December 2–9, 1999

music|review

The Paul Green School of Rock Music

Indre Studios, Nov. 20

What budding rock musician doesn’t suffer an awkward adolescence, filled with what feels like more than a fair share of pudge, nearsightedness and that sense of being different that comes from knowing Sgt. Pepper by rote while the rest of the school is ensconced in the Top 40? Only dreams of future fame can sweeten those years of anguish.

Thanks to 26-year-old Penn philosophy major and Apollo Creed guitarist Paul Green, some of Philly’s future rock stars don’t have to wait for that first taste of stardom. About twenty of Green’s guitar students, under the name "The Paul Green School of Rock Music," have repeatedly packed the Griffin Cafe during First Fridays. Last Saturday, part of a weekend-long stand at Indre, they played a two-hour Frank Zappa tribute to a full house of vocally adoring relatives, peers and twentysomethings in the know.

These performers — ranging in age from 11 to 16 — have serious skills. They navigated with ease the multi-sectioned rock songs, odd rhythms and complex structures that make Zappa so difficult.

In the hands of these kids, the pomposity and self-importance I’d always heard in Zappa’s recordings was gone. The players pared the tunes down to their emotional and energetic cores, expressing the inner logic directly and earnestly. They did what Zappa himself never could: They made me into a Zappa fan.

As in any musical group, there were standouts: the fluent guitar solos of Greg Prestagord and Justin Irving; the rock-solid playing of bassist Julie Slick; the clear, tuneful vocals of Teddi Tarnoff. The switch-hitting award goes to Nate Fleisher, who executed excellent drumming, a charged turn at vocals on "Status Back Baby" and one of the most elegant guitar solos of the night in "Muffin Man."

The stage presence prize belongs to the trio of singers who made "Disco Boy" the show’s high point. As Jeff Wuollet and Eric Slick swiveled their hips and sang backup in falsetto, John Raiss grabbed the mike, stepped into the audience, and sang with precocious flair. Under the pinkish glow of the hanging lamps, he was every bit as suave and sketchy as counterparts twice his age. As the crowd went wild, you could hear the hearts of all the formerly awkward adolescents in the audience melting.

—Sara Marcus

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