ONE NIGHT IN PEREZ: Perez Hilton Is The Celebrity Blogger You Hate to Love

BY JUSTINE GOODMAN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFF FORNEY / YRB MAGAZINE

In the age of the gossip blog, if you still subscribe to the belief that there’s no such thing as bad publicity, then chances are you’re not a publicist.

“I’m a polarizing figure,” says Perez Hilton, the self-anointed “Queen of Media” and the creator of the celebrity gossip blog PerezHilton.com. “Some people love me and some people hate me. Some people wanna tell me everything, some people are afraid to even make small talk around me. It depends who you are and how I rub you.”

Every day, close to four million unique visitors flock to Hilton’s site (formerly PageSixSixSix.com) for the inside scoop on the latest Hollywood scandal, juiciest truth-based rumor and even the occasional news byte.

Born Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr., the Cuban-American was raised in Miami before he moved to New York to attend NYU’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts. Living in Greenwich Village (the one place gayer than South Beach), it didn’t take long for young Mario to come out. “I guess I tried to hide it the first semester,” he says, “and then I was at a party and a girl was like, ‘You’re gay!’ and I started crying but then I was like, ‘Yes! I am!’ I knew, but I guess I just had problems saying it.”

That wasn’t the only problem Lavandeira would face. “I went through a very unhappy phase. I filed for bankruptcy, I was suicidal, I was at a job that I hated, I got fired from three jobs…it was like down, down, down, down,” he recalls. But rather than joining some lame support group or writing dark poetry, he launched PageSixSixSix.com, and proceeded to literally blog his way out of debt and depression. It was only after he began receiving death threats – courtesy of some Clay Aiken fans who were none too pleased that the blogger had dubbed their American idol “Clay Gayken” – that Lavandeira adopted a pseudonym, becoming his friend Paris Hilton’s fictitious cousin, Perez.

PerezHilton.com quickly swept through the blogosphere, generating more traffic than a holiday weekend. Suddenly millions of people now had a better way to pass the time that would otherwise have been wasted actually working. Luckily, Perez is working hard enough for all of them. “I bust my butt. I don’t know if people really realize how hard I work. I honestly put in 19 hours a day on my website. I sleep four and a half, maybe five hours a night. Every other waking moment I’m answering emails, I’m writing, I’m researching, I’m scouring the Internet for what to write, I’m going to an event,” says Hilton, whose L.A. office isn’t so much an office as it is a table at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, a local coffee shop.

Although Hilton maintains that he doesn’t really consider himself a celebrity (“I’m a celebretard,” he says), these days he is just as likely to be the subject of gossip columns as the author of them. When former ‘N Sync member Lance Bass came out betwixt the pages of People Magazine, many critics accused Hilton of having forced him out of the closet, after repeated posts on PerezHilton.com not-so-subtly implied that the singer was gay (literally, not figuratively). Hilton insists that these criticisms are simply the byproduct of America’s deep-seated, internalized homophobia.

“I feel that being gay is not bad. A lot of the reason why people criticize what I do is because a lot of people still think that being gay is bad, and a lot of people still think that being gay in Hollywood will hurt your career, and I don’t believe that… Since I don’t think it’s bad, I’m all about equalizing. So I’m gonna treat everyone the same. I’m gonna report – that’s what I do. I don’t ‘out’ anyone. That’s not part of my vocabulary. I report on facts. I don’t engage in the business of speculation or conjecture.”

What he writes about may be true, but that hasn’t stopped many celebrities from taking him to court. Last year, Hilton was named in a lawsuit filed by Colin Farrell after the now infamous sex tape starring the actor (in what was arguably his best performance to date) appeared on Hilton’s site. Hilton was also sued last November for $7.5 million by a Hollywood photo agency that claimed the use of certain photos on the site constituted copyright infringement. And in February, he was sued by Jennifer Aniston, after a topless photo of the actress appeared on PerezHilton.com.

While some celebs may be less than thrilled to find their personal lives, photos and home videos on display, when they’re not busy suing him they know that being on Hilton’s good side can also have its benefits. Frequent jabs at stars like Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan may not further damage their reputations (they tend to do that all by themselves), but for a Hollywood newcomer, frequent praise (or even just a mention) on PerezHilton.com can make a world of difference. If you’re an up-and-coming musician and Perez is a fan of your music, go ahead and fire your publicist, because you won’t be needing her services. Just one post about how adorable and talented Hilton thinks you are, and millions of people will know the name of your band.

Hilton may not be saving lives with gossip, but that doesn’t make his work meaningless. “Underneath the Perez façade, there is someone who has strong beliefs and will use this platform to hopefully do good. I know I do good, because people enjoy it, and I bring laughter, hopefully, or some sense of escape for folks who are bored at work, or who are going through a difficult time and want some sort of fantasy. That gives what I do meaning, and that’s awesome.”

But just because so many people like his blog, doesn’t mean they all like him. In fact, many of Hilton’s readers actively dislike him. “Dude, you really look like a circus act. I love the website, but there is more and more about you, and you are the most uninteresting person out there. You are a tragedy. From one gay man to another, fucking get a grip,” wrote one reader, after Hilton devoted numerous posts to documenting his own star-studded birthday party (“The Queen’s Ball”) in March.

OK, so maybe no one ever accused him of being overly modest, but isn’t shameless self-promotion exactly what being a celebrity is all about? “I created my own success, I created my own opportunity…I created Perez the celebrity,” says Hilton. “There’s a reason why I put up all these pictures of myself with celebrities: celebrity by association! The whole concept of celebrity is so tangible and so malleable; anyone can be a celebrity these days – even this loser with a blog!”

Love him, hate him, or just love to hate him, Perez Hilton’s shirt says it all: “Keep talking shit, you’re making me famous.”



FASHION CREDITS:
silk striped blazer by The Bohemian Society, “Keep Talking Shit” t-shirt by College Dropout, denim jeans and leather belt by Replay, milano style collection yellow and orange watches by Breil, trainers by Ben Sherman

**One Night In Perez was originally published in YRB Magazine, Issue 73 (May/June 2007)

A Few Words With Lil' Jon

BY JUSTINE GOODMAN

Lil' Valentine
February 14th is Valentine’s Day, also known as the easiest day of the year to get laid. You’ll still have to pay for it - but with flowers and chocolate instead of by the hour. Hey, romance might be dead, but take solace in the fact that like sweet crunk music, love is alive and well - just ask Lil’ Jon. We did, and here’s what the original dirty South rapper had to say.

JG: In “Lovers and Friends” you talk about ‘knowing a girl for a long time, but fuckin’ never crossed your mind.’ Is that your definition of love?
LJ: Well, that was in the ‘friends’ context.... If you got a homegirl that’s your homegirl, sometimes you don’t never even think about crossing that line. That’s what that was about, just having a female that’s your friend. But sometimes, someone that you’re friends with, something might happen where you just look at someone in a different way, like, ‘Damn, this person been around me all this time, and now I see something else.’ When I first met my wife, I knew that was someone I wanted to be with. We was friends for a lotta years before we even started. And really, the friends in your life are the ones you end up settling down with, only because you known them the longest, you trust them the longest, they know everything about you, and they’re your friend.

JG: What are the most important qualities in a girl?
LJ: They have to be intelligent. They have to be able to listen, as well. Like women want us to listen, but sometimes women gotta listen, too, and know when to just sit back and be quiet and know when to listen to what somebody got to say. All women really want in a man is somebody that listens and tries to understand you, and really that’s one thing we like too – we like somebody that’ll listen too, show us some comfort. So I think a good listener. [Second], you wanna be able to have an intelligent conversation with somebody. You don’t wanna have someone that just is not on the same level. That’s the worst thing in the world, to talk to somebody and realize they an idiot. And personality is important – I’d say those are the three things. Personality, that’s what makes you laugh at someone, that makes them help you to look at shit in a different light, helps you to have fun.

JG: What do you think about dudes that rock the same clothes as their girlfriends?
LJ: Oh that’s the lamest shit in the world! Back in high school, oh my god…we’d see that and be like, ‘Oh, he in love,’ or, ‘He pussy-whipped.’ Cause what kind of man wanna dress up exactly like his woman? That shows you’re just blinded.

JG: How do you know if a girl is cheating on you?
LJ: It’s hard to tell with women because they the most cunning creatures in the world. You can never tell. A woman can make eye contact with a guy she see in the mall while she with her boyfriend, and her boyfriend never know, cause she’ll be cool – cooler than the other side of the pillow. While if it’s the guy, and he with his girlfriend, he gon’ get nervous, gonna walk the other way and start sweatin’. But with a girl, really there’s no way, it’s just hard to tell... Guys, they just suck at being cheaters. ‘Cause guys get lazy, they don’t cover their tracks. A guy will not even tell his homeboy and his girl might see the nigga at the mall and be like, ‘What ya’ll do last night?’ and he be like, ‘Shit, uh, I was at the crib, but what’s good with you?’

JG: Are you into a girl that can chill with your boys, or is it better to chill with your girlfriend solo?
LJ: You don’t want your wife to be best friends with your best friend. ‘Cause that can lead to all types of shit. Just like I was sayin’ before, how you might have friends you look at one way and then all of sudden you look at ‘em differently, like, ‘Oh shit,’ and they look at you different, too. You don’t want your girl being too close with your friends – that’s just like setting yourself up. For some people it’s cool, but I ain’t never really been a fan of that.

JG: So how did you propose to your wife?
LJ: Uh…I forgot. I think we were sitting down, eating dinner... I think it mighta been on Valentine’s Day or her birthday or something... yeah, I think it was her birthday.


ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN YRB MAGAZINE. COPYRIGHT © 2007

Interview: The Vincent Black Shadow

BY JUSTINE GOODMAN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFF FORNEY

Listen to “Metro.”

The infectious lead single off The Vincent Black Shadow’s debut full-length Fear’s In the Water (Bodog Music) will turn metalheads and grunge enthusiasts alike into instant fans of the pop-punk rockers.

The Vancouver-based quartet, which pounced onto the scene in recent months, is fronted by Cassandra Ford (lead vocals) and the Kirkham brothers – Robbie (guitar, vocals), Chris (bass, vocals) and Anthony (drums).

Cassandra was always musically inclined. She attended school at a convent in England where students were required to play multiple instruments – everything from piano to recorder to xylophone. Yadda, yadda, yadda, a few years later she found herself in the Philippines being bred for a career as an Asian pop star, courtesy of Universal Music’s Philippines division. “I was like, ‘Why am I doing this, I don’t wanna do it,’ and everyone was like, ‘Oh, but it’s a foot in the door,’ and I was like, ‘A foot in the door for what? I don’t want a foot in this door, I wanna pick the door that I’m sticking my foot in,’ so I just bought a plane ticket and came back,” says Cassandra.

Shortly thereafter, Cassie, Rob and Tony formed The Vincent Black Shadow (Chris joined later). “We were already showcasing for labels on like our fourth show,” says Tony, the youngest member of the band. “We sent Bodog a five or six song demo, and they were really stoked on it.” Stoked indeed; Bodog called them back just a few days later. “We didn’t even really have a band together. It was me, Rob and Cassie. Rob played the bass and piano, and I played the drums and Cassie sang on it. And they were like, ‘We want to see you right away,’” Tony recalls.

“And it was funny because we were like, ‘Oh, sure, we’ll book a show,’ and the show we booked was at this shitty bar in the shittiest part of town, and then they ended up not being able to come!” says Cassandra. “But we ended up meeting with them anyway; they came to a rehearsal and we played for them, and they were like, ‘Well let’s talk contracts,’ and our second ever show was playing for Bif Naked.”

Although the band has yet to break into the mainstream MTV scene (not that they would necessarily want to), they have been blowing up the more alternative music television outlets, particularly Fuse, where they were featured on last year’s Fangoria Chainsaw Awards and went on to repeatedly earn the number one video for “Metro” on countdown shows like Oven Fresh.

As we talk in the hallway of the Park Central Hotel in midtown Manhattan, TVBS is preparing to play a sold-out show at trendy SoHo nightclub Crash Mansion to kickoff the CMJ Music Marathon. Next, they’ll return to a grueling tour schedule throughout the U.S. and Europe in support of Fear’s In the Water, which is flying off the shelves after its re-release in January.

So if you don’t know about The Vincent Black Shadow, here’s a piece of advice: Listen to “Metro.”

To learn more about The Vincent Black Shadow, go to www.myspace.com/tvbs


ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN YRB MAGAZINE. COPYRIGHT © 2007

30 Seconds to Mars

BY JUSTINE GOODMAN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROGER ERICKSON

It is a cold, gray, fall afternoon in suburban Maplewood, Minnesota, where, in just a few hours, 30 Seconds to Mars will kick off its Welcome to The Universe / MTV $2 Bill Tour at Myth Nightclub. The venue is curiously situated off a highway, betwixt a shopping complex and a cluster of chain restaurants, and the massive parking lot is already beginning to fill.

Yes, the lead singer of 30 Seconds to Mars is also a successful actor. And yes, Jared Leto may still be better known for his roles in American Psycho, Requiem for a Dream, Fight Club and lest we forget My So-Called Life than for his rock band. But with a record that recently went platinum, a huge international following, and three singles and music videos in heavy rotation, it is time to get over the fact that 30STM is a band with a famous frontman.

So get the snide Jordan Catalano remarks out of your system now, and if you’re only reading this in the hopes that it will provide details about Leto’s love life, go pick up a copy of Us Weekly. But if you’re interested in the story of a remarkable band that has relied on the quality of its music rather than its Hollywood connections to earn success, then read on.

Born in Louisiana, Jared and his brother Shannon were raised by their mother (in some 10 different cities) in an environment that encouraged creative expression and the arts. “It was always around, so it was just a natural progression,” says Shannon of being drawn to music at a young age. “We picked up some instruments and started playing; it just made sense.”

With Jared on guitar and vocals and Shannon on drums, 30 Seconds to Mars signed with Virgin/Immortal in 1998. Although their self-titled debut (released in 2002) was little more than a blip on the music industry radar, they began to build a fan base, thanks largely to constant touring.

The band was soon joined by bassist Matt Wachter and guitarist Tomo Milicevic. Born in Sarajevo and reared in Detroit, Tomo is living the dream – before he became a member of 30 Seconds to Mars, he was one of their fans. “It’s kinda crazy, you know? You listen to this music, you admire it, and then one day you’re on stage playing it,” he says.

The foursome’s first collaborative effort, A Beautiful Lie, dropped in August 2005. Technically it is not a new album, but as Tomo points out, “To most people it is. The first year that this album was out, we barely sold 100,000 records,” he says. Since then, that number has jumped to 1 million, “So to those other [900,000] people, this is a brand new record.”

In addition to writing all the lyrics, playing guitar and performing the lead vocals on every song, Jared also directed the videos for “The Kill” and “From Yesterday” (the second and third singles, respectively), under the colorful, Dr. Seuss-borrowed alias, Bartholomew Cubbins. “It’s just a way to have a little fun with it and be creative, and I really wanted people to be able to enjoy and experience the video without having any more preconceived notions or distractions, and just to let it be what it was. It wasn’t important for me to lay claim to it in that way. It’s nice to be recognized for it, but for the right reasons,” Jared says of his decision to direct “The Kill” as his alter ego. That video – a well-executed take on Stanley Kubrick’s classic film, The Shining – recently landed awards at the VMAs, The FUSE Awards and the mtvU Woodies.

30STM’s popularity has risen along with album sales, but they have also had to contend with the burden of the past; such predecessors as Russell Crowe, Keanu Reeves and Kevin Bacon haven’t exactly bolstered the public’s expectations of a band led by an actor. “We had a lot of middle fingers pointed at us for years and a lot of bad examples before us,” says Shannon, without naming names. “But we also knew we could play music, and we knew we had something – we knew it the whole time. So we knew we had to tour, tour, tour, and we knew we had to prove it to people, prove it no matter what. And we did that. And we love doing it. And now it speaks for itself. And Jared is the first [actor] to do it and do it well. We’re the first band to really overcome the challenges and become a legitimate band known for its music, and it feels amazing.”

As any fan will tell you, singling out Jared for any reason other than that he is the band’s frontman is totally taboo. Still, his high profile tends to obscure the fact that 30 Seconds to Mars is successful not because one of its members is a talented actor, but because all of its members are talented musicians. And while they could have easily taken advantage of the publicity generated by Jared’s fame, the band doesn’t want that kind of attention, even refusing to play any venue that uses his name to promote a show.

Instead, 30STM has opted for grueling schedules, life on a crowded tour bus, and a $20/day tour stipend in order to earn its own status. “A lot of people might think that we’re an overnight success because they just heard of us, which is fair, but we’re not. We’ve been around for a long time doing this,” says Matt, who describes the band’s method as organic. “We really took a grassroots approach, always for the fans, and we relied on touring to build a fan base as opposed to TV and radio. And now that we’ve got those things, our fan base has grown and grown and grown, and a lot of people are starting to know about 30 Seconds to Mars,” he says.

Fans are always important, but 30STM’s are something special – according to the online message boards, some even have tattoos in honor of the band. But in addition to scores of “regular” fans, the most die-hard belong to an exclusive group known as The Echelon.

On the one hand, like a typical fan club The Echelon serves as a “street team,” spreading the word about the band, calling local radio stations to request their songs and casting votes when 30STM is nominated for fan-driven awards. On the other hand, The Echelon isn’t so much a fan club as it is, say, a throwback to the Freemasons – with its use of Latin adages, symbolic characters, white costumes, secretive rituals (such as an induction process that requires prospective members to be nominated by two existing members) and an almost cultish devotion to 30 Seconds to Mars. But the feeling is mutual, and the band is also intensely committed to The Echelon; its members are the first to learn of any news or announcements involving 30STM, even communicating with them directly, via email. In a unique public display of affection, the deluxe edition of A Beautiful Lie (released in December) contains foldout artwork designed as a special tribute to The Echelon, which bears the actual names of more than 5,000 fans – “the most passionate believers,” as Jared describes them.

When it comes to the fans, perhaps Matt sums it up best. “They’re just true and true, through and through. They’ve been there since the beginning and they’ll be there till the end,” he says. But talking to Shannon, Tomo, Matt and Jared in their parked tour bus, it is clear that the end is nowhere in sight. As they gear up for six weeks on the road, the band has just returned from China, where they shot the “From Yesterday” video at a palace outside of Shanghai. “We had 500 extras, massive amounts of period wardrobe, 40 men on horseback…just phenomenal sets and design, and a period piece to boot. I don’t know how we pulled that off!” Jared says. They then flew to L.A. to play the Bamboozled Festival and the FUSE Awards before dipping to Minnesota – all in the last four days.

“It’s wild, it’s amazing, it’s great opportunities, no complaints – and thank God it’s what we’re doing,” says Jared, more ecstatic than exhausted. “You hear this stuff when you’re young: You better love what you do, especially if you call it your work, because that’s your life. It’s important to have an experience that is fulfilling and inspired, and it’s certainly that for us.”

The result is an album that, for better or worse, is disarmingly thoughtful without being overly angsty or condescending. “The songs Jared writes are purely from the soul – they’re the real deal. And we all get to be a part of that. It’s a real band, not in any way contrived,” Tomo says.

If it sounds intense, that’s because it is; and if Jared sounds intense, that’s because he is. If there were 30 hours in a day, Jared would probably squeeze in 40 hours of work. He is not the type to phone it in (no matter what “it” is), and he doesn’t mistake “good” for “good enough.” He is just as likely to use big words (correctly) as he is to use expletives (gratuitously), and like his bandmates, he doesn’t drink or do drugs. But just because you have nothing in common with the band, if you can judge them by their music rather than their eyeliner, you just might understand what all the fuss is about. “You either get it or you don’t,” says Matt. “And ultimately, the music speaks for itself… . Come to a live show – I think that speaks even louder.”

It does. At Myth Nightclub, the energy in the room is palpable, no less intoxicating than the glass of scotch in my hand - and both will remain with me well after the show has ended. As the lights go dim, signaling the start of 30STM’s set, the formerly sprawling crowd now stands tightly together, united by silent but eager anticipation. The calm soon gives way to shouts and chants, and finally, after a short but spectacular performance by Street Drum Corps, 30 Seconds to Mars takes the stage. And despite the theatrics of the scene – beginning with a pseudo-religious procession that features white masks and flags with the band’s insignia – there is no question that they own it.

In perfect step with his bandmates, Jared’s powerful voice reaches every crevice of the room as he parades around the stage, delivering each note with a fury and intensity befitting his character. He wears all black, save a white electric guitar with a blood-red strap – the same red color as the (dyed) tips of his otherwise (dyed) black hair. Perched atop a platform, Shannon kills it on the drums, his arms rising and falling with such speed and precision it’s a wonder they’re still attached to his torso. In the wings, Tomo and Matt supply sweeping guitar riffs and heavy bass lines, flexing their respective musical muscles on every song.

There is a mosh pit, and Jared indulges throngs of screaming fans by taking song requests (“What do you guys wanna hear? I’ll play whatever you want”) and crowd surfing on more than one occasion. And just when you think it’s over, Jared informs the audience, “We’re just fucking getting started,” and they play for another 30 minutes – but not before he performs a solo, acoustic rendition of the Nine Inch Nails’ classic, “Closer.” Jared is most definitely a natural performer, but right now, on stage with his band, he isn’t acting.

As at all 30STM shows, the set is followed by a signing, and every fan willing to wait in line has the opportunity to meet the band personally. And even though they’ll wake up in a new city tomorrow, tonight 30 Seconds to Mars will stick around until the last, lingering fans have had their moment.


ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN YRB MAGAZINE COPYRIGHT © 2007

Lukas Rossi & Rock Star Supernova

BY JUSTINE GOODMAN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ODESSY BARBU
CHAMPAGNE SUPERNOVA

After 15 years of struggling to make it in the music biz, Lukas Rossi is finally a household name – at least in Canada. But for the rest of us, Lukas (a Toronto native) was the winner of Rock Star: Supernova, a CBS reality show in which hopeful rockers vied to become the lead singer of a new “supergroup.” Also called Supernova, the band consists of guitarist Gilby Clarke (formerly of Guns N’ Roses), Metallica’s Jason Newsted on bass, and drummer Tommy Lee, best known for his work with both Mötley Crüe and Pamela Anderson.

For the duration of the 11-week taping, Rossi and 15 other contestants lived together in an L.A. mansion (or the “pretty prison,” as Lukas fondly refers to it), where they had various opportunities to prove themselves worthy of fronting Supernova. In keeping with the reality show prototype, the series also featured “celebrity” hosts Dave Navarro and Brooke Burke, and an interactive component whereby viewers could vote for their favorite rocker. After a grueling elimination and selection process, the fans and band members agreed that Lukas Rossi was their man.

So, how does it feel to go from doing commercial voiceovers in Toronto to pay the rent, to living the dream in L.A., preparing to go on tour with your new band? “I’m just taking it a day at a time; it’s really overwhelming and fast-paced,” says Lukas, the morning after completing work on Supernova’s self-titled debut last fall. “I did a lot of writing on the record, and obviously a lot of singing. I’m still taking a deep breath everyday. It’s exciting as hell though.”

Ladies and gentlemen, you heard it here first: Being the lead singer of a supergroup comprised of rock industry veterans is awesome, and if you also get to crash on Tommy Lee’s couch when you’re not living on a crowded tour bus, even better. Just one quick question: If you’re Jason Newsted, Gilby Clarke and Tommy Lee, don’t you, like, already know someone, anyone, who could front your band?

“In this day and age, we’re kinda running out of options,” Gilby says. “Radio isn’t what it used to be, MTV isn’t what it used to be, and for all of us, to start a new band and pick the cream of the crop – you know, Tommy Lee on drums, Jason Newsted on bass – and scour the world for the best new singer we could find, it was an opportunity that we had to take.”

If you look beyond the superficial, made-for-TV components of Rock Star: Supernova, and refrain from dismissing all the contestants as a bunch of angsty, black-clad, inked-up, would-be rock stars, what you’re left with is a seriously painstaking audition process. The rockers were subject to a level of public scrutiny that few prospective band members ever are. Given that Lukas prevailed, it would seem that he truly is the most qualified person to front the band (or at least the most qualified person who also screen-tested well). And just because the show might have been gimmicky doesn’t mean the band is.

But no one denies that the publicity generated by the show certainly won’t harm the band’s chances to find wider success. A large segment of Generation Reality Show have Ticketmaster on speed dial, and all they want for Christmas is tickets to a live Supernova performance near them. And while each member of the band brings his own preexisting fan base, it’s questionable whether tickets for the tour (which kicked off on New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas) would be selling out months in advance, as they are, were it not for the exposure afforded by Rock Star: Supernova.

Lukas emphasizes that the 27-city tour is not just a matter of fulfilling contractual obligations, and neither he nor his bandmates view Supernova as a temporary gig. “I don’t want anybody to get confused,” he says. “I don’t think we went through all this just for like a four or five month tour.”

On the contrary, just weeks after dropping their debut album, Supernova is already looking toward working on the follow-up – not because they’re dissatisfied with the first record, but because they’re amped about the possibilities they can explore as a real band, making an entire record in the more traditional way: together, from beginning to end.

“For me, Guns N’ Roses was the ultimate hard rock band. You never really knew what was gonna happen from day to day; it was the perfect hard rock band,” says Gilby. “We don’t really know what Supernova is until we get the record out and start playing as a band together. Ordinarily you would have done that before you made the record – this is a very backwards way of doing things. But the thing was, most importantly, we were all up for the challenge. We’ve all done it the conventional way; we’ve had other bands that have succeeded and failed. So this is just a new, different way to do this, and we were just so excited to try something new.”

Lukas agrees. “The circumstances were obviously unorthodox, considering the way that other records in the past have been done,” he says. “But in my opinion, the product is gonna blow people away.”

For some people, the feeling that Rock Star: Supernova is just a few B-list guest spots short of a VH1 Celebreality special is inescapable, undermining the possibility that the music might actually be great. But does it really matter that the band found its frontman by combining one part Making the Band with equal parts American Idol and The Surreal Life? The show was just a means to a greater end.

“One feeling we had about Lukas through the whole program was that he was a lot like us,” says Gilby. “He just wants to be in a great band, and make a great record and go on tour and be a musician. And that’s the one thing we were really trying to keep for ourselves through this: it’s just a television show, it’s just a process to find this person.”

And then in October, the media was informed via press release that due to a serious shoulder injury, bassist Jason Newsted would have to undergo emergency surgery followed by a long period of recovery, effectively terminating his place in Supernova, at least for now. It’s a setback, but the show must go on.

“When we started this project, I was handed a list of names – guys who could potentially anchor our rhythm section,” says Tommy Lee. “I responded by crumpling up the paper and asking, ‘Where’s Newsted?’ Jason was always the right guy for this band and we’ll miss having him with us as we kick off our album and tour, but we know he’ll be back as soon as he can pick up and play.” Until then, former Black Crowes bassist Johnny Colt will serve as Newsted’s temporary replacement.

Whether Supernova will succeed in bringing rock ‘n’ roll back to its golden age remains to be seen. But with his new bandmates backing him, thousands of fans cheering for him, and one hell of an audition tape to prove he’s the man for the job, Lukas Rossi and Supernova are poised to do big things.

“We’re all human, we’re all musicians, we’re different musicians, and that’s what makes it cool,” says Lukas. “I’m always gonna be the same person that came here. I just can’t wait to take on the world with the band and see all the fans out there that have put me here.”

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN YRB MAGAZINE COPYRIGHT © 2007

Dax Shepard

BY JUSTINE GOODMAN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS FORTUNA

THE GOOD SHEPARD
“I feel like the Jude Law of comedy this fall. Prepare to get Daxed-out,” says actor Dax Shepard, who stars in three movies this year – Employee of the Month, Idiocracy and Let’s Go To Prison – all released between Labor Day and Thanksgiving.

Dax is perhaps best known for his role as a field agent on the first season of MTV’s celebrity prank series, Punk’d, but how does a dude with a degree in Anthropology from UCLA wind up getting paid to make Justin Timberlake cry on national television?

“I was going on probably 15 commercial auditions a year for six years and booking none of them,” says Dax of the days when he was a struggling actor trying to make it in Hollywood. (To be fair, he did play the coveted role of “Vomiter at Party” in a movie called Hairshirt in 1998.) While auditioning and attending UCLA, Dax also performed improv with the Groundlings Theater in L.A. (famous for having launched the careers of Phil Hartman, Lisa Kudrow, Will Ferrell and others), and pursued another hobby: racing cars.

“I was really into cars and I met the right people and I was gonna go and try to get a job racing,” says Dax. “At the exact same time, I got into the last level of the Groundlings […] and I thought, ‘Well, you can maybe parlay an acting career into a driving career, but not the other way around.’"

Then, in 2001, Dax auditioned for a role on Punk’d, which his experience as a Groundling had prepared him for. Seven callbacks later, he landed the part. “It was like, ‘Oh my god, I got a pilot, and the pilot’s going great!’ And then the pilot got sued and there was a full year of sorting that out before I finally went back to work.” When it aired in mid-2003, Punk’d was a hit and Dax was on the road to celebrity.

In 2004, he starred in Without a Paddle, alongside Seth Green, Matthew Lillard and Burt Reynolds – whom he describes as one of his “childhood gods.” (And who among us doesn’t have the fondest childhood memories of sitting fireside, surrounded by loved ones and watching Deliverance?)

“Oh, [Burt Reynolds] is so great,” says Dax, adding wistfully, “The only thing I regret is not having gotten to see his balls on set, because I wanna know if they’re as big as they look in those tight pants.”

Although Without a Paddle is no Smokey and the Bandit, working with Burt was still pretty sweet. But, Dax says his ultimate Hollywood experience thus far has been working on a movie that was never actually made. Dax was to star in Car Wars with Dustin Hoffman – whom he speculates “may be the most charming man on the planet” – and the two hung out quite a bit, something that left an indelible imprint on Dax.

“At one point we were with a third person, [who] asked Dustin something about [a] scene in Rain Man […] so Dustin starts explaining the entire scene and how it went down, and the next thing you know, he’s on the couch next to me, and I’m playing Tom Cruise, and he’s […] doing the lines. I had to stop and say, ‘In my wildest dreams, I never thought I’d be reenacting a scene out of Rain Man with Dustin Hoffman.’ ”

In fact, for a dude whose career only took off in 2003, Dax has been keeping a lot of excellent company. Idiocracy – a shamefully under-publicized Mike Judge movie that was released in September (though one wonders where) – features Dax, Luke Wilson and SNL’s Maya Rudolph. A role in the children’s action adventure film Zathura (2005) paved the way for a close friendship between Dax and Jon Favreau, who directed. Add to that Dax’s fellow Employee of the Month stars Dane Cook and Jessica Simpson, and you’ve got one really dope rolodex.

And speaking of the elder Simpson, is she as gifted an actress as she seems to be? “What I thought was good about her acting was that she wasn’t trying or working hard at it, which in my opinion is always the worst kind of acting,” says Dax. “[Jessica] just listened and said her lines, and that’s really all any of us can do. But she did great in the movie, she was super-cute […]. And her boobs are really big.” OK, so her range as an actress isn’t tremendous; but at least something about her is.

Dax also made his own physical contribution to this movie, albeit less sexy. “I don’t know if you can catch the finer details of my character in [Employee of the Month], but I want you to notice that I have waxed my forearms for the role, and I have bleached my hair for the role.”

You have to respect that level of commitment – and hey, short of starring in a Holocaust picture, changing your physical appearance for a movie role is the only surefire way to lock down an Academy Award, right? “There is Oscar buzz, I’m not gonna lie,” says Dax, in a tone that actually seems to say, ‘There most definitely is not, nor will there ever be, anything even remotely resembling Oscar buzz about this movie. Never. Not ever.’

For comedy nerds who are on the fence about Dax, the fact that he’s down with Arrested Development’s Will Arnett may earn him some street cred. This November, Will and Dax are starring in a little picture called Let’s Go To Prison, which promises to deliver.

“Let’s Go to Prison I really like, because that was a four million dollar movie that we made in 25 days, which ended up getting picked up by Universal and has an actual marketing budget now, and that’s kind of a rare thing to happen. If you like Will Arnett you’re gonna get your fill.”

And if you don’t like Will Arnett, chances are you’ve either smoked way too much weed or not enough.

Although Dax and Will met on the set of Let’s Go to Prison, the two already have plans for a future project. “Get ‘Em Wet is a script that I wrote for [Will] and I to star in. While we were on the set of Let’s Go to Prison we started thinking of different ideas that we could put together because we had such a good time, and Get ‘Em Wet was the product. Will and I play American hottub salesmen who go to Japan and try to blow the lid off a burgeoning market that’s not really there.”

Don’t get it twisted: Dax Shepard is no post-SNL Jimmy Fallon; he knows that just because a bad movie exists, doesn’t mean he should star in it.

“[Even before Punk’d] I was passing [on projects] sometimes when I shouldn’t have been, financially-speaking, because I’ve watched other actors who’ve been in the same spot I’ve been in, and I’ve watched them kinda disappear – it always boils down to doing something they know is shitty. It is very tempting – I have a house payment, I need money as much as I did when I was broke – so, it’s very hard to turn down […]. My theory is that as long as I don’t ever do a really shitty one, I still have a shot of working again. But if I do a couple of real shitty ones in a row, then I could permanently go away.”

Smart guy. “Well I was Magna Cum Laude at UCLA – I’m no slouch,” he reminds me.

With so many projects on deck (including a mockumentary about “me switching genres from comedy to martial arts movies”), Dax’s future looks bright. “If all my dreams come true I will become Paul Newman and start racing cars when I have money to have my own race team, and then do that in my retirement. I mean that would obviously be the greatest thing ever.”

And so far, it looks like he’s on the right track.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN YRB MAGAZINE COPYRIGHT © 2007

Interview: Nick Cannon

BY JUSTINE GOODMAN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROBERT CHAMORRO

LOADED CANNON
He arrives at Universal Motown’s artists lounge rocking dark denim, a gray hoodie and a N.Y. Yankee’s hat and jacket – never mind that he’s from the Left Coast. Ever the dignified baller, he doesn’t seem to be a man of excess. Today, at least, he wears only two pieces of bling – an iced out watch and a relatively modest gold chain – and it’s all he needs. He is, after all, Nick Cannon, and at just 25-years-old, he has already conquered the worlds of stand-up comedy, television, film, music and even fashion, after he “kinda’ just purchased” the PNB clothing line.

It’s enough to make even the most ambitious among us feel like slackers. It seems that anything you can do, Nick Cannon can do better, and he probably already has.

Born in San Diego, Nick moved to North Carolina at the age of 11, where he began using his father’s public access program as a venue to perform his own skits and comedy routines. He soon returned to the West Coast, and before long managed to work his way onto the stages of such famous Los Angeles clubs as The Comedy Store and The Laugh Factory. Still in his teens, Cannon was cast in the popular Nickelodeon series All That, before catching his first big-screen break in 2002, when he landed the lead in Drumline, exposing him to a much larger (and older) audience. “Kids knew who I was before Drumline – I was like ‘Mr. Nickelodeon’ before then – which I didn’t have a problem with…hey, their money spends just like everybody else’s.”

Even if you missed his stint on All That, it would be harder to miss Nick Cannon Presents Wild ‘N Out (it seems to be on television as often as Law & Order re-runs), the MTV sketch comedy series he created, directs and hosts. “I’ll give you two secrets about Wild ‘N Out. One is that we rehearse the actual games. We never rehearse any of the subject matters, or what the audience throws out there – you can’t rehearse that stuff. But we know the games back and forth, so we know the logistics of the games,” he says. “The other thing is, when they give us all the topics and stuff and you see us huddle – on the show you see us huddle for like 10 seconds. But realistically, in real-time, it’s more like 45 seconds. So we get a little bit of time to kinda’ come up with stuff.”

And then there’s his music career. Nick’s Can I Ball/Universal Motown imprint will release Stages (the follow-up album to his 2003 self-titled debut) on June 15th, by which time the single, “Dime Piece,” will have been getting heavy radio burn for months. In addition to Kanye West, who produced the track “My Wife,” guest appearances on Stages include Anthony Hamilton, Talib Kweli and E-40 -- what he describes as “an eclectic group of folks.” Cannon has also been busy searching for the perfect female co-star for his next video, hitting up virtually every major city in the U.S.

It’s difficult to classify Nick. Is he an actor with a hit record, or a singer with a hit show? When asked whether there is one talent that he identifies himself with more closely, Cannon cleverly responds that choosing one “is like choosing between your kids. You don’t really have a favorite, you love them all the same – and if you do love one more, you don’t tell the other ones!”

While he has tended toward lighter, coming-of age-type flicks in the past, Cannon’s latest silver screen roles will test his abilities as a dramatic actor. This summer, he’ll be appearing in a horror flick called Monster House, and, perhaps more surprisingly, in Bobby, a drama that tells the story of the 1968 assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Written and directed by Emilio Estevez, Bobby also stars Hollywood veterans Anthony Hopkins, Demi Moore and William H. Macy.

“I need to do a movie so I can go to Sundance… something small, something quick, just to get a ticket,” says Cannon, smiling. “Before I was in Drumline, Love Don’t Cost a Thing, it was kinda’ like one is good money, and two is like, just to get my face out there. But I feel like I’ve established a brand and a name thus far that I really now wanna’ take a step back and focus on the craft element of it, and not always be worrying about the biggest movie [or] box office and stuff, because I have stuff like my music career, the television show -- the things that kinda’ keep me out there, so when it comes to film...it’s just a little more challenging and exciting for me to keep it on the independent route,” says Cannon, adding, “Like I’ll do a movie with a $500,000 budget
if I believe enough in the script.”

If you watch HBO’s Entourage like the rest of the cool kids, then you know what he means. “Entourage is my life! When I tell you that’s my favorite show in the world, it’s because I could write that whole show in my sleep, because it’s just like they take elements of my life. Everyday, you know, I go to my agent, and it’s like, ‘Look, I don’t wanna’ do Aquaman, I wanna’ do Queens Boulevard!’” Nick says, referring to the Entourage storyline.

If Queens Boulevard is fictional movie star Vincent Chase’s opus, then Weapons is Nick Cannon’s. He says he was approached with various other scripts when this “phenomenal” one came along, and although some people were ambivalent (“A lot of people at my agency were like, ‘Why would you wanna’ do that? What about your youth audience?’”), he was determined to do the film. Weapons is scheduled to premiere at this year’s Toronto Film Festival. It may not be Sundance, but it counts.

With mentors like Will Smith and Jamie Foxx looking out for him (“Jamie Foxx, hands down, is the most talented person I’ve ever met,” he says), it’s not exactly shocking that Cannon was able to catch a break in Hollywood. In fact, he has often been compared to the Fresh Prince himself. “I joke around about that, because I love the fact that people compare me to the highest-paid movie star ever. If they were comparing me to Gary Coleman, then I would have some problems with that…[Will Smith] has been like a brother to me, always giving me advice and helping me in my career. He put me in my first movie, Men In Black II – if you blink, you miss me, but it was a wonderful experience at the time.”

Though the guy who titled his first hit single “Gigolo” is no longer the Nickelodeon poster child he once was, to a great extent Cannon has managed to retain his crispy clean public image. “I’m a good guy with bad tendencies. I think everybody has that in them,” he admits. “Ultimately, I feel like I am really a nice catch that you could probably take home to your mom, but I still have all those same thoughts as all the bad guys, I’m just maybe not acting on them as much as they do.”

With taping for the third season of Wild ‘N Out underway, and with three movies and a solo album about to drop, what other choice did Nick have but to buy the PNB clothing label? “I’m having a lot of fun with just designing denim. It’s the coolest thing you could ever do if you meet a girl and be like, ‘I could custom-make your jeans.’ They love that; ‘Oh, you’ll make me some jeans?’” he says, assuming a girlish voice.

At this rate, 10 years from now Nick Cannon will be running for President – and if the Constitution didn’t require that candidates be at least 35-years old, he’d probably be on the ticket in 2008. In the meantime, he hopes that in the future he’ll be able to get involved with “philanthropy” and “humanitarian work.” He’d also like to start a family eventually (though he remains single after a rather public break-up with former girlfriend, singer/actress Christina Milian).

So what’s the one thing the man who truly has everything simply couldn’t live without? “Magnum condoms,” he says, laughing (much to the dismay of his publicist). “Hey, that’s safe sex – I can’t live without ‘em! You don’t have ‘em, you won’t be livin’ too long!”

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN YRB MAGAZINE COPYRIGHT © 2007

Andy Samberg

BY JUSTINE GOODMAN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY SETH KUSHNER

LIVE FROM NEW YORK
Ever since Jimmy Fallon and Will Ferrell bade farewell to Saturday Night Live, the weekly sketch comedy show has been driven by veteran cast members like Darrell Hammond, Tina Fey, Chris Parnell and Amy Poehler. But with the remarkable success of the SNL Digital Short “Lazy Sunday,” which aired last December, a rookie cast member has been catapulted into the spotlight: Andy Samberg, 27.

Unless you’ve been in a coma for the last few months, you’ve probably seen the two-and-a-half minute rap video, which follows Samberg and Chris Parnell as they quench their “snack-attacks” with pink frosted cupcakes from New York’s famed Magnolia Bakery, load a backpack with Mr. Pibb and Red Vines purchased with less-than-crisp $10 bills at the local deli, and cab it to the Upper West Side to catch an afternoon showing of The Chronicles of Narnia.

Samberg arrived at SNL last fall with his two best friends, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer, who both now write for the show. (The three wrote “Lazy Sunday” together with Parnell.) Talking to Samberg, it seems clear that as far as his comedy is concerned, he doesn’t think of himself apart from his partners in crime – almost as if they were conjoined triplets. The “Dudes,” who grew up together in their hometown of Berkley, CA, are collectively known as the Lonely Island, a title initially bestowed on the apartment they shared after graduating from college and moving to L.A. in 2001. Putting their degrees in film and theater to good use, the Dudes soon began to write, direct and star in their own short films, which they posted to their website, www.thelonelyisland.com.

In addition to longer episodes like "White Power" (an 18-minute film about three otherwise good kids, struggling to overcome an addiction to White Power-brand teeth-whitener), music videos in the vein of “Lazy Sunday” have long been part of their repertoire. Under the name Incredibad, the Lonely Island has produced a number of songs, most notably “Just 2 Guyz,” “Ka-Blamo!” and “Stork Patrol.” Like the rest of the Dudes’ work, the videos are funny, but the quality of the music itself (from the beats to the lyrics) is also impressive; they’ve even been compared to the Beastie Boys. “‘Ka-Blamo!’ you could say, has a lot of Beastie Boys influence, like we’re even sorta’ aping them at some point. But like in ‘Stork Patrol,’ we’re all doing our best Ghostface,” Samberg says.

The Lonely Islanders seem like the kind of dudes who got stoned and then actually made movies instead of just watching them like the rest of us. Of their pre-SNL work, perhaps they are best known for The ‘Bu, a series that originally aired on the L.A.-based website, Channel 101. A parody of TV dramas like Fox’s The O.C., the Lonely Island website explains the series’ title: “Young, sexy people that live in Malibu call it the ‘Bu, because when you say the entire word, it takes time, and then you wouldn’t be young anymore.”

The eighth and final episode of The ‘Bu coincided with plans for a pilot called Awesometown; although the show was not picked up, Samberg and his boys were well on their way to establishing themselves in the comedy world. But a good reputation doesn’t always pay the rent, so when the Dudes were broke, Samberg did what any other L.A. comedian would do: he went on commercial auditions. In the spring of 2004, he landed a part in a Japanese commercial for Honda. “It was fuckin’ awesome. It was so sweet – they flew me and like five other Americans out to Tokyo, business class. We just kicked it in Japan in a five-star hotel for a week, and shot this commercial and went out and got wasted and did karaoke,” he says, adding, “Just for the record, I do not like karaoke. But I did enjoy it in Japan.”

How did Andy Samberg make it from the Lonely Island to the island of Manhattan and Saturday Night Live? Speaking, as he usually does, of himself, Schaffer and Taccone, in the plural, Samberg says, “We first got introduced to the SNL world, so to speak, when we were writing on the MTV Movie Awards. We did it two years in a row, and this past year Jimmy Fallon was the host, so we worked pretty closely with him. I guess he suggested [that SNL producers] check us out.” After watching the material on the Lonely Island website, SNL producers asked Andy to audition and ultimately invited him to join the cast, while Jorma and Akiva were offered writing gigs.

Given that his background is unlike that of most Saturday Night Live cast members, who performed in sketch and improv groups like Second City before joining the show, has the transition to live TV been difficult for Samberg? He did a lot of stand-up comedy prior to SNL, which he says prepared him for the experience of performing in front of a live audience, though it did take some time to get comfortable with things like blocking and playing to the camera. “In terms of transitioning the comedy, I feel like definitely those people [the other cast members] have done a lot more live sketch, but we’ve done a lot of sort of controlled comedy of our own, and obviously it plays more when we do stuff that’s sort of pre-shot, ‘cause that’s what we’re used to…and the success that ‘Lazy Sunday’ had is a testament to the fact that that’s what we’re the most experienced with.”

To call it a success is an understatement. A slew of bloggers immediately rushed to update their Live Journal and My Space entries, calling Andy SNL’s new savior and posting links to “Lazy Sunday.” The short has since been downloaded millions of times, spawning a new generation of catch phrases (e.g., “It’s all about the Hamiltons, baby”). Although “Lazy Sunday” has been subject to a barrage of press, Samberg maintains that his life is more or less the same as it was before – except that now, he is recognized almost every time he leaves the West Village apartment he shares with Schaffer. When he arrives at trendy Union Square eatery, Coffee Shop, for the photo shoot, he is wearing a new black jacket, which he bought to replace the fur-hooded parka he wore in the video; he’s identified more frequently in the parka, and doesn’t want people to think he’s wearing it because he is seeking the attention.

But while most people under the age of 30 might recognize Andy Samberg – as the awesome, shaggy- haired dude who made that rap video with a clever hook that combined the name of a children’s movie with allusions to getting blunted – apparently it is much more difficult for them to remember his name. A New York Times copy editor is probably seeking employment elsewhere after the paper misidentified him as “Adam Samberg” on the front page of its Arts Section. Andy says he was not surprised by the error. “I’ve been getting that in standup since I started. Everyone calls me either ‘Adam Samberg’ or ‘Andy Sandler.’”

He jokes about making it big so that no one will get his name wrong again, but Samberg seems not to be distracted by fame or fortune, and he’s not rushing to prove that he’s a major league baller. Us Weekly recently crowned him, “The Next Jimmy Fallon,” and while he’s flattered by such comparisons, Samberg doesn’t see himself as being the Next Big Anyone, per se. “I kinda’ just wanna’ do my own thing, and hopefully someday have someone else who does their own thing be called, ‘The Next Andy Samberg.’” Somehow, the remarkable popularity of “Lazy Sunday” – and the subsequent rush of publicity he has experienced in its wake – doesn’t seem to have fazed him, though he hopes it won’t prove to be a one-hit wonder. But the video is not unlike a lot of the work in the Lonely Island portfolio; “It just happened to be on Saturday Night Live now. So I think if we just kinda’ keep trying to make each other laugh, we should be fine; that’s always been the rule,” he says, referring to Schaffer and Taccone. (In fact, as we go to press, “Young Chuck Norris,” another SNL digital short starring Samberg, is already making its rounds on the internet.)

From the moment he arrives at the Coffee Shop shoot (cradling a rather large ceramic cow as if there’s nothing at all unusual about that), his playful charm is like an energy that endears him to everyone in the room. A self-described “fuck-around dude,” Samberg seems like someone you might know; like someone you went to school with, or wish you had. “All I’ve ever really wanted is to do comedy, and it’s exciting to have any success with it,” he says.

So set your TiVo for Saturday nights at 11:30 EST on NBC, because Live From New York, It’s Andy Samberg.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN YRB MAGAZINE COPYRIGHT © 2007