Ahead of 2013 Grammys, Springsteen Receives MusiCares Honor (and Concert)

There will no doubt be plenty of fine live performances at Sunday's Grammys television show, but I'd bet few of them will top the power of Friday night's concert to honor Bruce Springsteen, the MusiCares Person of the Year.

As you'd expect, the Los Angeles show featured an all-star cast of A-list musicians performing songs by The Boss. Often these type of shows don't get me too excited, but this lineup of musicians and songs had me intrigued (as various attendees live-tweeted them), and seeing the excepts below got me even more interested.

 There was Neil Young and Crazy Horse doing "Born in the U.S.A.," Mumford and Sons performing "I'm on Fire," Jackson Browne and Tom Morello singing "American Skin (41 Shots)," Alabama Shakes rocking "Adam Raised a Cain," and Sting doing "Lonesome Day," plus a short set of Springsteen and the E Street Band performing their own songs. (Consequence of Sound gives the full setlist.)

The article also says that these MusiCares concerts are often issued on DVD, and this is one that I'd seriously consider buying.







Speaking of Springsteen, he's nominated for one three Grammys this year: "We Take Care of Our Own" for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song, and "Wrecking Ball"for Best Rock Album.

Check out the complete list of 2013 Grammy nominees here (it will be updated with the winners throughout tomorrow's broadcast). Download the Grammy pre-telecast program (PDF), showing the majority of Grammy categories, and watch the pre-telecast awards streamed live Sunday afternoon at www.grammy.com/live starting at 3 p.m.

Also: see who's performing on the telecast, which starts at 8 p.m. on CBS, and follow the latest news on Twitter at twitter.com/thegrammys.

2012 Grammys Recap: The Boss, a Beatle, Glen Campbell, an Exorcism, & More

Nicki Minaj's Grammys performance was the #1 WTF moment of the night, featuring exorcism, dancing monks, and a Red Riding Hood outfit, among other things.

Yesterday's Grammys telecast wasn't as wacky as last year's, but it did have its highlights, lowlights, touching moments, and downright oddball stuff. A brief rundown:

• Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band opened the show, performing their new single, "We Take Care of Our Own"
• Host LL Cool J offered a prayer for Whitney Houston, who died the day before. (Jennifer Hudson later sang "I Will Always Love You" in tribute.)
• Adele proved her voice was back, belting out a tune (and taking home six Grammys on the night)
• Paul McCartney performed a new Valentine's Day tune, and ended the show with a rousing version of "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End," with guitarists Springsteen, Joe Walsh, and Dave Grohl, among others
• Glen Campbell received a touching tribute, singing his old hit "Rhinestone Cowboy" after two of his other hits were covered by Blake Shelton and The Band Perry
• With Lady Gaga not performing this year, Nicki Minaj took up the bizarre-performance mantle with a lengthy song/dramatic piece featuring an exorcism
• The Allman Brothers Band was one of the artists honored with the lifetime achievement award (see video below)

Also, the Foo Fighters performed two songs and took home an armful of awards; Chris Brown made a controversial return to the Grammy stage; and Lady Gaga sat in the audience wearing what looked like a black basketball net over her face. And what would the Grammys be without some unusual musical collaborations, a couple of which didn't work at all (to me): Rihanna and Coldplay and the Beach Boys with Maroon 5 and Foster the People (though the latter wasn't a bad fit with Brian Wilson and band).

Of course, most of the awards (including the lifetime achievement honors) were handed out before the TV show (view the pre-telecast Grammys ceremony here).
 



You can find the full list of 2012 Grammy winners and nominees here.

Music Notes: Adele on Letterman Tonight; The Cars Record New Album; Music Exec. Rails Against Grammys

* A day ahead of the U.S. release of her new album "21," Adele is performing on the Letterman show tonight, Feb. 21st. She performed a live webcast tonight for the show, which I didn't know about until it had already happened. You might be able to find the Adele live webcast archived here. (See the video for "Rolling in the Deep," the first single from "21," above.)

* New Wave rockers The Cars have recorded a new album. Rolling Stone says that "Move Like This," the band's first album in 24 years, will be released on May 10th. The album features all the original surviving members of The Cars—Ric Ocasek, drummer David Robinson, guitarist Elliot Easton, and keyboardist Greg Hawkes. Original bassist Benjamin Orr (who sang two of their top hits, "Just What I Needed" and "Drive") died in 2000. No word on whether they'll play any concerts, though Ocasek says in the article that it "might be fun to do a couple of shows."

* A longtime record exec is cranky over some of the Grammy Awards given out last week. Steve Stoute, who seems to be especially known for his experience in hip-hop, took out a full-page ad in the New York Times Sunday to slam the ceremony as an “awards show [that] has become a series of hypocrisies and contradictions.” He was miffed that artists like Eminen and Kanye West didn't win more, citing their longtime influence, and also complained that teen pop star Justin Bieber didn't win. "How is it that Justin Bieber, an artist that defines what it means to be a modern artist, did not win Best New Artist?"

Stoute's argument seems to be that sales and popularity should win out over artistic merit. Isn't that the opposite of what the Grammys are supposed to be about? (OK, we know they don't live up to that ideal all that often, but still, his complaint seems pretty off base.)

2011 Grammys: Beyond Gaga's Egg & Cee Lo's Chicken Suit - the Awards You Didn't See on TV

 

Muse (shown here at Newark's Prudential Center last October) won the Best Rock Album Grammy for "Resistance."

Here at Podcast Party, we're more interested in the pre-telecast awards given out at the Grammys than the glitzy, televised show (which only hands out about a dozen awards in three-and-a-half hours). Fortunately, the magic of the Internet means that you can now watch the nearly one-hundred pre-telecast awards being handed out in the live webcast (which may be archived for later viewing).

I didn't manage to see the entire pre-telecast Grammy show, but here are what I found to be some of the more notable awards that would be of interest to the readers of this blog (see the complete list of 2011 Grammy winners and nominees for more details):

* Best Pop Instrumental Performance - "Nessun Dorma" by Jeff Beck (beating out Laurie Anderson, Brian Setzer Orchestra, Stanley Clarke, and Gorillaz)

* Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance - "Helter Skelter" (live) by Paul McCartney (winning over songs by Eric Clapton, John Mayer, Robert Plant, and Neil Young)

* Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals - "Tighten Up" by The Black Keys (winning over Arcade Fire, Jeff Beck and Joss Stone, Kings Of Leon, and Muse

* Best Rock Instrumental Performance - "Hammerhead" by Jeff Beck (other nominees: The Black Keys, Los Lobos, Dweezil Zappa, and Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds

* Best Rock Song - "Angry World" by Neil Young (winning over songs by Mumford and Sons, Kings of Leon, Muse, and The Black Keys)

* (televised) Best Rock Album - "Resistance" by Muse (over albums by Jeff Beck, Pearl Jam, Neil Young, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

* Best Alternative Music Album - "Brothers" by The Black Keys (other nominees: Arcade Fire, Band of Horses, Broken Bells, and Vampire Weekend)

* Best Americana Album - "You Are Not Alone" by Mavis Staples (over albums by Rosanne Cash, Los Lobos, Willie Nelson, and Robert Plant)

* Best Contemporary Folk Album - "God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise" by Ray LaMontagne and The Pariah Dogs (over albums by Jackson Browne and David Lindley, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Guy Clark, and Richard Thompson)

* Best Hard Rock Performance - "Fang" by Them Crooked Vultures (over Alice in Chains, Ozzy Osbourne, Soundgarden, and Stone Temple Pilots)

* Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals - "Imagine" by Herbie Hancock, Pink, India.Arie, Seal, Konono No 1, Jeff Beck & Oumou Sangare. This was a surprise, considering who Hancock & Co. were up against: Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg; B.o.B, Eminem, and Hayley Williams; Elton John and Leon Russell; and Lady Gaga & Beyoncé. It's not the first time Hancock has pulled a Grammy upset; his collaborative interpretation of Joni Mitchell tunes won Album of the Year a couple of years back.

And on a final note, the soundtrack from Green Day's Broadway show "American Idiot" won Best Musical Show Album over cast albums from "Promises, Promises," "Fela!," "A Little Night Music," and "Sondheim On Sondheim."

2011 Grammys: Arcade Fire Wins Album of Year for "The Suburbs"

Above: Arcade Fire performs "Ready to Start" at Madison Square Garden last December.

The celebration of music and spectacle know as the 2011 Grammys had a little bit of everything, from bizarre costumes (see: Lady Gaga egg; Cee Lo Green chicken/peacock outfit) to heartfelt performances. You'll find the full list of 2010 Grammy winners and nominees here, including the nearly 100 awards that weren't televised.

The evening's top prize, Album of the Year, went to the Canadian indie-rock band Arcade Fire for "The Suburbs."Although a favorite of both critics and music fans, the band's third album had lost out in the two other Grammys it had been nominated for this year, and for the Album of the Year it was facing a number of popular Grammy-winning favorites: Eminem, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and country band Lady Antebellum (a multiple winner on the night).

Arcade Fire had just performed "Month of May"and was waiting under the stage for the announcement, and was quite surprised when "The Suburbs"was named for the top prize. And then it went on to play a second song from the album, "Ready to Start,"to finish the show. (That had nothing to do with them winning; it had been agreed to beforehand that the band would play a second tune to wrap up the show, no matter who won the night's final award.)

As usual for the Grammys, youth and current trends were served, with nominations and wins for—and performances by—acts like Justin Bieber, Katy Perry,  Enimem, and the ever-bizarre Lady Gaga. But the performances also featured a nod to the older generation influencers: Bob Dylan performed "Maggie's Farm" with two younger, Americana bands, Mumford & Sons and the Avett Brothers.

Lady Antebellum's “Need You Now”won Record of the Year and Song of the Year, while jazz singer and upright bass player Esperanza Spalding won the new artist, beating out the megastars Justin Bieber and Drake and indie acts Florence and the Machine and Mumford and Sons.

One artist who made an impression Sunday night was singer/songwriter/producer Skylar Grey, who co-wrote Eminem's "Love the Way You Lie"(and received a Song of the Year nomination for it) and performed on Eminem and Dr. Dre's rendition of "I Need a Doctor"on the Grammy telecast. Skylar Grey, whose real name is Holly Brook Hafermann, is a Wisconsin native who has one solo album out under the name Holly Brook.

She has a website, skylargreymusic.com, that only has a few photos and the message "Coming Soon," but she's active on Twitter (@SkylarGrey), where her follower count has gone from 6,000 to over 10,000 in the last few days. There's also an unofficial fan site, skylargreynews.com, which has news, videos, and tweets, among other information.

More on the 2011 Grammys in the next day or so...

2011 Grammy Weekend is On Now - Watch Pre-Telecast Awards & More Live Online

The official 2011 Grammys telecast isn't until Sunday night, but the weekend full of events started Friday night. The MusiCares Person of the Year award was presented then, and the festivities continue on Saturday and Sunday and you can watch live online at www.grammy.com/live. You can also watch live online at www.youtube.com/thegrammys. You can also follow Grammy news before, during, and after the ceremonies (including photos) at the official Grammy Twitter page, www.twitter.com/thegrammys.

The pre-telecast awards, which includes the handing out of Grammys in 98 categories, starts at 4 p.m. Eastern and runs for more than two hours. Bobby McFerrin and Esperanza Spalding will host the pre-telecast awards, which will have performances by nominees ranging from Buddy Guy to Cyndi Lauper, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and Mavis Staples. (See the Grammy press release for details on hosts, performers, and more.)

The 2011 Grammys Awards telecast will be shown only on CBS TV at 8 p.m. Eastern. It not be shown online, though the Academy will have something called "Dual Screen Experience" (which I'm guess means you'll see backstage and other live content online in addition to what's shown on TV.)

Here's the Grammys online schedule (all times are Eastern):

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12
12:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. - Grammy Moments
5:30 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. - Special Merit Awards
10:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m. - Pre-Grammy Gala

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 13
12:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. - Grammy Moments
3:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. - Red Carpet
4:00 p.m. - 6:15 p.m. - Pre-Telecast Ceremony
6:15 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. - Red Carpet
8:00 p.m - 11:30 p.m - Dual Screen Experience
11:30 p.m - 1:00 a.m. - Grammy Celebration

2010 Grammys: Winners & Nominees, Blog, Twitter Updates

The 2010 Grammys are tonight, and as usual, most of the awards have been given out before the telecast (which begins at 8 p.m. Eastern). To see who's been nominated and who's won, check the official Grammy nominees' page, www.grammy.com/nominees. Winners' names are marked "winner" and have the Grammy gramophone appearing next to them. This list will be updated as the results are announced on the show, to refresh the page to get the latest winners.

Again this year you can get updates on the awards, links to stories and videos, and news of backstage happenings through the official Grammy Awards Twitter feed, @thegrammys. And speaking of Twitter,  Imogen Heap is wearing a special "Twitter Dress" that displays TwitPics sent in by her fans, in real time.

You can follow all the Grammy news and scuttlebutt at the EW.com 2010 Grammy Awards live blog and other places on the Web, in addition to the official Grammy Web site.

You can buy music by the 2010 Grammy nominees and winners here at Amazon.com, and buy the 2010 Grammy Nominees album here.

Grammy Awards 2009 - Live Updates on Twitter!

Yes, the music industry has been dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century, and now the Grammy Awards are even giving us updates on Twitter tonight! If you want the latest news, facts, trivia, and gossip on everything about the Grammy Awards 2009, go to the official Grammys Twitter feed (twitter.com/thegrammys/) and you'll get all you want to know (and possibly more) about this year's awards and the telecast (tonight on CBS at 8 p.m.).

Recent tweets (as of Sunday morning) include news that Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters will be playing drums for Paul McCartney on the telecast ... who'll be playing what songs on the telecast ... who's receiving this year's Lifetime Achievement Awards ... red carpet updates ... and even what "Grammy" means (no, it wasn't named after someone's grandmother).

The Grammy Awards 2009 Twitter feed also has links to other Grammy info and trivia, including the Grammy nomination process.
If you're not into the breathless nature of Twitter, you can find info on nominees, past awards, and more in a less-breathless format at the official Grammys Web site, www.grammys.com.

The Grammy Awards will be telecast on CBS tonight at 8 p.m., but the Twitter feed says a live Webcast will be streaming awards in 100 different categories starting at 4 p.m. Eastern, if you are a completist.

Kudos to the Recording Academy for using Twitter... the Grammys have entered the social media age. Now, if they could only bring their strategy for selling music up to date and avoid going out of business...

How Old are Those Ageless Grammy Artists? (Tina Turner, Cher, Little Richard, Aretha Franklin, etc.)

Some of the performers on the Grammys tonight definitely showed that they're not too old to rock and roll. Which got me wondering, just how old is Tina Turner? And Cher? And Tony Bennett, for that matter?

Here are the answers, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock on November 26, 1939) - age 68

Cher (born Cherilyn Sarkisian on May 20, 1946) - age 61

Tony Bennett (born Anthony Dominick Benedetto on August 3, 1926) - age 92

Burt Bacharach (born May 12, 1928) - age 79

Little Richard (Rev. Richard Wayne Penniman, born December 5, 1932) - age 75

John Fogerty (of Creedence Clearwater Revival, born May 28, 1945) - age 62

Jerry Lee Lewis (born September 29, 1935) - age 72

Keely Smith (born Dorothy Jacqueline Keely, 9 March 1932) - age 75

Aretha Louise Franklin (born March 25, 1942) - age 65

Herbie Hancock (born Herbert Jeffrey Hancock on born April 12, 1940) - age 67

and...
Stevie Wonder (born Steveland Hardaway Judkins on May 13, 1950) - he's a relative youngster at age 57!

Congrats to all the winners and nominees! (List of Grammy winners and nominees here.)

Woody Guthrie Nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award

It's been 40 years since he died, but folk music pioneer Woody Guthrie is nominated for a 2008 Grammy award for a rare live recording of his, The Live Wire - Woody Guthrie In Performance 1949.

A native of Okema, Oklahoma, Guthrie is known for many classic American songs, most notably This Land Is Your Land. When he died of Huntington's Chorea in 1967, he left behind hundreds of lyrics for songs.

Woody's son Arlo Guthrie was a popular folk singer in the 1960s and 1970s who is best known for the song "Alice's Restaurant." Woody's daughter Nora Guthrie manages the Woody Guthrie archives, and about a decade ago she enlisted the British singer Billy Bragg and the American alt-country band Wilco to put music to some of the many pages of lyrics by Woody Guthrie that had no music. You can learn more about Woody Guthrie and his archives at www.woodyguthrie.org.

Sarah Lee Guthrie, a daughter of Arlo Guthrie, makes music with her husband Johnny Irion.

Woody Guthrie died of Huntington’s Chorea in Queens, NY on October 3, 1967. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 in the "Early Influence" category.

The 1976 biography "Bound for Glory" starred David Carradine as Woody Guthrie.

2008 Grammys: Predictions on Who Will Win

No, they're not my picks... I'm pretty bad at correctly choosing the winners of awards. I've been doing an Oscars pool at a friend's annual party and the only time I came close to winning was the year I spent all of five minutes on my ballot and pretty much guessed at most of the categories.

So I'm turning to some other sources for their picks on who's going to win the 2008 Grammys this Sunday in Los Angeles.

Rolling Stone weighs in with who they think will win, and who should win, in their opinion.

The Top 40/Pop guide for About.com lists his predictions, explaining the thinking behind his picks.

For those of you more interested in the handicapping of the Grammys rather than musical value, the Web site Betfirms offers its predictions. The site also offers articles on betting on poker, football, etc., so after you check out the Grammy predictions you can slide right into some serious gambling, if you choose.

Amy Winehouse Gets Her Visa... But Too Late for Grammys

Amy Winehouse finally got her visa to come to the U.S., but it came too late for her to get to the Grammys on Sunday. Winehouse's visa request was originally turned down due to immigration rules covering "use and abuse of narcotics," a U.S. State Department official was quoted as saying in an ABC News article.

Winehouse will perform live during the Grammys via satellite from a studio in London, which was the original fallback plan when her original visa application was turned down. Winehouse, her album "Back to Black," and her single "Rehab" are nominated for a total of six Grammys, and she will be able to accept any awards she wins via the satellite hookup.

ABC News said that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had been "rapidly" processing Winehouse's appeal, and the staff of the U.S. Embassy in London had been working to speed up her application.

Grammy Nominations Out; Problem Children Score Big

Being a temperamental, or downright self-destructive, artist seems to be no obstacle to racking up Grammy nominations. Kanye West, who likes to take the stage to voice his displeasure when he doesn't win, scored a total of 8 nominations for the 2008 Grammy Awards, while train wreck Amy Winehouse, who seems to see how many times and ways she can mess up her career and life, racked up 6 nominations.

I have to admit I haven't heard all of Amy Winehouse's much-praised album, “Back to Black.” The song rehab I found to be catchy upon first listening, but now I find it tiresome. I like the old-style soul sound of her CD (from what I've heard of it), but I'm not sure whether credit should go to Winehouse or to her producers and her outstanding backing band, the Dap-Kings (who are also the band for Sharon Jones, a journeywoman soul artist who gets about 5% of the attention the tattooed, drunk-and-disorderly Winehouse garners).

I'll need to look over the 2008 Grammy nominations in more detail before deciding how good a job the Grammy folks did in their picks. I was glad to see one of my favorite singers, Feist, nominated for Best New Artist (even though she came out with her third album in 2007), and to see the Albuquerque-born band The Shins nominated for Best Alternative Album.