Mark Dickstein, a personal injury lawyer from Florida, rocks out during a rendition of a U2 song during rehearsals with his camp band, the Dicksteins. Photo Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times
Long before they became doctors and lawyers or C.E.O's and real estate developers, they played in garage bands and maybe even dreamed of becoming rock stars. That’s why they signed up for Rock ’n’ Roll Fantasy Camp.
For nearly a week, the mostly middle-aged “campers” rehearsed in the West 54th Street studios once known as the Hit Factory, where Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon, Michael Jackson, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder used to record.
They came from as far away as London and Tokyo and as close as Long Island and downtown to prepare for their moment of onstage glory under the tutelage of rock star “counselors” like Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad and Rudy Sarzo of Quiet Riot and the Ozzy Osbourne band.
The Rock ’n’ Roll Fantasy Camp is the creation of David Fishof, a former sports agent. He organized the first camp in Miami in 1997, more than a decade after baseball fantasy camps began proliferating That venture, he said, “lost a lot of money,” but he tried again in 2002.
Since then, his camps have been held in locations as far as Las Vegas and London, where campers and their rock star counselors recorded in Abbey Road studios and made a side trip to Liverpool to play in the Cavern, the club where the Beatles became famous.
Celebrity participants vary from camp to camp but have included Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones, Jack Bruce of Cream, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys and Slash of Guns N’ Roses.
Asked how much the rock stars are paid for their participation, Mr. Fishof, 54, said, “I don’t share that information” because “it’s their private business.”
For the camp in New York, more than 60 musicians and singers enrolled (men substantially outnumbered women, and guitarists substantially outnumbered any other type of player), paying up to $10,000 for six days of camp and recording and $5,000 for a four-day package. Most of the campers are successful executives or professionals: a founder of the Oracle computer company, a personal-injury lawyer, a McDonald’s franchisee whose father invented the Big Mac, a plastic surgeon, presidents of health care and seafood companies.
Many campers like their experience so much that they come back again and again. Ed Oates, 64, a founder of Oracle, was attending his ninth camp and has acquired what he called “a small equity stake” in the company
“It’s addicting, and cheaper and safer than cocaine,” said Mr. Oates, a guitar player. “That’s the flip answer. The serious answer is that you get to eat and breathe music for a week and meet some pretty fabulous musicians who are also fabulous people. This also teaches something about teamwork, since you’re playing with people you’ve never met and have to find a way to make it work.”
At Mr. Oates’s urging and using the slogan “Step out of the boardroom and into the spotlight,” Mr. Fishof two years ago also started a Corporate Rock ’n’ Roll Fantasy Camp, with seminars, “weekend getaway” packages and programs of up to five days, all intended as a team-building exercise, bonus or corporate perk.
For other campers, the experience offers catharsis. Bands were required to write and record an original song, and on the first full day of rehearsals, Jeff Lack, a 47-year-old oil-rig operator from Enid, Okla., brought in a set of lyrics for his group to put to music.
His fellow musicians asked about the story behind the lyrics, and Mr. Lack, his voice choked with emotion and his eyes moistening, told how his teenage son, Cory, died while driving drunk seven years ago next month, also killing two other people. Within 48 hours a complete song called “Seven Year Fog” had been written and recorded.
Mr. Lack’s group was the last of 10 to perform at the Monday night show, and “Seven Year Fog” was its last number. Mr. Lack began by pointing his finger to the heavens and then powered his way through the song.
“I’ve been keeping it all in, because it’s hard for me to talk about it,” he said. “So it means a lot that these guys have been willing to help me deal with this. It’s been real therapeutic for me, but it’s also been a hell of a lot of fun, and I can’t wait to do it again.”
