided that we were just going to go for it.
01:06:43 We were just going to go to Finland anyway.
01:06:45 So we got some plane tickets last minute and decided to go do the dark horse in Ulu.
01:06:51 An air-off is like extra innings of a baseball game, you know, over time, sudden death.
01:06:59 It's the thing where it's just one person versus the other, and they play a song, and you pick an order.
01:07:08 In this particular case, I had to go first, and he went second.
01:07:11 And then they played the song, we heard it once, and then I had to go and air-guitar to that song.
01:07:16 And then he got a chance to air-guitar to that song after hearing it one more time.
01:07:20 They chose Weezer, "Hash Pipe," and I immediately recognized the song.
01:07:24 And so all of a sudden, I'm like, "Finally!"
01:07:27 Now I'm getting a song that I'm familiar with, but I'm also thinking about it and listening to it.
01:07:31 And I'm like, "This is like the same riff over and over again."
01:07:35 Like, there's not a lot of dynamics in this song.
01:07:38 It is not a song I would ever choose to do air-guitar to competitively.
01:07:42 He's performing, but I'm not really paying attention to him, because I'm still working on the song,
01:07:46 and I'm trying to figure out something to do.
01:07:49 And I identify one moment of the song with this rising guitar lick.
01:07:53 I think back to a competitor from D.C. named Tommy Fretless,
01:07:59 who I saw do this amazing move where he climbed up the neck of the guitar.
01:08:03 And I immediately was like, "That's my move. That's going to be my signature move in this second round."
01:08:09 It was all coming down to this moment, and I'm playing the riff as best as I can remember it,
01:08:14 and I'm just shaking my hair around and shaking my hips and doing all the sticks,
01:08:19 and I think I'm getting most of them right.
01:08:22 And then it comes to the rising guitar part, and I do the Tommy Fretless move.
01:08:27 I just put one hand here and another hand here, and I slowly bring myself up on the guitar.
01:08:32 And everybody goes, "Ahh!" And it was just like the backwards thing.
01:08:36 I knew it when it happened. I knew that I had won in that moment.
01:08:41 So thank you, Tommy Fretless. Tommy Fretless, thank you. You're amazing.
01:08:47 And finally, I knew that I had won and that it was over.
01:08:51 My knees were weak. I just fell down, and I was basically falling apart on stage with this huge permagrin.
01:08:58 Just even thinking about it now makes me really happy.
01:09:01 They come out and they give me the guitar, the Flying Fin custom guitar that that guy designs every year.
01:09:07 And they start playing Neil Young, "Rockin' in the Free World,"
01:09:09 and all of my new friends from all over the world come up behind me,
01:09:13 and I'll start dancing and rocking out and playing that.
01:09:16 And I start fake playing the real guitar.
01:09:19 And then I realize, "Oh, wait, wait, wait. This is a total sellout move.
01:09:23 I'm not going to pretend to play their guitar."
01:09:26 So I take the real guitar and I put it behind my back with the straps still on, and I start playing air guitar.
01:09:33 And I'm doing that. I had that moment on stage where I realized I don't want to be a complete fraud.
01:09:38 And Hot Licks comes up to me and sees that it's draped on my back,
01:09:43 and it might hit the ground or fall off worse because I'm rocking out.
01:09:47 And he kindly takes it from me so that I can go crazy.
01:09:52 I was pretty thrilled to get second.
01:09:54 We were both pretty excited about it.
01:09:56 There's a picture somewhere of the two of us holding up our fingers,
01:10:00 and one and two, and all excited.
01:10:03 We just kept giggling for days, literally giggling,
01:10:06 because we were hanging out with the air guitar community in Worlds.
01:10:09 You go out and you do these trips and stuff like that.
01:10:11 And we'd just be walking around and just start laughing
01:10:14 because it was so absurd that we had finished one and two.
01:10:18 I can't believe that this happened.
01:10:20 I can't believe that all those people helped me get here,
01:10:25 and I'm here, and I'm in this moment, and it just seems surreal.
01:10:30 And I know it's just the Air Guitar World Championships,
01:10:33 but man, I worked really hard for a long time to get there,
01:10:37 and it was a great moment to actually have it happen.
01:10:44 The moment that I actually won, and I was walking off stage,
01:10:48 whoever was running social media for the Air Guitar World Championships
01:10:51 at that moment, Facebooked the winner, and they wrote,
01:10:55 "Mean Melvis wins!"
01:10:58 Even after winning, they're still mispronouncing my name.
01:11:01 So now I'm Melvis in Finland.
01:11:03 Every time I go back to Oulu, I'm Melvis, which is a term of affection.
01:11:06 When I got home, everyone had signs, and they were holding them up,
01:11:09 and they were cheering, and probably the other people in the airport were like,
01:11:12 "Who's this guy? What's the big deal here?"
01:11:16 Because I had that feeling, you know, when you're on stage performing,
01:11:19 you think for a brief moment, "All my friends are watching me at home."
01:11:23 To see them all there the moment I got off the plane was pretty amazing.
01:11:28 [crowd chanting]
01:11:40 [crowd cheering]
01:11:44 I had my guitar with me, so I pulled out the guitar,
01:11:47 and I was showing it off and everything.
01:11:50 It was just a really, really great moment.
01:11:53 [music]
01:11:55 2016 Worlds came up, and I showed up late.
01:11:58 I showed up the day of the Dark Horse contest itself.
01:12:02 So my plane landed, got in a cab, and I went to the hotel,
01:12:05 and I just changed really quick and ran to the venue.
01:12:08 And when I got to the venue, the contest had just started.
01:12:11 It's just so intense in there at how bad people want to win it.
01:12:15 I'm just so confident that the U.S. is always going to do good,
01:12:18 so I know that competing against Mom Jeans that year
01:12:21 and competing against the Marquis that year,
01:12:23 I knew that they were going to definitely make it into Worlds.
01:12:27 For the Dark Horse itself, I was just cheering everybody on.
01:12:31 I didn't win the Dark Horse.
01:12:33 It didn't matter, though, because they take a big group of people from that Dark Horse.
01:12:37 And that was my whole goal there was just to make the second round of that,
01:12:40 just to get that top tier so that I could make it into the show.
01:12:43 So the next day, though, I was competing against everybody.
01:12:46 So I just saw the Marquis get perfect scores in the Dark Horse,
01:12:51 and I was like, "Yeah!"
01:12:53 And then I woke up, and I was like, "Fuck! He's so good!"
01:12:58 I was so stressed out that whole day because I just didn't want to tie anybody.
01:13:01 My whole goal was just don't tie.
01:13:03 Lose? Cool. Just don't tie.
01:13:08 I had the absolute best time.
01:13:10 We were in front of 5,000 or 6,000 people in Ulu,
01:13:14 and I wasn't nervous at all.
01:13:16 I just--as Mom Jeans Genie, just being this fun character,
01:13:20 people love Mom. It's an international thing.
01:13:23 Everybody's got a mom somewhere.
01:13:24 I had little kids chanting "IET" in the front row,
01:13:27 which is "Finished for Mom," which was so cool.
01:13:31 The contest was going on, and I was kind of--
01:13:34 I was feeling pretty good about it, and everybody's doing really, really good.
01:13:37 I was just not paying attention to the contest itself.
01:13:40 I was just so stressed out about, again, just not tying anybody.
01:13:43 I was cheering everybody on. I was kind of watching it,
01:13:45 but I was just ignoring the scoreboard.
01:13:47 It went by so fast.
01:13:48 Everybody competing, it just felt so, so, so fast.
01:13:52 My round one went really, really good,
01:13:54 but the important thing, I think, about the round one
01:13:56 is that the crowd--I got a really good pop in the crowd in the front,
01:14:00 but the pop that I got before my song started, before I pointed up,
01:14:05 was really, really good.
01:14:07 So that means that they were buying into whatever I was--
01:14:09 into the whole character that I was doing, being all cutesy and stuff like that.
01:14:12 They all liked that a lot, but they bought into the character right off the bat.
01:14:16 I was going last in the second round,
01:14:21 and me and Kareel--Kareel was in second place.
01:14:25 So already I was like, "Fuck, this is really going to happen again.
01:14:29 This is really going to happen."
01:14:31 But the round two I was happy about because it was a really hard round two song.
01:14:34 It was so fast, and there were a lot of switches in the middle of it,
01:14:37 and there were a lot of really quick, quick, quick little guitar moves in there
01:14:41 that I was able to just catch a lot of them.
01:14:43 And since I was going last, I was able to come up with a pretty good round two.
01:14:48 And by the time that I went out,
01:14:50 I don't think I watched a single other person's round two.
01:14:53 I wasn't worried about people coming up with the moves that I was coming up with.
01:14:56 I just knew that people weren't coming up with moves in the spots
01:14:58 that I was picking them to do the move.
01:15:01 And when the scores came up in the second round, I was afraid to look.
01:15:05 And then Bjorn was like, "Holy shit!"
01:15:07 And then I looked over, and there were so many sixes.
01:15:09 I got straight sixes in the--
01:15:12 When you drop the high to low, I got 666'd it.
01:15:14 So I was pretty good.
01:15:18 I cried that night too. I cry a lot after a guitar contest.
01:15:21 But it was for a different reason. I was pretty happy.
01:15:27 I was like, "I'm the best in the world."
01:15:38 I did really well in that show.
01:15:40 I placed third behind USA and Russia.
01:15:46 But I'm back for a little bit more,
01:15:49 and this year I would like to try to win.
01:15:51 Every year that I would go to nationals,
01:15:55 it would get harder and harder to be competitive.
01:15:58 You're just watching these amazingly talented, creative people
01:16:03 take this tiny art form, this ridiculous thing,
01:16:08 and expand on it and try to make it bigger and better and weirder and more exciting.
01:16:14 And watching the directions that people go in has always been the best part.
01:16:19 To see another routine that blows your mind when you think you've seen everything.
01:16:24 So I'm really glad that I'm not competing anymore,
01:16:27 and I can now just go to these shows and enjoy everybody's work and everybody's effort.
01:16:32 Because I know how much time they put into it,
01:16:36 how much of their heart and soul they pour into that one minute of ridiculousness.
01:16:41 Air guitar, it's just going to keep getting better.
01:16:44 It's just going to keep getting weirder, and people are just going to keep pushing it.
01:16:48 It's like you have a sandbox, and you don't want to play in that sandbox.
01:16:52 You have this limitation that's put on you,
01:16:55 and within that limitation there's a lot of things that you can do that are new.
01:16:59 A lot of ways to innovate, and a lot of ways to make that one minute exciting.
01:17:04 That's our only limitation, is the time.
01:17:06 It's just going to get weirder and more fun and crazier.
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