On January 13, 2019, students from the School of Rock Mason will pay tribute to music made by Cincinnati artists from various eras at the Woodward Theater. Proceeds from the “Cincinnati Tribute – Our Homage To Local Bands” will go to the East Walnut Hills nonprofit Music Resource Center Cincinnati, which shares similar motives and goals with SoR, providing educational resources for teens interested in the various facets of modern music, from recording to performance.
Mason, Ohio’s School of Rock branch regularly presents themed showcases in area clubs that feature classes of students performing the music they learned in a particular “semester.” In 2018, after learning the ABCs of performing
and/or playing, School of Rock-ers have done overview retrospectives of genres like Soul, Indie Rock, Blues, Reggae and “Yacht Rock,” as well as single-artist tributes to the likes of Rush, Guns ’N’ Roses, Black Sabbath, Green Day, Queen and others.
SoR Mason has close ties to Cincinnati’s original music community. The school has instructors from local bands and students have gone on to form their own original acts that have become active in the area club scene and beyond. Bands of students have also performed at local events like the MidPoint Music Festival and Cincinnati Entertainment Awards.
Here is the list of Cincinnati acts that will get the SoR tribute treatment on Jan. 13:
The Afghan Whigs
Bootsy Collins
Buffalo Killers
Electric Citizen
Foxy Shazam
The Greenhornes
Heartless Bastards
The Hiders
Pearlene
The Raisins
The Sundresses
Tweens
Vacation
Wussy
Some of the original artists behind the songs will not only be on hand to hear their work being covered — they’ll also be active participants.
“Members from several of the bands will be sitting in with kids to play on their songs, including members of Electric Citizen, Pearlene, Wussy, Tweens, The Sundresses, The Hiders, and Vacation,” says SoR Mason’s owner and general manager Tim Garry. “They have already rehearsed with our students. it has been great to connect them with our musical community. They are thrilled to have us engaging with and covering their music and I think seeing the kids working on their music reminds them of when they were starting out.”
Garry says the musicians scheduled to appear at the show to help the students play their songs include Zach Gabbard of Buffalo Killers, Andrew Jody of Pearlene, Evan Wolff and Jerri Queen of Vacation, Laura Dolan of Electric Citizen, Makenzie Place of The Sundresses, Beth Harris of The Hiders, Joe Klug of Wussy and Bridget Battle, Ben Lehman and Phil Valois of Tweens.
Tickets for SoR’s Cincinnati Tribute benefit are $8 in advance (available via cincyticket.com) or $10 at the door. Click here for more details.
Visit mason.schoolofrock.com and mrccinci.org for info on both local music organizations.
SoR students will also be in action on Dec. 16, playing some holiday Rock & Roll hits at Mason’s 16 Lots Brewing Company. Click here for info.
This article appears in Nov 28 – Dec 5, 2018.