"The Most Hopeful Sound On Earth" Crowded House Performs with the PS22 Chorus!!

The big night!

Okay, way too tired to post about the excitement we had tonight..... Here's a little something to whet your appetite until I complete this post tomorrow. I promise there will be some more amazing pics and videos, including some highlights from the soundcheck. What an extraordinary day for everybody. And I've decided Crowded House, being the coolest and most down to earth band, have the absolute coolest fans! Thanks to the band and their fans for making the chorus feel like the stars of the show!

Crowded House with the PS22 Chorus -- Throw Your Arms Around Me


Crowded House with the PS22 Chorus -- An impromptu Private Universe!

PS22 Chorus opening -- Put A Little Love In Your Heart

CROWDED CHORUS!!

The fun just never seems to stop..... You may remember a couple of months ago I posted about receiving a message from Neil Finn, lead singer of the amazing New Zealand band, Crowded House, after we covered their incredible song, "Private Universe." Well Neil contacted me again a few weeks ago, and was kind enough to make us an astounding offer.

So let's just say, an amazing, amazing thing will be taking place this Wednesday, April 30th!! And now that it's official, I'm beyond proud to announce that the PS22 Chorus will be opening for Crowded House at the Fillmore NY at Irving Plaza in Manhattan!!!! In addition to the chorus performing a few numbers right before the band takes the stage, there is also going to be an amazing surprise later on in the show that the kids will be a part of! AND THAT'S ALL I'M SAYING!! Tickets might still be available if you're lucky!!

Congrats to the chorus on your non-stop rollercoaster ride of a year!!

And here is the song, "Don't Dream It's Over", by Crowded House. This song was their biggest radio hit landing at #2 on the Top 40 Billboard Charts!

Platinum!

Today marks another major milestone for us! On April 23rd, 2008, the chorus celebrated its 1,000,000th viewing of a PS22 Chorus video on the internet! Congrats chorus, and just....holy cow!! How proud you guys make me!!

"A Comic Book Tattoo"

We are proud to debut the PS22 Chorus' phenomenal version of "Flying Dutchman" by Tori Amos! The kids really outdid themselves on this incredibly beautiful AND incredibly difficult song.

**UPDATE** Within hours of the song being posted, Perez Hilton found the video and posted it on his celebrity blog!! Congratulations chorus!!! :)

**UPDATE 2** The video has gone viral thanks to Perez Hilton, who posted the video on his hugely visited blog, calling the PS22 Chorus version of Flying Dutchman "a beautiful, beautiful rendition." Already the kids version of Flying Dutchman is, appropriately enough, the #22 most watched music video on YouTube today! UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!! Click on the pics below to read all of the honors and see a screen cap of the PS22 Chorus on Perez's blog.

**UPDATE 3** I reposted the latest honors! As of now, we are the 10th most watched music video on YouTube today! Wow!

Here is a short but sweet version by AMAZING former chorus member Deon:



And finally, here is the beautiful original version by Tori Amos, absolutely one of my favorite songs of all-time:

And Now For A Commercial Break.....

We interrupt our regularly scheduled posting, to bring you this adorable commercial (recorded back in 2002). This was our entry for a contest sponsored by Oscar Meyer Weiner. The video features (clockwise from top left) fifth graders Patrick, Adiza, Medina, Carmelo, and kindergartener Rafael in the center.



The following year we made our classic Oscar Meyer hot dog commercial previously posted on the site. Here it is again to save you the trouble of searching!

The PS22 Chorus Keeps Up The "P.A.S.E."

Last night, the chorus helped honor some award recipients from different after-school programs at an event sponsored by P.A.S.E. (Partnership for After School Education) at the famous Chelsea Piers in Manhattan. The kids did their usual amazing job, singing three songs from their vast repertoire, and made an impact on all who heard them. Below are some pics from the event. (Click to enlarge)

The sopranos posing with Mr. B and Mrs. Burns

Hanging out at Chelsea Piers

Miss Lisa with Courtney and Michael

The Sweetness Society!

Chelsea Piers at sunset

Michael primping his fellow alto, Justin!

Jarred giving James a head lice inspection????

The altos singing their hearts out!

The Chorus Helps Kick Off March Of Dimes Ceremony

The Staten Island Advance featured a nice picture of the chorus in today's paper. The chorus sang 2 songs yesterday for the March of Dimes at a beautiful ceremony that took place in Staten Island Borough Hall. The kids gave an impassioned performance and it was indeed a truly inspiring way to start the festivities! As always, you can click on the Advance picture and those below to enlarge them. Big thanks to Joanne Nuzzo, The March Of Dimes, and the Staten Island Advance!

"And The Painted Ponies Go Up And Down" To Perform At Women In History Ceremony sponsored by N.Y.C. Councilman Mike McMahon!

Here is a breathtaking rendition of the beautiful song by Joni Mitchell, "The Circle Game", which is on her album Ladies Of The Canyon.


The chorus only finished learning the song the day of this rehearsal at which it was recorded. But I so love this rendition, despite the fact that the kids understandably struggled a bit with the words. (You can hear me feeding them the lines at points if you listen closely!) :) It's particularly moving to watch Ashleigh and the rest of the chorus singing their hearts out here!

So last night, the kids sang "The Circle Game" and more at the annual Women in History Ceremony sponsored by N.Y.C. Councilman Mike McMahon, a wonderful and generous friend to the PS22 Chorus. Below are some pics from the chorus' performance last night, for which they received another well-deserved standing O! Ashleigh rocked the house with her soloing on "No No No" by the Voices of East Harlem! Justin and Angela sang poignantly on the amazing song,"Valor", by former student (and current brilliant songwriter), Andrew Canlon. The song is from his group's self-titled album, O'Canlon, which comes highly recommended!!

The chorus with their friend and supporter, Councilman Mike MacMahon!
Getting psyched up to do a great job.....
"And the seasons -- they go round and round" -- Joni Mitchell

Justin and Angela singing their hearts out....
Chillin' with the sopranos!
The adorable Natalie!

Mr. B with Mrs. Donath, PS22's superb new principal whom, needlessly to say, was very proud of her chorus that night!

We Made The Finals! So Start Voting!!

Okay, it's time for everyone to start placing their votes for The PS22 Chorus Remix (with original music by Barry Leitch) of "We're Brothers Forever" at our brother Renaldo Lapuz's website!

Weeks ago the chorus did their part to create this remix with their amazing harmonies!! Barry Leitch, another friend to the chorus, did the mixing and the original dance music! Now YOU can help support the PS22 Chorus by voting for our video!! Just click on the link below:

VOTE NOW - The Final 12 in the Remix Idol Contest! For the title of Best Renaldo Remix in the WORLD!

We are REMIX #4! Scroll down towards the bottom to enter your vote!

UPDATE (3/19): Only 1 vote per e-mail address, period! They are tallying the total sum of ALL votes, rather than doing a week to week elimination as originally planned.

In case you haven't seen our contest entry, you can see it on the voting page or right here:

Yes Yes Yes!!! It's "No No No"!!!

OK!! We're ready to present a new song from this year's mind-blowing chorus! Check out "No No No" by Voices Of East Harlem, an amazing choral group popular back in the 70's! Although they are not nearly as widely known as they should be, Voices Of East Harlem have 4 brilliant albums: Right On Be Free (the album that contains "No No No"), Brothers & Sisters, Voices Of East Harlem (self-titled), and Can You Feel It. Their music comes highly recommended!

So here's the PS22 Chorus featuring the astounding ASHLEIGH with their rendition of Voices Of East Harlem's, "No No No"!!! The chorus discovers another phenomenal soloist in Ashleigh, and she does us AND the song proud!


VIDEO DOWN

If you missed the posting of our chorus from 2005 performing "Simple Song Of Freedom" at Radio City Music Hall, here it is again! This is another great song by the Voices Of East Harlem (from the same album actually), and Sierra does a knock-out job on the solo!!

The Chorus Gets A Message From TWO Amazing Super-Groups!!!

Despite having a little vacation for President's week, it has been an exciting week for the chorus!! We got 2 differents sets of "thumbs up" for our performances of our covers of Crowded House's song "Private Universe" and Alpha's "Blue Autumn"! Here are their respective messages....

Neil Finn (lead singer of Crowded House):

"I wanted to send a note to say how delighted I was to hear and see the PS22 Choir performing my song."

"It's a fantastic arrangement and they look like they are having such a great time.
Thank you so much for making my day."

Corin Dingley (of Alpha):

"We came across [your video of Blue Autumn] and are quite overwhelmed. Corin of Alpha is quite humbled by it. It was really lovely to watch."

"Yes it really touched me, the kids have sung it so well they must be really pleased with themselves. Really fantastic, by far the best 'remix' we have ever had.

Cheers
Corin"

This is indeed a testament to the amazing work the chorus has been doing over the years, and a great thrill for all involved! Big thanks to Neil and Corin for taking the time to recognize the kids and their dedication to their music! As Corin said, you kids should be really pleased with yourselves! Big congratulations to the chorus!!!!

In case you missed these videos, here they are:

Crowded House's Private Universe:


Alpha's Blue Autumn:
VIDEO DOWN

We're Brothers Forever....REMIX!!!

Recently, an unbelievable musician by the name of Barry Leitch contacted me, interested in recording a remix of Renaldo Lapuz and The PS22 Chorus singing "We're Brothers Forever", the soon-to-be hit song from this season's American Idol!! All together, the remixes we produced for Renaldo's song have scored over 30,000 hits!

The chorus got to see and hear the remix for the first time today, and needless to say, EVERYONE was blown away!! So here are the long awaited mp3s of Renaldo Lapuz's original song:

Renaldo Lapuz & PS22 Chorus "We're Brothers Forever" EPIC remix
(Music & Remix by Barry Leitch)

"We're Brothers Forever" CHORUS remix
(Music by Barry Leitch, Vocal Remix by Gregg Breinberg)

PS22 Chorus "We're Brothers Forever" a capella version

We're Brothers Forever remix RINGTONE

And last, but not last, here is the AMAZING video also created by Barry for his amazing EPIC mix, featuring Renaldo and the Chorus.....