And I’m not just saying that. Roger Ebert agrees. The Grand Rapids Lip Dub was made, essentially, as a marketing device to bring the city a little bit of publicity. Score one for Michigan. To date, the video has had over 1.5 million views on YouTube and was recently featured on NPR’s All Things Considered.
What could be so great about a publicity stunt? Well. First, it features Don McLean’s iconic American Pie, a song which I am, I assure you, quite capable of singing from start to finish, much to my children’s chagrin (also in that category: the theme song to Gilligan’s Island, but I digress). It appears as a continuous shot, with the camera moving down the streets of Grand Rapids catching community members and local politicians lip synching snippets of the song. It must have taken such choreography and organization to make this happen. And there are so many guitars. Really, you should just go watch it. It is that impressive. (And if you want to know how the video was made? You can see that video here.)
Awesome!
I heard this on NPR last evening and I’m glad you reminded me…you put the video right in front of me!