Old-school guitar fest draws students, stars

In 1998, Philadelphia-area youth started flocking to

Paul Green

's studio in Old City, and then to his first townhouse school on Race Street to learn guitar from the guy and to jam with one another.

This weekend, the pied piper of rock will be luring students (ages 7 to 18) to town by the hundreds from locales such as Hollywood, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Chicago and Boston.

They're coming to strut their stuff on stage and to rub elbows with famous talent - the Butthole Surfers, Devo, Carmine Appice, Less than Jake, Drop Kick Murphies and Goldfinger - who'll also be performing (OK, headlining) at the School of Rock Festival tonight at the Electric Factory, then on five stages at Festival Pier at Penn's Landing tomorrow and Sunday.

Of course, you're cordially invited to come hear and cheer them, too, the biggies and the newbies alike.

To a degree, this star-studded showcase is meant to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Paul Green's School of Rock, his dream of a performance-oriented music school rooted in the classics - like Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones.

In the past few years the school has truly blown up, now boasting 43 branches from coast to coast. Half are "company"-owned, half franchised. (The school's headquartered on Brandywine Street in Center City and has local branches in Huntingdon Valley, Fort Washington, Downingtown, Cherry Hill and Princeton, N.J., and Wilmington.)

The SOR festival also will be a way for Green to take stock of how each school is doing. "The operation's grown so big I can't just hop on a plane and check each one out. So this way they can all come to me," Green said, beaming, in a recent chat.

Each of the 26 participating branches that have been around for at least two years is sending its top guitarist to participate in an ultimate shredding contest. The best student bands will perform full sets of themed material.

A Texas contingent will focus on the output of their most musical capital, Austin. Others schools will celebrate the catalogs of Elvis Presley, the ever-challenging Frank Zappa (Green's equivalent to Beethoven), Radiohead and a surprising favorite, the score from the rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar."

Also in the mix will be some teacher bands (SOR has many a notable musician on the faculty) and the two School of Rock All-Stars groups based on opposite coasts.

These prestige student troupes get to tour the world, at festivals such as Lollapalooza and as the backing bands for the Butthole Surfers' Gibby Haynes, Jon Anderson of Yes and others. (One All-Stars group was supposed to tour the States this summer as the opening act for Yes, until the tour was canceled because of Anderson's asthma problems. Instead, they'll head to Europe as opening act for the re-formed "original" Surfers. Not a bad consolation prize.)

"We emphasize the covers to teach them the formal aspects of music. But I'm all about them doing their own music, too," said Green. So there'll also be an original song contest at the School of Rock Festival.

And two of the five stages at Festival Pier will be dedicated to showcasing original material from both student groups and "baby" bands featuring SOR alumni. Among the latter are Green's local favorites El Fuego, fronted by a guy named Joe Reno who used to sing the lead role in SOR's "Jesus Christ Superstar" show, and an "angular keyboard pop" band called Bruce Lucy.

"Their girl singer, Geena Gleason, is such a rock star," marveled Green. "The rest of the world just has to figure it out."

Clearly, Green is quite a marketing man as well as a butt-kicking educator. Events like the festival and the other 1,000-or-so public concerts his student groups put on each year at our Trocadero, World Cafe Live and other clubs are great drum beaters for the school, as well as meaningful training experiences for the musicians.

Green first got national exposure as the star of the 2005 documentary film "Rock School," which celebrated how music education could help troubled youth find their way - and showcased Green as a bit of a tyrant. "The truth is, the camera crew filmed us for nine months, but then only showed me in the rare moments where I blew up in exasperation," he said recently. "Because showing me patiently teaching a chord wasn't nearly as dramatic."

After seeing the real thing in operation, viewers also started wondering if Green and his music academy weren't the inspiration for the hit comedy likewise called "School of Rock," starring a similarly over-the-top Jack Black. It came out two years prior, in 2003.

"We made noises . . . threatening a lawsuit over that movie," Green recalled. "Then we got the cover of the arts section of the New York Times, so I figured that was a better payback. And every time the movie plays again, it's like a two-hour commercial for us."

This summer, Green is eyeing the new Disney TV movie "Rock Camp" suspiciously. Yeah, Green has been running rock day camps, too, and this year started the first SOR sleepover camp in Milwaukee.

"Disney can go rot in hell. They're all that's vile and evil in the human spirit," he snorted.

Still if that film turns on yet more aspirants to guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and vocal wailing, the teach won't turn them away.

Green is quite proud of the talent pool he's already helped to create. "Guys like Gibby and Jon Anderson are blown away by how well our students play with them," he said.

"We're placing our kids at very good music schools - Berklee, the New School, the University of Miami."

And some SOR alumni have wiggled into professional gigs. For example, the splashy brother and sister team of Eric and Julie Slick, now the touring drummer and bassist for Adrian Belew.

The Sound of Rock Festival opens tonight with the Butthole Surfers, the Sound of Urchin, Andrew W.K. and School of Rock baby bands. Tomorrow on the Festival Pier stage, you'll find Devo, the Hold Steady, Tragedy, Carmine Appice's SLAMM and the School of Rock All Stars, plus dozens of other solo performers and bands. Sunday's lineup is the Dropkick Murphies, Less Than Jake, Goldfinger, Westbound Train, Suburban Legends, School of Rock Allstars and many more. *

Electric Factory, 7th and Willow streets, 8:30 tonight ($25). Festival Pier, Columbus Boulevard at Spring Garden Street, noon Saturday-Sunday ($37.50, two-day pass $52.50). All-events pass, $75. 215-336-2000, www.sorfest.com.