‘West Bancroft’ premiers video

"Got my hands up, my system is on, I know I'm gonna be okay – hey, it's a Party in the Glass City!"

Those are just some of the lyrics in "Party in the Glass City," a parody of Miley Cyrus' "Party in the U.S.A." and a music video promo released on YouTube by UTTV Friday in anticipation of the first episode's release April 9.

The promo is set more than a year before the events of "West Bancroft Side Story" and follows the show's protagonist, Joey DeMarco, as he meets his new roommate during his freshman year at college.

"The prologue is basically about a freshman coming to UT for the first time and experiencing college life for the first time, being nervous about fitting in, making friends, just finding your way," said Nick Kneer, who plays Joey.

In the beginning, the video follows Joey as he is first moving into Ottawa West, the not-so-fictional home of the fictional Ottawa group.

"He is nervous, he's homesick, he doesn't know what to expect," Kneer said. "There's a bit of a culture shock – ‘everyone seems outrageous,' to quote the song, but then he finds something very familiar to him."

The lyrics of "Party in the Glass City" reveal a few important details about Joey – such as his passion for the Xbox 360 and the game Halo.

"The boy walks around in a Halo shirt, so that kind of tells you a little bit about him," Kneer said. "Not to get philosophical or anything, but Halo is kind of his realization that he can fit in and people are going to accept him, and no matter where you go you're going to find ways to connect with people."

The second part of the video focuses on Marky during the party that Ben (played by Katie Nelson) takes the two boys to at Parks Tower.

"Marky is already starting his ‘reign' as the guy who hits on every single girl that he sees," said Gage Howell, who plays Marky in the show. "At the party, everybody's having a good time and Marky's struggling with his problem after he sees a good-looking girl."

The video serves as the prologue of the show and, according to Kneer, the music is a little different from the others in the show.

"This song is more general – a lot of the other songs served to move the plot along. This one is more of an establisher," he said. "It just sets the scene, explains a little background and serves as the prologue."

The promo's theme of new beginnings echoed with the cast while they were filming.

"At the end, everybody's dancing with each other – this is personally my favorite part of the promo because it looks really good – it's the first time we actually danced all together, so that was really cool," Howell said.

"Party in the Glass City" is a small sample of the vocal talents of the cast as well as the writing and choreography of the show. The video has been in production for quite some time and, to the members of the cast, has been a long time coming.

"We filmed the promo first semester," Howell said. "We filmed in… November? Time's kind of flown by, doing all of this, so it's kind of surprising to think we've been filming since November."

While the first episode of "West Bancroft Side Story" will be released later this week, interested viewers can check out the promo, which was released on Facebook and YouTube Friday.

In fact, viewers were able to see something only members of West Bancroft Side Story's editing staff have been able to see.

"It's great to be able to see the promo, because it's the first part of the show that I have seen edited," Howell said. "It seems like we've been working for so long and I haven't seen the edited versions of anything. It's really awesome to be able to see."

"Party in the Glass City" can be found online at YouTube.com/user/UTTVOnline (UTTV's YouTube channel) or by searching "Party in the Glass City" in the YouTube search bar.

The first episode of "West Bancroft Side Story" will premiere April 9 on YouTube and campus channel 31.