Sunday, December 18, 2005                                              <back Guitar Lessons & Randy Rhoads So I started giving guitar lessons again out here in LA. I’m teaching privately here in my studio as well as doing outcalls around town. If you or anyone you know is interested in learning how to play let me know ;)   In addition to giving private lessons on my own&ldots;im also looking to teach again in a music school here in LA &ldots;and at the top of my list is a place near and dear to my heart in North Hollywood. This is a music school that my childhood idol Randy Rhoads learned how to play guitar at and taught there as well. His mom Delores owns the school and teaches various instruments there herself. Randy basically grew up here and spent most of his life in this place playing and teaching before he joined Ozzy back in 1980.   So as for myself being the Randy freak I am, growing up I always wanted to go there and yesterday I finally had the nerve to go. Basically I wanted to say hello and pay my respects to his mom as well as inquire about teaching there. It was such a surreal experience for me I can’t even begin to explain. I grew up studying Randy’s playing and figured out all his music note for note by ear when I was just a snot nosed kid back in junior high school. He died in a tragic airplane crash while on tour with Ozzy on March 19, 1982. He was only 25 years old. This place is like my version of ”Graceland” to elvis fans. So here’s how cool it was to finally meet Mrs Rhoads... I had drove by a few times since ive been back here but was always too nervous and intimidated to knock on the front door. It is like a house converted into a music school. It looks exactly as it did in pictures from 20yrs ago. Well yesterday I finally decided to just do it. I drove up grabbed my resume and walked up the pathway to the house. As I was walking up, in the front window I could see Mrs Rhoads teaching the flute to a student. I was like so nervous (I thought to myself all freaking out “Oh my God! that’s Randy Rhoads mom!!! haha!) &ldots;so I walk up feeling all nervous, and I knocked on the door. I didn't want to knock too loud and disrupt her lesson, there was no answer, so I twisted the doorknob and it was open so I figured maybe there was like a reception/waiting area so I walked in and was so scared walkin in there holy christ haha! Basically its set up like a house. It was so weird cuz im like “I am in the place where Randy fucking Rhoads learned how to play and taught! There was nobody in the waiting area. So i was all alone in there. But I could hear mrs rhoads giving her lesson behind a curtain leading to the big room. So I figured after all these years it was cool to just wait as long as I was quiet and respectful. So I sat down and still all nervous like a motherfucker just marveling at the décor which was all antique furniture. Mrs Rhoads later told me the place is exactly as it was 50 years ago when she and Randy’s dad built it. I was seeing it just as randy did how trippy I thought. So here I was waiting and I felt uncomfortable cuz I was hoping I wasn’t being intrusive, after all I was an unannounced visitor. So I was kinda bugging out ya know, and during this alone time im not kidding I felt randys prescence in this place and im sure im not the only one who has said that. I kept hearing creaking sounds going from the hallway and also by the front desk. As if someone was walking in the room. That was weird but i was cool with it, I mean it was probably Randy.lol ..so as Im sitting there thinking about what to say to Mrs rhoads when she eventually sees me sitting in the waiting room, the front door suddenly whipped opened by itself and this incredibile wind started pouring into the room directly right at me,I kid you not! scaring the shit outta me in the process.lol that was so weird! I was like "Oh my God! is that randy telling me to leave? Hehe so I’m like all paranoid thinking his mom is probably like who is this uninvited moron making all the racket in the waiting room during my lesson.lol&ldots;so I rushed up, closed the door and sat back down. just wondering if I should just leave or not.lol ..i just figured id stay, I started lookin out the window at the front yard and everything. That was cool too, it was late in the day and the sun started goin down, typical LA december weather and it was kinda cold in the room, it had this old scent to it, like you could just smell the history of this place. It was badass, so I sat there lookin out the window just imagining what it was like for him to grow up there and become such an awesome guitarist that so many people look up to around the world. It was quite an experience. After about a 45 minute wait. The student Mrs Rhoads was teaching walked out and said hello to me and left. So now im just waiting for Mrs Rhoads to come out. Now I was reeeaaallly nervous! LOL, I heard her moving chairs around in the main teaching room, getting ready for her next student or whatever and I was hoping she wouldn’t feel weird about seeing me there. About 10 minutes later she finally came into the waiting room and was like "oh! I didn’t know someone was in here or I would have turned on the heat!" I was like ahh its ok! I just wanted to stop in for a minute to pay my respects, let you know how much of an inspiration your son was and still is to me. Its an honor to meet you! She was incredibly nice and taken aback and said "well thank you we always love to hear that around here!" so we started talking and I had mentioned that I teach and it was a childhood dream of mine to someday teach at this school, and that I wanted to give her my resume while i was there. She was so nice, I explained to her about my experience, etc and what I teach, also how strong of an emphasis I have on randys playing. She was a real nice woman and very personable. I didn’t know what to expect. I can’t say how cool it was for me to be paying homage to randy through his mom. Im glad I was able to. I also was glad I gave her my resume and  inquired about teaching there. Mrs rhoads said she has 2 guitar teachers but would like to have me come back to talk more about it when her other son Kelle comes back from vacation after the holidays. She would then have more time to sit down and talk about it in depth and maybe show me around the school. Again everything is exactly as it was when Randy was there. Personal things, instruments, etc. his old teaching room is exactly as it was the last time he was in it. Man how cool is that! so she gave me the numbers to call in a few weeks and told me to call back in January to set up a meeting with her and her son Kelle. She was so sweet. She kinda looked like randy haha, you could totally see the resemblance. I kinda felt like I was meeting Randy in a sense and thanking the man for such great music he left us and being such an inspiration. I have so much respect for the rhoads family. I can’t believe I actually went in there finally&ldots;it was so cool. I know this might not seem like such a big deal to most people, but this was a big thing for me. I fulfilled one of my childhood dreams just by walking in there yesterday and Im really excited about going back there next month. Wish me luck!