Aching for Rock School

"I just got named the national music director of the Paul Green School of Rock and will be opening a San Diego branch of the school early next year," says guitarist Mike Keneally. "I've come to know a lot of brilliant musicians in San Diego through the years, and I'm looking to see who among them's got the teaching bug.... The locale is still being sorted out. Our plan is to be open for business by early February."

Founded in 1998 by musician Paul Green, the School of Rock Music (unrelated to and dissimilar from the 2003 Jack Black film) has facilities operating in around a dozen U.S. cities. For tuition that ranges from $180 to $280 a month, students between the ages of 7 and 18 get weekly private instruction on the instrument of their choice and supervised rehearsals with other students. Professional touring musicians often guest-lecture, and seminar topics include "Songwriting," "How to Get Gigs and Promote Your Band," "Music Business 101," and "What Really Goes Into a Tour."

"This certainly will cut into time devoted to my career," says Keneally, the former Frank Zappa sideman, "but I was pretty much aching for some kind of a change anyway."

Keneally will perform with a touring lineup of School of Rock Music students at the Epicentre on January 21.