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Our 6th installment of Photo Highlights of 2008 takes us from one
extreme to the other, from snarling veteran rockers to an all-American belle who can claim 2008 as her breakout year. Click on the images below to access the full collections.
Motley Crue
Katy Perry
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We were blown away by some of the band-submitted videos that hit our
desks. Here's Part 1 of Band Submitted videos, featuring
Innerpartysystem's dark take on SXSW, Katy Perry searching high and low
for boobs to sign at SXSW, and Chester French playing host of the new
CMJ game show, "Is He In a Band?"
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In Part 2 of our Interview Highlights we have Katy Perry talking boobs and dodging a bee, The New Kids on the Block rapping backstage, and Carl Craig taking us along for errands.
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Monday was World AIDs Day, so we caught up with Gym Class Heroes' frontman Travis McCoy, the latest music luminary to join MTV's Staying Alive initiative, to talk the importance of HIV/AIDS awareness, groupies and Kate Perry's hotness.
How does it feel to join the ranks of JT, Beyonce, and Diddy in this effort to spread AIDS/HIV awareness?
I couldn't be more excited. When Staying Alive asked me to help out there was no questions about it.
How did MTV/Staying Alive approach you?
Well, i did some red carpet interviewing for staying alive at the EMA's. It went really well. I did my homework beforehand and i think they were impressed with how things went.
Was there a vetting process for you to become Ambassador?
Not at all, they told me what it entailed and I was in. I think it makes sense for a young man in my position to step up and use the attention I've got to speak on something as serious as the HIV and AIDS crisis.
What kind of engagements/activities are being lined up for you to promote HIV/AIDS awareness?
Aside from me informing our fans about websites they can visit and promoting safe sex, which is something I'd do regardless of my affiliation with Staying Alive, we're planning a trip to Africa as well as a small documentary. Also I'm going to have the opportunity to meet young people that have started their own efforts to make people aware, which I'm really excited for.
What did you do on 12/1, World AIDS Day?
Lots of press.
In the official press release announcing your involvement with Staying Alive, you mentioned that you were "that young naive boy, running around, not caring..." Have you noticed with your touring peers/other bands a recklessness, or do they seem to be wise to the threats of HIV/AIDS?
I think it's something that doesn't get brought up enough, if at all. It's kind of sad but hopefully my involvement will change that.
It seems fitting that you're an Ambassador, seeing as how you're from Geneva (NY). Have you ever been to Geneva Switzerland?
Not yet, hahaha, but if I had a penny for every time I was asked if I was from Switzerland…you know where I'm going with this.
What's the best thing, besides Gym Class Heroes, to come out of Geneva, NY?
Lauren Holley, I guess! Actually there was a band in the 60's called Wilmer and The Dukes that were kind of big and are said to have influenced a lot of pop acts during their time.
What town that you've been to has the most dedicated/craziest groupies?
Chicago. A lot of people think we're from Chicago or L.A. or some reason.
You're about to go on tour with Lil Wayne and T-Pain, how did you all get hooked up?
Booking agents, ha! I couldn't be more excited. We have a lot to prove on this tour, we're going to be in the company of kings. We have so much respect for Wayne and Pain.
Blender just named Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III the best album of 2008 - what are your favorites from 2008?
I'd have to agree with Tha Carter III. I also had a lot of fun with Ne-Yo's record. Slipknot. Gym Class Heroes, hmmm, H20's record is one of my favorites as well.
You are pretty active on your blog - what are some of your favorite websites?
fffound.com, Thisis50.com which is kind of the hood version of perezhilton. Itsthereal.com
What is one album in your collection that your fans would be surprised to learn you have/dig?
Teena Marie, Naked To The World
Last Question: How beautiful is Katy Perry?
In the immortal words of the ever so underrated Keith Murray, she's the "MOST BEAUTIFULLEST THING IN THE WORLD" and "It's JUST LIKE THAT." |
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 - Obama and McCain can stop sucking up to Prince - USA Today reports that the singer doesn't vote because he's a Jehovah's Witness. He is also putting out a book. [USA Today]
+ Two Texas students at Van High School were suspended for playing, you guessed it, Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" at a pep rally. No mention of said teens' opinions of cherry chapstick. [MSNBC]
<< Paris Hilton has released "My BFF" as the theme song for her biffle-search reality show of the same name premiering at 10pm tonight on MTV. [JustJarred]
+ Travis Barker has been released from the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Georgia both he and DJ AM are expected to make a full recovery. [MTV UK]
+ Wal-Mart has announced that they will deactivate DRM from their music store. Ugh, if only they didn't have those strangely delicious popcorn machines we could avoid Wal-Mart altogether now. In other news, Wal-Mart has a blog? [The Washington Post] |
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| The Crawl: The Boss to play Super Bowl |
| Posted 9/29/2008 1:07:00 PM by Nisha Gopalan |
| Filed under: 50 cent, Andre 3000, Bruce Springsteen, Jay-Z, Katy perry, Meg white, Nas, Prince, Ray LaMontagne, Sex pistols, T.i., The crawl, Toby Young, White stripes, Young Jeezy |
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 Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band will imbue the Super Bowl with liberal subtext (see "Born in the U.S.A.," "Sinaloa Cowboys") when they perform at the half-time show in Tampa. [Pitchfork]
Singer Katy Perry, immortalized in doll form, encourages minds to sink deeper into the gutter.
[Prefix]
Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3 will drop Dec. 3 and boast another mix of “Swagger Like This”—his track with T.I.—this one, featuring André 3000, Young Jeezy, and Nas.
[Hypetrak]
Meanwhile, the Vitamin Water’d 50 Cent is still attempting to bump up sales of his upcoming album by persevering with his Jay-Z “feud.” [Prefix]
Prince apparently goes door to door to spread the holy word. [Bossip]
Toby Young, the writer behind How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, explains how he and one of the movie’s producer locked horns over the soundtrack. At the center of the dispute: those clamorous, former whipper-snappers the Sex Pistols. [The Guardian]
Soulful singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne penned a new track about the White Stripes’ Meg White. And it sorta rules. [Stereogum]
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 << Jack White turns into the worst press release ever written while
talking about his new James Bond duet Alicia Keys: "Alicia put some
electric energy into her breath that cemented itself into the magnetic
tape. ... We joined our voices and screamed and moaned about these
characters in the film and their isolation, having no one to trust, not
even themselves. Maybe we became them for a few minutes." [NME]
+ If you told us Da Brat would be the Surreal Life 4 cast member sent to jail for three years, we would not have believed you. Verne Troyer, you win this round. [MTV]
+ Future fashion icon Katy Perry rocks a Mr. Goodbar shirt. [TMZ]
+ Britney Spears can't sing. Still.
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In the following video interview, Katy Perry talks about the realness
of her breasts, her favorite character on Lost and, improbably, the
size of John McCain's ass. Click away:
[Editor's note: This interview was conducted before "I Kissed a Girl"
became the soundtrack to teenage indiscretion nationwide — we're
pretty sure Katy's parents have heard it by now.]
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 Warped Tour '08
Nassau Coliseum; Long Island, New York
Nothing is permanent when it comes to pop music, just ask falling stars like 50 Cent, one hit burn outs like the Baha Men or crumbling CEOs who were making record profits just 10 years ago. Celebrating its 14th
straight year of sweaty punk, skate ramps and chintzy accessories, the
Warped Tour has managed to stay relevant and vital while the music
industry withers away into the broadband ether. The touring festival stays alive
by reacting to the fickle tastes of its suburban teen fan base — it's
flexible. So while stalwart nose-to-the-grindstone punk rock vets
Against Me! provided a fiery set on Saturday's Long Island stop, the thousands of
bikini and/or baseball cap-wearing kids in attendance went just as wild
for keytar-wielding dance-rockers Cobra Starship, rap-rock roustabouts
Gym Class Heroes and no. 1 pop-punk princess Katy Perry. While there
are some hold outs (a wise ass roughneck behind us couldn't help but
point out how much emo-ish heart bleeders Say Anything "sucked" while they played), Warped
Tour's summer vacationers grew up without the kind of dogmatic genre
limitations that may have defined the tour back in 1994 — they're flexible.
To
accommodate teenagers' ever-increasing ability to multi task (and their
ever-decreasing attention spans), there were plenty of distractions —
makeshift Hot Topics overflowing with Skittle-colored Kanye sunglasses, opportunistic sugar water dealers hocking $6 Gatorades, lines of breathless fans waiting to get a t-shirt (or leg) signed by their
favorite band only to write-up the experience in detail on LiveJournal
later that night. If Warped was an internet browser, it would have 12
tabs open at all times, half of them featuring gruesome flash
animations. It's a ritual where Sharpie-stained skin indicates tribal
dominance (or nonsense: one girl had "Warped Banana Bitch!" scrawled on
her torso). Whether a fan is interested in the music, fashion or vague
air of corporatized rebellion, Warped still bursts with unbridled Youth — arms flailing, legs kicking, heads spinning. Check out pics from our favorite acts of the day below ...
Katy Perry:
Say Anything:
Gym Class Heroes:
Cobra Starship:
Automatic Loveletter:
Shwayze:
Against Me!
Crowd:
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