> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # PARENTING Kids powered by AC/DC School of Rock gives kids the opportunity to perform live - URL: https://www.smdp.com/parenting-kids-powered-by-ac-dc-school-of-rock-gives-kids-the-opportunity-to-perform-live/ - Published: 2007-03-06T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-24T23:33:03.000Z - Author: Melody Hanatani - Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import *Youngsters learn rock classics at school* OLYMPIC BLVD. — The walls vibrated in the small recording studio on Saturday as a 15-year-old kid with flowing locks cradled his electric guitar and strummed the familiar chords that begin AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck.” To the left of him sat an even younger rocker, banging on a set of drums and thrashing his head back and forth, back and forth. Out in front was a young boy, slowly singing: “I was caught... In the middle of a railroad track.” The legends of rock ‘n’ roll past line the walls, with posters of Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and David Bowie leading to the recording studio, each singer providing the students with inspiration.A “Rock and Roll Street”sign informs visitors that they’ve reached their destination. Welcome to the real-life version of the School of Rock, actor Jack Black excluded. The Paul Green School of Rock franchise recently opened its Santa Monica branch under the ownership of John Rusco, front-man for the rock band Static Man. Founded in 1998 by the namesake musician, the Paul Green School of Rock operates more than 30 locations nationwide and is believed to have inspired the 2003 hit comedy “School of Rock,” starring Black, a Santa Monica native and Crossroads School alum. “I wanted to give them a program that I didn’t get... when I was a kid,” Rusco said last week. “When I took music lessons as a kid, I kept taking guitar lessons over and over and never had any kind of payoff. This is a performance-based program.” Rusco,who plans to open branch studios in Newport Beach, Manhattan Beach and Pasadena, has an extensive background in music, playing in genres ranging from country to rock to jazz.The resume includes gigs opening up for the Allman Brothers and Aerosmith. His brother is an opera singer in Vienna. “As kids, we drove my parents crazy (with all the music),” Rusco said. The purpose of the school is to provide an opportunity for aspiring rock musicians to perform on stage in front of a live audience. Instructors spend 13 weeks preparing their students, ranging in age from 7-18 years old, for a live rock concert dedicated to a particular artist. The school is currently working on an AC/DC show, scheduled for June 2 at the Malibu Inn. The future rock stars spend 45 minutes every week in the studio for private lessons, learning their individual roles in the AC/DC songs that will be performed at the concert. All the students then converge for three hours each Saturday afternoon with Executive Music Director Joe DeSa for a group jam session, putting together the pieces of the puzzle to form a fun-size Angus Young and company. Because there are more students than open slots in the band, the kids rotate during the rehearsal and concert. “We thought (AC/DC) was a good starting point for the kids since the songs were really truly rock,” Rusco said. “They were a great band and the kids seem to really enjoy it.” Up next is Pink Floyd. The school opened last month at a temporary location in the Santa Monica Studios at 3025 Olympic Blvd., sharing the building with a dance studio and an Indian entertainment production company. The studio currently includes two sound-proof rehearsal rooms and a drum booth. In May, the school will open up shop on the northeast corner of Arizona Avenue and Second Street, expanding to include two sound-proof rehearsal studios, two drum booths and five guitar booths. But for now, the temporary location rocks. The students here worship the great bands of the past like Van Halen, Judas Priest and, more recently, Green Day. Drummers Truth Cole, 8, of Van Nuys, and Veronica Pickard, 7, of Santa Monica, awaited their turns to rehearse in the recording studio on Saturday, listening in on their peers’ performance. Pickard has been playing the drums for the past two years with a private instructor and decided to sign up with the School of Rock after a family friend invited her to attend a School of Rock performance at The Knitting Factory in Los Angeles. “I like that you can have your own rock band and your own private teacher,” Pickard said. Her friend Cole, who likes covering Green Day, recently received a guitar for Christmas. But for now, she’s sticking with what’s familiar — a drum set she has banged on for a few years. “I want to be like Sheila E.,” Cole said. The School of Rock will soon feature a brother and sister duo, when 9-year-old Gabriela Sherman, of Harbor City, joins her brother Joshua, 15. The younger Sherman aspires to be a singer some day and hopes performing live with the School of Rock will jumpstart her career. She has yet to take her first private lesson with the school. Her brother, who plays guitar in a garage band called The Vagabonds, enrolled in the school on Wednesday after his mother found a flier in Redondo Beach last week. Classic rock is Joshua Sherman’s passion, and his father, Richard Sherman, sees the school as the perfect opportunity for his son to learn stage presence, since he has yet to perform live with a band. “He’s been playing since he was 12,” Richard Sherman said as he watched his son rehearse. “He loves his guitar. He would sleep with his guitar if he could.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/030607-01_01.jpg) EVERYBODY JAM-OUT: Right; (From left to right) Veronica Pickard, Truth Cole, Troy Romzek, Director Joe De Sa, Josh Sherman, Brian Clemens, Aidan Ross. (Photo: Photos by Fabian Lewkowicz) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/030607-01_02.jpg) EVERYBODY JAM-OUT: Right; (From left to right) Veronica Pickard, Truth Cole, Troy Romzek, Director Joe De Sa, Josh Sherman, Brian Clemens, Aidan Ross. (Photo: Photos by Fabian Lewkowicz) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 6, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/030607.pdf?ref=smdp.com)