School of Rock

Oh, I've been a baaaaad blogger lately. Twelfth Night is in full rehearsal swing; some great people involved, I'm thrilled to say. Not that it's been without its challenges - there have been many. Always an interesting experience to deal with a whole group of new personalities and processes.

And it's the end of a long day right now. The only reason I'm up and able to tap away at this entry is that the All-Star Game is in the 13th inning and I don't feel like sleeping through the end of it. Might be sorry 'bout that call tomorrow, but I'm going with it.

SO - have you seen The School of Rock? The Jack Black movie about the guy who takes over a middle school classroom under false pretenses and turns them into a rock band? Or maybe you've even seen Rock School, the (gasp) documentary about Paul Green, who actually did start a music program for kids in Philadelphia. Well, this year's batch of those real-life kids took a mini-tour to New York several weeks ago. I caught their Jethro Tull set (I know, I know - it was the show that fit into my schedule) at The Cutting Room. Dr. Green makes sure his students understand the importance of theatricality: costumes and attitude shared center stage with musicianship. When covering a band like Tull, that meant medieval references, wizards, knights and animals, and a healthy dose of cross-dressing.

I felt kind of weird taking pictures, because the light was too low not to use a flash, and flashes are a pain to performers. But by the end of the set I relented, since so many people (I'm guessing they were mostly parents) were taking flash photos. Here's the best of the bunch - Aqualung, as sung by this, what, eleven-year-old? Complete with English accent, I should add.



With apologies to John Hall, I'm sorry but: I love this kid's energy! He totally sold this song about an old homeless guy with a snotty nose ogling the children. He put himself out there and hit it out of the box.

Which I wish someone would do in the Stadium tonight. It's now the 15th inning, and I just want someone to win it. Preferably via another J.D. Drew knock. Sheesh! So much for that asinine World Series home field advantage nonsense, right?