NEWS UPDATE
Hugo and Zora, of Hellish Relish fame, now have their own band called Magnolia--they practice twice a week and play regular gigs in NYC! Here's their MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/magnoliatheband

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Hellish Relish plays the Knitting Factory!
Rock Camp for Girls fundraiser auction, NYC, December 3, 2005

Hellish Relish is a rock band of 10- and 11-year-old girls coached by Lalena and pal Caryn ever since the spectacular week of Rock Camp in August (see below for more on camp week). The Relish has written a bunch of new songs since then, and played a real rock show set for the Camp fundraiser! More on the Rock Camp for Girls: www.williemaerockcamp.org

Before the show, Hellish Relish had a quick rehearsal in The Color Guard's space at Flood, near the Gowanus in Brooklyn.



Then the supportive and awesome Relish parents zipped them all over to the Knitting Factory, where the band hung out with their groupies backstage for a little while. Here they are with proud band coach Lalena.



The time draws near! The band waits in the wings for their cue, along with co-coach Caryn and Camp volunteer Ruth.



Check out all the fans!!!



And Hellish Relish rocked the house down!





Listen to the AUDIO of the show: Hellish Relish podcast





After their set the band was interviewed by auctioneer and host Murray Hill (the interview is included in the podcast).



Awww, the other proud band coach....



Next The Curses played! They're another excellent Rock Camp band, some of whose members flew in from out of state for the show!



The Curses AUDIO: The Curses podcast

Bandmates Hugo and Talia watch The Curses.



Then, when the auction continued, Zora was asked to hold up a guitar that was being hocked to raise funds for the Camp. Which is pretty cool, 'cause you know those glamorous models in guitar ads? They can't usually even PLAY, but this glamorous model can!!!



Kiki and Talia say good-night -- it's past little sis' bedtime, and big sis' too!



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Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls!
Lalena coached a bunch of amazing girls as they played rock and roll together at this one-week day camp in NYC, August 8-12, 2005. In addition to teaching bass guitar and an art workshop, she and her buddy Caryn from Broadband provided moral and tech support to an up-and-coming sensation called HELLISH RELISH. These six marvelously fun, smart, and talented young women, all 10 or 11 years old, wrote a great original rock anthem which they performed at the final camp showcase on August 13. Here are some photos and an audio clip from the most exciting week in recent memory!

During the week, the around 80 girls in the camp took classes in guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, and singing, depending on which they chose to focus on for the week. They also did workshops like "Rock Art," where they made buttons, posters, and t-shirts for their bands. Here's Nina57 showing a Hellish Relish guitarist how to make a button!
Hellish Relish drummer, bassist, and singer make buttons and t-shirts!
Band rehearsal!



Listen with them to a recording of their song, from rehearsal: "Running Out of Time"



The song is completely by the girls. During rehearsals, Caryn and I ran the equipment and coached the girls in working together as a band. Before long, they were having the same conversations our own bands have: "Let's go to the next section after eight of this chord." "Okay, but eight of your part is four of mine." And they even had a pretty tense day of disagreement, just like us grown-ups. With a little patience and communication, though, they ironed it out better than many adults do!

Then it was the day of the big show! Ooooh the excitement! They had fun with the make-up and costumes, especially she who likes to be called "Bob," who is a bit of a ham.


Here I am helping get them set up before performing.



OKAY 1, 2, 3, 4!

"Two days till Wednesday
"Three days till Thursday, yeah
"But when do I see you?
"Yeah, when do I see you?
"I know the days of the week at the tip of my fingers; Know why? Never bothered before until you went out the door, And then I was happy, but now I'm blue
"You're gone, and I'm here, you know; It's easier to leave than to be left behind
"Left in a house for more than two, I'm lonely now, and running out of time...."
Aren't they the COOLEST EVER???

Okay, all of the bands were pretty awesome. Here's Pink Slip:



"Pink Slip, Pink Slip / Yeah we rock, yeah we rock / Thinking about ourselves rockin' out!
"Put a dime in the jukebox / You hear our band's songs."
The bassist (far left) was in the bass guitar class I led with my new good friends Kate and Arabella (who was also the master roadie for the week, a pretty massive job). The class was really fun! We had the girls playing along with "Rebel Girl" by Bikini Kill, jumping up and down like rock stars, and making lovely peals of feedback (with earplugs in, of course).

But on to the other bands! Here's The Five Flaming Monkeys. This bassist was the advanced player in our class (from Kalamazoo, Michigan!) so she helped out a lot.



"The dogs are fat / And brown and white / And stupid / And boring / And fat / And brown and white / With little white bows / Tied to their heads.
"They walk around uptown / And become tired after one block / So Joseph, their walker, has to carry them back, one in each arm."
Here's another bad-ass--oops I mean bad-booty--bassist from our class.

"Ooo yippy yi yea / I'm a cowgirl / I swing my ropes / While I ride my horse / ... Forget what they say about making your bed, cleaning up / We are free!" (The Shout Outs)


"You can accomplish any dream / There are no barriers in your way / Go on, let out a joyous scream / Be glad that it's a brand new day!"
(Coco Chanel and the Zeppelinettes)
The Zeppelinettes bass player didn't originally sign up for bass, but totally got into it at band rehearsal. In fact, several more campers did the same thing! So we gave them copies of the book and CD from class, and a few tips.

I wasn't able to photograph all the bands, or all the wonderful volunteers who are now my buddies. We were so busy! And it was soooo worth it!!!
More info on the Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls: www.williemaerockcamp.org
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Lalena is a cartoon character
Lalena was asked by the new animation website FunnyHilarious to do a little song and voice-over for a short cartoon. Her song is at the end of the piece.
To see the whole thing: Click here ... To skip directly to the song: Click here
And do check out the rest of the stuff on www.funnyhilarious.com.

Our flyer from a show is in the Jack Black movie School of Rock! It's behind Jack Black's head on a bulletin board as he talks with a little girl who is afraid to go onstage! Josh's brother Aaron did the illustration, which has become our mascot (see Merch .)
ROSIE AND THE POSIES
We had the privilege of attending a very exclusive unplugged performance of Houston-based rock trio Rosie and the Posies in January 2003, and brought back audio clips:
"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" - their cover of the classic hit
"Flowers in the Air" - their original hit!
"Wreck My Tea" - that's right, they cover our song!
Rosie has been a singer and songwriter for more than a year now and created the group in 2002. Her manager-guitar-teacher-daddy, when asked for comment, replied that her rockin' skills are coming along nicely. Her stylist-art-director-mama tells us that Rosie works on her songs diligently (ad nauseum) and that she shines like the brightest star in the night sky.
Blue Daze never played the drums before joining the group, but has been a wild woman for all of her 7 years. She and Rosie are the best of friends and the stalwarts of the band. The only comment from the parents of Blue Daze to this reporter was: "Can the rehearsals be at your house?"
Rosie and Blue Daze are happy to welcome Daisy back into the bouquet as keyboardist. Daisy (formerly Marigold) returns to the band after a short stint as a solo artist.
To follow up the runaway hit "Flowers in the Air," Rosie and the Posies have released two new singles: "Introducing Ourselves" and "Flower Rainbow."
EVERY ARMY NEEDS A COLOR GUARD
Lalena performed in Glenn Branca's Guitar Army at MTV Networks on October 3, 2002.


No question who's the star of the show! Glenn led us through his 12-minute piece "In Perpetuity," for its world premiere. We had three rehearsals during the week before the performance.


There's me...

I had the honor of playing with not only Wharton Tiers on drums, but also Fon-Lin Nyeu, former bassist of the Hissyfits (having joined right after I left the band). She's in the red shirt with the matching axe (I know the photos are blurry, but it's true, really)!