See you September 8th!

Poster art by Flannery Harper, age 11

September 8th Line Up

This just in!

The September 8th Rock-n-Romp line up has been confirmed! Get out your dancing shoes and your ear plugs! (Actually, this may be the first ever Rock-n-Romp that doesn’t require ear plugs!)

Come hear local dad, Caleb Sweazy, Murfreesboro’s Those Darlins, and local band The Arch Rivals.

Evites will be going out the week of August 27th. If you are not already on the guestlist, please email memphisrocknromp@gmail.com and we will add you!

July 21st Recap

The third Rock n Romp of the second season was by far our biggest turnout yet! Good thing we had the obscenely large backyard of the Kerrs for this show-- thanks so much to our gracious hosts Terry and Elaine. (This was also RnR's first excursion out of Midtown-- that wasn't so bad, was it?)

The weather was uncharacteristically great for July-- low humidity and a light breeze. We had a water play area, the good ol' banging wall, homemade tattoos, and Lisa from Junkyard Memphis doing crafty cool stuff with the kids.

Pezz kicked off the show, rocking in ways that RnR has never been rocked.



Ill Ease, straight off the road from Chicago, re-defined the concept of crowd involvement:




And finally, Papa Top's West Coast Turnaround both rocked and romped it:



Thanks to all three bands, and thanks to everyone who came out. Seeya in September!

July 21st Line-up

To be added to the guestlist send an email to memphisrocknromp@gmail.com.

Kidzapalooza

The second annual Kidzapalooza is in Chicago August 3, 4, and 5. Someone please go and tell us all about it!

The Line Up
Paul Green School of Rock All Stars
Perry Farrell and Peter DiStefano
G Love
The Hipwaders
The Sippy Cups
Peter Himmelman
The Candy Band
Wee Hairy Beasties
The Q Brothers
The Blisters
Rock For Kids Jam Band
Alvin Ailey Dance Camp
John Yost's Rhythm Revolution
..and some more main stage very special guests!!!

Activities
Paul Green's School of Rock workshops
Dance workshops with the Brickheadz and Chicago School of Dance
Hip Hop Workshop with the Q Brothers and the Inferno Mobile Recording Studio
Remo Drum Circle with facilitator John Yost
Rock & Roll Hairdooz
Small Paul Screen Printing
Photoshootz
Gibson G-Pod
Gibson Little Baldwins
Playstation Gaming
Arts at Play
...and much more!

June 9th Recap

Despite some rain on Thursday (or was it Friday?), we ended up with beautiful weather for the second Rock-n-Romp of the season. The show was hosted by Wendy Sumner and Kalki Winter, who you may or may not know from the Midtown Artist Market. They graciously opened up their gorgeous backyard to about 150 parents and kids.



As if great weather and a great yard weren't enough, we had two incredible bands and an awesome DJ.

The Warble was first up and they really got the show off to a great start. They were unlike any band I've ever heard--totally original. They were responsible for the whimsical Rock-n-Romp poster design and were just as creative with their lyrics.



The kids were quite taken with them. The boy on the right cracked me up. He had a perplexed look on his face, but every few seconds, he'd bend his knees and dance along with the music.



When not listening to the music, the kids kept busy with the usual tattoo offerings, bubbles, and the ever popular banging wall.





It seemed like we had a wave of folks come around 3:15pm (due to naptime maybe?), which was great, but they all missed out on the magic that was The Warble!

Next up was Giant Bear, "the world’s only five-piece Orchestral Funkabilly band," who just got national distribution for their latest CD. After one song, I could see why. They were absolutely top notch.

Jeff White, who plays guitar & banjo, and does vocals, had his son nearby to accompany him on the "bubble guitar."



The kids (and parents) really responded to Giant Bear, and I was happy to see some real live dancing going on.









What can I say...Rock-n-Romp just keeps getting better and better. Stay tuned for details on our July 21st show, which is guaranteed to be our biggest show yet!

For more pictures, check out our Flickr set.

To get on the RnR guestlist or send feedback, please email memphisrocknromp@gmail.com.

June 9th Show

To get on the guestlist, please email memphisrocknromp@gmail.com.

April 28th Recap

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

The second season of Memphis Rock-n-Romp got off to a great start thanks to Vending Machine. (Fronted by Rock-n-Romp co-founder, Robby Grant).

Kelly Anderson, who is bringing the Southern Girls Rock-n-Roll Camp to Memphis this Summer, was on hand to sign up girls ages 10-18.

Kate Crowder, our April Rock-n-Romp host, is not only the lead singer of Two Way Radio, but a teacher and kid craft genius. She set up a station for all the rompers to make safari shakers to play along with the bands.

As always the banging wall was set up for rompers to bang at will.

Rompers could also be seen driving through the yard on one of many toy cars. (Oliver Crowder, our youngest host, wins the RnR Sharing Award for so freely giving of his toys.)

Plenty of tattoos were also available to keep the kids happy.

There were lots of new faces.

DJ Colin Butler rocked the yard for awhile with his eclectic mix of music and then the River City Tanlines took the stage. Having never had the chance to see them live, I was thrilled.

I was happy to see that some people took our "bring earplugs" advice seriously. However, some people found the hard rock to be quite soothing. When the music was over, there was plenty of time for the kids to play rock star while the parents chatted and finished off the keg of Abita.

Hope to see you at our next show June 9th featuring The Warble and Giant Bear!

April 28th Show

Schedule:
DJ Colin Butler - (2-5pm when bands aren't playing)
Vending Machine - 230pm
River City Tanlines - 4pm


To get on the guest list, email memhisrocknromp@gmail.com. You will be sent an evite with the address for the show.

Southern Girls Rock-n-Roll Camp coming to Memphis!

Kelley Anderson, the founder of the Southern Girls Rock-n-Roll camp in Murfreesboro, is holding one in Memphis this summer. If you want to volunteer or know any young girls interested in music, please contact her or visit the Southern Girls Rock-n-Roll Camp website to download volunteer forms. (Men and women are encouraged to volunteer!)

To give you a quick overview: SGRRC offers girls age 10-17 instruction in guitar, drums, bass, keys, vocals, and electronic music as well as workshops in DIY arts & crafts, zine making, photography and songwriting. The camp is being held at the Gibson Guitar Factory in downtown Memphis and the dates are June 18 - 23. The coolest part about camp is that the girls get to form a band, rehearse each day with a volunteer band "manager" and then at the end of the week perform a song. The final showcase is going to be on the roof of the Gibson Guitar Factory in true Beatles fashion. More info on the camp is available at www.sgrrc.org.

Contact:
Kelley Anderson (sgrrc05@gmail.com)
Founder, SGRRC
(615) 849-8140
www.sgrrc.org

Line up for April 28th

This just in...the line up for the first Rock-n-Romp show on April 28th!

DJ Colin Butler
The River City Tanlines
Vending Machine

To get on the guestlist, please send an email to memphisrocknromp@gmail.com. Evites with the location will be going out the first week of April.

2007 Season

The Rock-n-Romp crew is hard at work planning five shows for this year. We are currently looking for hosts and bands who are interested in playing. Please contact us at memphisrocknromp@gmail.com if you are interested.

In the meantime, go ahead and mark your calendar for the following dates!

April 28
June 9
July 21
September 8
October 27

October 28th Recap

Despite the rain aaaaaaaaaaaaallll day Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, it was sunny and on the warm side of cool Saturday. Over 150 people (big and small) gathered in the Trenthem's lush backyard to enjoy an afternoon of music, crafts, conversation, healthy snacks, and beer on tap. The kids came out full force in their costumes and took over the haunted playhouse, painted gourds and pumpkins, climbed trees, and did their best to destroy the new, improved banging wall.





The Wallendas put the rock in the romp...



Dr. Dave Evans, joined on stage by his very talented three-year-old grandson, gave the under ten set their first taste of old time blues.



Zack, the ducky half of Unknown Pleasures DJs, spun some fun tunes between bands...



And before we knew it, it was last call. Chess Club closed the show with a Pop Noir bang.



We can hardly wait for next Spring to start romping again. We hope to have more shows and more bands next year. Please let us know if you are in a band and want to play, if you have a big yard and want to host, what bands you'd like to see, and what kind of beer you like! Leave a comment here, or email us at memphisrocknromp@gmail.com.

For more pictures, visit our Flickr page.

And for a special treat, check out a You Tube video of Rock-n-Romp founder, Debbie Lee, at the DC Halloween show.

Looks like good weather...

October 28th Show

The October 28th show is the last one this year. If you haven't made it to one of our super-fun shows, this is your last chance!

Let the kids dress up, bring a *healthy* snack to share, and enjoy some great music!

Here's the line up:

The Wallendas - 2:15pm
Dr. David Evans - 3:15pm (solo)
Chess Club - 4:15pm

Unknown Pleasures DJs - all the quiet parts in between.

Evites/emails will be going out the week of October 9th. To add your name to the list email memphisrocknromp@gmail.com.

September 23 Recap

Planning outdoor events is stressful, especially in a place like Memphis where you never know what the weather will do. With the foreboding weather and the uncertainty of whether it would last, we found ourselves in almost the same exact position we were in on June 17th. But this time, we had a plan.

After staring out the window, checking the radar, and stressing for almost 36 hours, we decided 15 minutes prior to the start time to move the show indoors. We were incredibly lucky that our beloved board member and Sept 23 hostess, Wendy Trenthem, not only knows, but is related to, people in high places. Her dad, who happens to be part owner of the Strings & Things building, graciously offered to let us hold the show in the atrium should the weather turn bad. (Even though we rocked and romped for a bit despite the rain on June 17th, this time we really wanted to be able to do a full blown show regardless of the weather.)

Up until the very last second, I was arguing for holding the show outdoors. I just refused to accept the fact that the rain was coming. Wendy and her husband had spent months cleaning up their backyard (they even built a deck!) and I could just picture it full of sundrenched kids armed with slide whistles. I couldn't let go of the dream.

Chip, who had been studying the radar all morning, finally said to me, "The radar doesn't lie. It isn't magic; It's science." I was really disappointed that it was raining on my parade two times in a row, but my disappointment quickly dissipated once I walked into Strings & Things. It was big and airy, clean, free, covered, and all ours for the day. Moments after we started rearranging tables, rain started pounding on the roof. It was exactly 2:00pm.

By 2:30pm, we had everything cleared out and baby-proofed. Families started trickling in, and Jeffrey James and the Haul took the stage. The kids started gravitating to the instruments...and the tattoos...and all of the other fun stuff we had around.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Before we knew it, there were 45 families in attendance, and kids were happily running all over the place. Unfortunately we couldn't serve beer at S&T, but it didn't seem to affect the mood at all thanks to Two Way Radio (Formerly known as Walkie Talkie and briefly as Side Walk Talk.) They had hula hoops...fancy instruments...and even a llama! (Their CD is titled "Residential Llama)

By the time Cory Branan was set to go on, the kids were amped up beyond belief. I saw him sweating a bit and he told one of the RnR organizers that he "hadn't been this nervous since David Letterman." (Or something like that.) But clearly the kids quickly accepted Cory as one of their own, and banded around him for the duration.

It was the perfect ending to a perfect (except for the weather!) day. We were all thrilled.

Mark your calendars for October 28th. It will be our last show of the season. We hope to have the bands finalized this week. Stay tuned for more details.

Come to Strings & Things!

We waited until the very last minute because we really really wanted to rock-n-romp outside, but we have decided to move indoors. Please join us!

Rain or Shine September 23rd

We are all excited to rock out this Saturday regardless of the weather. This show will go on RAIN OR SHINE! If it does happen to rain Saturday, we'll move over to a nice indoor alternative location at Strings & Things (1555 Madison Ave). An announcement will be made on the eVite, by email and on the blog by noon Saturday if the rain location becomes necessary. Please plan to join in the fun either way.... And, if you have questions on Saturday, you can call Stacey Greenberg at 336-7335.

September 23, 2006

Mark Your Calendars!

The next Rock-n-Romp is scheduled for Saturday, September 23rd! And remember, rain won't stop us from having a good time! We will try to give you plenty of notice and send reminders as we get closer. The awesome line up includes Cory Branan, Jeffrey James and the Haul , the band formerly known as Walkie Talkie, and DJ Key Lime. If you'd like to get on the guestlist shoot an email to memphisrocknromp@gmail.com.

Unfortunately Wayne Leloy of Native Son is moving to Seattle and will not be able to play like we had anticipated.