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SKIP’S MUSIC I BY ZACH PHILLIPS<br />
STAIRWAY TO 30<br />
Skip Maggiora makes<br />
people feel like rock<br />
stars. Sometimes,<br />
it’s just for a day.<br />
Sometimes, it lasts<br />
for a long, lustrous career. And<br />
on Aug. 15, the owner of Skip’s<br />
<strong>Music</strong> gave 94 teenagers the<br />
full rock star treatment — and<br />
maybe the launch pad to a life<br />
in the spotlight.<br />
Held at the Crest Theatre in<br />
Sacramento, Calif., this year’s<br />
Stairway to Stardom concert<br />
celebrated the program’s 30th<br />
anniversary. Parents, music<br />
industry heads and fellow teens<br />
swarmed the venue to check<br />
out 22 bands, all of which had<br />
honed their craft during the<br />
eight-week rock camp at Skip’s<br />
<strong>Music</strong>. For bashful performers,<br />
it was a baptism by fire: The<br />
event drew a capacity crowd of<br />
roughly 1,200 showgoers.<br />
“This is the first time we’ve<br />
charged to come to the final<br />
16 I MUSIC INC. I OCTOBER 2010<br />
concert — $10 to get in — and<br />
it was sold out,” said Maggiora,<br />
who created Stairway to<br />
Stardom. He also incorporated<br />
a live Web broadcast, so nonattendees<br />
could watch the fivehour<br />
event at home.<br />
“What Skip is doing is amazing,”<br />
said Bob Yerby, Remo vice<br />
president of sales and marketing<br />
and one of many industry VIPs<br />
on hand at the event. “He’s<br />
building a clientele that’s going<br />
to last as long as the kids want<br />
to play music, and that will<br />
hopefully be for the rest of their<br />
lives. And they’ll continue to<br />
come to Skip’s <strong>Music</strong> for everything<br />
they need. It’s an unbelievable<br />
thing.”<br />
TOTAL ROCK IMMERSION<br />
Stairway to Stardom works<br />
in large part because of its<br />
full music immersion experience.<br />
Participants have to audition<br />
to join the program, as<br />
they would for a professional<br />
band. (Those who don’t make<br />
the cut get a couple of free lessons.)<br />
They spend eight weeks<br />
rehearsing and learning everything<br />
from songwriting techniques<br />
to booking gigs. Many<br />
also rehearse outside of the<br />
program, at their parents’<br />
homes. The hard work culminates<br />
with the final concert,<br />
which puts them through a day<br />
From left: Skip’s <strong>Music</strong>’s Skip<br />
Maggiora with Levy’s Leathers’<br />
Harvey and Nikki Levy<br />
in the life of a gigging rock star.<br />
This year, Stairway participants<br />
each performed a threesong<br />
set amid a generous<br />
backline of gear. Afterwards,<br />
they got whisked off to a green<br />
room to be interviewed for a<br />
cable access TV special, then<br />
signed autographs in the lobby<br />
for friends, family and fans.<br />
“They get the whole nine<br />
yards,” Maggiora said. “They’ve
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