My first VMA week in front of the camera is officially over, and even though I got to see Britney in person, hear Drake Bell say the F-word and bump chests with Katy Perry, the most surreal event happened in a lonely edit room hours after the big show had wrapped.
You see, I was knee-deep in the edit for this year's "VMAs in 60 seconds" when my editor and I realized that the music track I use for my recaps had not made it to the West Coast. It was 3 a.m. L.A. time, so obviously nobody in the NYC office could help me out. We were, as Drake Bell would say, "f---ed."
I quickly logged on to ExtremeMusic.com (their music collection is where I found the 60-second recap tune) and prayed that I could download it there. Nope, I needed a login that I didn't have. Crap. I am so gonna get fired, I thought.
But then, I noticed a tiny icon on the Extreme site that said "chat with an expert." A window popped up, and the following exchange took place.
Read all of Jim's random chat and watch "VMAs in 60 seconds" after the jump!
EXTREME: you are now connected to music supervisor michael.
MICHAEL: Hello there. can I help you find music for the dark side?
JIM: I'm in a bind.
MICHAEL: lay it on me.
JIM: I'm in la for the mtv video music awards. A music track I need never made it to the west coast.
MICHAEL: what song?
JIM: hotsy totsy.
MICHAEL: mp3 fine? What's your email addy?
After five minutes, I still hadn't received the e-mail. Which is when things get crazy.
JIM: oh no! Still no email! How big was the file?
MICHAEL: only 4MB but I'm on the other end of the big pond so it may take a few more minutes.
JIM: ah, from across the atlantic, eh? Your boy russell brand didn't do too well tonight.
MICHAEL: uh oh. What did russ do now?
JIM: he hosted our awards, but his monologue bombed. Nobody laughed. I thought he was funny but the celebs in the crowd were too nervous to laugh at any of his off-color jokes.
MICHAEL: you americans don't often "get" british humour. But us germans love it.
JIM: oh you're german?? Well your tokio hotel buddies won best new artist tonight.
MICHAEL: OUCH.
JIM: ha! Email received, thanks!
First of all, It's nuts to me that this company employs people to help hapless producers 24 hours a day, seven days a week — let alone in Germany! But it's also amazing that this dude was cracking jokes with me while working. It's rare that online "help" actually helps, and it's even rarer to chat with a customer-service rep with a personality.
So, Michael at Extreme Music: Wherever you are in Deutschland, thanks for saving my recap, my job, my life — and for making me laugh.
And Tokio Hotel fans can send any angry comments to: Michael, c/o Extreme Music, Germany.
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