We already know that the members of Cobra Starship are down with party buses, but yesterday the group got a bit of a rock and roll upgrade. In order to get to a show at Indiana University, the band took its first ever trip on a private jet. Frontman Gabe Saporta narrated the experience via his Twitter and included a handful of photos from the trip.

"A Cobra first! Private jet motherf---ers!" Saporta tweeted last night. "We're on our way to play a free show w/Girl Talk @ Indiana University." That show, a charity event to benefit a local shelter for battered women and sponsored by Victoria's Secret, goes down tonight on the school's campus. Indiana competed against five other institutions during the summer to win a visit from Cobra Starship and mashup DJ Girl Talk.

In the meantime, Saporta was excited about the jet. He posted a total of three photos of the plane, and he even attached this caption to the photo above: "You know, I'd really love to continue talking about this conversation, but I got a private jet to catch." Friend and occasional multimedia rival Pete Wentz also weighed in on the band's trip. "I can't imagine how awesome you woulda been back in the heyday of rock music selling," the Fall Out Boy bassist wrote on Twitter.

Through it all, Saporta enjoyed the experience and was slightly amazed at the reaction it got from his bandmates and crew members. "I love how every member of Cobra & our crew tweeted about rollin' in a private jet," he wrote. "I guess we're not that jaded, huh fellas?"

"My number never got out, but here's the catch: that shirt was professionally printed at some T-shirt place, and of course, someone at the T-shirt factory leaked an image of my shirt on the Internet. So I would get, like, 20 calls a day, kids pranking me, singing me songs, whatever. I thought it was funny for a while, and I thought that if I neither confirmed nor denied it, it would go eventually away. Guess what? I was wrong. I was dead wrong."

-Cobra Starship frontman Gabe Saporta, on the fallout of Pete Wentz printing his phone number on a T-shirt and wearing it to the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. Saporta got so many calls that he had to change his phone number. "I canceled my old phone number, got a new number, and I made sure that my new phone number has '666' in it, that way no one will mess with me ever," he said. And he wasn't kidding: He got his revenge on Wentz at last week's Los Premios MTV awards in Los Angeles, where he revealed Wentz's e-mail address during the show. Wentz now knows the pain of information overload, as his account was bombarded with messages.

One of the great double-edged swords in the life of a big-time rock band is international travel. Sure, if you get to a certain point in your popularity, you could visit exotic locales, eat excellent food and meet interesting people. On the other hand, it's likely you'll really only see Rome, Frankfurt and Dublin from the windows of your bus or your hotel room. A little sympathy is necessary when you consider the sort of schedule most of these bands maintain on the road (especially in a foreign country), which is why Cobra Starship frontman Gabe Saporta can be forgiven for having a bit of a meltdown on Twitter earlier today.

The string of tweets (over three dozen in total) began when Saporta responded to a news story about how clothing retailer American Apparel was forced to fire all of their undocumented workers, most of whom were illegal immigrants. "Sorry to go on a political rant, but the U.S. is a country built by immigrants," he wrote. "The Irish, the Italians, etc. As an immigrant, this is hurtful." The statement inspired a number or responses and re-tweets from his followers and friends (in an unrelated dialogue, he was talking to Perez Hilton about cell phone service at the same time). He first buried the Republican party, but eventually threw all politicians under the bus. "Democrats and Reublicans are both horrible. I'm not either," he tweeted. "Just think about: What kind of self-serving ambition would lead one into politics?"

Eventually, Saporta wound down and explained where all the vitriol was coming from. "I normally try to steer clear of politics," he tweeted. "But as an immigrant myself, it's obviously an issue close to my heart that affects me. And it hurts me to see so much discrimination against the people who toil endlessly and without recognition to keep this country afloat."

You would not have considered that the guy behind "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)" and "Good Girls Go Bad" would have such powerful political opinions, but maybe he'll be making his transition into a Bono-type do-gooder sooner rather than later.

The MTV Video Music Awards are just a few short days away, and though there is all sorts of buzz surrounding the performances, the parties and the New York-centric stunts that will be happening all this week into Sunday's broadcast, it's important to remember that the reason the biggest stars in music will gather in Radio City Music Hall is to see who wins the coveted Moonman in each of the 15 categories. We'll be taking a look at each of the top categories, continuing today with the Best Pop Video award. The nominees are Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)," Britney Spears' "Womanizer," Cobra Starship's "Good Girls Go Bad," Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" and Wisin y Yandel's "Abusadora."

Perhaps more than any category at this year's VMAs, the Best Pop Video race seems like it's the most wide open. Each video makes a strong case for the Moonman, as the five clips nominated all have a tremendous amount of buzz surrounding them.

Of course, Best Pop Video is one of several battlefields upon which Beyoncé and Lady Gaga will go head-to-head at this year's top nomination-getters (each scored nine). Gaga is competing for her first set of VMAs, while Beyoncé already has a number of awards under her belt. Britney Spears is the only nominee to ever win in this category before (last year, she took home the prize for Best Pop Video for "Piece of Me").

You would think that Cobra Starship would have an uphill battle ahead of them in the pop category, but there is a precedent for rock bands winning this Moonman, as No Doubt have taken home the prize twice (for "Hey Baby" in 2002 and "It's My Life" in 2004). And then there's Wisin y Yandel, who are making their first VMA appearance but are no strangers to winning awards, as they've taken home a number of Latin Grammys in their distinguished career. Could they be the big underdog that ends up on top this year, the way that Panic! at the Disco did in 2006? There's only one way to find out, and that's to tune in to the MTV Video Music Awards Sunday night.

The 2009 MTV Video Music Awards are less than 20 days away, and anticipation continues to build. More performers will be announced later this week, fleshing out the lineup already overflowing with stars like Jay-Z, Green Day, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Pink and Muse. In honor of the Video Music Awards' return to New York City (after dalliances with Los Angeles and Las Vegas), MTV recruited Swift, Cobra Starship, Ne-Yo, Katy Perry and host Russell Brand to participate in a variation on the classic song "Tonight," from the iconic Broadway musical "West Side Story." In the clip, which is in its full-length form below, the performers each hang out in iconic New York locations (an alley, a subway station, a rooftop garden, the back of a cab) and sing customized verses that drop in portions of their own tunes.

The whole show goes down on Sunday, September 13, at New York City's legendary Radio City Music Hall. For the second straight year, Russell Brand will assume hosting duties for the show, which features Beyoncé and Lady Gaga tied for nine Moonman nominations each. Will Pink and Katy Perry kiss? They might! But you won't know unless you tune in.

"Britney, Justin, Cobra — you think of one, you think of all three. Actually, we're probably better. Our leg up on those guys is that we all do our own choreography."

-Cobra Starship frontman Gabe Saporta talking about why his band now holds dominance over Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears. The band premiered a promo video for the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards where they dance in the New York City subway system. "Last year, we were not invited. When we had 'Snakes on a Plane' [in 2006], they invited us, because they thought we'd bring Samuel L. Jackson. When we failed to bring him, they were like, 'Next year, you guys are ixnayed,'" Saporta told MTV News. "So this year, we agreed to sing and dance for them, so hopefully we can get invited to the VMAs." Cobra Starship are nominated for two Moonmen at this year's show, which will take place at New York City's Radio City Music Hall on September 13.

After 12 hours of sun, sweat and music, we thought we were ready to stick a fork in Saturday (especially after Rage Against The Machine beat us into submission). But when Pete Wentz extends an invitation, you accept (after all, he's kind of MTV family now). So there we were, tucked away in the closest thing that his Angels & Kings club has to a quiet spot hanging with Cobra Starship, The Academy Is... and, of course, our host (and the Mrs). Pete was fresh from Grant Park where he took in as much of Lolla as he could (though he told us that, ironically, an "artist" credential means there's really nowhere to watch the show), while Cobra Starship and The Academy Is... are both in the middle of Warper Tour runs.

Gabe Saporta and company managed to summon the energy for a late night performance, grooving through a fistful of songs "to have sex to" as he put it. The house was packed with old friends, and a warm vibe filled the room. Still, a couple of the guys we talked to admitted to having Lolla envy. See what Pete and The Academy Is... had to say about Lollapalooza taking over Chicago after the jump.

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By Dave Harrison

With the 4th of July just around the corner, you're probably looking forward to all sorts of things: swimsuits, suntans, and of course the ultimate S-word, summer. But there’s only one preoccupation for punk-rockers all across North America, and that, of course, is the Warped Tour! We recently caught up with Gabe Saporta and Victoria Asher of Cobra Starship, to give you all yet another reason to battle the heat at America’s longest-running migratory mosh pit.

You may recall Starship’s hit song “Bring It (Snakes on a Plane),” which featured Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes, William Beckett of The Academy Is ... and Maja Ivarsson of the Sounds. Well, the intrepid Warped Tour-goer may just notice that two out of those three acts will be on the tour alongside Cobra Starship. Gabe let us in on a secret that confirms everybody’s hopes that the band will take full advantage of the situation.

There are several things that are awesome about Cobra Starship's new "Guilty Pleasure" video (above), and Patrick Stump's cameo is most of them. Don’t get us wrong, we're suckers for Rollerblades, Zubaz, and DeLoreans, but it's P's turn as Cobra's manager -- "Rob McFlynn" -- which steals the show (and not just because he appears sans hat, for probably the first time ever).

No, we love it because he's doing a dead-on impression of Fall Out Boy (and Cobra Starship's) real-life manager, the burly and barrel-chested Bob McLynn. Stump's no stranger to acting (earlier this year he logged a "Law & Order" cameo), but his McLynn impression is so great -- check the bellowing baritone and the wild gesturing -- that we have a newfound respect for the frontman. He's like our very own Rich Little or something.

Anyway, we're also fired up about the impression because back in March, when we were down in Chile with Fall Out Boy on the whole Antarctica debacle, we witnessed Stump working on his McLynn impression first hand. And we've got the video to prove it.

For a rare look inside the mind of a Method actor, watch the clip after the jump. Read more...

·Paris Hilton’s blogging about her romance with Benji Madden. “Mood = loved.”

·“Project Runway”’s crazy Lifetime logic revealed!

·Charlie Daniels (“The Devil Went Down to Georgia”) is pissed his song is in “Guitar Hero III,” and thinks the game is evil.

·Cobra Starship’s Gabe Saporta apologized to fans for “doing a sh---y job singing” on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien.”

·Controversy strikes the set of “Gossip Girl.”