Everybody get out and party in New York! Last night in the Big Apple, music stars were out doing it up. Here's a sample of the star sightings:

Details and photos after the jump!
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By Elena Torres

Ever since I was 13 and bought the Californication CD back in 1999, I've always found some kind of weird way to identify with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Since then I've seen them in concert three times, bought every CD they've ever made, read Anthony Kiedis' autobiography "Scar Tissue" and done everything else that goes along with being a superfan.

This weekend I got to add another item to my list of personal RHCP milestones: I got to interview Flea. The band's bassist held a charity event for the Silverlake Conservatory of Music, and MTV News was invited to the shindig. The Chili Peppers are currently on hiatus, and we wanted to get an update on what Flea has been up to in the meantime. Of course I made sure to be there. Read more...

Look up the word "cool" in any dictionary, and you'll see that it has a lot of different meanings. In my book, artists like Bob Marley, the Beatles and Prince are the very definition of the word "cool." Well, add to that list the name Robin Thicke. It's a bold statement, I know ... but then, so is Robin's new album.

It hits stores today, so we put the call in and got him to stop by MTV HQ on the eve of his big album launch. Something Else is definitely not what you would call ordinary. It's not cookie-cutter R&B, it doesn't have a whole load of big-name collaborations (only one ... yes, Lil Wayne on "Tie My Hands"), and it's undoubtedly the album that Robin always wanted to make. You see, that's something that's very important to Thicke. He's an artist who holds his own musical integrity in the highest regard. Simply put, Thicke would rather busk on the street all his life than put out an album that he had no creative control over.

We chopped it up about his new album; the lead single, "Magic" (and why it wasn't his first choice); collaborating with his lovely wife, Paula Patton (who starred in "Mirrors" with Kiefer Sutherland and "Déjà Vu" opposite the legend that is Denzel Washington); and of course, my new favorite song right now, the excellent "Dreamworld." This album might be his best yet. Trust me — go buy it, call over your "special friend" and press play. By the fifth track, it's pretty clear: A lot of babies are going to be made to this album.

We'll have much more from this interview in the coming days.

On occasion, it's our job to crash movie and television sets, and today that occasion came our way. And as you fine readers may know, we here at MTV News love us some good gossip. So it was our pleasure to find that "Gossip Girl" was taping right in front of the MTV building.

And what we saw is juicy. We have a breaking "Gossip Girl" spoiler alert for all you fans. If you don't want to know what will happen in Serena's love life, do not read on!

Picture this: The newly single Serena van der Woodsen — clad in straight-legged pants, a cream-color blazer, a cute little blouse and sky-high platforms — is making her way through Times Square. Suddenly, she gets a text message from a mystery person. She laughs to herself. She looks up, and there she is on the mega-screen. She turns around, and there is what we surmise to be her new love interest: a shaggy-haired fellow named Aaron.

They exchange some words — and since we sneakily got a sort-of peek at the script, we know more or less what they were talking about. Aaron, played by John Patrick Amedori, tells her that she is beautiful and asks if she'll pose for him. (We're hoping he's a photographer. Otherwise, that would just be creepy!)

She says yes (we wonder what that photo shoot will be like), and then they — wait for it — make out! Take that, Dan Humphrey. We wonder how Dan is going to feel about his competition? Things are sure heating up for those "Gossip Girl" kids ...

On Monday, Britney Spears' attorney filed an appeal to delay her upcoming misdemeanor trial for driving without a license, according to The Associated Press.

J. Michael Flanagan filed a petition in the Los Angeles Superior Court seeking a stay in the case. He also wants an appellate judge to order the judge assigned to the case to grant a motion to dismiss.

Flanagan has requested a dismissal in the case twice, requesting that Spears pay the $10 fine and avoid a trial, which is currently slated for October. She faces a single misdemeanor charge in connection with an August 2007 incident in which she hit a parked car and left the scene, all while driving without a valid California license.

Her attorney also states in the documents that Spears is "unable to meaningfully participate in her defense" due to her conservatorship. Her dad, Jamie Spears, has had control of her personal and financial affairs since February.

By Emily Donahue

Amongst bustle skirts and corsets, top hats and tails, brass-rimmed goggles and time-traveling arm bands, it was me, in a black tank top and jeans, that received the most stares in Brooklyn a few weeks ago. I was at the first day of the Dances of Vice festival, an evening that also served as my first taste of Steampunk, a wide-reaching subculture that lately has been, well, picking up steam. Yet people are still hard-pressed to define what is, on the surface, an embrace of the neo-Victorian, but deeper than that, a keenly felt reaction to the stark modernity that has come to homogenize a generation with iPods and Ikea.

Over the course of shooting two separate Steampunk events — Dances of Vice, which spanned both Brooklyn and Manhattan; and SalonCon, a two-day event held in Somerset, NJ — I was exposed to a mix of concerts, fashion shows and lectures. Vendors sold handmade corsets, jewelry made from clock gears and even wings. People's imaginations were on full display in their clothing and accoutrement. I expected to simply observe from a distance, but the more I learned, the more the Steampunk artists and their philosophy began to appeal to me. Musicians I knew and liked were mentioned, such as Tom Waits, Smashing Pumpkins, the Decemberists and even Sufjan Stevens; "Edward Scissorhands," "The Prestige" and "Wild Wild West" were a small handful of the "steamy" movies that I had seen.

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Robert Plant has had it. The once and apparently just-once-again frontman for rock godheads Led Zeppelin is sick and tired of people talking about the could-be-should-be-but-probably-isn't reunion tour that many reports claim is in the works for the group.

After English tabloid The Sun ran a story last week that the group has agreed to a reunion tour (if you're counting, that's at least the sixth time we've heard that rumor in the past six months), Plant put out a statement definitively denying it. According to BBC News, Plant said he will not hit the road with anyone for at least two years after he finishes his current string of dates with bluegrass star Alison Krauss, which wraps up on October 5.
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The cavalcade of classic rock will continue at this year's Super Bowl. Following in the footsteps of the Rolling Stones, U2, Paul McCartney, Prince and last year's featured attraction, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will rush the field at halftime during the Super Bowl in Tampa, Florida, on February 1, according to The Associated Press.

Interesting fact: while the Super Bowl halftime show was typically made up of local and college marching bands and drill teams, the NFL got wise in 1988 and began bringing the rock, with a center-field debut from ... Chubby Checker, best known for his 1960 hit "The Twist." (What, Rick Astley wasn't available?) Michael Jackson upped the ante in 1993, and of course in 2004, his sister Janet ... well, you know the story with that one ...

As told to Lindsey Thomas

When we flew down to Greensboro, North Carolina, we knew we'd only have 15 minutes to speak with Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden. With so little time, I had to make sure that we covered the issues that are most important to you.

First, I wanted to address the presidential debate, specifically Senator John McCain's attacks on Obama. On Friday night, the Republican nominee frequently said that his rival is naive and doesn't understand the issues. Obama dismissed the comments as tactics that didn't hold any weight. In an election year, it can be hard to sort out truth, fiction and perception, but Obama said he feels that American voters can tell the difference.

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I know that imposing a concept like animal rights on the 19th century — a time when slavery was still alive and women couldn't yet vote — might be a tad unrealistic. But that was the quandary at which I arrived when my producer Andrew Rowe asked my vegan self to be a part of his piece on the steampunk scene and wear authentic steampunk garb when we shot our standups.

Not that I have a problem with playing dress-up: One look at the annals of VMA history will remind anyone that I have never been sartorially shy, and frankly the whole Victorian thing — the stovepipe hats, vests, long coats, pocket watches — is kind of cool, in the right time and place. No one really dresses up any more, so why not?

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