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• Full Moon Sports & Dance

A look inside Bubbaz Bar & Grill, 7526 N. Shadeland Ave. (Neal Taflinger for The Star)

Aimee Hayhurst, 23, was a contestant in the Guitar Hero competition at Bubbaz Bar & Grill. (Neal Taflinger for The Star)

Chris Cline, 24. A contestant in the Guitar Hero competition at Bubbaz. (Neal Taflinger for The Star)

DJ Alex B. (Alex Bodo), 39, hosted the Guitar Hero competition at Bubbaz. (Neal Taflinger for The Star)

10:28.p.m.

INtake Weekly's Bar Boy is in tune with this town like no other, so after peeping a post on Indy.com, Taffy traveled north to take a gander at a group of game-playin' guys and gals and riff on a Guitar Hero III battle.

DJ Alex B, known to his mother as Alex Bodo, announces that tonight's Guitar Hero III battle is imminent. I get my party started right with a frosty glass of water from the bar and head to the back of the bar, where a couple of tables full of people watch Christopher Cline slip the plastic axe over his shoulder. Cline selects "La Grange" by ZZ Top -- I can't tell you ah-how-how-how much I love that song.

For those who don't know, Guitar Hero is a hugely popular video game that tests a player's ability to play along with famous rock tunes on a simplified "guitar" console. The game allows the not-so-gifted to jam out with the all-time great pickers, challenges the timing and coordination of experienced musicians, and seemingly entertains anyone it comes in contact with.

Aimee Hayhurst, 23, tells me that the battles have been drawing a solid crowd, regulars from other businesses in the area. For a musical dude, I'm starting to think I have no timing: Every visit I make to a nearly-empty bar, I'm told that I am too early for the big crowd, or I just missed it, or it was great last week but this week, well, who knows. We watch Cline work his way through the song before disintegrating near the end in a fit of bonking video game noises that make it seem like he has flippers for hands.

10:35.p.m.

Hayhurst tackles "Rock & Roll All Nite," by Kiss, and flames out quickly with a 24.percent score but laughs it off. "I know I suck, but I try."

Wannabe guitar heroes compete for the top score each Tuesday and Thursday night at this Bubbaz location, which will be renamed Full Moon Saloon on the first of the year. Rather than foul the mood, the competitive atmosphere encourages more good-natured banter between the players and crowd than you'll get at most karaoke nights. Patrons shout out song selections and boo tunes they don't want to hear, and contestants generally accommodate them.

10:50.p.m.

I'm jotting something in my notes when I hear a performance go south quickly and dramatically. "Fine job; I hope that call's really important," DJ Alex B says. I look up to see the player lifting his cell phone to his ear mid-song. The DJ and crowd laugh as the player sets the pretend git-fiddle down and wanders off.

Alex B, 39, is a former local radio jock, but he's been working in bars and night clubs for two decades. When his FM career went off the air, he focused his energies on what had always been a sideline gig. He says save for a few guys in each city like DJs Indiana Jones, Paul Bunyon, and Rusty Redenbacher, standing around playing records is a thing of the past. Because of this, Alex B says, if you don't have a gimmick, you're out of luck.

11:13.p.m.

The Guitar Hero III battle is DJ Alex B's gimmick, and it's a good one, tonight's crowd notwithstanding. I would have laid down some hot licks myself were it not for a broken knuckle. For all the hype surrounding different clubs and parties, I rarely see people having so much fun in a bar. That, like a classic riff, is a thing of beauty.