Contact: Virginia Thompson
8316 6th St. N.
St. Petersburg, FL 33702
(727) 576-0166
email: thom.music@verizon.net

Saint Petersburg, Fl. – June 30, 2009

“The Best Summer Music Camp in Town ”

Thompson’s Music Studio will host the “A Major Summer Music Camp” at Pro Star Recording Studio in St. Pete., the week of July 13th and also at Arts on 9th July 20th in Ybor City for children ages six through teens.

It’s time to pull out your fiddle, keyboard, and guitar from underneath the bed and fulfill those dreams of musical desire. Beginners through intermediate students, age six through teens, will also learn basic music theory and have a toe tapping, finger snapping, hand clapping fun experience that makes learning music exciting and easy.

This week-long camp will end with an all inspired fun experience recording their own CD in a professional recording studio. There will be a grand finale recital and graduation party. Parents, family, and friends, are invited. This is a great way for children to learn music and make some new friends.

Please call Mrs. Thompson for early registration and discounted pricing at 727.576.0166. The cost for this camp is $175.00 with a $25.00 discount for early registration.

Registration for Pro Star Recording Studio in St. Pete is July 11 from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. The camp starts July 13th – 18th and is located at 3220 28th St. N., St. Pete., FL 33713 or call 727.526.0446

Registration for Arts on 9th in Ybor is July 18th 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. The Camp starts July 20th – 25th located at 1513 E. 9th Tampa, FL 33605 or call 813.436.8002

Overall, the symposium was a great success. Saturday opened with “Poets of Popular Song, The Lyrics and Lyric Writers of the Great American Songbook”. Featuring the piano work of Paul Wilborn and the 105 year old Rosa Rio. After their performance, many of the attendees broke for the lunch while the rest of us sat at our tables and handed out free swag and met with people.

As the day raged on, the crowd continued to morph. After noon, the rock kids all awoke and made an appearance, many to show off their demos and many more to attend seminars including “Marketing, Touring and Band Management” and “Alternative Media Promotion” with BrandTampa’s own Queen of Social Media Julia Gorzka. Classes on getting the most out of studio time, shooting a music video and a “meet the press” session provided even more value to those who came looking for help getting their music careers off the ground.

There was a good showing by all the key players at the vendor tables including Bay Area Beat, WMNF, Creative Loafing and Reax.

Here are some random photos from the event:

I went on Thursday night, met up with the piano men and got a front row seat while I was waiting for them to start. The place was pretty dead at 10PM, but people began trickling in as the set started. It’s important to note that this isn’t your granddad’s piano bar. The songs they play are all pop hits from the last forty years, and they draw on the crowd for suggestions.

Some of the songs are obvious choices, originally written for piano such as Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Jim Croce’s “Bad Bad Leroy Brown”. Others, such as their piano rock renditions of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” and Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” were stunningly powerful and funny renditions. Since this is an 18+ venue, the language took a turn for the blue during some of the songs, often parodying the lyrics of the pop song. Want a funny example? “I want to poke her face, pa-pa-poke her face.. with my weiner.”

You can thank Ty Chaney for that little ditty. His showmanship is nothing short of Vegas quality and his attention to detail and honest interactions make him the kind of performer that I wish I could see every night. His accompanying piano man, Dan Slyker, is all the wingman that a piano playing entertainer could ask for. When he’s not on the ivories, he would hop behind the drums to fill out songs as needed.

The fun of Howl at the Moon is being an engaged audience member. You’ll find yourself singing along at full volume. You’ll have a pile of song suggestions scrawled out and passed up to the piano men, who will gladly take tips to play your tune. You’ll most likely be surprised at exactly how much fun this all is.

I’m waiting for the two piano players to contact me for an interview, because I think their story needs to be heard. Anyone who can start out “White Rabbit” loud and get progressively louder only to follow with the most insane version of “Welcome to the Jungle” is worthy of both my praise and my attention.

To download the full 24 page magazine, click here:
http://www.bayareabeat.org/pdfissues/bab-2009-05.pdf