Okay, first things first: Rock School, the movie, premieres in New York today as wll as other select cities, and here are the details below. Please go out and see this wonderful, wonderful film. It's like nothing you've ever seen and if you love music and want to laugh your ass off, this is a MUST SEE. And if you don't believe me, read what Roger Ebert has to say:
Okay...here's where you can catch the film tonight:
Cine Arts 5 - Pleasant Hill, CA
Empire 3 - San Francisco, CA
Hyatt Cinema 3 - Burlingame, CA
Embarcadero 5 - San Francisco, CA
The Grove - Beverly Hills, CA
Arclight Cinemas - Hollywood, CA
The Crest Theatre - Westwood, CA
CineArts Sequoia - Mill Valley, CA
Monica 4 - Santa Monica, CA
Embarcadero Cinema - San Francisco, CA
Shattuck Cinemas - Berkeley, CA
Aquarius Theater - Palo Alto, CA
Santana Row - San Jose, CA
Camera 12 - San Jose, CA
Dupont - Washington, DC
Cantera 30 - Warrenville, IL
South Barrington 30 - S. Barrington, IL
Esquire 6 - Chicago, IL
Addison 20 - Addison, IL
Lincolnshire 20 - Lincolnshire, IL
Landmark Century Center Cinemas - Chicago, IL
Kendall Square - Cambridge, MA
Embassy Cinema - Waltham, MA
Bethesda Row Cinema - Bethesda, MD
Riverside 12 - Reno, NV
Loews Lincoln Square - New York, NY
Loews Village 7 - New York, NY
Angelika Film Center 5 - Plano, TX
Magnolia 5 - Dallas, TX
Shirlington 7 - Arlington, VA
Loews Meridian - Seattle, WA
Landmark Metro - Seattle, WA
Secondly, tonight at 8:00 p.m. at the Trocadero in Philadelphia - the best of the season benefit which not only showcases the finest songs and student performances from each of the spring shows from not only the Philadelphia branch of the School of Rock but the other branches as well, it provides scholarship money for those students unable to pay monthly tuition. So how cool is that!
It will be yet another bittersweet evening for me -- with my son, Eric, graduating Rock School after the summer tour, this is his very last Best of Show, and it's also the final show ever for two All-Stars -- keyboard great Allie Hauptman and bassist Matt Rothstein. I believe all of the other All-Stars about to graduate along with Eric will also hang around for the summer tour but if I've neglected anyone whose final show is tonight, please let me know and I'll edit this entry.
And to make it more enticing, throughout the evening, they will be showing clips from the movie!
So far with few exceptions the reviews rolling in for Rock School have been incredible. The only negative reviews I've read, and there are only a couple, don't have anything to say about the movie itself; they attack Paul because he's not politically correct. Gee, what a shame. (Sorry - besides words like "bling bling" and "closure", politcally correct and the people who are shackled by being so are my biggest pet peeve of this millenium). One critic went so far as to say he/she didn't see any comradery among the students. Ha! What movie did they watch? The comradery shines through...all you have to do is watch the kids in Germany on stage and see the smiles on their faces, everyone hugging. Why did none of these lovely critics bother to interview any of the kids themselves and ask them? Of course having gone extensively on tour with the All-Stars, I speak from experience. You've never seen such a tight knit group all with a common goal - to go out there and play their asses off because they want to, because they are focused, talented musicians...and Paul has provided them almost surreal opportunities. There are also a few critics who question that Paul has the kids playing classic rock and Zappa. Err...excuse me...but just because music isn't "new", does that mean it should be forgotten forever and shouldn't be learned and performed? So you're telling me students shouldn't study/perform Bach or Miles Davis?
Yikes, what a world. What the fuck has happened to common sense? And someone please tell me what music is out there right now that compares to Zep or Zappa or Hendrix? What, they should be playing the three chord dance bullshit forced down our throats by MTV?
When kids learn to play their instruments, they study the masters, and that enables them to go out and create their own music. Practically every one of Paul's All-Stars featured in the movie are now in bands of their own and writing just incredible original material which is complex and brilliant in nature. Does their Zappa and classic rock roots as taught to them by Paul show? You betcha! And the problem with that is?????
Sheesh. I reiterate. Soon you will see a slew of awe inspiring bands who will all credit Paul as their teacher. As Marky Ramone announced to the audience at CBGBs on Wednesday night (and Eddie Vedder and Jon Anderson both remarked to me last week) rock and roll is not dead...there is hope for the future.
Anyway, I can't wait to see a lot of you at the show tonight. It promises to be awesome and it's for a really great cause.
I'd love to see it but it hasn't made it to Orlando, yet. :( It's on my list, though.
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