Some parents accept their children’s yearnings to be rock stars as a passing phase, but others shudder in fear as they watch their 12-year-olds bounce on their beds screaming along with blaring rock music and strumming an air guitar.

Many of these parents may hope their children never get involved with the world of touring, constant parties and lack of privacy that seem to go hand-in-hand with the career of a rock musician. Seeing their children head off to college may help them breathe sighs of relief, confident they’ve reared children who will give up their rock-star fantasies, earn college degrees and enter the working world.

Green St. Records is a campus organization and the only student-run record label at any of the Big Ten schools. The label refuses to dismiss these early-childhood desires to create and perform music as a passing phase. The third part of their three-fold mission reads: “To provide an opportunity for talented student musicians to share their art with the university community and to provide an outlet for which to spark a career in the music business.”

On Sept. 18, they gave four local bands the opportunity to play for almost 500 people at the second-biggest venue in the Champaign-Urbana area – the Canopy Club.

“I love working with bands and seeing the process through from start to finish,” said Josh Morton, president of the label’s public relations and junior in LAS.

Morton and his roommate Jason Drucker, junior in engineering, dreamt up the idea of forming the first student-run record label at the University. They put their plan into action with the help of Jonathan Rozen, junior in communications, and Aaron Rosenthal, senior in finance. The record label signed 12 out of 45 local bands that applied online and sent in tapes or videos during the fall 2003 semester, the first year for the label.

To be considered, one-fourth of a band’s members must be full-time University students. When they are accepted, they are signed to Green St. Records for one academic year and have the opportunity to apply again.

Morton said benefits of being signed to the label include the opportunity to record for free, have their CDs distributed to the student body and receive promotion through advertising and shows in the Champaign-Urbana area.

Saturday, four of the bands featured on the label’s debut album Emergence performed at the Canopy Club for Green St. Records’ opening night. Animate Objects, Bullet Called Life and Eclectic Theory began playing at 10 p.m. The final act, The Ending, took the stage at 12:45 a.m.

Morton said that bands like The Ending are the reason he loves his work.

“The Ending is such a unique band; they have so much energy and an awesome stage presence,” Morton said.

He added that when he heard their demo tape, he was completely blown away by their talent. The band is comprised of Louie Golden, vocals; Dan Reem, vocals and guitar; John Ferro, keyboard and auxiliary percussion; John Supple, bass guitar; Andy Smith, guitar; and Doug Ford, drum set and percussion.

Eric Resor, a senior in psychology and the drummer for Eclectic Theory, said one thing that stood out to him about The Ending was that they had incredible harmony, amazing percussion and were incredibly tight.

“It’s really hard for me to sit still while they’re playing,” Resor said.

Kirsten Landreth, a political science major at Parkland Community College, said she and her friend received one of the band’s CDs earlier Saturday morning and fell in love with the songs.

One reason the band may garner so much praise from Green St. Records, other musicians and fans is that five of the six musicians are current or former members of the Marching Illini and all of them have experience with several different instruments. Ford is a member of the Illinois State University marching band.

Supple, bassist for The Ending, is the section leader of the Marching Illini drum line.

Gary Smith, director emeritus of the Marching Illini, said he has never heard The Ending Play professionally, but describes Supple as an excellent musician who really knows how to relate to his peers.

Bands like The Ending and student-run organizations like Green St. Records are making it possible to launch music careers while remaining in college.

Golden said he has a lot of respect for Green St. Records.

“You have to respect that they started everything from scratch; they’re totally organized and they work just as hard as we do,” Golden said.

The Ending – which spent part of the last summer on tour in states along the West Coast – plans to build up their fan base around Champaign-Urbana, then move to California after their members graduate so they can pursue their dreams of becoming professional rock musicians.