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Little Kids Rock (LKR),
www.littlekidsrock.org
Little Kids Rock launched new chapters this year in Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Trenton, N.J. Another chapter is opening this summer in Washington, D.C., with Dallas and Tampa not far behind. LKR serves more than 10,000 students and, “I expect that number will double by the end of this calendar year,” said David Wish, LKR’s executive director. “We’ve doubled in size each of the last four years and are on target to do so again.”
LKR also launched a new television station called Little Kids Rock TV. “People can go there and get free Little Kids Rock lessons and see music videos by our kids,” said Wish. “There are also segments there involving celebrity endorsers who interact with the kids.”
Speaking of celebrities, Ziggy Marley recently joined LKR’s honorary board. And in May, LKR hosted a huge concert and auction at the House of Blues in Los Angeles. Dave Navarro, Alice in Chains, and Scott Ian of Anthrax were among those who performed. The auction was in honor of former Pantera guitarist Dimabag Darrell Abbott, who was murdered by a fan in 2004. “Proceeds from that event will enable us to launch the chapters in Dallas and Tampa,” said Wish.
The concert was scheduled to air on MTV2.
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Percussion Marketing
Council (PMC),
www.playdrums.com, www.rootsofrhythm.net
There are tons of things happening at the PMC. Most prominent are Roots of Rhythm, Percussion in the Schools, and the upcoming International Drum Month (IDM) in November. “Roots of Rhythm continues to be our flagship educational program,” said the PMC’s Karl Dustman. “It continues to evolve and grow. This year, we’ve been looking to expand some teacher training sessions. We’re working with about 1,000 teachers with our collaboration with the International House of Blues Foundation.
“We have an integration among the teachers, students, and some of the retail dealers,” he continued. This is what we call connecting the dots. How do we get Roots of Rhythm into some of the stores? That has been on our front burner for 2007. We’re creating a Roots of Rhythm dealer base where dealers stock and sell authorized Roots of Rhythm products and have access to a database of those teachers who have gone through Roots of Rhythm curriculums and workshops.”
As for Percussion in the Schools, “It’s new for 2007 and is a matching funds grant program whereby schools are able to have an in-school assembly program featuring a guest concert of percussion ensembles,” said Dustman. “There’s a $250 fee paid for by the school to pay the artist, and that amount is matched by the PMC.”
November will mark the 12th year for IDM. “It will be geared toward basic general population consumer awareness,” said Dustman, “but also trade industry promotion, i.e. the retail merchant, who needs to be aware of how to address, cultivate, promote, and sell to the female market. We refer to it as ‘Drumming is For Everyone,’ ‘Hit Like a Girl.’ It was our most successful program in 2002, and we’re taking it as the foundation and building upon it.”
Dustman added PMC with have a breakfast meeting open to the general public during Summer NAMM this month on July 28 from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. in the Austin Convention Center, third floor, room 10A.
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