Dave Itzkoff at the New York Times notes that the Video Music Awards aren’t the first 2009 awards show to incorporate the classic musical West Side Story: “Didn’t we see a “West Side Story” parody, complete with topical satirical lyrics, performed on another award show at Radio City Music Hall (by a singer who doesn’t need any assistance from Auto-Tune) like two months ago?” he asks, referring to the Tonys. Host (and recently minted American Idol guest judge) Neil Patrick Harris did, in fact, close out the show with his own version of “Tonight,” which can only lead this observer to wonder if that parallelism is a sign that we’ll be in for a Very Special Semi-Accidental Decapitation Of Bret Michaels on Sept. 13. [ArtsBeat / Earlier]