It's all over.
South By Southwest 2009 wrapped on Sunday, and we're back in New York, picking through the hours of tape we shot, reminiscing about the good times (check out our favorite SXSW moments) and trying very hard not to fall asleep on our keyboards. This is proving more difficult than I had imagined.
Because after the week-long party that is SXSW, there's the inevitable hangover. And, well, right now, that hangover is fierce — and I don't even drink!
I slept 10 hours last week. On Saturday night, I didn't sleep at all, as we wrapped production at 4:30 a.m., then headed right to the airport for our 7 a.m. flight. The scene at Austin-Bergstrom International was like something out of "Dawn of the Dead," with bands, publicists and hipsters wandering around the terminal like zombies, shoveling breakfast tacos into their mouths. There were bodies sprawled on the floor, heads buried in hooded sweatshirts, sunglasses covering bloodshot eyes. It was like one gigantic commercial for Promises. And it's only gotten worse since then!
Read more...
Last week, in the run-up to Super Bowl XLIII, I did an interview with die-hard Steelers fan/ Arizona resident/ "Rock of Love" lady magnet Bret Michaels about his pick for the big game. As it turns out, he's as good at predictions as he is at wrangling ladies on a tour bus: He came within one point of nailing the final score.
Michaels said the Steelers would beat the Cardinals 27-24. As it turns out, they won 27-23. Seriously, it's like Bret has ESP or something.
Anyway, despite his amazing accuracy with regard to the game's score, he apparently didn't remember his prediction for around 48 hours. So on Tuesday, he called to remind me of his prognostication skills. He also filled me in on his big Super Bowl weekend (Playboy mansion, kicking ass, playing rock and roll), and used the term "awesome" approximately 25 times ...
It was the second time in less than a week that he's left an amazing voicemail for an MTV News employee (read how he made Christina Garibaldi's day, which means that not only is Bret Michaels great at predicting the outcomes of major sporting events, but he seems like a pretty great dude).
Hear the voicemail after the jump! Read more...
So by now you've probably seen my terrifying run-in with Diddy on "FNMTV." Watching it back, it's even more amazing now — especially since, when it happened, it was such a blur.
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, basically, on this week's "FN," Diddy showed up with his newest protégé a smooth R&B crooner by the name of Donnie Klang. Diddy and Donnie then premiered their new video, "Take You There," which is full of models and bottles of vodka, which means it is a lot like other Bad Boy videos released over the past year. Two Bad Boy videos — from Day26 and Danity Kane — had premiered on previous episodes of the show, and I had been rather harsh to both of them.
Apparently, Diddy watches the show.
Read more...
Girl Talk (aka Gregg Gillis), the copyright-busting mastermind behind this year's Feed The Animals album, is a totally sweet dude who loves a good party as much as the next guy. So when we boarded a golf cart with him for a victory lap around the Lolla grounds, he was more than ready to seek out his fellow ragers.
And boy, did he find them. Over the course of one 15-minute trek, he pointed out dudes (allegedly) on a galaxy of mind-altering (not that we'd know). Plus, he got hounded by a lone paparazzo. But he didn’t accomplish his main goal: seeing some boobs and butts.
All hope isn't lost, though. Gillis was more than optimistic that he'd see plenty of both during his Sunday evening set. A man can dream, can't he?
I had heard the stories — you don’t wanna interview MGMT, they’re sorta jerks, they’ll cackle at your questions, ice you with their hipster glares. So, understandably, when I was penciled in to talk with guys backstage at Lollapalooza, I was a little on edge.
But, as it turns out, those stories couldn’t be further from the truth. The duo — Andrew vanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser — have certainly made the festival rounds this summer, and they’d heard all manner of stupid questions, but they were actually super nice, in a sort of glazed, Haight Ashbury kind of
way.
Watch the video after the jump!
Read more...
... Primarily so I don't screw up royally. This is a serious-looking pic of Tim and me at the morning read-through, which is an industry term for "the time where everyone fumbles through and causes the show producers to worry."
I don't know how much I'm allowed to give away about this week's show, but suffice it to say, Pete's lined up a doozy, including a performance by a guy who may or may not have just sold a million records in one week ...
You gotta tune in because, otherwise, what the heck are we rehearsing for?
