MTV Specs

Peters Portal

MTV Specs

Home

SITE STATUS: LAST UPDATED: 02.22.02

So what is MTV Up To?...This is the Site For YOU!!!

Remember...At The Bottom Of Every Website There are Links Relating To This Website!

Lance Set To Leave This World?!

'NSYNC's Lance Bass
Photo: Jive/NASA

Lance Bass has out-of-this-world plans when 'NSYNC end their Celebrity 2002 tour he's hoping to go into orbit this fall with the help of a television production company, Russian technology and a lot of sponsors.

"I am completely overwhelmed at this invitation," Bass said in a statement announcing the trip. "I'm looking forward to completing this lifelong dream."

(Are you looking for our "'NSYNC In Space: You Write The Headline" poll? Click here.)

Of course, for Bass to complete his dream, it's easier said than done. For a civilian to embark on a space flight in this case, aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket the usual asking price is about $20 million. So far only one civilian American businessman Dennis Tito has ponied up the money and gone into space; South African Mark Shuttleworth is booked to next make the trek. Tito originally bought his ticket to visit the Mir space station through Dutch-based space exploration company MirCorp, but later rolled over his contract to U.S.-based space tourism company Space Adventures to take a rocket to the International Space Station for eight days in April 2001. Shuttleworth, who also negotiated his ticket via Space Adventures, has been training for four months at Star City near Moscow, and is slated to make his trek to the ISS on April 20.

Despite his brief tenure at Florida's U.S. Space Camp at the age of 12, for Bass to blast off, he too will have to undergo five to six months of training at Star City before he takes a seat on a mission in early November.

As for the cost, Destiny Productions president David Krieff said that via sponsorship and a network deal, he is optimistic they can raise the funds to pay MirCorp for Bass' mission. Krieff plans to shoot both Bass' training and the mission itself for a television special called "Celebrity Mission: Lance Bass."

"We've got the sponsorship money on a fast track," Krieff said. "The demographic that Lance hits is highly sought after, so it'll be a little easier to round up [the funds]. And a network deal will get the rest. That's not done yet, but we expect to get one of the top four."

They'll also have to get the approval of the Russian Space Agency, Rosaviakosmos, which told Reuters on Thursday (February 21) that there had been no talks on the subject yet. "It is as if I said I had bought Australia," Russian Space Agency spokesperson Sergei Gorbunov told Reuters. "MirCorp has no right to sell these flights. They have no link to Rosviakosmos, we have no contract linking us."

That's partially true, a MirCorp spokesperson countered, saying that no contracts had been signed and that no talks had happened yet between MirCorp and the Russian Space Agency because it would have been premature. Before they get to that stage, MirCorp spokesperson Jeffrey Lenorovitz said, Bass would need to pass medical exams, complete training and come up with the cost of the flight. "Destiny Productions is working with MirCorp and discussions have started," Lenorovitz said. "And there are flight opportunities for a civilian. But they do have to be up to Russian standards. And there's the matter of the money. You don't talk to the real estate broker to buy a house or a car dealer to buy a car until you know you can pay, even if it's just a deposit."

As for whether or not MirCorp would have the right to sell the flight, Lenorovitz argued that the company's main shareholders were principal players in the Russian space industry, and have their backing. (MirCorp is part-owned by the Russian space organization Energia).

Bass' launch, should it occur, could be a prelude for Destiny Productions to develop further shows. The company which has put together numerous showdowns such as "Battle of the Sexes on Ice" and "Battle of the Broads" (featuring Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding) for Fox also wants to put together a game show that would send civilians into space. Calling it a blend of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?," "Survivor" and "Weakest Link," Krieff said the 20-episode rocket reality show "Big Mission" would allow contest winners to compete to follow in Bass' zero-gravity footsteps.

"Celebrity Mission: Lance Bass," however, will be more of a documentary, Krieff said, split up into two two-hour parts and showing Bass' life as well as his launch. "We'd like to start with his birthday in early May, when he starts his training in Russia, and possibly even have a live aspect with the launch."

No launch date has been slated for the mission, which would have a three-person crew in addition to Bass.

R. Kelly...Tring to Pull The "Bill Clinton"

While Chicago police continue to investigate allegations that R. Kelly had sex with an underage girl, the R&B singer is proclaiming his innocence.

The allegations are based on a videotape, anonymously mailed to the Chicago Sun-Times, that allegedly shows nearly 27 minutes of Kelly having sex with a teenage girl. The paper has given a copy of the tape to police (see "R. Kelly Under Investigation After Sex Tape Surfaces").

The seeming scandal, though, didn't prevent the singer, whose real name is Robert S. Kelly, from performing at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics on Friday. Before he took the stage, he told Chicago television station WMAQ that the allegations were false. "It's very difficult for me, but you know, I'm innocent," Kelly said. "So it's not that difficult. It's crap, and that's how we're going to treat it."

Kelly's lawyer, John M. Touhy, released a statement on Monday saying that the tape is a fabrication. "No videotape of Robert Kelly having sex with an underaged girl exists, and any such statements that there is such a videotape are false and malicious," the statement reads. The statement goes on to say that the timing of the video should be questioned, calling it a "blatant attempt to do as much damage to Robert Kelly as possible."

Why would someone create a false tape to slander Kelly? The singer has a theory. He told WMAQ, that it could have been made by a former employee who attempted to blackmail him previously and who may have released it to ruin the singer's big moment at the Olympics.

"The reason these things are happening, I really do believe, is because of the fact that I didn't fall back as far as blackmail was concerned," Kelly told the station. "I didn't give them any money. ... All I know is this I have a few people in the past that I've fired, ... people that I've thought were my friends that's not my friends. Ever since then, it's been threats on what they're gonna do to me, and ... if I don't pay them this, they'll put a story out ... and when I refuse to pay them, and now here come this story. ... The world is getting ready to watch me sing a song called 'The World's Greatest,' and you've got a tape out there trying to ruin my career."

The tape isn't the only source of allegations, however. Kelly must appear in court on February 21 in Chicago to face charges that he had sex with a separate underage girl, Tracy Sampson, who filed a $50,000 civil suit in August. Sampson claims that during her internship at Epic Records, Kelly took advantage of his position of authority and induced her into a sexual relationship that lasted from May 2000 to March 2001, even though he was married and knew she was 17.

Sampson's lawyer, Susan E. Loggans, previously represented yet another alleged victim of Kelly's, Tiffany Hawkins, who claimed Kelly had sex with her while she was underage. In 1998, Kelly settled Hawkins' civil suit for a reported $250,000. Hawkins claimed that when she was 15, the singer not only had sex with her but induced her to have group sex with other teenage girls.

Loggans said the family of the girl in the sex tape has contacted her, but the lawyer couldn't discuss whether she would be taking on the case. She did say, though, the three Chicago cases are not as separate as they may seem, since some share witnesses.

O-Town Season 3!

The boys from O-Town are back! Catch the new season of Making The Band right here on MTV. This year, we'll follow the guys as they go on their concert tour with Britney (yes, we do mean Miss Spears).

Becoming Returns Back to MTV!

MTV.COM- What would it take to turn the average MTV viewer into a star? A fly ride? Some smashing clothes and a couple of dance moves? How about a music video? All of the above, we say. We'll take ordinary fans and transform them into their favorite artists, including Janet Jackson, Madonna, Sugar Ray, Eve, and *NSYNC. Our "stars" will get every bit of the glitz and glam afforded the celebs themselves, and to top it off, they'll even recreate a classic video by their favorite artists.

NSync and BSB Carry Olympic Torch!

While fans usually carry a torch for their favorite boy band member, lately it's been the other way around.

Kevin Richardson became the second Backstreet Boy to run the Olympic Torch Relay on Tuesday, and 'NSYNC's Lance Bass also joined in on the effort.

Richardson, promoting his Just Within Reach environmental foundation, carried the flame for three blocks on Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles.

Bass, chosen by relay organizers for his work with 'NSYNC's Challenge for the Children organization, which benefits children's charities, ran several blocks in Newport Beach, California.

In December, Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough carried the torch in Florida for his Dorough Lupus Foundation. His sister, Caroline Cochran, died of the disease in 1998 (see "Backstreet's Howie Addresses Loss Of His Sister").

The Olympic Torch Relay, an Olympic tradition since 1952, began on November 19, when the torch was lit in Olympia, Greece. It will be carried to the Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah, next month.

Richardson launched the Just Within Reach Foundation a year ago to provide environmental education and promote personal responsibility with regard to the health of the planet.

Brandy's Back!

Brandy says it took more than wrapping up an album after a three-year hiatus to gain a sense of fulfillment. She had to make sure she was getting the most out of her personal life, so she moved out on her own, spent some time soul searching and possibly got engaged (she doesn't floss a ring, but she says "maybe" when asked if she's reached that relationship milestone).

"That's why I entitled [my album] Full Moon," she told MTV News on Wednesday, "because I have done a complete circle and I feel whole. All of that's reflected in the music. It's a concept album, it's autobiographical. Everything that I've gone through in the last three years is reflected."

Although she says she's madly in love now, Brandy croons about heartache on the album's first single, the Rodney Jerkins-produced "What About Us?"

"Rodney was working on it when we were in L.A.," she said. "It was this offbeat track, this high-tech track. I was like 'Oh my God, Rodney, this is it. This is exactly what the industry needs. We can maybe change the game with this.' He said, 'Yeah, this is what I'm going for.'

"I got with some of the writers on the project and told them what I wanted to talk about. 'This is an aggressive record it's edgy, it's sexy. I wanna sing about something that's sexy and edgy.' I revisited my past in my mind and kind of told them what I wanna talk about."

On Full Moon, due March 5, Brandy mostly focuses on relationships. She cuts off a zero and gains independence on "I Thought," she refuses to break up with her baby boo on "It's Not Worth It," and she testifies about getting caught up in the rapture of love on "He Is" and "Full Moon."

The title track was written by Mike City (Babyface, Ruff Ryders). "He really challenged himself," she said. "If you listen to it, its different from what he's already done in the past. It's ghetto, but it's pop and R&B at the same time. That record has a lot of elements to it. Anything can happen on a full moon. On that particular [song], I'm actually falling in love with somebody I'm just meeting. I hope that's the second single, because it's different. I've never heard anything like it."

You won't hear too many guests alongside the singer, who'll be celebrating her 23rd birthday three days shy of Valentine's Day. Brandy has a duet with Ray J, her brother, on "I'd Die Without You," a remake of PM Dawn's 1993 hit, and Michael Jackson's vocals are used on "It's Not Worth It."

"It's a sample that Rodney used," she said of M.J.'s appearance. "It's a sample that no one's ever heard before."

The singer said that although listeners could hardly hear the background vocals she lent to Jackson's "Unbreakable," on last year's Invincible, she was happy to be get down with Mike.

"You couldn't even hear me on the track," she said, laughing. "If I could just breathe on his project [that would have been OK.] I cried, I was so overwhelmed to meet Michael Jackson."

Ja Rule

Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, and now Ja Rule and Vin Diesel?

Last week in Los Angeles on the set of his Murder Inc. compatriot Ashanti's "Foolish" video, the Queens rapper said he and Diesel are hoping to be Hollywood's next dynamic duo. They are committed to doing two more movies together, "The Fast and the Furious 2" and "Riddick."

"Obviously 'Fast and the Furious [2]' is going to pick up where we left off ," he said. "They're going to bulk up my character a bit. We're gonna get to see Edwin Bishop a little bit more this movie. And 'Riddick' is, ... it's not scary, but it's like a creature movie. It's like 'Pitch Black 2.' We're on another planet and it's crazy. These creatures come out only in the dark, and we can only see in the dark."

"Vin's my dog," he continued. "I shout him out on 'Smokin and Ridin' on my album [Pain Is Love]. He was in the studio with me that night when I recorded that. We were in there chillin'. I can't wait 'til we get going to Australia to shoot 'Riddick' and in Miami to shoot 'Fast and Furious 2.' "

Not too long ago, Ja returned from Germany, where he was working on "Half Past Dead" with Steven Seagal (see "Ja Rule Teaming Up With Steven Seagal For Action Film").

"I play Nick Frazier, a smooth criminal," he said. "We take these cars and we steal them from the U.S. and we ship them over to Russian diplomats. And that's basically my hustle when I'm on the streets. Then I go to jail in the process of that, and that's when everything starts to unfold. Steven, he's an undercover cop but I don't know it. I thought he was dead, [but then] he comes in. It's a great plot. Then it really gets deep."

Segueing back to the small screen, Ja also just finished a cameo in Mary J. Blige's new video "Rainy Dayz."

"Water, a lot of water," he said of the shoot. "It's just rain. It's a waterfall, it's tunnels of water, it's puddles of water. It's water. A lot of water."

Ja not only sings on the track, but he wrote the song after last year's terrorist attacks.

"I saw the tragedy and everything on September 11," he said. "I don't know, I was just in my basement, in my studio, listening to some tracks. And it just came to me. I guess that was just kind of like the feeling I had at the moment. Watching all the news all day. And it just came out like that."

Limp Bizkits Search to Replace Seth!

MTV.COM- Despite a cancellation and a police arrest, approximately 500 people in three cities have put their guitars where their mouths are so far, and more than a dozen have gotten to jam with the rhythm section of Limp Bizkit.

In its quest to find a guitarist to replace Wes Borland, the band is holding open auditions at Guitar Centers in cities all over the country (see "Limp Bizkit Scouring 22 Cities For New Guitarist"). The Put Your Guitar Where Your Mouth Is auditions have drawn an average of 150 players each day in Fresno, California; Clackamas, Oregon; and Seattle, with the try-outs running from approximately 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. in each location.

Bizkit wannabes have been granted between five and 15 minutes to rock for executives from Flawless Records, Fred Durst's label. String-slingers with the magic were invited back at the end of the day to play with bassist Sam Rivers and drummer John Otto while vocalist Fred Durst watched and bobbed his head to the beat. Those jam sessions ran anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes.

"There was definitely an excitement in the air," Limp Bizkit's manager Peter Katsis said. "Kids are definitely seeing this as a unique opportunity to display their talent in front of some people who could really make something happen. A lot of them are bringing their CDs and pushing their bands just as hard as they're trying to get in Limp Bizkit because they see what's happened with Puddle of Mudd. From that viewpoint, everything that's going on is exciting."

"It's all about the feel, man," Durst said right before the first audition in El Cerrito, California. "There's no looks. We're definitely not looking for Limp Bizkit Wes Borland clones. It's just if you like what they're doing you look at them like, 'Dude, something's cool about that cat.' " Outside the El Cerrito audition room a sign read, "No solos!" Other than that, there were no rules. Some auditioned with their own songs, others improvised riffs and some were invited to play along with a computerized Otto drum loop. Durst seemed especially intent on keeping it loose.

"When you came in, what did you think it would be like?" Durst asked the first player to audition, Chandon Pennington. "Did you think you would start shredding or did you think we wanted you to play Limp Bizkit songs?"

The guitarist shrugged, and Durst continued. "We're trying to get some feedback so we can know how to run smoother. Do it however people want. Beats to put on, shred, play one of your songs, whatever. What do you think?"

"This is the weirdest experience I've ever had in my life," Pennington sheepishly replied. "It's like all my guitar-playing years have come to this point. This is like the pinnacle."

Then Pennington started cranking out chunky metallic riffs reminiscent of Megadeth. Moments later, Durst left the room. Pennington was not invited back at the end of the day.

Although Limp Bizkit and their handlers have already checked out around 500 guitarists and are planning to continue the auditions in Boise, Idaho, Wednesday (January 16) and Salt Lake City, Utah, on Thursday, the proceedings haven't been entirely glitch-free.

The January 11 date in Concord, California, had to be postponed because organizers lacked the proper permit. And on January 13, Durst was attacked in Clackamas, Oregon.

The band was returning to the guitar store following a food break when 18-year-old Richard Petrillo skirted past a throng of fans getting autographs from the band and hit Durst in the back of the head with a coconut cream pie. Two of Limp Bizkit's bodyguards helped detain the perp while sheriff's deputies assigned to the event handcuffed him, a spokesperson for the Clackamas Sheriff's Office said. Petrillo was taken to the police station and placed in a cell for under an hour before being charged with disorderly conduct and five counts of harassment.

Despite the temporary chaos, the Put Your Guitar Where Your Mouth Is auditions have been a success for all involved especially those who have gotten to jam with the band.

"It was incredible," said 20-year-old Aaron Tollefsou, who used the name "West Morland" for his Clackamas audition. "It was kind of awkward playing with new people at first and I didn't really know what to play, so I just played some of my stuff. But it was really great and it gives me more confidence in what I'm doing [with my band Kattis Fly] knowing that Limp Bizkit like what I'm doing."

Tollefsou added that although he was anxious about meeting his idols, Durst quickly allayed his fears.

"I talked to him for 20 minutes about music and stuff in general," he said. "He's a pretty cool dude. He knows a lot about music and we're on the same wavelength. He definitely wasn't intimidating at all. He was very easy to talk to and really laid back. He definitely made it an easy experience."

Seattle finalist Amy Stolzenbach, 32, who plays in an all-female AC/DC tribute band called Hell's Belles (see "AC/DC's Angus Young Spotted In Miniskirt"), had an equally positive experience.

"As a musician you always want to challenge yourself and make yourself do something you haven't done before. So it was kind of like the next step for me to play with a band that's of that level," she said. "I'm a fan of their rhythm section. Sam and John are really, really tight, so it was nice to play with good musicians. The whole vibe was really, really laid back."

Stolzenbach is realistic about her chances of making it to the final audition round, which will be held after the final Put Your Guitar Where Your Mouth Is date in Los Angeles on February 11. Still, she's hopeful that this just might be her lucky break.

"If they were to choose me, I would join them in a heartbeat," she said. "The demographic that they're playing to is mostly male, so it would be a cool challenge to be a female guitarist in that environment. And Fred Durst did say at one point that he thought it would be really cool to find a female guitar player. That's why I even auditioned in the first place."

MTV Talks Politics

He's the secretary of state, the United States' top diplomat responsible for overseeing all U.S. relations abroad.
In that role, Colin Powell is frequently on the road nudging, cajoling and negotiating with foreign leaders. During the second week of the allied attacks on Afghanistan, he flew to Pakistan and India to meet with both countries' leaders to discuss U.S.-led attacks and those two nations' own longstanding differences. In the weeks to come, he is expected to continue his travels in his role as chief American ambassador.

Powell is an avowed multilateralist, meaning that he strongly believes in building international support for major U.S. actions abroad, including the current conflict in Afghanistan. That stance has at times put him at odds with others in the Bush administration, who are often more willing to go it alone.

Since September 11, Powell has walked a tightrope by carefully seeking to build international support for the U.S.-led retaliation against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Through various statements, Osama bin Laden has attempted to portray the conflict as a Muslim vs. Christian, East vs. West war. One of Powell's primary goals has been to convince citizens and governments of non-radical Muslim countries such as Pakistan, Egypt and Indonesia that the U.S. seeks vengeance against Al Qaeda specifically, not the Islamic world in its entirety. With anti-U.S. sentiment running high even in countries where the U.S. has traditionally strong relations, such as Saudi Arabia, it is proving to be a challenging task.

Powell rose to national prominence during the Gulf War in 1991 in his role as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, making him the military's top uniformed commander. His calm, reassuring nature during press briefings made him a personality Americans came to respect and trust.

Out of his days at the Pentagon, Powell developed a comprehensive set of objectives for using military force overseas, which is now commonly referred to as "The Powell Doctrine." The primary points of the doctrine:

Define your objective
Use overwhelming force
Fight wars you can win
Secure public support
Have a plan for getting out
The son of Jamaican immigrants, Powell has broken color barriers in a number of key ways throughout his career. He was the first African-American to be the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and he is the first African-American to be secretary of state.

Thanks to his successes at the Pentagon, Powell's name was frequently mentioned as a potential candidate for president and vice president in 1996 and 2000. But after retiring from the military in 1993, he instead published his memoirs and founded America's Promise, a national nonprofit organization designed to encourage youth public service through its partnerships with corporations. He returned to government in January 2001 after being tapped by George W. Bush for the top State Department job.

Real World Road Rules Challenge Coming Soon!

Play Along on MTV.com
Pick a team of your favorite Real World and Road Rulers, then tune in every Monday night at 10:00 P.M. (ET) to see how many Fantasy Points they score. When they do well, you do well. Rack up points for fights, tears and hot lovin' every week. Sign up now and you could win a new car!

...more about this topic on the RR/RW Site!

Wes: Why He Left Limp Bizkit

LOS ANGELES The more time Wes Borland spent in Limp Bizkit, the more things around him turned black.

First his wardrobe draping cloaks that brought to mind one of his favorite characters, Darth Vader. Then his eyes gripping contacts that, next to his flaring nostrils, made him look like a guitar-toting monster. His heart was the next to go.

"Bells start going off, like, 'This is what it feels like to sell out,'" Borland recalled. "I'm enjoying all the perks of [Limp Bizkit], but I feel my heart is going black, because this is not what I'm called to do. The little voice inside my head says, 'You should be somewhere else. You should take the risk. You should let it go.'

"I think they'll be better now that I'm gone," he adds. "I think I held them back from being their best, because I was so against all the things that were going on."

Borland, reclining in a fancy office chair in his home studio and staring at walls lined with packaged "Stars Wars" figures and his own eerie graffiti, talked at ease last week in his first interview since he left Limp Bizkit four months ago (see "Limp Bizkit And Wes Borland Part Ways "). With Greg Isabella, friend and drummer of his new band, Eat the Day, at his side, Borland explained exactly what inspired him to leave one of the world's biggest rock bands, take singing lessons and start up his own group.

"I could have probably gone on and still played the part of the guitar player of Limp Bizkit, but musically I was kind of bored. If I was to continue, it would have been about the money and not about the true music, and I don't want to lie to myself, or to them or to fans of Limp Bizkit," Borland explained.

"I think I had a good run," he continued. "I was with that band for five or six years, we did a lot of really neat things and I had a great time. I went there and did the whole fame and money thing, and it's just not as important as making the music that I want to make. It's just time to move on for me."

Borland said his bandmates in Limp Bizkit gradually became more like work friends than real friends, which meant being in the band had become a job. He wanted none of that, especially when his brother and best friends were making music without him.

Since the night he called Fred Durst, DJ Lethal, Sam Rivers and John Otto one by one and told them he was leaving Limp Bizkit, Borland has not talked to anyone from the band. "The original statement said the split was amicable, and I would say that it is, but that doesn't mean that we can, like, hang out. It's gonna take a lot of time to heal. There's definitely not any bad feelings, but it's not like we're going to have lunch anytime soon."

After the split, Borland took apart his guitar pedal rigs and slowly let his parts in "Nookie," "Rollin' " and the rest of the Limp Bizkit catalog escape from his head. He needs new gear and mental energy for Eat the Day, the band he has since formed with his brother, guitarist/bassist Scott Borland, Isabella and sound engineer Kyle Weeks the same Speedo-wearing band he took on the road to promote his quirky solo project Big Dumb Face (see "Ex-Bizkit Borland Digs In With His New Band, Eat The Day").

Borland would like to make very clear, however, that Eat the Day is not Big Dumb Face or anything close to it.

"Big Dumb Face was sort of an experiment in extreme stupidity, and I guess part of me wanted to see how much I could get away with as far as like, 'OK, I'm in this big rock band, let me put out a record of complete garbage to see what people do and how hard I get bashed and maybe [gain] a little cult following,' " Borland explained. "If you've ever been drunk or done a drug and had an idea while you were under the influence that you thought would be good then, but then you sober up later, [Big Dumb Face] was holding onto that idea all the way through!"

Borland said Big Dumb Face got all of the humor out of him, and he is ready to make a serious album with Eat the Day so serious that he and his brother are learning to sing properly. (They want to avoid having an official frontman.)

"We both always wrote lyrics and wanted to sing, so we've been doing vocal lessons twice a week for the last four months," Borland said. "I don't feel like singing should be taken lightly. It's one of the hardest things I've ever done, but it's coming along."

Borland's contributions on guitar and bass are similar to the big chunky riffs he provided to Limp Bizkit. Meanwhile, his brother adds a more classically trained, chord-heavy sound to the mix.

"The two of them compliment each other perfectly," Isabella said. "One picks up where the other one leaves off. They are natural together, like only brothers can be. It's pretty cool."

Eat the Day have written 18 tracks since October. They are presenting a demo to Interscope Records later this month and hope to rent a house together and record an album in early spring. They had originally planned to have Ross Robinson (Limp Bizkit, Slipknot) produce, but later decided to do it themselves. "What he does for bands is he gives bands a lot of fire and a lot of fury, but I think we've located where our energy is and where our message is from," Borland said.

By late summer, Eat the Day plan to release their debut and promote it with a tour. The band's live show will be a rock experiment of sorts, with engineer Weeks taking the stage with the rest of the guys. "He will be taking things that everyone else in the band is playing and running them through effects and spitting them back out, and really just giving everything interesting textures," Borland explained.

The name Eat the Day came from an old music file on one of Borland's keyboards. "It is not an intentional 'Seize the day!' type of thing, but it kind of worked in with the whole [concept of] me taking control of my life," Borland said. "It is a very 'live in the moment' type of name, and it kind of reminds me of a horror movie too, like an old 70's film, like 'Dawn of the Dead' or ... 'Eat the Day!' "

P. Didy in the NEWS

NEW YORK Standing in a lower Manhattan loft on the set of the new video for the remix of "I Need a Girl," P. Diddy and his video co-star Usher look like a hip-hop version of Batman and Robin. Both are covered in leather suits and wear dark sunglasses to mask their faces, and the dynamic duo are trying to save each other.

"He's got it bad," Usher said Tuesday of Diddy's demeanor in the video. "I'm narrating the story."

The first clip from P.D.'s upcoming P. Diddy and the Family Present: This Is the Remix, the video finds the hip-hop mogul having flashbacks (which include a steamy scene in a bathtub) of a relationship and then descending into the depths of despair because that relationship has come to a halt. (Click for photos from the video shoot).

"Me and Puff sat down one day and discussed how sometimes it gets lonely on top," said Loon, who not only appears on the remix and the original, but also wrote Diddy's verses. "You got a lot of things going for you in your life and career and sometimes you just want to settle down and establish a relationship with one female that will last forever.

"People always interpret it with the Jennifer Lopez situation because it happened to take place around the same time we created the song," he continued. "It's not like Puff said, 'Write this song about Jennifer.' I sat there and wrote this song and put myself in Puff's situation, but not really elaborating on the Jennifer Lopez situation."

"That's the whole thing, I'm an eligible bachelor," Diddy explained. "I ain't begging for a girl. I'm making a statement. [I was thinking about] all the girlfriends that have left me because of me being on cell phones or being on the 2ways and working. When you're in love with the business, it's kind of hard, but you gotta balance it. I have messed up in relationships and I ain't really trying to do that no more."

"I'm internationally known on the microphone/ I got it all but I need a wife I can call my own/ I don't really like to zone, never spend a night alone ... Most of the girls be confusing me/ I don't know if they using me," P.D.'s voice, generated by the playback machine, boomed in the living room for a party scene.

The video's extras, who include Carl Thomas, Craig Mack and several models (some braless and wearing sheer blouses, a couple of others sporting see-through dresses that reveal their thongs), are supposed to be dancing and sipping champagne while P.D. walks around rapping, but something is missing.

"C'mon y'all, we need more," Diddy demanded of the extras. "Let me break it down to you, I need y'all to be like ... This is four o'clock in the morning and the party is jumpin'. It's real hot. Whoever is not on point, we gonna point y'all out."

After a couple of more takes, the make-believe partygoers are getting it crunk, dancing and screaming, "Hey, ho" and garnering applause from the Puffster.

"I'm excited," Loon said after the scene was finished and as the crew set up for his performance scene. "I been in the game for a minute. I been watching a lot of these other artists prosper and have fun in these videos. It just feels good to finally be able to stand in front of the camera and spit verses at the same time.

"When I came to the video set, I was getting looked at like an extra," he added. "Now the girls are starting to understand the whole science behind the song and the video, and already it's becoming a problem. I can imagine what happens when the video takes off. I hope the ladies can control themselves."

Links Relating to this Page!

MTV

MTV Euro