William Ocean Wins US Air Guitar Championship

Last night at Irving Plaza, Andrew "William Ocean" Litz became the 2007 US Air Guitar Champion. Ocean, who lives in New York City, used his home-field advantage to...his advantage. He had several of his supporters in the crowd to aid his performances - throwing water in the air (like an ocean, we suppose) and supporting him as he crowdsurfed. Ocean's moves were enough to move him from 2nd place entering the finals/compulsory round. He defeated 14 other air guitarists that qualified in regional US Air Guitar events, including 2006 US Champion Craig ‘Hott Lixx Hulahan’ Billmeier and Fatima "Rockness Fucking Monster" Hoang, who was in first entering the finals.

As the winner, Ocean received an "air" trophy, $1000 (actual paper, we believe), and a trip to Oulu, Finland to represent the United States in the Air Guitar World Championships. All that, plus the glory of being the best air guitarist in the nation and the love of air groupies everywhere.

To learn more about the cult of air guitar, we highly recommend the documentary Air Guitar Nation, which played at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival.

Photos of William Ocean, Hott Lixx Hulahan, Erin "McNallica" McNally, and other air guitar competitors by Tien Mao