Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Some students dream of worldwide stardom, but thanks to the power of YouTube, a few University students have already achieved it.
Joe Lauer, a sophomore from Strong City, and Scott Nelson have both been featured in several music videos produced by Ryan James Yezak. His video for "Telephone" by Lady Gaga has more than 11 million hits on YouTube. Here, Lauer and Nelson show one of the signature dance moves from the video.
Scott Nelson, a former University student from Dodge City, began making music videos with his friend Ryan James Yezak after the two met while attending college in Texas. What began as a fun directing project for Yezak eventually led to fame for Nelson, who dressed in drag as Lady Gaga, Ke$ha and Britney Spears in the videos. Their biggest hit to date, a version of Lady Gaga’s “Telephone,” has more than 11 million hits on YouTube. The video garnered attention from Perez Hilton, People.com and MTV, who referred to the spoof as “the ‘Citizen Kane’ of ‘Telephone’ tribute videos.”
The group, which also includes Joe Lauer, a University student from Strong City, and Julian Rivera, a recent graduate in graphic design illustration from Lenexa. They both said Yezak usually initiated the plan, but that the others work together to develop and shoot the video in a matter of days.
“I’ll get a call from Ryan with an idea, and then I start working on choreography. Then a few of us go out to try and see how we can throw together costumes spending the least amount of money possible,” Rivera said.
Shoots are primarily done in the Lawrence and Kansas City areas. Students may recognize the upstairs of Henry’s, alleyways on Massachussettes Street and parts of campus in the videos. But not everyone encourages the group shooting unofficial music videos at odd hours in extravagant costumes.
“We went to the nearest playground where we didn’t think there’d be children to shoot Ke$ha,” Nelson said. “Then the cops showed up. I was wearing a gorilla costume at the time trying to keep warm. They weren’t too thrilled about us being in a park after midnight and made us leave.”
Rivera, also known by his stage name Luna Flare and as Beyonce in the “Telephone” video, said various University students were also involved with videos. Normally, he said, the regulars call around to friends to find extras for the shoots.
Yezak, who recently accepted a job with MTV as the executive assistant to the vice president of reality series, now lives in Hollywood but still plans to direct. He announced an open casting call on his YouTube channel June 14 for his next project, “California Gays.” The spoof of Katy Perry’s summer hit “California Girls” will include the familiar face of Lauer, although past stars River and Nelson will not be able to fly to California for the shoot.
But all three agree they’d love to be a part of Yezak’s future music videos, especially if they include tracks by a few particular artists.
“Anything by Lady Gaga or Britney and I’d be in it in a second,” Lauer said.
Nelson agrees.
“I’m seriously her biggest fan,” he said, revealing a tattoo of the word “toxic” on the inside of his right forearm to prove it.
The boys enjoy their new fame, and make it a point to stay connected with fans through social media outlets. They all said they’re surprised by the amount of international responses they’ve received, including multiple messages and Facebook friend requests from fans in Turkey, Russia and Colombia.
“It’s fun to see fans email us in their broken English,” Nelson said.
“California Gays” will begin shooting on June 26.
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YouTube video featuring students in drag goes viral
why isn't the YouTube video embedded in the story? There are hundreds of Lady Gaga spoof videos
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