MTV News |
- Nirvana Trash A Hotel One 'Fabulous Yet Wrong' Night
- Snooki, JWoww Say 'Jersey Shore' Fight Is 'A First'
- Demi Lovato To Shoot 'Who's That Boy' Video 'Soon'
- R.E.M. Breakup: Life's Rich Pageant
- 'X Factor' Debut: Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul Reunite At Judges' Table
- Troy Davis Put To Death
- Robert Pattinson Is In 'Every Second' Of 'Cosmopolis'
- Red Cafe 'Celebrating Women' In 'Fly Together' Video
- Demi Lovato Puts Her 'Spin' On Lil Wayne's 'How To Love'
- Big Boi, Freeway, Pill Encourage Prayers For Troy Davis
- Brad Pitt Explains Making 'Moneyball' Without Steven Soderbergh
- R.E.M. Call It Quits
- B.o.B Responds To Unpaid Bar Tab Accusations
- Mindless Behavior Predict Big Things For <i>#1 Girl</i>
- Demi Lovato's <i>Unbroken</i> Is 'Impressive,' 'Empowering'
- Troy Davis Supporters Make Last-Minute Appeal For Death-Row Inmate
- Young The Giant Psyched About Their VMA Bump
- Guns N' Roses To Launch First U.S. Tour In Five Years
- Mark Wahlberg Talks 'Fighter' Sequel, Wahlburgers
| Nirvana Trash A Hotel One 'Fabulous Yet Wrong' Night Posted: 22 Sep 2011 03:53 AM PDT In celebration of Nevermind's 20th anniversary, Kurt Loder recalls a seriously costly interview with the band.
In December 1993, Nirvana sat down with MTV News' Kurt Loder in the frozen expanses of St. Paul, Minnesota — but only on the condition that he also sit down with one of the opening acts on their tour: all-girl Japanese punk act Shonen Knife. It was, in retrospect, a very Nirvana thing for them to do: Kurt Cobain loved nothing more than lifting some of his favorite bands up into the spotlight. And while Loder would write about the entire back-and-forth that led to the interview in a 2004 feature for MTVNews.com called "Nirvana: Days of Thunder," the story of what happened afterward is just as compelling — mostly because it involved $19,000 in property damages.
So in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Nirvana's iconic Nevermind album, we sat down with Loder to get the full story of that interview — the last time he'd ever see Cobain before the frontman's suicide in April 1994. And the tale of wanton destruction he told is not only one for the ages, but it reminds us that, no matter how much they've been mythologized in the 20 years since they first burst forth onto the mainstream, Nirvana were very much just a trio of young guys, coping with fame and, sometimes, behaving as young guys often do: very badly. Nirvana's rise to fame, in their own words. "Everyone was wondering, 'How will Kurt be? Will he be weird?' He wasn't weird; he was just not hanging around. We had got the guys set up, we had done Shonen Knife first, and then Kurt came in last and sat down. We did the interview, and he was great," Loder said. "He was funny, he knew to be funny, and he's very dry. He was very bohemian. He was almost like a beatnik or something. He hearkened back to that age. "And that was it. [After the interview], he had to go into his room and, whatever, and so I went upstairs with [drummer] Dave [Grohl] and [bassist] Krist [Novoselic], and they just got really, really drunk. Not that I was trying not to get drunk, but I didn't get as drunk as they did," he continued. "And at one point, Krist just took this picture off the wall and just broke it against the wall, and then they started destroying everything in this room. And it's, like, 4 in the morning, and we hear that hotel security is coming up, so I said, 'Well, it's really time for me to leave.' So I'm leaving, going to the elevator, they're behind me, because they want to go down to my room; they don't want to get in trouble either." So, of course, Loder let them in (how could he not?), but rather than cool their heels, Grohl and Novoselic only continued smashing things. After all, it was 4 a.m. and, yes, they were still very drunk. "So we go down to my room, and they do the same thing. They're just breaking chairs and tables, and I was not drunk. ... The band's minder said, 'Well, you must've been doing it too,' and I was like, 'Actually, no,' " Loder laughed. "I was saying, 'Please don't destroy the television set in my room.' It was hard, you know, to use a coat stand [to break a TV set] — you'd figure it would go right through it — but you had to continue doing it before it finally works. They were just out of their minds; it was fabulous in a way and yet wrong. ... Don't do that at home. And the bill the next day was, like, $19,000." For the record, Loder wasn't sure who picked up the tab. But in a lot of ways, he found the whole hotel-trashing incident to be rather refreshing. Because, like much of Nirvana, it recalled a time when rock and roll bands lived for antics like that — a time that, coincidentally, also produced some of the finest rock acts to ever walk the earth. "I thought they were great. ... They had the thing all great bands had. It was three guys coming together, but when they play together, it's like something bigger than all three of them. It was like this enormous energy center. It's like the Who, although they resembled the Who in no other way, but it was that energy," he said. "And I think they unified people at the time, brought people in that maybe had given up on that kind of music and said, 'Oh, wait a minute, this is really, really good.' They were just great musicians." Stick with MTV News all week as we reveal the Nevermind You Never Knew, celebrating the 20th anniversary of Nirvana's definitive album with classic footage, new interviews and much more. |
| Snooki, JWoww Say 'Jersey Shore' Fight Is 'A First' Posted: 22 Sep 2011 03:53 AM PDT 'But we're still best friends,' Snooki tells MTV News of argument on tonight's episode.
Season four of "Jersey Shore" has been jam-packed with a whole lot of drama, from the castmates' weekly hookups to the almost-weekly fights. You'd think by now we've seen everything Italy has to offer, right? Well, think again.
As if the infamous fighting match between the Situation and Ronnie wasn't enough, on Thursday's (September 22) episode, two of the most unexpected housemates are set to faceoff: Snooki and JWoww. When MTV News caught up with the besties, they opened up about what went down. "When you're best friends and you're drunk ... sometimes you fight, you know, that's what happens," Snooki told us about the fight. Snooki and JWoww take their argument to the streets of Florence after Snooki's boyfriend, Jionni, abruptly leaves a club claiming Snooki is "embarrassing" him by dancing provocatively. JWoww decides to put Snooki in her place, screaming, "You want a reality check? I just gave you one!" While viewers will likely be shocked to see the two BFFs squaring off, fans should rest assured there's no lasting fallout from the argument. "Me and Jenni, we just never really screamed at each other like that," Snooki said. "That was a first, but we're still best friends." And JWoww agreed, saying that she and Snooki, who are set to shoot their own reality show, wouldn't let a little fight ruin their friendship. "Me and Nicole love each other. She is my little sister and I'll protect her, but there are those moments that we just want to go at it," JWoww explained. "And the best thing about our moments are they have nothing to do with ourselves. We aren't actually fighting about each other, we are fighting because external things piss us off. So when we look back, we are laughing like, 'Dude, why did we do that?' " Don't miss "Jersey Shore" every Thursday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on MTV! |
| Demi Lovato To Shoot 'Who's That Boy' Video 'Soon' Posted: 22 Sep 2011 03:53 AM PDT 'We're in the middle of getting the treatment and things put together,' she says of just-announced Unbroken single.
Hey Lovatics: Demi Lovato is dishing on her next single, and her choice is the antithesis of her lead Unbroken track, the empowerment ballad "Skyscraper."
When MTV News caught up with Lovato as she celebrated her album's release, she revealed that she's chosen the flirty dance track "Who's That Boy" as her next radio single, which features Dev and boasts production and writing from Ryan Tedder, Noel Zancanella and Devin Tailes. Demi is certainly having fun on the song, on which she sings lines like "I've been staring at ya/ And I could do it all night/ You're looking like an angel/ With the kind of body that needs a spotlight." "We're in the middle of getting the treatment and things put together," Lovato said of her next music video. "So hopefully we'll be shooting that soon." The song is certainly a more grown-up side of the 19-year-old, but she said she's not ready to grow up too much. "I think it's grown-up, but it's not too grown-up," Lovato told us about Unbroken. "It's not tasteless. It's growing up with my fans. It's [like] I'm not a kid anymore, but I'm also not a full-grown woman either. So I'm in that in-between stage, trying to figure out where that is. So I'm figuring it out, just like my fans are." Now that the album is out, Lovato said she doesn't really know what's next. "We don't know what the tour plans are next, but hopefully I'll be touring soon," she said. "I'm looking forward to kind of just finding out what's next. I don't know what's next — if it's a movie, if it's touring, I don't know. We'll find out." What do you hope is next for Demi? Let us know in the comments! |
| R.E.M. Breakup: Life's Rich Pageant Posted: 21 Sep 2011 02:51 AM PDT Band was uncompromising and hugely influential during 31-year career.
Some bands have a sound, some have a look, others a strange allure you can't quite explain and, in rare cases, all three. R.E.M. were one of those bands. The long-running alt rock godheads who packed it in after 31 years on Wednesday (September 21) will be remembered for a lot of things by a lot of the people who bought millions of their albums. But I'll remember them best for the consistent, exquisite confusion they sowed.
It's hard to put your finger on how this strange brew came to define the alternative-rock era of the mid-1980s and early 1990s. Peter Buck's iconic, chiming, Byrds-inspired guitars — which came to be known simply as his signature "jangle" — bassist Mike Mills' flawless high harmonies and Nudie-suit style, original drummer Bill Berry's economic, steady-on drumming and singer Michael Stipe's cryptic ... everything. This was a band that should have had no chance of becoming what they did. They were too odd, too hard to unpack. From day one, contemporaries like U2 had soaring rhetoric and urgent arena-reaching power that seemed destined to conquer the world through a combination of ambition, chutzpah and titanic riffs. But R.E.M.'s alchemy was darker, not as immediately obvious, which is what made all the difference. They literally made no sense. From their 1983 full-length debut, Murmur, through to their final, 15th album, this year's Collapse Into Now, Stipe's lyrics were like Zen poetry: knotty, stream-of-consciousness and thought-provoking in a way 99 percent of rock music never is, or was. You couldn't sing along because half the time it was hard to hear what he was even saying. And when you did find out, the Rubik's cube just spun again as you tried to decipher what he was all about. R.E.M. made you work for it. It didn't matter if you were inspired enough to dig into their muses, which ranged from beat poets and mad literary ravers like William S. Burroughs to punk godmother Patti Smith and the Flying Burrito Brothers, or just let their music wash over you. The end result was that you left with more than you came in with. Even when they hit the sweet spot with hits like "Everybody Hurts," "The One I Love," "Shiny Happy People" and the multi-VMA-winning "Losing My Religion," R.E.M. challenged you in other ways, through arty, envelope-pushing videos. I got the chance to interview the band a number of times in the mid- to late '90s and early 2000s, and I probably worked harder preparing for those chats than for any others I'd done before or since. Because, like in their music, R.E.M. tested you in interviews. They didn't give pat, pre-planned answers. They fired back honestly and unflinchingly when it felt like the questions were unfair or slanted and always focused on the one thing that mattered most to them: the music. With few exceptions, you didn't read tabloid reports about the personal lives of the group's members, their finances or Hollywood exploits. Mostly that was because there weren't any tales to tell. The stories were all there in the grooves, in songs like "Talk About the Passion" and "World Leader Pretend." Their inner circle was a trusted group of friends and advisers that changed little over the years, one they treated like family. They were also one of rock's most politically and socially literate groups ever, supporting everything from PETA to Rock the Vote, environmental causes and human rights. R.E.M. showed the world, and such acolytes as Nirvana and Pavement, that you could stick to your guns and keep making the music you heard in your head even if it wasn't fashionable — especially if it wasn't fashionable. Talk about the passion. Share your favorite R.E.M. memories in the comments below. Related Videos Related Artists |
| 'X Factor' Debut: Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul Reunite At Judges' Table Posted: 21 Sep 2011 08:45 AM PDT Highly anticipated Fox singing show puts emphasis on contestants' hopeful backstories over gag auditions.
A 20-year-old mama's boy, a 42-year-old stay-at-home mom and a 13-year-old with big pop dreams were among the discoveries on Wednesday's (September 21) two-hour premiere of "The X Factor," Fox's highly anticipated new singing competition.
The show, adapted from the British hit, featured the American television return of Simon Cowell who, after nine seasons, left "American Idol" to launch "X Factor" Stateside. Cowell was joined on the judges' panel by record executive Antonio "L.A." Reid, his former "Idol" sparring partner Paula Abdul and pop stars Cheryl Cole and Nicole Scherzinger, who played a game of musical chairs in the premiere episode. (Cole appeared at the L.A. auditions, and then ceded her chair to Pussycat Doll Scherzinger.) There are several major differences between "X" and "Idol," foremost being the $5 million recording contract that will be awarded to the "X Factor" winner. Other distinctions? "X" is open to singers ages 13 and up, including groups of artists; contestants will eventually be divided into four categories (boys, girls, over-30s and groups); and early audition rounds are held in front of a live audience rather than the closed quarters of the early "Idol" rounds. Also, judging by its premiere offering, "X Factor" is going for a more hopeful, positive vibe than "Idol," focusing on contestants' inspirational backstories rather than gag auditions. This tone was set early with the first contestant at the Los Angeles tryouts, 13-year-old Rachel Crow, who even at her young age called the audition "the most important thing I've ever done in my life." The spiral-haired Crow, who sang a cute, spirited version of Duffy's "Mercy," told the judges she wanted a bigger home for her six-person family, which is currently crammed into a two-bedroom home. The judges took to her act, with Paula saying she did "exactly what we need people to do on this stage." She sailed through to the next round, perhaps a beneficiary of the judges' early good moods. Siameze Floyd, a 30-year-old "megastar"-in-waiting, who already has dreams of his own energy drink ("Siamenergy!"), had a slightly tougher road to travel. With his blown-out Prince 'do and heels to match, he took the judges by surprise with a series of spins, splits and high kicks that recalled David Lee Roth by way of James Brown. L.A. Reid wasn't sold, questioning Floyd's "originality," though the other three judges sent him through, despite (or perhaps because of) Cowell's prediction that "he will be a total, utter nightmare." The disagreement between Reid and Cowell was teased in a montage of the two bickering with each other, all set to "Eye of the Tiger." If "Idol" was focused on the back-and-forth between Simon and Paula, "X Factor" is foreshadowing a clash between the two big dogs at the opposite ends of the judges' table. But both Cowell and Reid were able to agree on Stacy Francis, a 42-year-old stay-at-home mom who treated her tryout like her last shot at glory. Saying she'd been kicked around and told she was too old for the past 12 years, she told Cowell, "I don't want to die with this music in me," and proceeded to let it out with a version of Aretha Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" that Cowell called "one of the best auditions I've ever heard in my life." Francis handily graduated to the next level of the competition, sob story in tow. Seattle auditions were highlighted in the show's second hour, and 20-year-old Marcus Canty wowed the judges with his confident, footloose take on Stevie Wonder's "I Wish." Reid, in one of the show's biggest votes of confidence, compared the singer to a young Bobby Brown, while Cowell tagged him as "one to watch." Canty, a self-described "mama's boy" who put off college to pursue his pop dreams, fell to the floor of the stage when he heard the ovation from the crowd. The Anser, a boy band trio from Salt Lake City, Utah, also made an impression, but the show's closing slot was given to Chris Rene, a 28-year-old trash collector and recovering substance abuser whose original song, "Young Homey" won over the judges as well as the crowd at the Seattle arena. The song featured confessional sung/rapped verses, and Rene entered into a (slightly shaky) falsetto at the chorus, but the judges scooped it up. "What did you write, 'Lil homey, what you trippin' on'?" Scherzinger asked, referencing the lyrics of the song. "Yeah honey, I'm trippin' on you. I'm serious." She said that Rene had, you guessed it, the "X factor." The two-part "X Factor" premiere continues Thursday night on Fox. What did you think of "The X Factor" premiere? Let us know in the comments! |
| Posted: 22 Sep 2011 09:23 AM PDT U.S. Supreme Court denies Georgia death-row inmate's last-minute appeal for stay of execution on Wednesday night.
In the end, the spirited rallies, petitions, vigils and digital support on Twitter weren't enough to save death-row inmate Troy Davis. The Georgia inmate, convicted of killing police officer Mark MacPhail, was put to death by lethal injection and pronounced dead at 11:08 p.m. ET on Wednesday (September 21).
Individuals present said that Troy Davis maintained his innocence to the very end and told his friends and family to keep praying, according to CNN. The execution was earlier scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday, but Georgia state officials delayed it as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on whether to grant Davis' request for a stay of execution. At 10:21 p.m., CNN.com reported that the Supreme Court had denied Davis' motion for a stay. Davis had been fighting to win a clemency ruling that would spare him the death penalty after he was found guilty in the 1989 killing of MacPhail. The Georgia police officer was working as a security guard at a Savannah-area Burger King in August 1989 when he tried to help a man who was being assaulted in a nearby parking lot. Davis was fingered as the assailant and during his 1991 trial, a number of witnesses testified that they saw Davis shoot MacPhail, though a murder weapon and DNA evidence were never recovered from the scene. Ballistics tests, however, showed that the fatal shot came from the same gun used in another shooting in which Davis was earlier convicted. Davis' lawyers argued that new ballistics tests disprove the prosecution's case and that seven of the nine original eyewitnesses changed all or part of their testimony in later proceedings. The long-running case has garnered worldwide attention and Davis' cause was taken up by groups and individuals such as Amnesty International, the NAACP, former President Jimmy Carter, the Pope, civil rights leader Al Sharpton and former FBI director William Sessions, who all called on the courts to grant Davis a hearing in light of the new evidence. Many entertainers voiced their displeasure with the Davis execution on Wednesday night. Big Boi, who was among the large crowd outside the prison protesting in an effort to raise awareness and ultimately save Davis' life, tweeted throughout the day. He ended with a poignant note: "Just remember we fought til the very end....peace and Blessings." The Outkast MC (along with Atlanta rapper Pill) even appeared on Wednesday's "RapFix Live," urging supporters to continue to pray. "The best thing to do is you gotta pray," Big Boi said via Skype from Atlanta. "Anything is possible; we're looking for a miracle right now." Unfortunately for Troy Davis, his family, friends and supporters, that miracle never came. Related Videos Related Artists |
| Robert Pattinson Is In 'Every Second' Of 'Cosmopolis' Posted: 21 Sep 2011 02:49 AM PDT 'It's a very, very tricky part, and he was really at home with it,' co-star Paul Giamatti tells MTV News.
We've got a load of questions about Robert Pattinson's "Cosmopolis," chief among them how director David Cronenberg intends to adapt a novel, penned by postmodern wizard Don DeLillo, which takes place in one day, largely within one traffic-stalled limousine.
It all makes sense on the page, with so much of the action in this novel of ideas taking place in the head of Eric Packer, a young and rich asset manager who every so often hops out of his ride to sleep with women and get into violent confrontations with menacing strangers. But how all this plays out — and how strictly Cronenberg, who also penned the script, sticks to the source material — remains to be seen. If we can read into co-star Paul Giamatti's recent comments to MTV News, it seems the film and book will retain one key similarity: It's all about Packer. "He's in every second of this movie," Giamatti said of Pattinson while promoting "The Ides of March" at the Toronto International Film Festival. "The whole thing is him." That's a lot of pressure for a young actor who has shined in the "Twilight" films and taken on romantic dramas like "Remember Me" and "Water for Elephants," yet has never worked with such dark, cerebral material — and a director so comfortable with such things. Nonetheless, Giamatti says Pattinson nailed the role. "He seemed absolutely great. It's a very, very tricky part, and he was really at home with it," he told us. "I was really impressed." The novel intercuts, every so often, the psychotic musings of Benno Levin, the character played by Giamatti. "I get to stalk him," the actor told us at Sundance back in January. That's not all he does. We'll leave it at that, lest we dive into spoiler territory. But the story gets dark. Really dark. And that's right up Cronenberg's alley, a director who made his name in the horror genre and has lately taken on brashly violent material like "Eastern Promises." Cronenberg the man, however, is very different than Cronenberg the filmmaker, Giamatti assured us. "[He's an] incredibly sane man, when you think about the movies he makes," he said. "He's an incredibly grounded and sweet, sane guy. It was pure pleasure. I had a great time doing it. I'm a big fan of his, so that was a very exciting thing." Check out everything we've got on "Cosmopolis." For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com. Related Videos |
| Red Cafe 'Celebrating Women' In 'Fly Together' Video Posted: 21 Sep 2011 08:11 AM PDT Rick Ross and Ryan Leslie join RC on post-apocalyptic video set.
LOS ANGELES — Setting foot on the set of Red Café's music video for "Fly Together" on Tuesday night, you might have thought you were in the middle of a Hollywood blockbuster. The Colin Tilley-directed clip was set in what looked like an industrial wasteland meets an apocalyptic auto graveyard.
Red Café was joined on set by his "Fly Together" collaborators, Rick Ross and Ryan Leslie. The trio towered above the set on steel cargo containers as smoke billowed in the background and a demolished car dangled in the air. "Oh, man, this set is crazy," Red told MTV News. "Shout-out to Colin Tilley. He's amazing as well, and his vision just came to life here on this set. [He] got me up here like I'm Evel Knievel or something on this. You know, I was very nervous up there." While it was definitely an impressive spectacle, the Brooklyn MC focused more on the message when breaking down the video's treatment. "The treatment is really just kinda celebrating women, showcasing their independence and they could be your equal, and that's something that I recognize in a lot of women and I just wanted to bring that to life, visually," RC said. "So it's really just showcasing that a woman can be independent and she could have her own thing going on." As far as how the track came together, the Bad Boy/ Konvict Music rapper told MTV News it happened rather quickly. "Me and Ryan Leslie put this record together in New York," he said. "I was just excited to work with Ryan. I think Ryan is a genius. We did two days in the studio. The first day we was just vibing, just to like, just try to connect and get each other's vibe. And the second day we went in there and we created this record and immediately I heard Ross' voice on there — I'm just a fan of what Ross do — and I reached out to him and played him the joint, and he loved it." Related Artists |
| Demi Lovato Puts Her 'Spin' On Lil Wayne's 'How To Love' Posted: 21 Sep 2011 03:02 AM PDT Unbroken singer tells MTV News she 'tried to make it a little more empowering.'
Demi Lovato is back to performing live. And in addition to singing tracks off of her just-released album Unbroken, she's also dazzling crowds with her stirring first-person rendition of Lil Wayne's "How to Love."
Video of her singing the track has become a viral smash, and when MTV News caught up with the "Skyscraper" singer on Wednesday afternoon (September 21), she seemed pumped to talk about the cover. "I just loved the way that Lil Wayne took a risk doing the song 'How to Love,' and when I really listened to it, it's such a great song." The song is about a damaged young woman who has never really known the power of true love, but finds strengths in her experiences as the song closes out. Lovato found a female empowerment theme in the single and decided to perform it as the female character. "It has such a deep meaning to it and I wanted to perform that and I put a little spin on it and tried to make it a little more empowering," she explained. "And I think it fit with the platform and the message that I have with my fans." So, has Lovato heard from Wayne about her acoustic version? "No, I haven't," she said. "If I did, I would die of happiness." Lovato was equally excited when we asked whether fans might soon catch her performing the track onstage with Wayne. "Oh, I don't know," she said. "Oh my gosh, that would be amazing. I've never met him in my life, so if I got to be on stage with him, I would just die." Do you think Wayne and Demi should perform the song together? Tell us your thoughts in the comments! Related Photos Related Artists |
| Big Boi, Freeway, Pill Encourage Prayers For Troy Davis Posted: 21 Sep 2011 04:26 AM PDT 'It's just too much doubt,' Outkast MC tells 'RapFix Live' of Georgia death-row inmate's scheduled execution on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET.
With the planned execution of Georgia death-row inmate Troy Davis set for Wednesday (September 21), Big Boi and Freeway are asking people to pray.
"The best thing to do is you gotta pray," Big Boi said on Wednesday's "RapFix Live" via Skype from Atlanta. "Anything is possible; we're looking for a miracle right now." In-house "RFL" guest Freeway agreed with the Outkast rapper. "I think Big Boi said it the best: The best thing people can do is pray for him, man. The power of prayer is unbelievable, man." Davis' lawyers have been fighting for a last-minute appeal on his behalf, hoping to be granted a clemency ruling that would spare him the death penalty after he was convicted in the 1989 killing of Georgia police officer Mark MacPhail, a crime Davis claims he did not commit. Big Boi has been supporting Davis' family. And when he Skyped into "RapFix Live" at approximately 4:30 p.m. ET, just hours before the inmate's scheduled execution, he told host Sway that he was at a rally outside the prison in Jackson, Georgia, where Davis is being held. "It's a lot of support, a lot of people," Big said of the rally. "They got over a million petition signatures saying they should commute his sentence or grant him clemency, so it's an injustice for everybody right here, right now." Pill, who first helped shed light on Troy Davis' situation by flashing a "Justice for Troy Davis" poster in the video for his 2009 single "Trap Gon Ham," also spoke his piece. "I think it's an injustice," the Maybach Music rapper told Sway via Skype. "I feel like somebody like Martin Luther King marched for things like this not to happen and it feels like it was pointless." Atlanta-based Pill went on to compare Davis' case with the controversial Casey Anthony verdict earlier this year. "He's an innocent man, how can you kill an innocent man," Pill questioned, "and you let a woman who you know killed her daughter walk free? That's messed up." Big Boi was a bit more measured with his words, pointing out that Davis' lawyers have argued that new ballistics tests disprove the prosecution's case and that seven of the nine original eyewitnesses changed all or part of their testimony in later proceedings. For the Outkast rapper, there just isn't enough evidence. "It's just too much doubt, all the way around it's just too much doubt," he argued. Related Videos Related Artists |
| Brad Pitt Explains Making 'Moneyball' Without Steven Soderbergh Posted: 21 Sep 2011 03:30 AM PDT Pitt tells MTV News it was studio's call to tap new director Bennett Miller, who proved to be right man for the sports flick.
Steven Soderbergh had nothing if not grand ambitions for his take on "Moneyball." "I hope it sets a new standard," he told MTV News in the spring of 2009. "Hopefully, anybody who makes a sports movie from now on is going to have to grapple with this."
Soderbergh's plan for the adaptation of Michael Lewis' best-selling book about the 2002 Oakland A's included re-creating the bowels of Oakland Coliseum and casting ballplayers and coaches to play their big-screen counterparts. The filmmaker also proposed, most ambitiously (and probably a bit bizarrely), the use of an Oracle-like persona, based on the legendary statistician Bill James, presented as an animated character and commissioned with narrating the action. Grand stuff, no doubt, but also perhaps not the stuff that would lead anyone beyond sports nuts and movie nerds to buy tickets to check it out. And so Sony pulled the plug on the production days before filming was to begin. "Moneyball" appeared to be dead. But at the suggestion of Catherine Keener, Sony tapped Bennett Miller, who had worked with Keener on "Capote," to helm the picture. Years later, with the movie set to hit theaters on Friday, star Brad Pitt has no doubt Miller was the perfect guy for the job. "I think it is the right way to do 'Moneyball.' Soderbergh was really heading in the same direction, in a sense," Pitt told MTV News. Sort of. Miller's version certainly doesn't have an animated Bill James. We have a feeling Pitt would have been keen to move forward with Soderbergh, with whom he's worked on the "Ocean's Eleven" films. But it wasn't Pitt's call, and he's no doubt correct that Miller delivered a top-notch sports flick. "That was a studio call," Pitt said of pushing Soderbergh out. "And, man, we want to get the thing going! We didn't have a choice but to remount it in some way. ... [We] sat down with Bennett and we were just talking the same language. Just love the '70s films. What you'll see about Bennett is he's a very, very bright and thoughtful man and deals with Socratic thought and was a documentarian and all these things that led nicely to the telling of these stories." Check out everything we've got on "Moneyball." For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com. Related Videos |
| Posted: 20 Sep 2011 11:30 PM PDT 'We walk away with a great sense of gratitude,' band says Wednesday, bringing to close a 30-year career.
After 30 years, 15 studio albums, dozens of iconic music videos and boundary-pushing tours (and just four core members) — not to mention a sphere of influence that extends from the nascent days of college radio to the buzzy blogosphere of today — R.E.M. are calling it quits. The band made the announcement Wednesday (September 21) on their website, posting a message that, like most things they did, was almost unyieldingly humble: "To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band," their statement reads. "We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening."
The band — frontman Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry (a lineup that wouldn't change for some 17 years) — formed in the fertile music scene surrounding Athens, Georgia, in 1980, and after spending their early days touring the Southern states, they found their first modicum of fame with 1981's "Radio Free Europe," which garnered them critical acclaim and a contract with indie label I.R.S. Records. In 1982, they released their debut EP, Chronic Town, quickly followed by their first full-length, 1983's Murmur, which sold modestly but earned R.E.M. even more praise — particularly Buck's jangly guitar tones and Stipe's cryptic lyrics. With each subsequent release — '84's Reckoning, '85's Fables of the Reconstruction, — R.E.M.'s fanbase only grew, and they quickly became pillars of the burgeoning "college rock" scene. They'd also continue to flirt with mainstream audiences, and by the time they released the overtly political Document in 1987, they finally consummated that relationship. Spurred by radio hit "The One I Love," it became the first R.E.M. album to go platinum. They signed with Warner Bros. soon after and finally achieved massive success with 1991's Out of Time, a hugely influential album that featured the breakout hit (and accompanying eye-catching video) "Losing My Religion." It earned R.E.M. seven Grammy nominations, sold more than 12 million copies worldwide and has since become a tentpole of the alt-rock heyday of the 1990s. It also made them one of the hugest rock bands on the planet. Undaunted, they followed the success of Time with the equally huge Automatic for the People (featuring hits "Everybody Hurts," "Drive" and "Man on the Moon") and the snarling Monster. But on tour for the latter, drummer Berry suffered an onstage aneurysm and Stipe underwent emergency surgery to repair a hernia. Still, they pressed on, re-signing with Warners (for a reported $80 million) and releasing the noticeably darker New Adventures in Hi-Fi, which didn't meet expectations from critics or fans and marked the end of their string of huge commercial successes. Berry left the band in 1997, but the remaining members of R.E.M. pressed on as a three-piece (with a variety of drummers filling in behind the kit), releasing a string of albums —' '98's Up, '01's Reveal, '04's Around the Sun — that garnered critical acclaim but sold poorly in the U.S. (though it should be noted that worldwide, the band remained a huge commercial force). They wrote the instrumental score to the Andy Kaufman biopic "Man on the Moon" and continued to record, releasing their final album, Collapse Into Now, just this year. Of course, though their commercial power faded during their later years, R.E.M. remained hugely influential throughout their entire career, thanks to their music, their activism and their unflappable, DIY ethos. They championed causes like environmentalism, voter registration, animal rights and handgun control, and everyone from Sonic Youth and the Replacements to Pavement, Radiohead and Nirvana cited them as huge inspirations. And, in 2007, when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it was Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder who gave their keynote speech and brought it all back to the beginning, joking that he'd listened to Murmur "1,260 times ... even though you can't understand a f---ing thing [Stipe] is saying." Share your favorite R.E.M. memories in the comments below. Related Videos Related Artists |
| B.o.B Responds To Unpaid Bar Tab Accusations Posted: 21 Sep 2011 12:19 AM PDT 'It's all good,' Bobby Ray tells MTV News. 'We took care of it.'
The adventures of Bobby Ray continue. On Tuesday, a Cornell University newspaper reported that rapper B.o.B and his entourage skipped out on a $1,060 tab at a college town bar in Ithaca, New York, over the weekend.
It was all a big misunderstanding, B.o.B told MTV News. "Obviously, I have no problem paying a bill of more than $1,000, and when I left the bar, I did not know that the bill was not taken care of," said the MC, who was in town for a Cornell homecoming performance. "Sometimes people will give you one complimentary bottle or maybe two complimentary bottles, but in my head I'm always prepared to take care of the bill. I don't walk out on tabs." According to the Cornell Daily Sun, B.o.B and his 11 guests ordered three $300 bottles of vodka and received a complimentary bottle of champagne at Level B, but when it came time to pay the bill (which also included a $160 gratuity charge), his team skipped out on the tab. "For me, I feel like whoever was responsible could've talked to me instead of using my name in an article. They could've talked to me first about it and I would've gladly paid the bill double for interest for not paying it," B.o.B said. Bobby Ray has since paid the debt: "It's all good; we took care of it." And although the rapper has been the subject of gossip blog posts over the incident, he insists that he has moved on and is focused on work for his sophomore album. "I'm working on my next album, it's almost done. I got a new single coming out, 'Strange Clouds' featuring Lil Wayne, so it's moving forward." Related Artists |
| Mindless Behavior Predict Big Things For <i>#1 Girl</i> Posted: 21 Sep 2011 12:41 AM PDT After touring with Justin Bieber and Janet Jackson, the MB boys finally drop their debut album.
After three years of preparation in the studio and on the road (with the likes of Justin Bieber and Janet Jackson), the young men of Mindless Behavior are finally able to share the result of their efforts: their debut album, #1 Girl. Taking a quick break from an album signing session at Basement Mix Records in Brooklyn, teens Prodigy, Princeton, Ray Ray and Roc Royal talked to MTV News about everything that's led up to this moment.
"It's all come down to this day," Princeton said of their Tuesday release-day. "Last night we stayed up until 12 o'clock. And we were in our hotel room all together, and we got back at like 11:40 so we had 20 minutes, and we just waited. And we didn't say one word until it turned 12 o'clock." Once it was officially September 20, the celebration began. "We just started to scream and jump up and down," Princeton recalled. It was a crazy night, added Roc Royal — "the most exciting night of our lives." To put together #1 Girl the R&B/pop group enlisted the talents of several top producers, including Polow Da Don, Boi-1da and JukeBox. And if the members of Mindless Behavior are excited about it, their fans are positively giddy. "We'll never get used to it," Ray Ray said about the throngs of teen and pre-teen girls that greet MB at every appearance. "It's always different. First time they're just screaming. Next time they're biting Princeton, third time they're pulling my hair." Some of those fans can be seen as extras in Mindless Behavior's latest music video, "Mrs. Right" — directed by "Tower Heist" helmer Brett Ratner. Princeton explained how their partnership with the Hollywood heavyweight came to be. "After the Kids' Choice Awards, we went to his house. We ate dinner and hung out with him, and within the next month he was like, 'I want to direct your next video.' " The boys predict more big things in their future. After they return from the Scream Tour (with Diggy Simmons, the New Boyz and others) this fall, there's going to be "more albums, more fans and more shows," Princeton said. Their list of dream collaborators includes Drake, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna and Jay-Z. And then, according to Prodigy, the Grammys will come ... as well as "every award you can think of." Related Artists |
| Demi Lovato's <i>Unbroken</i> Is 'Impressive,' 'Empowering' Posted: 20 Sep 2011 10:08 PM PDT 'Jessie' actress Debby Ryan applauds the latest album by her fellow Disney star.
Demi Lovato has certainly caused quite a splash this week, with her album Unbroken making Lovatics out of previous skeptics, thanks to personal lyrics and powerhouse vocals.
The 19-year-old Lovato has said the album is her way of "figuring it out" as she makes the transition from Disney princess to 20-something pop star. That theme speaks to fellow Disney star Debby Ryan. "I've listened to a bit," the "Jessie" star told MTV News. "Toby Gad, with whom she produced 'Skyscraper,' he wrote that with [singer] Kerli [Kõiv]. I like her stuff as well. They wrote it and produced it, and when they placed it with Demi, it was amazing, and it's absolutely empowering and really, really strong." The track and the album totally mirror who Lovato is as a person, Ryan said. "The thing about Demi, she's always able to show her vulnerability and her strength and her whole personality in her music and definitely her voyage," she said of the comeback kid. "I think she's in such a cool place of finding her sound and revamping her sound and working with amazing people." Bottom line is Ryan feels the album is "very impressive" thanks to its production value and guests like Missy Elliott and Timbaland, to name a few. She also had kind words for Gad, whom she worked with on the theme song for her show "Jessie," so she gets how he's able to weave some musical magic. "I admire him a lot," she said. "He knows his way around the pop realm." What do you think of Demi's new album? Let us know in the comments below! Related Artists |
| Troy Davis Supporters Make Last-Minute Appeal For Death-Row Inmate Posted: 20 Sep 2011 10:29 PM PDT Big Boi spreads the word about protests in Georgia before Davis' scheduled execution on Wednesday.
With his execution looming on Wednesday night (September 21), Georgia death-row inmate Troy Davis' lawyers have been scrambling to piece together a last-minute appeal on his behalf. Davis has been fighting to win a clemency ruling that would spare him the death penalty for the 1989 killing of Georgia police officer Mark MacPhail, a crime he claims he did not commit. Time magazine reported that his lawyers offered on Tuesday to have him take a polygraph test if the pardons board would consider its results, and some of Davis' supporters have suggested asking President Obama to intervene in the case, though legal experts said that was unlikely. A Georgia appeals panel refused the polygraph request on Wednesday in what has become the most high-profile death penalty case in the country in several years. A number of prominent hip-hop artists have taken up Davis' cause, among them Diddy, ?uestlove, Killer Mike and Russell Simmons, as well as the ATL's Big Boi. The Outkast co-founder has taken to his Twitter account to spread the word about the case and try to get the word out about a series of protests planned for Wednesday around the city. "Time to hit the streets people!!!! #Troydavis. Rally at the prison in Jackson Georgia 4:00 pm , time to be seen!!!!!" he wrote early Wednesday as part of a flurry of tweets about the topic. "Judge Penny Freezeman is apparently the only one that can stop the UNJUST execution of Troy Davis: 912-652-7252." Boi's account is full of retweets from other celebs weighing in, including Kim Kardashian, Diddy, writer Kevin Powell, Cedric the Entertainer and Marlon Wayans. "At this point if you're in Atlanta or anywhere near, Jackson, Georgia, is where u need to be, out of towners can man the phones," he wrote. MacPhail was working as a security guard at a Savannah, Georgia, Burger King in August 1989 when he tried to help a man who was being assaulted in a nearby parking lot. Davis was fingered as the assailant and during his 1991 trial a number of witnesses testified that they saw Davis shoot MacPhail, though a murder weapon and DNA evidence were never recovered from the scene. Ballistics tests showed that the fatal shot came from the same gun used in another shooting in which Davis was earlier convicted. Davis' lawyers have argued that new ballistics tests disprove the prosecution's case and that seven of the nine original eyewitnesses changed all or part of their testimony in later proceedings. The long-running case has garnered worldwide attention and Davis' cause has been taken up by groups and individuals such as Amnesty International, the NAACP, former President Jimmy Carter, the Pope, civil rights leader Al Sharpton and former FBI director William Sessions, who've called on courts to grant Davis a hearing in light of the new evidence. Lawyer Brian Kammer also tried to file a last-minute appeal based on new ballistics evidence and allegations of misleading testimony used in the original trial to convict Davis, but legal experts predicted those efforts would also likely fail to spare his client's life. Davis is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. The case made it all the way to the Supreme Court last year, Davis' lawyers failed to prove their client's innocence. Davis has maintained his innocence all along, but prosecutors in the case have repeatedly said they feel confident that the right man was convicted. Watch 'RapFix Live' today at 4 pm ET on MTV.com as Big Boi and Pill discuss their protest of the Troy Davis execution with Sway. Related Artists |
| Young The Giant Psyched About Their VMA Bump Posted: 20 Sep 2011 11:43 PM PDT Rock band thanks new and old fans with a free EP featuring remixes from Tokyo Police Club, Ra Ra Riot and more.
Young the Giant couldn't believe the huge crowd they drew when they played on one of the main stages at the Austin City Limits festival last weekend. In fact, as far as singer Sameer Gadhia could tell, it was the biggest audience they've ever played for, and he thinks they have the 2011 MTV VMAs to thank in part for their growing popularity.
Nearly a month after playing their breakthrough hit "My Body" on the big show amid a bunch of their hometown fans, Gadhia said the benefits are definitely starting to show. "I think us performing at the VMAs definitely helped a little bit," said Gadhia. "We've always done well in Austin and we have a great time performing here, playing here. It's almost like a second home to us, so we have a very supportive fanbase over here. I think that really does help." As a gift to their new and old fans, YTG dropped a free remix EP last week on their Facebook page, with a number of remixes of "My Body" by bands (and friends) including Two Door Cinema Club, Tokyo Police Club and K. Flay, as well as a Ra Ra Riot take on "Cough Syrup" and takes on "Apartment" by Captain Cuts, "Islands" by Tapioca and the Flea and Cahb, and "I Got" by DADO. Two of the remixes are by fans who won a contest. "The idea was to use the content we had and do something new with it," said drummer Francois Comtois of the inspiration for the unusual remix EP. "We're fortunate enough to have friends and friend bands and a bunch of people who wanted to contribute from the start. We had too much good stuff; we had to whittle it down to eight or nine tracks. You want to be able to give fans as much as possible." Gadhia was really blown away by the jungle beat remix of "Islands" by Cahb, which he said bass player Payam Doostzadeh is obsessed with, as well as the trippy, dub-style electronic remix their pals in Ra Ra Riot did on hit "Cough Syrup." "I couldn't be happier. It was cool to see people involved around the country," said Gadhia. Related Artists |
| Guns N' Roses To Launch First U.S. Tour In Five Years Posted: 20 Sep 2011 10:26 PM PDT Trek kicks off October 28 in Orlando, Florida, and will feature more than 30 shows.
Having spent the past two years touring everywhere but the United States (except for that one time they played at a motorcycle rally in South Dakota), Guns N' Roses will finally bring their show to our shores, with a run of arena gigs set to kick off in late October. The tour — which launches October 28 at the Amway Center in Orlando and features more than 30 dates — is GN'R's first run of U.S. shows in more than five years. That also means it's the first time they've hit the road here since the 2008 release of their Chinese Democracy album. In addition to that Orlando show, the list of confirmed U.S. shows, according to the band's publicist, are: October 29 at the American Airlines Arena in Miami; October 31 at the Bi-Lo Center Arena in Greenville, South Carolina; November 2 at the Philips Arena in Atlanta; November 5 at the Gexa Energy Pavillion in Dallas; November 12 at the Sprint Center Arena in Kansas City, Missouri; November 13 at the Target Center in Minneapolis; and November 19 at the Comcast Theater in Hartford, Connecticut. Guns N' Roses will also hit Omaha, Nebraska; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Chicago; East Rutherford, New Jersey; Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; Worcester, Massachusetts; Camden, New Jersey; Detroit; Cincinnati; Nashville, Tennessee; Indianapolis; and Denver, though dates and venues for those shows have yet to be announced. The latest incarnation of GN'R features (of course) mastermind Axl Rose, plus guitarists DJ Ashba, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal and Richard Fortus, bassist Tommy Stinson, longtime keyboardist Dizzy Reed (and another keyboardist, Chris Pitman) and drummer Frank Ferrer. The band hasn't played a show since a December 2010 date in Dubai, but will warm up for their U.S. run as only they can: with a series of massive dates in South America and Mexico. Ticket pre-sales for some of the upcoming shows kick off this week. The band has been posting information about the shows on their Facebook page. Meanwhile, their official site remains largely un-updated since 2009, and Axl Rose has yet to mention the tour over on his Twitter account (though he would like you to learn more about a cat named Dijon). Related Artists |
| Mark Wahlberg Talks 'Fighter' Sequel, Wahlburgers Posted: 20 Sep 2011 10:21 PM PDT He also reveals that Catherine Zeta-Jones just signed on to join him and Russell Crowe in 'Broken City.'
Mark Wahlberg was in the giving spirit at the Emmys this weekend, kicking MTV News a bunch of news about his upcoming projects — everything from a burger-based reality show to who he'll be sharing the screen with on his next flick to who will be putting pen to paper for his planned "Fighter" sequel. This fall, Wahlberg is headed to New York to shoot "Broken City," a noir drama in which he'll play a private detective hired by the mayor (Russell Crowe) to investigate whether his wife is cheating on him. "I think Catherine Zeta-Jones just signed on to be Russell's wife," Wahlberg told us.
A call to the production company behind the project was not immediately returned. Also on the movie tip, Wahlberg gave us an update about his "Fighter" sequel. Previously, David O. Russell, who helmed the Oscar-winning first film but didn't pen the script, had told us he was looking to write the sequel. But Wahlberg let us know the original screenwriter will likely get the first crack at drafting the sequel, which will focus on Micky Ward's three bouts with Arturo Gatti from 2002 to 2003. "We're hoping that Scott Silver, who really wrote the first one, will come on, write the script," the actor said. "This one we'd try to make a more commercial movie about the three big fights. Dramatically, there's a lot more at stake for Micky because [after] he won the title, people automatically thought — he's still living in Lowell [Massachusetts] — they thought all of a sudden he was rich. He made a couple thousand dollars for that fight when he won the title. And that's when things got really difficult for him." And, about those hamburgers, Wahlberg told us that not only is he deadly, deliciously serious about opening a patty joint with his brothers called Wahlburgers, but they're also planning to shoot an Internet-based reality show about the effort. "Listen, when I told the story that I wanted to do a show about a movie star and his five friends running around Hollywood, everybody said it was the dumbest idea in the world," Wahlberg said of his "Entourage" success. "My brother is a five-star chef. So it's a family-run business. You're going to see us doing a reality show about building the business. This is the real deal. We'll throw it up there and see if it sticks." Check out everything we've got on "Broken City." For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from MTV News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar