Run Avril Run (above) occasionally is joined by the RAR dancers (below right).

Music teacher rocks on in weekend cover band
By Charles Cassady
happenings
Published May 24, 2006

When audiences turn out Friday and Saturday for the high-energy cover band, Run Avril Run, they may not be aware that the pretty lady dancing on tabletops and mingling with fans with her wireless microphone is the headmistress of the North Coast version of “School of Rock.”

That’s because Avril Burg, Solon-based songstress for the popular group (recipient of a Best Live Band award from the Cleveland Jewish News) also has commenced a side enterprise for aspiring rock-pop vocalists and dancers.

“I teach music to kids during the day,” she said. “It’s called ‘Rock On!’ I work with groups of kids, up to five kids at a time.”

She splits her Rock On! pupils into classes based on age (ranging from 6 to 14) and uses techniques such as karaoke — performing in public with them once a month at Rick’s Café in Chagrin Falls — to analyze their singing styles and polish their performance skills.

Youngsters even have the chance to do onstage backing for Run Avril Run live, most recently at Legacy Village in Lyndhurst. Avril said the enthusiastic students in Rock On! workshops identify not so much with the Jack Black comedy (or its real-life inspiration, the Paul Green Rock School in Philadelphia) but rather with “High School Musical,” a recent Disney hit movie on cable.

Of course, it can’t hurt to tell your friends you’re studying under someone with the same household name as mall-touring Canadian idol, Avril Lavigne.

But Avril Turoff Burg has been in the music field for a lot longer — 30 years in fact. She trained for six years in Los Angeles under famed voice coach Seth Riggs, whose celebrity clients have included Michael Jackson, Carol Burnett, Whoopi Goldberg and Michael Bolton. She also majored in music in college at University of California, Los Angeles.

Then Avril married, had four children, and worked as an Ohio Realtor. It was her husband, David, who persuaded her to reconnect with the music and start performing professionally, and he became Run Avril Run’s manager when the band made its debut seven years ago.

In addition to its frontwoman, Run Avril Run currently consists of Dennis McMahan, on guitar and vocals, Todd Hatch and keyboards and vocals, Rob Blank on guitar and vocals. Newcomer Rick Stamler is on drums.

“He’s our chick magnet in the band,” Burg said. “Every band’s got one.”

The quintet plays clubs, weddings and private parties extensively, from the House of Blues in downtown Cleveland to the 100th Bomb Group near Cleveland-Hopkins Airport, with a set list that encompasses “Sweet Caroline” and “Lady in Red,” as well as songs from “Grease,” favorites by Meat Loaf, Tom Petty, Shania Twain, ABBA and more. On Friday night, they’ll be at Crazy Rita’s, 14810 Detroit Road in Lakewood.

““I looooooove Crazy Rita’s” Burg said. “It’s packed wall-to-wall. I love it!”

On Saturday, Run Avril Run sprints to McCarthy’s Ale House, 33382 Walker Road, in Avon.

You may not see the kids from Rock On! at the upcoming shows (so far the classes are limited to the eastern suburbs), but there might be a surprise visit from another Avril brainstorm for 2006 — the Run Avril Run Dancers.

“I love coming up with new, exciting things to put a twist in,” Burg said. “I wanted to surprise my band and I wanted to shake things up for New Year’s. I wanted dancers.”

She called a variety of local dance schools and found a willing group of young women from the Prana Yoga and Dance in Broadview Heights ready to do the New Year’s show at Moxie in Beachwood.

“During the song `Let’s Go Crazy’ by Prince, I just brought them out of nowhere, in Run Avril Run T-shirts cut into halter tops,” she said. “And my band had no idea!”

The RAR Dancers now join the band on an unpredictable, unscheduled basis.  

As much of a surprise to Burg was when Run Avril Run got invited earlier this year to the top-rated Lanigan-Malone morning radio show on WMJI-FM radio.

“Jimmy Malone, he was either at a club we played or a party we played,” Burg said. “And I almost hung up on him when he called.”

Booked for a five-minute set, Avril and the guys stayed for about a half-hour on the air.

  All this activity hasn’t left many opportunities for home sales, and Avril said that while the band members talk constantly about writing and recording originals, they just haven’t had the time yet.

“Every time we turn around we’re asked to learn plenty of new covers,” she said.

But, between the evening shows and the daytime courses, Burg is making a living doing the music she loves. And, via Rock On! cultivating new generations of little Avrils.

The Web site for the band is www.runavrilrun.com, and the classes are described on www.rockonworkshop.com.