What went wrong with "Rock School"?

Despite a high-profile marketing/advertising campaign by the new Picturehouse, which made the film its first release, the critically praised documentary was dead on arrival in theaters after an early June release. It was thought to be highly commercial.

The movie originally was acquired by Picturehouse?s predecessor, Newmarket Films, after its premiere at the 2004 Los Angeles Film Festival. It was well-received on the film-festival circuit.

But it had a disastrous per-screen gross in 32 theaters on its first (June 2) weekend. After being unexpectedly pulled from 15 of its 32 screens the next weekend, it did just as poorly. Major expansion looks doubtful now.

Why? Some people say initial audiences found its subject ? Paul Green ? so abrasive toward his students as to be unbearable.

In this story, which appeared in Los Angeles CityBeat on May 26, shortly before the film was released in that city, producer Sheena Joyce and producer/director Don Argott talked about Green?s personality and teaching methods:

SCHOOL OF HARD ROCKS
By Steven Rosen

After you see ?Rock School? ? the often hilarious documentary about an obnoxious Boomer wannabe rock star who teaches his young students to play Frank Zappa?s music ? you?re apt to have two questions.

First, you?ll think: Why Zappa? I mean, who cares about his art-rock noodlings anymore?

And second, you?ll wonder if the screaming, obscenity-shouting Philadelphia teacher ? Paul Green is his name ? is ? well ? if he is ? how to put it politely ?

? ? Insane?? says ?Rock School? co-producer Sheena Joyce, in the warm, glass-enclosed atrium of a hotel in otherwise cold Park City, Utah, after the film screened this January at the Sundance Film Festival. Indeed, Green?s precarious temperament makes for cinema verité Imagine ?School of Rock,? except with Joe Pesci (in ?Goodfellas? mode) instead of Jack Black.

?I say that with great affection,? she adds, but notes she did not always feel that way about Green. She was troubled when her professional and life partner, director/co-producer Don Argott, would bring home the daily footage showing the teaching methods at the private School of Rock Music that Green, an accomplished guitarist, started in 1999.

Joyce watched as Green exploded at the kids ? some as young as nine ? with wild tantrums when he felt they weren?t doing well enough. Since some came to him looking for an outlet in rock for their emotional problems, it seemed cruel and unusual punishment.

?In the beginning, I wasn?t sure if at the end of the day I liked Paul,? she says. ?It took getting to know not just him but the kids, and seeing and hearing how they felt about Paul. In the end, if they say, ?He can be such an asshole but I love him, and look at the opportunities he?s given me,? you figure, even if he?s a little rough around the edges, he?s an all right guy.?

And Green surely does deliver. In the film, his class makes a triumphant appearance at a Zappa festival in Germany.

Unlike Joyce, Argott was immediately drawn to Green. It might be that he has a higher tolerance for weirdos. A musician himself, he?s contributed guitar (under the alias Dixon Toofar) to two albums by Pornosonic, a band that creates imaginary soundtrack music to 1970s-era hardcore-sex films. (He also has experience as a cinematographer and is the owner of a production company; Joyce worked for the Greater Philadelphia Film Office before quitting to help on ?Rock School.?)

After seeing Green?s students do a Philadelphia show, Argott immediately wanted to make a film of the 2003 school year. ?There?s something about him that?s very charismatic,? he says. ?I was taken with him. I think that, for all Paul?s faults ? and there are things he does that aren?t the smartest or whatever ? at the end of the day he really is a likable guy.

?And he [works] in a way that?s really complex,? Argott continues. ?Paul has a way of balancing the yelling and screaming and cursing with ? well, he?s coming from a place that?s pretty pure. He believes in these kids, and he wants the best for them.?

Yes, but Zappa? Rock seemingly has gone completely in the other direction from such musically dense and sometimes lyrically risque puses as ?Billy the Mountain,? ?Lad Searches the Night for His Newts,? and ?Penguin in Bondage.? Popular opinion is that music is best when kept simple and direct ? three chords or less.

?If you just teach somebody AC/DC, that?s cool, but they?re not going to be able to play Zappa,? Argott adds. ?But, if you teach somebody Zappa, then it filters back down the pipeline. You can play anything below that.

"But you can?t just teach the basic three chords and expect that it will translate into complex chord progressions. That?s where I think Paul?s teaching comes into play.?