Top spot on YouTube

(Cartoon by Josh "Socalled" Dolgin, 2007)

Good news...

A video I shot and directed featuring Montreal klezmer hip-hop star Socalled was selected as the #1 "Featured Video" on YouTube this morning. It has since moved down the list but has already been seen more than 25,000 times! (75,000 as of 8/3/07).

Here's a screenshot of the original #1 spot:


I'm totally honoured that it was selected for this spot and was very pleasantly caught off guard by the news when it came in by email late last night. Thought I'd share the news with you.

(Click video to watch it.)

The video, called "Socalled Promo", was expertly crafted by editor Mika Goodfriend, features an intro by actor Joe Cobden, sweet background vocals by Katie Moore and "crazy-arm" clips by Ben Steiger-Levine. Watching it might just be the perfect way for you to get hip to Socalled's groundbreaking hop.

The Village Voice sez: "Socalled is one of the most deliciously demented minds in beat science."

Socalled is Montreal rapper, accordionist, cartoonist, magician, filmmaker Josh Dolgin. (But keep it under your hat... As you'll see in the video, Josh is very shy and low key.)

Josh made the music for my Cosmo's doc Man Of Grease and recently starred in and made the music for my new doc, Posthumous Pickle Party, about Simcha's Grocery. His new CD Ghettoblaster hits store shelves in Canada and the U.S. on June 12th and has already made it onto the charts in France where he's been touring extensively. I've heard the CD already and adore it.

For all you brand new or die-hard Socalled fans, you can now listen to the single from the CD, "(These Are) The Good Old Days" featuring James Brown's trombone player Fred Wesley, right here. You may just platz when you hear this track. A new classic if I've ever heard one.

Big congratulations to my good friend Josh and his whole music team on this cool YouTube accolade.

Socalled on Myspace
Official Socalled site
Ghettoblaster CD pre-sales (only $8.99 for a limited time!)

Wishing everyone a prelated 'Stay great in 2008' from the forward-thinkers here at Ez Sez.

Ez

UPDATE: A great new feature cover story on Josh just came out in NightLife Magazine here.

UPDATE #2: Big Socalled article just came out in the Montreal Mirror (May 31st, 2007).