Birds do it, Bees do it. Even Educated Fleas do it, well Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers anyway, and Queen’s Brian May is a big fan too.

I am of course talking about Air Guitar, a phenomenon previously confined to the bedrooms of teenage boys and now an active past-time for boys who never grew up the world over.

Now there’s a new craze sweeping the Southern States of America, Christian Air Guitar, which sees congregations of thousands trashing their air guitars in time with the hymns. Bands in churches, especially those of a more evangelical vent, are not a new invention, but this new form of godly Christian participation arguably is.

The man who started it is Rev Jim Peterson from Athens Tennessee. A self confessed Beatles fan and air guitar lover, this man of the cloth designed to combine these pastimes with his love of God. Now, just three months on, the craze is sweeping the bible belt faster than a bush fire. “It’s amazing” Reverend Jim told us “proof indeed that the Lord moves in mysterious ways.”

Rev Jim’s Beatles reworkings have also had the thumbs up from old thumbs up himself, Paul McArseny. The mop-topped Just For Men using multi-millionaire is said to be delighted that the Beatles music is reaching a new audience, a delight no doubt influenced by the forthcoming album of Christian Beatles Classics.

Music analysts are already predicting that the album will go multi-platinum, netting Apple Corps as well as Rev Jim Peterson millions of dollars.

Mr Damian asked Rev Jim what he would spend his new found wealth on, “crack, porn and hookers” seemed to be the main gist of it, although he promised to “give some of it to charity I suppose” too.

Posted by damian at August 10, 2004 09:05 AM | TrackBack