Flaming Lips Launch Dance Contest
Shake it like an acid-drenched polaroid picture

Another day, another band video contest. On Friday, the Flaming Lips added to the fray with their very own dance contest.

"Hello, this is Wayne from the band the Flaming Lips," Wayne Coyne stated in a YouTube video. "We're doing this wonderful New Years show in Los Angeles and we need just a few dancers to round out the side of the stage. I want you to get your acts together and send me a little tape of your dance routine or your costume or your character, and we'll see if we put you on the list to dance with us at this wonderful New Year's Eve celebration in Los Angeles. So get them ready. Send them out to us, all right? Get to work."

In order to be eligible, fans (18+ only) must upload YouTube footage of their own to the Flaming Lips Dance Contest Group page and also fill out this form. Applicants are instructed to film themselves "auditioning to be a member of the Lips on-stage dance troupe" and "in-costume, showcasing...skills." Dancers can select their favorite Flaming Lips song (or whatever else inspires them) to serve as the soundtrack to their fierce moves. We say bonus points if you trek to Oklahoma City and use the newly coined Flaming Lips Alley as yr backdrop.

Keep in mind, however, that travel accommodations will not be provided by the band, so buy a plane ticket and prepare to sleep on whatever your L.A. friend's floor is made out of.

Which reminds us, the gig is at the city's Galen Center (at the University of Southern California) and also features Gnarls Barkley and Cat Power. The three groups will also play together on December 30 at San Francisco's Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.

Now, on to the Pitchfork-recommended tactic of knowing your competition. As I type this, six videos have been submitted, and let me tell you, they range from the good to the bad to the ugly.

We assume two of the entries won't even come close to making the cut because they're sent from (bad, bad) bands trying to get recognized.

And as for the other four? One, "Beans", is about the effect of beans on the digestive tract. It also features nudity, and not the kind you want to see.

Another, "See-a-Song" (my personal favorite), is three high-school girls performing "Do You Realize"? using sign language. The air drums are *awesome*.

Then there's "Choose Supergirl!!!", in which an elaborately costumed Supergirl gets her groove on (definitely toward the front of the pack in our eyes), and finally, "Flaming Clip 2" (part one wasn't sent to the group, apparently), an eleven-second "Free Radicals" head-banging extravaganza.

So do as Wayne says, and get to work.