The 6th Annual Air Guitar Championships ^[1] are coming to Minneapolis June 13 at Varsity Theater ^[2].

From the press release:

Each US Regional will each consist of two rounds. In Round 1, each competitor performs to a song of their own choosing. In Round 2, the top competitors from Round 1 perform to a surprise compulsory song. In each round, contestants perform for one minute of a song and are judged on a combination of technical merit, stage presence, and “airness.” All guitars must be invisible. In each city, the jury is a panel of independent judges that are hand picked by US Air Guitar. The results of the jury cannot be protested.

One winner from each city, and defending champ William Ocean will be brought to San Francisco in August 2008 to compete in the US Air Guitar Finals for the crown of US Air Guitar Champion. The 2008 US Champ will then be sent to Oulu, Finland later that month to represent the USA in the World Championships, where he or she will compete against national champions from all around the world.

It’s $21 real (visible) bucks to register ^[3]. More info here ^[1]. Also, be sure to watch the trailer from the award-winning documentary “Air Guitar Nation ^[4].”

So let’s not fool ourselves — this is poor performance art requiring large quantities of alcohol to actually pull-off, right?