Chris Morris

By Joe Brown (contact)

Fri, Nov 28, 2008 (2 a.m.)

After Michelle Obama delivered her big speech to the Democratic National Convention in Denver this August, she whispered to her daughters that she had a surprise for them.

“Is it the Jonas Brothers?” 10-year-old Malia said.

Turned out it was just their dad, being beamed in by satellite. Malia and sister Sasha, 7, were reportedly totally bummed when they found out they would be stuck in boring old Denver at the same time Kevin, Nick and Joe Jonas would be performing in their hometown of Chicago.

Go ahead and laugh. But the kids understand. The new first daughters are poised to be tween tastemakers, so don’t be surprised if the Jonas Brothers end up singing at an inaugural ball — or a command play date at the White House. They play two shows Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

1. Big brothers

There is no escaping the Jonas Brothers. In less than a year, the brothers Jonas have gone from an opening act for Miley Cyrus to dominating the pop music field — and apparently all media. Their third album, “A Little Bit Longer,” sold more than half a million copies in its first week, and many of those were digital downloads. They performed live Thursday at the halftime show at the Dallas Cowboys’ Thanksgiving Day football game against Seattle, starred in “Camp Rock,” a Disney Channel movie this summer, and recently started production on a new Disney sitcom, “J.O.N.A.S!,” which is due to debut in the spring.

2. Brothers in arms

Wait, there’s more! There’s also a new book, “Burning Up: On Tour with the Jonas Brothers” (Disney-Hyperion). Disney filmed two concerts this summer that will be released as a 3D concert movie on Feb. 22, and plans are in the works for the brothers to make their feature film debut in “Walter the Farting Dog,” a movie adaptation of the best-selling book series. It’s supposed to be directed by another sibling team, the Farrelly brothers.

3. Band of brothers

These three skinny kids from New Jersey now belong to a lineage of brother acts that includes the Jackson 5, Osmonds, David and Sean Cassidy and Hanson. The difference between the JoBros and other prefab pop outfits is that they actually play instruments on their self-penned emo-lite tunes: Nick, 16, plays rhythm guitar and piano; Joe, 19, is lead singer, and Kevin, 21, plays lead guitar. The Jonii are also known for another kind of band — they famously wear purity rings on their left-hand ring fingers, signifying their vow not to have premarital sex (which provided cruel sport for English comedian Russell Brand on the MTV Video Music Awards).

4. Brotherly love

The Jonases are evangelical Christians, sons of a former Assembly of God pastor and a mother who home-schooled them. Still, even given this solid foundation, it must be hard work to maintain their chaste, family-friendly image: The bros have been linked with such tween startlets as Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift, and their concerts are hormonal hives of screaming teen girls, recalling the crushed-out chaos that surrounded, say, the New Kids on the Block, way back in the previous century.

5. Oh, brother

To date, only three Jonases are household names, but there is another brother waiting in the wings. That would be 8-year-old Frankie, who is nicknamed “the Bonus Jonas.” With pop stardom having a notoriously short shelf life, it’s always good to have a backup or two in the family.

Joe Brown can be reached at 259-8801 or at joe.brown@lasvegassun.com.