Airing on the Side of Victory

Judge Brad Tursi, left, host Dan Crane and winner Lance Kasten at the D.C. round of the U.S. Air Guitar Championships. (Kris Coronado)

Ever seen hundreds of angry fists thrust in the air, simultaneously flipping the bird at the same person?

Those who attended the D.C. round of the U.S. Air Guitar Championships -- which we wrote about last Sunday -- did.

Their target? Army of Me guitarist Brad Tursi, one of the three judges at the showdown Wednesday night at the 9:30 club.

Tursi had just said: "I feel like you missed a couple beats" to Lance "The Shred" Kasten, bare-chested but for his sleeveless denim jacket with Megadeth, Metallica and Anthrax patches sewn on it.

It's clear that Kasten, 45, is a favorite with the crowd, which includes his 16-year-old daughter, Samantha. He first slashed and thrashed to Van Halen's "On Fire," then followed up in the second round with Boston's "Foreplay/Long Time."

When Tursi reveals his score, it's a 5.8 -- a tenth of a point less than the scores awarded by Army of Me band mate Vince Scheuerman and XM Radio's Billy Zero. (The scale starts at 4.0 and taps out at 6.0.) The 5.8 is enough: The D.C. area's best air guitarist is Kasten.

Tim "Six String General" Granlund, 23, the subject of our Insider feature, didn't make it to the second round. He's hardly discouraged; if anything, he's angrily determined. He mentions that he's going to start a massive online campaign, and this won't be the last of him. Then he moons the judges.

Kasten is exhilarated. His eyes are beaming as black eyeliner runs down his face. An air guitarist since the '70s, he's known U.S. Air Guitar host Dan "Bjorn Turoque" Crane since the two competed at the first U.S. Air Guitar event in New York in 2003. He came in third then, and victory has eluded the Severna Park resident until now.

"There aren't many dads that are out there ripping air guitar," he boasts.

-- Kris Coronado