Baseball has its fantasy camps. Why not a fantasy camp for people who missed the rock 'n' roll boat the first time around? So if your parents made you stop playing that evil and raucous music and go to medical school instead of pursuing your dream of being a rock star, it isn't too late. Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp is for you!
Sponsored in part by JBL, this camp teaches you to play in a band setting and prepares you for a concert, at The House of Blues in L.A., no less. There's just no sex, drugs (at least not on stage or in the rehearsal studios)-just rock 'n' roll. For five days attendees get to talk the talk and walk the walk with some of their music idols.
Day One of the dream was auditions for the almost all-guitarist pack of 100 rockers. It was a sort of entertainment to see guys (and a few token girls) up on stage either scared out of their minds or trying to remember to get one foot up on the monitor just like the big boys. After "auditions" there was an appearance by Mickey Thomas of Starship, followed of course by a party (it wouldn't be rock 'n' roll without a party, would it?).
Day Two of the dream started with newly formed bands of best friends that just needed a name; after all, the gig's already been booked. First on the menu for the day, work out your all-important set list (two songs) and then practice, practice, practice. During a break, Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead made an appearance. Just to show you this wasn't all fun and games, Mickey wandered in and out of the rehearsal rooms to add pressure and stress on top of those bleeding fingers.
For fans of The Cars, there was a dinner date with guitarist Elliot Easton, which was immediately followed by a trip back to the rehearsal rooms (wait a minute, isn't this a lot of work for a camp?). It would have been nice to see some groupies trolling the hallways to make the experience a little more authentic.
Day Three of the dream featured (a highlight for me) a "behind the music" moment with none other than Neal Schon of Journey. He visited the groups' rehearsal rooms all afternoon, offering advice and making grown men feel like schoolgirls around the new star quarterback. At night everyone would enjoy a movie (Spinal Tap, of course). Just a reminder to everyone that it's supposed to be fun!
Day Four of the fantasy must have started to feel a bit like a nightmare, as the Battle of the Bands was 36 hours away and no two rockers in a given band could reach the bridge at the same time. What if you bust a string in the middle of your solo? Now not only are you stressing about your parts in morning band practice, Roger Daltrey himself comes in and sees you eff-ing up his song. Cheers mate!
During lunch, Cheap Trick dropped by. After some inspirational words from them, it was back to practice. After all, there wasn't that much time left to get ready. Later that evening was a teaser Battle of the Bands where you could work out the bugs. Rather screw up here than at the House of Blues in front of your kids and wife.
Last Day of the Dream, first official day of the nightmare: Everyone started off with a final band rehearsal to repair the last minute problems. Intro... check, verses... check, chorus... check, solo... close your eyes and let the rock gods guide your fingers. Then all you have to do is jump in the air and hope you land as the song ends cause that is what "cool" is all about. The only thing these rockers really don't have to worry about is a record label A&R in the crowd watching them. But then that wasn't the point of the camp, was it? In the end, once-aspiring rockers got the chance to indulge their fantasies a bit. Not a bad way to spend your vacation. For more info on the camp, visit www.jbl.com.
They Might Be Giants!
An Interview with MusicGiants co-founder and CEO Scott BahnemanCar Audio & Electronics: Did you start MusicGiants after researching and finding that people that buy music files online were looking for hi-fidelity downloads, or did you simply see that there was a gap there that could be filled?
Scott Bahneman: We definitely saw a gap in the market. We felt that highly compressed music, while fine for portable music players, just didn't have enough octane to run high-performance audio systems. Look, highly compressed music, such as what you purchase from iTunes, is great for people with portable music players, but our focus is on home and car audio where sound quality is paramount.