The MTV Video Music Awards has had many homes since its inception in 1984. It lived in Miami for two years, spent some time at various venues in Los Angeles and even made a chaotic sojourn to Las Vegas in 2007. But spiritually, its home has always been New York City. The very first awards were held at Radio City Music Hall, the VMAs New York City home for all but the two years when it was at the Metropolitan Opera House. Whenever the VMAs come to New York, the show always gets a great reception from the Big Apple's biggest residents. Are they just as excited about this year's show as they have been in year's past? New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Santigold, Mary J. Blige and Diddy all seem pretty amped.
And Queen Latifah is right: Anybody in town for this weekend's festivities really should make a sojourn to Gray's Papaya for the Recession Special. And if you can't make it out to Radio City Music Hall for the big event, you can still tune in Sunday night at 8 p.m. for all of the stars, performances, fashion and outrageous moments that not only define the Video Music Awards but also the host city of New York.