Metallica’s James Hetfield at Rockin’ the Bay Benefit for 'Little Kids Rock'

Metallica's James Hetfield will be honored in a benefit concert at Facebook Headquarters in Menlo Park, CA this Saturday. The event is hosted by "Little Kids Rock," a national education movement providing public school students with access to music classes. They offer teachers free training for a curriculum focusing on modern music and instruments. To raise money for such resources, they host fun events with recognizable names in music. The latest Rockin' the Bay Benefit will pay tribute to the late executive head chef at Facebook, Josef Desimone, who was a big supporter of the program, according to Keith Hejna, Communications Officer. Hejna says that Chef Desimone "was a huge heavy metal fan, so it will be an emotional and fitting tribute to Josef when we honor James Hetfield of Metallica and he performs with some special guests, including our kids!"

Since 2002, the program has reached 250,000 underprivileged children in the Bay Area. We spoke to Hejna to get more details on stars' involvement in this worthy cause for children and music.

Aside from Josh Groban, who has come by to meet the children who the program is benefitting?

Little Kids Rock has a lot of big fans who have met with our kids, delivered instruments to their schools, or jammed with them, including Steven Van Zandt, Slash, Lady Gaga, Train, Ziggy Marley, Taboo, Big Kenny, Darlene Love, Bootsy Collins, Joshua Radin, Bonnie Raitt, Gene Simmons, Carlos Santana, G. Love and more.

What have been some of the standout moments in events for Little Kids Rock over the years?

The best moments have always been when our kids have performed onstage in front of a huge, supportive audience, especially when they perform an original song that they wrote. It is so important that kids get the chance to display their creativity. For many of these kids, it's their first time performing outside of their classrooms! It is also amazing when they perform with the musical luminaries that support music education for kids, like Sammy Hagar, Bruce Springsteen, Darlene Love, Taboo, Steven Van Zandt and others.

Can you tell us about any new plans in the works?

While Little Kids Rock continues to expand its free programming into more schools from coast to coast, the organization recently announced a three-year initiative that will build "Modern Band" music programs in 600 additional schools, reaching 60,000 additional students. This means half of the schools in the nation's largest public school district will have the instruments, curricula, resources and trained, qualified teachers leading "Modern Band" classes that focus on teaching contemporary music on contemporary instruments. This will be the new paradigm for public school districts that will give many more children access to the transformational gift of music.

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Last year's event with Black Eyed Peas' Taboo, and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drummer Matt Sorum raised funds for 5,000 rock instruments and educational programming into local public schools. This ended up giving free music lessons to tens of thousands of children.

The program promises to have another successful year. One donor has offered a $150,000 matching grant to prompt others to donate.

A key mantra of the program is "this is a 'de-rock-racy' so we all have a say in what we learn." Teachers sing in front of the class before expecting students to sing and teach simple one-string guitar chords to children before teaching full chords, according to Hejna. Overall, they ensure it's a safe zone to make mistakes, a key part of the creative process.  

It's sound advice all of us can take, from rockstars to everyday musicians and music lovers.