For Kids Only : Rockin’ Out : Saturday’s concert at the Thousand Oaks Teen Center will feature three bands that will entertain youths 14 to 17.
The Thousand Oaks Teen Center is the place to be Saturday night--that is, if you’re a teen-ager and you live for the kind of rock ‘n’ roll that knocks your socks off.
Three bands will rock the night away. Headlining the evening is Zion Heights, a Ventura County-based band that is part of the Los Angeles scene. Preceding the group will be Rock Bottom and Big Mess, also local bands.
Show time is 7:30 p.m., with the doors opening at 7 p.m. The cost is $5. Only high school kids 14 to 17 years old will be admitted, and they’re serious about that. A student ID or some other form of identification is a must.
Zion Heights was formed seven years ago by David Kelly, lead vocalist and keyboard player, and Mahlon Mattal, guitarist and backup vocalist.
“We were both bad boys,” Kelly, a 1983 graduate of Thousand Oaks High School, joked in a recent interview. “At school they had a piano and I played three periods a day.”
The four-member group has a tape out called “Zion Heights Sexational,” with cuts like “Down and Dirty” and “High Heel Shoes.”
“We don’t promote sex, but we do sing about it,” Kelly said. “These are love songs. They’re not raunchy.”
What the group wears may be as titillating as what they sing. Kelly has performed wearing only a red G-string. For the Teen Center concert he plans to appear in something like ripped jeans and spandex.
“I’ll be mellow,” he said.
The group’s 90-minute show will include songs from the tape, including the ballad about a breakup, “Now We Cry,” which has been getting air time on local radio stations.
Another popular song from the tape is “Insanity,” a heavy tune about “a guy who craves success, finally gets it, and can’t handle it.”
“It’s happened to friends of mine,” he said.
The group doesn’t preach anything, he said, but it has been drug-free for seven years. “We’re completely against drugs.”
Kelly had trouble putting a label on the group’s music, which is all original material, as is the case for the other two bands. “The music of today, the heavy stuff, we’re not like that. I’d rather be called rock ‘n’ roll.” An even closer description is “provocative rock,” he said, with an emphasis on the keyboard sound.
That sound has been in the making since Kelly took up the piano at the age of 12. His grandfather was a professional violinist and his mother was a pianist and singer, he said.
“I’m a full-on classical pianist,” he said. “I’m into Bach and Mozart.”
But when it comes to performing, he finds the classical route too regimented. He loves playing Scott Joplin-style ragtime music. He gets off on Benny Goodman and Neil Diamond.
“I’m like two different worlds,” he said. “I’m pretty versatile.”
Zion Heights plays all over the Los Angeles area, and the band has had gigs at the Ventura County Fair the last three years, as well as at Club Soda in Ventura.
“We’ve been knocking on doors the last four years,” Kelly said. “Now we have a product. We’re ready to be signed.”
Saturday’s concert will be videotaped by the Teen Center and Ventura County Cablevision and will be aired sometime during the summer on Channel 8, the Thousand Oaks public access channel. Teen-agers involved in the center’s video club will assist in the videotaping.
For the younger kids (and their parents), Illusions Theatre’s version of “Sleeping Beauty” is still playing at Libbey Park’s Festival Bowl, Ojai Avenue and Signal Street, Ojai. Remaining dates are this Saturday and Sunday, and July 25 and 26. Show times for Saturday are 5 and 7 p.m., and 5 p.m. for Sunday. For ticket information, call 646-3533 or 646-6387.
Yes, your kid can draw cartoon characters. Cartoonist Larry Scott, who doubles as an elementary school teacher during the school year, will show him or her how. He is teaching a cartooning class for kids 8 to 12 years old on Mondays, July 20 to Aug. 24, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. at Barranca Vista Center in Ventura. Cost is $30. To register, call Ventura Parks and Recreation, 658-4747.
Parents can drop their kids (ages 6 to 12) off at the Stage Coach Inn Park in Newbury Park on Tuesdays from 1 to 2:30 p.m. for crafts, sports and games. The free program runs until Aug. 11. For information, call 498-3124.
WHERE AND WHEN
Three rock ‘n’ roll bands, including the headliner group Zion Heights, will perform at the Thousand Oaks Teen Center, 1275 E. Janss Road, Saturday beginning at 7:30 p.m. Open only to kids 14 to 17 years old. Identification required. Tickets are $5. For information, call 494-6664.