Poppa K

The Carolina Union Activities Board recently put on the third annual Air Guitar Competition. The object of the competition is to pantomime playing playing guitar and to get into rocker character and go crazy. There were about seven participants, two of which were PMA brothers. They competed under the names "Mystery Meat" and "Prisoner 2013100" (Prisoner 2 for short). In the first round of competition, the contestants performed a 60-second bit they had rehearsed and prepared. For the second round, they were given a clip they had not heard beforehand and had to play along.


In the small group that showed up (it was snowing that day), most people were aware of an older couple in the audience who seemed to be having just as good a time as the students. They were... I'm guessing in their sixties? Anyway. After the last round of the competition, the emcee asked the couple "So... do you guys have a kid here or something?" The man responded no. "You just walked in off the street?" Something like that. "Do you wanna give it a shot?" Of course! "What's your rocker name?" A brief pause... then the man replied:

"My name. Is Poppa K."

He got up on stage, took of his shoes, picked up his invisible guitar and strapped it over his shoulder. He gave the cue to the sound guy and the music began. Where the other air guitar players had gone wild, Poppa K took it slow and worked the guitar soft and smooth. The song was a sort of fountain of youth for him as he got more and more into it. The crowd went wild; college kids always love seeing people their parent's age doing the dumb shit they find fun! The song drew to a close and in a brilliant flash of youthfulness, Poppa K surprised everyone by jumping off the three-foot stage toward the judges. As he landed, the thud echoed through the stunned silence in the room. Once the crowd realized he had not been seriously injured, they cheered and applauded and went crazier than they had for any of the other participants!

"Did you hurt your foot doing that?" asked the emcee.

"Oh hell yes I did!" Poppa K responded as he limped across the audience to his wife.

At the end of the air guitar competition, they played 'Free Bird' and invited everyone to air-guitar along.

Mystery Meat won the competition, the prize for which was a $100 check. I gotta say, Prisoner 2 gets special kudos for staying in a very difficult character for a period of about three hours, much of that time being spent in a straight jacket! Myself and three other PMA guys helped Poppa K get to his car after the competition. He said that if he could have done it again, he would've jumped off the stage again, too. He had a blast - and you know what? I did too. Here's some pics I lifted from Facebook:

Mystery Meat

Prisoner 2

The Emcee, Paul, Me, Stanley, Poppa K, and Mystery Meat rockin out to Free Bird