May 27, 2009

PJ Olsson's Rock Camp-Day 1






Wow, what a great teacher. I was fortunate enough to be invited to the first evening of Camp Rock to take some photos for Todd. I must say Mr. PJ Olsson is a wonderful, motivating teacher. You can see the father in him in the way he communicates with the kids; such kindness, such motivation. This is one lucky group of kids. The closest I ever came to an opportunity like this was attending MTU’s Summer Youth Jazz Program with Don Keranen.

And speaking of Don Keranen, two of PJ’s special guest instructors have links to Don. PJ’s Dad, Dr. Milt Olsson was in attendance guiding the kids through some music theory and working with the vocalists. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. A gift for music and education were definitely passed on to PJ through “Doc” as he asked the kids to refer to him as.

The second link (not missing) was Mark Lucier, one of the most talented drummers I have had the privilege of knowing and playing with. Mark and I go way back to our Jazz Lab Band days when Don was our director. Last summer and fall, I got to reunite with Mark to back Hannah Bethel and Katie Marie Rukkila. This was the first time I have had the opportunity to watch Mark in a teaching setting and he was awesome with the resident Camp Rock drummer. During the jam sessions, Mark worked with this young man and taught him three or four different styles in a very short time period. This was prior to Mark blowing out of the place on his souped-up Harley.

The best part of the evening for me was hearing PJ sing live and in person. This guy has chops and he almost sounds better in person than he does on his CDs. You PJ Olsson fans will be very impressed with his upcoming CD. The kids and instructors got to hear previews of some of the tracks and there are some really neat tunes in the works.

FULL IMAGE GALLERY

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