When MTV’s college-obsessed little sister station mtvU announced the nominations for this year’s Woodie Awards, we had some fun trying to make sense of the logic underlying the way in which they had grouped together bands and pit them against one another. The logic being: their demographic is college, and college is the time when our tastes change! This is the time to experiment with our sexuality, or at least with the contents of our iPods. The apparent Viacom dictate, then, is to be all things to all people, and so the awards followed suit. Your winners:

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This past weekend, bill-sharing fellows Reading and Leeds were tasked with distracting a nation still reeling from the death of its Oasis. Their secret weapons were unannounced sets by Them Crooked Vultures, the tweet-happy supergroup of Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones, and Josh Homme who introduced his band as “Michael Jackson” because he’s so talented at stage patter. (Incidentally, Nirvana’s legendary Reading ’92 performance is finally coming to CD/DVD 11/3.) Singer/producer Homme didn’t cameo with his bros in Eagles Of Death Metal or Arctic Monkeys, but there was plenty of other crossover fun in the form of cover songs: London HypeMachinists XX did their version of Womack And Womack’s “Teardrops,” Gossip took on “Sex On Fire” by headliners Kings Of Leon, and Fall Out Boy attempted Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.” Elsewhere, Vampire Weekend (this year on a mainstage) played new songs that aren’t all that new anymore, Patrick Wolf changed costumes mid-gig presumably to something tasteful and understated, Mike Patton arched his eyebrows a lot, and security cracked down on crowd-surfing by anyone not named Alice Glass. Finally, Radiohead surprised few by including “These Are My Twisted Words” both nights, but no one predicted their Reading set would open with “Creep.” Or tease YYY’s “Maps” in the intro to “Everything In Its Right Place.” (NME says they also debuted a new song, but that is a twisted lie!) Peruse their setlists and pro video, and a smorgasbord of photos from the eventful bank holiday weekend this way…

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But he’s not the only one. “What A Catch, Donnie,” the third single from the band’s forthcoming fifth studio album Folie à Deux features a whole case of characters singing lines from various Fall Out Boy songs. In an especially meta move, Costello handles Folie‘s second single, “Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet.” Other crooners include Hall & Oates fan Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes (“Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down”), Panic At The Disco’s Brendon Urie (“Dance, Dance”), ex-Midtown dude Gabriel Saporta (“Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy”), The Academy Is…’s William Beckett (“Growing Up”), etc. Right, Costello is sorta odd man out among a bunch of Decaydancers. Listen.

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If a Cure covers comp is going too far for you purists, then how about just an EP featuring remixes of all those LP13 pre-release singles? And what if those remixes were executed by, say, 30 Seconds To Mars, Fall Out Boy, and My Chem? And what if I told you I was going to give you info on the project anyway? Here, have fun:

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Last time we saw the Roots in a video was for intense verse/no chorus Black Thought rant “75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction).” To find a visual more in keeping with the Philly crew’s video for the Patrick Stump-guesting “Birthday Girl,” you have to go back a bit further, past ?uestlove singing a late-night “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul” all the way to what we called “7 Roots 1 Cup.” Well, sorta. “Birthday Girl” features the Vice and Current 93-approved, Smashing Pumpkins-friendly porn star Sasha Grey in a playful, innuendo-filled birthday party. Grey went uncredited and remained kinda shadowy in her music video turn in the Pumpkins’ “Superchrist,” but here she’s literally the center of attention. We realize it’s supposed to resemble a coming-of-age birthday gang bang (check the beef jerky jerking, the camera angles, etc), but like the cake her friend brings her, the song, imagery, and Grey’s performance are just too sweet. Yeah, even when the one dude needs help wiping off his fingers.

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Last night Fall Out Boy’s vocalist/only-talented-guy Patrick Stump treaded down the path brazenly cleared by the honorable Kevin Federline, making his acting debut on primetime police and legal drama Law & Order. He tells MTV News how he got the gig:

I just begged like crazy. I have always been a fan of the show … It was totally cool. It was crazy. It’s weird because I hate being this guy that has to admit this but it’s totally true. The last thing I ever acted in was in high school probably. It was some kind of high school student written sketch or something so it was really crazy noticing any similarities between that and real acting (laughs). And it was a lot like making a video too.

Did last night’s performance offer hope for a side gig worthy of his sideburns? Well it wasn’t a complete debacle, but we can say for sure that, as an actor, he makes an awesome singer. Judge for yourself with Patrick’s turn as Marty Dressler via this shaky cam video footage.

Less talking, more courtside mugging in Part II…

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There’s a grand tradition being hatched at mtvU’s Woodie Awards show. Sure, there’s the live performances that come at a 50/50 mix of stuff we like (last year TV On The Radio, this year, say, Rilo Kiley) and stuff we don’t (last year and this year: most of the rest) and the knack of tragic award selections (Best Video to Say Anything, over TVOTR’s “Province” and Justice’s “D.A.N.C.E.”). But really, the legacy is cemented in the pit, off camera, where people stop being polite and start being real. Unfortunately, Jared Leto wasn’t on hand to repeat last year‘s douchextranveganza, but this annum’s wild card came from a man much nearer and dearer to our hearts.

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You’ve been waiting patiently all weekend, so let’s get this thing going. Welcome to this year’s MTV Video Music Awards, this year featuring three whole awards dedicated to videos! We’ve been hypnotized by John Norris’s amazing new wig, Kanye’s plastic-looking facial hair, and Paris’s wonky eye. But all that’s behind us. Live blog begins … now.

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You kids are all savvy with your bittorrents and your internets and whatnots, but there may be a few of you still that don’t realize your iTunes automatically networks with any old cyber-peeping Tom, Dick or Harry that’s out there searching (unless you go into those ‘Sharing’ settings and click the appropriate box). Learn from this cautionary tale, as relayed by Liars after spending some time on the festival circuit.

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Traversing Grant Park is draining when it’s 140°, so Satellite Party provided an opportune time to get hydrated. But damn if it didn’t seem Ash & Pete were on our tail. (We get delusional when we’re thirsty.)

Miss Simpson’s given us a lot to blog about over the years. Mr. Wentz, too. So don’t act all surprised we wanted the couple’s take on the forthcoming Cure LP. Pete’s burly bodyguard didn’t let us play paparazzi for long, though we’ll try again tonight. We did manage a few surreptitious snaps before everyone on-site save Eddie Vedder headed to Daft Punk.

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