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Ed McMahon's Legacy: Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake And Aaliyah

Posted 6/24/09 3:27 pm EST by in Music, Television


Britney Spears took to Twitter to remember the late Ed McMahon, who was the host of "Star Search" when Spears first appeared singing on TV in 1992. Britney didn't win, though her performance did help her get a spot on "The Mickey Mouse Club," which jumpstarted her whirlwind career.

Spears isn't the only "Star Search" veteran to go on to bigger and better things, though. Here are some of the other superstars who got a little help from Ed McMahon.

» Justin Timberlake: Timberlake is an incredible entertainer, capable of singing, dancing, acting, writing comedy and directing. But did you know he can also line dance? Timberlake (performing as Justin Randall) performed a country song on the show in 1993, complete with cowboy hat and boots. It didn't get him the win, but it's probably the last time in his life where he didn't come out on top.

» Aaliyah: The late R&B singer was on the show as a 10-year-old in 1990. She sang "My Funny Valentine." By 1992, she had signed a contract with Jive Records, and she had a hit single by 1994 (in "Back & Forth").
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Lil Jon Wins Wine Award, Tweets Excitedly

Posted 6/24/09 2:32 pm EST by in Music


Last year, Lil Jon surprised everybody when he rolled out his own wine label, called (fittingly) Little John Winery. The rapper/producer famously defended his product as "not some ghetto Boone's Farm," and he got some vindication in the form of an award from the Los Angeles International Wine and Spirits Competition. His 2006 Central Coast Chardonnay took a Silver Medal. Lil Jon accepted his award via Twitter: "FOR ALL YALL SUKKAS THAT WERE HATING ON MY WINE CHECK THIS OUT!! WE WINNING AWARDS TWITT!!! GET U SOME."

The winery's official Web site touts the prize-winning Chardonnay as containing "fruit from one of California's finest Chardonnay growing regions" and boasts that it can accompany cheese and fish. The beverage world must be taking up a great deal of his time (he still runs his Crunk!!! empire also), as he has had to wait around while his long-finished album gets sorted out amidst the rubble of his collapsed label TVT.

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My Chemical Romance Drummer Sues Over Dog Death

Posted 6/24/09 12:39 pm EST by in Music


By Cara Alwill

Bob Bryar, the drummer for My Chemical Romance, has filed charges against Daniel Schaffer, the self-proclaimed "dog trainer to the stars" after the death of his German shepherd mix, Dixie. The trainer has given conflicting explanations for the death.

According to People, Bryar brought his pooch to Schaffer's kennel for intense training to help him recover from abuse and emotional trauma caused by his former owner. Bryar spent $7,500 on the training in April, but when he called to check in on the dog, the trainer reported that Dixie was killed when a drunk driver struck the vehicle in which Schaffer was carrying several dogs, according to the court papers filed in Burbank Supreme Court. Bryar then received a call that evening stating that the dog had died from a different cause.

"Schaffer called (Bryar) again and informed him that he could not say goodbye to Dixie for she had been 'cremated due to her condition,'" the lawsuit says. Two days later, the trainer "delivered an urn allegedly containing Dixie's remains." After Schaffer could not produce a police report documenting the car accident, he changed his story and said the dog died in her sleep, and later changed that story to say she died under other circumstances.

"I don't even know what happened to my best friend and miss her more than anything in the world," Bryar said. "The devastation I feel is beyond words."

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Paul McCartney At Fenway Park: The National Pastime Tour Continues

Posted 6/24/09 11:20 am EST by in Music


Rock legend Paul McCartney will play two shows in August at Fenway Park in Boston, the home of the Boston Red Sox. Tickets start at $69 and run up to $205 (still not as expensive as a top-tier ticket to a baseball game at the same venue). McCartney will also play three shows at Citi Field (the New York Mets' new stadium) on July 17, 18 and 21. The New York show is especially poetic, as the Beatles played the first concert at Shea Stadium — the Mets' former home — in 1965.

Tickets to the Fenway shows are available today via a pre-sale (Red Sox season-ticket holders have first dibs), with the rest of the tickets going on sale to the general public on Monday. If you're planning on going, show up early — the first two Citi Field shows sold out in under five minutes.

Baseball stadiums are tough to book for concerts. Since most of them are open-air, they need to host shows in the summer, when the home teams are using them most of the time. But the past few years has seen some gigantic concert events brushing up against America's game: Bruce Springsteen played four shows at Fenway in 2003, the Rolling Stones kicked off their 2005 tour there and Phish just had a big show there on May 31.

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Virgin Festival Giving Away Blink-182, Weezer For Free

Posted 6/24/09 10:56 am EST by in Concerts, Music


The Virgin Mobile Festivals has been remade into the Virgin Mobile FreeFest, a one day event on August 30 that will feature the reunited Blink-182, Weezer, Public Enemy and Taking Back Sunday. In previous years, the festival had been held at Pimlico Race Track in Baltimore (site of the annual Preakness Stakes horse race), but this year's moves to the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. The show will be free to the 35,000 people who want to claim tickets (Ticketmaster has even agreed to waive their service fee for fans picking them up at the venue or at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.). The event will be paid for by Virgin and key sponsors, like Kyocera.

This isn't the first time an established festival has gone from costly to free. Ozzfest famously gave away its touring show in 2007, which was panned for having a lackluster lineup (Ozzy, Lamb of God and Static-X were headliners) and trouble with ticket distribution. Virgin Mobile FreeFest likely won't have the same sort of problems, as it's a one-day event featuring one of the hottest reunion acts of the summer. The new venue is a step up as well, as Pimilico was a terrible facility that usually turned into a mud pit at the very suggestion of rain.

There was a lot of hand-wringing about the festival season this year, as promoters were worried that fans wouldn't have enough disposable income to invest in tickets and travel, but so far the big-name events like Bonnaroo and Coachella have still done good business. That's not to say that everything has gone off without a hitch, as smaller local festivals have seen sluggish sales.

Tickets will be available this Saturday (though if you went to last year's festival, you've got the opportunity to claim a ticket starting tomorrow). Virgin shouldn't have any trouble filling the building, especially considering the lineup is so eclectic (with indie favorites like the National and St. Vincent filling out the lineup that also features rapper Wale and legendary DJ Pete Tong).

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Wake-Up Video: Gary Jules' 'Mad World'

Posted 6/24/09 8:47 am EST by in Wake-Up Video


A very happy birthday today to Curt Smith, former singer for British band Tears for Fears. The duo were an MTV staple in the 1980s, with hits like "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," "Head Over Heels" and "Mad World." The latter song was given a second life when it was covered by Gary Jules for the 2001 film "Donnie Darko." The movie didn't really pick up steam until it hit DVD, and the slow burn for the song was the same: Though it was released in 2002, it became a hit over a year later. Most recently, "American Idol" runner-up Adam Lambert performed the Jules version back in April. The video manages to capture the tone of "Donnie Darko" without including any shots of Jake Gyllenhaal.

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Nick Cannon Says 'America's Got Talent' Will Top Susan Boyle

Posted 6/23/09 7:00 pm EST by in Behind The Scenes, Television


Before he was a star in movies like "Drumline" and Mariah Carey's husband, Nick Cannon was a regular at talent showcases when he was a teen — the perfect training for his new job as the host of "America's Got Talent."

That's right, Jerry Springer is moving on and Nick Cannon is moving in to take his place on the TV talent show "America's Got Talent" that kicks off with a new series tonight.

Dressed in different shades of a colour that can only be described as "pastel," Nick was in his usual fun mood and ready to chop it up about everything from his new show to his superstar wife.

It's not just Nick who has big shoes to fill, but the show as well: The phenomenon that is Susan Boyle (her debut performance video has been viewed over 69 million times) all began with the UK version of the show "Britain's Got Talent," so the bar has been set pretty high. Will "America's Got Talent" be able to give the Susan Boyle movement a run for its money? According to Nick the answer is YES!

It wasn't long before the topic of his wife Mariah Carey came up. One big question we wanted answered was: Will Nick and Mariah ever duet? For now, Nick humbly doesn't think he has the talent to duet with one of the greatest songstresses of our time. In his own words he has to "step his game up first."

We still found time to talk about his move into the director's chair, whether Mariah's new song "Obsessed" was directed at Eminem or not, his new mixtape The Adventures of Slick Nick, his thoughts on the Perez Hilton/Will.I.Am incident and Chris Brown's trial.

Check out the rest of the interview at MTVNews.com.

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The Secret Of The Alexa Chung Look

Posted 6/23/09 5:35 pm EST by in Behind The Scenes, MTV News


Alexa Chung is only into the second week of her new MTV show "It's On With Alexa Chung," and already her sense of style is making waves. She's brought a bit of East London chic to New York, and the girls in the office forced me to ask her how one achieves the Alexa Chung look.

Apparently, it's all very simple.

According to Alexa, first you have to look like "a girl who borrowed her brother's school clothes via her grandmother."

What does that mean? It's basically an effortless combination of "boyish school blazers" (i.e. sports jackets) and "ugly grandma things" like baggy sweaters, oversized shirts and big jewelry.

Catch Alexa hanging out in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn (where she lives) and you'll probably find her in a "tiny smock dress" and "over-the-knee socks" with ... wait for it ... "ironic leather pumps."

When I asked her what was ironic about leather pumps, she simply answered, "Well, no one wears loafers."

Check out the video, where I pretended to know what she was talking about but really had no clue whatsoever! I asked one of our resident office fashionistos, Adam Murphy, to explain.

He said, "The irony comes from the disparity between the type of person that would wear leather pumps in earnest versus the type of person that would wear them as a sort of joke."

Thanks Adam, but I'm still confused. Well, anyway, if you want the Alexa Chung look, all you have to do is dress a bit like a boy, a bit like your grandma and a bit ironic — and presto!

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'Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen' Vs. The Fallen

Posted 6/23/09 5:14 pm EST by in Movies, Music


Tomorrow sees the release of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," which continues the story of the never-ending war between good and evil shape-shifting robots from the planet Cybertron. The advance buzz is pretty good, which bodes well for Michael Bay's franchise.

This week also saw the unveiling of the Fallen, the new band featuring "American Idol" cast-off Carly Smithson and some former members of Evanescence. Their first song is available on their official site, and they played said song at an appearance yesterday.

But which property featuring the word "fallen" stands supreme this week? Metal-off!

More Metal
The Fallen's song "Bury Me" is pretty heavy, but Bumblebee alone contains more forged steel than anything the band can roll out. Advantage: Transformers
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Sunny Day Real Estate Announce Reunion Tour Dates

Posted 6/23/09 5:06 pm EST by in Tour Dates


Seattle emo legends Sunny Day Real Estate just announced that they will be heading out on a reunion tour this fall. It will be the band's first series of shows since 2000 (when they recorded and toured as the Fire Theft) and the first featuring the original lineup since 1998. You probably know Sunny Day Real Estate more from what the band members did after they left the group: Bassist Nate Mendel and drummer William Goldsmith were the first rhythm section for Foo Fighters (Mendel remains a member of that band), guitarist Dan Hoerner has worked with Dashboard Confessional and frontman Jeremy Enigk has had minor success as a solo artist.

The band's tour will launch on September 17 in Vancouver. They also plan on reissuing their first two albums, the influential Diary and LP2, and the shows plan on drawing mostly from those albums. Those reissues, featuring new liner notes, will be released September 15.

Many bands name-check Sunny Day Real Estate as a big influence, including Paramore, who have dropped a cover of the Sunny Day Real Estate song "Faces in Disguise" into their live shows. Their most famous moment probably came when they appeared on the soundtrack to "Batman Forever" in 1995, though they did have a brief presence on MTV's "120 Minutes" with the video for "Seven."

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