Mike Long makes Sufjan Stevens look like a punk-bitch.

Photo courtesy via Myspace page

First off, who's Mike Long, right? Right. Understandable question. I'd like to answer that in the typical Amber style of answering such complicated questions: with a story.

Remember when Sufjan Stevens made that ridiculous declaration of musical independence in 2005 by saying he's gonna make his next 50 albums about states, including his Michigan and Illinois project? And remember how everyone melted at his every word since then, not even caring about the fact that Illinois was mildly mediocre in comparison to his previous albums, yet it was his most famous and gained him mainstream recognition?

Yeah. That was so ambitious of him, until, of course, he was like, "Oh, guess what, kids? That was all a lie. Just needed some press. It gets kinda awkward performing onstage when there's nothing but Christian hipsters in the audience wearing 'No bing-bing until bling-bling!' tees and thinking I speak to them because I mention God in my songs, so I figured I could broaden my listeners to hipsters who like gossip." And, by George, he did a fantastic job. I'm glad he got the fame--I like the kid--but I still like reminding people that, once again, Illinois was mediocre-ish. Actually, I'll give him more credit than that. I really loved the album when he performed only the best songs live, and he's a good show.

In short, nobody will ever believe such bogus claims again. Unless, of course, you actually follow through with them and blow people's brains out with your brilliance.

Like the homeboy pictured above. I'd like to point out the fact that he is doing something that lets everyone know you're about the business: the Andy Warhol photo layout. Everyone does it when they've made a huge impact on someone's life. It's just standard artistic rule, man. You just gotta do it, no questions asked. And Mr. Long did touch someone's life: mine.

See, I've been in the pits lately. Everything's been boring me mainly because of the excessive, unhealthy coverage of an obvious mentally unstable Britney Spears, and it's like, "Well, shit, do I talk about how much I'm not interested because the bottom line is she needs help?" Nah. Snore-zone. Or I could talk about Amy Winehouse going blonde. Beh. Or I could post daily videos and mp3's, even though I've been too scatterbrained to even pinpoint which new or old discovery I'd want to bring to light. Just too damn many for me to even begin. So I decided to rest.

So my homeboy at The Look-See sent me a video of Detroit show The Scene shot in 1982 of people dancing to A Number of Names' "Sharevari." I then saw a related video, and that's where it all began.

Apparently this 26-year-old Canadian kid made a pact on May 4, 2007 (just by conjecture because he said he wants to finish by May 4 of this year) to the lucky underground YouTube/Internet world by declaring that he would spend the next 365 (actually, you're cheating us, buddy, because it's a leap year) days dancing to a difference song, on camera, every single day. And, believe it or not, he's done 80 percent that shit. He's done over 250 videos and lemme tell ya, I'm quite pleased. He's got some great selections, too, ranging from the rambunctious Van Morrisson during his Them days, Love, Serge Gainsbourg (as well as his daughter, Charlotte), to underground hip-hoppers J Dilla, Madvillain and Edan, to underground dance rockers The Knife to mainstream diva Kelis. The list goes on, actually. Even if he doesn't make it to 365(6), doing over some 250-odd videos on dancing is incredible. Don't stop believin', brother. I hate that I quoted Journey to encourage you.

Some favorites (don't worry, the song titles will pop up as soon as you hit Play):

















He's dancing with his grandma in this'n. Sweet.



And the video that got me hooked:


In short, I like Mike. The greatest thing about this project is the fact that he does the same dance with slight variations of it to different tunes. That, my friends, is true dancing. If we ever cross paths in life, he'd definitely be my dance partner. Dancing is a fierce way of self-expression that too many people are too shallow to appreciate these days. It makes me weep inside. I need to throw a dance party now, as well as remove his balls from my mouth because they sure as hell have been kept warm in it.

If you want to see more of this cat, you can go here, here and that Myspace link under his photo.