I don't know any word that better sums up what Sunday night was like. I have almost 20 years' worth of live MTV events — VMAs, New Year's Eves, Grammy preshows, election nights — to treasure. And yet "Total Finale Live" has to rank up there with the best of them. I think that as much as that has to do with the insane roster of celebs that turned up for our big send-off — proof, if you needed any more, of the enduring impact of this pop phenom — it is also a tribute to the countless former co-workers who came back to join us on this night.

Everywhere I turned was another face I hadn't seen in way too long — Bruce McDonald, Deb Savo, Mike Powers, Tony DiSanto, Ryan Pender. There were too many to name, but all people with whom I share terrific memories and who gave their all to make this show something that really caught lightning in a bottle. I could hardly walk 10 feet without catching up with someone else.

Likewise, the VJs, all my old pals: Dave, Jesse, LaLa, Hilarie (is there a cooler, more real girl around? I think not), Vanessa, Lyndsey, Quddus, Susie. And "the naturals": two guys whose easy, effortless, likable manner has steered this ship for a decade, playing a huge role in the success that it was. I have put in a lot of on-camera time over the years, but I will always envy the smoothness personified by Carson Daly and Damien Fahey. God bless 'em. I was momentarily worried that talking 9/11 with Carson would bring this ultimate party to a screeching halt; needless to say, he handled it just right.

Finally, the artists. Wow. Everyone from Justin Timberlake to Dave Holmes likened tonight to a high school reunion ("only everyone is good-looking," said Dave), and that it was. Looking at the talent lineup tonight, I kept thinking how different life is for so many now, compared to when "TRL" went on the air back in 1998. There was Jonathan Davis and the Backstreet Boys — insanely popular back in the day and still at it today. There was Diddy, the show's most frequent guest, a Renaissance man who, during the last 10 years, has run marathons and been on Broadway, and still somehow manages to make unabashed promotion charming ("TRL" was, after all, first and foremost a promotional platform for its guests). There was Kid Rock, the badass enjoying an improbable comeback year, moved at the memory of the irresistible little guy, Joe C. Christina and Beyoncé, two women who in the show's lifetime have risen to the top of their game. And, of course, Justin. What more can you say about this guy? The bushy-haired standout kid in a boy band has now grown — more than any other artist in "TRL" history — into arguably the biggest pop performer in the world, and rightly so. Fresh off a ridiculously inspired "SNL" performance less than 24 hours earlier, he was his usual smart, sensational self. If there is anything JT can't do, I have yet to see it.

We all gathered for a "class photo" at the end — musicians, VJs and news talent, shoulder to shoulder — and I think for most everyone involved, it was a moment. This was only a TV show, of course. Our lives, careers and pop culture itself will go on, and some of us will probably cross paths another time. But this was a hell of a way to say good-bye.

Thanks, "TRL."

One of my favorite interviews of the year was a summertime sitdown with the Titus guys in a suburban backyard. Hear what they have to say about Shakespeare, Seinfeld, shoegaze and punk — and best of all check out a couple of their rousing tunes.

Indie gossip fact: Titus' brainy Patrick Stickles, one of the more unique frontmen in indiedom, once dated (at the age of 16) Cassie Ramone, from another one of the most talked about bands of the year: the Vivian Girls. See? I can do the Perez thing too ...

The guys are touring with No Age in the coming weeks, making for a damn fine double bill.

So any Madonna fans out there who are strapped for cash, here's why you can — and should! — check out Of Montreal's latest gigs and still get a Madgetastic show for a fraction of the price. Here's a breakdown of which show is better at what:

COSTUME CHANGES!
Madonna: Lots of black. Lots of top hats. Lots of shorts. Also, there's whatever this is.

Of Montreal: Frontman Kevin Barnes dresses like a cardinal! Then, he's a minotaur! He's in a bikini bottom! He's wearing a giant fanny pack! He's covered in fake blood! He's smothered in whipped cream! He's dressed like Prince! Shall I continue?

Advantage: Of Montreal. Half the fun of a Madonna concert is seeing what she's decked out in, but her latest wardrobe is a far cry from the Gaultier-designed Blonde Ambition garb. Stick with Of Montreal's wild and outrageous "WTF ARE THEY WEARING?!?" appeal.

DO THEY LIKE BBQ SAUCE?
Madonna: Madge's tour is called "Sticky & Sweet," thanks to a lyric in the set-opener "Candy Shop."

Of Montreal: Their show is literally sticky and sweet, thanks to a set piece I can only describe as "The Fruit Orgy."

Advantage: Tie. What's more disturbing? The thought of a 50-year-old's "love" being described as"sticky and sweet" — or the image of three scantily clad indie-rock backup dancers eating bananas and citrus in an erotic fashion?

INSPIRED BY "EQUUS"!
Madge: Madonna's previous Confessions Tour had the singer decked out in equestrian-inspired garb.

Of Montreal: Barnes sang "St. Exquisite's Confessions" on horseback. Real horseback. As in, he had an actual live horse on stage. And he sang while sitting on it.

Advantage: Of Montreal. Sorry PETA, but including a live white pony in the proceedings was a breathtaking, unforgettable touch.

McCAIN ON THE BRAIN!
Madonna: One video montage cut between John McCain and Adolf Hitler (dropped from the show on Saturday night).

Of Montreal: One video montage cut between John McCain, Paris Hilton crying in a cop car and Lindsay Lohan crying in handcuffs.

Advantage: Of Montreal. Madge's over-the-top comparison makes the singer look calculated and out of touch, where Of Montreal's McCain references are a sly wink to the Republicans nasty political ads against Barack Obama.

SELL-OUTS?
Madonna: Madonna's latest corporate tie-in involved hair-care products. Remind me again how "4 Minutes" is supposed to make me want to buy shampoo?

Of Montreal: Kevin Barnes (in)famously re-wrote the lyrics to "Wraith Pinned to the Mist (And Other Games)" to shill for Outback Steakhouse.

Advantage: Of Montreal. One gets the impression that Kevin is spending all of his Outback moolah on the band's stage show and increasingly experimental albums. The fans win, even if they now sometimes daydream about Bloomin' Onions while the band performs.

GET INTO THE GROOVE!
Madonna: The 50-year-old Material "Girl" ain't doing so much dancing these days, but its OK: She has backup dancers up the wazoo. Bonus points, however, for Double-Dutch jump roping during "Into the Groove."

Of Montreal: Kevin opened the show with a charmingly awkward sidestep and pogoed during a few numbers later on in the night, but he left most of the choreo to the professionals (dressed as ninjas, tigers and, uh, gold Buddhas).

Advantage: Of Montreal. As technically proficient and wonderful as Madonna's dance team was, there was undeniable charm in the rotating cast of modern dancers on Of Montreal's stage.

MESSING WITH CLASSICS!
Madonna: Madge reinterpreted her old hits in dizzying, exciting new ways. But the gypsy-punk influence on "La Isla Bonita" left a bitter taste in my mouth, only because I already saw her do that arrangement with Gogol Bordello at Live Earth last year.

Of Montreal: The band reinterpreted "That Outback Commercial Song" back to its original, awesome form. They also covered "Smells Like Teen Spirit," which left a bitter taste in my mouth since Kevin had just faked a suicide onstage (by hanging himself) a couple songs earlier.

Advantage: Madonna. Kudos to her ability to make the 900th time she's sung "Like a Prayer" seem fresh and new. And nobody should ever try "Smells Like Teen Spirit," particularly if they're a band known for cutesy antics.

CURRENT ALBUMS!
Madonna: The skeletal singer is promoting Hard Candy, where the Mother of Reinvention transforms into a desperate, confused pop relic, willing to jump into the lab with any current hitmaker.

Of Montreal: The group is promoting Skeletal Lamping, a concept album where frontman Kevin Barnes transforms into a desperate, gender-confused pop relic from the '70s, willing to jump into bed with any paying john.

Advantage: Of Montreal. Skeletal Lamping is a near-flawless record. Musically, conceptually and lyrically, it takes Of Montreal to bold and exciting new places. Sorry Madge, but Hard Candy felt like the musical equivalent of watching your mom sing a Katy Perry song.

FOUR ACTS!
Madonna: The "Sticky and Sweet" show is split into four distinct sections: Art Deco, "Old School" New York, gypsy party and futuristic Japanese rave.

Of Montreal: The latest tour illustrates the life, death and resurrection of Barnes' stage persona Georgie Fruit. And at one point there was a Western saloon setup.

Advantage: Of Montreal. The always-changing set pieces were ingenious representations of Barnes' elaborate lyrics. Madonna may have the budget, but Of Montreal has the soul. Barnes' hanging (and re-emergence in a coffin) is a visual I won't soon shake.

SPECIAL GUESTS!
Madonna: Chris Rock, Kelly Ripa and Jerry Seinfeld were all spotted in the audience at Saturday's Madison Square Garden gig. Kanye West and Britney Spears were among the superstars who appeared in specially produced video packages during the show. Pharrell Williams rocked out on stage for a few songs, too.

Of Montreal: Hmm...John Norris was there? And MGMT's Andrew VanWyngarden joined the band for that embarrassing Nirvana cover.

Advantage: Madonna. Jerry Seinfeld > John Norris. That is, until John becomes a zillionaire TV star thanks to his upcoming sitcom "I'm Not Kurt Loder!" (I've seen the pilot episode, folks, and it's a gut-busting, hilarious surefire hit.)

So there you have it. Yes, Madonna attracts the big A-listers (and is wise enough to let Kurt Cobain rest peacefully), but when it comes to bang for your buck, it's hard to beat Of Montreal's $23 ticket price.

One of the more anticipated left-field bands at this year’s Lolla is the experimental Brooklyn quartet Grizzly Bear, who after a hugely acclaimed 2006 album, Yellow House, have fans hungry for a follow-up. And it’s in the works -- the guys recently completed four songs in a studio in upstate New York, one of which, “Two Weeks,” they unveiled recently on the "Late Show With David Letterman." Normally, Grizzly Bear would not interrupt those sessions to go on the road for any reason. Well, except one. It turns out one of the biggest bands on the planet, Radiohead, tapped GB to open the next couple of weeks of U.S. shows for them. And as Chris Taylor told me backstage at Lollapalooza today (where both bands were playing), that’s an offer you don’t turn down.

(Watch our video interviews from Chicago, including chats with the Cool Kids and the Black Lips, and check back for more all weekend!)

Speaking of expectorate, you can’t spit at this place without hitting a beer stand. Bud Light everywhere you turn, plus there’s a beer garden this year with a ton of microbrews. Food is another matter. No, really. I hiked half a mile until I came across any food vendors. Very odd. Not sure if they are trying to keep the garbage in one place, but not a good move.

On my walk, I passed Perry’s – Perry Farrell’s dance tent in a grove. Very cool atmosphere – though this early in the day, and without the benefit of, you know, the state of mind that makes dance tents fly, it was a bit subdued. DJ Wally Joy on the ones and twos, and hanging from the trees there were day glo fabrics and spheres, from the man who gave you Porno for Pyros and ENIT. Once a trippy dude, always a trippy dude.

Did someone say trippy? Next on my journey, I encountered “Eat Your Own Spaceship,” a circus tent seemingly operated by none other than those creatures from another galaxy called Oklahoma, the Flaming Lips, who are screening their long-discussed film “Christmas on Mars” here at Lolla. The tent is surrounded by pics of the Lips, and written in Russian, a call to make weed weegal.

Finally, I found a vegan burrito (they are gonna starve these people) and now it’s off to an afternoon and evening chatting with Grizzly Bear, Duffy, CSS, the Raconteurs and more. No Radiohead interview, alas. Thom: If you are reading this, I will be on site till about 11 if you change your mind.

(Watch our video interviews from Chicago, including chats with the Cool Kids and the Black Lips, and check back for more all weekend!)

There's nothing like standing under a giant metal stage during a lightning storm — it gets the heart rate up.

But when fellow producers Sarah Muller, Daniela Capistrano and myself headed out with John Norris to interview the Ting Tings, the duo seemed unfazed by the whole we-might-get-electrocuted-out-here thing.

"I think it's dramatic," said Ting Tings frontwoman Katie White, noting that being from England, they are pretty used to the rain. "Maybe the pool will fill up!"

Mother Nature didn’t make things easy for anyone at the at the Jelly NYC Pool Party. I had to balance the wireless mic adapter at a certain angle to avoid static, and to keep both the camera and talent dry, we built a dome of umbrellas. But the wind wasn't having it. A sudden gust took John's umbrella (which he referred to as a small lightning rod) out of the picture, and he had to wrestle it back as it flipped inside out.

Find out how we survived the storm and watch footage of the show after the jump!

Suddenly, hearing yells below us, everyone turned around to see an inflated Slip 'n' Slide collapse on some very soggy sliders. But rather than run back to their tour bus, the Ting Tings just laughed and helped hold umbrellas, and we were able to finish up the interview before they headed onstage.

"You have the weirdest storms here," White said. "We've never seen anything like it. ...You have gale-force winds for like 30 seconds. You know, it like breaks lamp posts, and then they stop. It's crazy." Sure enough, the storm cleared up in time for their show, when we were finally under the "protective" cover of the stage. Go figure!

Pieter who? If you're not up on your art history, allow me: Pieter Bruegel was a 16th-century Flemish painter whose depictions of peasant village life and landscapes with a busy, decidedly twisted look have caught the eye of art lovers for centuries. Now, Bruegel, known also as "Pieter the Elder," has caught the attention of the younger set — or at least two bands creating a buzz within that set.

Seriously, what are the odds that two bands from opposite sides of the country with little in common musically — but which have emerged almost simultaneously in mondo bloggo — would each pay tribute on their debut albums to the same Renaissance master? I'm gonna say slim to none. But that, brothers and sisters, is exactly what we have.

First, there was Titus Andronicus — the six-man, four-guitar New Jersey angst rockers whose debut album, The Airing of Grievances, includes among its many highbrow lyrical mentions a song called "Upon Viewing Bruegel's 'Landscape With the Fall of Icarus' " — a reference to one of the artist's best-known works. It is an odd painting in which the mundane and the mythic exist side by side — as peasants go about their daily chores, plowing the fields, etc, the ill-fated Icarus is falling to his demise. "It's just like a pastoral scene, but the guy's legs are falling into the water next to them," Titus singer Patrick Stickles explained, "and he was apparently trying to get at that even in the face of epic historic tragedy, we are all just still pushing the plow."

Stickles was moved to write the song — which, like the painting, rocks in epic fashion — after letting down a professorial candidate when he refused to write something about the painting in a college creative writing class. He then tried to use the painting to inspire others when he worked as a teacher's aid last year. "There was this one kid who was a really good artist, and he would do amazing doodles, and so on the last day of class, I gave him a print-out of this painting and two poems about it by [W.H.] Auden and [William Carlos] Williams," Stickles said. "I was like, 'Do you see how art and literature are interconnected and all the places you can draw inspiration from?' He was like 'whatever,' and probably never looked at it again. But at least I tried."

That Bruegel reference from Titus was random enough — but imagine my surprise a few weeks later, when I was about to interview Sub Pop's much-lauded indie-folk-chamber-pop harmony-lovin' quintet Fleet Foxes and realized that the cover of their recent debut is a work by none other than that same Pieter Bruegel? Called "The Blue Cloak" (or "Netherlandish Proverbs"), it's a depiction of aphorisms about generally foolish human behavior, from tossing feathers, to biting iron, to taking a dump out a window. Seriously, you can easily spend an hour finding stuff in this busy painting.

"It's this sort of really detailed, 1500s thing, but actually it's horrible, like, everything that's going on is like a disaster," Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold said. "All the stuff happening in that bucolic scene is weird, people defecating out of boxes and sheep getting cut through the gut."

Granted, the FF record deals a lot with death and has a very "old" sound to it — but 16th-century old? Keyboardist Casey Wescott explains it just made sense. "When Robin sent what was to be the album artwork, there wasn't any rational reason, but the minute I saw it, I was like, 'Oh yeah, that feels like it.' Even though it was just a completely intuitive feeling, you know? There was just something that resonated, hearing the songs together and then seeing the cover."

So that's it — different reasons, way different bands, and yet the same painter from 500 years ago. I can't think of anything to explain it, except maybe this: Both Stickles and Pecknold are 22 years old and have big, bushy beards — as did Pieter Bruegel! That's it! It's all in the beards.

Don't say you never learned anything from an MTV Newsroom blog post. And when you impress your friends with this art-meets-indie-rock fact, you can thank Professor Norris. Class dismissed.

I just got back from Paris Tuesday night, and didn't find out 'til yesterday how breathlessly some press outlets in this country (both of the old and new school variety) were jumping on the recent “revelation” in Spin magazine that REM's Michael Stipe is in fact, gay. Never mind that he said as much seven years ago to Time, made the cut for Out magazine’s "Out 100" in the mid-'90s and referred to himself publicly as a “queer artist” – this was CONFIRMATION, dammit – and I suppose it makes for as good a headline as whether Britney’s cameo on "How I Met Your Mother" amounts to a comeback. I love the video rejoinder that Stipe sent to People.com too – the faux-serious “statement” about his band-mates finally being brave enough to admit their heterosexuality. I understand Michael shot that in Paris – wish I’d have known we were both there – we coulda shared a café.

What passes for news these days, after the jump.

Not surprisingly this big gay ‘news’ didn’t really register on the French radar. They have been too wrapped up in the story of how the new first lady of France, ex-supermodel Carla Bruni, announced that her husband, President Nicolas Sarkozy, was dropping a lawsuit against a French magazine’s online operation over the mag’s claim that Sarkozy had sent a text message to his ex-wife Cecilia asking her to come back to him – only days before marrying Bruni. Oh la la. C’est la vie. Think about that for a minute. Our equivalent would be Bush asking Laura to come back to him right before tying the knot with, say, Stephanie Seymour. France is also a country where one of the leading newspapers, Liberation, just yesterday had none other than Stipe’s pal Patti Smith, serve as its guest editor. Very cool. Patti also told Liberation that she is supporting – shocker – Obama for president.

As are all three members of R.E.M. See! I brought it back to them! And you thought I had hopelessly digressed to Paris and Patti. I last saw Michael, Mike and Peter two weeks ago, in Austin, for South By Southwest, where the newly Accelerate-d band unveiled the new gear they have shifted into with a festival-opening performance at Stubb’s. A day earlier we sat down in a conference room at Austin’s Omni hotel, and after much talk of music, the conversation inevitably shifted to politics. So accustomed am I to musicians marching in the Barack army this year that I didn’t even bother to ask who R.E.M. were supporting and simply launched into why the senator from Illinois was their candidate of choice. Their reasons were varied, including the need for a fresh break with the past, and Hillary’s "3AM phone call" campaign ad that Stipe condemned for its "fear mongering." Michael also said he liked the idea of "voting for someone younger than me" (he has a couple of years on Obama).

On a stroll down to Sixth Street, Michael told me that even though the band had never before played SXSW, that he liked visiting Austin – and one reason was a certain high end grocery store chain that has become almost as beloved an Austin cultural contribution as the music festival itself. Check it out.