USA’s Hulahan Aces Air Guitar Championship

When holding an air guitar, one cannot be holding a gun.

By Blurt Staff

As previously reported in this space, Hot Lixx Hulahan (known to his ma and pa as Craig Billmeier) was crowned the 2008 Cuervo Black US Air Guitar earlier this month, defeating twenty-four challengers from around the country, all vying for the opportunity to represent the United States at the World Championships in Finland. The event brought 20 more challengers - this time from all around the globe - including two-time defending World Champion Ochi (Dainoji) Yosuke of Japan, as well as representatives from Russia, Australia, the United Kingdom, and South Africa.

On Aug. 20 Hulahan bested them all. "I honestly didn't think I had a chance," Billmeier said in a statement afterwards. "Don't get me wrong, I wanted to do good, to do everyone proud, to at least look decent on YouTube." (See below for Hulahan performing at the event.)

For winning the Air Guitar World Championship title, Billmeier was awarded a Finnish handmade Flying Finn electric guitar. Of his victory, he said simply, "I certainly did not expect this."

Dan Crame (Aka Bjorn Turoque), emcee of the Cuervo Black US Air Guitar Championships Tour, and star of the American feature film, Air Guitar Nation, was on hand to host the event (the first time the competition was hosted by a non-Finn). Crane said of Hot Lixx's compulsory round performance, "He couldn't have nailed the song more perfectly. Every move was precise and the audience was eating out of the palm of his hand." The judges concurred, giving Hot Lixx a near-perfect score. "I've never seen such a near-perfect score in the final round," Crane said. "Afterwards, everyone came up to him and said they were happy that if it wasn't them that won, they were glad it was Hot Lixx. He's just got that Air about him."

"It's certainly in keeping with the true heart of air guitar, which is World Peace," said US Air Guitar co-founder Kriston Rucker, referring to the Air Guitar Ideology which states that if one is holding an air guitar, one cannot, at the same time, be holding a gun. "I think it speaks to the old Air Guitar Ideology which states that if one is holding an air guitar, one cannot, at the same time, be holding a gun. I believe this victory validates the organizational initiatives we put into place following our three year drought at the world level. It also reaffirms that our talent pipeline is robust, and will only grow stronger with the global attention that Hot Lixx is bringing to our event."

Since its inception, US Air Guitar has sent a representative to compete for the World Air Guitar crown six times. This latest win marks the third time the United States has triumphed. 'With this win, America has just entered an Air Guitar dynasty,' said USAG co-founder Cedric Devitt. The US won the world crown in its first and second years in the world competition (2003 & 2004, respectively), but relinquished the throne in 2005 to Michael (Destroyer) Heffels of the Netherlands, and in 2006 and 2007 to Ochi (Dainoji) Yosuke of Japan.

Air Guitar World Championships Results With Scores:

1. Craig "Hot Lixx Hulahan" Billmeier (United States) 35.5
2. Andel "John Sniffler" Soree (Netherlands) 34.8
3. Cole "Johnny Utah" Manson (Canada) 34.7
4 Francois-Xavier "Master Peace" Phan (France) 34.4
4. Ichikawa the Rock (Japan) 34.4
6. Ochi "Dainoji" Yosuke (Japan) 34.2
7. Christian "Heart Buckboard" Sweep (Denmark) 33.5
8. Clay "Clay Bangers" Connolly (Australia) 33.4
8. Daniel "Midnight Moses" Robertson (United Kingdom) 33.4
10. Simon "Turak" Edwards (United Kingdom) 32.8
11. Ramsey James "Carlos Slazenger" Williamson (Greece) 16.6
11. Maxim "Angel of Death" Andro (Finland) 16.6
13. Daniel "Fahnderstruck" Faranna (Italy)16.5
13. Terje "Lord Fist" Stephansen (Norway) 16.5
15. Aikyu "Super IQ" Kanagawa (Japan) 16.4
16. Dirk "Lord Airness" Lüdi (Switzerland) 16.3
17. Heine "Lord Wolmer" van der Walt (South Africa) 16.1
17. Alexander "Devil Seducer" Gott (Russia) 16.1
19. Oskari "Knucklefinger" Martimo (Finland) 15.4
20. Aivar Meos (Estonia) 15.1