Proud Dad Report of a son's first gig out.

[sunvalleylaw]

My son played out as part of his rock and roll camp he attended this year on a stage behind a local establishment. His band was called Hex, and they played two songs, Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes, and Beverly Hills by Weezer.

http://gallery.mac.com/sunvalleylaw#100061

The lad did really well! :) He stepped right up and played with good attitude, hit his licks and was playing his chords in pretty darn good time. He had a lot of fun with it which is the most important thing. His was one of the only kid groups to play their songs without the CD of the song playing as well. Here is a pic or two or several. My son is the blonde one with the black hat rocking the Fullerton. The bass player is one of the instructors. The girls are groupies. ;) (EDIT: ok, not Lily there with the lavender Luna guitar. She actually played well and with attitude in her own right when her group was up there.)

[just strum]

Steve,

That is beyond cool and he has groupies!!!:AOK: :AOK: :AOK:

[aeolian]

That's a great experience for him. Looks like he doing some singing too.

[sunvalleylaw]

:rockon: He did some announcing between the songs, and they sang "We will Rock You" acapello with the "stomp, stomp clap" going. The rest of the boys in his group were a year older, so he was playing "up" a year. :bravo:

[tot_Ou_tard]

Yow, I'm jealous. I wish that you were my Dad Sun. My parents didn't even have a stereo or radio.

Rock & roll camp. Too cool.

[sunvalleylaw]

That is nice of you to say tOt! Well, I wanted to take the week off and go to rock and roll camp too. The camp is pretty cool. The lady in the white skirt is the main proprietor, a piano teacher, music store owner, and plays organ/keyboard in the local Episcopal Church!

[R_of_G]

Sounds like a great time Steve! Good for your boy, and good for you for being such a supportive dad. I'm sure he appreciates it.:bravo:

[Robert]

That is great to hear! I'm trying to get our daughters into rock'n roll, but it's hard...

[sunvalleylaw]

That is great to hear! I'm trying to get our daughters into rock'n roll, but it's hard...

You need something like this. There were a bunch of girls who attended a special "Hannah Montana" version of the camp. A lot of those girls just sang and danced, but some, including that girl in the first pic, played some songs, though they did play along with the CD.

This same camp turned out a group of boys calling themselves "The Disciples of Rock", who still play together a year or two later, and who can pull off a decent version of Sweet Child 'O Mine.

Each performer gets a DVD of the show, and each group figured out a name and a poster. My son's band's poster is of the boys pretending to "Pete Townshend" some giant backyard chess pieces that are in the courtyard where this stage is located. :rotflmao:

Oh, and Derek got to plug into and play through the 2x12 Vox in the pic. His guitar sounded good and could be heard through the mix!

[mrmudcat]

:beer: Great pics of the boy!!! Must make a poppa proud!!

[Tone2TheBone]

Woah Steve that's tremendous my friend! From one dad to another you must be very proud. :)

[SuperSwede]

Awesome Steve!

I can understand that you are proud!

[oldguy]

That's really cool, Sunvalley! Keep us informed on how you and your son progress....... we may be seeing pics of the two of you rockin' out soon.:D

[F_BSurfer]

That's really great!!!! My hats off to you for getting him involved in this and my hats off to the organizers of the event.

[sunvalleylaw]

Thanks guys, you bet, I am proud. I will certainly keep everyone updated. We used to take lessons from the same instructor at close times, and I used to try and have us practice together. That didn't work. He has really taken off with his new instructor in regular lessons, and ignited when he started playing with these other boys. As a youth coach, I know that participation with other youth is often a good thing. He shows me licks he is learning, and lets me play with him sometimes now, as long as I don't try to do any teaching or coaching. I hope that will continue. :D

[warren0728]

that is really cool svl! :bravo: would love to see some video of him playin! :rockon: :dude:

conner got tired of playing guitar once he started taking lessons but he was only 9....he is going into middle school and signed up for band for the whole year....says he wants to play trombone! i'm gonna have him take a few lessons this summer on trombone to make sure that's what he wants to play and give him a little head start before school starts! hoping he will come back to the guitar (instead of just guitar hero) someday!

ww

[sunvalleylaw]

As long as he learns to enjoy music, he will play later in life I think. Even though I got discouraged as a kid when they kept giving me more classical composers from Russia etc. to play, I learned that I enjoyed being able to express with music. It just took me a long while to come back to actually pursuing it. To me, it is way more important that my kids enjoy their positive activities than that they excel. That is why I had to back off from practicing with my son and only play with him if he wants me to. It is great when he can show me stuff that is his. Also, I helped him get over a hump on his skateboard re: his skateboard class he also has last week, and in the same day, he passed me. Yeahh! That is exactly what I hoped would happen. I am sure I am preaching to the choir anyhow brother! :)

[luvmyshiner]

Sweet Steve! Congrats to the proud papa.

[Childbride]

Sweet Steve! Congrats to the proud papa.


+1 :D :bravo:

[stingx]

Cool pictures! Where's the video?

[sunvalleylaw]

Our camera was dead when we arrived. It had been left on and no juice. I should have taken charge of videography. :thwap: I may get some from another source and be able to update.

[Spudman]

Awesome. Now with two of you playing at home you should be able to get a grant from the Chief to have a designated music room.;)

It's cool that he's already up in front of people at such a young age. I also noticed the the groupies look way better than the ones our age.:D

[zeusse]

This is great Steve he's getting out on the stage early in life it will give him an edge...I hope my daughter does this soon.