In 1999, MTV News’ Alex Coletti sat down with Michael Jackson in New York to talk about the creative inspirations behind his songwriting and music video concepts. One of the more fascinating facts uprooted by the interview was the fact that one of the driving forces behind Jackson’s video concepts was the work of an unlikely trio. “My dream was to always make short little films, because I’m a big fan of the Three Stooges, and I love watching Curly, who I think is wonderful. They make these 15-minute shorts, and I said, ‘I’d love to do something like that some day,’ and ["Thriller"] was my opportunity.”

Check out the rest of the interview here — including Jackson’s thoughts on the videos for “Bad,” “Beat It” and “Black or White.”

By Daniela Capistrano

It’s no secret that that “Twilight” star Kristen Stewart will be playing rock legend Joan Jett in the upcoming biopic, “The Runaways.”

With the rest of the band’s lineup finally cast, the real Joan Jett has been on the set in a producing role, making sure that the film will stay true to the pioneering girl rockers legacy.

What you might not know is that the rock vet’s label Blackheart Records is home to what could be this generation’s Runaways: Texas trio Girl In A Coma.

The band is excited about Kristen Stewart playing their hero and have some friendly advice for the actress. “If you’re going to play Joan you have to have that stare,” explains drummer Phanie Diaz. “It’s an I-can-see-through-into-your-soul stare. If Kristen has that locked, then she’s on her way.”
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Musicians have had a long love affair with tattoos. Rihanna has proved to be a big tattoo fan herself, so when the pop star wants to get inked there’s no place she’d rather head to than East Side Ink located in Alphabet City in Manhattan.

Rihanna has a long history with the NYC tattoo parlor, and she has an even stronger professional relationship with one of Ink’s tattoo artists who goes by the name BangBang. The artist has inked Rihanna with some of her most well known tats, including the stars on her back, the Roman numerals on her shoulder and the word “Shhh” on her finger. BangBang even tattooed a gun on her ribcage earlier this year.

On his MySpace page, BangBang has photos of Rihanna and the various tats he’s done for her. Last night, Rihanna became a tattoo artist herself and inked an “R” BangBang’s leg. (Unfortunately, that got her into a bit of trouble.)

East Side Ink owner Yadira told MTV News that although she’s been getting inked with them for some time now, it was the first time she’s ever inked someone herself. “We had a blast,” Yadira added. “It was so funny and cute.”

Foo Fighters have been on hiatus since their last tour wrapped, but they’ll play one show this weekend out of civic duty. Rolling Stone reports that the band will play a short set this Saturday, July 4, on the South Lawn of the White House. Foos frontman Dave Grohl, who grew up in the Washington D.C. area and got his start playing in local hardcore band Scream, is no stranger to the political realm: He and his band played voting drives for the Obama campaign and expressed his ire over John McCain’s use of “My Hero” during tour stops.

There are plenty of Foo Fighters songs that can act as inspiration tunes for President Obama (”My Hero” and “Best of You” among them), but there are a handful of tunes in the Foos catalog that they should probably avoid.

“Long Road to Ruin”
In the age of hope, this sentiment would probably be a little too pessimistic.
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Welcome to the weekly Newsroom Poll, where we will give you a sneak peek into the lives and minds of some of the correspondents, writers, editors and producers here at MTVNews.com. Every week, they’ll answer a poll question that will reveal some of what we talk about behind the scenes here in the newsroom. Enjoy!

The death of Michael Jackson has hit the MTV News staff pretty hard, and will continue to as we sort through the aftermath of last week’s shocking news. It’s been a crazy week for celebrity death, as Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, pitchman Billy Mays and actor Karl Malden have all passed away in the past week.

Dealing with death is always difficult, but the passing of a public person is surreal. How do you deal with the loss of somebody you only knew through a body of work? So we passed around this week’s poll question: What’s the one celebrity death that has hit you the hardest, and why? Check out the staff’s answers below, and be sure to leave your own stories in the comments.

Sabrina Rojas Weiss
I was in high school when I heard that River Phoenix had died of a drug overdose the night before. It was on Channel One News, the news program for young people they used to air in school. I had never cried before about anyone dying, celebrity or not — I don’t even think I knew anyone who had died at that point. But I did right there, in the middle of class. Totally embarrassing! He was just 23, and so beautiful and perfect to me. At that age, I was just starting to think I was too mature to idolize celebrities, but his death felt like a personal blow.
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Okay, so Lady Gaga professed having a crush on the Jonas Brothers, saying she thought of them as a new version the Beatles and how much she’d like to personally show them her adulation for what they do in a very intimate kind of way. We’re sure Kevin’s new fiancé wouldn’t like that very much, nor would Miley Cyrus or Camilla Belle. Or, us for that matter.

Let’s also not forget that Adele has also publicly professed her love for the boys. “The Jonas Brothers’ choruses are really catchy. They make shameful pop — and I f—ing love them.”

But it’s the boys’ latest admirer that has us scratching our heads: Detroit rocker and enemy of wildlife Ted Nugent admits that he is “moved” by the Jonas Brothers.

“Even though I can’t stand the songs themselves, I’m quite moved by what I’ve seen the Jonas Brothers guys do,” he told Spinner. “They play with soul. I don’t like the songs but they certainly play with a lot of authority and they seem to have good chops.”

Okay, so he’s not saying he sits at home with Lines, Vines and Trying Times on repeat like some of us, but even talking about them in any positive way feels a little odd, especially considering we can’t remember the last time we saw Nick Jonas using a crossbow. We just hope it leads to an unlikely collaboration. It would sound a lot like Damn Yankees, right?

On Thursday morning’s episode of “Today,” Matt Lauer got a tour of Neverland Ranch, Michael Jackson’s famous former home. Lauer, using anecdotes supplied by friends of the late icon, explained that from the moment people arrived on the property, music would be playing throughout the grounds welcoming them to his home.

Lauer then entered the foyer area, where Jackson would readily welcome his guests with art work of himself as well as cookies. “These walls had huge paintings on them some depicting Michael Jackson in whimsical and magical situations,” he explained.

Lauer also toured the living room, adjacent to the eat-in kitchen, which at one point was filled with photographs of his family and friends as well as a pedestal that held the 1931 Best Picture Oscar statuette for “Gone with the Wind” that Jackson bought for $1.5 million.

The dining room, where Elizabeth Taylor wed Larry Fortensky in 1991 and friends like Macaulay Culkin hung out, is connected to the kitchen. Lauer explained the house is now empty because the plan was to sell its contents at an auction that never happened. He explained that a lot of those contents are on the way back to the house.

Lauer also got to take a peek at the superstar’s private master bedroom suite, complete with security panel. Jackson’s two-story bedroom included a sitting area with a massive tile fireplace.

The full-cedar closet (complete with a secret security-panel protected compartment), is connected to the master bathroom. The second-story of the bedroom is where Jackson’s bed was, along with another closet and another bathroom. The sleeping loft had a “huge bed” and “the bedspread was full sequins just like many of the outfits he wore in concert.”

Drake’s new Kanye West-directed video “Best I Ever Had” premiered this morning. It casts Young Money Entertainment’s latest signee as the coach of some sort of team made up entirely of buxom young women. The much-buzzed-about rapper has come along way from his breakthrough role as Jimmy Brooks on Degrassi: The Next Generation and stands to make a big splash when his album Thank Me Later drops later this year.

But he’s not the first Degrassi veteran to reach for musical stardom. That title belongs to Cassie Steele, who played Manny Santos on the show and is about to release her second album Destructo Doll. While Drake went the hip-hop route, Steele is a singer-songwriter with a rock edge, not unlike a groovier version of fellow Canadian Alanis Morissette. While Steele hasn’t made a splash in the U.S., her first album How Much For Happy was a moderate hit in her home country, thanks to her (slightly wacky) video for the single “Bluebird.”

Cassie Steele: “Blue Bird”

Which Degrassi star do you prefer — and which cast member should put out an album next?

Today is historically a big day for speaking truth to power and stepping up to the man: July 2 was the day the Second Continental Congress resolved to sever ties with the British Empire (though obviously the Declaration of Independence wouldn’t be signed until two days later, marking the Independence Day holiday). In 1777, Vermont became the first state in the U.S. to abolish slavery, and in 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act that guarded against segregation. July 2 is a day for all kinds of revolution — in 1881, 20th President James Garfield was shot, leading to his death later that year.

In one of his finest speeches, Thomas Jefferson once said, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” In honor of rising up to fight the power, enjoy Public Enemy’s 1989 call to arms.

Eminem called into his own Sirius/XM satellite radio station Shade45 to drop a little bit of news. First and foremost: Slim Shady will be performing his only show of the year at the Voodoo Festival, the annual three-day concert event in New Orleans. He’ll be sharing the bill with Kiss, Jane’s Addiction and the Flaming Lips.

But that’s not all, as Em was calling from his studio in Detroit where he is working on the sequel to his recently-released, already-platinum Relapse. He said he’s still working on music, but his second album of the year should be out “by the fourth quarter,” just in time for holiday sales.

When hosts Rude Jude and Lord Sear asked whether the incident at the MTV Movie Awards was his idea or Brüno’s, he told them, “He hit me up and asked me if he could put his balls in my face, and I said ‘Certainly.’” They even inquired about the smell, which Em summed up in one word: “Delicious.” Check out the full call here, but be warned: It’s a pretty graphic bit of audio.