the Radar | music

HATS OFF
St. Laurence High
School junior Tommy
Salzberg, 17, plays
guitar, bass and sings
in the after-school
Rock & Roll Club,
founded in 2007 by
fine arts director
Frank Loulousis.
The club now boasts
60 members, who
practice about
20 hours a week
from fall through
spring, and expects
an audience of
3,000 at its annual
showcase in May.
“The big show is
really rewarding,”
says Salzberg, whose
father fronted the
Chicago rock band
Tattoo. “Especially
because all of the
bands won’t make
it. It’s a privilege,
not a right.” Like
many of the kids in
the club, Salzberg is
considering a career
as a musician. His
group plays mostly
classic rock by the
likes of Def Leppard
and Judas Priest.
At the request
of booster Karen
Grzenia, the club
has received letters
of support from
everyone from Bill
Clinton to Buddy Guy.

Smells Like Teen Spirit

School really is cool at St. Laurence High’s amazing new Rock & Roll Club | Concept and portraits by Erika Dufour | Story by Matt Lee |

From Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out” to David Lee Roth not feeling tardy,
high school and rock ’n’ roll have traditionally had just a slightly less
contentious relationship than Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny. So it was no
small act of imagination when Frank Loulousis, director of fine arts at St.
Laurence High School in the South Side suburb of Burbank, dreamed up a
Rock & Roll Club as an official after-school activity in 2007. But even the
hip teacher couldn’t have guessed what a success the program would be.
“What happened was, I used to play in a band,” says Loulousis, 29, a
Marquette Park native. “One day at school, I had my guitar with me and I
put out an announcement: ‘Anyone who wants to jam come to room 2028.’
And 60 kids showed up! I thought, ‘We gotta do something with this.’”
Every successful project has a visionary behind it, and Loulousis was
clearly the man for the job. He organized the kids into groups based on the
genres they liked—metal, classic, alternative—set them up in classrooms,
and let the jamming commence. All was going well, with “seven classrooms
filled with noise! Straight-up noise!” says Loulousis. And then: “Someone
said, ‘Can we put on a show?’ At first I was like, ‘Well, I thought we were
just here to jam. We don’t have equipment, we don’t have big gear…’”
Warming to the idea, he put in a cold call to Guitar Center, which
immediately jumped on board to sponsor a concert. And that’s essentially
how the St. Laurence High School Rock & Roll Club was born.
These days, the club has a highly formal structure: continued…

2 | | December 2010
 LET THERE BE ROCK:
1. Joe Mora, 17, sings 1 2 3
in the Rock Club. “I
always wanted to be
in a band, so when
I heard about the
club I thought, ‘This
is my chance,’” he
says. But his real
passion? “To be a
photographer.” 2.
Mike Buche, 15, has
been playing drums
since the fourth
grade. “The best
thing that could
happen would be to
be able to play for
my job,” he says.
3. Sixteen-year old
vocalist Jose Aparicio
had never sung
before joining the 4 5
club. “I was terrified
last year,” he says of
the annual concert.
“Now, I can’t wait.”

6
4. “My group is
mainly ’80s metal,”
says guitarist Tyler
Koch. “We play
Scorpions, AC/DC,
Poison.” Like many of
the kids in the club,
he says he wouldn’t
participate in any
extracurriculars
without it. 5.
Sophomore Jake
Auskalinas started
studying bass when
he joined the club last
year. 6. Alex Grzenia’s
mother Karen is not
only enthusiastic
about, but heavily
involved in the club.
“Yep—first Boy
Scouts and now this,”
says Alex. 7. Guitarist
Tim McMullen plans
to study music theory
in college.

… continued Members are divided into bands and practice three to four
hours a day, four days a week, from October until the big concert in May.
Bands are only allowed to play covers—“No one wants to hear your wussie
ballads to your girlfriend!” jokes Loulousis.
Along with the love of playing, the show is more than enough
motivation to keep all 60 kids practicing hard. Now sponsored by Guitar
Center and I Pledge Eco T-Shirts, the concert has doubled its attendance
each year, up to an audience of 1,700 in 2009. This year, the kids anticipate
playing to 3,000 fans—a sizeable show even for many well-known,
professional bands.
The kids love it. Their parents love it. The school administration loves
it. The Rock & Roll Club has been such a success, only one lingering
question surrounds it: Why is it the only one we’ve ever heard of? Kids
encouraged to do something they love? Radical, man!

2 | | December 2010