Yes you read the title correctly. This past weekend (March 6th to be exact) Hanson decided to film a video for their upcoming single, "Thinking About Something" and they did so in none other than their (and yours truly's) hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma right in the heart of downtown. Us fans were invited to attend several weeks beforehand and of course me and my awesome girlfriends made plans to be there! Unfortunately only me and one another devoted fan were able to attend together but we know the others were there in spirit (we were joined a bit later by one of my fellow Hanson friends, whom I know simply because of this great band!) As is the norm with my favorite band we did not know what to expect. There were several hints and several different ideas about what we would be doing. All in all I tried not to have any expectations but I did expect to be in the "background" freestyle dancing. Well low and behold I was shocked and surprised, in a very good way, that we were a big part of the video which included participation in a choreographed dance routine. I was scared to learn this dance and especially in such a short amount of time but it was an absolute blast! And I can re-create the dance steps if requested to do, fyi. The boys were great sports and even got out there and did the dancing as well - which needless to say surprised ALL of us because well the boys just don't dance. :) After about 50 takes and almost 4 1/2 hours later the "dancing in the streets" scene of the video was wrapped. Since the boys dispersed us girls decided to get something to eat because, well, we'd worked up quite an appetite with all the dancing.
After lunch we bid one friend adieu but were not ready to head home so we "lurked" about and followed the dancers to a spot just down the street. What did we find? Another scene of the video being filmed! So we sat and watched in amazement as about 25 principal dancers rocked out to re-create yet another scene from the "Shake Your Tailfeather" spot from the movie "Blues Brothers." We really did get a glimpse into what goes into the making of a music video and I think I can speak for all who attended - it was an absolutely fabulous time! One of best days I've had in awhile not to mention one of the best days of my life thus far!
A little background about the premise behind the music video: like I mentioned above the boys wanted to re-create (and alas they did - almost verbatim!) the "Shake Your Tailfeather" scene from the movie "Blues Brothers." The music store scene - in the movie it's called Ray's Music Exchange but in the spirit of it being a Hanson music video it became Tay's Music Exchange - was filmed on Sunday sans fans. Saturday's routines were to re-create the 'dancing in the streets' montage. There are two separate dancing scenes - one with the many, many people dancing literally in the streets, this one included us and one with just a core group of dancers dancing in front of a grafitti'd wall, this one we watched from afar. I would encourage you to search out and watch that scene from the movie and watch the music video (once it is released in about a month) because I am quite positive you will find they are eerily similar. The boys and their team did a GREAT job!
As Ike would say we made "his childhood dream come true." Well, boys, you've made many of my childhood dreams come true in the 12 plus years that I've been a fan. And I look forward to more dreams becoming a reality. Thanks Hanson! So excited for 2010 and all that it has in store! This is definitely going to be a year of Hanson in my world!
P.S. I had a great convo with Taylor and even had the pleasure of getting an updated picture with him (the last picture I took with him was in 2001). Stay tuned as I'll be outlining the experience in my next blog post. :) He still makes me swoon after all these years ...
