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Friday, January 7, 2011

295. "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day


This might be the only 39-4o post thus far in which I did not generate, even through digital manipulation or programming, any of the sounds present on the recording. It's the final live performance of the main band of kids I coached throughout the past week at Burbank Music Academy's Winter Camp. They named themselves Dry Ice and spent most of their time working up this Green Day tune, although they also crossed over into guest slots in some of the other bands thrown together at the last minute by the camp staff. Actually, at Dry Ice's practices throughout the week, I did play with them, holding down the bass slot (and managing Stephan's footswitch) while we pieced the song together. But Miranda, who's been out of town for the holidays with Ridley and her mother, got back into town on Thursday, and I asked her if she was interested in replacing me for the final performance (I think it just looks better to the parents and feels better to the kids not to have an adult ringer onstage with them at the end of the week) and she said she was into it. She learned the part that morning and dropped right into the lineup like a charm... I was mighty proud.

Teaching at band camp is a serious whirlwind and requires a bit of homework, and I'm embarrassed to admit that, as much work as I did with them, I didn't end up knowing all the kids' last names. Consequently they're all listed by first names here in the personnel section, although Miranda's surname ought to be obvious by now. None of the boys were older than 11, and Marco had never played drums before this Monday (he's a very good pianist, though).

Personnel:
DRY ICE
Tristan ~ Vocal, lead guitar
Stephan ~ Guitar
Marco ~ Drums
Miranda ~ Bass
Bradley ~ Keyboards
Rex ~ Coach, offstage operation of overdrive footswitch

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