The Chilly Gonzales “Collaborators” video was released today to much Tweeting and Re-Tweeting. The graph is but a sample of the day’s activity, which was too large to comfortably fit in a single graph. That news, combined with the first of two sold-out shows in London led to one the most active Gonz-related Tweeting days we’ve seen!

Explore the Twitter graph below!

With 13 dates left in his Spring European tour (and more dates in Summer), Chilly Gonzales was interviewed by “Sud Ouest” (South West), which covers news for 50 towns and villages in regional France.

In the interview, Gonzales reveals that, for him, the best way to connect with rappers or electro artists (e.g. Daft Punk and Drake) is through the piano – though lush harmonies that bring a ‘human’ element to the otherwise programmed sound. In some ways, incorporating the ‘voice’ of the piano and Gonzales’ harmonies provides electro-based songs with a ‘soul’.

Starting with its inventor Franz Liszt, master classes provide students (professional and amateur alike) an opportunity to learn and be inspired by an accomplished concert performer. Many concertgoers have had an impromptu piano lesson (a master class) in the middle of a Gonzales concert, but During Chilly Gonzales’ current tour of France, he took time out to give a master class with students from two schools: La Classe Orchestre du Collège Saint-Exupéry and la Classe Vocale du Collège Jules Simon de Vannes.

Today is International Chilly Gonzales Day aka Chilly Gonzales’ birthday. We honor His Musical Geniusness by letting others serenade him. Therefore, we compiled a selection of Gonzales fans playing his songs on YouTube. Actually, once you’ve dived deep into the waters of moving Gonzales appreciation images, you are most likely to drown or you decide to just catch some pearls and resurface. So here is a collection of people going all Gonzo and proof of what an inspiration Chilly Gonzales is to many. We tried to categorize them as good as we could.

“I could live in this parking lot; I could be here, and I cannot”
“Parking Lot” from Wolfstein by Son

There’s something to be said about incumbents; the warm robe and worn slippers feeling of comfort and stability that comes with familiarity. But familiarity and conformity have a dark, Faustian side that is inherently accepted by those who choose ‘establishment’ over innovation and discomfort.

Once passion met profession, the way you earn money doesn’t feel like work in a classical sense anymore and the term “holidays” becomes superfluous. So it is only logical that Chilly Gonzales, between two tours*, doesn’t relax on a Southeast Asian beach getting a well-deserved massage or manicure of his precious hands, but seems to plot new collaborations and masterpieces. So there has been quite some news during the past week. What has made the internet community turn crazy – and above all the Daft Punk disciples – is the fact that Chilly Gonzales’ piano contribution to the electrorobot-duo’s forthcoming album has been confirmed.

A veritable barrage of Tweets based on the mashable.com interview – mostly user-generated as opposed to retweets.

How One Musician Overcame Apple’s ‘One Hit Wonder’ Effect mashable.com/2013/01/10/chi… via @mashable

— chilly gonzales (@chillygonzales) January 10, 2013

Explore the Twitter graph below!

His first October-scheduled Lincoln Center show in New York was gone with the wind, or better: blown away by superstorm Sandy. Last Friday, it seemed the Weather God still hasn’t turned into a Chilly Gonzales fan. According to numerous tweets, people queued along the street for hours to see his two substitutional shows – in the pouring rain. It was an outpour of praise in the end which proves that it was obviously worth it.

It’s hard to believe that half a year has passed since Solo Piano II was released, but as a timeless album, it keeps gathering new listeners. New fans may have picked up Solo Piano, Ivory Tower and “The Unspeakable Chilly Gonzales” or other albums. With music as good as Gonzales’, there’s a certain ‘insatiable’ quality – a desire to seek out more emotionally stimulating songs. Luckily, Gonzales has an entire slew of albums and singles that you may not even be aware of. From original songs, to remakes and collaborations, there are plenty of relatively obscure discs and songs are available for purchase and download.

Just imagine you were coeval with Händel or Mozart and wanted to listen to some music. You would only be able to choose from a selection of three possibilities at the most: go to a concert hall, make music yourself or in case you had the privilege of noble birth, enjoy it as part of the courtly cultural life. Fortunately, nowadays music is always available and repeatable. Still, it felt as if storage data devices haven’t been invented yet, when Chilly Gonzales played the Kölner Philharmonie on December 29th. He introduced so many new, yet unfortunately unpublished pieces that it was a real treat and indulgence, but at the same time evanescence and the knowledge of singularity were omnipresent. The Faustian verse “If to the moment I shall ever say: ‘Ah, linger on, thou art so fair!’” could have been the epigraph to this final concert in 2012. Or was it a pointer to the future and into the direction of “more orchestra”?