Camp Jam on ForbesTraveler.com

Camp Jam on ForbesTraveler.com

Forbes Traveler featured Camp Jam in a recent article about Cool Summer Camps for Kids. Congrats to Colin Reineberg for gettin' some rad press!

Here's the text from the Forbes Article...

For Colin Reineberg, a 14-year-old from Naperville, Ill., a program called Camp Jam in Chicago was a perfect fit. Headed by Jeff Carlisi, the former lead guitarist of the band 38 Special, days at Camp Jam are filled with group lessons and celebrity visits from music stars like Ed King of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Ed Roland of Collective Soul. Colin plays guitar in a junior high band called The Perceptions, and his goal is to become a professional musician. Colin is a former Boy Scout who used to attend a summer camp in the woods; Camp Jam, he says, gave him a peek into the daily life—and grind—of real rock stars.

"You see what's beyond the music, how to set up gear onstage and what it's like behind the scenes," he says.

At Camp Jam, whose slogan is "No canoes, lots of Rock," a Friday night concert serves as a finale. Campers have the chance to play in front of a live audience, to show what they've learned over the course of the week. Last year, Colin went to Camp Jam for two weeks, forming a band there called the Mutorcs. He hung out with Jim Peterik from the band Survivor, Ricky Byrd, a guitarist for Joan Jett, and "some guy who plays with Sheryl Crow."[Peter Stroud]

At the final concert, Colin turned on his amp and fingered a guitar pick as the Mutorcs took the stage. Lights blazed above, and the audience cheered and hooted for the music to start. "It was the best night of my summer," he says. "This year I'm going back for three weeks straight."