An Idol Summer
Going to camp to become a pop star
Eliora Katz has taken center stage. The petite brunet is tossing her hair, clutching the mike, and looking at her audience straight on. She's singing a big, sad song that opens with a world-weary warning: "Promises are not your thing / so stop lying / I'm sick and tired of your silly games / so walk out the door."
Eliora is 9 years old. But she is not alone in dreaming of fame. Enrollment has jumped this summer at DayJams rock-and-roll day camps, where 1,400 students in 10 cities around the country are trading "Kumbaya" for amplified acoustic guitars, drums, keyboards, and voices. Why the increased interest? Steve Wnuk, executive director of the camps, gives partial credit to the "American Idol effect": Kids who have been glued to the hit TV show have decided to test their own talents. "It's the beginning of my career," says budding guitarist Nate Simon, 10, who attended a recent weeklong session in Rockville, Md.
The $475-a-week program aims to give kids ages 9 to 15 a rookie-to-rocker experience. Twice-daily music lessons are taught on proper equipment by real musicians, some with notable--if sometimes dated--resumes. (DayJams's Los Angeles staff includes a percussionist now touring with Air Supply and a keyboard player who has worked not only with Tony Orlando but with the Osmonds, too.) There are other rock music camps (including an annual all-girls camp in Portland, Ore.), but DayJams has by far the biggest national presence.
Dazzled by Idol -ized Kelly and Justin, Clay and Ruben, more of this year's campers are signing up to sing, though most kids (some 70 percent are boys) come to play instruments. Divided into bands of eight, the campers--some experienced, some beginners--have four days to write lyrics, create a melody, and polish their performance. On Day 5, wearing band T-shirts of their own design, they stage a minipalooza: Newly minted bands, with names like Stick People on Steroids and Spork, appear live before an audience made up of the people who love them best. And when they go back to school in the fall, campers can answer the How I Spent My Summer Vacation query by pulling out their band's CD.
I write the songs. Of course, all this playing is work. Songwriting is "pretty hard," says James-William Lubkin, 13. "You'll start with a basic chord. Then you think you have it, but you can't figure out how to fit lyrics to it. So you start over again." Ultimately, he and the rest of his band, Chaos Complex, penned a keeper, minimally titled "When." "It's about how one person's fear affects everyone else," explains a cheerful Danny Saperstein, 13.
The camps are no place for the headache prone. Making music is an all-day, every-day endeavor. In the school where the camp is held, the drums are so loud and plentiful that it is hard to hear Tanya Wasyluk, a 10-year-old with red streaks in her brown hair and braces on her teeth, sing, "To rock out loud / to scream out loud / to go wild and crazy / jump into the crowd." (The upbeat lyrics are not to be taken literally, teacher Steve Helfand cautions, nixing the notion of crowd surfing over parents and grandparents.)
For many campers, the week fuels ambition. Others realize that they may not want to invest the time it takes to become an MTV staple. "You have to do keys and stuff," says Chuck Mahon, 10, who plays the electric guitar for his band, Leprechaun Mob. "I'm not really into that. I just like practicing."
Practicing, it turned out, paid off. The big Friday show included dozens of Jagger-esque jumps, power guitar riffs, and ear-splitting drum solos. It was hard to tell if there were any stars in the making, but there were plenty of kids convinced they may have what it takes. And others who decided to keep their options open. "I like fashion design, but if I never made it in that world, I'd probably take up singing," says Tanya. Not that she's given up Idol worship. She considers the judges: sugary Paula Abdul, easygoing Randy Jackson, and hypercritical Simon Cowell. She shrugs, "If Simon ever changed jobs, I'd probably go on."
This story appears in the July 28, 2003 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.