click on a name to learn more about the workshop instructors:

mike barrette, vocals

dag juhlin, guitar

bob lovecchio, bass

steve mazurowski, guitar

dave militello, keyboards

darren scorza, drums

last summer's guest speakers and performers included:

jim peterik is a grammy award winning performer and songwriter and is the founder of the ides of march and survivor. jim topped the charts with songs like 'vehicle', 'eye of the tiger', 'i can't hold back', 'high on you', 'hold on loosely', 'is this love?', 'the search is over', and others. he co-wrote 'hold on loosely', 'rocking into the night', 'wild eyed southern boys', and 'fantasy girl' for .38 special and co-wrote the theme to the movie 'heavy metal' with sammy hagar. he continues to write, produce, and perform with jim peterik's world stage. jim is the author of the book "songwriting for dummies.";

ralph covert is the grammy nominated front man and songwriter for the bad examples and ralph's world. long-time chicago club favorites, the bad examples toured in america and in europe in the late ‘80’s and through the ‘90’s, to local and international acclaim. they are currently working on their third release. in 2001, ralph released his first children’s album through under the band name ralph's world. billboard magazine called it "the best children's album of this or any year." since then, ralph's world has produced a total of 5 children's CDs and a video, and tours nationally in support of his family-friendly music. ralph is known for exceptional songwriting and high energy live performances. he has also has produced albums for several artists, and written music for film, theatre, and dance. along with co-writer g. riley mills, ralph received the joseph jefferson award for best new work twice (in 1998 and 2001) for their plays sawdust and spangles and streeterville.;

cathy richardson, grammy nominated singer/songwriter has toured nationally with the cathy richardson band. she is a terrific performer with a great story to tell and a lot of incredible information to share about independent record production and marketing. cathy is an inspiration to self-produced recording artists, having won DIY awards for producer of the year and album art of the year. her releases the road to bliss (2003), buzzed (2001), snake camp (1998), fools on a tandem (1995), and moon not banana (1993) have sold over 30,000 copies..;

eddie blazoncyk, jr. is the front man and guiding force behind eddie blazoncyk's versatones. the versatones are completely self-produced and managed, so in addition to performing eddie manages the band, handles bookings all over the country, promotes the band, and produces grammy nominated recordings.;

frank portolese, is a guitar master equally adept at rock and jazz. he has been active as a guitarist, electric bassist and educator in the Chicago area for 25 years. frank has performed with joe pass, eddie harris, les mccann, bobby shew, david baker, shelley mann and others. he has two CDs on the southport label, transparent (1994) and last call (2000).;

jim derogatis (author and rock critic for the chicago sun-times and sound opinions on WBEZ and WTTW);

michael harris, instructor at columbia college, freelance writer and former editor of illinois entertainer magazine;

and more.

join us and find out what the rock workshop is all about.

july 7-11, 2008 at wunder studios in park ridge, illinois