Although I’ve yet to see the Rock & Roll Fantasy Camp reality show on VH1 Classic I’ve known about the camp itself for years. There have been camps for everything from being fat to being Jewish, to playing baseball to playing bass so this is just one more vacation centered around an interest or hobby. It’s a good idea but I’ve found that most people into Rock & Roll enough to actually want to play an instrument usually are not into structure and discipline so unless you really want to get into the whole Rock & Roll Fantasy Camp experience you may bristle at having an “adult” telling you how to rock.It’s too bad the rebellion and freedom that Rock & Roll represents so often results in its practitioners having to learn things the hard way and not being open to being mentored. I was going on a walk around the neighborhood one day when I heard a garage band practicing. I walked over to listen and when the fifteen year-olds in the band took a break I introduced myself. I had played in bands for nearly thirty years by that point, had been in a house band at The Troubadour for KWST nights, had my music played on MTV and had published PaperCuts, The Illustrated Lyrics Magazine so I felt I had something to offer these kids. The guitar player asked me for some advice so I said, “The first thing is move your amps into a straight line in line with the drums because when you start playing in the clubs or even at a party that’s how you’ll set up so you might as well get used to hearing yourselves that way.” They had been setting up their gear in a circle, all facing each other.
“This is how we do it, man,” the lead singer courtly responded, to which I just said okay, turned and left. How I wished I had someone with experience to help me get a head start when I was a kid in a garage band. But I suppose if you’re someone who doesn’t mind being told what to do you’d be in school to be a doctor or a lawyer not in a garage trying to be a Rock & Roll band.
Friday Funnies
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