No Stopping The World Air Guitar Champion

CBS Evening News: Craig Billmeier Has A Room For Practicing His Moves, Which Won Him The World Title In Finland

(CBS)  It's safe to say that Craig Billmeier will never get to Carnegie Hall But as the reigning world champion of air guitar, he practices as much the professionals who play real instruments do, as CBS News correspondent John Blackstone reports.

When Craig Billmeier is at his day job, you would never guess - "Right now," he said, "there's no stopping it - but like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly he goes through a nightly metamorphosis emerges as Hott Lixx Hulahan.

What many of us do only in private, playing air guitar, Hott Lixx revels in doing publicly.

He is the American air guitar champion. And, yes, there is a competition for that.

Hott Lixx has an air guitar workout room at home in Alameda, Calif. He demonstrates his moves, at one point seeming to play on a tiny guitar and then declaring, "I don't like the tiny guitar. Get rid of it!" and tossing the invisible instrument.

He say this is much like interpretive dance. An art form - seriously.

"You kind of want to embody what you're hearing and your body interprets it in a way," he says. Then, laughing a bit at himself, he says "This is totally nerdy," before continuing, "It's all about a faux persona being taken to some sort of stage."

It's on the world stage where the faux persona, Hott Lixx, is now playing, at the world air guitar championships held annually in Finland.

It's a contest, where there's plenty of hot air… guitar

But Hot Lixx's big finish blew away the competition. At 34, he became the air guitar world champion plucking victory right out of thin air.

[Soccer4u77]

This kid is the future of the Sport: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMZ87jYhiGk

[hawksprings]

If he would have spent that much time practicing a real guitar, he'd know how to play it...

dude.

[realitychec6]

what in the world??!! .... unbelievable!! .... there are a lot of sick people out there who actually fall for this kind of.... nothing.... It used to be that a person had to have talent to be noticed or become famous. Now, all you gotta do is be really weird. Air guitar .... sick, man, sick!! ....."Oh, look, isn't he great... look how well he can do ' nothing' !!! He'll probably be interviewed and display his 'talen't on all the TV shows now. When I was a kid I played piano on the kitchen table. Wish I had auditioned at Carnegie Hall!!!

[rational_1]

Apparently a challenger has appeared for Perez Hilton (celebrity blogger - LOL) to contest for the title of lamest 'career' ever.

[co2user]

Do you suppose he writes his own stuff?

[longtree-2009]

stupid, stuipid, stupid. air guitar, pretending to play, is just so stupid but more stupid are the people who actually pay attention to it, giving it a championship status. oh, oh..look at me i'm a pretend brain surgeon.

[billpl-2009]

finally, after thirty years, a rock act more lame than KISS

[mljohns00]

Anybody wonder what would have changed if Paul McCartney had learned Air Guitar or had joined a "Guitar Hero" band when he was a kid?

[mejordelahistoria]

wow, I can't believe this is news, if they at least would have told us about someone with talent.....