The Legend of Air Guitar Boy

We were talking the other day about something we saw at the theater several years ago. In June of 1998, not long after MK and I were married and had moved to Illinois so I could go to graduate school, we went to go see the movie Mulan. I enjoyed the movie then and still enjoy it now, but it has never been as great as the first time we saw it. Partly this was due to the theater. The small town we lived in had a theater that offered first-run films at only $2 per ticket. This meant that on a limited grad student budget, we could go to the movies, get a drink (with free refills), popcorn (with free refills) and Twizzlers for $10. Not each. $10 total. Unfortunately, this theater went out of business a couple years later.

The biggest reason the movie was never quite as amusing after that first time was Air Guitar Boy. When the movie ended and the house lights came up, a family a few rows in front of us stood up and collected their belongings. There were several children in the family, but only one that really caught my attention. He was a pudgy child, around ten years old. As his family waited for a break in traffic to leave their row and walk down the exit aisle, the boy began to gyrate to the music playing over the closing credits. As if a fat child dancing spontaneously were not funny enough, the child busted out the air guitar. No, the song was not exactly heavy on guitar riffs, but that didn't matter to him. He played like C.C. DeVille on "Nothin' but a Good Time", jamming like there was no tomorrow. I nudged MK and nodded in the direction of the kid. We watched and chuckled quietly to ourselves. Eventually the boy realized that people had noticed him and came running down his row of seats to glare at us. Then, undeterred by an audience, he returned to the jam session.

We talked about this kid again recently and realized that if he were about ten years old then, he would be 18 now and probably finishing or already out of high school. No matter how old he gets, he will live forever in our memory as the pudgy air guitarist when we saw Mulan. He'll probably never know how much laughter his performance has brought to people over the years. I can only hope that I see him one more time and that it's on this.

Until later...