OCT 18: LENNON'S QUARRYMEN LIVE! GITC Benefit Features ex-Wings Guitarist Laurence Juber & John Lennon's Original Quarrymen Band at Writers Boot Camp

Featured Event Listing by Don Rose

Take advantage of an amazing opportunity to support Guitars In The Classroom and witness a legendary concert -- one that, for once, may actually live up to that phrase "once in a lifetime," since us LA folk don't get that many Beatles-era bands from Liverpool who played with John Lennon playing live over here.

The show on October 18, 2008 will feature Grammy Award winning guitar virtuoso Laurence Juber (former Wings bandmate of Paul McCartney) as special guest for John Lennon's original band, The Quarrymen! The Quarrymen, the band who were on stage with John Lennon during that fateful fete on Saturday July 6th, 1957 -- a.k.a. the day John met McCartney -- got back together in 1997 to celebrate the most momentous meeting in pop music history. And now they're Coming Together to entertain you, live, in Santa Monica.

You can get tickets at Westwood Music (1627 Westwood Blvd., just south of Westwood Village in Los Angeles), or by phone (858-755-2239), or online by clicking here (credit card) or going to GITC's website at www.guitarsintheclassroom.org. Or, you can try your luck at the door; tickets will be sold at the door (cash or check only) but they may sell out, so come early! It should be quite a scene. (I woulda said "A splendid time is guaranteed for all," but I think that's copyrighted.)

730pm benefit for Guitars In The Classroom, featuring The Quarrymen and very special guest Laurence Juber performing live in concert, plus silent auction and raffle. Location of the show: Writers Boot Camp, a.k.a. Building I inside the arts complex known at Bergamot Station. Take the 10 freeway West into Santa Monica, get off at the Cloverfield exit, go North to a street called Michigan, go Right on Michigan (at the ARCO station) until you dead-end into the Bergamot parking lot entrance. Enter, and immediately turn left to park and keep walking that direction, way into the back area, to find WBC. More info on the event at: http://guitarsintheclassroom.org/banner_la.php.

About Guitars In The Classroom

Educators and child care providers with little or no musical background can now learn to use guitars, singing, and songwriting across the curriculum in their classrooms for free. The purpose of Guitars in the Classroom (GITC) is to train, support and encourage teachers who want to integrate music-making in their lessons and daily school activities. Many teachers around the country are now strumming and singing as they introduce, reinforce, enrich and extend lessons in every subject area. Songs that motivate students to better learn spelling, rhyming patterns, language fluency, vocabulary, social studies lessons, math and science are offered weekly as part of each Guitars in the Classroom course. The program is free to teachers and if they do not have a guitar, one is provided for them (on loan) along with instruction to get them playing, singing and leading simple songs. The program is sponsored by many generous manufacturers of musical instruments and accessories as well as by NAMM, The International Music Products Association and GAMA, the Guitars and Accessories Marketing Association.

“It’s all about discovering the joy of making music,” says Jessica Baron, who started the GITC program in 1998 largely in response to the increased need for the preservation of music-making in educational settings, and the great musical potential she saw in her educational colleagues in schools where she served as a music specialist. “More than half our participants had never picked up a guitar. Others are returning to guitar after having given it up years before. And whether they are shower singers or choral members, teachers quickly become comfortable enough with the guitar to trust the magic of their own voices, and to express their musicality in service of helping children become more successful students and happier people. The teachers’ leadership and creativity inspires kids to open up and give themselves to learning every day. Music is an infinite medium.”

To learn more about the work of Guitars In The Classroom, please visit their website at: www.guitarsintheclassroom.org.