"The PS22 Chorus is an elementary school chorus from Public School 22 in Graniteville, Staten Island (New York). It is composed of 60-70 fifth-graders, and is directed by Gregg Breinberg. Students are assigned to the chorus after an annual auditioning process at the beginning of each school year. PS22 is the largest elementary school in Staten Island which draws students from a wide cross section of ethnic groups and socio-economic levels. The chorus meets twice a week during school hours to practice, and performs throughout the year at school functions, local events, and on special requests. It has been featured on several major national news and music networks after its videos had gained international attention within the popular video-sharing site YouTube. As of January, 2011 the chorus's videos have been watched more than 27,000,000 times." [Wikipedia]

PS22's view counts are only going to keep getting higher now that they've been invited to perform on this year's Academy Awards (at the Feb. 27th ceremony in Los Angeles). Congrats to them! Check out a video with some of their reactions after hearing the news below.

Their first appearance on this site came when they appeared on stage with Crowded House at Wellmont Theater. You might also know them as the children's chorus you hear on Passion Pit's "The Reeling."

Check out some brand new videos below, shot by filmmaker Jonathan Kalafer, of the group during some improv sessions and one of them doing an acoustic version of MGMT's "Kids" (a song they were already famous for covering). A recent one of the chorus covering Freelance Whales and some other ones are down there too...

Continue reading "PS22 going to Academy Awards, covered MGMT (new videos) "

"Every summer since 1972, Rainbow Gatherings have occurred in a different U.S. National Forest, drawing tens of thousands of counter-culture types to the wilderness to set up a temporary city. Filmed at the 38th Annual Rainbow Gathering Of Tribes (Big Sandy, Utah), 'We Love You' allows the audience a glimpse into this rarely seen sub-culture, the violent oppression of Federal Agents who target them and their ultimate victory as they pray for peace the day after a siege by Federal Agents."

That's the official description of "We Love You", a short and to the point (and award winning) (and, full disclosure: made by someone I know) documentary that gives a positive (like the attitude of those in attendance) spin on the annual gathering of hippies in the woods. Like Burning Man, rainbow gatherings aren't technically music festivals, but they share many characteristics including live music. Entertainment options at gatherings range from random people with guitars to drum circles to full on G-Funk Collective performance theater. Unlike most music festivals though, rainbow gatherings do not come with toilets.

LAist: What did you hope to do by making the gathering accessible to people who've never attended?

Director Jonathan Kalafer: It's weird because people always want to compare it to Burning Man or a music festival, but it's really unlike those things. They've created this place, there's a quote in the movie about it, where magic can happen. You're far away from everything, off in the woods and people are amazingly kind to each other.

LAist: What do you hope viewers will walk away with after seeing your film?

JK: I had some people tell me , "Thank you for making the film," because they showed it to their grandma and she understood what they're doing when they go and that they're not caught up in some crazy cult or something.

If you'd like to check this move out, it happens to be screening as part of the NJ Film Festival at Rutgers in New Brunswick today (10/4) and again on October 9th.

If you happen to be part of the Rainbow family, well then you probably already know that NY Rainbow's 24th Annual Prospect Park Picnic is taking place on October 11th. This year's actual Gathering took place in New Mexico.

The "We Love You" trailer, and other Rainbow Gathering videos, below...

Continue reading "a Rainbow Gathering documentary, NJ screening & BK picnic "