Portland's Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls writes the book on putting the amp in camp

Shauna Miller is technically unrelated to Jenny Miller. She writes for The Washington Post Express and DCist.

The venerable Beth Ditto has some advice for you about pitch: Hum along with the vacuum cleaner.

Ditto is one of 25 contributors to a just-released handbook by Portland's Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls, the original camp for girls ages 8-18 that launched a thousand power chords and sister camps all over the world.

Three of the camp's longtime organizers, guitar coach Katy Davidson, 'zine instructor Nicole J. Georges and program director/drum coach sts, stopped in at the Warehouse Saturday night on a nationwide book tour, fresh from seven hours in a two-door Chevy Cobalt. The event was hosted by Girls Rock!D.C., which held its first session and camper showcase in August -- and which several TNGers helped organize.

Following a performance by local lady rockers Noon:30, Georges, author of the 'zine Invincible Summer, broke out the overhead projector to discuss graphic storytelling, shaky greyhounds and the time Courtney Love told her she "looked like a nerd."

Georges provided the handbook's intricate, sweet illustrations, which accompany essays on bonding with your bass, booking shows and performing pre-show punk-rock aerobics. The tour has hit college campuses and libraries in ten cities, with eight to go.

Sts, who has worked with the Portland camp since 2001, is now one of four full-time paid staffers. She said that, as the first and oldest girls' rock camp, Portland has found itself offering support to fledgling camps even as its own enrollments and responsibilities grow.

"It's a lot of work to support the mission, and it's tough because you don't get as much time with the kids," she said. "But the day they hired us at $300 a month for full-time work, that's the happiest I've been in my life."

Sts read from a few of her own chapters in the book with assist from the projector. A gender-lopsided Rolling Stone "Top 100 Influential Artists" list was dissected to reveal a secret: Anyone can make music.

"There's this myth that making music is impossibly hard, that it's only in the hands of Eddie Van Halen – who is awesome, of course," she explained. "But you'll get so mad when you realize how easy it can really be."

To illustrate her point, the audience was equipped with chopsticks and led through a workshop on a 4/4 drum beat. Soon, the whole room had it, and a dust cloud formed from 30 imaginary kick drums.

"It works for any song," she said, surveying the list. "What song should we play?"

"The Shirelles!" someone decided, and "My Boyfriend's Back" got put through the paces -- despite its being by another girl group.

"You can continue that at ladies' rock camp," she promised, referring to the three-day mini-camp for women the Portland camp puts on as a fundraiser.

"There's a what?!" demanded one new drummer, inspired.

Planning for a Girls Rock!D.C. ladies' rock camp is in the works, so keep the chopsticks handy.


[You can buy "Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls: How to Start a Band, Write Songs, Record an Album and Rock Out!" or check out remaining book tour dates here. More information on Girls Rock!D.C. is at girlsrockdc.org.]