Jack Skuller and Rex Detiger

The Kids Are All Right (In Fact, Downright Scary)

The Cake Shop is running an all-ages series on Sundays called Let Them Eat Cake, and this week the showcase featured four bands that prove that there's no age limit on rock n roll. "All Ages" used to mean under 21, and that usually meant teenagers, but nowadays you've got to roll that back to 'tween. And as young as the musicians were, the predominantly female audience were all younger (except, of course, for the sizable number of parents scattered throughout the room.)

Care Bears On Fire, the girl group from Park Slope who headlined the show, are ages 13 and 15; Izzy, the group's drummer, emceed the afternoon event with the poise and stage presence of Bette Midler. Really. She's that good. And the band rocks like a cleaned-up version of the Runaways, all of the rock but none of the raunch. Hello daddy, hello mom!

Supercute, the opening act of three girls who hula-hoop and wear frilly ribbons, are ages 13 and 15, and their Casio-powered sugar-coated pop hits the twee button pretty hard. But 14-year old Jack Skuller, who performs with 15-year old drummer Rex Detiger (or Rex Da Tiger, as Jack calls him,) swings like a junior high throwback to the days of malt shops and sock hops; his rock 'n' roll heart beats with the blue-eyed soul of rock 'n' roll's Fifties forefathers. I believe this was Jack and Rex's first full gig, but they whisked through the set with the command of stage veterans, rocking out to their debut single "Love Is A Drum," a new song called "Second Hand Smoke," and - joined by Sophie of Care Bears On Fire - a sizzling cover of Joan Jett's "I Hate Myself For Loving You."

The big-news band of the day featured Nat and Alex Wolff, aka TV's The Naked Brothers Band. At 15 and 12, the Wolff Brothers fit right onto this bill - although they did have adults playing with them on bass, guitar, and keyboards. (And unlike the other basically unknown performers, these kids have already had their own television show.) But forget the hype; I was impressed, by their musicianship, their vocals, and especially, their songwriting. The Wolffs performed an entire set of new material, and it all rocked. Accompanied by a teen violinist, Nat sang a Dylanesque number called "Violin Boy" with some awesomely clever wordplay, while Alex sang a surprisingly touching love song he'd written called "Thump Thump Thump." These kids are the real deal, and it will be interesting to see what happens to them without the TV show to promote themselves.