In 2010, The Fro got a little dark on us!
Tapping into the edgier side of music, and learning there is an inner
darkness we must all struggle to control, TF's new leather trench coat, full black and white super suit,
and darker air guitar songs reflect his new inner struggle with
good and evil. His tour ended with biting the head off of a
bat and spitting blood on stage (a la Ozzy Osborne). Yeah, kinda
creepy.
Kicking off the year with a broken toe,
due to practicing barefoot for US Air Guitar, the Fro deferred
his usual competition in DC, and instead chose to enjoy it as a
fan.
"I've air guitared upside down 15ft off
the ground, fallen down stair wells, and gone to nationals with a
sprained wrist. A broken toe just brings me closer to what
US Air Guitar is all about - ... once I figure out what that is, I'll
tell my agent, and his mom will email you," said The Fro.
He and then flew up to Milwaukee, met some new
air friends up there and competed on stage at the Stone Fly Brewery. Not
getting enough of the fun, Fro flew on his air guitar to Portland,
meeting some old friends and rockin' out late into the night at Dante's, only to
get back to his hotel for a 1hour nap before jumping back on the plane
to reality.
To polish off the year, TF nailed 2nd place
in the party capital of the world, Las Vegas, at
non-other-than The Hard Rock Cafe!!
"If you’re not gonna win, 2nd place by a 10th of a point is the next best thing! :)" said The Fro.
Below are some photos of The Fro's 2010, four city tour in
Airadice.
Yep, that's what I get for practicing airguitar with out
shoes. Kids don't try this at home. Ok, try it, but don't say I
didn't warn you.
Hanging upside down from a ladder-high podium, wailing on the second
round. (Photo by the Frotastic Janis Marie
Photography).
Catching some air at the Hard Rock. Notice the Van Halen speakers in the
back! (Photo by the awesome StartdustFallout.com)
Special thanks to two amazing shredders and gentlemen of air, Mean
Melin and Whalin BigAir, who popped
fireworks at the end of TF's round one before they each went on stage and
performed their own magic shows.
Up in smoke! Uhh guys, didn't you say this was a non-smoking club?
(Photo by the frodicious Janis Marie Photography)
The Fro does a military themed performance, ripping his Fro off half-way
through, getting shot, and revealing a helmet with a bulls-eye on top, all in
the name of "Make Air Not War".
TF and Hotlixx, with HL wearing the Fro! :) (Photo by my
Mother-In-Air Janis Marie Photography)
TF settles in to start off his second round with a bat, poor little guy didn't
know what was coming next. Okay, PETA, before you freak, it was a rubber
bat, and TF had blood packs in his mouth - geesh! "The
head was kinda chewy, like a large wad of 16.5 day Bazooka gum," said
The Fro.
Chris (the Fro's alter ego) with fellow Air man, The Shred
- this year's dominator in DC. Choo choo!!
Official debut of the "Back in Black" air guitar
session in Milwaukee.
The Fro and Bjorne Turoque Milwaukee
The Fro and Mrs Fro in Milwaukee, complete with new souvenir
"air head" bands.
Milwaukee FreeBird! To the right, none other than
the Lost Heartbreaker!
The Fro takes 5th in Nationals!
Friday August 7th, The Fro became the 5th ranked
best US Air Guitarist of 2009! Competing at the world famous 9:30
club in Washington DC to an elbow room only crowd.
"I've never seen such an amazing show. Call
the plastic surgeon, my face is officially melted," said The
Fro.
The entire show was themed in a patriotic fashion for the mother
city. Red, white, and blue balloons, flags, fans, foam hands, attire, and
confetti were passed out or rained down on the (estimated) 1200+ crowd.
Once you see the video below, you can also see how we made the C-Diddy
statue: The Making of C-Diddy
See some great photos below. More to come once we scour the Internet!
Witness history in the making The Fro pays homage to
C-Diddy, the Godfather of Air Guitar using the quintessential Air Guitar
song "Do You Wanna Play?" by
Extreme
Here are a couple of shots from the one day run to D.C.:
All 25 state winners and the founders of US Air Guitar gather for a press
conference before the show. There were discussions of hotdogs, how we pick
our songs, practice, and a wrestling match between "Air Bear" the
mascot and a contestant (if you have a video link, please send
it to us!)
The Fro lights a ceremonial candle to C-Diddy. Boy those smoke machines
were on in full force!!
The Fro bows to C-Diddy in supplication.
The Fro throws finishing punch to the ground.
The Finalists: The Shred, The Fro, Airisol, William Ocean, Dreamcatcher, and Sanjar
Monday, June 1st, The Fro won the Atlanta Regional US Air Guitarcompetition.
"I'm proud to be able to represent my birth state in the finals,"
said The Fro. (He was hatched in Villa Rica, GA waaaay too many years
ago!)
Sunday and Monday TF spent two Fronanimously cool evenings with the
guys on tour at The
Orange Peel in Asheville, and The
Earl
in Atlanta. Those nights, he and Mrs. Fro met some of the most amazing
shredders the SouthEast has to offer.
US Air Guitar 2009 is a tour of 25 cities, where Air Guitarists get on stage for 2 minutes and play their heart out to their favorite tunes. Wild costumes, insane music, and dangerous stage stunts are the order of the night.
If you have never been, it IS a night to
remember! Buy a ticket!
Here is USAG's awesome BLOG
about that biblical night, written by the Frotabulous West Hays. Did you
attend there or in Asheville? If so, send
The Fro your photos!
Here is a video of the battle royale between Godzilla
and the Fro!
Here are a couple of shots from the two night trip to Asheville and Atlanta:
The Fro splits in Asheville after hearing a fabulous score from one of the
judges.
Beautiful B&W Photo Courtesy of the Frodiscious Anthony
Bellemare
The Fro tries to keep up with ultra-star World Air Guitar Champion Hot
Lixx, flanked by the totally awesome 2009 Nashville Regional champ
and 6 year veteran Stryker on the right, and 2009
Asheville Regional champ, The Electric T ' on the
left, and in the far left airing out his feelings
is the uber-amazing Bjorn Turoque.
Does Freebird get any better than this?!?
Ending shot of the night, as The Fro finishes up a power cord, sporting his
freaking awesome USAG wrist band. It ONLY absorbs Air
Guitar Sweat!! (special silk from Zimbabwe)
Some Press:
Atlanta's Creative Loafing:
"...it was the Fro’s first round score of 6, 6 and
6 that earned him a spot in the national competition going down in Washington D.C. in August.
" - Chad Radford Thanks for your support
Chad! :) read
more...
"... The celebration of fake guitar-playing brought out the unabashed practitioners of air guitar awesomeness. The winner of the night was The Fro. Rock on."
- Jessica Cargle Thanks for the awesome photos,
Jessica!
The Fro made a brief appearance on The Giant Show on
Project 9-6-1 with 96rock
WKLS in Atlanta Tuesday morning - that was just cool.
One of the judges was none other than Carlos the ODM (Old Dirty Mexican), one of
the guys from the show. Thanks for your support
Carlos! :)
He also landed an interview in Asheville with Amy Jones from the Asheville
Citizen Times (article link forthcoming)
Thanks for showing the tour some love, Amy!
(More photos and videos to come!)
VERY Special thanks to:
West Hays, Kriston Rucker, Brian Carsten, Bjorn Turoque, Hot Lixx, Stryker, and Eric
(the guy from Boones Farm!) for putting an amazing and exhausting tour. YOU
GUYS are what makes this show special.
I'll be hanging my prized new USAG/Boones poster in my
office and throwing horns like a 13year old and his Led Zeppelin poster!
Air Guitar 2008 Washington DC, Seattle, and Portland!
East Coast
The Fro went to Washington DC to rock out with the US Air
Guitar 2008 competition in the 9:30 Club. The world famous 9:30
club has hosted Bob Dylan, The Beastie Boys, The Red Hot Chili Peppers,
The Police, Cindy Lauper, the Go-Gos, The Bangles, and more!
Alas, the show was not a smooth ride as one might think.
Washington D.C. was hit by a huge storm that evening, taking out power
in the city, flooding some streets, and leaving some people with no
DirectTV. It was insane. See video below!
First a VERY Special Thank You to Janis
Marie Photography, for the tour's quintessential shot of The Fro
reaching Airness (to the left)! Janis, you are Frodacious!!
To continue the drama, about 2 hours before
the show was to begin, The Fro realized he left his carefully prepared
CD containing the music for his show. Without this, The Fro would
have no way to compete! He happened to luckily bring his sliced
and diced tune on his MP3 player for practicing backstage. With
one trip to a Kinkos, one to a Best Buy, and the sheer selfless help of
"Forrest", the super friendly and handsome gentleman to the
right, The Fro was able to make his CD and save the show.
"Thank you Forrest!!!" - The Fro
Of course, Fate has a sense of humor and
decided to let us ride behind an old truck full of tires as we raced
into D.C. trying to make up for lost time.
Balcony shot before the show!
We made it fine though, and here are a few
shots from the show: Moonwalking...
Splits...
The Fro flexing those rippling pecs to
emphasize Bjorn Toroque's comment that The Fro was ...
"ahem...sinewy".
The Fro's favorite shot - Right after
everyone jammed to Freebird, The Fro grabs a shot with Bjorn, the front
man for US Air Guitar.
West Coast
The Fro also rocked out with the awesome folks in
Seattle and Portland!!
You can read U.S.A.G.'s blog here: http://usairguitar.blogspot.com
Look for the Seattle/Portland section. I felt like this is where I
really became part of the U.S.A.G family - Hot Lixx, Kriston, Bjorn,
West, and the other team mates whose names I didn't grab! That's a sweet bunch of "air"
heads - much love for ya, guys!
Chop Suey in Seatle
The Chop Suey Stage
The Fro and Mass
Hystereo, the MOST generous rocker in
the Air Guitar circuit. Mass traded his 12th place position
with The Fro's 1st place position. 1st place is THE hardest spot,
because the Judges are as rough as sandpaper to start out. By doing so,
Mass directly helped the Fro land his 3rd place position in
Portland. Thank you, Mass Hystereo - I
couldn't have done it without you!!
The Fro playing Smoke Guitar at Dante's in
Portland.
Freebird and sillystring - The Fro and
everyone else gets jiggy on stage to finish the show. Another
awesome shot from Janis! :)
The U.S.A.G. bus - very coooooool.
The Fro Placed in Each City. He snagged:
4th place in DC out of 23
3rd place in Portland out of 22
2nd place in Seattle (lost
by 3/10ths of a point!!) out of 16+
Next year... number 1 baby! Already cooking
up a wig full of ideas. :)
A special thank you to my man Trey
for recommended "Crazy Train" by
Ozzy Osborne and Randy Rhoades. That was a huge hit for the crowd!
Washington Times:
"A huge crowd came out to the 9:30 Club
Wednesday, June 4, 2008 for the U.S. Air Guitar Championships. This is
the sixth year that the United States has held a championship
competition. Twenty-four cities across the country hosted competitions,
and the winner of each will go on to San Francisco to compete in the
National Championships in August. That winner will represent the United
States in the World Air Guitar Championships in Finland. photos by
Barbara L. Salisbury June 19, 2008" The latest
gallery is here - look for "Air Guitar": http://www.washingtontimes.com/media/photos/
The Fro is not sure how long those photos will be
available, so he's borrowed a couple of them below:
"The Fro" has a drink backstage at the 9:30 Club while waiting to find out if his first-round score in the U.S. Air Guitar Championship was high enough to advance him to the
compulsory round. Twenty-three competitors came out to the 9:30 Club on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 to try their best at playing air guitar. The winner moves on to the National Championships, which take place in San Francisco in August.
(Barbara L. Salisbury / The Washington Times)
"The Fro" mentally prepares himself to go on stage during the U.S. Air Guitar Championships at the 9:30 Club on Wednesday, June 4, 2008. (Barbara L. Salisbury / The Washington Times)
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