Suzanne Sparr - School of Rock Alameda

Suzanne Sparr is the Owner and General Manager of School of Rock Alameda

Host Scott Piehler talks with Suzanne about the life change that led to the opening of School of Rock Alameda, as well as how the school has become more than just a place for people of all ages to learn an instrument. School of Rock Alameda had become a third space, where the generation raided through pandemic can come together and connect in person. 

Show note: This episode originally aired on KCSM-HD2 on Sunday, August 9, 2026
 
 Full show archive for all past episodes: 

https://www.youtube.com/@TheAlamedaConnection

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Good morning, and welcome to the Alameda Connection on KCSM HD2. I'm your host, Scott Buhler. Most of us are familiar with the hilarious 2003 Jack Black film School of Rock. But did you know that the School of Rock predates that movie by 25 years? Yes, started as a single music education location in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1998. It's now grown to almost 500 locations worldwide. And one of them is right here in Alameda. My guest today is Suzanne Sparr, the general manager and owner of School of Rock Alameda. More than just a place for people of all ages to learn how to play their instruments, the School of Rock has become a place where the generation raised through pandemic can come together and connect in person. Suzanne and I talk about the importance of that connection. Plus, we'll talk rock and roll influences and favorite concerts. That's Suzanne Sparr of the School of Rock Alameda this morning on the Alameda Connection. Good morning, Suzanne, and welcome to the Alameda Connection.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Good morning, Scott.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

First of all, where were you born? Where'd you grow up?

SPEAKER_00 1:04

I like to say I was born just on the West Coast because I've lived around four or five places up and down from Oregon to the Northern California, Sierra Nevada Mountains, to down in Southern California, near the border, Los Angeles, and of course the Bay Area. So West Coast.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

But you're a Cornell grad. What brought you out to Cornell?

SPEAKER_00 1:27

My husband and I moved to the East Coast for his job. I had to make a career change. I was in entertainment public relations at the time. And this was the start of 2003. And the economy wasn't doing too well at the time. So I had to make a change. We moved to Boston. So I started attending Cornell actually at the time. I spent a bunch of time commuting. It was a very strange time. A lot of weeks away. It was an interesting time.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

What was your course of study at Cornell?

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Communications in general went from my interest in entertainment public relations. And I was hoping to get into some kind of entertainment sports in the Boston area, but again, no one was hiring at the time. So took the time, went to college, was a little later in life. Eventually, I ended up at a consulting firm called Bain and Company. Did a whole bunch of years doing very boring business things. But um, but I learned a lot. I learned how to run my own business.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Here's a six degrees of separation for you. My great, great, great, great-great-grandfather was Ezra Cornell.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

Okay. Okay, okay. Well then.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

About 14 and a half years of your career was with ACP Composites. Was that part of the boring business stuff?

SPEAKER_00 2:48

That was later. Okay. We moved back to the West Coast to start a family. And um, I I still continued to work at Bain and Company for a while. Um, and my husband's parents owned this manufacturing company called ACP Composites in Livermore. It's still there. It was a small business that they had started working with carbon fiber. Everything was very custom. They worked in things like medical x-ray panels and hobbies and different things like that. But they were getting older and they didn't really have an exit plan. And we became convinced that we could help them retire and grow the business. And we did. We got into aerospace, got a quality certification, started working with SpaceX a long time ago, many years ago. It was very exciting. They were a tough customer, but we learned a lot and grew the business quite a bit.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

So then, November of 23, School of Rock, what changed?

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Our two kids, Rain and Dash, and Lights of My Life, they were never really interested in music lessons. I tried everything. I really wanted them to learn an instrument. And they went to see a friend perform at a school of rock Berkeley. Uh-huh. It wasn't like an alternative 90s kind of rock show. Okay. They were mesmerized, also reconnected with something that I had always loved, which was live music. I was in the 90s East Bay kind of punk music scene and worked at a music magazine called Maximum Rock and Roll.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

I remember Maximum Rock and Roll. That was one of the Bibles of college radio. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Absolutely. So I lived and worked there, and for many years, that's what I did instead of going to college right away. This show reconnected me with my love of live music as well as both of my kids deciding to take up instruments.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

What'd they take up out of curiosity?

SPEAKER_00 4:40

Drums for the younger one and guitar for the older one. The thing that was so fascinating was they were so driven to learn their instruments that they decided to do the accelerated program, which was join the band, take lessons, and then put on a show in four months. Okay. So they had to learn how to play their instruments and perform them well in a Black Sabbath show. They just worked really hard and the program was amazing. And that was the beginning of all of our lives kind of changing and me opening the school.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

There's a bit of a leap from my kids had a great time at this program to I'm gonna own one.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

I went through divorce, was looking for the next phase of my life. It was very important for me to do something that impacted people's lives. I didn't want to just be in business. I became really rocker mom, right? Like I was taking them to lessons and live music shows and pulling out my old record collections. A really good friend said to me, Hey, maybe you should open your own school. I get really into this. It just kind of all came together. Like, oh, I could do that. And I think I'd be really good at it because I've done business, I love music, I want to do something that impacts people's lives in a positive way. And I've seen it in my own kids.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

And you've got some HR background. So working with people is not unknown to you.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

I think people are endlessly fascinating. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Let's talk because I'm sure some of the listeners are wondering, but the rather oddball convoluted relationship between the business School of Rock and the Jack Black film. Because it's not one and the same.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

Everyone says, oh, school of rock. Oh, like the movie.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

Right.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

Actually, the movie script was based on the original three School of Rocks that were in the Pennsylvania area. So it was like a little mini franchise by the owner Paul Green. He basically pioneered this idea of teaching music through performance. Over the years, it grew and grew. There's been other owners and other iterations of School of Rock as a corporate entity. So now there's about 450 schools internationally. I'm number 422. And I opened last October. Half the schools are corporate owned, and about half are owned individually, like my own.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

For the listeners to put a timeline in your head, the School of Rock itself, in its earliest form, started in 1988. The Jack Black film was 2003. There is a 2005 documentary called Rock School, which actually focuses on the entity of the School of Rock. And there was a quote from an NPR rock critic on this documentary. It was a Ken Tucker, who's the rock critic for NPR, and he said, I'd hand out DVDs of rock school to everyone in the country with a teaching degree and dare them to match this level of commitment. That's high praise.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

It is. When I was exploring becoming an owner of a school and went to learn more about it and went to meet the other school owners as well as the folks that run the overall school of rock, there is just a high degree of commitment. People aren't doing this because they're trying to get rich or make money. They do it because they love it. Same reason. They're just dedicated and they just love seeing people's lives change. The other thing is everyone is so supportive. We work as a group in the Bay Area and we get together quite frequently.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

A lot of people don't realize it because I've been on the fringes of the rock industry as a disc jockey. Last November I was out at Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp in Arizona. It's really quite a personable community. I suppose it's sort of the island of misfit toys. Everybody's found their tribe.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

I think that's one of the things that I noticed about my kids and then some of the other kids at School of Rock. It is for everyone, but there's something about it. These are the kids that aren't into sports necessarily. Or if they are, they're also into the arts and the creativity. You know, my own kids are neurodivergent, and I notice a lot of our students are as well. And it's a really great fit because it gives them a creative outlet in a way that many other kind of after-school activities or other creative endeavors don't. It's also in person. That was the other thing that really appealed to me coming out of COVID was my kids and everyone else's kids were just connecting online. Even though they had the ability to see each other in person, going to a lesson and going to a couple hour rehearsal every week forged friendships. It put accountability like I gotta practice because I gotta be there for my bandmates. And there's a lot of pressure going into a rehearsal that kids put on themselves. Oh, I gotta learn my part. I gotta be there because everyone else will be expecting me. And then just making friendships, very deep friendships. It's a bonding experience to go through a season together as a band at School of Rock. I love seeing that.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

We do spend a lot of time on the show talking about third space. And School of Rock is a rarity in that there ain't a lot of third spaces for youth.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

Thank you for bringing up that point. That is one of my motivations, is that there's not a lot of third spaces for anyone, especially kids, but even adults, right? I look back, I'm now in my 50s, and I was able to go to malls or arcades or movies and just go for a couple hours and hang out. I really wanted to make this school of rock a place where our students felt like they could come and hang out even if they weren't having a lesson or a rehearsal. And so we have students who are really motivated for different reasons, right? So some want to work on their music even more than what they have scheduled. They know they can stop by and just rehearse in a room that's open. Some just want to come and like be an extra pair of hands, learn how to do stagecraft, learn how to assist. Some want to be camp counselors in training. So we just really want to be like, come on in, right? And hang out. Like we've got a cool vintage arcade game and people always around to kind of interact with and learn from and talk to. So adults too. We also don't have cool places to hang out and stop by. That's more of a fledgling endeavor for us. Like everyone's always like, oh, this is for kids, right? I'm like, nope, we have an adult band. Over time, I hope to see that be many adult bands, right? Different experience levels and different focuses, interest areas.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

So I'm a former theater teacher. One of the things I used to love to say to my parents was, I do not expect to see your kid collect a professional performance paycheck in their life. But at some point, they're gonna have to stand up in front of another human being and convince them of something. Aside from learning to play, what benefits are you seeing with the kids?

SPEAKER_00 11:14

Just this level of confidence. When you learn a skill like that, and when you've conquered your fear of going out in front of other people and performing again over and over, there's something about that that builds this really solid, unshakable core confidence. And life throws a lot of challenges our way. I am very thankful that both of my kids have that ability to talk to people, to advocate for themselves and be comfortable performing. And that carries across not just on the stage, but other areas. So I think that's the biggest thing I notice.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

What's a before and after that just makes you smile? You see, you'll see a new student come in and then they'll be for a while. And then afterwards you go, Yeah, you're a different person now.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

It's interesting. I think some of the shyest kids, those are the ones that are just heartwarming to see them be so scared to go in and do a trial lesson and fast forward. You start to see them come out of their shell and then hit some accomplishment or do something that was hard for them or really know in their heart that they're good now. I've seen that with vocalists, with drummers. My office is next to a vocal room. It's a very vulnerable place to be certainly to take a vocal lesson, especially if you really don't know what you're doing, you've never done it before, you'd like to feel comfortable, but it's so scary to try. And through fun and through being comfortable and through doing little bits at a time, to see kids access a part of their voice that they had no idea that they could were capable of accessing, and then walk out beaming. It's just like we're like, whoa, we heard you hit that note. Wow. And they're just like, Yep, that was me. I did it. So that's fantastic. Pretty cool.

unknown 13:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

Years ago I read a study. What separates a kid who turns out pretty well versus a kid who may have gotten lost along the way? And oftentimes the answer is one caring non-parental adult. How does it feel to be in that role?

SPEAKER_00 13:17

It feels great. That's a role I wouldn't have foreseen myself being in as I looked at my whole career path, but it's one that I and my team constantly get accolades and thank yous for parents who are just like, thank you so much for seeing my kid. Thank you for having that conversation. Thank you for guiding. It feels great. It comes naturally to our team. And if it didn't, wrong business.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Yeah. Let's talk about the various programs, levels from rookies to all-stars. What's going on?

SPEAKER_00 13:46

I'm going to even take it one step earlier because right now we have our earliest program is age six to seven and it's called Rookies. But we are just this weekend, I was out at the Art and Wine Fair in the kids' zone, kind of the avenue area. Apparently, the families of Alameda who have four and five-year-olds can't wait to get them in music class. We do have an earlier program called Little Wing that's just for that age group. We just haven't started it yet because we haven't found the right teacher. Really takes like a special, special early childhood education music enthusiast to be that person we were just talking about, guiding the littles and having fun. So that's coming soon. So Little Wing, rookies, rookies is six to seven. It is one hour a week music class. It's really fun and it's teaching foundational rhythm, music theory, but it's done through games, teaching parts of the instrument. We have a whole room set up with all of the rock instruments. So drums, bass, guitar, keyboard, and vocals. After they have a little lesson at the beginning, some games, each kind of take their stations and they rotate through the instruments in every class so that they get an opportunity to touch each instrument, try a little piece of what's being worked on that week. And then they all get to jam. We work on one song a month, and it is the most adorable thing to see a little kid singing, We Will Rock You, wild thing. I don't know. We can go on and on. It's just the cutest. So we do a little showcase for the parents to see what their kids are doing. Every like month or two, we'll do a little showcase. So we're gonna move that to once a month. Once their kids are moving towards that later kind of seven-year-old age, we are keeping our eyes open for what instrument they enjoy the most. Some of them make that clear much earlier. But yeah, we want them to have also the dexterity and the ability to have the patience to start taking 30-minute private lessons. So that's when we would usually first introduce the private lesson is by doing a 30-minute trial, seeing how they like their instrument. Are they able to hold their attention for that long? Do they enjoy it? And then can they practice at home? Because that's the other part. Again, doesn't have to be a ton of practice, but just a little bit starting that at home. Then that's called Rookies Plus. The next jump is quite big. So at age eight, they're eligible to join the Rock 101 program, which is really our foundational program because it's pairing the private lesson on an instrument with that group band core school of rock idea. The band at that age, the rehearsal is going to be an hour and a half once a week. And we keep it capped at one and a half hours just because, again, age-wise, that tends to be about the max.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

I had an expression when I was teaching theater, which was I'd rather have you at a 100%, 80% of the time than at 80%, 100% of the time.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

That's right. We'll add more rehearsal time as they get into the next level. But at this stage, it's 45-minute private lesson and then a one hour a week group rehearsal. They tend to stay in this program for a while. It can go up to kind of the early teens typically. It's a little tricky. You know, this is considered a beginner group. You don't have to have any experience coming into Rock 101 at any age. Next program, which is our performance program, that is going to be kind of the same idea as Rock 101. It's a longer rehearsal, and the material is a lot more complicated, and you absolutely have to have that experience. We do have students coming in at all levels and all ages, and we can fit them in where they fit best. And then those are the two groups that get to play on stage in a venue every four months. It always dazzles the parents and friends that come to see them.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

And you've had a busy month. Fourth of July parade, Radio Day by the Bay here at the California Historical Radio Society, the Art and Wine Fair. What gets you out of bed in the morning to keep doing it?

SPEAKER_00 17:54

This is what I've been waiting for. I mean, getting the building open and getting through the permitting and construction process was just like, oh my gosh. We're finally here. Now we're hitting our stride. This is where we're supposed to be. We still have to add in mid-season shows. It's like a little sneak peek for our Rock 101 and performance bands for the material they've been working on at about three months, so about one month out from their really big performance. I didn't mention this, but what the band that we have out playing at shows now is called our show band, the best of the best of our performance group kids. It's an invitation only, and they are representing us. They're gonna go out and show what our program's about and get gigging experience, learn how to set up and break down a stage, and they have other opportunities through the larger School of Rock program in the future. Have opportunities to go to Summerfest, which is a great festival in the Midwest. Things like Rock and Rio, down in Brazil. Yeah, small little events. Small events. Um so that's that's the great thing of being part of a larger program, is it's not just our school. We have amazing opportunities, including touring the US. Those are some options um for kids that are really serious about it.

SPEAKER_01 19:11

Why set up shop in Alameda?

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Alameda got this like amazing, vibrant love of live music and arts. It is a unique area in the East Bay. I looked around. I've been here in the East Bay for 20 plus years after coming back from the East Coast. It's unlike anywhere else. People are enthusiastic, they support the arts, they want that for their kids. It's just such a warm, friendly place to be. I I love it and wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

By the way, the facility is drop dead gorgeous.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

Now, is that a corporate design or is that yours?

SPEAKER_00 19:49

Completely mine.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

Oh, and golly.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Thank you. I really enjoyed making all those decisions, pulling all the pieces together. I would call it glam gothic rock school, something along those lines. The traditional school of rock branding is much different. It's like a very modern, sleek red, black, gray, metal, upscale locker room vibe. I don't know. It's something like that. And it just wasn't me. So I worked with their operations team and the design team and showed them my ideas and got approval. And they said, okay, okay, we see your vision. You know, if you're willing to like go and pull all these vintage pieces and they approve the colors and the glitter epoxy floors and all the other fun stuff we have going on. They've taken photos and they use it to show other schools what's possible in terms of coloring outside the lines a little, if you will.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

I honestly felt like I was walking into a professional studio because I've been in a few. I immediately felt very comfortable.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

I really appreciate that. It was definitely a huge investment. Everything's new, all our equipment is new. We pair everything for the student and the instructor. So every room is double outfitted, two sets of drums.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

How do you go about choosing your instructors?

SPEAKER_00 21:06

It's a little art and a little science. What I've learned is that you have to love teaching. Number one, more than anything, I can take someone with some music experience, but they need to have had teaching experience and they need to like love working.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Would it be fair to say that you can have a five musician, but a 10 teacher? You need a 10 teacher.

SPEAKER_00 21:29

I need a 10 teacher. Thank you. Because we have a curriculum, right? We have a way of teaching and we have a bunch of tools from the School of Rock. Of course, we always want each instructor to bring their unique experience and technique, or here's a different way of looking at this, or the way that they teach. We've got the tools. Right. Like you said, five on the music. What we, of course, try to find is a range because you've got your beginner students who don't need vocologists with a you know degree in opera, although we do have. One of those. A 10 teacher. That's that's the most important thing.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Right now you're looking to add a vocal instructor, a keyboard instructor, a multi-instrumentalist instructor. Who should apply and what kind of schedules should they expect?

SPEAKER_00 22:12

We're an after school enrichment program primarily. So we open at two or three in the afternoon, depending on the day. Close at around eight. I expect those hours will grow a bit over time. And then I'm also looking to open on a weekend day in the next couple months. It's a part-time position. It's not gonna be the main job, most likely. It works well for gigging musicians who like to tour. We're very flexible with, hey, give us enough notice and we'll get you covered. Our music director has part of his schedule open every day just for that reason, so that he can pull in lessons that need to be covered. Um, he's a multi-instrumentalist, so he can kind of jump in wherever. We tell our instructors, you tell us when you're available, and then we'll make all the pieces fit. But we do have a couple teachers who work around 20 to 25 hours a week. That's probably about the max. And then we've got some who just come in for a couple hours a week who specialize in one thing, and they've got those students. It's quite a range. And I will just add that I've recently included the new early education music instructor for our Little Wing program that I want to put in place.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

So who are your rock heroes?

SPEAKER_00 23:22

I first had that intense feeling of like, oh my god, this is the best thing in the world when I saw a Joan Jet video on MTV. And I think it was I love rock and roll. Now I'd heard rock music before, but there was just something about the female rock star, rocker, who was just like, Yes, this is so awesome. Like, I love seeing that modeled as a young girl.

SPEAKER_01 23:48

I watched her come within about two ticks of blowing heart off the stage when Hart had the thought of having her open up. Joan was on there for 35 minutes, Tasmanian devil time, and Hart had to bring everything in their bag of tricks just to keep up.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

Yeah, that sounds about right. I will also say I always will have a love of Nirvana and a soft spot for Kurt Cobain. I think his writing was incredible and his melodies will always amaze me.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

Have you met any famous rockers from in your day?

SPEAKER_00 24:19

I have, but they tend to be more in the punk scene. It impresses my kids who like that kind of music. Yeah. When I worked at Maximum Rock and Roll, I used to interact with a lot of bands coming in and out for interviews and their radio show. So I met Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys.

SPEAKER_01 24:37

Who has an interesting Alameda connection because he has in the past DJ'd at Forbidden Island.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

Okay, I did not know that. There was a project at one point that I was involved on that in that was like a book with iced tea and Jello Biafra. So yeah, this was a very long time ago. I don't even know what happened. I went bowling with the Ramones one time.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

I've met Joey, but I did not go bowling with it.

SPEAKER_00 25:00

Yeah, so that was so again, kind of more on the punk side of things. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

What are your five desert island discs if you can narrow it to five?

SPEAKER_00 25:09

Definitely there would be some nirvana in there. I personally think In Utero is the best album. Love this band called Death Grips, and that my child, the drummer, turned me on to that has an amazing drummer named Zach Hill. So for all you drummers out there, go check out anything Zach Hill has done. It will blow your mind. I'll leave it with those two.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

Okay, that's fair enough. One of the best concerts you've ever been to.

SPEAKER_00 25:35

Metallica puts on a pretty good show.

SPEAKER_01 25:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:38

I've enjoyed also Nine Inch Nails in the same way. And I'm gonna go back to Nirvana because some of those shows were You actually did get to see them. Oh, yeah, multiple times. Starting, I was in Oregon when they were first starting out. And so I was able to go up to Seattle a few times, saw them in Portland, and then down here in the Bay Area.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

And I am amazed that we talk about these bands from our earlier days, that the current generation, the generation that's coming to you in school of rock, I call them time and genre agnostic. I remember 2006 out of a school talent show for my daughter, and I watch a seventh grader get up and rip off Eddie Van Halen's eruption. The kids have the whole palette available to them.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

My kids are kind of into the same music that I was and and enjoyed. And they explained to me that there's just something special and like you said, just timeless about some of these bands from the 70s, even 60s on up. The other thing I've noticed is the technology. They want analog, analog, analog. They want vinyl, they want cassettes, they want even CDs. It's really this desire to have a real experience. That's what I love about having the kids in the space. It's real interaction, it's real instruments, giving them new ideas and new, oh, you like that band? Go check out this band. So it's this vibrant, continuing, living thing.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

You have company coming in from out of town, and you have to take them to three meals in Alameda. It can be breakfast, lunch, dinner, three dinners, it can be bites and notches. What three restaurants are you going to?

SPEAKER_00 27:11

We really enjoy Tahina. They make some fresh, delicious Mediterranean, and it's always like consistently good and ready really fast. Biscuit barbecue. They're pretty hard to beat. Gotta give Traboco a shout-out too. That's a great place for dinner. I always enjoy that.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

Website, socials, ways people can keep up with what's going on at School of Rock Alameda.

SPEAKER_00 27:33

We're very easy to find School of Rock Alameda on both Facebook and Instagram. Just type in School of Rock Alameda. It will directly bring you to our website.

SPEAKER_01 27:44

And the address is 2414 Central Avenue, right?

SPEAKER_00 27:47

We're at the back of the parking lot, just a half a block on the other side of Park Street, across the street from the Kaiser.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Suzanne Spar, owner and general manager of the School of Rock Alameda. Thank you so much for spending time with us here on the Alameda Connection.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

Thank you, Scott. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

Take care. Thanks again to Suzanne Sparr, owner and general manager of School of Rock Alameda, for joining us this morning on the Alameda Connection. To keep up with what's going on at School of Rock Alameda, you can find them on Instagram or Facebook at School of Rock Alameda. To check out their website, the easiest way to find it is to just type School of Rock Alameda into a search engine. If you want to go there directly, it's Schoolofrock.com slash locations slash Alameda. The School of Rock Alameda Show Band has a couple of events coming up. If you're listening to this on the initial broadcast or on the KCSM Encore Player during the week, Saturday, August 15th at 215, you can head to the School of Rock on Central Avenue to check out a performance by the show band and a showing of the Jack Black movie. If you've already missed that, mark your calendar for Saturday, August 29th, when the School of Rock Alameda Show Band will be performing as part of the pregame festivities with the Oakland Roots soccer team. Next Sunday on the Alameda Connection, I welcome Mayor Marilyn Ezie Ashcraft to the microphone. With the mayor finishing out her second consecutive term, we'll look back on her time in office and discuss the challenges and rewards of being the mayor of our island city. That's Mayor Marilyn Ezie Ashcraft next Sunday, 8 a.m. on the Alameda Connection. Thanks as always to the California Historical Radio Society for providing our location for this week's sit-down with Suzanne Sparr of the School of Rock. And as we do each and every week, a big thank you to guitarist Bill Hart for our theme music. The song is Beachside Isle, and it's from his album, Watch the Sky. I'm Scott Peeler. I'll connect with you again next Sunday, 8 a.m., the Alameda Connection here on KCSM HD2.