Posts by Benjamin
Speech To Emerson College
My name is Benjamin Wagner. I’m the Executive Producer of MTV News Digital by day, a performing singer/songwriter by night, and an author, blogger, marathoner, triathlete, aspiring filmmaker, son, brother, uncle, and boyfriend in between. I’m here at Emerson tonight to tell you that you can be anything you want to be. Here’s how. My…
Read MoreJesse Eisenberg Knows That Acting’s A Little Absurd — But He Loves It, Anyway
Speaking by phone with Jesse Eisenberg, it quickly becomes apparent that the young actor will probably never make the gossip rags for causing a ruckus or a scandal at a Hollywood party or club. That’s not why the 21-year-old co-star of the upcoming film, “The Squid and the Whale,” is in the game. Eisenberg’s seriousness…
Read MoreNew Orleans Rockers World Leader Pretend Soldier On After Hurricane
NEW YORK — “Rain seems to follow us wherever we go,” World Leader Pretend’s Matt Martin joked with the drizzle-soaked crowd at Rockefeller Center on Thursday. The guitarist had good reason to joke. Humor — and music — may be about all the New Orleans band has left. The quintet was celebrating its first day…
Read MoreOrlando Bloom Breaks Hearts As ‘Elizabethtown’ Storms The South
NASHVILLE — Hollywood hit the heartland over the weekend, and everywhere it went, heartbreak wasn’t far behind. Orlando Bloom and director Cameron Crowe barnstormed the South in support of their forthcoming film, “Elizabethtown.” Crowe and Music City luminaries like LeAnn Rimes, Wynonna Judd and Clint Black crowded the red carpet in Franklin, Tennessee, on Sunday…
Read MoreCameron Crowe: Hometown Hero
Writer/director Cameron Crowe’s genre-defining “Say Anything” set the bar for teen romantic comedies. It was devoid of pandering, light on slapstick and crammed with great music. When Crowe’s protagonist, Lloyd Dobler, can’t think of what to say to win back his girlfriend, he stands below her bedroom window — in the rain — a boom…
Read MoreFree At Last, Michael Penn Attempts A Comeback With Mr. Hollywood Jr.
NEW YORK — The message conveyed at Michael Penn’s performance at Joe’s Pub a few weeks back was simple: He’s back, and he’s got a new record. It’s not that extraordinary; really, unless, like Penn, you’ve just emerged from one of the music industry’s longest-running contract skirmishes. “My father fought in World War II. He’d…
Read MoreMilk & Honey – MP3
I was reading Guster’s studio diary the other day and thought, ‘Damn! They’ve got a bunch of great titles for their new album. Wish I’d thought of ’em first.’ See, sometimes a song starts with just a good title, or turn of phrase. My job, as a songwriter, is to be tuned into those good…
Read MoreSongwriter And MTV Producer At Emerson College
Benjamin Wagner, songwriter and executive producer of MTV News Digital spoke and performed a song to an intimate crowd of about 30 students at the Bill Bordy Theater last Sunday. “It’s a lecture and a rock show,” Wagner said. Wagner summarized the last 34 years of his life in hopes of explaining how who he…
Read MoreMister Rogers & Me
It was the weekend of my 30th birthday, and just a few hours after disembarking the Hyannis Ferry. My cell phone was still chattering with MTV business as I stood on the back porch. The last rays of light were spilling over the horizon. New York City was slipping away from me as I settled…
Read MoreAimee Mann Jacked On Latte, Won’t Play Her ‘Freebird’ At NY Show
NEW YORK — It was fitting that Aimee Mann took the stage Friday at the Beacon Theatre completely wired on latte, as Mann’s recent release, Lost in Space, is an 11-song treatise on addiction. The singer/songwriter was so jacked on caffeine, by her own admission, that she paused after her second song, “Calling It Quits,”…
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