According to Steve Weinberger and Sarah Torribio, authors of “No Air Guitar Allowed,” those are descriptions of just some of the people you’ll find in concert audiences. We talked with Weinberger about concert crowds, as well what differentiates the folks found in concert-audience groups, such as the “Party Posse,” “Margarita Whoo Crew” and the “Beer Whoo Crew.”

Do you consider yourself the Jane Goodall of concert audiences?

I’ve been to over 1,000 concerts. So, I’d have to say I get a good feel for the audience. I have a good feeling now before I go to the shows. So I’d probably say yeah.

Are all personalities described in the book evident at all shows? Or do some shows attract only one or two of the types described in the book?

I’m finding that the classic rock shows tend to be more in the book. But you’ll find a lot of the characters at, say, House Of Blues general admission shows. They tend to pop up even at all-ages shows, especially. So it is kind of a potluck. But the classic rock shows, for sure. You see them all. It’s the greatest people-watching place.

How many years did you spend researching this?

My first show was in ’77. I saw KISS here in San Diego at the San Diego Sports Arena, and that was my first taste of rock concert etiquette. I saw all the joints being passed around. And that was OK, but nobody was smoking cigarettes. Like, why was this [marijuana] OK but this [cigarette] isn’t? That was when it was planted in my head that there’s a whole world out there at these shows that I wasn’t aware of.

So it’s almost as if your destiny was to write this book.

Yeah. You know, it’s funny. At my regular job I work in special education with adults and kids. But what happened was, I was teaching one day, telling a couple of my assistants about some shows I went to, and they couldn’t care less. They really weren’t into that stuff. Then one of my assistants told me, “You have so much useless knowledge. You should write a book.” And that was it, right there.

I had done so much research on the subject, and there are no books on the subject. There are types of etiquette blogs here and there, but nothing that really stretches the imagination with all the characters like we’ve done in the book. I’m the biggest geek in the book. That’s the thing. I’m kind of like the leader at the AA meeting. I’ve personally made every mistake in the book. I’m not trying to be above anybody. I love all the people that go to the shows. I’ve done it all. I guess you could say I’m an expert on it.

Do you know if the book has inspired any serious academic research?

Gosh. I don’t think so. It would be interesting to find out where it would go, how it lies on that cult concert perspective. Like “Heavy Metal Parking Lot” or “Spinal Tap.” I was thinking, the more and more I hear people talk about it, that have read it and reviewed it, I kind of get that feeling that this book really reaches out to the concertgoer in a different type of way. I think it’s just the way we dealt with each character, and I think people see themselves in the book, and it brings back a lot of cool memories. We’ll see what happens.

Is there an evolutionary ladder? For example, if someone starts out as the “Wasted Guy,” does he eventually evolve into the “Visible Circle Guy” or the “Crowd Cop?”

Absolutely.

Have you noticed any evolutionary patterns?

Of course, the alcohol has a lot to do with it. For instance, the “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Heideken” guy always turns into a loose cannon. And the “Creepy Old Guy” could be the “Divorce Guy.” The “Wasted Guy” is a little different because generally he is on his own and is sitting in a corner sometimes.

It’s funny how the “Wasted Guy” inspired me. I saw Matthew McConaughey at a Springsteen show, and he was in the pit with all the other celebrities. And they were tearing him off of the canvas after the show like a wounded football player. It was hilarious.

If the “Fart N Darter” marries the “Fight Chick,” what kind of children would they have?

I don’t think they’d last very long. Can you imagine all the fights? All the arguments? She’d go nuts. I don’t know how they would even have a chance.

But are some personalities more compatible than others?

The “Creepy Old Guy” and the “Divorced Guy” like to hang out.

But they’re not going to have kids.

I think they did end up together (at a Super Diamond show) and build a Craftsman-type house together. It’s at the end of the book. There are people, like the “Invisible Circle Guy,” who can hang out with the one who likes to dance. “Play That One Song Guy” is definitely going to have something in common with the “Other Lead Singer.” They’ll probably have some stuff in common.

And there are a few characters I still don’t get. The couple who go and film the whole show on their cell phone. I mean, why are they spending $75 for a ticket and then watching it on a 3-inch screen? I don’t get it. And the sound is awful.

The cell phone has evolved into the new lighter. There’s a picture in the book, the “Then & Now” where we show the two kids with the two parents. The parents holding up the lighters, the kids holding up the phones.

Do some personalities cluster together to form tribes?

I think so. You got the “Margarita Whoo Crews” and the “Beer Whoo Crews.”

And they can, in turn, have individual personalities within their cluster?

Yeah, but the “Margarita Whoo Crew,” it’s generally four women, usually the snobby types, and yeah, they could branch out into their own personalities, but they all come and do the same thing, too, because they don’t want to look bad in front of their friends. They generally get great seats but don’t pay attention to the show, except for the big hits.

The “Beer Whoo Crew” is like the drill team in high school, but not the cheerleaders. They’re the ones who didn’t make cheerleading. They’re the fun party girls that like to scream through the roofs. But they try to mesh together. They have the same personalities.

But they’re also the girls that are wearing the clothes. This is really evident at the classic rock concerts. They’ll still wear the Madonna tour shirts 20 years later even though it doesn’t fit them. It’s just a bad scene.

You mentioned older people having lighters while younger people use cell phones instead of lighters. When was the last time you flicked your Bic during a concert?

I don’t think I’ve ever done it. I wasn’t really a smoker. I always thought it was comical when people did it. Some people, when you look around, are really serious about it. Like when Foreigner plays a ballad.

Which artist’s audience consumes the most alcohol? Kid Rock’s or Jimmy Buffett’s?

I’d have to say Jimmy Buffett’s. Kid Rock gets a lot of kids, which lowers the accessibility of alcohol. When you go to a Jimmy Buffett show, people don’t want to sit in the good seats, they just want to sit on the lawn and drink. So I’ll have to go with Buffett, but only because of the accessibility factor.

Can you tell anything about a concertgoer by looking at his or her car?

The ones with the stickers all over them, like you see on an AMC Pacer. You know they’re going to be metal people. With the classic rock shows, like The Police, you’ll see a lot of Lexuses… If you go to a Robert Randolph or a Widespread Panic show you’re not going to see any Lexuses in the parking lot. Even now at Van Halen you’ll still see a lot of the old-school Dodges, more American cars. But sometimes it’s really hard [to judge an audience by the cars in the lot], because ticket prices are so high, a lot of people who drive those AMC Pacers can’t get into the shows.

Since you wrote the book, have you discovered any new species of concertgoer?

The “ATM Guy.” I noticed when I go to shows that people stand in line at the ATMs for, like 45 minutes. I mean, you pass 50 banks on the way there, and you’ll see people who end up waiting in the ATM line for half of the show. I don’t get that.

Do you have any other books planned?

My main goal is to get this into a screenplay. I can see a Christopher Guest-style mockumentary about all the characters. Maybe a 15-minute skit on the High Five Idiots and how they came about, but do it up in a serious tone.

So you’re not planning on books about other audiences, like sports or pro wrestling?

I have been, actually. There are so many human behaviors you can write about. I was thinking I would start all these books with the same title, like “NO DVM Allowed.” Observations on people who drive other people nuts. Like the other day I was driving and I was looking for a way to get back at this other person who was tailgating me. So I turned on my windshield wash. And the guy went by me and flipped me off because I got him all wet. I thought there’s a book there. The whole etiquette on the freeways. There are all kinds of things you can do.

So, maybe you are the Jane Goodall of concert audiences.

Yeah, maybe.