Kiddie Rock

I tried to play the guitar at some point in my adolescence. I think I was 12 or so, and my dad plopped down the cash for a beautiful acoustic guitar and weekly lessons so I could back up my wannabe rocker chick persona with actual chops. Alas, I am not so musically gifted, and though I may have learned enough to play a mean "Me and Bobby McGee," I never even mastered "Stairway to Heaven."

I bring up my failed music career because of an article I came across in last Sunday's New York Times: Mama Was a Riot Grrrl? Then Pick Up a Guitar and Play. The trend in New York—and mainly Brooklyn—it seems, is for kids as young as 8 to rock out in fairly successful local bands like Care Bears on Fire and Tiny Masters of Today. Hell, these all-kid bands even got their own Saturday afternoon showcase during the CMJ Music Fest, the top festival for scouting emerging bands. And some of them, inevitably, have famous parents (Spalding Gray, Steve Buscemi, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins).

The thing is, it's not that kid bands are anything new, as the article points out (I mean, remember the Jackson 5?), but these new musician tykes are all about indie rock—practicing in basements, playing shows at places like Arlene's Grocery and the Knitting Factory, and citing influences like the Clash and the Pixies—a far cry from the manufactured pop kiddies of the past.

And where are these kids learning about good ole rock 'n roll? Why, from their hipster parents, of course. An article in New York magazine called them "grups" (taken from a Star Trek episode about a planet where there are no adults), the 30- and 40-something creative professionals who wear band t-shirts and Converse, carry messenger bags and listen to The Strokes on their iPods. And when they have kids, they turn them into mini-hipsters, playing Sufjan Stevens in the womb and dressing them in CBGB t-shirts and checkered Vans. Hmmmm....I think all the Portlanders out there would agree that grups are not just indigenous to Brooklyn.

Indeed, neither is the kiddie rock movement. The charming pre-teen sister duo Smoosh came down from Seattle to play our own MusicfestNW in September, and the Rock 'n Roll Camp for Girls has been a local institution since 2000. In fact, New York followed our lead with that camp by establishing the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls in 2004. (One final PONY connection: ten-year-old Izzy Schappell-Spillman, a member of Care Bears on Fire—who were also profiled in an even better New York mag article on the topic—attended the original Portland camp since her parents spend much of their time at local lit journal Tin House, which they co-founded.)

It's pretty obvious, then, that it's about time for Portland to nourish the kiddie bands in our own backyard, perhaps creating monthly showcases or cultivating more all-ages nights and venues. I may not have been skilled enough able to play in a band during my childhood, but that doesn't mean I won't be writing an article about those who can in the magazine soon (hint hint). And in the meantime, maybe I'll break out my old guitar and strum a few chords; it's never too late—or too early—to rock out.