The MTV NEWS Spot!

It's ON!!! Check out the above video and the related article on the official MTV website! BIG thanks to Sway, Steven Roberts, Lisa Millstein, and all of the amazing crew involved for this incredible feature!

UPDATE: Below is a schedule for when the MTV News piece will be airing on MTV2 and MTVu.

MTV2
Thurs 7/16- 10:35pm

MTVu
Thurs 7/16- 7:45pm, 9:45pm, 11:45pm
Fri 7/17- 1:45am, 3:45am, 5:45am, 7:45am, 9:45am, 11:45am, 1:45pm, 3:45pm, 5:45pm


Last update for this post, check out this performance of "Just Dance" from our day with Sway. Pics can be found here.

MTV NEWS TOMORROW!

PS22 Chorus with MTV's SWAY

Make sure you catch the PS22 Chorus MTV News spot that will be airing tomorrow, Thursday, July 16th!! Unfortunately, I don't know specific times, but I believe the MTV NEWS pieces usually air about 10 or 15 minutes before the end of every hour. (i.e. 9:47, 10:47, 11:47, etc.) They might alternate a few different news stories, so if you miss us the first time you try, check back in an hour.

If I get any more information with regard to the specific times as to when the piece will air tomorrow, I will update this post.

David's amazing & Mr. B's a poopypants!

Indeed, I have been called worse. But before we get into the reason for the title of the post, let's watch PS22 Chorus of 2003 member David give one of my all-time favorite PS22 performances. The song is "Not The Red Baron" by Tori Amos, and this version is a classic as far as I'm concerned.

Pretty phenomenal, eh? Now for fun, watch this previously unposted outtake from one of our rehearsals while working on "Red Baron." Hard to believe this goofball is the same soulful kid that gave the performance you just heard!!

Now check out David's American Idol audition back in 2003 with The Jackson 5 song, "I Want You Back."

And NOW learn why Mr. B is a poopy pants as you watch another previously unseen outtake....

Three Little Birds told me....

Back in October 2006 when the blog was just a baby, I posted a song from this Radio City Music Hall performance from June, 2005. After sorting through a ton of DVDs to re-rip to post on our new YouTube channel, I discovered this little treasure -- "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley.

Enjoy this and another stand-out song from this performance, "Simple Song Of Freedom" by Bobby Darin. This version owes a lot to The Voices of East Harlem, whose cover of "Simple Song" is one of my favorite recordings of all time. Oscar-nominee Matthew Modine was also in attendance at this performance, and had some really great words after he heard the kids. You can watch a video of that below too.

ANOTHER New Electric Company Vid! (UPDATED!)

Sound Carnival "Short U"

UPDATE 7:42PM: Electric Company has JUST premiered ANOTHER new video starring the PS22 Chorus kids of 2008! That's the one you see above (just replaced as it was posted a few hours ago) -- the rest that have been previously posted on Electric Company's YouTube channel are below. (The other new video (short I) which was replaced has moved down to the middle of the post, just below SILENT E!)

Silent E!

Sound Carnival -- "Short I"

Sound Carnival -- "OU"

Sound Carnival -- "S"

Our New Chorus Channel Debuts with Honors!

With the NEW PS22 Chorus Channel, only starting to be up and running for 2 days, already it has earned honors as the #35 Most Viewed Musician's channel on YouTube!

Nothing can stop these kids!

Radio City Music Hall Performance!

As mentioned in the previous post, one of the advantages of putting up the new PS22 Chorus YouTube channel is having the opportunity to update quality and rediscover lost performances. Enjoy BOTH advantages on this post! This is the kids' complete performance from Radio City Music Hall from 2006. The chorus performed 3 songs, "Respect" by Aretha Franklin, as you heard above for the first time with greatly enhanced sound quality! Check out the two NEW DEBUT performances below!!

"Movin' On Up" (a capella) THEME SONG FROM THE JEFFERSONS TV SHOW


"Lift Every Voice & Sing" featuring Justin (Black National Anthem)

BEGINNINGS........

With the debut of our new PS22 Chorus YouTube Channel, I've been delving through all the old videos, trying to update quality where necessary. But sometimes you come upon a few brand new treasures you may have missed the first time around. Check out some PS22 Chorus beginnings!

Some auditions from your favorite chorus members! So little!

The PS22 Chorus 4th Grade Chorus of 2008! Recognize 'em?


The first PS22 Chorus (2000-2001) "We Will Rock You" by QUEEN!
(And check out 10 year old Christopher on the keys! Prodigy alert!)


So here's to some more new beginnings!

PS22 Chorus Gets A New YouTube Channel!

Okay, so you may have noticed our videos are down. So without boring everybody with the gory details, I'll just sum it up by saying this whole unfortunate turn of events was a mistake. I will be VERY diplomatic and leave it at that, but even if I argue against the mistake that was made and the account gets reactivated, all videos are permanently gone from the channel. The policies for such a power-site like YouTube are going to be strict and impossible to fight really, and it's just what it is.

So let's just say we're doing some SERIOUS renovation.... I'm in the process of bringing back the videos, and trying to look on the bright side of things....

With that in mind, we introduce you to our new, PS22 Chorus YouTube Channel! It's definitely going to be a work in progress over the next week bringing everything back to normal. Definitely, this is more than a little bit of a setback, but the PS22 Chorus will not be stopped.

While you're waiting for these videos to come up on the new channel, you can still watch many of our videos on our SchoolTube account.

Bear with us... things will be back to normal before you know it!

Pictures Of You

This was filmed at our final official rehearsal at PS22. The kids outdid themselves on this absolutely gorgeous version of "Pictures of You" by The Cure. You can spot a few tears on this recording, because the last day is always a bit tough. This 2009 group has had quite a run, and there are still a few more songs that will be debuted (and a couple of more summer performances) before the reins are turned over to the highly-anticipated PS22 Chorus of 2010! For now, enjoy the video....

Quality Control!

I updated the quality on some of my favorite PS22 Chorus videos of the year, as the sound was really muffled on the originally-posted versions. In addition, I'm proud to present an exceptionally beautiful (and my favorite) rendition of "One Day" by Bjork. Maya sings the solo to perfection and the chorus as a whole sounds hauntingly beautiful. UPDATE: Now posted is another gem from earlier this year, "Folk Song" by The Sundays. Nick must have had a lot of sugar in his cereal the morning he filmed this, but if you can get past the motion sickness, it's really an exceptional performance.

"One Day" by Björk (my favorite version)

UPDATE 2 (7-5-09): Perez Hilton just tweeted about the newly posted PS22 Chorus rendition of "One Day" on his twitter page! Thanks to Mr. P for his continued support!

"Folk Song" by The Sundays


"I'll Be Your Mirror" by The Velvet Underground and Nico


"Jóga" by Björk


"Clouds" by Phats & Small


"Let It Go" by The Bangles

An Angel

Check out Allie, as she leads the PS22 Chorus in a heavenly rendition of "An Angel," by The Kelly Family, also notably covered by Declan Galbraith. I previously posted a solo version of Allie singing this, and was sifting through several different performances to find one with the chorus backing her up. And of course, we end up going with the first rehearsal where the chorus learned their part. It's not perfection, but the raw energy of this performance makes it my favorite rendition of the song by the chorus. Enjoy!

UPDATE 7/4/09: Our new video also earned itself TWO YouTube honors, including the #40 Top Rated Music Video Today. Congrats to Allie & the chorus!

New York Magazine

Last month we got a visit from Jason Gay, reporter from New York Magazine, who wanted to do a story on the success of the PS22 Chorus. The article is now up online and should be featured in Monday's new hard copy on the stands! But you can read it now by clicking here, to go to New York Magazine's website. Already, the story is the #3 most viewed, and #4 most e-mailed article on NYMag.com!

Our friend, Perez Hilton, even picked up on it, and posted about the feature on his blog today. VERY cool!

UPDATE (7/9/09): New York Magazine is also featuring this alternate performance of "Forever Young" by Alphaville on their YouTube channel.

Nick News!

The PS22 Chorus is currently being featured as Nick News! Thanks to Suz and Jared's mom for bringing this story, written by Linda Ellerbee (who has had a very prestigious career on The Today Show, Good Morning America, and more), to my atttention.

STEVIE NICKS (pics & flicks....)

On June 11th, the PS22 Chorus performed its rendition of "Landslide" for Stevie Nicks at Madison Square Garden. Stevie was incredibly gracious and kind to all of us, as you can see for yourselves. She gave every child individual attention and reminded them that anything is within their grasp. (CASE AND POINT!!) Check it out in the video, below!

The audio on the video is very low, but of course this had to be posted even if there was no sound at all! The kids added a little piece of another Fleetwood Mac hit,"Silver Springs", as an intro to their performance to great effect! And watching Stevie leading the kids from the aisle at MSG is my outstanding memory of the chorus singing the song for her, so I'm glad the videographers caught that. It's too bad it's not in smell-o-vision, because this won't capture the KIDS' most outstanding memory of the day -- how good Stevie smelled!!

Thanks go to Fleetwood Mac, their management and friends (particularly Karen for sending the pics and video footage for the kids to see), Perez Hilton (for requesting and posting our version of the song), and of course to Stevie Nicks. You completely left us inspired!

To read a more detailed account of our meeting with Stevie, click here. And below are some more pics from our afternoon with Stevie Nicks....

A Tribute To Michael Jackson (at CBS Early Show)

On Saturday, as reported earlier, the PS22 Chorus performed live on the CBS Early Show nationwide. While there, the kids, led by Elijah, performed a beautiful tribute to Michael Jackson for Early Show anchors Chris Wragge, Erica Hill, Lonnie Quinn, and Priya David. It didn't air on the broadcast, but you can watch it below.

Within hours of the PS22 Chorus Michael Jackson Tribute YouTube debut, the video already received two honors, including the #32 Top Rated Music Video.

Below are some more pics from our Early Show performance.

PS22 Chorus & CBS Early Show anchors

PS22 Chorus & Ann Coulter

Jared dazzled by Erica Hill

Tirzah rocks the mike on "Just Dance"

7 Million

Congrats to the PS22 Chorus on seven million viewings of their videos!

Associated Press

Chances are, you've already seen this story on the web, as it's been on just about any and every notable newspaper/website. Such is the power of the Associated Press! Big thanks to reporter Verena Dobnik and photographer Bebeto Matthews (who snapped all the pics on this posting) for the major exposure the kids received from this beautiful write-up! The article has already appeared in such prestigious news agencies as The Guardian, Newsday, Google News, Yahoo News, MSN News, The Boston Globe, Washington Post, Seattle Times and many more!

Perez Hilton, ardent supporter and self-proclaimed biggest fan of "our beloved PS22 Chorus", even linked to the article on his blog, in a post he titled, "They Make Us So Proud." Indeed they do!

Now I believe in offering students choices with regard to their education. Following that line of thinking, I offer you a plethora of choices as to where you would like to read the Associated Press article. Actually the different links offer different views of the story. For instance, the Boston Globe article has a great picture, while The Guardian offers no picture, but tells the complete story. The links below are, believe it or not, only some of the places online where you can read the article. This story can be found in hard copy and online being featured by many of the biggest news agencies around the globe. AWESOME!!

The Guardian
Newsday
Google News
Yahoo News
MSN News
Washington Post
Seattle Times
San Fransisco Examiner
My9 TV
1010wins.com
The Boston Globe
Huffington Post
Kansas City Star
The Omaha World-Herald
Taiwan News Online
Star Tribune
KRXI FOX TV Reno
Twincities.com
The Denver Post
News Observer
Seattlepi.com
Mercury News
Corpus Christi, TX KRISTV.COM
Oldies 1150 Radio
Ohio.com
KGTV San Diego
The Detroit News
The Eagle.com
Chicago Defender
Yahoo! Canada News
Examiner.com
Kentucky.com
DailyAdvance.com
Herald Sun
WESH Orlando
KCTV Kansas City
KPHO Phoenix
WKMG Orlando
WPXI Pittsburgh
KFOX El Paso
Evening Sun
San Luis Obispo
Southern Ledger
Edmonton Sun
CW56
KIRO Seattle
Free Online Library
Arizona Republic
Sympatico / MSN Tech & Gadgets
MACON.com
RealClearPolitics
The News Tribune - Seattle-Tacoma News
CANOE -- Technology
Metro News
Chronicle Journal
SIFY.com
Indopia
The Canadian Press
The Globe and Mail
Taragana blog
NorthJersey.com
WTOP
WISN Milwaukee
Las Vegas Now KLAS TV
Houston Chronicle
AJC.com
WFTV Orlando
Wonderwall

Staten Island Advance Article(s)

I've fallen a bit behind on my blogging, but I would be neglect in my responsibilities if I did not offer up this post. The Staten Island Advance has served up some great stories and pics on the chorus lately, so here they come! The fantastic pics above and below were taken by Advance photographer, Michael McWeeney.

The following article was printed in the June 17th edition of the Advance. Thanks to Kiawana Rich for the beautiful article capturing our experience down in Washington, D.C.. You can read the article by clicking on the scan below or by clicking the following link: SI LIVE: PS22 Chorus wows 'em far from Staten Island

The PS22 Chorus was also featured in Saturday's edition of the Advance, in the article about the previously posted S.I. Hospital ribbon-cutting ceremony, at which the group performed for N.Y.C. Mayor Bloomberg and U.S. Senator Schumer. Read that article on SI LIVE or click on the scan below.

Some more great pics from Michael McWeeney below.