Karen Damen, Kristel Verbeke and Josje Huisman
Which K3 video are these outfits from?
This is an easy one. They’re phoning in the answer.
[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/dogratcom/Audio/K3/Tele-Romeo.mp3|titles=Tele-Romeo by K3]If you didn’t know, that’s all right. I won’t tell them. K3 MP3 @ 256 Kbps. Crank it up!
This song is called “Grandma’s at the Top,” and it has what sounds sort of like Christmas bells, so I’ll go with that.
http://youtu.be/AwPyy-S-JQU
I’ve just made a visit to the official K3 website…
… and look what I found there. At last, a high quality copy of “Kusjesdag” that blows away what’s on YouTube, and it doesn’t even need the aspect ratio corrected. I’ll scale it up from 480×270 to 640×360. Even the best of the Belgian brewmeister monks can’t bottle something this good.
[flv:http://s3.amazonaws.com/dogratcom/Video/K3/KusjesdagHQ.flv 640 360]
This is more like it! If it were in stereo I’d say it’s as good as can be for streaming FLV. But, sad to say, not all of the K3 music videos that Studio 100 has posted in flash format are of this technical quality. Most are unwatchable. Why? For that matter, this is the size of the player they used for “Kusjesdag”.
Why reduce it? The bandwidth required by the video stream is the same regardless of how big the presentation.
A YouTube user who goes by the handle zazazebra has been my primary source for videos by K3. It would seem that Studio 100 is now turning the screws and zaza’s videos, and those posted by others, are starting to disappear.
Dear Studio 100: PLEASE get a clue! Don’t squash guys like me and zazazebra. We’re just trying to help promote K3 and Studio 100. Zazazebra had 2.5 MILLION hits on his post of “Kusjesdag”, and while my coverage can’t match that, I’m the lone voice in America pushing K3. To increase interest in your own posted videos, get high quality versions of “Kusjesdag”, “Hart Verloren”, “Tele Romeo” and “Verliefd” in stereo on YouTube. I’d love to link to those. “I Love You, Baby” too, because it has some English. Think about it. Please. The songs are wonderful, but it’s not just the format that makes it all work, it’s Karen, Kristel and Kathleen, one of the best pop music trios I have ever enjoyed.
Addendum: Now here’s something interesting. Studio 100’s UK account, that had the UK3 audition, has been suspended by YouTube (or perhaps shut down by Studio 100?). Click the link and see for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/user/studio100UK
Noticed on Jan 1: The Studio 100 UK account is back.
March 23: It’s over. Kathleen has quit. K3 is done.
Long term, printing digital photos doesn’t make sense, so for Carol’s (too close to Christmas) birthday, I gave her a Kodak M820 digital multimedia frame. These things have a ways to go, but they’re starting to be at least workable. It can play videos, but not completely smoothly. But heck, it’s still a nifty gadget. I kept the lights low so the screen wouldn’t wash out, and the camera made everything look more yellow than it is.
[flv:http://s3.amazonaws.com/dogratcom/Video/K3/K3onKodak.flv 640 480]
For you rabid K3 fanatics, here are the ladies presented on DogRat for the first time in full TV resolution. This was taken in October. Bright red coats for a cold, gray day in Holland!
[flv:http://s3.amazonaws.com/dogratcom/Video/K3/K3Eindhoven.flv 624 352]
My post last night about French pop star Alizée elicited a comment from Joachim Mairböck in Germany Austria. (Google translation into English of his blog is here.) Joachim pointed out a YouTube link from Studio 100 UK.
I had talked about Studio 100’s ambitions of expansion beyond Belgium and the Netherlands, yet I’m disappointed that even as they were promoting K3’s tenth anniversary they were auditioning for an English-speaking K3, to be called UK3.
In September, Studio 100 posted a video of Wir3 from Germany with an English overdub. The caption reads “Basic version of U.K audition pop song. Learn the words and the basic dance moves to increase your chance of being chosen. Good luck. Best Regards Peteer”. As often happens, YouTube got the shape of the image wrong, so I’ve corrected it here.
[flv:http://s3.amazonaws.com/dogratcom/Video/K3/UK3HEYMAMAH.flv 448 268]
Then, just a week ago, Studio 100 posted the results of that audition, with this caption — “Emily, Lauren and Tahnee, 2 days after meeting for the first time ever, create a decent music video in less than 4 hours. Amazing!”
[flv:http://s3.amazonaws.com/dogratcom/Video/K3/UK3demo.flv 512 288]
Well, there it is. The house that K3 built moves on. Karen, Kathleen, and Kristel are now all 30 and over, and it’s time for younger women, who are native English speakers. UK3 looks like just another fabricated fluff girl group, and I couldn’t be less interested. Again I say it’s the people, not the package. Studio 100 got lucky with K3, who were already together before Studio 100 found them. Less than six months ago I didn’t know K3 existed, and now it’s disconcerting to contemplate that they may be getting closer to the end of their run.
