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Flugtag
The Rock N Roll Hall of
Fame
08-14-04
Well, I don’t even know quite how to describe this
bizarre event. Basically, a bunch of borderline lunatics build lightweight,
human powered “aircraft” and try to launch them off of a pier. You’ve heard
of the Wright Brothers? This is more like the Wrong Brothers. Although the
distance a craft travels is important, the originality of the craft and the
pre-flight “talent” portion of the competition count as well.
There were literally thousands of people who came out
to see the event. This whole deal is sponsored by Red Bull, and with all
that corporate money behind it, Flugtag is a pretty slick presentation
including play by play announcing, multiple video screens and PA systems,
and celebrity judges (Bootsy Collins and Billy Morris among them). The high
tech presentation was in stark contrast to the mostly low-tech craft being
launched.
Themes for craft including a flying book (well, it was
supposed to fly), flies hauling garbage to Pittsburgh, the Flintstones,
Popeye, and some football related thing about “the drive” that apparently
involved the Denver Broncos and the Cleveland Browns. Since I could give a
rats ass about sports, I had no idea what this was about, but there you have
it.
In all, I think there were about 25 teams, but the one
I came to root for was The Ghoulardi Glider, piloted by Akronite Bob
Ferguson. Bob’s flight crew was a motley assortment of characters
impersonating Superhost, Barnaby, and Mr. Jing-A-Ling. Bob was supposed to
be “Big Chuck” Schodowski (with a stuffed doll standing in for Lil’ John),
and the real live Son of Ghoul was there, too (not The Ghoul, as the
obviously ignorant announcer kept saying). Bob’s ship had a giant Ghoulardi
head on the front of it, and two arms holding pink flamingos and attached
wings like the ACME Batman costume Wile E. Coyote used in one of those old
cartoons. It flew just about as well, too.
By the time the Ghoulardi Glider took off, I had seen
about two hours worth of Flugtag, and it was only halfway through. I had
seen the judges score for my team, and although it was respectable, they
weren’t in the top 3. I had pretty much reached my limit of watching crazy
people plunge face first into Lake Erie, and with no chance for my team to
even place, decided to head back home. (Bob Ignizio)
For pictures, click
here.
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