Rock School
Starring: Paul Green, Will, CJ, Maddi, Napoleon Murphy-Brock, Asaand TuckerDirected By: Don ArgottNewmarket FilmsRated R
Don Argott’s debut documentary, Rock School follows a year in the life of the Paul Green School of Rock Music. Founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1998, the Paul Green School is a highly successful business with nine locations nationwide and another four scheduled to open in September. Students between the ages of 9 and 17 learn the fundamentals of music through perfecting covers of classic hard rock by the likes of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Frank Zappa. Argott edited some 130 hours of footage into a relatively tight 93 minutes. Prior to this, he primarily worked on short films, and the lack of experience becomes apparent in places, when the film meanders a bit. But while Rock School feels haphazardly thrown-together at times, it’s really refreshing to see a documentary without much of a forced narrative. As a whole, the Rock School experience is very earthy and organic, just like the classic rock Green wants his students to learn. As the centerpiece “character,” Green is reasonably interesting, but lacks the exaggerated passion of Jack Black’s character in the 2003 comedy, School of Rock. He is shown as a talented musician who never made it big. “I’d want to be a rock star in 1972,” he says, “I’d never want to be a rock star now.” No longer desiring personal success, Green wants to teach the next generation of rock geniuses. His techniques are abrasive and confrontational, which can be interesting to watch in certain fleeting moments. One of Green’s most explosive moments surfaces during a rehearsal for the beginner’s heavy metal concert. In the middle of a tantrum, he softens his tone and tells his class in all seriousness, “I love you. I want you to rock.” He preaches the philosophy of the most simplistic ‘70’s heavy metal music with tongue-in-cheek humor. He asks a student if he loves the song they’re working on. Then he asks him if he loves Dio. Then he asks him if he loves Satan. The film also focuses on a few of Green’s students, who range from the depressed future rock school dropout, Will, to the highly talented 12-year-old perfectionist, CJ, to the teen-age Quaker guitarist, Maddie. The scenes showing the personal lives of some of these students give the film some of its most entertaining moments. Andrea Collins, mother of young twin students Asa and Tucker, rehearses Black Sabbath lyrics while adjusting the mohawk of one of her 9-year-olds. Maddie appears is severely embarrassed to be caught on film hanging out with her friends in the Quaker rap group, “The Friendly Gangstas.” Humor mixes with drama as some of the more talented students work their way towards an invitation to play a Frank Zappa festival in Germany, the point at which Rock School transforms into a concert film. Rock legend Napoleon Murphy-Brock (longtime Zappa band member) plays with the students on a particularly complex Zappa cover. Before the song, Brock leads the entire audience in a mass genuflection of electric guitar prodigy C.J. in a musical moment nearly as satisfying as Alice Cooper’s appearance during the end credits. As credits roll down the right side of the screen, Cooper leads the beginner’s metal group in a concert performance of “School’s Out.” This, like much of the rest of the film, is interesting to watch without ever reaching perfection. VS
Russ Bickerstaff is a local poet and writer. His poems can be heard regularly at Linneman's Monday Poetry Night.
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