Kids Chorus Covers Phoenix

The following video from Staten Island school PS22 proves why music education is so important in our schools and how listening to a radio station like TMD in the car with your kids can lead to great things. Enjoy this waaaay-too-adorable cover of Phoenix's "Lisztomania" by the same young chorus you hear on those Passion Pit songs.

One Degree Closer to Hendrix

There's a Baltimore and even a WTMD connection to the just-released, long sought-after, posthumous Hendrix collection, Valleys of Neptune.

John Vondracek, son of WTMD volunteer (and extremely knowledgeable music head, I might add) Bob Luh runs a video-design company called The String Theory. They developed a video for the title track based on a couple of paintings by Hendrix, that were used as covers for the album and single.

Previously, John has developed video that played during a Roger Waters concert.

Enjoy the swirling colors of John's amazing work!

She and Him Go Back to School

Call it the indie rock version of the "Hit Me Baby One More Time" video, but check out Zooey Deschanel dancing in the high school halls and M. Ward looking like the detached object of her affection.

I LOVED the first She & Him record, and while this song may have lost a bit of the "golly gee" innocence, the playfulness is still irresistible.

From Volume 2, here's "In the Sun."

Muse/Silversun Pickups, First Mariner Arena, 03-03-10

Silversun Pickups opened up the show. There really weren't many people in the arena for them, but they put their hearts into it and were fantastic. The crowd that was there was totally digging it.

Muse was unbelievable and they sounded just like the CD’s. The sound at the area for Muse was perfect. We sat upstairs, but in the 2nd row right in the center so we were in a good spot for excellent sound. They came out with each member on 3 pillars lit up with red lights, and kicked the show off with Uprising, a great new song off The Resistance to get the party started, then jumped into the title track from that album. The pillars lowered and the band was able to move around onstage to entertain the crowd. Matt Bellamy was flailing around with his guitar as the rest of the band knew their role, to support the genius Bellamy.

New Born was wild. I love the guitar riff when that song gets jamming. Hysteria got the crowd pumped, not that they needed it, and when they jumped into Starlight the crowd could not stop singing “Black Holes and Revelaaaaaaaaaations”. Lasers were shooting all over through out the night, lights were flashing, and the band was performing like one would expect. The encore was awesome too. Two of my favorites by them, Stockholm Syndrome and Knights of Cydonia ended the evening. I left wanting more.

Not once did I think (and this happens to me at shows from time to time) “I can’t wait to get out of here.” They could have played all night and I would have been just fine.

One of the best all around shows I’ve seen. On a scale of 1-10, I would give this Muse performance a 10.

Next up…The Church on April 27th at Ram’s Head On Stage.

Setlist:
1 Uprising
2 Resistance
3 New Born
4 Supermassive Black Hole
5 MK Ultra
6 Interlude
7 Hysteria
8 Nishe
9 United States Of Eurasia
10 Feeling Good (Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley cover)
11 Helsinki Jam
12 Undisclosed Desires
13 Starlight
14 Plug In Baby
15 Time Is Running Out
16 Unnatural Selection
Encore:
17 Ex...ogenesis: Symphony, Part 1: Overture
18 Stockholm Syndrome
19 Knights of Cydonia

Don Rogers
WTMD