Rock School

After work today I went to the movie house but didn't see a movie. What? What else to do in movie house but see movie? Good question. Trick question! Easy answer: it was a documentary, or maybe a ROCKumentary, because it was called Rock School.
This doco is about a guy called Paul Green who (in 1999) started a *Rock School* in Philadelphia to teach kids (from 9 to 17) how to be rock stars.
We see Paul shouting at and berating the kids often, and he swears a lot, but the kids all laugh along with him mostly. They like him because he comes down to their level and is not dry and boring. He's actually a very likeable guy, even when he is yelling at the kids.
One of the kids (Will O'Connor) tells his story. When he was born, his head was overlarge and the umbilical cord got wrapped around his neck so the doctors had to do a Caesarian. With his big head and his odd way, other kids always called him 'retard'. He grew up to be depressed and suicidal, but admits that Paul's Rock School saved his life. At one point he says, "If it wasn't for Paul I would be dead. And even now I am only barely alive."
One of the other kids, a girl, grew up in an Amish town. I got confused at that point because the town had signs everywhere saying Amish this-and-that, but then she admitted she was a Quaker. Maybe the Amish and the Quakers like living together(?) Anyway, there was some amusing footage of these Quaker rappers she sang with, and one of them was called Funk Master Friendly. Their music was awful, so really, going to Rock School was like escaping a fate worse than death.
The other interesting kids were these twin boys who must have been 9, right at the bottom age limit for the school. Watching them perform Black Sabbath songs was a highlight, as was watching their mother putting Ozzy make-up on them as she sang along with them, helping them get the lyrics and timing right.
Paul Green said a lot of things that will surely upset some viewers, but who cares about them. We get it. The kids get it. The guy is a brilliant teacher. At one point he says, "OK. Any of you who fuck up, we're gonna go round and kill your entire family! Then we'll bathe in their blood!" They all laugh. It was very funny. But then he'll go and say something deep like, "When you hone your craft, you hone your humanity."
So he makes them learn Sabbath songs and they put on a Sabbath show for some people, but the big show they are all revving up for is an annual Frank Zappa festival in Germany. They have to learn all these awesomely complex Zappa songs, and when they finally get there and do their thing (and one of the original Zappa bandmembers joins them on stage) they blow everybody there (and us) away.
If I haven't made it clear enough by now, I thought this doco was excellent. It's impossible not to walk out of it not feeling good and not doing air guitar on your way to the bus.
There were about half a dozen of us at this peak time session. I guessed that most of the other idiots were there to see Fantastic Four. (Yes, I LOVE superhero movies but am really not excited to see that one.)