Have you ever gone to church after not being there for a while, and you hear a really illuminating, all-knowing sermon, and you feel cleansed? You walk away from the church feeling 10 pounds lighter and like a giant weight has been lifted from your consciousness. Anyway, that’s how I felt after interviewing U2. Interviewing them made me feel how I used to feel when I first got into the game.

They were excited about music culture. As big as they’ve become, they have more humility and hunger than rappers I’ve interviewed who’ve only had one hit in the past year. Music to them is not just plucking their strings; it’s spiritual. Them boys live to play, and they love to create and they love to make an impact on those who listen, and they want to be as good as they can be. They care immensely about their fans.

Read more…

On the new Web show “MTV Detox,” our pop-culture superfan Jim Cantiello recaps the wildest happenings from the network’s prime-time programming. Stream the show on your mobile phone and on MTV.com. New episodes air Sunday-Thursday at 11 p.m. ET.

Day26 help Jim kill some time until the “America’s Best Dance Crew” Finale Reunion Special Special kicks off. And guess who Jim got to stop by to celebrate the big finale? A bunch of people who look and (maybe) sound like the personalities “ABDC” fans have grown to love (or hate): JC Chasez, DJ Rashida and Lil Mama. Check out last night’s “Detox”!

By Rya Backer

Before the weekend starts, we thought we’d let you know about a few stories we worked on today:

Amy Winehouse is back in trouble! The Brit soul sensation threw another assault charge onto her ever-growing rap sheet for allegedly beating a fan who requested a photo with her last September. In other news, it’s Friday.

There’s a lot to be said about last night’s episode of “American Idol,” (TATIANA, I MISS YOU ALREADY!) but much of the wild-card show was centered on Anoop Desai. In addition to being chosen as lucky number 13 to round out this year’s hopefuls, Desai gave a shout-out to an elusive “Eve” at the end of his song and critique. Curious? We’ve demystified the announcement.

Taylor Swift just fulfilled her ultimate dream! No, it wasn’t to have the #1 album for the past zillion weeks. Rather, she was killed on an episode of “CSI.” Did you see it last night? What did you think of her performance?

Have a great weekend!

In late January, after being wooed by Megan Corkrey during her “American Idol” audition, I wrote a piece that quoted liberally from music critic Kalefa Sanneh, compared Corkrey to Feist and basically stated that while I found her voice (and, let’s be honest here, her appearance) to be quite pleasing, she had no hope whatsoever of actually winning “Idol,” if only because singers like her never do.

At the time, I was confident … so confident, in fact, that I made a little wager with my pal Caryn Ganz (who, in addition to working as a deputy editor at Rolling Stone also happens to be a huge Megan Corkrey fan). Caryn disagreed with my story and said she saw Corkrey making it all the way to the “Idol” top 12. I said she’d barely make it out of Hollywood Week. We agreed to our terms: If Corkrey made the top 12, I owed Caryn dinner. If she didn’t, well, then I’d be eating for free. Read more…

By Lindsay Wallace

Chris Brown’s arraignment has been postponed until April, as Rihanna is officially named as the victim in the case. With the couple possibly back together again, how do you feel about the latest news in this case?

Check out where the Jonas Brothers’ younger brother Frankie is asking them to go: Comic-Con! The boys are strategizing about their superhero costumes as we speak.

“Watchmen” mania continues at MTV News, as the graphic novel’s artist Dave Gibbons talks about how he helped Zack Snyder adapt the story for the big screen.

Over in the Movies Blog, check out the news on Paul Rudd and Steve Carell’s new film “Dinner With Schmucks.”

And swing by the Multiplayer blog to read the e-mail exchange between MTV News writer Stephen Totilo and fellow gaming expert N’Gai Croal about the future of video game journalism.

By Sohyung Kang

Last night was the wild-card round on “American Idol,” and Matt Giraud, Megan Joy Corkrey, Jasmine Murray and Anoop Desai made it through to the (surprise) top 13. But I have a sneaking suspicion the judges had already picked their favorite four before the night even started, since at least two of them didn’t have the best performances last night. Here’s my take on the night’s performances:

Jesse Langseth, singing Rufus and Chaka Khan’s “Tell Me Something Good”
I like this girl, so long as she’s singing and not talking. I’d probably buy one of her albums over one by favorites Lil Rounds or Danny Gokey. Last night she was meh. Not bad, not great.

Matt Giraud, singing Smokey Robinson’s “Who’s Lovin’ You”
Although this was far better than his catastrophic Coldplay performance, I wasn’t really feeling it — mainly because he was trying too hard to be Justin Timberlake, with the scarf and hat, over-the-top runs and massive riffs. There’s only one JT, and it’s not you, Matt (or you, Chris Richardson). I love that Simon compared him to Taylor Hicks, and the audience booed. This may be the only time being compared to a winner could be considered an insult. Read more…

Chris Brown appeared in court today, but he has yet to enter a plea on the two felony counts of assault and making criminal threats, in connection with his alleged altercation with girlfriend Rihanna in early February.

So when will the R&B singer face the charges? He was granted a continuance in the case, and his arraignment has been pushed to April 6.

(For more on Chris Brown’s day in court, head to MTV News.com.)

Goodbye to Terrell “T.O.” Owens — for now.

One of the most talented (and controversial) stars in the NFL is currently unemployed. The Dallas Cowboys released him today after a year of team turmoil when, among other things, Owens complained publicly about not being thrown the ball enough. His stats were down, the ‘Boys didn’t make it to the playoffs and obviously outspoken owner Jerry Jones needed a change.

(Take a look inside the Cowboys’ locker room —
before T.O.’s locker was cleaned out.)

It’s been a huge story in the sports world today, because the move comes as somewhat of a shock — especially to those who live right in the D. Avid Cowboys fans who make music in Dallas e-mailed us today with their reactions.

“I think the Cowboys will be good with or without T.O., and I’m sure T.O. will be good with or without the Cowboys,” wrote a very diplomatic Skillz, half of the Grammy-winning production duo Play N Skillz. “The Cowboys have a good all-around team, and I don’t think one person will affect their playoff run.”
Read more…

LOS ANGELES — We’re in between filming here at the legendary Warner Bros. studio lot where tonight, America will decide who will take home the coveted title of “America’s Best Dance Crew” — and here’s what we’ve seen so far.

As we were filming some live hits, Beat Freaks, Team Millenia and Boxcuttahz all hit the stage together to rehearse their finale-opening performance, and were soon joined by Quest Crew, Dynamic Edition and Strikers All-stars. Then came the turn of Fly Khicks, Ringmasters and GOP.

In between, Mario Lopez was hard at work reading lines while talking on the phone at the same time — busy guy!

We caught up with JC Chasez backstage as he was getting ready to block the show and he’s as curious as anyone about who tonight’s winner will be.

The wardrobe department is working hard putting together several different outfits for almost 60 crew members, and there’s even someone who goes around all the crews with a wet-wipe cleaning their shoes. (It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it, I guess.) My personal award for best outfit has to go to the Fly Khicks — you’ll understand why when you see the show tonight.

In between rehearsals, all nine crews kick it backstage like one big family, comparing moves, trying out new tricks and listening to music together. Even Dynamic Edition join in!

Out of curiosity, I took a look at the guest list. The award for biggest entourage for tonight is a tie between host Mario Lopez and judge JC Chasez, with Lil Mama following close behind — but with Mario actually on JC’s personal guest list I think Mr. Chasez takes the award. It’s a celebrity-packed audience as well, with Snoop Dogg, Lil Jon, some of the cast of “90210″ and former “ABDC” winners SupaCrew all in attendance tonight.

Make sure you are too — the show airs tonight, live at 10 p.m. on MTV!

And even though the show may be over at 11 p.m., the party will continue as I host the live “America’s Best Dance Crew” finale post-show, where we’ll be talking to the winners, the runners-up, the judges and bringing you the real inside track from the “ABDC” finale! And be sure to check out the “America’s Best Dance Crew” insider blog for all the latest!

By Saimon Kos

This week is almost over, and there certainly isn’t a shortage of big news stories to go around. Today, we took a break from the Chris Brown drama and put together a quick video of some other important Headlines of the Day.

Let’s start with the Real Slim Shady, Eminem, who finally picked a release date for his hotly anticipated new studio album, Relapse.

Then there’s the latest on “American Idol.” We got our very own “Idol” expert, Jim Cantiello, to catch us up on what went down last night.

And finally, where there’s smoke, there must be … Arcade Fire and the Flaming Lips. Sway fills us in on this indie-rock beef as it develops.