Nuclear Effect

 Most parents that I've talked to say that I'm nuts for having a group of eleven year olds playing rock music every Sunday in my basement.  I say they are wrong.  I LOVE the fact that this group of young people are learning how to play music at my house.  My husband and I are so excited about this that we invested $1000 to get the basement half way decent  so they have a place to hone their musical skills.  Yup...you betcha'...we now have a drum set, amps for both the bass and guitar- wouldn't want them to have lung that heavy equipment around after all - a mike and mike stand and a 300 Watt PA system.  We made many trips to the local dump to get rid of all the boxes and stuff that you just couldn't get rid of before.  You know...clutter.  We now have an air hockey table set up and couches surrounding the camping TV - yes....we have a camping TV, but that is for another blog -  hooked up to a brand new digital box.  The abandoned basement  has transformed itself into a teen hang out of the most righteous kind.
Why would someone do all that?  Well...think about this for a moment.  I know who his friends are, where they are, and what they are doing.  To top it off there are many studies that draw the correlation between music and increase in academic success.  Then there is the added increase in social stature within the teen ranks when you are part of a honest to goodness ear splitting...heavy metal....Rock Band.  Add all of this together and you begin to see my point. 
Now here is the added  bonus.  They are playing good rock music...the kind that we lived on in our youth......AC/DC...Guns and Roses....Rush.....Ozzy Osbourne.....KISS....Led Zeppelin.  They are a dedicated group of kids.  I don't know of any other group of eleven year olds who would meet every Sunday for over three months.  I can't even remember what I was doing when I was eleven years old, but I am pretty much sure I didn't start a rock band in my parents basement. I am very proud of all of these kids.  They are AMAZING. So let the floor boards continue to rattle.