Kid Rock

Saw this poster taped to a lamppost in my neighborhood last weekend. There is so much to admire about it. My first thought concerned the talent/practice angle as espoused by Anders Ericsson.
I played in a bunch of bands when I was a kid. Although we were generally dreadful, playing clumpy versions of bad cover songs at poorly attended basement gigs, it was hard to deny that all that very deliberate practice paid off. By the time you’re 16 or 17 and start writing your own songs, you have some idea of what works and what doesn’t and, perhaps most important, how to not drive each other crazy, since being in a band is essentially like being married to four or five people at the same time.
So it wouldn’t shock me if the kids who put up this sign accumulate some worthwhile human capital — whether or not related to actually playing music — by the time they’re young adults.
First of all, I love how organized they are. Looks like they went to the trouble to secure use of their building’s common room for an hour on two consecutive days (no easy feat in New York). I love the alternate coloring of the lettering. I love their upbeat attitude (“Hope to see you there”), and the fact that they’re taking themselves seriously enough to hold auditions. I especially love that their band is called Punx (and is trademarked), and the sign has a skull-and-crossbones on it, and yet they’re also looking for a pianist to round out their hardcore sound. Finally, I love that they’re recruiting within such a broad age rage, 9 to 14. When I was a kid, 14-year-olds and 9-year-olds didn’t hang out; as a parent, however, I’m all for such age diversity.
Yeah, I’m not crazy about the i’s dotted with hearts, or the ungrammatical “your own,” and I doubt they really meant for kids to lug their own pianos to the audition. But it wouldn’t shock me to one day see the Punx (or, more likely, some eighth or fifteenth iteration thereof) actually making some good music.