By JONATHAN TAKIFFtakiffj@phillynews.com2J3-854-.5960

RUDY SARZO used to believe.it was his "destiny" to be a fa-

mous bass player - and he's sure-ly gotten there, performing withthe likes of Ozzy Osbourne, QuietRiot, Whitesnake, DIO and BlueOyster Cult.

But now, Sarzo said, he's "cometo realize my destiny is to help oth-ers fulfill their dreams in mu-sic ... to bring out their innerrock star."

That's why he keeps comingback as a counselor at the travel-ing cavalcade of stars and wan-nabes called "Rock 'n' Roll FantasyCamp" that's finally coming to ourtown nextweekend. AmultipartTV realityshow withthe samename debutstomorrownight at 10 onthe VH1Clas·sic channel.

Given thatthe TV ver-sion has beendeveloped byMark Bur-nett Produc-tions of "Sur-vivor" fame,you might ex-pect lots ofbackbiting,hissy fits and survivaJ-of-the-fit-test challenges. But the video ver-sion, like the event itself, offers akinder sort of encounter, "with pos-itive results for everyone," saidDavid Fishof, the veteran concerttour promoter (Ringo StaJ;T AlJ-Stars, The Monkees) who "gavethat all up to just do this."

"The Burnett team demandedthat we have a winning band forthe televised camp" - earning thehonor of jamming with Ace Freh-ley of Kiss, Fishof tipped. "Andthey had a hand in formulating thegroups. But normally for us, every-body gets in on that fun. And un-like baseball fantasy camps, whereyou're not really going to go chasethe flyball when you're 55 and over-weight, rock and roll is somethingyou cando all your life."

Continued on Next Page

SCHUYlKill AGLOW-GO PAGE27 IFRIDAY,OCTOBER15,2010 PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS

Continued from Preceding Page "a renewed sense of my confi-dence and my abilities," whichhe'd pursued in his young adultyears backing up talents likeDanny & the Juniors, the Coast-ers and the Dovells, then put onthe back burner when he wentback to school (computer tech),got married and started raising afamily. While currently betweenjobs in IT security; Brooks isn'tblinking about paying $1,999 tocome back to Fantasy Camp inPhilly. "Hey, life is short ..Two ofmy three kids are grown up, so Ifeel like I've got a little breathingroom to go out and start livingagain." And in his post-camphigh, he's also connected onlineand started playing in a new duowith vocaJ collaborator DebraJanove.

CertainJy, living out the fantasyis not without pressures, primadonnas and the occasional melt-down, as the TV show reveals andwe also heard about from BillBrooks, a 53-year-old Mantua,N.J., resident who bunked in atthe super pricey ($15,000), week-long London Rock 'n' Roll Fanta-

+' sy Camp in Mayas winner of aWMGK-sponsored contest."There's tears and elation all with-in the first four measures. And alot of tough love from the counse-lors, trying to strip away the ele-ments of amateurism and to getyou to focus on how to act as a pro-fessional musician and get rid ofhad habits you may have had."

For the piano- and guitar-play-ing Brooks, the camp gave himBill Brooks, 53, ofMantua, N.J.,with guitar fromrock 'n' roll ca p.

Mark Farner (above), formerly of GrandFunk Railroad, will be an instructor here.

ry - they gave up on performingwhen they were younger, but nev-er lost their love for music," saidSarzo. "Then once we've rekin-dled their passion, some ofthem

. keep coming back." Fishof said"almost half' the people alreadysigned up for the "recession-priced" Philly camp - "the onlyone we're doing this run on theEast Coast" - are repeat custom-ers.

"You also get people who comein with no musical experience at

all," noted Sarzo. And' thecamp finds a place for ev-

eryone, "from the stay-at-home mom whocan't play anythingbut spends her dayswriting songs at thekitchen table> tothe lawyer who liti-gates all day in

DAVID MAIALETTI /Staff photographer

Dickie Betts(above left, inhat), veteranof the AllmanBrothersBand, will behead.counselor atthe camphere.DavidUosikkinen(left),oftheHooters, alsowill be on thePhillycampstaff.

court, who I convinced had theperforming skills to become asinger.

"Each bunk of players is placedwith a famous talent, your counse-lor, who guides you through theprocess of becoming a band, tak-ing master classes, learning a cov-er tune, writing your own songand recording in a studio - ifthere's time, plus playing togeth-er before an audience and jam-ming with the counselors," ex-plained Brooks. At the longer Lon-don camp, he got to hang withand learn from the likes of SpikeEdney (Queen), Nick Mason(Pink Floyd), Alan White (Yes)and Joey Molland (Badfinger), allof whom kindly signed his head-less Steinberger guitar -:- "in-stantly turning a $1,600 instru-ment into a $6,000 collectible."Brooks also got to play at AbbeyRoad Studios "on the same piano.Paul McCartney used on 'Let ItBe,'"

Here, the counselor contingent

also includes Winger's savvyfrontman Kip Winger and theglibly entertaining produc-er/songwriter Mark Hudson(both likewise seen on the VHl se-ries), plus bead counselor DickeyBetts (Allman Brothers), MarkFarner (Grand Funk Railroad),Sandy Gennaro (Joan Jett), RamiJaffee (Foo Fighters, WaJlflow-ers) and Philly's own David Uosik-kinen (Hooters). They'll be doinglots of hanging and rehearsingwith the campers at a recording

- studio in Upper Darby owned byCinderella's Jeff LaBar, while tak-ing meals together in town and do-ing their big camp show finaleSunday night at 6 at the Trocade-ro. (Spectators can buy into thatfor $24-$29.)

Fishof acknowledged that thecamp gig pays the counselors "de-cently. It's nothing like whatthese guys make at a big concert,but we treat them right and theyhave so much fun that they keepcoming back. In London, for in-stance, Nick Mason was sup-posed to come in for one day; butstayed the whole week."

Sarzo said the gig for him is al-most as much about life coachingas musical counseling. "To per-form my duties, I must get insideeach camper's world, find wherethey're coming from, and thenbring them into a rock and roll en-vironment. Everybody has differ-ent points of reference. They'reshort-order cooks and salespeo-ple, stock analysts and surgeons.So you have to find a common de-nominator to help them work as aunit. You're rooting for them. Andyou're compressing the ride youonce took - from first forming aband to recording to getting a hit- from a year and a half to just aweekend or a week.

"And I gotta tell you, seeing theear-to-ear grins on their faceswhen they get it together, it reallytakes me back," Sarzo shared. "Itreminds me why I got into thisbusiness in the first place." *Rock 'n' Ron Fantasy Camp, 10 p.m.Saturdays on the VHl ClaSSIC channel, fiveepisodes starting tomorrow. Then Rock 'n'Roll Fantasy Camp sets up in Philadelphianext weekend, Rocktober 22~24.Camptuition starts at $1.999 for "Rock Star"status. Fancier packages are also offeredat $2,299 ("Headline"1, $2,699 ("VIP'1and $2,999 (~Superstar'') and includeextra face time and partying with thecelebrity counselors, final show ticketsand an autographed instrument. Info at1·888·762·BAND, www.rockcamp.com.Open to all. the camp concert with alengthy celebrity jam ends the weekendon Oct. 24, at6 p.m. atthe Trocadero, 10thand Arch streets, $24·$29 (all ages),215·922·6888, www.thetroc.com.

NEW 5 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15,2010