Where My Bees At? Five Brothers Rap and Dance To Save The Honey Bees

So you think you can dance? Can you do the honeybee?

In preparation for the first-ever National Honey Bee Awareness Day that took place on Aug. 22, big bee backer Häagen-Dazs used the creative efforts of five brothers from Los Altos, Calif. to make a short video raising awareness.

Max Lanman, a 21-year-old senior at Yale majoring in film studies (and the third-oldest Lanman brother), directed, edited and photographed the result of the request, a viral video entitled "Do the Honey Bee."

The video, which was released Friday, begins hypnotically like any mainstream rap song. The beat leads you to expect a candy-colored car might glide by, dollar bills could rain from the sky or a troupe of well-tanned bikini-clad women may appear, crowding a bored rapper draped in fur.

Instead, suited-up beekeepers spit rhymes about the honey bee plight and dressed-up bees perform an invented dance.

"The goal behind this was to make a mainstream rap video that appeals to the masses," said Lanman in a phone conversation from New Haven.

The dancing in the video is a nod to a ritual of the honeybees, who after returning from a particularly good round of pollinating "dance" directions to the rest of their hive.

While other videos were shot by highly paid professionals, Lanman's was a family affair; his oldest brother Fritz, 28, advised the budding bee activists; second-oldest brother James, 26, produced the song; younger brother Connor, 18, choreographed it and raps the first verse; youngest brother Christopher, 13, cameos as a dancing bee; high school friends were extras; and the video itself was shot in a family friend's organic garden in Los Altos.

The friend, Jeffrey Warnock, has been teaching the Lanman brothers about bees since they were young enough to want ice-cream for every meal.

"It's something my family has been involved with for a while. Ever since we were in elementary school we had first-grade field trips where we walked to his (Warnock's) house and he'd show us his hives," Lanman said.

The passion stayed with them. Most notably with Connor, who wrote a book called "Plight Of The Bee" that initially caught Häagen-Dazs' attention. They contacted Connor and he contacted his brothers.

Then they all did the honeybee, so to speak.

Fifty percent of the ice-cream manufacturer's ingredients come from the nuts and fruits which honey bee pollinations provide.

"We want to keep these little heroes buzzing," reads a statement on the company's Web site to raise awareness, www.helpthehoneybees.com.

And even if you don't indulge in a little Caramelized Pear and Toasted Pecan, there is cause to worry.The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that honey bees are responsible for 90 percent of food crops.

According to the USDA, the disappearances-- formally known as Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder--started occurring in 2006. Though causes are unknown, environmental groups like The Natural Resource Defense Council speculate that the unregulated use of plant pesticides are major contributors to the decline.

The save the bee buzz is catching on, and the Lanman brothers will continue to try and take it mainstream through different mediums like music.

"We're hoping that "Do The Honey Bee" will help raise honey bee awareness in a fun and original way, and appeal to the greater population," Lanman wrote in an email.

"The honey bee crisis affects the global community, and music is definitely the best way to transcend language barriers. We actually found a German forum where different people were talking about the video and the cause--it was really cool to see that our video generated discussion, and in another language!"

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Comments

[humaneismyth]

honey bees do just fine on their own,in the wild.It is the corporatized ,slave bees in commercial hives that are disappeari­ng.Persona­lly I think they are just escaping without a trace so to speak..and there is an underground railroad for bees out there as we speak.:)

[djgonebad]

My vegetable garden is very weak this year, do to the lack of bees. The more I think about it and read stories , like this one, I get a little scared about the possibilities of "Mother-Nature" taking more turns for the worst.

[JoDeeVa]

Love it! And, love you Haagen-Dazs! Thank-you so much for your efforts on behalf of honey bees. I'll definitely be doing the "Honey Bee" and passing it along...;}

[BannedNBoston]

Whats really killing the bees;
YouTube - Local news station confirms barium in chemtrails

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6 min - Mar 22, 2009 -


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Barium Found in Chemtrails - Unhypnotize Forum 1882. In U.S. Statutes-at-Large, Vol. 96, page 1882, you will find Public Law 97-375. YouTube - Local news station confirms barium in chemtrails ...
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[EgyptianMysterySchool]

It seems obvious to me that scientists have the Sidam touch (that's the opposite of the Midas touch) - everything the touch turn to rust.

Every time they attempt to hybridize something or genetically modify something or even just introduce a "better" non-native species into a non-native environment - for the sake of production it backfires. With bees it's the Killer bees or the introduction of European bees and now the specter of GMO crops has to be weighed into the colony collapse phenomena.

When will they learn that if you are going to study nature - do it so that humanity can better overstand how to live in harmony w/ nature and not so that you can attempt to out-do nature.

The arrogance to think that w/ a laboratory and a couple of months/years you can out-do what nature has perfected over millions of years. The audacity of these people baffles the mind.

Rant over. As far as the rap video - I'd respect a good river dance more.

[scottyknows]

Badges? We don't need no stinking badges!

[avchavis]

I really liked this video.

[gascelebrations]

I like it!

[klbrz]

Lately I've been ambivalent about whether or not we should try to save the honey bees. They are not native, and I don't know of any evidence that they are harmful. I guess we should try to save them, but it seems to go against what we've been trying to do environmentally these days. What about trying to encourage the native mason bees? Apparently they are desirable especially in home gardens as they are not as likely to sting, and of course, are suited to your climate, plants, etc. You can buy little bee houses or build them - naturally, there are all sorts of plans out there. Although, I haven't seen anything about being able to use them commercially the way honey bees are....

[JohnJames]

I heard that there was a closely related American variety of honey bee that was outcompeted by the imported European variety. If so, then having no honey bees here would be an even more unnatural situation than having European honeybees.

[Tom95134]

Saving the honey bees will take more than some rap video.

There is something seriously wrong with the honey bee population. Whole colonies are dying out. When the honey bees are gone so is much of the food because tyey do pollination.

[mick7191]

Need to take a good, hard look at Monsanto.

[sabelmouse]

yes

[Joseph Freeman - Huffpost Blogger]

It will take a lot more, but it's an innovative step in the right direction, and the fact that it came not from scientists but from brothers pooling their resources, all the more impressive.

[katepoet]

RE: RE: Bug Season

Bees are busily buzzing back
recovering from severe attack
of mites and viral bugs-
I wish that I could give them hugs!!

Bee Dance

The bees are busy buzzing in a busy honeybee drone,
they have inspired some humans who have gotten in the zone,
in their dancing ritual, bees are no longer all alone,
five guys now dance with them; the queen bee smiles from her throne.

http://www.mykuworld.com/MyKu.mvc/Board/282

[billysix]

Wow. This will help. hahahahaha­hahahahaha­ha. Do these people have any brains?

[sabelmouse]

if it raises awareness it might.

[jukesgrrl]

Thanks for posing this, it's great!

[aurora59]

Makes me wanna shake my stinger all right! Brilliant! Kudos to all involved!!

[sixyfivepercentwater]

Central Ohio - honeybees all over the place here. I grow buckwheat and basil, two crops which they adore.

[stillable2think]

Yeah, I got a buddy who raises bees in Ohio and he lost three hives in 2007.

[sixyfivepercentwater]

Maybe the wild bees are doing a little better than the ones which are "farmed," I don't know. All I do know is our property is swarming with them.

[JoDeeVa]

Willamette Valley, Oregon, as well (at least in my neck of the woods). Most of my neighbors in the surrounding urban area are organic gardeners. I grow lavender in my small, but prolific organic garden for botannicals..this year bees were especially heavy during bud/ bloom over about 3 weeks (bumblebees were unusually plentiful, also). I actually gave up an area to them and delayed my lavender harvest a bit, to accommodate them. I think I'll get a 2nd fall harvest this year mid-fall. I'm anxious to see if they will return..fall can be wet, but fairly mild. Yes, my summer lavender harvest was smaller but, it was so worth it just to sit, relax, watch them and share my garden with them. Aside from my obvious benefit of enjoyment, their pollination benefitted the rest of my garden vegetables, which have been quite bountiful...;}