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[KISS, "DETROIT ROCK CITY"] CHRIS ROBERTS: Jonathan Maki is a Milwaukee native turned Minneapolitan who says, at eight-years-old, when everybody else was playing house, he was playing band. It was a Kiss album brought over by his babysitter that got his creative juices or gestures flowing.

(SINGING) I feel uptight on a Saturday night

9 o'clock, the radio's the only light

JONATHAN MAKI: When you hear the bass from Gene Simmons and the drums from Peter Criss, you cannot help but just feel your hand just swiping your right leg and your left hand just going up and down that fretboard in the sky.

CHRIS ROBERTS: Eventually, Kiss became uncool in Maki's neighborhood, but that didn't halt the progression of his prodigious air guitar skills. Maki's interpretive genius first became apparent during his middle school years at a concert by Canadian prog rockers, RUSH.

JONATHAN MAKI: It was hard because I was competing against all the other air guitarists.

CHRIS ROBERTS: At the concert?

JONATHAN MAKI: Yes.

[RUSH, "TOM SAWYER"]

(SINGING) A modern-day warrior

Mean, mean stride

Today's Tom Sawyer

Mean, mean pride

JONATHAN MAKI: All my friends around me, they were just marveling at my talents.

CHRIS ROBERTS: What was so extraordinary about your talents at the RUSH show?

JONATHAN MAKI: Well, there's many things. You first have the dexterity that I have. But also, like, if you add in some rock star kicks, they're really nice. Sometimes, I don't know how to describe it. Making an F mouth gesture as if you're making an F or--

CHRIS ROBERTS: An F?

JONATHAN MAKI: An F.

CHRIS ROBERTS: Oh, I see. Kind of like the front teeth biting on the lower lip. F.

JONATHAN MAKI: Exactly.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

There's also the kind of look as if you're saying, why? Why me?

CHRIS ROBERTS: But you're actually grimacing in ecstasy because you're nailing a note?

JONATHAN MAKI: Yes, that is correct. Sometimes, if you're rolling around on the floor, that helps out with the stage performance. There's the surprised look. Like, whoa, where did that note come from? And then sometimes, you have to acknowledge the cute chick that's in the front row as well.

CHRIS ROBERTS: This might be a good time for me to underline what is, perhaps, obvious. Yes, playing air guitar is a predominantly male pursuit for both basic and profound reasons, which are better shared at a seminar than in this story. That said, there will be at least two female air guitarists performing in tonight's competition, which could be seen as a step forward or a step back for the women's movement. Back to Jonathan Maki.

[LED ZEPPELIN, "GOOD TIMES BAD TIMES"]

JONATHAN MAKI: The biggest mistake that air guitarists make are just the lack of flamboyancy, the lack of drive, the lack of heart. Some people just want to just look cool. But in order to look cool, you've got to feel cool.

(SINGING) Now I've reached that age

I've tried to do all those things the best I can

CHRIS ROBERTS: What do you look for in a good air guitar song? Obviously, the guitar solo.

JONATHAN MAKI: The guitar solo is really good. But something that is more of a minimal guitar riff because if you have too much guitar going on, then you can't be waving to the honeys in the balcony.

CHRIS ROBERTS: You mean, you can't emote?

JONATHAN MAKI: Yes.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

CHRIS ROBERTS: Music today, it seems like it's harder to find really good air guitar music. Guitar solos have been either cut in half or eliminated by a lot of bands that are on the radio now.

JONATHAN MAKI: There's new music today?

CHRIS ROBERTS: Oh, you listen to KQ?

JONATHAN MAKI: Are there other channels? If there are, I would love to hear. Bring it on. I don't understand that other stuff. Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

CHRIS ROBERTS: Did you ever reach a point where you thought, I think I might be getting a little too old for this?

JONATHAN MAKI: Well, after a few friends stopped seeing the wonder and the magic that I can create, I move on to new friends.

[INXS, "WHAT YOU NEED"]

(SINGING) Don't you know it's not easy

When you gotta walk on that line

CHRIS ROBERTS: You are a guitarist as well as an air guitarist. And I would think that you would be able to get enough out of actually playing the instrument. But it doesn't seem to fulfill you.

JONATHAN MAKI: Being a guitarist, I just kind of keep it around the house, make people think that I actually really play really well. And so I buy really, really expensive guitars, buy lots of cool buttons that go bling and

[SWISHING SOUND]

and

[DISTORTED SOUND]

So it's really cool to actually make it sound really cool. But I can't do much on the real guitar.

CHRIS ROBERTS: So you can't approach what you achieve on air guitar?

JONATHAN MAKI: No, not at all.

CHRIS ROBERTS: Jonathan Maki will be one of at least seven air guitarists overtaking the stage at the Triple Rock in Minneapolis tonight as part of the US air guitar regional championships. This is also Maki's first air guitar competition. The winner will be flown to Los Angeles for the national championships next week, and the winner there to Finland for the World Championships.

I'm Chris Roberts, Minnesota Public Radio.

[MUSIC PLAYING]