We are the mundane
I stopped by a local music festival this morning to see Natalie Berrena sing with one of her groups, Pure Cane Sugar. To my surprise, I ran into ex-girlfriend Diane Wooding at the show (you can catch her in the lower left corner of the video)
Diane is back in town this weekend for her high school reunion and stopped down for the show because she knows Natalie (they were roommates for a week at Pat Daugherty’s place in St Martin – remember this post and photo?)
If you checked out my previous post on New Year’s Eve, you’ll see that my attempt to do live video streaming didn’t work so well.
I was able to capture some halfway decent videos on my photo camera though. Here’s some of the videos I got at a couple of the bars I was in.
First some JR and Natalie videos from the Cafe 210. The videos are a little jumpy because I was zoomed in to try to prevent the lights from behind the band from overwhelming the camera sensors. For the most part I succeeded.
Van Morrison’s “Wild Nights”.
Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline”
Tom Petty’s “Free Falling” — kind of funny because Natalie grabbed the camera out of my hands and briefly turned it around on me.
Roberta Flack (and the Fugees) “Killing Me Softly”
JR and Natalie ended their last set at 1:30 and Natalie (and I) rushed over to the Phyrst before they gave their 2:00 am last call. At the Phyrst, Natalie did a couple of songs with Maxwell Strait (she’s been filling in as the lead singer with them because their normal lead, Molly Countermine, has been out having her third child). Molly, Natalie, and the third woman on stage, Kate Twoey, also perform together as a trio called Pure Cane Sugar.
Aretha Franklin’s Chain of Fools
Crosby, Stills, and Nash’s “Four Dead in Ohio”
Needless to say – I’m having fun with my new camera.
but I suspect that this just might be new news for those of us outside the Windy City.
Last week, the Black Eyed Peas pulled off an incredible stunt for Oprah Winfrey’s block party kicking the fall season for her show. Ostensibly, Oprah was unaware that will.i.am of the Peas solicited the services of a flash mob to help create this 21,000 strong dance scene. It’s pretty neat.
While watching the girl dancing solo at the beginning of the song, I couldn’t help but think of another front row dancer in a video, specifically Courtney Cox performing in Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark video twenty five years ago.
I am dumbfounded by how good some of the videos that I shoot turn out. It’s unbelievably dark in this bar and there should be no way that a video could be shot there, much less a one taken with a PHONE.
I caught a couple of minutes of JR and Natalie doing “Stand By Me” on one of the music stages during the State College 2009 Arts Festival. I’m still amazed by the quality of both the video and the sound – I have to keep reminding myself that this is a PHONE.
Natalie used to be a cashier and cocktail waitress at the Tavern and JR’s opening remark about her learning to sing there was because Pat Daugherty was sitting in the first row.
Here’s a clip that I shot later that night from Natalie singing with another of my favorite local bands Maxwell Strait. I’m pretty amazed that anything came out of this as it was taken in a very very dark local bar called the Phyrst – the sound is distorted in this one because I was standing right in front of one of the speakers and I think it overwhelmed the little mike in the iPhone.
This little test has me convinced that I should be able to get some acceptable video of me doing some of my magic tricks around town. I just need to find someone who can work the phone while I’m doing the tricks. Every magician seems to have a gorgeous assistant – maybe I need to start a talent search for one. 
I am not exaggerating – the very FIRST site that I checked in my reader this evening was this one which turned out to be featuring this video.
It’s starting to get freaky weird.
After hearing the song, I did a little follow-up on the kids – they are an internet sensation.
This is the video that got the kids rolling when Tori Amos stopped by to hear them sing (about 18 months ago). She was moved to tears when they did one of her songs and later sang with the kids
More of the Tori Amos visit with the kids (and other PS22 vids) are here on YouTube.
No – I’m not talking about a strange trip that I’ve made. I’m referring to the rock band Journey – or more specifically their song “Don’t Stop Believing”.
First some background.
In case the song doesn’t ring a bell (it should because it’s one of the most popular, and overplayed, hits ever), here’s Journey doing the original.
One of the reasons, that I enjoy the song so much is that my oft mentioned favorite local band, JR and Natalie, covers the song. Here’s the band doing part of the song during Penn State’s THON Dance Marathon.
A momentarily detour on the Journey
Having a thing for the song sometimes has an unfortunate side effect. In case you don’t remember, the song was an integral part of the final scene of “The Sopranos”. Unfortunately, it ruined the scene for me, because the whole time that I’m watching it, I can’t help but think of JR and Natalie singing the song. Here’s the scene.
So where’s this Journey headed?
I’m a big fan of using RSS feeds to follow various blogs/websites that I have an interest in. I use Feedly to manage the 113 sites that I subscribe to. Feedly helps present the latest info to me in somewhat of a structured manner without it I’d be lost. I usually check Feedly a couple of times a day to see what’s going on.
As is usual, one of the first things I did this morning was to check Feedly. Low and behold, within minutes of each other, two of the most prolific sites that I follow, Julia Allison’s “Non Society” and John Dvorak’s “Dvorak Uncensored” made posts on two unrelated “Don’t Stop Believing” videos.
I thought that was quite weird.
Follow–up
By the way, both of the videos are worth sharing.
First. Julia posted this video from the new TV show “Glee”.
Then Dvorak posted this hilarious spoof of the song.
I thought you should get to see, and this time, hear them. I stumbled across this YouTube video of JR and Natalie recorded at the Cafe 210 on New Year’s Eve.
I kind of hoped that I might be in the video somewhere because New Year’s Eve was actually my first real night back out in public. Shortly after I got out of the hospital, I made it my objective to make it to the band’s New Year’s Eve show and I did (even if I did run out of gas and leave shortly after midnight). Unfortunately, I didn’t make an appearance in the video (or at least a visible appearance). I was actually standing on the other side of the state almost directly opposite the person with the camera so I’m somewhere there hidden in the shadows.
Here’s another clip from a night that I wasn’t there.
Anyway, hope you enjoy the videos.
The song is literally only a week old having been recorded last Friday but it’s getting huge play and press in the Pittsburgh area. Â
For a bunch of 11-12 year olds these kids can really rock.
The press has really picked up on them.
Post-Gazette: Kid Rockers tackle Steeler Song
WTAE: Pop Rocks, Reed, Ravenstahl Rock Steeler Rally at Diesel
Just got back from THON – the Penn State Dance Marathon charity and they hit a new record topping $5 million for the first time.
Julie Myers, who is quoted in the attached article, is a Tavern employee and the daughter of a Sonny Myers, friend of mine that worked with me at the Tavern in the 70s. Julie was one of five Tavern employees who danced in the event. Others were Lisa Scarborough, daughter of John “Doc” Scarborough, also a former Tavern waiter, friend, and onetime roommate of mine (1967-68 academic year); David Gray, Penn State soccer player, and son of Gary Gray whom I have mentioned on this blog several time; Jen Shaffer, a Facebook buddy of mine; and a fifth employee whom I don’t know.
I stopped in at THON at 2:30 AM last night to see the kids and I thought they were all doing remarkably well. For being the middle of the night they had quite a crowd there cheering the dancers on.
But that crowd paled when compared to the scene this afternoon. There had been some criticism about moving THON out of our cozy gym called Rec Hall. Over the last few years they had to stop letting people into Rec Hall on several occasions because it was filled to capacity (probably about 5000 or so). As a result, the event was moved to the Bryce Jordan Center with a capacity of about 16,000. There was a fear that the size of the Jordan Center would cause the event to lose it’s intimacy and everyone would seem lost in the arena. Those fears were unfounded as the BJC was pretty much packed and the event was hugely uplifting as usual.
Here’s a photo I took from the upper deck and you can see how the place was crammed with people.
The kids on the floor had been going for 44+ hours at this point. The kids in the stands are the spectators and various sponsoring sororities, fraternities, and other groups who have dancers on the floor. Typically the groups will have T-shirts made up to match their dancer(s) which is why the whole scene is so colorful. Here are two shots I took from opposite sides of the arena.
“JR and Natalie Band” were the last band to take the stage for the event. They went on at 2PM this afternoon. Here’s Nat acknowledging her biggest fan before she takes the stage.
In this one, taken from the back of the arena, if you look on the screens behind the band you can see one of the kids who decided to climb up on stage and dance with Natalie. He stayed up there most of the set and the crowd loved it. Mark, the lead guitarist, even had the kid strumming his guitar during one of the songs. The kid was having an absolute blast.
And here’s Ernest Hemingway with the rock star after her set was over.
Here’s a short video that I took from backstage with my photo camera showing the kids rocking to the band. I just wish I had some audio to go with it but it is an obsolete photo camera that’s considerably old technology – you know 4-5 years old.
One final thing that I want to show is another short video with my photo camera. This time the video starts out with the morale leaders on stage leading the dancers in the line dance that they do every hour. It then scans out over the actual dancers and the crowd and you can see how enthusiastic and pumped everyone is even though they are 46 hours into the marathon.
It’s quite an event and there’s really nothing even close to it when it comes to student fund raising. The kids can be immensely proud of themselves.
Many more stories if you are interested.