Air Goes Beyond There

“Unusual gesturing” was the New York Times description of Joe Cocker’s hand & body movements in 1969 when he performed at Woodstock– today it’s better known as air guitar. There’s even an annual event that’s held in Finland to see who is the best air guitarist in the world. 6 years ago it was Eric ‘Mean’ Melin. I knew him back when he only got as far as the regional competitions. He used to come in to Homer’s for coffee. This morning I was thumbing through a summer issue of the Smithsonian when I read an article with this picture at the top. Eric was quoted in the article as saying “…we want to express ourselves in a way that goes beyond what a ‘there’ guitar can do.”