Every day a multitude of stars wander through the halls of MTV News to talk about their latest projects and goof around with our intrepid correspondents. But sometimes we catch stars elsewhere, and that's why we put together Spotted!, a daily compendium of stars in the wild.

Since Fall Out Boy dissolved last year, bass player and chief songwriter Pete Wentz has been laying relatively low, supporting wife Ashlee Simpson during her endeavors, working on soundtrack songs and developing his new project Black Cards. But he hit the red carpet on Monday (November 8th) for the VH1 Save the Music Gala After Party, which was held at the BLT Bar & Grill at the W Hotel in New York. Wentz traded back slaps with Good Charlotte's Joel Madden, who like Wentz also has a famous significant other (Nicole Richie, with whom he has two children) and a new project (the recently released Good Charlotte album Cardiology, the band's fifth). They were joined by the likes of model Brittany Mason and "The Office" star B.J. Novak.

They weren't the only stars in the public eye, as Cher was spotted in New York on her way to the Glamour Women of the Year event and Bono spoke at the Malaria No More benefit at the IAG Building. Click here for these photos as well as the entire "Spotted" archive, which features over 500 candid shots of stars like Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Jay-Z, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Rihanna, Eminem, the Jonas Brothers, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Shakira!

Tags , , , , , ,

It seems inconceivable, but there was actually a time when you could come home late on a Saturday night and not have "Saturday Night Live" to look forward to. But that all changed on this day in 1975, when "Saturday Night Live" first took to the airwaves. Conceived by Toronto-based comedy writer Lorne Michaels, the show (originally called simply "Saturday Night" during its first two seasons) served not only as an outlet for a fresh, edgy new form of comedy but also provided the launchpad for some of the greatest comedic minds in the history of film and television, from early breakout stars (Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, John Belushi) to mid-period icons (Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Chris Rock) to the more modern day success stories (Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jimmy Fallon).

On that first Saturday in 1975, the show established the format that it still holds to: A cold open (in the case of the first episode, it was a fantastically surreal and extremely brief sketch about an extremely strange English lesson), followed by the opening credits (the first show featured the first nine members of the original "Not Ready for Prime Time Players," misidentified during by announcer Don Pardo as the "Not For Ready Prime Time Players") and a monologue by the show's weekly guest star (comedy legend George Carlin took on hosting duties first, delivering a prolonged bit about the differences between baseball and football). The show also featured a short film by Albert Brooks, a drop-in from the Muppets, an appearance by Andy Kaufman and musical guests Janis Ian and Billy Preston. (Carlin also came back for two stand-up bits later on in the show.)

While the opening season of "Saturday Night Live" is pretty spotty, the first episode holds up pretty well. Though there aren't any necessarily legendary sketches, a lot of the stuff (like the ultra-dark fake commercial for "New Dad Insurance" and the truly weird "Bee Hospital") still gets laughs — and more importantly, still seems fresh and cutting edge. Thing what you will about the current state of the show (which, admittedly, is not great), but the show remains vital and important. In honor of that first crazy Saturday, check out Fall Out Boy's "Saturday."


Tags , ,

There are a lot of options at the cinema this weekend. There is no doubt about that. If you're looking for high-powered laughs, there's "Dinner for Schmucks," which stars Paul Rudd, Steve Carell and Zach Galifianakis in a knockdown, drag-out blast of physical yuks. For something a little more sensitive, there's the Zac Efron vehicle "Charlie St. Cloud," which reminds us all that life is for living (and not hallucinating your deceased little brother).

But we're going to be super-honest: The movie we're most excited about this weekend is "Cats and Dogs 2: The Revenge of Kitty Galore." The sequel to the 2001 digitally-animated animal showdown (the dogs won that particular battle, by the way). The new film sees the animals banding together to take on the titular Kitty Galore (voiced by Bette Midler and described as a "hardcore felinist") in a match of wits, stunts and lots of jokes about fur. In one of the weirdest casts in recent memory, "Cats and Dogs 2: The Revenge of Kitty Galore" also stars the voice talents of Nick Nolte and James Marsden, along with Neil Patrick Harris and Jack McBrayer appearing in the flesh.

In order to get your head wrapped around "Cats and Dogs 2: The Revenge of Kitty Galore," we present the following video playlist. The theme? Cats and dogs. So there are plenty of tributes to the canine world (Belly's "Slow Dog," Fall Out Boy's "Alpha Dog") and the feline perspective (Paul Oakenfold's "Faster Kill Pussycat"), as well as tremendous tunes by Kittie ("Into the Darkness") and Dr. Dog ("Fool's Life"). But let's start with Beyoncé, who sides with the cat world with "Kitty Kat."

Tags , , ,

With the Home Run Derby and the Celebrity Softball Challenge out of the way, there is only one thing left to do, and that's play the 2010 Major League Baseball All Star Game. The match-up between the best players from the American League and the elite athletes from the National League is always an entertaining outing, and probably the best and liveliest all star game in any major sport. Perhaps that is because there is actually something at stake: The winning league gets home field advantage during the World Series in October.

The National League has gone winless in its last 13 tries (they have gone 0-12-1 in that span), but this year's squad might be the one to push them over the top. The main reason is because of their pitching, as the National League features sharp hurlers like Ubaldo Jimenez, Tim Lincecum, Tim Hudson, Roy Halladay and Yovani Gallardo (among a host of others). They also have a handful of great bats, like Albert Pujols, Hanley Ramirez, David Wright, Ryan Braun and Corey Hart.

To get you ready for the All Star Game, check out the playlist below. It has some tributes to the four fundamentals of baseball: Throwing (Superchunk's "Throwing Things"), catching (Fall Out Boy's "What a Catch, Donnie"), hitting (Treal Lee's "Mr. Hit Dat") and running (Coheed and Cambria's "The Running Free"). There are also some homages to greatness (Michelle Williams' "The Greatest," Postal Service's "Such Great Heights") and home field advantage (Mötley Crüe's "Home Sweet Home"). But it begins, as all things do, with Smash Mouth.

Tags , , , , , ,

When the summer comes around, there is usually one movie every week that acts as the alpha dog, the one huge title that dominates the weekend. But sometimes, there are competing titles that vie for the attention of the masses. Such was the case with last weekend's tete-a-tete between "Sex and the City 2" and "Prince of Persia." This weekend sees a showdown between another two big titles: The road trip buddy comedy "Get Him to the Greek" and the giant-dog-who-can-talk flick "Marmaduke."

"Marmaduke" — which legendary film critic Roger Ebert doesn't think is as good as "Garfield" — stars Owen Wilson as the voice of the giant dog who has tormented his owners for over five decades in the daily comic strip of the same name. This film adds a "half-brother" for the titular dog in a cat voiced by George Lopez, a canine love interest given life by Fergie and a villain who sounds alarmingly like Kiefer Sutherland.

In order to prepare for your screening of "Marmaduke" this weekend, check out the video playlist below. It contains a multitude of killer tracks that are dog-centric, including Belly's "Slow Dog," Raging Slab's "Don't Dog Me" and (of course) Snoop Dogg's "Tha Doggfather." There are also homages to cats (Faster Pussycat's "Nonstop to Nowhere," Catatonia's "Road Rage" and Pussycat Dolls' "Buttons," which also happens to feature Snoop Dogg) and, uh, bigness (Clipse's "Kinda Like a Big Deal," Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry").

But we begin with Fall Out Boy. While "Alpha Dog" isn't about Marmaduke (or even really about a dog), there's no other descriptor that is more appropriate for this particular Hollywood canine.

Tags , , ,

Throw up a fist bump to former Fall Out Boy singer Patrick Stump today, as it's his birthday. He is only 26 years old but is already a rock veteran, having served as the voice of Fall Out Boy, one of the bands that helped define the dominant rock trend of the decade. Stump's versatile voice and killer instincts kept him at the forefront of the rock world not only as the frontman for one of the most successful rock bands of the past 10 years but also as a collaborator and producer.

Stump began his musical career as a drummer in a handful of bands in his native Chicago. In fact, he auditioned for Fall Out Boy as a drummer but graduated to the microphone somewhat reluctantly. The group picked up steam pretty quickly, as 2003's Take This to Your Grave picked up supporters in the punk universe and also got the attention of the major labels. By the time 2005's From Under the Cork Tree reached double platinum status and "Sugar, We're Goin Down" became an MTV and radio staple, the Fall Out Boy dynamic became clear: Stump's inventive, catchy music paired with bassist Pete Wentz's lyrics (delivered in Stump's joyous tenor).

The band expanded into other directions with their last two albums (2007's Infinity on High and 2008's Folie a Deux). In addition to his Fall Out Boy work and a just-blossoming solo project, Stump found other work as a guest vocalist (with Gym Class Heroes and Timbaland), songwriter (Cobra Starship, the Cab) and producer (Tyga, Lupe Fiasco). (His hip-hop work is especially spot-on — just check out Lupe Fiasco's "Little Weapon" for proof.)

As a birthday gift for Stump, we've put together a video playlist of some of his best work, from Fall Out Boy's early hit "Dead on Arrival" to the "Open Happiness" collaboration with Cee-Lo Green, Panic! at the Disco's Brendon Urie, Travis McCoy from Gym Class Heroes, Janelle Monae and producers Butch Walker and Polow Da Don. But it kicks off with the breakout hit "Sugar, We're Goin Down," which introduced the mainstream to Stump's killer voice and big-hook sensibilities.

Tags , , , ,

"I play everything on [the record]. And I'm kind of being very strict about that, because it's one of those things where I've always wanted to do it, but also because I've had a lot of friends I've wanted to work with, and it's sort of a nice blanket rule to work under, because then I don't have a sea of guests. Plus, I feel like some musicians are really good at relating to other musicians and improvising on the spot. I don't know if that's my strength. I'm more of an internal musician ... I groove a lot better with myself than I do with other people, so it's a different sound altogether. And it's also this big, convoluted way to get me to play drums again, because I really just miss playing drums. And there's no reason for me to play over [Fall Out Boy's] Andy [Hurley], because he's a really good drummer."

-Former Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump, discussing the one man band approach to his first solo album. MTV News' James Montgomery sat down with Stump in Austin, Texas, where he also made his live debut at this year's SXSW festival. He hopes to have the still-untitled album out by the summer, though he says it continues to evolve in strange and unexpected ways. "I've ended up having a lot of writing to do, that took on a more ... cathartic thing. So it's kind of half-and-half now — I don't really know what record it is anymore. I could've told you a month ago that it was going to be more of a funk record, but now I don't really know."

While the music is happening naturally for Stump, he's having to re-navigate the world without any other band members on whom he can rely. "Everything's kind of been a new learning experience. I'm having to do interviews where what I say matters. It's very strange," he laughed. "I have this big open road right now, as far as how I want to do it. I want to get a band together, and I want to practice, I really want to go out and play shows. And I'm hoping that people like the record enough so I can go do some small theaters and stuff. But we'll see how it goes."

Tags , ,

It's Musical March Madness! The sprawling bracket — both a parody and a tribute to the NCAA basketball tournament, masterminded by MTV News' James Montgomery — takes the 65 biggest names in rock, splits them up into four regions, assigns 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 65. Over the next few weeks, we will present a series of polls that will allow you to vote for the match-ups presented in MTV News' Band Bracketology. You vote for the winners, we'll keep advancing the seeds and, in the end, we'll have some sort of champion. What will the winner receive? Little more than our esteem (as well as that of the fans) and some Internet bragging rights.

The Midwest bracket is just about complete, with only two more pairings left today. On Tuesday (March 23), we'll present the last bracket (the very tough South, featuring heavy hitters like Kings of Leon, Dave Matthews Band, Paramore and John Mayer). Once round one is complete, we'll let you know who came out winners, and we'll move on with 32 bands standing. But right now, check out these four groups in a Midwest tilt.

(8) Pete Wentz vs. (9) Patrick Stump
Each of the two main members of Fall Out Boy have gotten their post-FOB careers off to a strong start. Stump made his live debut to an adoring crowd at SXSW, while Wentz dropped a great tune on the Almost Alice album. They're essentially even, but who holds the slight edge?

(1) Nickelback vs. (16) The Hold Steady
Nickelback are a perennial powerhouse who are constantly moving units, filling arenas and inspiring fist pumping all over the world. They're always around, even if it seems like they're not — just like Georgetown. It seems like an uphill battle for Brooklyn's the Hold Steady, whose brand of hyper-literate bar rock has picked up a small but fervent following. As hoops fans know, Georgetown was upended in a big upset, but can the Hold Steady repeat such a feat?

Tags , , , , ,

By Saimon Kos

The calendar flipped again, which is why it's time for another installment of "2010 in 30," where we look back at the month that was. Don't sell these last 28 days short, because plenty went down during the year's smallest month. So let's take a second (or 30, to be exact) and look back the all the things that made February so memorable.

After January's tragic earthquake in Haiti, February brought celebs from all walks of life together to remake "We Are the World." Elsewhere in the entertainment world, "Lost" returned!

In sports, The Saints marched all the way to a Super Bowl win. But fellow New Orleans native Lil Wayne delayed his jail sentence because of his teeth.

Much further north, the Winter Olympics kicked off in Vancouver. Meanwhile, John Mayer went way off the map in an interview in Playboy.

In band relationship news, Fall Out Boy seems to have broken up, while Aerosmith officially got themselves back together.

There was whimsy, too, as Conan O'Brien and Lil Wayne both join Twitter. Kevin Smith and LMFAO's Sky Blu both grabbed headlines for getting kicked off of planes (though for very different reasons).

Sadly, we ended the month with another tragedy, as Chile was hit with a destructive earthquake. Hopefully March will bring an outpouring of support that country the way the rest of the world came to bat for Haiti.

That about covers it. Enjoy the video below and be sure to tune in at the end of March, when we break it down all over again.

Tags , , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday night's (February 24) episode of "American Idol" didn't provide a whole lot of memorable moments (more on that later), save for another potentially star-making turn care of "Idol" favorite Andrew Garcia. He took Fall Out Boy's breakout hit single "Sugar, We're Going Down" and smoothed it out to a shuffling acoustic ditty that sounded simultaneously sweet and heartbreaking.

Garcia tapped into the same approach that made his stripped-down version of Paula Abdul's "Straight Up" such a head-turner during the audition process. Unfortunately, the judges weren't as enthusiastic about "Sugar, We're Going Down" as they were about "Straight Up" (they seemed to think the treatment of the song was too much of a downer).

Despite the panning from Simon and the rest of the judges, "Sugar, We're Going Down" was an excellent choice for Garcia. It's got nice balance of pop hooks and pathos, and it was remarkable how well it translated from rollicking anthem to slowed-down acoustic torch song.

Here's the question, though: Could Garcia have been making a comment on the fact that we recently pointed out that Garcia sort of looks a lot like former Fall Out Boy guitar tech Brian Keith Diaz? No matter what his intention was, he certainly caught the attention of Fall Out Boy bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz, who e-mailed MTV News' James Montgomery last night to say, "What's up with that dude who looks like Brian Keith Diaz doing 'Sugar' on 'Idol' last night?" Wentz also weighed in via Twitter: "I think he killed it," he tweeted at Ryan Seacrest. "Team Andrew Garcia."

You can check out Garcia's performance here and compare it to the original tune — which still sounds fresh and vital today — in the tongue-in-cheek video below.

Tags , , , ,

Page 1 of 612345...Last »
SPONSORS
AD:
©2012 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved. MTV and all related titles and logos are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.