YouTube Stars!

We get Emails and YouTube Messages all the time with recommendations of videomakers to write about, here on YouTubeStars. In this post, I'll show videos by some people that we have recently received messages about. If you know anyone who you think we should write about, email Kenny (KennyCrane AT bellsouth DOT net) or comment on this post.

But first, The News! Tomorrow, Monday the 23rd of July, YouTube joins with CNN to host the first of two presidential debates. This one is for the Democrat candidates (Republicans debate on 9/17) and will be held in Charleston, S.C. and moderated by Anderson Cooper. It will be shown on CNN at 7 PM Eastern time. CNN will chose the questions for the debate from nearly 3000 videoclips submitted to YouTube over the last several weeks. Read more at YouTube, the LA Times, the Hollywood Reporter, and USA Today.

Here's a few comments on this week's YouTube Top 100 Chart. ArtieTSMITW moved up one position this week, adding 457 new subscribers. By now, you may have seen him in the new Geico commercial playing on Fox News and elsewhere. (He talks about the commercial in this video.) Congrats on that, Brandon! Vlogolution is up 16 spots and rockongoodpeople is up 9. Read more about rockongoodpeople, here. The Top Ten is usually fairly stable, but this week saw a lot of movement. Esmeedenters moved into the top 4, and HappySlip and LisaNova both moved up two spots. Check out the entire chart here.


Everybody Loves Kris

Here's a great video that I heard about in a message from CelestialSam. It's a tribute video to KrisShred in honor of his 1000th subscriber and one year anniversary of YouTube membership. Sam starts off with a great introduction, then there are clips from many other YouTubers. Check it out!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.


Through The Fire And Flames - AGAIN!

I recently received an email from Jackie DiMarzo who asked if I would like to see an "excellent guitarist." The guitarist mentioned was longestsoloever, also known as Dean DiMarzo (visit his myspace). I checked him out and he IS an excellent guitarist! Watch this video where he plays two tracks from Dragonforce's "Through the Fire and Flames." This is a remake of his earlier very successful video of the same song. Rock on, Dean!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.


TheHill88 Song

A recent email from Dave complemented us on this blog and asked us to have a look at suicidefriendly. Dave was musician behind MGM's "Playing with Myself" video, a version of which appears on the SuicideFriendly channel. He also did a Theme song for DigitalSoul and this tribute song to Caitlin, theHill88. Check out this nice tribute to a cool YouTubeStar!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.


Bohemian Rhapsody - Ukulele Bartt

Another recent email came from UkuleleBart. He also liked this blog but said that he had not seen any ukulele players mentioned here. He went on to say that there are "lots of pretty interesting ukers on YouTube." I checked out Bart's profile and found his songs to be interesting! Here's a cover of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" for your viewing and listening pleasure.


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.



Letting Go (original)

Back in May, I got an email from Esko about a 17 year old German girl who sings in a second language - English. The email linked to this video. The girl who sings, plays and wrote the song is Alex; she goes by the YouTube name of xyly. Alex has 4 other videos on YouTube but this is the only original. Enjoy it; I did!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

Labels: ArtieTSMITW, Celestialsam, KrisShred, longestsoloever, suicidefriendly, TheHill88, UkuleleBart, xyly

posted by KennyCrane at 7/23/2007 01:06:00 AM 0 Comments

If this is your first time here, welcome to YouTubeStars -- one of the best and longest running blogs about YouTube videos and videomakers. Usually KennyWrites the posts here, but one time Urgelt wrote a guest post. Today, Celestialsam writes about three videos she has enjoyed.

But first, the news. VenetianPrincess has started an interactive period-style murder mystery video series. She sets up the story in her video and wants other videomakers to get involved. I think this sounds like a lot of fun! Check out the first video and see what YOU can do to continue the story.

The Zimmers, that geriatric singing group from the UK that includes Geriatric1927, is releasing its first song on Monday May 28th. As you may know by now, the song is The Who's anthem, "My Generation". You can see the video for the song on our YouTube Top 100 Weekly Chart.

Following this introductory text and video is the post by guest writer, Celestialsam. Sam is YouTube's queen of lipsync videos. She delights her fans regularly with her charming performances of an eclectic range of musical numbers. But Sam is a talented writer too. Have a look at poetry she recently posted on one of her websites; it's quite good! Here is one of Sam's most recent lipsync masterpieces:

Oh, Bunny


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

Okay, let's see a few of Sam's recent video picks!



Star in our Eyes

Andreas a.k.a. AericWinter of Germany has just recently released a new tribute to his lovely girlfriend, Liv. His video "Star in our Eyes" is jam-packed with exquisite photos of Liv herself and a behind the scenes look at how each graceful pose was captured. Move over Gwyneth Paltrow, indeed! Liv's classic elegance is sweet eye-candy.


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.


Yellow Coldplay Cover

patman2112 has done a remarkably tantalizing cover of Coldplay's "Yellow." Nichole's enticing gesticulations and soulful voice combined with Patrick's flawless strumming will hypnotize and mystify you. Be sure not to miss their video "Yellow Coldplay Cover".


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.


Lean On Me (Bill Withers Cover) feat. Aleisha & Lauri :-)

For the very first time, Kris Shred, Aleisha Russel, and her daughter, Lauri come together in Heidelberg, Germany and unite to perform a delightful cover of Bill Withers' "Lean on Me" that's sure to bring a smile to your face. Stay tuned to the very end for Lauri's special surprise ending of "Lean on Me (Bill Withers Cover) feat. Aleisha & Lauri :-)".


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

Labels: AericWinter, Celestialsam, Geriatric1927, KrisShred, Patman2112, VenetianPrincess, Zimmers

posted by KennyCrane at 5/28/2007 03:11:00 AM 1 Comments

This is part 20 in our continuing series, Cinema du jour, the movie of the day. In this episode we'll see another great singer/guitarist music video, watch and listen to an interesting lipsync, see a short self-parody, and witness the start of a huge chain of videos on wonderful quotes.

First, let's have a look at this week's YouTube Top 100 Weekly Chart. The first thing you'll notice is that this week's Featured Video is from KrisShred who we wrote about in the last Cinema du jour. Kris made this video as a response to another version of the same song. We'll be seeing that video in this post! Daxflame continues to climb the chart. This week, he is at Number 52, up 9 from last week. Also, making his debut at Number 85 is EclecticAsylumArt, the fabulous artist we mentioned in our last post.

And now, on with the show...


You've Got to Hide Your Love Away

Here is a very nice cover of a Beatles tune that was in the movie "Help!" It is from Rockstar122083, also known as Justina, a 23 year old singer/songwriter/guitarist. She has 11 videos posted so far and some are from live gigs that she has done. Watch and enjoy the beautiful performance, then stick around for the blooper reel at the end!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

I Think I'm Singing

I'd like to introduce you to a talented and entertaining woman named UndiscoveredJulie. Julie is an 18 year old college student who likes to act and do improv's. She has 30 videos on YouTube. Most are entertaining skits and a few are blogs in which Julie gives her views on things. You should subscribe to this smart and funny woman; I did! Here is a cute singing video with a surprise ending!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

A Message from the Creators

One of the coolest guys on YouTube is MysteryGuitarMan. Joe's videos are clever, funny and entertaining. This film is no different. I don't want to say much about it here because I don't want to give the plot away. You'll just have to see it for yourself. Watch and enjoy!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

Collective Wisdom- Be A Part of It!

U2bianSynic made a video on March 10 in which she asked YouTubers to find three quotes and make a video response with them. The quotes were to be any that the person found to be inspiring - about success, pushing the limits, facing fears, etc. Today, March 26, there are 31 excellent responses! I found this video by viewing Logana13's response video. The original video is "Embedding disabled by request", but you can follow this link to watch it. Then watch some of the great responses!


Be sure to read our last Cinema du jour, Number 19 - Singers with Guitars, featuring CreativeFisher, stealurface1976, KrisShred and PeriUrban.

Labels: Beatles, Daxflame., KrisShred, MysteryGuitarMan, Rockstar122083, U2bianSynic, UndiscoveredJulie

posted by KennyCrane at 3/26/2007 02:08:00 AM 1 Comments

This is part 19 in our continuing series, Cinema du jour, the movie of the day. Home made music videos have always been popular on YouTube. The first huge success in this genre came with Terra Naomi's great song, "Say It's Possible". Recently, Miaarose has become an overnight sensation. In this post, we'll watch four music videos from four different YouTubers who play their guitars and sing their own songs.

Before we get to the videos, I want to invite you to read about the YouTubeMall project. This will be a free service that allows all videomakers to create Stores to advertise what they have for sale. Many videomakers have PayPal Donate buttons, or CafePress Stores, or sell CDs or paintings. You will be able to advertise all of this, and more! The idea is to have one central place for all videomakers to list their projects/items for sale. But what if you don't have anything to sell? We'll have that covered too! You will be able to be paid for viewing rights to exclusive videos that you post to the site. There will me more on this in the coming weeks...


Is This Love?

Creativefisher is one of my favorite YouTube singer/songwriters. She has a captivating voice that she uses to bring her moving lyrics to life. But Char is much more than an aspiring musician. She is a talented artist, and this aspect of her personality adds depth and emotional texture to her videos. Watch this one, which was featured by YouTube, but be sure to also check out the four new videos she uploaded last week!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.


Leave me alone by Jesse Stutsman

Here's a cool music video from stealurface1976. Jesse is a Canadian man who plays acoustic guitar and sings to original songs and covers. He has done classic rock covers from Tull to Tucker and even The Beatles. In this video, we'll hear Jesse sing an indie inspired original rocker that really caught my attention. I think it's a great song!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.


KRIS SHRED - I'm Broken V2 (Original)

The last time I wrote about KrisShred, it was for his "Insane Nonsense Song" which was later "covered" by lipsyncer extraordinaire, celestialsam. That song is still stuck in my head! But Kris has done many other music videos, including a powerful cover of The Doors "Crystal Ship" 60s classic. Today, we'll watch him sing an original song that I recently discovered and loved! Ignore the headphone clamped to his head which he used as a mic (lol!), and enjoy this rocker!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

Angels (song)

Periurban is one of the most popular singer/songwriters on YouTube. He has made over 150 videos and has over 3000 subscribers. Peri, a Scottsman, was the winner of Renetto's "How to become popular overnight" contest. That might have helped him get some viewers, but I think they would have found this talented and personable man in time, even without this publicity. You can watch Peri sing and discuss videomaking on YouTube or at LiveVideo. Here's a song he did in December. Click on the description to read the excellent lyrics!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.


Please read our last Cinema du jour, number 18 - it's here! That post mentions Renetto, Kratzlaff, iChannel and KwaiChi.

Labels: CreativeFisher, guitar, KrisShred, music, PeriUrban, singer, stealurface1976

posted by KennyCrane at 2/26/2007 01:44:00 AM 2 Comments