More Fun Than Tila Tequila at a Super Sweet Sixteen

When was the last time you had a Woodie?

Last Thursday night, cavorting on the red carpet with the fetching Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley and discussing the finer points of Fleetwood Mac, I’ll admit I was pretty overwhelmed. The live taping of the 2007 mtvU Woodie Awards were heating up and everyone—press, musicians, and fans alike—were buzzing with anticipation.

With the stage set, in wandered elder statesman Tom DeLonge of Angels and Airwaves (formerly of Blink-182) holding court as younger bands, such as Say Anything and Motion City Soundtrack, fawned over him and asked for career advice. His detachment revealed the fact that he is older than almost everyone around him. The Woodies are a celebration of the college music scene, which ironically is made up of musicians who never went to or dropped out of school.

But wait, there goes the charming Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy fame. Oh, is he jumping up on a table to overzealously cheer on bandmate Patrick Stump’s performance with Lupe Fiasco? Oh, is he yelling obscenities onstage just because mtvU will let him? Oh, is he talking about how despite the ridiculous amounts of money he’s made and the porn pictures and the trophy teenybopper girlfriend and the tabloids he’s just a regular guy—the same guy he’s always been? What a catch, Ashlee!

However, the 17-year-old Jersey-esque “punks,” who lied to their parents to be there in order to check out their favorite bands like Breaking Woodie winner Boys Like Girls, loved it. The hipsters, as always, were too NYU-cool to show much emotion, except during the performances by Rilo Kiley and Peter and Bjorn (sans John, who apparently was detained at the airport because he “ate too many reindeers”), when they just kept repeating “Oh my God, I can’t believe it’s them, they’re all I listened to in high school... but I mean, like, they’re all right, I guess.”

But even the hipsters couldn’t detract from the good-natured ambiance of the event, which was like a bunch of dudes (except for Lewis and presenter Annie Lennox) getting drunk and exchanging stories from the road. High-fives were traded all around when winners like Woodie of the Year recipient Gym Class Heroes were announced, though there were a few sour faces from The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus’ camp when Guster won out over the Apparatus for the Good Woodie prize.

Despite the obvious silliness, the award show was a lot of fun—much like I imagine a night at the Moulin Rouge would be. It was full of young guys indulging in a little liberté, égalité, fraternité, booze, and the tacky but somehow venue-appropriate girls who gyrated onstage in day-glo bras and hot pants as part of the Spank Rock performance.

And this is the point of mtvU and the Woodie Awards. They bring together musicians and fans in an attempt to help build or even start careers, such as they did by awarding the Best Music On Campus Woodie to... no, not Vampire Weekend—they weren’t actually up—but Stella by Starlight of Duke University. The Woodies aren’t about the clothes you wear (The Academy Is... gets my vote) or how pretty your haircut is (Tokyo Police Club gets my vote), the awards are about nice people who are somewhat musically talented and deserve their big shot. Except, of course, for Pete Wentz.