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Grammy Awards - Feb. 11, 2007

Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 1:09 pm
by KarenZ
Folks,

Just a reminder - the Grammy Awards will be broadcast this evening at 8pm EST on CBS.

http://www.grammy.com

KarenZ

Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 1:59 pm
by paddyinthepub
Hoping to catch the awards show tonight. We missed 2 shows yesterday in the way of the PRO BOWL (Saturday?) and SNL with Keith Urban as musical guest.

Looking at the nominees, overall, it appears James Blunt should win more than a few grammies. I'll be pulling for him all the way.

Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 12:13 am
by Patti
Thanks for the link Karen, I was happy to read that Bill Harley, children's performer won in Catagory 76!!!!!!!!! He is local to my area and one of the founding members of Stone Soup Coffee House. This was his 3rd nomination and the win is so well deserved!!

Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 10:36 am
by KarenZ
Folks,

Here's a link to last night's winners:

Grammy Award winners

Not surprising, Springsteen and Dylan both won in their respective categories: Traditional Folk (the Seeger Sessions) and Contemporary Folk (Modern Times). Also not surprising was that those awards were not televised.

Highlight of the evening for me was almost at the very beginning when Joan Baez (who looked stunning) introduced The Dixie Chicks with a reference to Woody Guthrie. The Chicks were charged and defiant when they did their award-winning "Not ready to make nice". Wow.

Lowlight for me was having to see the Wyclef Jean's crotch-grabbing. I will never get it.

Stevie Wonder gave a nod to today's songwriters: Johnny Legend, Corinne Bailey Rae and John Mayer....and all I could think as I listened to them perform (John Mayer being the best of the three, I thought) was that Ellis Paul is worlds better than them all. If only this were a perfect world....

Sadly, James Blunt went home empty-handed....but at least he performed.

Any other comments?

KarenZ

Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 1:07 pm
by paddyinthepub
Always enjoyed the music of The Police....last night was no different. I think they gained a reputation( boring in concert ) during their heyday. It was nice to see them perform together again. The drummer rocked it.

I found the pace of the show to flow well. I enjoyed Gnarls Barkley's number "Crazy" that began in the audience and moved to the stage for a big finish. My first time to hear them sing a note. Love his voice!

Happy to see The Dixie Chicks getting the last laugh. Although they could have been a little less in your face about it. Their song Not Ready To Make Nice has given me chills since it came out. I enjoyed their performance of it last night, though the camera went wide too soon, like when Natalie sings the most intense line in the song : Shut up and sing or your life will be over. Side note: VH1 Storytellers has the Dixie Chicks on commercial free and the version there of Not Ready To Make Nice is not to be missed.

The songs by the trio of Legend, Baily Rae, and Mayer were beautifully done. We liked the Shakira/Wyclef number - missed the grab - sure he wasn't trying to hold his pants up? The big winner, Mary J Blige. I like it when she gets animated and sings her heart out. I fell asleep early, but did awaken to the sound of James Blunt singing his hit, You're Beautiful. He absolutely nailed it. I awoke this morning to find out he went home empty handed. Ain't right. He seemed happy just to be there when he was interviewed on the Red Carpet. I believed him when he told Ryan Seacrest his views on the whole thing. That to him, the nominations were the prize.

more to come.........

Congratulations to Paddy

Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 4:53 pm
by Patti
I see today that Paddy hit 1000 posts!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations Paddy!!

Congratz

Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 7:07 pm
by JennyLevE
I 2nd that!!
Congratz 8)

--Jen
<3

Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 8:29 am
by wendy
So where is that beer-toasting emoticon when we really need it?

Congrats, Paddy! :D

Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:10 am
by paddyinthepub
Thanks all.....it's on account of Ellis, KZ, and "you's guys" that I'm here.

I appreciate your kind words and want to say it's an honor to be a part of this fine community. 8)

It's wild to think back on the day we all came back to find the new and improved forum and how foreign it all felt. Look at us now!!! :D

Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:34 pm
by KarenZ
Folks,

Did you notice that The Klezmatics won a Grammy in the Best Contemporary World Music Album for their release Wonder Wheel - Lyrics by Woody Guthrie? Here's the Amazon link:

Amazon link to Wonder Wheel - Lyrics by Woody Guthrie

Wow....this from Amazon:
At first glance, the wedding of newly discovered lyrics by Okie folk legend Woody Guthrie to melodies by the Klezmatics--a band that blends the sounds and images of Yiddish culture with world music and American traditions--seems incongruous, at best. But there is method in the madness of executive producer and Woody's daughter, Nora Guthrie. In the 1940s, the Guthries family lived in the heavily Jewish borough of Brooklyn, where their visitors included not only such activist pals as Pete Seeger, but Yiddish poet Aliza Greenblatt--Guthrie's mother-in-law--who shared his devotion to message and idealism. The troubadour's dusted-off words, particularly on "Mermaid Avenue," show his constant awareness and appreciation of Jewish culture, as well as his predictable fixation with the fleetingness of life in a time of war ("Pass Away," "Goin' Away to Sea"). Yet there is a new gentleness and renewed love of poetry in many of these pieces, especially in the closing song, "Heaven," which reflects Guthrie's continuing social consciousness, i.e., labor struggles and the homeless. The Klezmatics, on their first English-language album, push Woody's folkie form into the 21st century, with melodies built around Middle Eastern or Slavic frameworks--put to best use on the delicate lullaby "Heddy Down" and the affirming "Wheel of Life." --Alanna Nash

Product Description
The story of Wonder Wheel is a glorious tale of happenstance and discovery, populated by luminaries from different worlds and different eras.
In the pantheon: American folk icon Woody Guthrie and world music superstars the Klezmatics, Woody’s daughter, Nora Guthrie, maestro Itzhak Perlman—whose chance meeting with Nora helped plant the seed for the project, Celtic vocalist Susan McKeown, and producers GoodandEvil (Sex Mob, Elysian Fields, Felix Da Housecat).

These Coney Island-wrought lyrics add a less-known urban dimension to a man seen as the avatar of dust- bowl ballads. But, like thousands of his songs, they were left unrecorded, their music forgotten.

The result, seven years in the making, is Wonder Wheel—a record Nora describes as "Just as my father would have wanted." The album reflects Woody’s political stance and social agenda into a larger, global mirror, and brings a 20th century American figurehead to a 21st-century audience. Woody’s lyrics—set to music that’s filled with Eastern European, klezmer, Latin, Celtic, Afro-Caribbean and folk flavors—take on a universal life of their own. As GoodandEvil’s Danny Blume notes, the music is "an intense combination of the familiar and the exotic. But above all, it’s completely natural, all-encompassing, and intensely human."


KarenZ

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:16 pm
by Sue Ellen
Overall I thought the Grammy's show was boring and disappointing. I thought I was going to fall asleep during the Police's opening performance of "Roxanne." Mary J. Blige plucked my last nerve with her self-love. I did think the female singers way out-performed the men; although Chris Brown did some mean stompin'. The Dixie Chicks set the bar, and I feel no small pleasure in their vindication for their strength in exercising their democratic right, which demands we speak our minds when we disagree with our leaders' choices and decisions but is lately deemed "unpatriotic." Beyonce is amazing, and Shakira always makes me get up and dance in response to her music and joy. The highlight for me though was Christina Aguilera singing, "It's a Man's World." She belted the hell out of that song with complete style and grace; I thought she completely upstaged icons Smokey Robinson and Lionel Richie, as well as 17 year old Chris Brown and his memerizing stompin'. The irony was inescapable.

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 4:14 pm
by KarenZ
Sue Ellen,

I agree that "Roxanne" was totally uninspired. Ellis and Christopher Williams do a meaner version. :-)

I'm still appalled at the several crotch-grabs. Talk about eeeeuuwww.

KarenZ

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 4:45 pm
by Sue Ellen
Like Christina sang: "It's a man's world." So, that must be the explanation.

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 5:02 pm
by Patti
Ironic too that this song was written by a man, James Brown!!

But you know like the saying goes...

behind every successful man is a woman!!!!!

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 5:13 pm
by KarenZ
AMEN SISTER!

:D

KarenZ

Patti wrote:But you know like the saying goes...

behind every successful man is a woman!!!!!

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 5:56 pm
by bonuela
I think I was watching the other Grammys. :P I really enjoyed the show. Especially the performances. I thought the Police were surprising. It is very easy for bands of their age to come off as sad, and living in the past, but they did a nice job. I even enjoyed the ones singing songs that I'd be likely to change if they came on the radio.

It was nice to see the Stomping on mainstream t.v.. The Dixie Chicks made me proud. In this society it is nice to see someone standing by their convictions. The were never rude, but they refused to appologise.

I will keep my opinions on James Blunt to myself as I know they are unpopular here. :D

Last of all, I love love loved Imogen Heap's costumes. If you have lily pads on your dress how can you not wear grass in your hair? Come on. :P

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 6:31 pm
by KarenZ
Haven't the Chicks taught you anything? :D

KarenZ
bonuela wrote:I will keep my opinions on James Blunt to myself as I know they are unpopular here. :D

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 6:42 pm
by bonuela
You got me Karen. It is not fear that keeps my mouth shut. It is actually something my Mom told me. "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

:P

The nicest thing I can say about James Blunt is that he makes my friend KarenZ happy. :D

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:04 pm
by KarenZ
Bonnie,

Your mom is a very wise person. And her daughter is very sweet. :)

KarenZ

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:34 pm
by Sue Ellen
Patti wrote:But you know like the saying goes...

behind every successful man is a woman!!!!!


And behind every successful woman?

Alot of blood, sweat, and tears.