Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Mr. Mad Dog

SCOTTIE “MAD DOG” BLINN, OFF CAMPUS
SCOTTIE “MAD DOG” BLINN, OFF CAMPUS

“Did you get some practice time in?” Scottie Blinn asks the half circle of students, electric guitars at the ready, seated in the teacher’s lounge at the Sacred Heart Parish School in Coronado.

“Yeah,” they say in unison. They range in age from 8 to 11.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“Good.” The smile in Blinn’s voice is hard to miss. “That’s what I want to hear.” Dressed in black jacket and T-shirt, cuffed jeans, and motorcycle boots, a tattoo peeks out from under a sleeve. The four o’clock school bell rings. Blinn is no longer Mad Dog, the blues rocker from the Mississippi Mudsharks. He is Mr. Scott, and the Rock Academy of San Diego is in session.

“If you can count,” he begins, “I can teach you how to play.” He leads the class through a four-beat pattern where he and the kids strum the same notes in unison for several bars on the downbeat before he introduces them to the next concept: the up beat. “It’s like if you put your sneakers in the dryer,” he says. “Ba-bomp, ba-bomp.”

A fifth-grader plays a shiny black Epiphone. Is it hers? “No,” she says. “It’s my dad’s. He has, like, ten guitars. I don’t think he’ll miss one.”

The Rock Academy is a continuation of the Blues Summer Camp, a music program for kids that Blinn created and taught at the Epicentre in Mira Mesa last summer. “This is exactly what I need to be doin’. I’ve got a lot to share, you know, from 20 years of experience. And I found out I’m a good teacher,” Blinn laughs, “even with young kids, just putting it in their language in a way that they can understand.” Today is the second meeting in a six-week series of hour-long classes that meets on Tuesday afternoons. By the end of the series, students will know basic chords, notes, and some theory.

Peter Harris has been the principal at Sacred Heart for two years. Even though surrounded by an affluent community, he says that there is no money in the budget for things like music class. “One of the difficulties that we have as a Catholic school where people are paying tuition is for the extras. To be able to have an after-school program from a quality person like Scott to come in and teach the kids, that’s not something we can afford to have on staff.”

Harris plays a little guitar and is no stranger to rock guitar. Ex–Beat Farmer Joey Harris is his brother. “I can’t stand seeing kids play Guitar Hero,” he says, “when they can learn how to do the real thing."

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Pet pig perches in pocket

Escondido doula gets a taste of celebrity
Next Article

Pacific Beach – car thief's paradise

Take photos of your automobile and license plate
SCOTTIE “MAD DOG” BLINN, OFF CAMPUS
SCOTTIE “MAD DOG” BLINN, OFF CAMPUS

“Did you get some practice time in?” Scottie Blinn asks the half circle of students, electric guitars at the ready, seated in the teacher’s lounge at the Sacred Heart Parish School in Coronado.

“Yeah,” they say in unison. They range in age from 8 to 11.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“Good.” The smile in Blinn’s voice is hard to miss. “That’s what I want to hear.” Dressed in black jacket and T-shirt, cuffed jeans, and motorcycle boots, a tattoo peeks out from under a sleeve. The four o’clock school bell rings. Blinn is no longer Mad Dog, the blues rocker from the Mississippi Mudsharks. He is Mr. Scott, and the Rock Academy of San Diego is in session.

“If you can count,” he begins, “I can teach you how to play.” He leads the class through a four-beat pattern where he and the kids strum the same notes in unison for several bars on the downbeat before he introduces them to the next concept: the up beat. “It’s like if you put your sneakers in the dryer,” he says. “Ba-bomp, ba-bomp.”

A fifth-grader plays a shiny black Epiphone. Is it hers? “No,” she says. “It’s my dad’s. He has, like, ten guitars. I don’t think he’ll miss one.”

The Rock Academy is a continuation of the Blues Summer Camp, a music program for kids that Blinn created and taught at the Epicentre in Mira Mesa last summer. “This is exactly what I need to be doin’. I’ve got a lot to share, you know, from 20 years of experience. And I found out I’m a good teacher,” Blinn laughs, “even with young kids, just putting it in their language in a way that they can understand.” Today is the second meeting in a six-week series of hour-long classes that meets on Tuesday afternoons. By the end of the series, students will know basic chords, notes, and some theory.

Peter Harris has been the principal at Sacred Heart for two years. Even though surrounded by an affluent community, he says that there is no money in the budget for things like music class. “One of the difficulties that we have as a Catholic school where people are paying tuition is for the extras. To be able to have an after-school program from a quality person like Scott to come in and teach the kids, that’s not something we can afford to have on staff.”

Harris plays a little guitar and is no stranger to rock guitar. Ex–Beat Farmer Joey Harris is his brother. “I can’t stand seeing kids play Guitar Hero,” he says, “when they can learn how to do the real thing."

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Tyler Farr, Blue Water Film Festival, Mustache Bash

Events March 21-March 23, 2024
Next Article

Pet pig perches in pocket

Escondido doula gets a taste of celebrity
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.