Howard, whose motto is "pain is temporary, but air guitar is forever," has lived up to his words: injuries acquired while playing air guitar have forced him to undergo surgery on both his knee and his back. But his hard work paid off handsomely when he won the U.S. championships in July held at Chicago's Metro on Clark Street.

Howard, writhing onstage in Finland like a freaked-out Christian Bale in leather tasseled warrior's garb, lost first place to Germany's Aline "The Devil's Niece" Westphal. Aline won because she commanded "the audience and the prestigious jury to feed off her hand with her seductively energetic performance to Foo Fighter’s Pretender,'' according to organizers.

Third place went to Veronica “Like Ever Gin” Mullerova of the Czech Republic.

This was the 16th year for the competition, whose purpose "is to promote world peace. According to the ideology of the Air Guitar, wars would end, climate change stop and all bad things disappear, if all the people in the world played the Air Guitar. This is why the whole universe is invited to play the Air Guitar for the world peace at the end of the competition."

Men and women, lay down your arms and pick up your air guitars.