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VIDEO: Go Behind the Scenes of Sex and the City 2

Admin — Sun, 23 May 2010 09:49:13 +0000

It’s been two years since fans last caught up with Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte, and now the quartet is headed back to the big screen with Sex and the City 2. Samantha remains single and is ready to stir up trouble when the ladies leave New York for Abu Dhabi. “I always thought at the end of the series when she was in a relationship it was the…

Private Practice Exclusive: The Real Story Behind the Heartbreaking Death

Admin — Fri, 14 May 2010 07:08:18 +0000

[Warning: This story contains spoilers from Thursday's Season 3 finale of Private Practice, including which series regular died.]

How do you make the cast of Private Practice cry? Write them a scene in which they…

From Limos to Tattoo Parlors, TruTV Goes Behind The Scenes of Crazy Professions for New Series

Admin — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 08:27:08 +0000

TruTV is going undercover and behind the scenes of some of the country’s craziest professions for its newest crop of projects.

Among the cable channel’s new series are Limo Bob, which examines life in Chicago through the eyes of the owner of one of the city’s biggest limo fleets. Ma’s Roadhouse will profile…

‘Green Day Rocks Broadway: American Idiot’ Goes Behind The Scenes Of Musical

Admin — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 09:29:31 +0000

MTV gives you a peek at rehearsal footage and interviews with the cast.
By James Montgomery

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Green Day at “American Idiot” on Broadway

Photo: Bryan Bedder/ Getty Images

The Broadway version of Green Day’s “American Idiot” doesn’t officially open until April 20, but Friday night (April 16), MTV gave fans an exclusive look into the making of the punk-rock opera when it aired “Green Day Rocks Broadway: American Idiot.”

The show detailed the long journey from the recording of the Idiot album in 2003 to rehearsals at New York’s St. James Theatre and, at every step of the way, the pressure to deliver the goods was off the charts.

“Right around 2003, I think, as a band, we wanted to have a monumental moment. We wanted to make a concept album, we knew that,” Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong explained. “Politically, when we were writing it, American Idiot was trying to make sense out of a big mess. We were trying to find something to believe in. It’s about people becoming lost and trying to find their way. And I think that’s been going through our songs since 1988.”

Armstrong said that, to a man, Green Day always believed that Idiot should end up on the stage, but they didn’t think they’d ever find the right team to help that transition. Until they met “Spring Awakening” director Michael Mayer, who took on the project and guided it through an initial run at the Berkeley Repertory Theater in California last year.

“This album is our baby. To see it get put in the hands of other people, it’s great. We’ve always thought that somehow there should be some sort of stage version, because that’s what was going on in our heads,” Armstrong said. “[And] Michael really stuck to the heart of the album, which are the characters, like Jesus of Suburbia. But he also created new characters by using different, little subliminal things that we put in special packaging. Like the character Tunny, it’s a brand-new character. Will, it’s a brand-new character, too.”

Through rehearsal footage and interviews, we met the Broadway cast, which features “Spring Awakening” star John Gallagher Jr. as Johnny (the so-called “Jesus of Suburbia”), Michael Esper as Will, Stark Sands as Tunny, Tony Vincent as St. Jimmy and Rebecca Naomi as Whatsername. It’s a big, diverse collection of talent, but they all had one thing in common: a mutual love for the American Idiot album.

“I can remember just driving around in my mother’s minivan, and just cranking that record as loud as it would go,” Gallagher said. “And really, just feeling understood, and there was this direct line of communication that I felt coming from that record.”

“The album is really like a rallying cry for our generation,” Mary Faber, who plays Heather, added.

And though some of the characters were created by Mayer, Armstrong said what resonates most to him about the musical — and, what he thinks fans will relate to — is that they’re close to his own heart … and probably yours, too. And, at the end of the day, that’s what the stage version of “American Idiot” is really all about.

“Those people remind me of my friends, and they remind me of myself,” Armstrong said.

“I guarantee that what’s presented onstage someone will absolutely be able to latch onto,” Vincent added.

Will you head to New York to see “American Idiot” on Broadway? Let us know in the comments below!

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Green Day Rocks Broadway: American Idiot

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Jay-Z Takes Cameras Behind His 9/11 Benefit in “NY-Z”

Admin — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:47:58 +0000

The new mini-documentary NY-Z captures one of the biggest shows of 2009 — Jay-Z’s September 11th Answer the Call concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden — and the hours leading up to the big performance. Shot in black-and-white like iconic Big Apple odes Manhattan and The Naked City, director Danny Clinch’s short doubles as a behind-the-scenes look at Jay-Z’s life and the rapper’s love letter to the city that serves as his “muse,” from his earliest recollections of NYC to how it feels to sell out “the World’s Greatest Arena.”

In the video, recorded the day The Blueprint 3 was released, we see Jigga performing his hit “Empire State of Mind” during an empty sound check and later in front of thousands at a packed MSG. John Mayer cameos to explain how his team-up with Jay on “D.O.A.” came about — thanks Twitter! — as well as discuss what New York City means to him. The film is so engrossing, it’s actually possible to forget that it is a long-form ad for Absolut Vodka until Jigga is seen downing a shot in the closing minutes.

View full post on Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily

Secrets Behind the Rolling Stones’ “Exile on Main Street” Reissue

Admin — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:49:32 +0000

Photo: AFP/Getty

We told you about the Rolling Stones’ upcoming Exile on Main Street reissue — which includes 10 never-before-heard Stones tracks — now read our Q&As with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and producer Don Was as they explain how they polished up gems from the vaults for the May disc and reevaluate their 1972 classic:

• The Secrets Behind the Rolling Stones’ “Exile on Main Street” Reissue

View full post on Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily

Lil Wayne: A Closer Look At His First Day Behind Bars

Admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:10:31 +0000

‘The best thing to do in the first 24 hours is to keep your mouth shut as much as possible,’ one expert says.
By Jayson Rodriguez

src="http://www.mtv.com/shared/promoimages/bands/l/lil_wayne/court_100308/arrival/281x211.jpg"/>

Lil Wayne at court Monday

Photo: Ray Tamarra/ Getty Images

Lil Wayne has been booked and processed into the Eric M. Taylor Center on Rikers Island to begin his one-year jail sentence.

According to most experts, the first 24 hours are the most crucial to ensuring a successful incarceration. Dr. Jefferey Ian Ross, a faculty member at the University of Baltimore’s Criminology Division, advises that the superstar MC keep to himself as he gets adjusted to his new surroundings.

“Most of the time, the best thing to do in the first 24 hours is to keep your mouth shut as much as possible,” Ross told MTV News. “Keep your eyes open and basically do as you’re told by the correction officers. Essentially, you shouldn’t look at other inmates in the eye, ’cause to a lot of people, that may be considered an aggressive type of action. Also, don’t look at their property, because they may feel like that’s aggressive as well and that you want their property.”

Ross, who wrote the book “Behind Bars: Surviving Prison” along with Stephen C. Richards, explained that most inmates are housed with similar offenders, but there are instances were prisoners get bored and lash out. For these reasons, it’s important for someone like Lil Wayne, a celebrity, to maintain as normal of a disposition as he can.

“Say ‘yes sir,’ ‘no sir,’ no cutting in line,” Ross said. “Don’t act like you have special privileges.”

Unlike NFL star-turned-inmate Plaxico Burress, Lil Wayne shunned a jail coach or a sentencing specialist. Ross said that decision put Wayne at a disadvantage, because some benefits include assistance in building a network within the prison facilities. Sentencing coaches, in some cases, are previously jailed people who can connect incoming inmates with those they can trust inside.

According to Ross, Lil Wayne will eventually have to venture out from his own connections. But in the interim, Ross suggested the old adage that prisoners need to just “do their time.”

“Keep your mouth shut, keep your eyes open, be respectful — not only to correction officers, but to inmates,” he said. “And don’t be a snitch and don’t complain about the housing accommodations, follow those rules and they call that ‘do your own time.’

“It’s not easy,” Ross added. “Criminals don’t face a cakewalk, [regardless of the length of their sentence]. Their liberties and choices are taken away from them, and they’re basically at the will of prison.”

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OK Go Slap a Tetherball for “This Too Shall Pass”: Behind the Clip

Admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:48:57 +0000

OK Go’s insanely complex video for Of the Blue Colour of the Sky single “This Too Shall Pass” will finally make its (embeddable!) premiere tonight at 7 pm EST, but before the band reveals their latest viral achievement, Rolling Stone has another behind-the-scenes clip from the video’s construction site in a Los Angeles warehouse.

As Rolling Stone previously reported, for their second “This Too Shall Pass” clip, OK Go and the geniuses over at Syyn Labs and MIT’s Media Lab created a two-story-tall Rube Goldberg-esque structure. Picture that old board game Mouse Trap and multiply it by several thousand. In our short exclusive clip, we present a blooper from the contraption’s test run, with a tetherball somehow figuring in to the grand scheme.

Given the amount of time and effort OK Go put into the video, it should come as no surprise that frontman Damian Kulash was adamant that his label EMI disregard their own “No Embedding” policy so that “This Too Shall Pass” can be distributed freely throughout the Internet, much like the band’s star-making treadmill vid for “Here It Goes Again” in 2006. Kulash successfully pleaded his case, both in the band’s blog and in the New York Times. Be sure to check back here later tonight to catch OK Go’s new viral video, and until then, enjoy the blooper above and OK Go’s making-of video here.

View full post on Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily

The Who’s Townshend Reveals the Story Behind Big Super Bowl Set

Admin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 06:18:32 +0000

Photo: Mazur/WireImage

On Sunday, the Who became the latest in a growing list of classic rockers — along with the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and Prince — to play a Super Bowl halftime. Why did they do it, what was it like being onstage at Sun Life Stadium in Miami, and why a hits medley? For the answers, we went directly to the Who’s Pete Townshend the day after the performance. For more from Townshend, grab the next issue of Rolling Stone, on stands February 17th.

Relive the Who’s explosive Super Bowl set in photos.

What was your first reaction to being invited to play the Super Bowl?
I really wanted to do it. I felt it would be easy to do [chuckles]. I felt that doing this would be a great thing to do at this particular time because it would let people know that we’re alive and kicking and that Roger and I still do stuff together and intend to do whatever we can in the future together. You feel part of something that’s bigger than you and you feel part of a huge team. It’s a monster gig.

How did it feel being onstage, in the midst of that spectacle?
A couple of people said to me they could have done with more Who and less football. But I suppose it’s best if I tell the truth. I felt nothing. It doesn’t matter if it’s in a great big football stadium or a little club somewhere. As soon as I get close to a stage, I feel very at home and very safe and secure. It feels completely normal. When the NFL started to talk to us about this, one of the things they started to talk about was the numbers. I looked at Roger and looked at them and I said, “I’ve done a solo show in front of 80 million people on TV.” The abstract numbers make no difference.

I heard that Roger and Simon Townshend [Pete's brother and guitarist in the Who touring band] came up with the medley, not you.
That’s right. I thought we’d just do the CSI songs ["Won't Get Fooled Again," "Baba O'Riley," "Who Are You"]. My pitch was just to do three regular-length songs. We could fall back on what was very familiar. But Roger felt he needed something that gave him more narrative scope, as he described it. He and Simon and one of the lieutenants in the crew put together a track and surprisingly I thought it worked really well. Roger and I have a great relationship these days; it’s very warm and close. So I trusted him to do that job.

Were you wearing sunglasses up there?
No, I was wearing reading glasses. I like to be able to see the guitar.

What was it like finally experiencing an American football game?
English people still find the rules almost incomprehensible, like Americans finding cricket incomprehensible. It’s very difficult to understand how the game operates. But it’s a real sporting event and very exciting backstage and very dignified and serious. Some of my friends have been quite sniffy and said, “We watched it and it was like fucking Disneyland.” But when you’re on the inside of it, there’s a real sense of it being a job, a passion. I learned a lot about it yesterday, and it was all good.

What was the most surprising thing about it?
Not seeing a single cheerleader. Not anywhere. It was terrible. There are lot of girls who’ve said, “I used to be a cheerleader once.” But as hard as you try to persuade them, they won’t do it again.

Check out photos of music’s big names rocking football’s big game.

View full post on Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily

Observations Of China, From Behind The Wheel

Admin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:16:51 +0000

In summer 2001, New Yorker Beijing correspondent Peter Hessler got his Chinese driver’s license. For the next seven years, he traveled thousands of miles through China, reporting on how the car is transforming the country.

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