MTV Newsroom ›

By Rya Backer

If you didn't see Joaquin Phoenix on "Letterman" last night, chances are you've read about it — it clearly ranks with one of the late-night king's all-time most awkward interviews.

Whether or not Joaquin is really that despondent and detached — or just the most media-savvy man in showbiz — is open to debate, but that's not the point. At times like this, we can reflect on some of Letterman's interviews that have gone terribly wrong ... Read more...

Tags david letterman, Joaquin Phoenix

The Jonas Brothers joined their fans at Madame Tussauds in New York's Times Square to unveil their new wax figures. We know what you're thinking: Didn't they already do this last summer in Washington, D.C.?

The answer is yes! But, the guys have re-unveiled the wax versions of themselves for the New York museum. Nick, Joe and Kevin are in New York prepping for their big "Saturday Night Live" debut this weekend, where they are set to be the show's musical guests. But before they burn up the "SNL" stage, they took some time out of their busy rehearsing schedule to pose with a select group of 75 fans at the famed wax museum. Read more...

Tags Jonas Brothers, madame tussauds

On the new Web show "MTV Detox," our pop-culture superfan Jim Cantiello recaps the wildest happenings from the network's prime-time programming. Stream the show on your mobile phone and on MTV.com. New episodes air Sunday-Thursday at 11 p.m. ET.

The "Real World" crew headed to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday night, where Katelynn pole-danced and then revealed that she's transgendered. Too bad everyone already knew. It was pretty anticlimactic. But Katelynn did manage to shock the group when she told them that she had already completed her gender-reassignment surgery. Inspired by the episode, viral-video sensation Debra stopped by "Detox" and revealed that she too is a man, but told Jim that it was a little easier when he underwent his gender-reassignment surgery. All he had to do was Scotch-tape his face. To find out how Real Worlder Ryan would have spent Katelynn's surgery money, check out "Detox."

And don't miss Jim's take on making the episode on the Remote Control blog.

Check out the full Detox episode after the jump! Read more...

Tags brooklyn, Detox, real world

By Daniela Capistrano

Coldplay, Wale, the Roots and other artists may like Twitter, but none of them liked it enough to attend the first-ever Twitter awards ceremony. The aptly named Shorty Awards, a riff on the mini-blogs' 140-characters-or-less restriction, took place at Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn, New York, on Wednesday evening.

Nope, there were only two tweet-loving famous musicians passionate enough about Twitter to fly across the country and meet their fans: '80s rap icon MC Hammer (Twitter.com/MCHammer) and AFI bassist Hunter Burgan (Twitter.com/TranquilMammoth).

The Shorty Awards were founded by Sawhorse Media to honor the best producers of short content on Twitter in 2008. The Twitter community voted on their favorite users in 26 categories and the winners were given travel grants to attend, thanks in part to the Knight Foundation. CNN's twitter loving Rick Sanchez (Twitter.com/ricksanchezcnn) hosted the event and was heard later declaring, "The smartest people I have found in any community are the people I've found on Twitter."

Read more...

Tags AFI, Hunter Burgan, MC-Hammer, Shorty Awards, Twitter

By Adrienne Day

We take a look at what might happen to Chris Brown's movie and music careers in the wake of his alleged altercation with Rihanna.

Ex-Danity Kane singer Aubrey O'Day tells us more about her Playboy photo shoot, saying, "being nude is the most natural state that you can be in." Check out some of the photos from that "iconic" Playboy spread right here.

The list all you lovers have been waiting for: MTV's Top 10 Make-Out Songs playlist. With Christina Aguilera, MGMT, Britney Spears and Chris Isaak onboard, how could you not score this Valentine's Day? Haters, we've also got you covered — check back tomorrow for our Worst Love Songs list.

Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law dish on their steamy "bromance" on the set of "Sherlock Holmes."

The "American Idol" top 36 list is mere hours away. Catch up with our (obsessively detailed) Newsroom live blog!

Tags aubrey o'day, Chris Brown, Sherlock Holmes

The "American Idol" Top 36 list is mere hours away from revealing itself and all I can think about is Leneshe Young. Before we get to tonight's "Idol" live blog, I just want to say it's unfair that she got cut when a host of singers who flubbed lyrics (a-hem Joanna), and acted like psychopaths (I'm lookin' at you, Tatiana!) skated through to Judge's Mansion.

And let's talk about Judge's Mansion for a moment. This "the judges live together" joke might have worked in season 1, but we all know Simon, Randy, Paula and Kara ain't shacking up together while they decide on "Idol"s new cast. Puh-leaze!

Tonight "Idol" is mixing things up with a new "Sing for Your Survival" round stolen from "So You Think You Can Dance," except instead of doing a desperate modern dance solo to a Sia song, we'll watch contestants desperately sing "Aint No Mountain High Enough." Hope you have popcorn ready!!

Lastly, before the live-blogging begins, I have to give a shout-out to MTV.COM user Andrea, who highlights an amazing irony surrounding ridiculously dramatic TV production. She writes, "'American Idol' shows us all these sob stories about being blind, losing wives and being poor, and then has the balls to say that Hollywood Week is 'the toughest week of their lives'? What gives, AI?" Right on, Andrea!

Okay, now let's get blogging!

7:59 pm - I wonder how big Paula's closet will be in Judge's Mansion.

8:00 pm - And so it begins! The judges have magically appeared on set in giant red sofas.

8:01 pm - You know your idea is stupid when even Ryan Seacrest can't even say it with a straight face. "This is Judge's Mansion!" Mm-hmm.

8:02 pm - OH boy. So, there are big changes in "Idol" land! Instead of having the contestants walk down a long hall, they're going to walk down TWO long hallways, and a garden! Oh "Idol."

8:04 pm - Anoop made it into the Top 36! How long before Randy makes an "Anoop Dogg" joke?

8:05 pm - Von Smith just dissed his parents in front of the judges by saying they make him sing self-indulgent songs, which is why he chose that awful song the first day of Hollywood Week. And then he made it to the Top 36, and hugged his mom in front of Seacrest. I wonder if they're hugging each other tonight as they watch this episode together. "You said WHAT about me to Simon?"

8:07 pm - So both of Von Smith's parents are singers. Remind me never to go Christmas caroling with the Smith family without my ear plugs.

Read more...

Tags American Idol, Hollywood Week

Man, can I get a minute to land?

Coming back from the Grammy Awards early Tuesday morning — like, 1 a.m. — turned into a very anxious few hours. I was sitting right behind Lupe Fiasco while my man Sway was a few rows up sitting by Robin Thicke and Ashford & Simpson (you should have seen how many Louis Vuitton bags the legendary pair pulled off the luggage conveyer belt).

I'm getting too far off the subject now. Right before I got to baggage claim, I got the call from a homie in L.A. saying that the local news was reporting that Chris Brown was involved in a car chase with the cops and he had a gun to his head threatening suicide. I damn near lost my breath.

Fortunately, that rumor was quickly debunked ... only to be replaced by another rumor. By the time I get home, I got an e-mail saying that the Cali news was reporting that DJ Khaled was driving the Bentley being chased by the cops. Damn. This night is never going end. Read more...

Tags Chris Brown, dj khaled, Fat-Joe

Mastodon rule. For proof of this, check their bludgeoningly brutal-yet-surgically precise back catalog (2002's Remission, 2004's Leviathan and 2006's Blood Mountain). For further proof, be aware that each of these efforts (well, maybe not Remission, but they were just getting started) are also concept records, about chasing metaphorical white whales and scaling terrifying mountains. They make rock mythical again, and for that, they rule even harder.

Their new album, Crack the Skye, hits stores March 24. While there's still a concept (more on that in a second), there's less pummeling this time around. Skye is still dazzlingly technical in scope, and there's plenty of riffing, but there's also newfound space. Songs are expansive, given room to breathe and explore quieter passages. For the first time, Mastodon don't sound like they're rushing to fit as many chords as possible into a song — tracks stretch to six, 10 and, in the case of album closer "The Last Baron," nearly 13 minutes. And that is most certainly a good thing.

We sat down with guitarist/singer Brent Hinds and drummer Brann Dailor last week at the Russian Tea Room in New York. We'll have a full-blown story and interview clips for you tomorrow, but we figured we'd give you a sneak preview right now. We asked Dailor to explain the rather heady concept behind Crack the Skye, and you can watch an exclusive clip of him laying it all out after the jump.
Read more...

Tags album, Mastodon

By Daniela Capistrano

Lil Wayne's "Be Like Lil Wayne" app lets you customize your iPhone photos with grillz and other bling, then share with friends. On Fall Out Boy's app, you can follow them on tour via GPS. Pink wants you to challenge friends through multiplayer racing on "Fast and Furious: Pink Slip." And the Pussycat dolls want you to play their games on the go.

No longer a space reserved for the tech elite, artists are seeing the potential of iPhone apps and using them to develop an army of young fans who are increasingly mobile.

Nine Inch Nails, Snow Patrol, Justice, Moby and the Fray are just a few other artists who have jumped on the iPhone bandwagon, eager to maintain a connection with their tech-savvy audience. Despite the hefty price tags of iPhones and the iPod Touch (considering our bummer economy), more teens are rocking these slick mobile devices than ever before. Aware of this trend, artists are collaborating with iPhone developers to create branded apps with all the benefits of a MySpace page — without the restrictions of logging on to a computer.

With new apps in the works for Britney, Beyoncé and Akon, fans have the opportunity to connect with their favorite artists — and other fans — in a brand-new way, no matter where they are.

(Who else is releasing an iPhone app? Find out, after the jump!)
Read more...

Tags apps, artists, iphone, list, mtv, new, news, round-up, upcoming coverage

By Alex Shapiro

Dave Matthews Band fans watching the action-packed Grammys on Sunday night may have cause to be upset — and it wasn't because DMB didn't win any awards. DMB saxophonist LeRoi Moore, who died in August due to complications from an ATV accident, was not included in the "In Memoriam" section of the show, which honored legendary sound mixers, producers and musicians.

Today the Recording Academy's president, Neil Portnow, issued a statement regarding Moore's absence from the televised tribute.

"Nearly 250 members of our music community have passed in the last year, and all of them have been listed in the program book for the 51st Annual Grammy Awards, including LeRoi Moore," he said. "For the 'Encore' segment of our annual Grammy Awards telecast, unfortunately we are unable to include all of the talented and wonderful people within the allotted time frame. The Academy recognizes Moore's contributions to music and music education, and we are deeply saddened by his premature passing."
Read more...

Tags Dave Matthews Band, Grammys, Leroi Moore