Music video on Gulf spill an online hit for local pair

The BP oil spill has inspired a gusher of musical elegies and satires, tending to blame oil executives, President Obama and the wasteful public for the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico.

Joe Monto, a guitar player from Auburn, and videographer Steve Bartlett tried a softer approach. Their video, "A Hole in the Ocean," offers a six-stringed embrace to the people of the Gulf Coast.

When will it end? Why did it start? Can we ever return to our blue water bay? There's a hole in the ocean that stands in our way, the refrain goes.

Their 3-minute, 39-second clip fades to a close-up of a blackened seabird, legs skyward. More than 6,600 people have watched it on YouTube in two weeks. The duo attracted television coverage in Paducah, Ky., and a shout out from the Audubon Society.

Monto, a youth pastor at Calvary Chapel South, in Kent, said he did performing tours last decade in Louisiana, Alabama and Florida with his wife and son, where they relaxed on white sand beaches and in clear waters. Now one old friend in Alabama is doing cleanup work, while another in the Coast Guard was just sent south from Seattle, he said.

"The whole point of the song was not to point fingers at anyone, or come from a political side," Monto said. "We are so overwhelmed by the disaster. For us, our hearts go out to the people affected."

Among the other oil-spill hits online, you'll find caustic new lyrics for The Doobie Brothers' "Black Water"; a Raging Grannies battle hymn (one person sings from inside a car); a rearrangement of the "Anything Goes" show tune to denounce U.S. and British materialism; and "Drill Baby Drill" by Eva Moon & the Lunatics.

By contrast, Monto and Bartlett labeled theirs the "official" spill song — not because it's government sanctioned, but to convey the goal of bringing people of all regions together. They hope to participate in a Gulf fundraising telethon Monday, and Monto said he hopes to rerecord their tune, sell singles and donate proceeds to the residents.

Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com