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News & Gossip: Sometimes Girls Rock! And Sometimes They Don't

While listening to "Give the Drummer Some More," from the new Greyboy Allstars album....

I have been putting off writing anything about the movie Girls Rock! I was thinking I'd just shut up about it, but it's been on my mind. I have not seen the film and have no plans to.

Don't get me wrong, I think the idea of a music camp for girls is a good one for all the obvious reasons, but in 2003 I did a TV story for OPB's Oregon Art Beat on the first camp. And I got my butt kicked because of it.

I had the nerve to actually show some of the girls failing. Like the movie, I'm told, I followed several girls through a day at the camp. I showed the teaching, the camaraderie of collaboration, the discovery that they could make music, etc. All the good stuff. I came back to shoot the performances at the end of the week. A couple of the girls I had followed were not bad, but a charming duo who I had shown writing songs together had been joined by two others who could not play at all.

As a result, the two we had followed were thrown off and were just awful. A painful moment, but a real one. I understand there are such moments of failure in the movie. All in all, my story was very positive, mostly triumphant even, but in this one case, not so much. I felt fine about the story.

A couple of weeks after it aired, I was walking downtown and heard a female voice calling my name. It was an adult from the camp. I thought she was going to tell me she liked the piece, since it was so positive. Instead she began to berate me because I had shown failure and how showing that failure could have damaged these girls.

I told her that I've always learned more from failure, especially in public, than from success. She didn't want to hear about that.

Then the following year, I called Misty McElroy, the founder of the camp (who later "resigned"), to offer her any publicity she might need from Art Beat. She snarled and told me where I could shove my offer. She was still pissed over my story.

More damage is done by adults sugar coating what's out in the real world, than by telling little Tiffany or Jason that they suck as musicians and probably should try something else. I had to learn it the hard way and the lesson stuck. It's a hard world, an even harder business, and you might as well learn it at the beginning. Part of "empowerment" is learning how to fail. When I have taught broadcasting, I always took a day of class to teach people what to do when they get fired. It's inevitable, so you might as well learn what to do.

Let the church say amen.

THIS JUST IN: Patrcick Lamb's wife Amy Maxwell reports that Patrick was in a "really bad car accident (Tuesday). He was hit by a dump truck, and is lucky to be alive. He is currently in the hospital at Emmanuel. He is scheduled to have an MRI (Wednesday) and get the final results on his other tests. So far everything is looking great."

Full details to follow.

Now back to regularly scheduled programming....

You won't find a better start to a Ron Steen jam than the one that will happen on Monday, March 31 at Produce Row. David Friesen's pianist Greg Goebel and Pink Martini's bassist Phil Baker will form the trio that starts the jam with Ron. Baker wrote "Cante e Danse," for Pink Martini's Hey Eugene! It's one of the prettiest tunes ever written.

Speaking of the Greyboy Allstars, that song is stuck in my head. Stop! Hold it right there. Give the drummer some more because the drummer ain't had none in a long time/he ain't had none in a long time/the drummer ain't had none in a long time. It goes on to name all of the band members. Guess none of them ain't had none in a long time. They're going to be at the Roseland on Friday, March 28.

Last blog I mentioned that trumpeter Ingrid Jensen was in town. Her set with Alan Jones and Dave Speranza to'e the roof off Jimmy Mak's last Monday.

Sorry I missed Jen Folker and Solovox at The Crown Room last Friday. Missing Jen anytime is a damned shame.