That’s Madison Middle School student Bazel Rivera, who’ll be in the Admiral Theater spotlight this Saturday night as a student of a different school – the Paul Green School of Rock Music. They’re presenting a salute to The Monkees – the TV rockers whose heyday was so long ago, some of the 8-to-18-year-olds heard about it from their grandparents. Or via a recent resurgence, as Bazel explains in a quick interview clip you’ll see ahead:

Bazel is 14 years old and has only been playing guitar for about a year; as part of the School of Rock Music program (which has its Seattle HQ in Lake City), he and his fellow young musicians have been touring, performing at other venues around the city as well as elsewhere (when we dropped by The Admiral to interview him last weekend, he and his family were about to head to Portland for a performance). He’s pumped about playing his hometown venue, and Admiral entertainment director Dinah Brein McClellan is excited too – she was a big Monkees fan as a little girl. (Me too. Although Dinah says Peter Tork was her fave; I preferred Mickey Dolenz; the teen fan magazines of the day spent most of their time gushing over Davy Jones; the Monkee with arguably the most musical talent, Michael Nesmith, seemed to draw the fewest teen screams.)

The School of Rock Music’s Monkees salute happens at 6:30 pm Saturday at The Admiral; tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door, available online through Brown Paper Tickets.

–Tracy Record, WSB editor