A online endorsement from "Glee" star Cory Monteith is helping an aspiring singer from San Francisco get some notice.
About two weeks ago, a young man named Manny Garcia posted a self-made mashup of Cyndi Lauper’s "True Colors" and the "Wicked" tune "Defying Gravity" to YouTube. Both songs have been featured in "Glee," though not in the same episode.
Garcia’s introduces his performance by noting his love for "Glee" and says his decision to combine the songs was inspired by an episode of the show which featured nothing but mashups. He then manages to belt out a sometimes chill-inducing nine minutes of the songs.
Over the next few days, Garcia’s bravura performance started getting some decent buzz on YouTube, attracting nearly 20,000 views.
Enter Monteith (a k a @frankenteen on Twitter).
Just after 11 p.m. west coast time Monday, Monteith tweeted a link to Garcia’s video and accompanied it with a simple one-word vote of confidence: "Props!" Monteith’s nearly 75,000 followers responded by flooding Garcia’s YouTube page with positive comments and by retweeting Monteith’s message all over Twitter.
What’s more, more than 100 followers quickly retweeted the link and thumbs up from the "Glee" star. One user with the handle @loudersoft predicted what seems likely next: "New viral video star in the making."
Based on his well-designed website, semi-professional recording equipment and vast social networking connections, Garcia (@mannygarcia on Twitter) clearly is not some kid who just decided to make a mash-up. He’s obviously hoping to make music his career, and he’s savvily using the Internet to help get noticed.
It’s too soon to say whether his "Glee"-inspired mashup will prove to have legs. But for now, Garcia has managed to get on the radar with at least one person associated with the show while also getting noticed by thousands of everyday people.
How cool would it be if "Glee" producers found a way to work Garcia into an episode– assuming they think his skills are good enough.
And since it seems likely that the producers of "American Idol" will allow Fox to use their show to help spread the gospel of "Glee," how cool would it be if the network found a way to create another reality competition in which talented kids –with both acting and singing chops– tried out for the chance to join the cast of the series?
TVMoJoe would definitely watch that.
