Is it a sport? A game? An artform? It may be hard to define, but it’s easy to see that air guitar is a lot of fun and immensely entertaining, and so is director Alexandra Lipsitz’s Air Guitar Nation, an utterly charming documentary about the young men (and a few women) who in 2003 competed both at home and abroad to determine whose “airness” would rule. Having visited Finland, the longtime home of the World Championship finale (who knew?), the previous year to check out the scene, Kriston Rucker and Cedric Devitt realized that no Americans were included, so they organized the first U.S., er, air-off in New York. It’s there that we meet guys who are restaurant managers, software developers, budget analysts, and such in daily life, but who assume names like Air Raid, Krye Tuff, and The Shred when they hit the stage and perform to the music of Motorhead, Judas Priest, Steve Vai, and others while the crowd goes nuts (judges include Tom Morello, who plays real guitar for Rage Against the Machine). Two stars emerge from the pack–David “C-Diddy” Jung (an Exeter-educated actor whose immigrant parents wanted him to be a doctor or lawyer) and Dan “Bjorn Turoque” Crane (”to err is human, but to air guitar is divine”)–and we follow them as they head to Oulu, Finland, to take on competitors from all over the globe (more than one of them compares the event to the Olympics). They must first endure Air Guitar Boot Camp, with lessons in “Air Guitar and Groupies” and “Maintaining Your Instrument,” but the film takes off when it gets to the competition itself; the performances, all of them about a minute long, are an absolute riot, with all the laughs (intended and otherwise), macho grimacing, and showy moves used by real heavy metal axe-grinders. But while these are basically young folks having a good time, most see air guitar as something, well, transcendent. “It’s instant meditation,” says one. “It’s about freedom to be yourself,” adds another. “I’m going to out-weird the world,” says C-Diddy. About 40 minutes of bonus material includes deleted scenes and additional performances. –Sam Graham
Customer Review: Make Air, Not War
Air Guitar Nation is a truly wonderful documentary on the United States first entry into the Air Guitar Championships. This film is just a great look into the comradery of international participants, the hell-bent fury of contestant, Bjorn Turoque, the intensity of the participants attending seminars on air guitar, etc. It will make you wonder, it will make you laugh, it will make you go “hmmmm”. Overall, it is an honestly fun movie.
Customer Review: wacky fun
“Air Guitar Nation” is probably the best documentary ever made about a non-subject. Air Guitar, for those unfamiliar with the term, is the art of playing heavy metal guitar sans the actual guitar. It’s what every spastic, tone-deaf teenager with dreams of one day becoming the next Jimi Hendrix has done in the privacy of his own bedroom since the late 1960’s. Who could ever have imagined that a whole subculture and cottage industry would one day spring up around an activity that most of us probably never admitted to doing even to our closest buddies?

Yet, that is exactly what has happened, and in its rise to semi-”respectability,” Air Guitar has gathered unto itself a bevy of impassioned, hardcore fans who see nothing crazy in cheering on a wannabe guitarist as he mimics the moves of actual music-making immortals like Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton on stage. Indeed, the Air Guitar movement even boasts its own roster of revered icons and pioneers and has established well-attended competitions on the local, national and international level as a means of showcasing its finest talents and garnering itself some much-needed publicity. The movie follows two of the key figures in the field, C-Diddy and Bjorn Turoque - each with his own very different hard rocker persona - as they head to the 2003 Air Guitar championship held in Oulu, Finland.

The basic charm of “Air Guitar Nation” lies in its ability to acknowledge the silliness of the whole concept while, at the same time, evincing a genuine, heartfelt affection for both the activity and those who participate in it. Indeed, far more time is spent getting to know the “musicians” as people than in watching them actually perform. What is most striking about the young men is just how reserved, shy and self-effacing they are by nature until they take to the stage and simply cut loose with all their wild gesticulations and antics at the behest of the adoring crowd. It is then that they become truly transformed, so much so that even the most cynical scoffer may find himself caught up in the spirit of the moment, sweating out the contest’s ultimate outcome right along with the participants. The men also face their inexplicable status as celebrities with a clear-eyed rationality, not taking themselves or their accomplishments all that seriously (their satirical names alone reflect that playful spirit), a fact that makes the whole thing at least palatable for those who still may not quite “get it” even after the closing credits have rolled on by. “BUY NOW”

Every rock music fan has heard the war; every rock guitarist has fought in the battles. Since the early fifties, two guitars made by two companies have been the superpower instruments fueling rock music. SOLIDOBODIES, The 50 YEAR GUITAR WAR focuses on the competitive influences of the Fender Stratocaster and the Gibson Les Paul. The film’s soundtrack and performance segments feature music played on those two guitars. Among those contributing commentary are Joe Bonamassa, named Best Blues Guitarist by Guitar Player Magazine’s readership in their 2008 Reader’s Choice Awards; Henry Garza, guitarist and singer with the Grammy-winning Los Lonely Boys; George Gruhn, the owner of Gruhn s Guitars who is considered to be one of the world s leading experts on vintage guitars; Derek Trucks, famed slide guitar virtuoso; and Richard R. Smith, the author of Fender: The Sound Heard Round The World which is often viewed as the definitive book about Fender guitars and Leo Fender.
Customer Review: Engaging Film
The Sound quality of Solidbodies is crystal clear, appreciated even by my (non-musician, though music-loving) ears. Thanks to Hornbuckle, I think I’ve finally found a piece of American music history my “Cliff Clavin” Brother-in-Law doesn’t know. This engaging film is fun, entertaining, and tastefully done. I could have easily watched more. The best of it is saved for last. I recommend it.
Customer Review: Missed Opportunity
Are you interested in comparing Les Paul and Stratocaster guitars? Then you will find this video interesting if it will play on your DVD player. I had no problem on my laptop, but the disk skipped and shuttered severly on three different relatively new DVD players. Amazon replaced what I thought was a defective disk only to be presented with the identical issues. So buyer beware on that possibility. Overall it was enjoyable if somewhat short IMO. More footage from some of the more prominent players would have been nice. Not really an entertainment piece, but interesting. “BUY NOW”