The University of Denver has a beautiful set of 65 carillon bells “cast by the Eijsbouts foundry from the Netherlands in 1998. The largest bell weighs 11,685 lb”. The bells are in the tower over the Ritchie Center and ring for the time and when they are played throughout the day. I like them a lot.
Some of the carillon bells at the University of Denver
One of my friends posted a video on Facebook that is definitely worth playing. The carillonneur at Iowa State University played Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” on their carillon. It’s quite amazing! I hope DU does the same.
Carillon Tower at the University of Denver, above the Ritchie Center
Ellen Degeneres had Greyson Chance on her show again. This time he performed one of his original songs, “Broken Hearts”. As good as his Paparazzi performance was (and it was good), I like his original songs better. In addition, Ellen, who has been getting more involved in music, has started a new record label, eleveneleven, because of Greyson and signed him as her first client.
I like this story because Greyson had no intention of doing any of this, it seems. His video was posted from a school talent show. Ellen is making good things happen for him! In addition, Greyson won her $10,000 found on the internet prize AND Yamaha is giving him a piano. Madonna’s manager and Lady Gaga’s manager have signed on to manage Greyson. How cool!
After the video of the flash mob at Ohio State, the University of Denver Programming Board decided to try to create a flash mob at DU. The ideal time would be during May Days, our annual week-long spring festival. People were brought together from all over campus and people posted that a “surprise” would occur on the Driscoll Green at a certain time (so that extra people would be in the area and participating in other May Days events).
The video, edited by a student, is pretty cool:
I had originally planned on being involved and a part of the dance, but life was too busy. I did help recruit people though. While I think that too many songs may have been used, it was a great idea and definitely a success. There were a ton of students watching this!
This guy is going places. Greyson Michael Chance is a 12 year old in the 6th Grade in Oklahoma. He plays the piano, writes songs, sings, etc. He has great musical talent and is clearly going somewhere. He has become famous for a rendition of Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi”. In the past 3.5ish hours, the video has received almost 1 million new views for a total of more than 2.1 million views! Personally though, I like his two original songs even better. Watch out Justin Bieber…
Little Lord Gaga: Greyson Michael Chance’s “Paparazzi” Is A Web Sensation
Posted Tue May 11, 2010 4:17pm PDT by Lyndsey Parker
Lady Gaga parodies and tributes abound on the Interweb–some funny, some serious, some good, some not-so-good. But the school recital performance of “Paparazzi” by boy wonder Greyson Michael Chance just might be the best yet. As the teacher emceeing the Edmond’s Sixth Grade Festival says at the end of Greyson’s stunning piano performance, this mega-talented kid could even “teach Lady Gaga a lesson.”
Greyson is bona fide prodigy (as his lovely original piano compositions “Stars” and “Broken Hearts” on his YouTube channel demonstrate), and his talents are being celebrated on a national scale now that his “Paparazzi” video–in which he bangs out the piano ballad while his classmates look on in shock and awe, mouths agape–has gone viral. The video has gotten more than 36,000 views so far, and he’s even been invited to perform on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” this Thursday.
According to his bio on his YouTube profile, Greyson is “very inspired by Lady Gaga and Augustana.” Greyson additionally explains: “Lady Gaga is a freak but she has so much talent and her style of music is what I would like mine to be when I’m older. Augustana is one of the most underrated bands I think ever to step [on] the planet. They have so much talent it is not funny. They have such a good concept with folk and rock. It is very sad that they are so unknown.”
Greyson may look like a Justin Bieber clone with his sideswept-banged bowl cut, but with musical taste like that, clearly this boy is no prepubescent pop robot. This kid is deep. (His aforementioned original song “Stars” is about a woman who dies of cancer and meets her husband in heaven, for instance–not exactly “One Less Lonely Girl,” huh?) Today’s tween fangirls would be way better off worshipping a role model like Greyson over Bieber–and judging from the flustered way the girls react in the background of his recital clip, such wide-scale worship may not be far off. After Greyson’s upcoming “Ellen” appearance, surely countless more tweens will be his biggest fans, following him until he loves them.
Joel Portman 