Where to start.. Chronologically I guess? A bunch of the guys are going to write stuff about today. I’ll let you know what we did and my own reflection:
First of all, in case you don’t know about the PS22 Chorus, this is an elementary school in Staten Island with a 5th grade chorus that has become YouTube celebrities over the past few years thanks to people like Perez Hilton posting their videos online. I’ve watched videos of these kids for a year (check out youtube.com/agreggofsociety for their videos, they’re FANTASTIC), where they sing pop songs with beautiful harmonies, energy, EMOTION, and it’s just.. incredible.
In november, I came across a video of them performing Fireflies by Owl City, which we were working on, and it hit us to try and sing with them. This gig was a long-time in the making and wasn’t legitimately confirmed until YESTERDAY, but OH BOY was it worth it.
So we got there at about 11:30 and got to get pizza with Gregg Breinberg (or, as the kids know him, Mr. B), the chorus teacher at PS 22. Let me tell you, he is THE coolest guy I’ve/we’ve ever met. For real. I can’t even tell you. And by the by, an AMAZING pizza place we went to. I forget the name. Maybe one of the guys will remember.
We walked back to the school and Mr. B had us sing for some teachers/classes in the school, and after impromptu renditions of Can’t Help, Man For Life, Hold On, and Coney, we made our way into an assembly for these fantastic 4th and 5th graders. THESE KIDS WERE NUTS. INSANE. I’ve never had this much fun in a performance, ever. The kids sang along, we saw them moving in their seats, nodding their heads, just.. SO pumped for what we were doing. It blows my mind that no other group has come to them with this.
After the assembly, we got to hang out with the kids in the chorus, take some more questions, and do an improv throw-down with them. Maaaad props to Mr. Johnny Rabe for taking charge on that mid-way and really leading them through some fun music making.
Then they sang for us. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVpD3262mh0 . This is what they did for us, and we all were in tears by the end of the performance. They sang ‘Run This Town’ by Jay-Z/Rhianna and Kanye West for us to kind of give us some more of an up-tempo idea, and again, it was phenomenal.
We ended the day singing Fireflies with them, as we did the backgrounds and they sang the lead with Jimmy. When we left, we got Mr. B in a group hug with the group, and we’ve been beaming ever since.
Okay, so that’s the summary of what happened, now here’s the first of many of the guy’s reactions towards today, so.. I’ll start with mine:
We go to these schools hoping to change lives, and sometimes we have OUR lives changed as well, and today was an example of that. These kids can be summed up in one response to a question. They asked us how many people we’ve met through the group, and we asked them who they’ve met. They answered “We sang for beyonce, lady gaga, obama, mayor bloomberg’ and just when you thought the answer of of an other celebrity would come up, we heard ‘And we sang for the senior citizens!’ These kids sing for the love of music, they feel it in ways I haven’t seen from any musician… ever, and they aren’t even jaded by their incredible talent, success and popularity. Their love and joy are infectious, and their performances were life-changing. Mr. Breinberg was my hero before going there, just from seeing videos on youtube and such, but this has just been so inspiring for all of us. OH that reminds me. THESE KIDS ASKED THE BEST QUESTIONS EVER. One of them asked ‘What inspires you?’ THEY’RE IN 5TH GRADE.
At the end of the day, Mr. B told us that this has been and will probably be the coolest day of the year. Just so you know, these kids sang at the National Tree Lighting at the White House a few weeks ago. This year, we’ve all kept the picture from Medieval Times on our walls to remind us of last year’s tour. This year’s will be the picture of us, Mr. B, and the kids of PS22 Chorus.
There are a thousand other little moments from today that will remain with all of us forever, but I’ll let the rest of the guys talk about those.
This tour is great.
