Hot, hot, hot was the temperature this past sultry Saturday, but so was Saturday afternoon’s ROCKIN’ TEENS SHOWCASE at the Liberty Heights Tap Room in Red Hook. Steve Deptula, the show’s producer is truly a hero to the Brooklyn teen rock scene.

First up was my son’s band, Cool and Unusual Punishment, which played a delicious 10-song set.  Queen’s "Another One Bites the Dust," is fast becoming their signature song. The Pixies’ "Where is My Mind," and originals "Cheerful Infinity" and "To My Mother" are also big faves. "To My Mother," penned by the band’s female singer is a blunt and painful message to a less than perfect mom. Kenda manages to balance wrenching  bitterness with a confident vulnerability. An encore was requested by Deptula who whispered to me: "They do have another song, don’t they?" And the band delivered with a surf rock version of the Spider Man theme, that they’d never played publicly before. Cool.

In between acts, the show was emceed by an eighth-grade stand-up comic, Jake Gilford, a funny, funny kid who happens to be the grandson of the late comic actor Jack Gilford.

Next up was, Teenage Jesus, a physically mis-matched duo that was a sight to behold. The electric guitarist and singer was precocious 8th grade Lydia Lunch wanna-be with a decidedly punk/goth fashion sense. The drummer was a pre-growth spurt 8th grader who wore a Brooks Brother shirt, a tie and tidy khaki pants. But musically they rocked.

Virtuosic pianist, Max Coburn, a Berkeley Carroll 8th grader now on his way to Laguardia High School, played an incredible jazz improvisation that had this audience of parents and rockin’ teens in thrall.

He was followed by Jonathan Edelstein, Park Slope’s 14-year-old answer to early Bob Dylan. He’s even got one of those metal harmonica holders. He opened with a  fantastic John Lennon song I’d never heard and followed that with "Talkin’ New York Blues." The kid has great taste in music. With big hands and fingers that seem to totally rule over his Fender acoustic, solo guitar is really Edelstein’s forte.

Steve Deptula deserves a Grammy for supporting Brooklyn’s teen rockers (folkies and jazzers). But you’ll have to wait until the Fall. Liberty Heights Tap Room will be closed all summer for renovations. Deptula says he doesn’t want to pay for air conditioning, the place needs to be fixed up, and he’s got some fishing and beaching to do.  When  the Ikea construction begins across the Street, DiPatula will be busy enough serving lunch to hungry construction workers, working on that big box store. (I hear there could be some major construction delays due to an asbestos problems on the site).

The Tap Room is one of the best neighborhood bars in Brooklyn and a godsend to parents who want to encourage their teenagers to make music and stay out of trouble.