[CineTV Contest: Memories] - School of Rock

Music and movies

I've been an amateur musician - a guitarist, to be specific - since I was 12 and, because music is a huge part of my life, I tend to be very interested in movies that involve music in some kind of way.

I have seen a lot of movies on that topic. Amadeus, Crossroads, Rock Star and, more recently, Whiplash, just to name a few, are some of my favorite movies and ones that I keep going back to from time to time. None of these, however, mean as much to me as this unpretentious 2003 comedy movie called School of Rock.

The movie

For those who don't know the plot, it tells the story of a broke rock musician who gets a job as a substitute teacher at a fancy private school. He didn't care about the job at all because all he wanted was some money to pay the rent but when he sees the kids in music class (playing classical music) he realizes they are all very talented so he starts an undercover operation to get them to start a rock and roll band.

The memories

I still remember coming out of the movie theater right after watching this movie for the first time. My mind was completely blown away by it! I remember when I got home I immediately went online and I spent hours researching all those bands, albums and music facts mentioned in the movie, many of which were unknown to me.

In fact, it was while watching School of Rock that I heard about the amazing Stevie Nicks for the first time, it was while watching School of Rock that I found out about Yes and how amazing Rick Wakeman is at keyboards, and it was because of School of Rock that I found out about many other bands that helped to write the history of rock and roll music.

But I believe that the greatest thing that came out of that movie was the desire to actually be in a band. That's something that would have a huge impact on my life growing up and still do today.

I had many bands from that point on and most of them are the only history nowadays but there is one that remains: the band I formed with my dad.

My dad is a very good singer and, even though he is also an amateur such as myself, he really loves to sing and being in a band with him is one of the best things I have going on in my life. You see, I'm an introvert so it's really tough for me to talk about feelings and things like that, even with someone I love very much such as my dad.

When we play together it feels like having a very meaningful conversation where we don't need words as our music speaks what is in our hearts. I really treasure these moments and look forward to them.

Some years ago my sister gave me School of Rock on DVD for Christmas and I have lost count of how many times I've watched this movie since then. I've watched it commented by the director, I've watched it commented by the kids and all the extras more than once. Hell, I think if there was a version of it that was played backward I'd watch that too. That's how much I love this movie and how much it means to me.

I was sad to find out last week that Kevin Clark, the actor who played Freddy, the drummer, in the movie died in a bike accident. It's a weird feeling because even though I never actually met any of those kids, I've watched them so many times in that movie that it almost feels like they are friends.

Jack Black and the kids got together in 2013 to celebrate 10 years of the movie. I hope they do that again two years from now when it turns 20. It would be a good opportunity to honor Kevin too.

And this was my entry to @notacinephile's Memories contest. Thank you for doing this and also thank you for this wonderful trip down in memory lane. I had a light heart and a smile on my face all the time while writing this post!