Impalin’ the Candidate

The Flimz, featuring singer-songwriters Annie Dru and Amy Mayer, may be the first San Diegans to impersonate a vice-presidential candidate in a video. On October 10, the pair posted their third scripted video, “Palin’s VPilf Blues,” starring Mayer as Alaska governor Sarah Palin, on YouTube and funnyordie.com.

The two first teamed up in February 2007, after meeting each other at their sons’ high school water-polo match. Dru had released two solo discs and worked with bluesman Robin Henkel; Mayer had released a children’s DVD.

Working on a shoestring budget that, according to Mayer, included “$20 to Beston Barnett for playing the bass track, a tank of gas for the van, and two Cuban burritos from Mozy’s in Leucadia,” the duo and a production team of three turned out the Palin project in a weekend; they wrote and recorded the tune on Friday afternoon, and by Sunday night the clip was complete. Editing took another five days.

The Flimz’s previous video, “If I’m Not Working,” released on May 29, has garnered more than 1500 YouTube views over four months. At this writing, “Palin’s VPilf Blues” had been viewed more than 2100 times in its first five days.

With lyrics such as “I’m running with that letch McCain/ I flushed his campaign down the drain,” there is no mistaking whom the Flimz will be voting for on November 4. Though the responses to their video have been mostly positive, according to Dru, a few “die-hard Republican” friends and family members have expressed disdain.

Mayer’s transformation into Sarah Palin for the video and two live performances to date has taken even Flimz fans by surprise.

“I guess she was convincing, as friends have actually emailed us, asking who played the Palin character in the video,” says Dru. “I knew that [Mayer] was truly committed when she took the scissors to the bangs that she’d been growing out for the last six months to play the part.”