November 19, 2003

Metallica Man Rocks with Kids Former Bassist Plays Children’s Songs

For the last five years Little Kids Rock, a "I believe music puts people in touch with their program that brings music into inner-city schools, creative sides, and creativity is like oxygen to has put out an album of songs written by children," says Wish. "Once they learn to get in children. This year, tracks like "Little Dinosaur," touch with their creative side it transfers to "First Grade Funk," "Yoda," and "I'm a Cowgirl," other aspects of their lives, it improves their will get the professional treatment beginning with mathematical abilities and their overall a recording session tomorrow at the famed Plant academic functioning. "The quality of the recording studio in Sausalito, California. Former output the students are laying out there -- kids Metallica bassist Jason Newsted and Doobie who can still count their age on two hands -- is Brothers guitarist/vocalist pretty intense," Wish continues. Tom Johnston are among "This breaks away from the the musicians who will traditional model of teaching record songs written by jazz and classical to kids. This grade-school tunesmiths. teaches them to write the kind of music they listen to. There's "It has been proven that songs that sound like the children who create Stones, Shaggy and Destiny's relationships with musical Child." instruments do better in school and in life," says The similarity of the recent Newsted, a veteran of School of Rock film and the recording sessions at the actual Little Kids Rock is Plant both with Metallica striking, a coincidence that has and his current band proved beneficial. "It's been Voivod. "In times like fantastic," says Wish. "People these, when the arts are Jason Newsted are excited and amazed when being forced out of our they find there's an schools, encouraging self-confidence in kids organization actually doing that for kids across through music -- or in any way we can -- is the country, for free." absolutely essential." A future recording session for the Little Kids The program is the vision of a former first-grade Rock album is planned at Manhattan Center teacher named Dave Wish, who began giving free Studios in New York, with former Del Fuegos guitar lessons after school to a group of twenty frontman Dan Zanes, guitarist Jim Campilongo kids at a Redwood City, California, elementary and Billy Joel drummer Liberty Devitto. school. A grant from Carlos Santana's Milagro Foundation allowed the program to grow and in Samples of the kids' work are available at the the seven years since Wish started, Little Kids organization's Web site, littlekidsrock.org. Rock has expanded to working with 2,000 kids at sites in New York, New Jersey and Tennessee, as COLIN DEVENISH well as California. The organization's honorary board of directors now includes Santana, Paul Simon, Bonnie Raitt and B.B. King.