The Choir of Hard Knocks

The Choir of Hard Knocks is a choir consisting of homeless and disadvantaged people formed in Melbourne, Australia. It came to prominence as the subject of a five-part Australian Broadcasting Corporation documentary television series broadcast in 2007.

Creators

Jason Stephens and FremantleMedia Australia were the creators behind the ABC documentary series the Choir of Hard Knocks coming up with the original idea to form the choir in Melbourne.

After Googling for ideas about how to put a choir at the centre of a television series, Jason Stephens happened upon Montreal's homeless choir and came up with the show's concept. Stephens convinced Jonathon Welch - who had started a similar choir in Sydney (the "Sydney Street Choir" in 2001 - to establish a choir of homeless people for a television project.

Recruiting was by word of mouth and through community organisations. As at May 2007, it had about 50 members.

The name is a reference to the School of Hard Knocks, i.e. learning by experiencing life, not through classrooms.

Hard Knocks

Hard Knocks may refer to:

See also

Hard Knocks (film)

Hard Knocks is a 1980 film.

Production

Don McLennan got the idea to make the film from a story in the newspaper about an ex-prisoner who becomes a model. He wrote a script and got the money to make a 50-minute film but decided to turn it into a feature. It was made for $35,000 and Trevor Lucas of Andromeda Films paid for post production.

References

External links

Hard Knocks (1987 TV series)

Hard Knocks is an American comedy-drama television series that aired on the Showtime Network. It featured Bill Maher and Tommy Hinkley as ideologically opposed private detectives looking to make money by solving the problems of their wealthy clients.

Synopsis

Gower Rhodes and Nick Bronco open a private detective agency in the back of a restaurant to make money by solving cases. However, nothing seems to go their way.

Cast

Main Characters

Recurring and Guest Roles

Episodes

Reception

Critical reception

John J. O'Connor of the New York Times called the show "something truly different." The show has also been reviewed in the Spartanburg Herald-Journal as "hard to watch," and in the Chicago Tribune as having woeful writing, unappealing characters, an infantile premise, and as "making programmers at the three networks look like charter members of Mensa."

The Choir

The Choir may refer to:

See also

The Choir (alternative rock band)

The Choir is an atmospheric Christian alternative rock band, led by Derri Daugherty on guitar and vocals, Steve Hindalong on drums—who also writes most of the band's lyrics—along with Tim Chandler on bass guitar, Dan Michaels on saxophone and lyricon and Marc Byrd on guitar (since 2005). Starting in the early 1980s from its roots in the Calvary Chapel organization, the group has recorded 14 studio albums, 3 EPs, 3 live albums, 1 compilation, and 1 box-set to date. The band maintains an extensive tour schedule both collectively and on individual projects.

History

The Choir was originally formed as Youth Choir in the early 1980s by Derri Daugherty and Steve Hindalong. The two songwriters had been introduced by a mutual friend, the bass guitarist Tim Chandler, who was touring with Daniel Amos along with Daugherty, who was the band's roadie and sound man at the time. Hindalong and Daugherty quickly became friends and a songwriting team. Youth Choir became part of the Calvary Chapel Christian punk and alternative music scene, which also included the bands Undercover, Crumbächer, Altar Boys and 4-4-1.

The Choir (EP)

The Choir is a retrospective EP by The Choir that has been released only in 12" format. The cover features the same photograph as Choir Practice, although it has been cropped and is much grainier. There are actually five songs on the record, even though the cover says that there are only four.

Release data

This record was released in 1976 by Bomp! Records (catalogue number BOMP-104) as a 12" 45-rpm EP.

Notes on the tracks

This was the first album or EP that included any songs by The Choir. Even their classic "It's Cold Outside" would not be reissued until 1979 (on Pebbles, Volume 2). All of the songs on this EP were previously unreleased when this album was issued and would not be otherwise available until the release of the more comprehensive Choir Practice almost 20 years later.

Track listing