No strings attached
Local air guitarist competes in San Francisco
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HANCOCK -- A dream may have just appeared out of thin air for a local performer. Drew Cramer was a finalist in the first annual Michigan Air Guitar Exhibition (MAGE) last month in Hancock during Juhannus. A video of him and another finalist, Marquette resident Tony Wallets, made its way to U.S. Air Guitar Championship organizers. The two were invited to compete for a chance to appear in the national championships.
Cramer will compete in the Dark Horse qualifier in San Francisco on Friday. Cramer said he is confident he will do well and make it to the national competition. "Yeah, I'm definitely winning the Dark Horse," he said. "There's some really good competitors though, so I don't know if I'll win nationals to go to the world competition."
Air Guitar has a long, rich history in Finland, so the obvious tie to the Keweenaw drew in many across the state for MAGE, hosted by Wolf's Head Film at The Orpheum last month. Wolf's Head Film President Daena Makela said he wants MAGE to be a nationally recognized, annual regional qualifier for U.S. Air Guitar competitions. "We thought, for the Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture, it would be very important to do our own version of an air guitar event," he said.
Cramer has a background in performance and thought he would be a great fit for MAGE, saying he only picked up the passion seven weeks ago. Cramer's manager, Jake Tenharmsel, joked about having a family history of air guitar wizardry. He originally was a judge for MAGE, having been a performer himself, and said he saw a fire in Cramer's eye meant for the big stage. "I wanted to just be a part of this firestorm of amazing talent and showmanship," he said. "He [Cramer] just kind of blew my mind."
Tenharmsel is accompanying Cramer to San Francisco for Dark Horse, and hopefully Nationals. Wolf's Head organized a crowdfunding campaign to help Cramer win big at Dark Horse and to cover travel expenses. A link can be found at wolfsheadfilm.com.
"The U.P. is a special place," Cramer said. "We have some of the most creative people that you can find. And it's fun when we get to show people what it's like inside of our little snow globe.”