The Rubin Brothers Bring Circus Spectacle to American Idol Berklee alum Colescott Rubin and his brother, current student A.J., rode unicycles and sang about love and peanut butter during their memorable audition for season 22 of the long-running talent show.
By
Bryan Parys
February 26, 2024
The Rubin Brothers, Colescott (left) and A.J. (right), during their American Idol audition.
Image courtesy of Disney/Eric McCandless
It's a tale as old as time: You ride to your American Idol audition on a unicycle while playing an upright bass, sing a song about peanut butter with your brother on trumpet, and have musical legends singing along by the end.
Colescott Rubin somehow riding a unicycle while holding an upright bass and a tuba with the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus.
Image by Ryan Shinji
While this was certainly a first for American Idol, the performance was fairly typical for Colescott Rubin B.M. 20 and his brother A.J., who perform as the Rubin Brothers, one of many eclectic projects the two musicians have going. Colescott is an accompanist in the Ensemble Department, as well as a circus musician, multi-instrumentalist, and educator. He has performed with esperanza spalding B.M. '05, John Legend '20H, and Patrice Rushen 05H, among others. He also leads the swing band Colescott & His Red Hots, and the Rubin Brothers Brass Band-currently the house band for the Free Jacks, New England's professional rugby team.
A.J. Rubin is currently studying trumpet and arranging at Berklee, but is also a multi-instrumentalist with a background in classical and jazz. An entertainer in many ways, he also performs as a clown and works in mixed media sculpture.
The brothers may have not made it past the audition, but they succeeded in charming all three celebrity judges, with Lionel Richie '17H ad-libbing vocals and country artist Luke Bryan appearing to, well, dump macadamia nuts on Katy Perry. At the end of the audition, Perry sent the brothers on their merry way, saying It's a no for Idol; a yes for life.
Watch Colescott and A.J. Rubin perform My Peanut Butter Baby on American Idol:
Related Categories
News
Most Popular
Laufey B.M. 21
Image by Gemma Warren
Whos Laufey Now Just two years after graduating, the alumna breaks record for the biggest debut of a jazz album on Spotify.
Latest
Image courtesy of the artist
Student Spotlight: Mehrpouya Daneshvar The clarinetist from Iran talks about discovering a love for Iranian classical music and how coming to Berklee has allowed him to expand his style by exploring jazz and Latin music.
Arturo Sandoval will receive an American Master Award from Berklee on March 8.
Image courtesy of the artist
Berklee to Present American Master Award to Arturo Sandoval Berklee will recognize the Cuban-American legend's legacy and impact on jazz and Latin music.
Shivaraj Natraj
Image by Mason Davis
Student Spotlight: Shivaraj Natraj The vocalist, konnakol beatboxer, and percussionist reflects on his musical journey from Oman to India and beyond, and how he's working to bridge Western and South Asian musical styles.
Read All
Subscribe The latest sounds, stories, and ideas, sent to your inbox weekly.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
08/10/2026
Modern venues have come a long way since the tinny, echoing audio of the mid 20t...
08/10/2026
ESPN's first Super Bowl production will stream in English and Spanish on Disney+, while the ESPN App carries the full slate of game, ManningCast, studio, an...
08/10/2026
From high-school videoboards to War Eagle Productions, the Opelika native is learning how to lead shows and capture big moments
The future of live sports produ...
08/10/2026
The Television Academy and Prime Video have announced a six-year agreement making Prime Video the exclusive global home of the Emmy Awards beginning with the 20...
08/10/2026
Techex will exhibit at NAB Show New York 2026 (Booth 623, Javits Center, October...
08/10/2026
X Games has announced the appointment of Steve Rogers as Chief Operating Officer. Rogers previously served as COO of World Supercross and spent nearly a decade ...
08/10/2026
Fonn Group has appointed Trevor Spielmann as Sales Director for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Spielmann joins from EVS, where he held sales and business de...
08/10/2026
The flagship program will originate from major PG events with a four-camera production, live distribution across PGTV, social platforms
Perfect Game is bringin...
08/10/2026
Innovation rarely happens in a vacuum. More often, it happens at the point of collision: when worlds that have run on separate tracks begin to converge. That is...
08/10/2026
For decades, the production and broadcast services business has run on a familia...
08/10/2026
Uplynk, Zixi, BroadView Software, and Grass Valley have published The IP Converg...
08/10/2026
The NFL has announced the return of the Big Data Bowl, the league's analytics competition, now in its ninth year and again powered by AWS. Registration is o...
08/10/2026
Eutelsat has renewed its partnership with T l diffusion d'Alg rie (TDA), Algeria's national broadcasting network operator, for continued distribution of...
08/10/2026
Disney will livestream Super Bowl LXI on February 14, 2027, alongside the game's broadcast on ESPN and ABC. All Disney subscribers in the United States wi...
08/10/2026
RHStv and Red House Streaming have announced an expansion of their partnership w...
08/10/2026
Gray Media has announced a distribution agreement with TEGNA and DAZN to simulca...
08/10/2026
SVG readers can save 10% on registration and receive a complimentary Solutions H...
08/10/2026
PROTON Camera Innovations GmbH has been named a recipient of a 2026 Technology a...
08/10/2026
Industry leaders discuss real-world cloud workflows for live game production, pl...
08/10/2026
The next-gen audio technology joins Dolby Vision as part of Apple TV's immersive F1 experience...
08/10/2026
David France, Jesse Short Bull, Mato Wayuhi, N. Bird Runningwater, Jodi Archambau, Jhane Myers, Paul McGuire, Amber Morning Star Byars, Holly Macarro, Nick Tils...
08/10/2026
Dynamic panning plug-ins get an upgrade
Sound Particles have just announced major updates for two of their popular dynamic panning plug-ins. Energy Panner 2...
08/10/2026
New expandable instrument boasts full DMNO engine
UDO Audio have just announced the upcoming release of a new, expandable synth that packs the power of the ...
08/10/2026
Two new subwoofers added to monitoring line-up
ADAM Audio's monitoring range has just been expanded with two new DSP-equipped subwoofers, the Sub8 PRO a...
08/10/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
08/10/2026
Calrec gives broadcasters freedom of choice at NAB Show New York We're looking forward to meeting up with you all at NAB New York on 21st-22nd October.
Cal...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, will showcase its next generation of media orchestration services at NAB S...
08/10/2026
Clear-Com played a critical role in the production communications infrastructure for Rock in Rio 2026, one of the world's largest and most recognized music...
08/10/2026
Sohonet Launches ClearView Rush: A Leap Forward in Studio Review, Built for Crea...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Ikegami announces a major expansion to its range of broadcast-quality live production cameras. Scheduled for introduction on Ikegami booth 708 at NAB New York, ...
08/10/2026
Calrec will be located at Booth 444.
Freedom to choose
The media landscape is evolving quickly, and the broadcasters best placed for what comes next will be...
08/10/2026
LiveU has announced that CRD Audiovisuel relied on LiveUs LU900Q intelligent production unit, with built-in native LiveU IQ (LIQ ) connectivity, to deliver live...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Marshall Electronics, a globally recognized provider of high-performance video solutions for broadcast, streaming, AV and professional production, will exhibit ...
08/10/2026
14-hour package also includes A Remarkable Place to Die season 2 as well as libr...
The Rubin Brothers Bring Circus Spectacle to American Idol Berklee alum Colescott Rubin and his brother, current student A.J., rode unicycles and sang about love and peanut butter during their memorable audition for season 22 of the long-running talent show.
