School of Rock... right?
By Nathan Blaney
Friday. May 28, 12:18 AM
live at CBGB (New York, NY) May 23rd, 2004.

The ad for this show said something to the effect of "YOU'VE SEEN THE MOVIE, NOW SEE THE REAL THING!", which would give one the impression that this show might feature Jack Black and the cast of the movie, School of Rock. Nothing could be farther from the truth! Almost every one of the 8 to 15 year-olds who performed had the slogan "Fuck Jack Black" written, painted or pinned on their bodies. It seems there's just a bit of tension between Black and The Paul Green School of Rock, which has been in operation since 1998 and clearly pre-dates the recent popular film.

Despite a little confusion about who and what I was going to see, the show was pretty interesting. The kids performed a mixed set of punk classics with varying degrees of success. They definitely gave it 110% effort, and it was clear that kids of all different levels of experience were playing together. They rotated through the lineup, each playing two songs and sometimes switching instruments. They were all definitely more capable musicians than I was at that age! Although the majority of the songs were decent, some songs, such as Bad Brains' Banned in DC material, were especially great! These handful of really tight, well-done covers lived up to the originals and kept me interested.

What struck me as kind of funny, though, was that most of the bands they were covering ceased to exist before many of them were even born. I couldn't help but think that these guys and girls (it was a pretty even split) probably had a very different connection to these songs than someone like me, who's seen those bands many times. There seemed to be a strong acting and dress-up component to their performance, which would have been fine in a high school auditorium... but in the house where punk was born, it somehow felt wrong to have these kids (in what were essentially costumes) declaring their punkness. Blasphemy! But maybe I'm just old and bitter. I'd be curious as to what they look like at their other shows, doing hits from Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Queen etc.

Oh, and I can't not bring this up: since the audience seemed to be composed primarily of parents, children, and teenage friends, it drove me up the wall that every other word out of these kids' mouths was "fuck." Was that to make it more "realistic?" I don't think so. It made it more embarrassing.

Enough with the complaints! Despite my objections, which were clearly my own since nobody else seemed to be bothered, the kids put on a performance that definitely indicated a fine musical future for most of them. For a few, it may already be time to move on to writing their own material... and I look forward to hearing it!
www.schoolofrock.com

Nathan Blaney

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