The Lisbon Reporter

WELCOME TO THE LISBON REPORTER. In an effort to keep our community informed of what is going on at local and Federal levels of government, we decided to create this on-line newspaper. It is our hope that this on-line newspaper will help you stay informed so that you can get involved and take action for the benefit of our ENTIRE community. Thank you for visiting and please check back frequently for information about what is happening in LISBON/LISBON FALLS, MAINE USA

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Good Ole Boys and American pie

5,000 Residents of 'Dying City' Lip Dub Song About Day the Music Died

by Caryn Ganz

In January, MainStreet.com named Grand Rapids, Michigan, 10th on its list of America's "dying cities." It's possible nobody would have ever learned about this dubious distinction, but Newsweek picked up the story on its website, giving folks living in the Midwestern city -- and nearby Detroit and Flint -- something to be bummed about in addition to massive unemployment and home foreclosures.
To prove they're still thriving and have the same taste in classic rock as Madonna, 5,000 residents of Grand Rapids turned to the power of music and motivated to break the world record for largest lip dub on May 22nd, lip synching to Don McLean's sombre "American Pie."

"We disagreed strongly [with the article] and wanted to create a video that encompasses the passion and energy we all feel is growing exponentially in this great city," the clip's director and executive producer Rob Bliss wrote in a statement posted on YouTube (via Buzzfeed). "We felt Don McLean's 'American Pie,' a song about death, was in the end, triumphant and filled to the brim with life and hope." McLean's 1971 track is indeed morbid -- it chronicles the tragic 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper (known as "The Day the Music Died") and makes references to the deadly 1969 Altamont free concert where a Hells Angel stabbed a Rolling Stones fan. "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" it's not, but it is good for a vigorous dorm-room sing-along.

Bliss wrote that the nearly nine-minute video is the longest and largest of its type -- take that Today show and Emerson College! -- cost $40,000 provided by local sponsors, and involved a near total shutdown of the city's downtown. The one-take, one-camera video set to an acoustic version of the song is indeed a huge survey of the city's landscape, featuring four fire trucks, a wedding, a marching band, kayaks, and about a million amateur acoustic guitar players (that's a rough estimate, but if the car manufacturing business in Michigan is slumping, the cheap acoustic guitar trade is thriving).