MTV Newsroom ›

It's MTV's second annual Musical March Madness! MTV News took the 64 biggest names in rock, split them up into four regions, assigned them seeds and puts them up against one another in a single-elimination series of match-ups in a winner-take-all contest. We're leaving it to you to decide an actual champ in this field of 64, so over the next few weeks, fan voting will determine who will emerge as this year's champion. It's all about the fans, and the artist with the most passionate fan base will score the awesome Musical March Madness trophy!

Things are really starting to get serious in MTV's Musical March Madness, as the dominance of the Midwest region hangs in the balance. With Disturbed already throwing bombs against Patrick Stump, it's time to take a look at another key match-up that could very well decide who walks away the 2011 champion.

Voting for all Sweet 16 match-ups will close on Tuesday, March 29 at midnight. As always, you can follow all the voting here.

(6) Coheed and Cambria vs. (7) Avenged Sevenfold
The defending champions have had a pretty easy trip to the Sweet 16 this year, as they have bested the likes of Crystal Bowersox and Vampire Weekend with ease. But now comes their first true test, as they'll have to knock out a very strong Avenged Sevenfold squad. The A7X boys surged through tough tests Taylor Swift and the Black Keys, so they're battle-tested and ready for a brawl. Will they be the ones to dole out Coheed's first Musical March Madness defeat? You decide!

Check out Dick Bagwell and Vincent Twice previewing the Sweet 16!

Check out the Musical March Madness bracket and be take a look at the hoops-centric photos of some of the tournament's biggest bands.

Tags #MMM, Avenged Sevenfold, coheed and cambria, March Madness, Poll

It's MTV's second annual Musical March Madness! MTV News took the 64 biggest names in rock, split them up into four regions, assigned them seeds and puts them up against one another in a single-elimination series of match-ups in a winner-take-all contest. We're leaving it to you to decide an actual champ in this field of 64, so over the next few weeks, fan voting will determine who will emerge as this year's champion. It's all about the fans, and the artist with the most passionate fan base will score the awesome Musical March Madness trophy!

The NCAA men's basketball tournament has reached the Final Four, but MTV's Musical March Madness is prolonging the magic. Today we present the Sweet 16, which means that superstars and Cinderellas alike will have their mettle tested with the regional finals hanging in the balance.

Voting for all Sweet 16 match-ups will close on Tuesday, March 29 at midnight. As always, you can follow all the voting here.

(9) Disturbed vs. (12) Patrick Stump
In a battle of two underdogs, hard rock heavyweights Disturbed ride into the Sweet 16 on the back of a dominating performance against the top-seeded Foo Fighters. Their fans have definitely come together en masse, which is exactly the kind of support a team needs to make a run to the Final Four. Standing in Disturbed's way is Patrick Stump, who needed some late heroics and the Musical March Madness equivalent of a buzzer-beater. Stump has proven that he has the resilience to overcome the odds, but can he continue his surge? Only your votes can decide who advances to the Elite Eight!

Check out Dick Bagwell and Vincent Twice previewing the Sweet 16!

Check out the Musical March Madness bracket and be take a look at the hoops-centric photos of some of the tournament's biggest bands.

Tags #MMM, Disturbed, March Madness, Patrick Stump, Poll, video

There comes a time in every reality show's season where the quality dips a little bit and everybody agrees to just hunker down until the last few episodes arrive. Contestants become a little more listless, competitions tend to drag and the vibe of the show feels generally off while the middling participants are weeded out one by one (just think of the middle few entries of any season of "Project Runway"). But "The Celebrity Apprentice" is not your average reality show, and it refuses to be anything but positively transcendent. Sunday night's (March 27) episode was no different, as Lil Jon, Gary Busey, Dionne Warwick, Star Jones and the rest all came together for a delightfully weird two hours of television.

This week, the teams had to create a 30-second commercial for an ACN video phone (the sort of gadget that people in 1975 thought the future would look like in 1992). Lil Jon took the helm for Backbone, while NeNe Leakes was named project manager for A.S.A.P., the female squad. While the men's team was a model of efficiency (even Ivanka Trump noted that Backbone seemed to have developed a real "harmony" during the challenge), the women devolved into their typical arguing, backbiting and insulting the deaf.

Though both of the commercials concocted by the teams were essentially the same, the women went for "heart" while the men decided to go for comedy (casting Jose Canseco as a gay man in a marriage proposal reveal). But Lil Jon managed to sell the presentation a bit better, possibly because he kept shouting "Yeah!" and possibly because he duped the ACN executives into buying into random buzzwords like "viral" (which also impressed Donald Trump and provides further proof that dudes in suits will buy into anything if they think it'll be "viral"). Backbone scored the victory, which allowed for another all-female board room scene.

Leakes brought Warwick and Hope Dworaczyk into the boardroom with her, but the former Playboy model was just a spectator to the collision between the others. Leakes called out Warwick for bolting from the editing booth in order to sleep while the rest of the group was trying to finish the commercial, but Warwick claimed she was asked to leave (which certainly wasn't on the tape). After some crosstalk, Warwick somehow came around to the idea that she agreed that she was the one who should be fired. Trump didn't stand in her way, and she was let go.

But she didn't exit gracefully. "You're a coward, baby," she cooed at Leakes while waiting for the elevator. The two women did not get to the bottom of whether or not Leakes was a liar or a coward or both or neither. In any event, "The Celebrity Apprentice" lost one of its key characters in Warwick, though there are still plenty of antagonists about.

Who would you have fired? Let us know in the comments!

Tags The Celebrity Apprentice

Kirill Bichutsky is the most prominent nightlife photographer in America. Virtually every night of the week, Kirill's job sends him to the most exclusive nightclubs photographing unapologetic celebrities and beautiful party revelers. So when it came time to head down to Florida for Miami Music Week and Ultra Music Festival, MTV News was happy to have him as part of the team. His complete works can be found at Kirillwashere.com.

By KirillWasHere

Another day and yet another pool party — this time I headed over to the Surfcomber, where I made it into the DJ booth to escape the sea of fake boobs and sweaty dudes. If you weren't at Ultra, this is where you had to be — Kaskade, Luciano, Pete Tong, Afrojack, Sharam, Felix da Housecat, James Zabiela and I'm sure others showed up to hang and spin, but I quickly wore out my welcome in the booth.

I wasn't too happy with the photos of the actual party, so I figured it was time to move on. I was quickly saved by a table of NYers that were fans of my work and my tacky taste for sloppy chicks and they insisted I shoot their girls. Several tastefully slutty photos and too many man hugs later, I was off to my hotel for a quick nap.

(Click here for more great photos from Miami Music Week!)

Earlier in the week, I got a tip that FG DJ Radio (a famous French radio station) was throwing a private party with Bob Sinclair and some surprise special guests — oh, and free booze, so this would become my pre-game spot. What went from a listening session turned into a full-on party — Bob Sinclar managed to get this party popping. I wish I could've stayed longer, because rumor had it David Guetta was stopping by, but it was midnight already and I had one more stop left. Read more...

Tags 2011, Afrojack, Avicii, Felix da Housecat, James Zabiela, Kaskade, Luciano, Miami Music Week, Pete Tong, Sharam

FROM MTV NEWS: After a killer set from "Jersey Shore" star DJ Pauly D on Friday night (March 25), a montage of Britney Spears' best video moments played to a hyped crowd at Rain nightclub inside the Palms Casino and Resort. Once the videos wrapped, the crowd went even crazier as the Femme Fatale herself hit the stage.

Spears sported a stunning sequined bodysuit and performed her first song of the night, lead single "Hold It Against Me." Flanked by sexy male dancers, she sashayed her way through the song, which included sexy hair-tossing and a wind machine.

For her second song of the night, Spears debuted the will.i.am-produced track "Big Fat Bass." Her dancers hit the stage in bright yellow, while Spears opted for a body-hugging latex bodysuit.

Read more about Britney Spears' Las Vegas show at MTV News....

Tags britney spears, photo

Another busy week is in the book, and next week promises to be even more eventful, as there are a number of surprises in store that we can't talk about yet but are certain to keep you glued to your computer screen. In the meantime, you should spend this weekend watching more intense NCAA basketball action, standing in line to see "Sucker Punch," playing games of Cat-opoly or just thinking up awesome new fillings for burritos. Before you do all that, be sure to check out all of the great stuff you might have missed this week on the MTV Newsroom blog.

» MTV's Musical March Madness marches on, with second round voting running through the weekend and closing on Sunday night at midnight. Vote for all of your favorite artists here!

» Chris Brown had an interesting week that saw him release an excellent new album, throw a tantrum at "Good Morning America," lose a publicist and stop off for a quick game of basketball.

» "American Idol" also had a particularly nutty week, as the performance episode contained some of the season's best work and perhaps one of the best performances in the show's history.

» And then the next night, Casey Abrams found himself at the bottom of the voting heap only to later pick up the elusive judges' save.
Read more...

Tags American Idol, britney spears, Casey Abrams, Chris Brown, Gary Busey, Jersey Shore, Jon Jones, the-strokes

It's MTV's second annual Musical March Madness! MTV News took the 64 biggest names in rock, split them up into four regions, assigned them seeds and puts them up against one another in a single-elimination series of match-ups in a winner-take-all contest. We're leaving it to you to decide an actual champ in this field of 64, so over the next few weeks, fan voting will determine who will emerge as this year's champion. It's all about the fans, and the artist with the most passionate fan base will score the awesome Musical March Madness trophy!

The entirety of the second round of MTV's Musical March Madness is now open, which means you can vote for all the match-ups that will decide the members of the Sweet 16. Many of the second round battles are exceptionally tight (including the tilt between U2 and Green Day, as well as the war unfolding between Rise Against and Patrick Stump), which is why you should take advantage of the fact that voting will be open until Sunday, March 27 at midnight. We'll reveal the Sweet 16 on Monday, March 28, but in the meantime, here's your easy one-stop shop for second round pairings.

Midwest

» (1) Foo Fighters vs. (9) Disturbed

» (4) Rise Against vs. (12) Patrick Stump

» (3) Vampire Weekend vs. (6) Coheed and Cambria

» (2) Avenged Sevenfold vs. (7) The Black Keys

West

» (1) 30 Seconds to Mars vs. (8) Pearl Jam

» (4) Florence and the Machine vs. (5) Panic! at the Disco

» (3) Green Day vs. (6) U2

» (2) Blink-182 vs. (7) Red Hot Chili Peppers

South
Read more...

Tags #MMM, March Madness

It's MTV's second annual Musical March Madness! MTV News took the 64 biggest names in rock, split them up into four regions, assigned them seeds and puts them up against one another in a single-elimination series of match-ups in a winner-take-all contest. We're leaving it to you to decide an actual champ in this field of 64, so over the next few weeks, fan voting will determine who will emerge as this year's champion. It's all about the fans, and the artist with the most passionate fan base will score the awesome Musical March Madness trophy!

With the voting now active on the match-up below, the second round games are now completely open. The winners of these pairings will all advance to the Sweet 16, where the voting windows get shorter and the competition even more intense.

Voting for all second round match-ups will close on Sunday, March 27 at midnight. As always, you can follow all the voting here.

(2) Radiohead vs. (7) Owl City
Owl City are very much the Butler of this tournament, scoring unlikely victories against bigger, faster and more famous squads. They had an improbably hot run in last year's Musical March Madness, and this time around they dispatched of indie darlings the Decemberists in relatively short order in the first round. But they'll have to take on a very game Radiohead team who are coming off a big win against TV on the Radio. Which group will keep marching toward immortality and which will have to pack it in until next year? Your votes will tell the tale!

Watch the breakdown of the first round and a preview of round two!

Check out the Musical March Madness bracket and be take a look at the hoops-centric photos of some of the tournament's biggest bands.

Tags #MMM, March Madness, Owl City, Poll, Radiohead, video

I defy even one of you out there to tell me that you predicted wild-eyed boy Casey Abrams would potentially go home on "Idol" on Thursday night (March 24). Haley? Sure. Naima? Maybe. Thia? Good possibility. But "sexy" beardo Abrams? No way.

The good news, I guess, is that Casey was spared (even if he looked like he was going to hurl all over the stage), so next week we have two chances at getting it right. That said, none of the experts on our panel got it right, and "Idol" blogger MJ Santilli was as shocked as anyone at the results.

"I figured Casey had a fan base ready to dial their fingers off no matter what. It's not as if his performance this week was that bad," she said. "It was merely mediocre. But he needed a very good performance Wednesday night to overcome the Nirvana misstep from last week. Performing first probably sealed his fate. People forget about the contestants who perform early."

She suspected that fans may have been too busy trying to save Stefano Langone or Haley Reinhart to vote for Casey. However, Santilli had a different theory. "Despite the judges loving Casey — they rarely criticize him — America just said no to scary growls and crazy eyes."

MTV's own "Idol" maniac Jim Cantiello said in hindsight maybe it's not so surprising that Abrams landed in the bottom of the voting pile. "It was his second performance in a row that had a case of the screechy screamies," he said of Abrams' shouty "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" on Motown night. "After being burned by season nine's Andrew Garcia, who couldn't top his Hollywood Week performance, it appears 'Idol' fans are less patient with one trick ponies."

After three weeks of forecasting this season, here are the current standings:

Gil Kaufman: 2-for-3

Jim Cantiello: 1-for-3

MJ Santilli: 2-for-3

Maura Johnston: 0-for-3

Did you correctly predict Casey's save? Do you think he deserved it? Which two will be next? Leave your comments below and let us know!

Get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.

Tags American Idol, Casey Abrams