MOSCOW - Finalists from 25 countries performed an array of songs on a Moscow stage Saturday night and held their breath as Europeans voted by telephone to decide the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest — a musical bonanza that is one of the most watched annual television events on the continent.

Flames licked the stage's periphery and vast electronic screens blazed stunning backdrops in a spectacular show, which featured cheesy, high-energy pop and tear-jerking ballads. In a Eurovision first, crew members of the International Space Station gave the command to start telephone voting in a video message from the orbiting science laboratory.

Russia is trying to capitalize on the prestigious event to showcase the nation's hospitality and growing role in modern society, but those efforts were undermined several hours earlier when riot police attacked gay pride rallies in the capital.

Gay rights activists sought to use the international competition to draw attention to what they call widespread discrimination against homosexuals in Russia.

Forty-two nations participate
Dima Bilan, who won the 2008 Eurovision competition held in Serbia, performed his victorious "Believe" R&B-style song before the competition proper kicked off with the Lithuanian entry — a piano ballad featuring various pyrotechnics.

The winner of the competition is picked by a combination of telephone voting and official juries from national broadcasters in the 42 nations that originally took part. Norway's entry, an upbeat emotional ditty penned and performed by Belarusian-born Alexander Rybak, was strongly tipped to snatch the Eurovision crown from Russia.

Britain, which has traditionally fared well in the contest, has struggled in recent years. But a campaign of musical diplomacy by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who composed the country's offering, may have boosted British chances and has won the country unlikely support from Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Bookmakers also were giving highly favorable odds to Greece, which was pinning its hopes on an elaborately choreographed stage performance involving a giant flashing treadmill.

Israel made an appeal for peace and harmony with "There Must Be Another Way," sung in Arabic, Hebrew and English by Arab-Jewish duo Noa and Mira. Russia, which earned the right to host this year's event with Bilan's victory, was pinning its hopes on "Mamo," an overwrought ballad composed by a Georgian songwriter and partially performed in Ukrainian by a Ukrainian-born artist Anastasia Prikhodko.

Making a big splash
Some contestants had tried to use the competition as a venue for settling international scores. Two months ago, the pop group Stephane and 3G from Georgia vowed to perform "We Don't Wanna Put In," a frenzied disco song that took a rhythmic rapier thrust at Putin. The group pulled out when organizers warned that politically charged songs would not be permitted, including one referring to last year's Russia-Georgia war.

Georgia responded by organizing its own state-supported songfest this weekend, Alter/Vision, drawing groups from 10 countries, including Russia. Stephane and 3G were to perform at the festival in Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, and young Georgians sang the "Put In" lyrics on the streets as it got under way Friday evening.

Moscow authorities have worked hard to turn the Eurovision contest to display Russia's hospitality and prestige, splashing out $32.5 million on the show and a weeklong series of decadent parties.

Gay pride rally turns violent
But the climate of goodwill was shattered in the hours ahead of the competition, when riot police broke up several gay rights demonstrations in Moscow. Eurovision enjoys considerable support from the gay community, and Russian activists hoped to take advantage of the event to draw international attention to what they describe as rampant homophobia in the country.

Police hauled away around 40 demonstrators, including Britain-based activist Peter Tatchell and American activist Andy Thayer of Chicago, co-founder of the Gay Liberation Network.

"Today's arrests go against the principles of Eurovision, which are about peace, harmony, cooperation and unity between all the peoples in Europe," Tatchell told The Associated Press after being released by police.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Sugarland leads all the nominees announced Tuesday for Country Music Television's awards show next month with five nominations. Brad Paisley and Taylor Swift are next with four each, followed by Rascal Flatts and newcomers Lady Antebellum with three fan-voted nominations apiece.

Kelly Pickler and CMT personality Lance Smith announced the finalists on air Tuesday morning. Sugarland is nominated twice for duo video of the year — for "All I Want to Do" and "Already Gone." They also received two for "Life in a Northern Town" with Little Big Town and Jake Owen — collaborative video and performance of the year.

Their final nod is video of the year for "All I Want to Do."
Paisley's "Waitin' On a Woman" is nominated for video of the year and male video of the year. He's also up for collaborative video for his duet with Keith Urban, "Start a Band," and for performance of the year for "Country Boy" with Alan Jackson, George Strait and Dierks Bentley.

Swift's "Love Story" is nominated for video of the year and female video of the year, and her performance of "Photograph" with British rockers Def Leppard is nominated for performance of the year and wide open country video of the year.

Viewers cast more than 2.5 million votes to decide four finalists in most categories. Fans can vote online at CMT.com through June 15 to determine the winners.

The video of the year competition is being handled a little differently. CMT has identified 10 nominees so far, and it will announce the finalists at the beginning of the June 16 awards show in Nashville. Fans can vote for their favorites throughout the show.

The cable network will air the awards live at 8 p.m. Eastern, and the show will feature musical performances by Trace Adkins, Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Sugarland, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban and Def Leppard.

Steve Greenberg, the CEO of S-Curve Records, is the man responsible for discovering the Jonas Brothers. He was working at Columbia Records in 2005 and was sorting through a pile of CDs to determine which artists the company would keep and which it would let go. “In the pile was a Christian pop record made by Nick Jonas,” he said. “It was a very bland Christian pop record. It was awful, but his voice was great.”

Amy Doyle, the executive vice president for music and talent at MTV, recalled attending an event in 2005 at Planet Hollywood in Times Square in which the Jonas Brothers — well before their massive success — were holding a signing and listening party for their new record.

“There weren’t a ton of fans,” she remembered. “But the fans that were there were really, really excited. That’s when we felt there was something there.” Miranda Monarch, a 14-year-old from Los Angeles, said she first became aware of the Jonas Brothers a couple of years ago while reading a teen magazine.

“Their music was pretty catchy,” she explained. “And two of them are cute.” Right now, the entertainment industry thinks all three of the Jonas Brothers are absolutely adorable, because they’re enjoying the kind of success that boy bands in garages all across the globe can only dream about.

Their concert tour in 2008 grossed over $41 million. Their last album, “A Little Bit Longer,” has sold over 2.1 million copies worldwide. They have a film, “Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience,” opening Friday. They were interviewed in the first segment on Barbara Walters’ annual post-Oscars special Sunday night. They’re all over the Disney Channel.

But how long will they last?
‘They’re a very different model’
Do they represent the pre-packaged, skillfully marketed Disney youth entertainment phenomenon of the moment? Or are they a uniquely talented group of musicians and songwriters who promise to have staying power?

The short answer: Who knows? But Greenberg offers a hint.
“Very simply, the Jonas Brothers are different than every other Disney musical act,” he said, “because the Jonas Brothers were a band first, and they developed a following and a fan base, and then they were promoted in the Disney system. Everybody else, all those other people, started out with TV shows on the Disney Channel, or Camp Rock, and then got spun off.”

For that reason, Greenberg said, the Jonas Brothers have at least a shot at holding a place in the spotlight for longer than the customary 15 minutes. “They’re a very different model,” he said. “Most Disney acts have trouble maintaining their popularity after the TV show goes away. That’s what happened with Hilary Duff and ‘Lizzie McGuire.’ Once she aged out and the TV show was gone, there was no context for her.”

Disney has boasted, at various times, Duff, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, the cast of “High School Musical,” Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato and The Cheetah Girls. There may not be a better place to be for a young musical performer than under Disney’s umbrella. But such cover can also raise doubts about whether kid artists can survive outside of it.

“The thing about Disney’s bubblegum acts is that they have more marketing muscle behind them,” noted David Smay, co-author of the book “Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth,” along with Kim Cooper, as well as the new Tom Waits narrative “Swordfishtrombones.”

“They own a TV station, which is something the 1910 Fruitgum Company didn’t have.”

‘Just good, clean family fun’
Mark Zoradi, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group, was actually on his way to the premiere of the Jonas Brothers concert film Tuesday night when he took time out to explain why the names Jonas and Disney go together like Mickey and Minnie.

“Their form of entertainment just fits like a glove with Disney,” he said. “They’re a huge music sensation, so they’re involved in our record company. They’re involved with TV on the Disney Channel. We saw how successful their concert tour was, just good, clean family fun.”

Smay said Disney tries to make sure that each of its acts is able to develop a distinct following, which at least creates the potential for a band like the Jonas Brothers to develop a long shelf life.

“It’s the same market, but they’re hitting it from different angles,” he said. “They don’t want to copy themselves. Each has a particular appeal, so they don’t tread on each other. ‘High School Musical’ and ‘Hannah Montana’ have some overlap, but not much.

“(Disney is) extremely smart. They’re up there with Apple in terms of marketing.”

‘They really do care about their fans’
Apparently the Jonas Brothers, their parents and their advisors have a little on the ball, too. They recognize, said MTV’s Doyle, that young fans today have a ravenous appetite for information, a need that the Jonas Brothers are only too eager to address.

“They really do care about their fans,” Doyle said. “They make it a part of their mission to connect and to have an ongoing dialogue with their fans on a regular basis. They do everything to peel back the curtain and reveal their world, which is really important. Fans don’t want mystery artists; they want as much access as possible.

“Over the last few years there’s been a shift. Fans are demanding more access, and they want more music made available on more platforms. The amount of choice for fans in terms of music is massive. In order for artists to cut through, they have to cut through not just to fans but also potential fans. They have to give them something new — a new song, a new video, a tour blog.”

The 14-year-old Monarch said she’d love to see the boys live in concert someday, but tickets are too expensive. So she appreciates the access the band provides. “I notice that they try to make connections with their fans. They try to make fans feel they’re just like everybody else,” she said. In the end, whether the Jonas Brothers stick around will come down to their ability to churn out good music.

“Their music will grow with them,” Zoradi said. “As they grow up, their music won’t sound exactly like what they did before. I don’t think they’ll be a flash in the pan. They’re extremely talented. They’re not a manufactured group. They have genuine musical and vocal talent.” Said Doyle: “I think it’s great pop music, pure and simple. They write hooky songs with great choruses. They play their own instruments. It’s a simple formula that works. “Pop music is not going to go away anytime soon.”