Suitably Buzzed

Clock’s ticking down to the VMAs, and as I’ve said more than once, I’m a little worried about my lack of worry.

As you can probably gather from the deluge of hype, the VMAs are the make-or-break event of the year. A lot’s riding on it for the channel, the News department, and me. To that end — and because I love what I do — we’ve been planning up-to-the-minute ancillary content, polls, features, etc.,for weeks on end pretty much as if we’re going into battle. Which is actually part of the reason I’m calm about it all: we actually went into battle earlier this year when we did three days of live coverage of the “war” in Iraq. And this is my seventh VMA. Most importantly, though, we have a great team of people that love what they do, and get it. And that’s invaluable.

So last night was our big pre-D Day steak dinner, so to speak: The entire team — L.A. and N.Y. — went to Zanzibar for some laughter, beer, and hummus. I got suitably buzzed.

This morning I’ll give my best Henry V speech, go over the battle plan with the production team, then finish up last-minute preparations on a Johnny Cash feature, written by the esteemed Kurt Loder. After work, I’m hoping to squeeze some time in at the studio with Kevin, time and hangover permitting.

So stay tuned: online, and on air.