THE GUITAR SENSATION CHAMP JAXON MAKES A LIVE ALBUM IN MID-MARCH IN VENICE, FLORIDA.

Enthusiasm for the band gets so spirited, in fact, that after one gig a fan rushed Champ and “grabbed him like a teddy bear,” says Adam, the drummer. “Please put him down,” Adam says he told the woman. “He’s not a stuffed animal … you shouldn’t be touching other people’s kids.”

Champ, Adam added, “looked at me and started laughing. We all watch over him, no one gets too close.”

Champ is savvy enough to answer media questions with pat responses, but he is approachable, answering easily and with some depth. Afterward, he will wander off to play Minecraft, doing kid things before strolling onstage, barefoot.

“Check one, two, check one two,” he says into the microphone. Usually ringside are his grandparents, JC and Barbara Winkler, who attend most of the band’s gigs.

A few electrified strums and beating of drums, and The Champ Jaxon Band launches into its first 45-minute set, which will include mostly cover songs but also “No Time for Hate,”

Champ's lyrical take on bullying. “Tonight, he’s a rock star,” Nate Winkler says of his son, “and tomorrow he has a list of chores … take out the trash, pick up the dog poop.”