What I Did at Summer Camp, Week 2

But first, obligatory post-Pitchfork gloating: Owen Pallett played almost exclusively new songs during his set and joined Beirut for the last two of their set. And Matt Berninger finished his set hanging off the front stage barricade being held by the back of his suit jacket by security. So I got everything I wanted and a tasty vegan ice cream cone.

Week 2 of Rock Camp was all about pulling our four fledgling bands out of the flight simulator and into the metaphorical cockpit, mid-flight and losing altitude. Most bands only experience a momentary loss of cabin pressure before righting themselves; others had more noticeable nosedives before going into the studio. Two of their songs had enough staying power that I still catch myself and other staff humming the choruses absent-mindedly. The metal song has apparently been passed down as legend to this week's batch of new students; several of them know the name and characteristics of that song's demi-god/monster protagonist. (E.g.: "Maghmor is an arsonist.") We attempted to orchestrate a last-minute camp singalong to Modest Mouse's "Float On" at the end of their camp show. It's probably best that most kids have trouble tapping into that particular sea shanty/beer hall/crazy-shouting aesthetic.

We're halfway through Week 3 with a (mostly) new batch of students. We're taking them to Reggie's in the Big Black Rock Bus on Friday. Quote of the week so far:

J (age 10): What if the song was about, like, rock angels... from heaven?
E (also age 10): Or no, what if it was called dark angel? And it was about when you know something's wrong but it feels right?
J: Uhhhhm. Uhh....
E: You know, like when you're with someone -- like in a relationship -- and you know it's not meant to be?
J: ....Uhh....yeah.

Deep shit for 10 year olds, yo. Deep shit.

White Rabbits roundup; also, corrupting the youths

I completely forgot to plug Canasta's two dates with White Rabbits on the blog, but the Empty Bottle sold out on Wednesday before we even got on stage, so you wouldn't have gotten in anyways.

If you've seen me at all since our first date with them on Tuesday, I have already pathetically gushed about how fucking awesome this band is. If not, allow me to let someone else do the gushing for me. Here's a review from the Examiner. (Canasta and White Rabbits' touring mates, the Subjects, aren't reviewed here, so you can think whatever you want about our respective sets.) There are some fan photos of us on the Interwebs, too -- check out this one of us from High Noon in Madison and this one of Steve from White Rabbits at the Bottle.

Next week I start corrupting the youths by turning them into real honest-to-god rock bands. I'll be teaching at School of Rock's summer camp program, which brings the phrase "This one time at band camp" to a whole new, edgier level. I will try to keep the blog up to date with this-one-time-at-band-camp stories.