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Punk Rock Girls

At this all-female day camp run by Boston rock royalty, nothing is uncool
By EUGENIA WILLIAMSON  |  August 15, 2010

 

"What kind of music do you like?" Haley Thompson-King asks the Rock Camp girls.

There are nine of them, all under age 15, sitting in a circle at Spontaneous Celebrations in Jamaica Plain. They give their answers: the obligatory Biebers, a Lady Gaga or two.

Then one girl answers "Journey."

The counselors smile and nod. "Cool!" everyone says.

PHOTOS:Scenes from Girls Rock Camp, by Kelly Davidson

PHOTOS:Girls Rock Camp Benefit concert, by Kelsey Marie Bell

READ: "Josh Farrar + the NowhereNauts on rules that rock," by Alexandra Cavallo

Cool?

I love Journey, but it took me until I was 29 to admit it. I started to love Journey at a time when it was extremely embarrassing to love Journey, when an earnest love for them would have caused alarm.

These girls didn't get the memo. Nobody told them they can't like Journey, and with any luck, nobody ever will. That's one of the reasons Girls Rock Camp exists: to save girls' music instincts from the outside pressure and self-censure out to destroy them. At Rock Camp, nothing is wrong.

Forty-five unpaid volunteers spent the last part of July and the first week in August in service of the cause. They transformed Spontaneous Celebrations into a junior feminist Valhalla. They covered all the mirrors in the building so the girls wouldn't think about their looks. They decked the walls with giant black-and-white posters of Odetta, Kathleen Hannah, Kim Gordon, and Grace Jones. They organized meals, workshops, equipment, lunchtime entertainment, raffle items, and a concert.

Together, they created a week-long day camp where 40 girls, ages eight to 15, formed bands, wrote songs, and got the confidence to play in front of a sold-out crowd at T.T. the Bear's.

Hilken Mancini, the camp's program director, sees the GRC as her legacy. "I'm 40 years old and I've never had kids; I have 50-watt Marshall amps," she said over the phone a week before camp began. "I want to build a framework for these girls."

Mancini has complete faith in the collective wisdom of the Rock Camp volunteers. "The experience and knowledge we have of punk rock and music history — it's something that can't be bought," she said. Music Director Mary Lou Lord recorded a song with Elliott Smith, and Band Manager Thalia Zedek, in addition to her solo career, fronts the insanely influential band Come.

Even though they have the chops, many of the counselors appear nervous now, as camp begins. They believe so much in what they are doing that they worry they will somehow let down the girls.

So they get to work.

'Everything is music'
An hour into the first day and it's already time to form bands. The girls are divided by age and shuttled to separate floors. Picks — girls 11 to 15 — stay in the rock room. Sticks — campers age eight to 10 — choose their bandmates upstairs. At first, most clump together in a large, hesitant throng. "What was the last song you listened to?" the counselors ask. Most don't remember.

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Related: Photos: Scenes from Girls Rock Camp 2010, Photos: Newport Jazz Festival 2010, After the oil spill, an aging punk rocker takes the stage, More more >
  Topics: Music Features , Entertainment, Music, Thalia Zedek,  More more >
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2 Comments / Add Comment

solrhythym

Great article and a great camp. Young girls need more camps like this, that support the freedom to explore without criticism. This is a wonderful opportunity and I hope more girls get the chance to experience this.

On a personal note, I thank the women who volunteered to make this camp happen, Sugie is my niece and I think she will take this experience with her for the rest of her life. You women ROCK!!

Juanita Clark (I love Journey, too)
Posted: August 14 2010 at 11:29 AM

frenchyt

I'm the grandma of Bianca, the bassist and couldn't be more proud of her. A month ago at her traditional music recital she played the choral theme from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on the double bass, which towers over her and is her fave instrument. She is totally awesome and cool, musically and otherwise but this rock camp helped her overcome her shyness and reluctance to play publicly. A terrific experience for her: Rock on Girls of Boston.
FrenchyT
Posted: August 15 2010 at 12:31 PM
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