Recently, Newsweek magazine released a report on “Dying Cities in America.” The report is based on statistics of residents leaving the city, and Grand Rapids came in at the #10 Dying City in America.
Well, the city didn’t take too well to that. Grand Rapids resident Rob Bliss got together 5,000 of his closest friends to write a sort of letter to the editor. Bliss has made a name for himself in Grand Rapids with city-wide events, like a giant pillow fight, a zombie walk, and, most recently, a record-breaking release of paper airplanes downtown for the 2009 ArtPrize. (20,000+ people attended the release of over 100,000 airplanes. See the official 2009 video here.)
The video is a city-wide music video of “American Pie,” and it takes the viewer through downtown in one single shot. Roger Ebert called the video “the greatest music video ever made” on his Chicago Sun-Times blog. Yesterday, it was the #10 most watched video on youTube. The Today Show is featuring it tomorrow or Wednesday, and it has been covered by the India Times, CNN, The Daily News (UK), NBC’s Inside Edition, and more.
Says Bliss:
This video was created as an official response to the Newsweek article calling Grand Rapids a “dying city.” We disagreed strongly, and wanted to create a video that encompasses the passion and energy we all feel is growing exponentially, in this great city. 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.”
Check out the video here:
Posted by: collettostories
Category: Uncategorized
Tags: American Pie, Don McLean, dying city, Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids Lip Dub, Newsweek, Rob Bliss, Roger Ebert
