This has been a crappy week to be both a music fan and a ticketholder. In the past week alone:

+ Kanye West and Lady Gaga's "Fame Tour" was canceled, causing anyone who knows, loves, and/or hates Kanye to wonder why: Kanye needs time for Kanye? Poor ticket sales? (I solidly CANNOT BELIEVE people wouldn't want to see Lady Gaga in concert after she practically disemboweled herself at the VMAs.)

+ Miley Cyrus came down with strep and canceled tonight's scheduled concert in Omaha. Boo! (But feel better, gurl!)

+ Then Paramore had to postpone their L.A. show yesterday because Haley Williams pulled her voice. Wah!

+ And, I'm not even kidding, The All-American Rejects had to cancel their scheduled this shows this weekend because poor Tyson Ritter's got a bum leg. Ugh!

Okay, first of all, I hope everyone feels better (and stops interrupting Taylor Swift or whatever). But all of these concert cancellations JUST SO HAPPENED to occur the same week as the International Olympic Committee decided which city would host the 2016 Summer Olympics. And if you read between the lines, you'll discover the REAL reason why Gaga and Kanye and Miley and Paramore and The All-American Rejects' shows were canceled! Don't believe the hype! It's all just a big conspiracy theory!

OBVIOUSLY Lady Gaga, Kanye, Miley Cyrus, Paramore, and The All-American Rejects are trying out for the Space Olympics... which have ALSO BEEN canceled. No idea what I'm talking about?

The MTV VMAs go big before they even start. That means over-the-top outfits, and arrivals so big that the VMAs might as well be called the VBAs for Very Big Arrivals. It's the VMAs. You don't have your dad drop you off in his crappy Buick banger. Case in point: At the 2008 VMAs, Tokio Hotel rolled up to the red carpet in a larger-than-life monster truck tricked out with their faces on it. And T-Pain rode an elephant to the red carpet.

This year's VMA red carpet, located right outside of Radio City Music Hall, will get hit with tons of all-star action and over-the-top arrivals in the form of live animals and extremely noisy modes of transportation. See if you can guess which VMA artists might be arriving at the red carpet via the following vehicles.

Your choices are:

+ Taylor Swift
+ Pink
+ Leighton Meester
+ The All-American Rejects

And...
+ Fire truck
+ Horse and carriage
+ Parade float
+ Jaguar Convertible

Watch the VMA Preshow at 8pm tonight to catch all of the VMAs' Very Big Arrivals! Plus, watch the VMA red carpet live, and get more secrets of the 2009 VMAs!

You poor girl -- you poor, poooor girl, so close to Tyson Ritter in the It's On With Alexa Chung audience. If that were me, oh, the outrage: A prop? A prop, Tyson? Is that all we mean to each other? You reach out to me, press my hand on your skinny, sweaty torso, but only because "it fits with the lyrics"? No, no. Stop playing with people's hearts, Tyson Ritter. I have FEELINGS. A REAL HEART beats within this chest.

But, you know, make your own call on The All-American Rejects' live performance from It's On With Alexa Chung, which features the lyrics to which I referred, from the band's When The World Comes Down single, "I Wanna."

And OK, maybe I overreacted. The girl in Alexa Chung's audience could have had it much worse -- she could have been that guitar. Seriously, Tyson gets up in that guitar, then he shimmies his, he-chest and (I swear) licks it...

Apologies if you were here for the music. Of course, after you watch the Rejects, you can check out videos of Alexa Chung's assorted musical guests, including Kid Cudi, Phoenix, Metric, Sean Kingston and more.

Today was an absolute hot dude-a-palooza on It's On With Alexa Chung -- Facebook's Kevin Connolly was on the show, Michaels Showalter AND Ian Black were there with martinis, Travis McCoy was on the show, AND so were All-American Rejects -- watch their performance at the bottom of this post.

BUT, even hotter than all of those dudes put together to form one mega-Tron hot dude were ALEXA'S SHOES! More on those in a sec... Here's what Alexa wore today on her show!

Wednesday, July 15
+ Shirt dress: Sophomore
+ Peace sign necklace: Helen Ficalora
+ Long chain necklace: Erickson Beamon for Target
+ Shoes: Acne

First, let's get to some navy shirt dresses and mini dresses. This one's got a sorta Britney-before-the-fall feel. It's $60 at YesStyle.com.

I'm also partial to this See by Chloé waffle knit dress, on sale for $312 at theOutnet.com.

Eee! Super cute cable-knit crew-neck dress! It's just $54.99 at Rugby.com, so buy and save for fall.

THE SHOES! FTFnW! They're Acne's "Atacoma" leather and silver platforms, they're $480, and they're a modern marvel. They're not on Acne's site yet, but they'll be added soon.

And now for something free! After the jump, watch The All-American Rejects' live performance of "I Wanna" from It's On With Alexa Chung.

Read more...

Oh, the lengths to which Tyson Ritter will go for your happiness... Months ago he stood on a Malibu beach, staring down the icy ocean water, knowing exactly how much it was gonna hurt to jump in.

The All-American Rejects' frontman used an airplane metaphor to describe the inevitable suffering, saying that he knew his "landing gear" was gonna come way up in that chilly water. "I might have ovaries by the end of the day," he joked. Had he seen this coming, the song may have been called "The Ocean Blows."

After watching the Rich Lee-directed (Fergie, Chamillionaire, Evanescence) video for "The Wind Blows," I can safely say that it was well worth the shrinkage. The video -- a hazy ocean-side romance, perfectly matches the song's melodic heartache. The band describes it as a "love story that doesn't end bad, it just ends." Kinda like their latest album, When The World Comes Down: a thrilling emotional rollercoaster that has to end, but does so on a positive note. Follow the Oklahoma boys down to the Malibu beach, and watch the dreamy video for their second When The World Comes Down single, "The Wind Blows."

Christopher Browder is a dude from Louisville, Kentucky. He's a fan of LOST, quesadillas, and George Bush (with a mustache). He plays too much Wii and drinks too much Diet Coke. Christopher Browder is also Mansions, a one-man emotional rollercoaster (a la Bright Eyes) who sounds a lot like early Death Cab For Cutie. If the photo on Browder's purevolume profile is any indication -- he spends a lot of time being overwhelmed by the feelings he sings about. That bodes well for the music, because you can tell he means every word.

Mansions' debut album drops March 3 on Doghouse Records, home of Jet Lag Gemini, Army Of Me and The Honorary Title, and original signer of The Get Up Kids, Say Anything and All-American Rejects. Not too shabby, right? If you can't wait until March, and you happen to be lucky enough to live in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, you can catch Browder with buddies standing in on bass and drums at The Werehouse February 6. Otherwise, listen to Mansions, and get ready for a major arrival!