September 7th, Somewhere in the Northeastern United States - Nina, the 16 year old photographer and artist from Portugal is watching the Video Music Awards on MTV, while I work at a mind-numbing and low paying online job, watching the little TV out of the corner of my eye. Nina's mother sits in the living room, watching the final stretch of a two day "House" marathon on USA network, as addicted to the good doctor's antics as Dr. House is addicted to his Vicodin. I'm living a "surreal life," for real.

Our mission tonight is to catch Tokio Hotel on MTV. We know they'll be there, the rumor is that they will present an award to another act. But to our shock and delight, Tokio Hotel won best new artist, over a some other very pretty and talented competitors, including Myley Cyrus and Taylor Swift.

My last music review was seriously flawed; I used the date "September 25th," when Tokio Hotel's Denver show actually took place on August 25th. This might lead the reader to conclude that I have delusions of supernatural powers. Sadly, I have no such prescience, and I'm well aware that I can't report on whatever Tokio Hotel is doing in October today. However, I was able to see this much clearly: these kids have a fanatical American fan base, and they are well on their way to superstardom in the US market.

Unfortunately, the acceptance of the award by Tokio Hotel's glamorous and slightly shy lead singer Bill Kaulitz was all that we got from MTV.

Sure, there were other high points: Rihanna's performance gave me chills, Pink's video had me distracted from my work, and a collaboration by Kid Rock and Lil' Wayne on some original lyrics performed over a bizarre segue of the music of Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" into a tribute to Skynyrds "Sweet Home Alabama," cracked me up; the thing is, all of the aforementioned artists have been getting their fair share of MTV coverage for quite a while now.

Tokio Hotel has been around for a long time, but apparently has remained obscure to the US market. This will no longer be the case. They are young, pop-friendly yet hard-edged, and downright weird, reportedly (by MTV) showing up for the awards ceremony in a monster truck. This was an appropriate gesture for what the future holds; these kids are going places, and will roll right over their tired out tabloid fodder American competition.

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