The time I chased the Pussycat Dolls at the VMAs If you are ever forced to work as a talent escort at the MTV VMAs, you will have a keen, first-hand understanding of what Dickens meant by, “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” In the music & talent department it is considered an honor to be selected to work with show talent — not everyone is invited/assigned to. Then the lucky chosen ones complain about it A LOT because it is basically babysitting famous people to make sure they show up on stage when they are supposed to during the live broadcast, which is so much more stressful than I could possibly explain.  In my tenure I mostly got off lightly, working with Kylie Minogue (who I requested and who was lovely and accommodating), Mark Ronson (also lovely but he was in that show so much that I think we rehearsed all day, every day for like a week) and the Ting Tings (so demure and easy that I had all sorts of time to closely observe how badly behaved certain other artists were that year but those are stories I simply cannot tell you). One of my most interesting years was in 2005 at the VMAs in Miami, when I ended up shadowing the top talent exec for the show at the last minute, wearing her headset and carrying her Blackberry. She was the person everyone called when they had a problem, which made for a very fascinating night for me! Two favorite moments included finding myself in a hallway with most of the Miami police force & an army of personal security when 50 Cent and Fat Joe started some beef and watching a group of handlers try to explain to a certain female artist why she couldn’t go on TV in a completely see-through shirt because the truth of that situation was not self-evident to her. HOWEVER! The weirdest and most hectic year I worked at the VMAs was in 2006, when we tried to clear all the performances in the show the night of in order to make them available to buy on Rhapsody in time for the “enhanced” re-airing of it the following evening. I had execs running all night between MTV’s Times Square offices and Radio City Music Hall to bring me the latest burned CD of their audio. I was ushered into Beyonce’s dressing room to get her father/manager’s approval and given the “do not speak to Beyonce!” stare of death when she unexpectedly returned (because that was exactly what I was burning to do obviously). I was shot down by Christina Aguilera. I was offered excited beers by that hot guy who sings for the All-American Rejects (they were very excited to have won a VMA for whatthehellever, you never have time to actually SEE any of the show when you’re working). I got a phone call from Billy Gibbs of ZZ Top, who has the most amazing voice EVER. And, at one point, I literally had to run after the Pussycat Dolls, who were about to hop in a limo and leave, to get a CD of the single verse (they were lip synching) they did in T.I.’s performance that night into their hands. Nicole Scherzinger looked at me like I was a crazy person and said something to the effect of, “Uh I’m sure it’s fine honey.”  I think we might have sold a dozen downloads. And that was when I knew for sure: there is no dignity in the music industry. But I had fun, just the same. Photo via: MTV News
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The time I chased the Pussycat Dolls at the VMAs

If you are ever forced to work as a talent escort at the MTV VMAs, you will have a keen, first-hand understanding of what Dickens meant by, “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” In the music & talent department it is considered an honor to be selected to work with show talent — not everyone is invited/assigned to. Then the lucky chosen ones complain about it A LOT because it is basically babysitting famous people to make sure they show up on stage when they are supposed to during the live broadcast, which is so much more stressful than I could possibly explain. 

In my tenure I mostly got off lightly, working with Kylie Minogue (who I requested and who was lovely and accommodating), Mark Ronson (also lovely but he was in that show so much that I think we rehearsed all day, every day for like a week) and the Ting Tings (so demure and easy that I had all sorts of time to closely observe how badly behaved certain other artists were that year but those are stories I simply cannot tell you).

One of my most interesting years was in 2005 at the VMAs in Miami, when I ended up shadowing the top talent exec for the show at the last minute, wearing her headset and carrying her Blackberry. She was the person everyone called when they had a problem, which made for a very fascinating night for me! Two favorite moments included finding myself in a hallway with most of the Miami police force & an army of personal security when 50 Cent and Fat Joe started some beef and watching a group of handlers try to explain to a certain female artist why she couldn’t go on TV in a completely see-through shirt because the truth of that situation was not self-evident to her.

HOWEVER! The weirdest and most hectic year I worked at the VMAs was in 2006, when we tried to clear all the performances in the show the night of in order to make them available to buy on Rhapsody in time for the “enhanced” re-airing of it the following evening. I had execs running all night between MTV’s Times Square offices and Radio City Music Hall to bring me the latest burned CD of their audio. I was ushered into Beyonce’s dressing room to get her father/manager’s approval and given the “do not speak to Beyonce!” stare of death when she unexpectedly returned (because that was exactly what I was burning to do obviously). I was shot down by Christina Aguilera. I was offered excited beers by that hot guy who sings for the All-American Rejects (they were very excited to have won a VMA for whatthehellever, you never have time to actually SEE any of the show when you’re working). I got a phone call from Billy Gibbs of ZZ Top, who has the most amazing voice EVER. And, at one point, I literally had to run after the Pussycat Dolls, who were about to hop in a limo and leave, to get a CD of the single verse (they were lip synching) they did in T.I.’s performance that night into their hands. Nicole Scherzinger looked at me like I was a crazy person and said something to the effect of, “Uh I’m sure it’s fine honey.” 

I think we might have sold a dozen downloads.

And that was when I knew for sure: there is no dignity in the music industry. But I had fun, just the same.

Photo via: MTV News

Once upon a time: Suede “Metal Mickey”

Picking up where my story on goth left off we have…Britpop? Why yes! The year after our goth special on MTV2’s Subterranean, we did one on Britpop in conjunction with the release of Rhino Records’ Brit Box. Lyndsay (the show’s talent booker) and I again debated out our list of who to book and we both really wanted Justine Frischmann from Elastica, but we couldn’t track her down to save our lives. At the time she was hiding from the press and studying mystic archeology at an alternative university in Arizona (no, seriously). After the horror stories we’d heard about the Gallagher brothers and our own personal lack of enjoyment working with Damon Albarn, we decided to see what Brett Anderson of Suede was up to. Somehow that worked out — after meeting him I am still shocked that he agreed to do it. Crankypants. It’s kind of the best thing in the world when someone absolutely doesn’t want to be doing an interview and then they act like it on camera and you have to constantly tell them to stop turning their back to the camera. Very helpful! So glad you accepted the booking!

We paired him up with Tahita Bulmer of New Young Pony Club (have forgotten what the thinking was there, other than we really wanted a girl in this show) and, at the recommendation of my counterpart at MTV UK, asked Krissi Munson to act as host. She was hosting their 120 Minutes on and off at the time and has since become the editor of NME. 

Watch clips from the MTV2 Subterranean Britpop Special.

To my amazement, Brett “Crankypants” Anderson took an instant shine to Tahita and her sassiness. His general crankiness and her general cheekiness made for some good TV moments. Like when he talked about doing lots of drugs during the Madchester era, Tahita telling Brett that Suede had a more glamorous kind of anger than Nirvana because he wore pretty shirts, Brett refusing to comment on Blur vs. Oasis and sarcastically calling both brilliant, Tahiti plainly saying she hated Elastica and everyone cracking up which lead Brett to “be completely frank” and call the whole band drug addicts, Brett inadvertently (or not so inadvertently?) drawing a line between celebrity junkie Pete Doherty & himself and why the press were interested in both of them. 

Overall, what this taping left me mulling was exactly how much you can get away with if you’re good looking. And how much more you can get away with if you’re good looking and talented. There are certain thresholds of what people will put up with, based on social hierarchy, attractiveness, and well…need (as in, how much do you need something from that person). In looking back at the experience, I enjoyed researching British music from the early ’80s to the Libertines more than I enjoyed working with pop stars*. I think I’ll stick with the books.

* One exception: I was doing quite a bit of reading-based research for this show during the 2007 VMAs, which took place the month before this special was shot. I was working with Mark Ronson at that year’s VMAs and he actually was lovely and offered quite a bit of his own insight into the Britpop era, as did his bassist at that time Stuart Zender, who was previously the bassist in Jamiroquai. If you can point me at a somewhat intellectual pop star then I’ll take them, but the odd, uncomfortable ones can stay home.