Every generation has the same dreams; this is from the
Memphis Commercial Appeal:


http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/music/article/0,1426,MCA_505_5594945,00.html




Girls find kindred spirits at camp for budding rockers
By Barbara Bradley
Contact
June 21, 2007

Girls banged drums, coddled guitars and wailed blues
they wrote themselves at the first Memphis Southern
Girls Rock & Roll Camp that opened Monday at Gibson
Guitar Factory.

Thirty-six girls ages 10-17 signed up for a week of
classes on guitar, drum, keyboard and other
instruments, as well as workshops in songwriting,
recording, music journalism, photography and other
music-related ventures. Local and regional artists --
all volunteers -- were performing and leading
discussions on life as professional musicians.

By the end of the week, the girls will have formed
bands and will play, for the most part, their own
original material at a musical showcase Saturday night
at Gibson Guitar.

Many of the campers already played multiple
instruments or wrote songs or poetry. Some even have
performed in bands.

"I sing and write tons of poetry," said Caitlin
Griffith, 17, a Germantown High School sophomore who
has had several of her poems published. Anna Wilson,
13, of Nashville, plays violin, sax, keyboard and a
little guitar. And Sydney Marsh, 11, a White Station
Middle School sixth-grader, is the lead singer for her
father's pop rock band, Puppy Dogs, performing several
times at Murphy's in Midtown and at Lichterman Nature
Center.

Caitlin was there to learn bass guitar, and Anna
wanted help putting words to the music she writes.

Sydney has a more kid-sized dream: "I want to be a
really big star. A superstar. I believe I can make it
to that when I'm 13."

Participating artists and bands include The Splints, a
Memphis punk-rock band signed with Lightning Rock
Records; Two Way Radio, a local indie-pop group with
Kate Crowder on lead; Nancy Apple, a local singer,
songwriter and musician known for her song "Queen of
Country;" Holly Cole, an alt/folk singer; and the
Grown Up Wrongs, who sing '60s garage rock.

Volunteer teachers include Apple, who heads a
songwriting class, and J. D. Reager, producer,
engineer and owner of local Unclaimed Recordings
studio, who is teaching recording. Helping him is Doug
Walker, keyboard player for Chess Club. Jessi Wariner,
niece of country artist Steve Wariner, is teaching
guitar.

The camp was founded in 2003 in Murfreesboro by Kelley
Anderson, 27, then a sophomore at Middle Tennessee
State University studying the recording industry. She
now does freelance engineering and production in
Nashville. The fifth Murfreesboro camp will start July
16 at MTSU. Registration is $250 per camper at
Murfreesboro and Memphis. Full and partial
scholarships (already allocated for the July camp) are
available.

Details are available at sgrrc.com.

One camp graduate who has created a stir is Jemina
Pearl, the lead singer of Be Your Own Pet, a teenaged,
punk-rock group from Nashville described last year on
rollingstone.com as a "barely legal, garage-rocking
four-piece." SPIN.com. called Pearl, sometimes
compared with Deborah Harry, a "wunderkind."

"If you're interested in sports in school, it's common
and accepted," said Anderson. "But if you're into
music and rock and roll and hip-hop, you may not have
other female friends who support those interests."
Girls learn how to "collaborate, make decisions and
put the goal above the ego," she said. They also learn
how to handle the spotlight at the end-of-the-week
showcase, which draws hundreds in Murfreesboro.

The Memphis showcase will start at 7 p.m. (doors open
at 6 p.m.) on the roof of Gibson Guitar, 145 Lt.
George Lee Ave.

Tickets are $7 at the door.

The camaraderie was working for Abril Baker, 15, of
Brownsburg, Ind. "I was afraid no one would talk to
me," said Abril, who was wedged into a booth with four
other beaming girls during a lunch break. "I write
poems and I want to learn to put them to music," she
said. Back home, she sings with a band she described
as "soft metal," that plays at her school and a
church.

The camp appeared to bring together kids who might not
ordinarily hang out together. Abril was dressed
Madonna-style in a black fishnet over-top, eyeliner
and black nails while Sydney looked pure prep in a
hairband and pink, striped polo shirt. Some came
"slacker" style in cargo pants, high tops and tattoos.


"It's really empowering to go to camp and believe
girls can rock. It's not all about guys at all," said
Bartlett resident Audra Brown, 16, who has attended
three camps in Murfreesboro. Anna, who will be a
junior at Overton High School, has performed at cafes
and coffee bars. Her CD of original songs called "Most
Popular Misfit," produced under her own label, went on
sale recently at Spin Street Records.

At the camp, "You see real bands trying to do it for a
living and you get to talk and ask questions and get
counsel. ... They helped me believe I could do
something like that," she said.

If performing doesn't work out, Anna said she would
"still like to be involved in music recording as an
engineer or producer or band manager."

The camp sparks creativity but also helps students see
that music is a business with a number of career
avenues.

"When I grew up, music was something we did not
necessarily think of as a career choice," said teacher
Apple. "It took me a while to figure out that it's a
form of living, and you don't have to be a household
name like Elvis. You find your niche market, and it's
a good honest profession."

Copyright 2007, commercialappeal.com - Memphis, TN.
All Rights Reserved.








GuitarSlingers (Yahoo): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GuitarSlingers
Blues At The Crossroads--The Sound Of The Delta
(Yahoo):http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BluesattheCrossroads
BluesWomen (Yahoo)--http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BluesWomen





test'; " type=text/css>






___________________________________________________________
Yahoo! Answers - Got a question? Someone out there knows the answer. Try it
now.
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/