From blackboard to fretboard, teacher keeps 'em listening

By Fred Shuster, Music Writer

By day, Jere Mendelsohn rocks the classroom. At night, he does the same thing on stage and in the studio.

The singer, composer and guitarist - an exciting country soloist in a style similar to a more rocking Brad Paisley - is not only a recording artist but a nationally recognized high-school educator.

Mendelsohn, who has worked with Chicago blues guitarist Luther Allison and bluegrass fiddler Vassar Clements, among others, finds much common ground between the two worlds.

"It's performing, either way," he said. "The big difference is, as a teacher, you do five shows a day, but the audience can't leave."

The good-natured Mendelsohn is the kind of teacher you wish you had in ninth grade. A well-traveled musician who has paid dues on two continents and is equally versed in rockabilly, blues and r&b, his commitment to his students is evident.

"It's essential to get kids interested and keep them that way," he said the other day after the final bell at Verdugo Hills High School, where he teaches English, co-chairs that department, and coordinates the Smaller Learning Communities, a program that aims to subdivide the high school so it's more akin to a university campus.

"When I started, I tried to think how I could inspire kids who weren't otherwise motivated to even come to school," he said. "Every teacher needs a gimmick. You need to develop a persona. So, I came up with a songwriting program."

The result became the basis for "Rock the Classroom," which Mendelsohn describes as "a literary program disguised as a music program," where students write songs based on material from their textbooks. The program is now in its second year in a half-dozen Los Angeles elementary schools and four in New York in the Bronx.

"Jere is one of the best teachers I've ever met," said David Riemer, magnet coordinator at Verdugo Hills High. "He's got a great rapport with the kids and has a very organized classroom where a lot of learning takes place. And he's got this New York sense of humor that the kids get a kick out of."

On the musical side, Mendelsohn fronts his own band, having just released the intriguing four-song CD "Top of the World," on which he demonstrates his way around the unforgiving Fender Telecaster electric guitar.

Mendelsohn appears with his group the Twang Grenades - guitarist Greg Cooper, bassist Brian Netzley and drummer Ed Eblen - tonight at Joe's Great American Bar & Grill in North Hollywood (also May 26 and June 16).

"The entire music industry has changed," said Mendelsohn, who lives in Glendale with his wife, two teenage kids and a pet boxer named Leo (named after Leo Fender, inventor of the Telecaster). "You need the ability to market yourself, but you also have to be an entrepreneur. You have to learn how to get yourself out there."

Along with strong word-of mouth bolstered by gigs and sessions, Mendelsohn (whose first name is pronounced "Jerry") has an Internet presence with his Web site (jeremendelsohn.com) and area on MySpace (myspace.com/ jeremendelsohn).

"There's definitely an audience for my music as far away as Florida - and they're not relatives," says Mendelsohn, who was raised in New York and moved to Los Angeles in the early '80s. He studied guitar at what's now called the Musicians Institute and eventually appeared with his then-band on TV's "Star Search," losing to country-rock act Sawyer Brown.

At Joe's, expect to hear fine originals such as the new album's "Final Destination" and "Rainey," as well as well-chosen covers like Jack Scott's rockabilly gem "The Way I Walk" and Nick Lowe's always-welcome "I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock 'n' Roll)."

As influences, Mendelsohn is quick to point to such Telecaster giants as Danny Gatton, Albert Lee and Roy Buchanan, all players with distinctive styles that could only be developed on the challenging, no-frills instrument.

"The Tele is essentially just a piece of plywood," Mendelsohn says. "One of my guitar teachers, (jazz musician) Joe Diorio, used to say, 'Why don't you sell that canoe paddle and buy a real guitar?' But it's the workhorse of guitars with its own simple elegance."

JERE MENDELSOHN

Where: Joe's Great American Bar & Grill, 4311 W. Magnolia Blvd. (between Hollywood Way and Cahuenga Boulevard), North Hollywood.

When: 8 tonight; also May 26 and June 16.

Tickets: $5. (818) 729-0805; jeremendelsohn.com.

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Fred Shuster, (818) 713-3676 and fred.shuster@dailynews.com