Message From Congressman McMahon to PS22!!

Our dear friend, United States Congressman Michael McMahon, just posted a beyond-inspiring video for the PS22 Chorus and friends to see! And make sure you stay tuned until the end, because his final remarks are going to knock your socks off!! Washington, HERE WE COME, BABY!!!!

Good Day New York!!!

Yep! The kids are slated for a Friday morning appearance on Fox 5's Good Day New York!! So make sure you tune in from 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM, as the PS22 Chorus helps meteorologist Mike Woods deliver each weather report within the hour! Should be a lot of fun and will probably allow the kids to demonstrate their wide repertoire in bits and pieces. EXCITING!!! More television news to come..... :)

UPDATE 5-1-09

The kids are currently being featured prominently on the home page of MyFox.com and on Mike Wood's Twitter page which you can see below.

USA TODAY....Again!!

Spotted the above today on the USA TODAY Entertainment blog! NICE!!! Thanks to Whitney Matheson for posting about the chorus again.

The Duffy & Steve Radio Show!

Powered by Podbean.com

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of being interviewed by Duffy & Steve of The Rooney & Moon show on the Morning Mix 107.5 broadcast in Texas and New Mexico! They even played 2 songs by the chorus on the air -- "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay and "Don't Dream It's Over" by Crowded House! Chorus members Tashee and Baaba even got to say a quick hello too. Have a listen by clicking on the podcast above.

Thanks to Duffy & Steve for reaching out to us, putting us on the show, and sending the embed link for the broadcast so that we can share this with everybody!

Jimmy Fallon Is Fallin' Under Their Spell.....

This was spotted on the Late Night With Jimmy Fallon blog by one of our video-watchers! Thanks video-watcher! :)

The Chorus is BIG News!

I was very disappointed to find out that the chorus was on ABC Eyewitness Morning News this morning AND PIX News At 10:00 last night. 'Why upset,' you ask? BECAUSE I MISSED THEM BOTH!! :(

Seriously though, it's a great thrill to know the kids are earning that much more well-deserved recognition for their hard work! From what I heard, both TV spots on the chorus were singing the kids' praises (pun slightly intended!) and spotlighting the tremendous internet response the kids are receiving. Hopefully I'll be able to get copies of the broadcast from the respective stations. Fortunately the kids are slated for more TV appearances soon, so keep your eyes peeled to the blog for the next few days, and I'll post as soon as I know what's happening when....

In the meantime, below is another nod to the chorus from the blog of the Philadelphia NBC station!

3 MILLION VIEWS!!!

It seems like all I do lately is shout out props to the chorus kids, but heck, they've done it again!! Thanks to the major recognition the chorus received this weekend (with the help of our good friend Perez Hilton and new celeb-friends Ashton Kutcher and Rob Vyrdeck), as of today there have been over over 3,000,000 PS22 Chorus video viewings on the internet!

Special thanks to Ms. Lisa for always capturing the kids on film so beautifully! We're lucky to have you!!!

Rob Dyrdek Comes On 'Board'

Celebrity skateboarder, actor, reality TV star, and Guiness World Record Breaker Rob Dyrdek posted a link to the PS22 Chorus rendition of "Eye Of The Tiger" on his Twitter! This comes right after our discovery that Ashton Kutcher was 'twittering' about the kids as well! Thanks to Rob and Ashton for spreading the word!!

The Eye Of The Tiger!

More congratulations to the chorus! Celeb gossip blogger Perez Hilton featured the chorus's new rendition of "Eye Of The Tiger" by Survivor on his blog, and the video has over a 100,000 hits already!! The video has also earned some incredible honors, becoming the #2 most viewed music video on the internet! Check it out below!

Below you can see a screencap from Perez's site of his posting on the kids. Notice in the pic that the title of our post, "ROAR", is the #1 most e-mailed video on his blog today (and yesterday too)!! UNBELIEVABLE!

Below you can read some of the other honors associated with the video! Notice all the different countries that have their eye on the PS22 Chorus tigers!! Wow... just WOW!!

ASHTON KUTCHER Is A Fan!

Mega-celebrity Ashton Kutcher (star of That 70's Show, MTV's Punk'd, etc.) is a PS22 Chorus fan!! Apparently responding to a friend (or fan) who sent him the link to our Coldplay cover, Ashton included it in a posting on his Twitter account along with his praises for the PS22 Chorus:

"I love these kids! I love them."

How amazing is that?!

Women In History

Last night, the chorus sang for the annual WOMEN IN HISTORY, WOMEN INVOLVED Ceremony, sponsored this year by newly-elected NYC Councilman Kenneth Mitchell. The children sang 3 songs to help celebrate the occasion; "Everybody's Changing" by Keane, "Language" by Suzanne Vega, and "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay. The audience was enchanted as the kids performed with their patented enthusiasm and gorgeous harmonies. You can read the article about the event from today's Staten Island Advance by clicking here or on the image below.

Congratulations to the chorus on yet another great write-up! Below are a few more pics from last night's ceremony. Just click to enlarge.

Allie gives a riveting rendition of our national anthem

Tashee & Baaba sing a beautiful duet on "Language"

April leads the chorus on "Viva La Vida"

The REELING Video Premiere!!

Today marks the official debut of Passion Pit's new video, The Reeling, which features the PS22 Chorus on backing vocals. Check it out in it's entirety above! In MTV's review, they said:

And the video is hands-down fantastic. The rip and tear style, the gritty quality, the fun shopping cart excursion, the way the layers are scraped off Angelakos’s face until you are finally able to view him… all of this reflects the style at the core of a band who became one of my favorites in 2008.

'REELING' Over The PS22 Chorus On PASSION PIT'S New Single!

The new Passion Pit album featuring The PS22 Chorus on backing vocals is due to hit stores in America on May 26th! MANNERS, the band's ingenious full-length debut LP, is a kaleidoscopic sonic experience that is everything the hype has built it up be, and then some! The kids contributed to 3 tracks, "Little Secrets", "The Reeling" (the first single!), and Let Your Love Grow Tall". (You may recall our posting the must-see FADER Magazine video a few months back, which chronicled the PS22 Chorus/Passion Pit studio experience in January. You can check that out here if you missed it, and our detailed account of the festivities here.)

Passion Pit has already released "The Reeling" as a single to the internet, and it's been getting some major airplay both domestically and overseas! Click here to have a listen! It's a fun, uplifting dance track that is dangerously catchy! (Don't say you haven't been warned!) The kids are echoing the "Oh no" in the chorus. And if you like this, just WAIT until you hear "Little Secrets"....

Passion Pit producer Chris Zane was kind enough to help us get an advanced copy of MANNERS, and there is nothing I can say here to do justice to how great this album is! I know I have a slightly biased perspective on the issue, but to lend credibility to my excitement, some of my favorite tracks are those the kids had nothing to do with. "Moth's Wings" (it's so cool how they sonically painted beating moth wings into the song's tapestry) and "Seaweed Song" are instant revelations of undeniable artistry, just as others like "To Kingdom Come" and "Eyes Like Candles" just kind of sneak up on you after a few listens. Every song on this album holds its own greatness, and it is a huge honor for us to have been a part of the creative process!

Clouds

Here are the kids singing "Clouds" by Phats & Small, 2 amazing DJ/producers who have put out some great house music over the years. Of course the The PS22 Chorus of 2009 put their own spin on this shoulda-been hit, and I think their 'remix' is pretty darn good!

Most astoundingly, this is another song the kids learned the day it was recorded (as you see it here.) This group is just turning 'em out!

It's Official!

The PS22 Chorus version of "Viva La Vida" was featured in the Official Coldplay Newsletter that was e-mailed to huge numbers of Coldplay fans across the world! Several of those fans were kind enough to e-mail me this latest edition, which contains a link to our rendition of the Grammy-winning song. Along with the link is a little blurb that calls our video "really very good." the So below is a pic of The Coldplay Messenger that was sent out to fans yesterday. (I highlighted the link to our video in red.)

Thanks to the inclusion in the newsletter, our video has received tens of thousands of viewings yesterday alone! The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, and the kids' performance has earned them rave reviews from the Coldplay community! This video has definitely earned its status as a certified PS22 Chorus classic!

PS22 Is Video Of The Day!

The PS22 Chorus of 2009 just seems to be a walking (singing?) accomplishment these days! The kids are now Schooltube's Video of the Day today with their version of "Everybody's Changing" by Keane! Congrats to the chorus, and big thanks to April for letting me know about this! Below you can watch the video that earned the kids their latest accolade!

Emótiönal Landscapes

Here's yet another amazing accomplishment from a first rehearsal. Yes, I am VERY proud to say that the kids learned this song yesterday in just one sitting, and it is one of my favorite things I've ever heard on them. I really planned on working on the bounty of new material we've bitten off, but during rehearsal I could tell the kids were fiending for still another new song. So I looked over my iPod and came up with this song by Björk called "Jóga."

The kids are just brilliant on this. I can't believe how polished the kids sound after learning it only yesterday. I'm so happy about this one.....

The Chorus Lets It Go!

In high school, the Bangles were my absolute favorite group, and I thought this song would be a perfect fit for the chorus. This song, "Let It Go," is off their album DIFFERENT LIGHT, which featured the classic eighties anthems "Walk Like An Egyptian" and "Manic Monday" by Prince. This song is unique in the ladies' discography, as it is the only Bangles song penned by all four members.

I think our favorite fifth graders sound pretty darn good considering it was only their second time rehearsing this live acoustic version.... And yay for Tashee on the solo! Another budding superstar emerges!!