VIDEO: Christopher Guest at Berklee

VIDEO: Christopher Guest and a bunch of bassists, "Big Bottom"

As you may have heard, Christopher Guest received an honorary doctorate of music from Berklee last Friday. The musical event that followed the ceremony was, like everything we've been to at Berklee, professional and entertaining, with Guest performing songs from This Is Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind, and Waiting for Guffman alongside Berklee faculty and students. On "Big Bottom" (above) he was joined by 50 bassists as well - someone (we don't remember who, sorry!) said it was every Berklee student who considered the bass as their primary instrument. There were no appearances by any of Guest's collaborators, like Tap-mates Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, but no problem: Jon Aldrich and Ken Zembello did an outstanding job as the other two Folksmen. You can see their version of the Folksmen's "Start Me Up" cover below, along with "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight." Also, as an extra-special bonus, Elvis Costello's pre-taped tribute to Guest featured a cover of "Penny for Your Thoughts" from Waiting for Guffman. We've got the mp3.

- Ryan Stewart