A Washington Examiner blog entry reports that national news outlets and celebrities are touting the achievement of the Grand Rapids LipDub Video in getting Grand Rapids noticed as a "living city," in contrast to an earlier report by Newsweek that the city was dying.
According to excerpts from the story:
No one picks on Grand Rapids, Michigan, and gets away with it, at least, not while Rob Bliss is around. With his "Grand Rapids LipDub" music video going viral on YouTube -- almost three million hits worldwide since its release a week ago -- Grand Rapids, and Bliss, are hits themselves. The 22-year-old pulled together a massive effort to counter a report earlier this year in Newsweek that listed Grand Rapids as one of the top ten dying cities in America.
With help from 5,000 volunteer participants from the city, local businesses, local politicians including the mayor, the TV meteorologist, and a $40,000 budget, Bliss has now put Grand Rapids on the map in a way that was beyond his wildest dreams. Movie critic Robert Ebert called it the greatest music video ever made.
Filmed in one continuous take, the nine-minute lip-dub of Don McLean's "American Pie" is perfectly choreographed as it includes the smiling faces of the community -- fire and police departments, American flag-waving pedestrians, cart-wheeling gymnasts, a band of pillow fighters (which was a nod to an earlier Bliss video), a bride and groom exiting their wedding with bridesmaids and groomsmen singing in sync, a concert, joggers, musicians of all kinds.
Read the complete story
here.
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.