The Rockness Monster Wins 2005 U.S. National Air Guitar Finals

Press release
Source: airguitarusa.com

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, held Thursday, July 14 at the Key Club in Hollywood.

The evening began with Rockness defeating a formidable lineup in the LA Regional, including 2003 LA champ Krye Tuff, 2004 Minneapolis champ Michael "Mother" Rucker, and top contenders such as Ari "Power" Gold and "Pscyho Dave" Roberts.

In the US Finals, Rockness went on to compete against 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)

In the first round of the US Finals, both Rockness and Bjorn Turoque received perfect scores from the entire jury, made up of Nina Gordon of Veruca Salt, John Cho of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Paul Doucette of Matchbox 20 and Ben Moody, founder of Evanescence. Rockness performed a blistering, perfectly timed rendition of the Jane's Addiction song "Stop."

But it was the second round, where the top three performers had to perform to the same surprise song that made the difference. It was tied between Rockness and Bjorn Turoque, with William Ocean in 3rd. The song was the Scorpions' "Rock You Like a Hurricane." Setting a new US scoring record, Rockness scored perfect 6.0s across the board again, narrowly edging out Bjorn Turoque, who receved one 6.0 and three 5.9s. The sell-out crowd was torn, but in the end pulled behind local favorite and 2004 LA champion Rockness.

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 "threepeat" 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.

"In a time of global uncertainty, we are demonstrating that there is at least one area in which the USA can dominate without controversy -- air guitar," said event co-founder Kriston Rucker. "But now that we're on the map, all the other national champs will be determined to relieve us of the crown."

Fellow founder Cedric Devitt added, "by taking air guitarists out of the bedroom and putting them up on the national stage, it seems that air guitar is finally being accepted as a serious competition."

The US Air Guitar Championships has grown from two cities to seven. The event has been covered in numerous TV, radio and print outlets, including CNN, Newsweek, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, Fox News, NPR, Rolling Stone, the BBC and many more. Champions have appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Howard Stern, ABC's Switched! and more. The Rockness Monster will be appearing on the Today Show on
Monday, July 18.

A feature documentary about the US Air Guitar Championships is being produced by Magical Elves, producers of NBC's "Last Comic Standing" and HBO's "Project Greenlight"; and Anna Barber.

Rules of competition

Contestants perform for one minute to a song of their choice and are judged on a combination of technical prowess, stage presence and "airness" -- the elusive quality of transcending the imitation of an existing art form -- ie playing guitar - and creating a totally new art form -- air guitar."

Prizes

The winner of each regional competition receives a free trip to the US Finals, where he or she must compete against the other regional champions for the right to defend America's honor on the world stage.

The winner of the US Air Guitar Championships receives a free trip to the Air Guitar World Championships, held in Oulu, Finland every August.

For more information, see www.airguitarusa.com.

Air Guitar World Championships

The 2005 US Air Guitar Champion will move on to the Air Guitar World Championships, held every August in Northern Finland. Currently in its tenth year, there are official national championships in the USA, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and the United Arab Emirates, with more countries participating every year.

For more information, see www.airguitarworldchampionships.com .

For PRESS and GENERAL INQUIRIES please contact:
Cedric Devitt, cdevitt@tribalddb.com / (917) 679-8987
Kriston Rucker, contact@airguitarusa.com / (917) 669-9412
www.airguitarusa.com