Michael Franti & PS22 Chorus Say Hey, I Love You!

On Friday, June 7th, Michael Franti stopped by to thank the PS22 Chorus for covering his new single, "I'm Alive (Life Sounds Like)", and to sing some of his uplifting songs with the kids! Truly one of the most lovable characters that's entered the PS22 auditorium, Michael brought joy, laughter, music, and inspiration that will stay with us forever! Relive the experience with us and watch the videos below filmed by our favorite Ms. Lisa!

UPDATE (6-21-13):  Just added another video of Michael Franti interviewing Mr. B & PS22 Chorus member Nadia after we made our music together!

We leave you with some phenomenal pics courtesy of Victor Breinberg! Even more great pics on our Facebook page!

PS22 Chorus Celebrate DO SOMETHING's birthday with HANSON!

On Wednesday, June 5th, the PS22 Chorus performed at the 20th birthday celebration of DO SOMETHING at The Hammerstein Ballroom! The kids performed a winning medley of three 90's songs including "Iris" by The Goo Goo Dolls, "Wonderwall" by Oasis, and "MMMBop" by Hanson, which segued into Hanson taking the stage for their performance! The audience went duly wild, and it was a definite highlight of the evening! But for us, the undisputed highlight of the night actually took place offstage... Hanson came backstage to meet, thank, and congratulate the kids before the show, and broke into an impromptu performance of "MMMBop" with the chorus! It sounded AMAZING and the grown-up child stars showed that not only have they grown musically, more importantly, that they are just the coolest, most down to earth people! So happy this moment was captured and big thanks to Hanson and DO SOMETHING for making this happen!

VH1 News showed an excerpt of the kids' performance in their coverage of the event and Hanson's praise for their amazing job, RyanSeacrest.com lauded the acoustic "basement" performance as well, and Hanson tweeted about our "great kids!" You can check that out below!

Lastly, check out these great pics of the kids from the event courtesy of Victor Breinberg, which includes some great shots with Hanson and even a shot with co-founder of Do Something, Andrew Shue!

PS22 Chorus is Santi-GOLDEN!

On Thursday, May 9th, the PS22 Chorus met up with one of my personal favorite artists, Santigold, for a special performance! Santigold was thrilled with the the recent PS22 cover of her song, "Disparate Youth", and was thrilled to join forces with the kids for this special performance for an appreciative live audience!

Check out some more great pics with Santigold below and even more on our Facebook page!

I'm Alive (Life Sounds Like)

A burst of happy to start your week! Check out this infectiously uplifting delivery of Michael Franti's new single "I'm Alive (Life Sounds Like)" sung to perfection by the PS22 Chorus of 2013! Major props to Anthony for his AWESOME rap and solo and to Elijah for providing some extra beats!

UPDATE: Thanks to Michael Franti for his amazing response on his Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ pages! Thanks also to all his fans for the rewarding feedback!!

Mirrors

Check out this powerful version of "Mirrors" by Justin Timberlake featuring some beautiful soloing by Delaney!

The Henningsens!

Last week, the PS22 Chorus were treated to a visit from the fantastic country act, The Henningsens! The two groups got together for a special version of The Henningsens breakout hit, "American Beautiful" with a special encore of "Mirrors" by Justin Timberlake! We were all blown away by the talent of our guests, including the youngest Henningsen, Wesley (son of guitarist Aaron), who sang with the chorus and even played the drums for us which you can see at the end of the first video! Check out both performances below!

We appreciate all the love being shown to the videos, particularly from Perez Hilton, Ryan Seacrest, Elvis Duran, and some huge country music websites! Thanks all!!

We leave you with some more great pics below courtesy of Victor & Bonnie Breinberg.  For additional great pics, visit our Facebook page!

 

Red Hands

PS22 Chorus sings "Red Hands" by Walk Off The Earth and it's truly oUt oF tHiS wOrLd!! Just when you think it can't get any better, the kids kick it up yet another notch with a cover that just crackles with energy, and that lightning definitely struck with a vengeance here! Big props to Graceanna for demonstrating her new-found xylophone skills, Aaron for enhancing the electricity with his fantastic drumming, soloists Dorian & Melina for providing top-notch vocals, and the entire chorus for delivering a performance that undoubtedly earns the title of an all-time favorite!

Thanks to Walk Off The Earth for the amazing props given via their Twitter & Facebook pages!

Cups

The entire student body at PS22 seems to be infatuated with this song, so of course we had to have the chorus do it! Here is "Cups" made famous from the film, Pitch Perfect. Kids taught this one to me, and we took it from there! Jenny did the beautiful soloing on the second verse, and the other "cup girls" rocking the creative percussion were (from l-r) Diamond, Nyema, and Liz! A fun little rollick....

Rebel Beat!

This is BEAST!! PS22 Chorus alum Clive returns for an unforgettable guest appearance on "Rebel Beat" by Goo Goo Dolls!! And the kids bust this one out too for the high energy performance of the year!!

Thanks to Goo Goo Dolls for showcasing this performance on their Facebook and Twitter pages!

a DELTA RAE of sunshine shines on PS22!

And yet another PS22 Chorus collaboration that will go down in the record books.... Here is the incredible Delta Rae performing four of their songs with the kids and a bonus of "Wonderwall" by Oasis!  Can't say enough great things about this band, but I think these videos speak volumes....

Enormous thanks for an unforgettable afternoon to Delta Rae, their management and P.R. for setting this up, Ms. Lisa for filming the videos, and Victor Breinberg for the amazing pics on this post! Check out more below!

Elle King & PS22 Chorus Are "Playing For Keeps" In Teen Vogue Photo Shoot!

Recently, PS22 Chorus got together with the extraordinary Elle King to do a photo shoot for TEEN VOGUE! (You may remember the chorus covered Elle's beautiful acoustic song, "No One Can Save You" back in January!) Before the session, we surprised Elle with a choral arrangement of her brilliant song, "Playing For Keeps!" Aside from being just a ridiculously amazing version of the song, this performance will just make you smile from ear to ear for Elle's reaction to the kids throughout the song and afterward! Priceless! Of course we also took the opportunity to got together for a special rendition of "No One Can Save You" and Jenesis did a fantastic job soloing! Make sure you catch the current MAY issue of Teen Vogue for more great photos of Elle with PS22 Chorus! TeenVogue.com also posted a Behind-The-Scenes video of Elle with the chorus that's great fun! You can check out all three videos below!

Check out more great pics of Elle with the chorus below!