Tenacious D guitarist and all-round funny man, Jack Black teamed up with “the original school of rock” for a cover of David Bowie. The rocker, and students from the Blue Bear School Of Music, performed Bowie’s 1972 classic rock track, Suffragette City.
The San Francisco music school is “the longest-running rock and roll school in the nation, and probably the world”. Founded in 1971, the BBSM is this year celebrating its golden year and marking that occasion is this amazing rendition.
Jack, aka School Of Rock substitute teacher Dewey Finn, and the non-profit’s All Star Band gave the Ziggy Stardust-era single a run for its money. The performance has been recorded remotely, with Black performing from his home and musicians joining in on separate screens.
“A good friend of mine [Paul Cummins] told me about Blue Bear and the incredible work they’ve been doing,” Jack explained. “I jumped at the chance to celebrate their 50th anniversary by jamming some Bowie with their teen all-star band. So fun. What an honour. They’ve been teaching kids to rock since 1971! I love Blue Bear…the original school of rock!!!”
The creativity for this ‘Cisco school does not stop at gigging with Jack Black as they are also set to launch a “rockin’ auction” fundraiser on November 16th. This will “benefit our non-profit mission, providing free music education” – you can find further information here.
Meanwhile, it had been reported earlier this year that Jack’s former co-star and late star, Kevin Clark was responsible for the 2003 movie’s ending. The School of Rock actor died after he was struck by a car whilst cycling and was just 32 years of age. Rivkah Reyes, who played bassist Katie in the film, revealed how it was Clark’s idea to end the film on a high with its memorable encore scene.
“The team was like ‘What do we do about this ending?’ and Kevin is just like, ‘It would be cool if we lost [the battle of the bands] and then the audience started cheering ‘School of Rock! School of Rock!’ and then they bring us out for an encore’.”
