Amber Benson & Nicolas Brendon (Buffy);, Antonio Sabato Jr.;, Pam Anderson w/ side kick Kid Rock;, Kristen Kreuk (Smallville);, Vince Carter and Jerome "JYD" Williams (Toronto Raptors); Jerome Iginla (the other Jerome) Canadian Men's Gold and member of the Calgary Flames) & Cassie Campbell (Canadian Women's Gold); Canadian funny man and former member of MAD TV, Will Sasso all conglomerated towards Much Music World Headquarters for the 2002 edition of the Much Music Video Awards. Which were unfortunatly cancelled last year due to the September 11 tragedy.

By far, and this is my opinion, Much Music puts on the finest awards show, bar none, to any other music company. Very little glitz, and just enough glamour are the perfect ingredents for the perfect awards show. (even though they are horribly, horribly pre-selected)

Anyways, there were a few surprises worth noting. First and foremost Avril Lavigne. The 17-year old, skater chick from Nappini Ontario. Lavigne, who just broke onto the scene a couple of months ago with her hit "Complicated," handled the "first-time" spotlight very well from the moment her and her "boys" arrived on top of their SUV, to her performance of "Complicated."

There weren't "many" nerves in her otherwise flawless set. Even stepping out onto the makeshift stage along Queen St, infront of thousands and thousands of onlookers.

The difference between her studio voice and live, stage voice were quite evident, with her live stage voice reigning supreme. For a 17-year old to have a voice like that, and natural (unlike Spears or Moore) is very very rare in my books. Hopefully Lavigne won't be "just another flash-in-the-pan" and gets the recognition she deserves. And not just because she is Canadian, but because she has talent.

But anyhooo...on with the rest of the show.

Canadian "superact" Nickelback opened the extravaganza with a rockin' rendition of their newest hit "Too Bad." Unfortunatly, the last couple of minutes of the set, were overdone by pyrotechnics. Granted, people in the audience probably heard more of the last couple of lines than the people at home, but it was still a little overdone.

First award of the night was for Best Pop Video. Nominees were, and the only two worth mentioning anyway were

Canadian songstress (who over or under did it for her wardrobe) Amanda Marshall - "Oh My God (I woke up)

David Usher - Black, Black Heart.

(winner)
Usher wasn't a surprise considering the rest of the nominees were Remy Shand, Wave and Jordy Birch.

Now the next award, for the best International Video by an Artist as well as the best International Video by a Group, both had a whopping 10 nominees! What is the sense of having ten people/groups in one catergory other than to suck a whole lot of ass. It seemed to take most of the show just to name them...Probably the only problem I had with the entire show.

Best International Video by an Artist

Shakira

Not a real surprise, but I was kinda pulling for Pink, cause in my opinion has more going for her, where Shakira only has the whole hip shaking thing going for her. But god bless her anyway.

Third Award of the evening: Best Direction in a Video This was one of the heaviest contested awards of the night, with all the nominees being, of course, Canadian!

David Usher - Black, Black Heart (directed by Frank Bernard)

Nickleback - Too Bad (Directed by Nigel Dick)

Sloan - If It Feels Good Do It (Directed by Noble Jones)

Sum 41 - Rock Is What We're All About (Directed by Marc Klasfeld)

Swollen Members feat. Moka Only - Fuel Injected (Directed by Wendy Morgan)

. This was the second time I was right for the evening. For Vancouver's own, underground hip-hoppers Swollen Members, this was one of four awards on the evening. The highest total of any group or artist of the evening.

Next Award of the evening, Much Vibe Best Rap Video followed a very lacklustre performance by Atlanta based and Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst produced Puddle of Mudd.

The award was Swollen Members third of the evening. Just prior to the award, Swollen Members feat. Moka Only put on a tremendous show for the fans that braved the wind and rain on Queen St.

The Much Loud Best Rock Video was next. The second catergory that was, "Nickelback" stacked so to speak. The nominees were:

Chad Kroger with (Saliva's)Josey Scott) - Hero: Spiderman SoundtrackDefault - Deny

Nickelback - How You Remind Me

(WINNER)

Nickelback - Too Bad

Sum 41 - Rock It's What We're All About

Knowing that Chad Kroger/Nickelback had a three out of five chance of winning, NOBODY in their right minds should have doubted that Chad would win an award.

Kristen Kreuk from the WB's Smallville, was on hand to hand out the first of four People's Choice Awards.

Nominees for Peoples Choice for International Artist were:

Enrique Igliasis

Ja Rule

Pink

Shakira - (WINNER)

I have already said enough about Shakira tonite, and that wasn't even including her "performance."

Nominees for People's Choice for Favorite Canadian Group were:

Baby Blue Soundcrew

Default

Nickleback

Sum 41

Swollen Members feat. Moka Only

Well for me, this was a major surprise for me, and hopefully to a lot of you. I figured Swollen Members were a run away with this, with Nickleback a very close second....

Well it is about beddy by time for me for now...and really there wasn't much more to the show....All in all, Much Music put on a helluva show, and again, I have to say how impressed I was with new comer, Avril Lavigne if you have any comments please email me at davelavo_99@yahoo.ca