Monday, February 16, 2009

Graniteville Neighborhood Feature: PS 22 Tops the Youtube Charts


Photo by Gianni Cipriano [NY Times]

I want to hand it to Mr. Breinberg and the chorus group at PS 22 for cultivating something so special that they have been garnering a lot of attention from big media sources, famous music celebrities and business people in the music industry. It all started with the passion for music, a persons desire to teach music to others, a group of talented kids, some Coldplay and Tori Amos songs and a YouTube channel that brought a spotlight to the Staten Island community. What more do you need, all the essentials for success are right there. As soon as celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton got a hold of their videos, he was instantly amazed and posted their YouTube version of the "Flying Dutchman" by Tori Amos on his blog. I'm not surprised that with Perez's enormous following these kids went from being stars in their small local community on Staten Island to being the talk of the town within the mainstream world. With the huge reach of the internet you see things like this happening now more than ever, but you never think it will happen to you and when it does it is so surreal.


Within such a short period of time the chorus group has built an incredible size resume that others spend several years trying to accomplish and most people never do. To date they have received millions of views on YouTube, are constantly being mentioned in the press, performed for Tori Amos, performed at political events, performed live at Irving Plaza, some members have been casted in TV shows, potential record deals and they are now doing renditions of other modern artists. Whatever the reason is for their success, whether it's just pure luck, the right person stumbling upon it, amazing talent, a community story that the media flocks to...yada yada yada these kids are bringing the right type of attention to Staten Island and highlighting the Islands greatness. Big ups to everyone!

Staten Island School Chorus Finds Fame on YouTube [NY Times]
PS 22 Official Blog

Digg It!
Buzz Up!
Add to Stumble
Add to Delicious
Reddit
Twit This
Add to Facebook
Google Bookmarks
Sphere: Related Content

0 comments: