By Amy & Nancy Harrington, Pop Culture Passionistas
This week a movie star prepares to break her long silence for a good cause, a “Choir” goes to Royal Albert Hall, and a rock star tribute benefits War Torn Countries. Here are this week’s most inspirational pop culture moments.
Sandra Bullock, “The Today Show,” and the Big Easy
We all knew that it would happen eventually. But conventional wisdom has been that Sandra Bullock would do her first post-Jesse James scandal interview with her BFF, talk show host George Lopez this fall.
Luckily for Sandy lovers, she found something important to talk about sooner than that. The internet is buzzing with the news that the Oscar-winning actress will make an appearance next Tuesday on “The Today Show.” No, she’s not promoting a new film or clearing up any rumors about Jesse and Kat Von D (hopefully Matt Lauer will be respectful and leave that out of the conversation all together).
Instead, Bullock is showing up on the morning show to spread the word about the New Orlean’s Warren Easton Charter High School, where she has funded an on-campus health clinic. On the five year anniversary of the Hurricane Katrina tragedy this month, Sandy and New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu will perform a ribbon cutting ceremony at the new facility.
Why is Bullock giving back in the Big Easy? She’s a recent transplant to the city, due in part to her adopted baby Louis, who was born there.
“The Choir” Inspires Boys to Sing
On BBC America’s series “The Choir” Gareth Malone travels around England creating choral groups in unlikely places… a kind of real life “Glee.” This week’s episode showed the culmination of his work at the Lancaster School, an all boys, sports-dominated academy, where the students were convinced that boys don’t sing.
In just nine months, Gareth taught them that boys not only sing, they enjoy it, and music can bring them the most inspired and valuable moments of their young lives.
Over the course of four episodes, Malone molded these boys, taught them to harmonize, and showed them that singing creates a sense of community and belonging, where it may not have existed before.
By the end of his sessions, the shy boys, the cool kids, the jocks, and the rappers, all performed as one group at the Royal Albert Hall. It brought chills and a few tears to the eyes of everyone watching.
If you haven’t seen “The Choir,” catch up with reruns and pick it up next week when Gareth moves on to build a community choir in a suburban town.
David Bowie CD Helps Kids in War Torn Countries
If you’re a David Bowie fan you can listen to some great music and help out a charity just by purchasing a CD scheduled for release in October.
“We Were So Turned On: A Tribute to David Bowie” is a two-disc set featuring 32 tracks by such notable acts as Duran Duran, Carla Bruni, and Megapuss.
The ’80s pop sensation Duran Duran is contributing a cover of “Boys Keep Singing” for the tribute. While Carla Bruni (yes, the French President’s wife) will perform “Absolute Beginners.”
The proceeds will go to War Child UK, a favorite charity of the Thin White Duke himself. The organization works to alleviate suffering of children in countries affected by war.