SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - As a Boys Club kid growing up in the South Dakota city of Sioux Falls, Chuck Brennan never had the opportunity to learn an electric guitar lick or pound out a lengthy drum solo.
The founder of the Dollar Loan Center payday loan company now wants to give the city's youth a better chance to master guitar, bass, drums, keyboards or vocals with the opening of the $3.6 million Brennan Rock & Roll Academy just blocks from where he grew up.
"We're going to be focused," Brennan said. "Even though it's going to be for the kids of the Boys & Girls Clubs, we're going to run this like a professional music academy and really have these kids learn something, so they come out of here with a skill."
Brennan is pulling out all the stops for this week's grand opening, hosting intimate fundraiser concerts featuring Alice Cooper, Robby Krieger of The Doors, Night Ranger, and `80s rockers Sebastian Bach, Vince Neil, Joey Allen and Stephen Pearcy. Comedians Louie Anderson and George Lopez also are slated to perform.
Jack Blades, Night Ranger's vocalist and bassist, said the band is humbled to be the first to take the academy's stage, which he said could produce the next AC/DC, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton or U2.
Blades said the state-of-the-art environment is nicer than most of the places where he's rehearsed, and its vibe recalls the Whiskey a Go Go on the Sunset Strip in the `70s. He said the academy will provide an amazing opportunity for kids to learn and grow.
"I think to have something like this it's going to really elevate the kids' spirits to the way they should be, that dreams can come true," Blades said.
Once the dust settles on the grand opening, kids will get to begin their lessons and work up to performing for their families and classmates in the same 300-person venue.
