Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Viral Video Moment: The Mavid Dance




This clip from a Mavid fan named Kristen has gone viral because it is a wonderful compilation. It covers the first Mavid Dance (early July) through 8/10/08 (the last one before they we're told to stop it), plus some extras!
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For those who don't know, Mavid is the combination of singers David Cook and Michael Johns. Michael+David=Mavid. The two became fast friends during Hollywood Week of American Idol season 7. By the midpoint of the season, their friendship had blossomed into a full fledged "Bromance." MJ is the jokester of the group (some of his fellow Idols say prankster is more like it). Cook, of course, is the AI winner and brainiac. Together they took it upon themselves to turn what would normally be the worst part of the AI Concert Tour into one of the most anticipated each night. At the same point each night, about 3/4 of the way through the cheesy group number "Please Don't Stop the Music," Johns got the idea of taking 7 to 10 seconds and doing a "routine" with David. It started the second week of the tour with them doing "the robot" and then it just took off.
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So how did this become an "internet thing?" The concerts on this tour are among the most taped and posted events in web history (you can thank the high number of insane Cook and David Archuleta fans). With 11,000+ registered members at david-cook.org and hundreds more on rickey.org and mjsbigblog.com, every night fans gather together online to virtually experience the concerts via "cell-certs" (fans attending the concerts actually sign up and volunteer to do a live audio-cast with their cellphones), and then wait patiently for audience members to get home and post their videos on youtube. After several hilarious routines by Mavid, fans started calling it the "Mavid Dance" and the "Brodance" (to rhyme with bromance). These "bits" caught on and all of the Idols quickly became aware of how the fans not only got the joke, but looked forward to it each night. Mavid got more and more elaborate, and last week they went so far as to do a takeoff on "Titanic" with Michael holding David, with David's arms out like Kate Winslet. Then they did ballet pirouettes (a takeoff on "So You Think You Can Dance"). Then they got in trouble!
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The Powers That Be told them to knock it off, thinking it mocked the show. They also claimed some fans were not amused. Turns out 99% of the fans WERE amused... to the point they got pissed off and started petitioning TPTB to bring back the "Mavid Dance." In Manchester, NH, many held signs during the concert saying "Please Don't Stop the Mavid." Mavid and the 10 Idols played it cool... sticking together and putting on a lifeless group number. Within two days Mavid and their fans won the battle and the "Mavid Dance" returned in Baltimore last night to the roar of the crowd.
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It was fitting that the Baltimore "Mavid Dance" (Tuesday, 8/12) had MJ and Cook boxing like Rocky. Victory! Here's a clip from last night. The "Mavid Dance" starts :25 seconds in:

6 comments:

Lisa said...

I'm not even a fan of Idol but those guys sure are cute together! Really entertaining and adorable video! Easy to see why it's gone viral -- it's charming!
Thanks for spotlighting this, Scott!

Scott said...

The write up was a little long, but there's so much context! Let's see what kind of hits we get... lots of folks from david-cook.org are checking it out! I've got great friends on that site! If Mavid is as highly a googled and yahoo'd word as I think it is, we should see a big bump.

Anonymous said...

You could tell when the song started they were much more relaxed than they'd been the two previous nights. You knew there was something to look forward to.

I didn't even put MAVID in my crappy youtube upload from last night and it already has 1776 hits on it! (Obviously someone linked to it from somewhere...)

wurdnurd from d-c.org :)

Jane said...

Hysterical! I think crappy white boy dancing is brought to a whole new level with Mavid! Almost an art form! And I really like that we have this viral video feature on the nose now, it will give me lots more to write about...

Scott said...

Yeah, these cell-certs, or cellcasts (and the waiting for the videos to be posted, has become a nightly ritual. I'm not even embarassed to say that I'm part of it many nights! Not all, but many.

Jane, I also love this Viral Video Moment feature... a LOT!

Anonymous said...

Ha ha. That's my video! Thanks for spotlighting it. I'm having a blast keeping it current and can't believe how many people have watched it. I love Mavid so much. I read an article today that Michael knows about my video and thinks it's hilarious. That made my day!

I'm working on the latest update and it should be posted tomorrow complete with Rocky music. Dance on Mavid, dance on!