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.
Friday, February 08, 2008
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.
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.
The Breeders Tour Dates for 2008
The Breeders are back and will be embarking on a Spring/Summer tour for 2008, and the dates are listed below. The pride of Dayton, Ohio will play other dates in California after that before working their way east through Arizona, Texas, the Midwest, and then the East Coast.
It'll be great to see Kim and Kelley and the others live and in person again. Here are the U.S. tour dates so far. Oddly enough, this list (which The Breeders sent out to their MySpace friends, and list on their Web site's tour page) doesn't list a few U.S. shows, such as a Buffalo performance March 7th and SXSW in Austin on March 15th. And the list doesn't include European and Canadian the band is sprinkling in among these dates: for example, playing in Berlin two days before Coachella. It's a pretty jam-packed barnstorming schedule, hope they won't be too wiped out by the time I get to see them in NYC!
The new Breeders album is called "Mountain Battles" and comes out April 7th in the U.K. and April 8th in the U.S.
The Breeders U.S. tour dates 2008 (see full world tour dates at their MySpace page):
April
25- Indio, CA - Coachella Festival
28-San Diego, CA - Canes
29-Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre
30-San Francisco, CA - Slims
May
2-Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues
3-Tempe, AZ - Clubhouse
5-Austin, TX - Emos
6-Dallas, TX-House of Blues
7-Houston, TX- Meridian
9-Laurence, KS - Bottleneck
10-Sauget (St Louis), IL - Pops
23-Vancouver, BC - RIchards
24-George, WA - Sasquatch Festival
25-Portland, OR - Bebatti's Pan
27-Salt Lake CIty, UT - The Depot
28-Denver, CO - Ogden
30-Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
31-Chicago, IL - Metro
June
1-Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
3-Cleveland, OH- House of Blues
4-Northampton, MA - Pearl Street
5-Boston, MA - Paradise
7-New Haven, CT - Toad's Place
8-Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts
10-New York, NY - Webster Hall
11-Washington DC- 9:30 Club
13-Atlanta, GA - The Loft
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Bonnaroo 2008 Lineup Announced
The music lineup for Bonnaroo 2008 has been made public, according to Stereogum. The Allman Brothers Band will be there again, as will Pearl Jam, Metallica, Kanye West, and My Morning Jacket. There'll be no Led Zeppelin reunion, of course, since Robert Plant and Alison Krauss will be touring to support their new CD (and making Bonnaroo a stop on their tour).
M.I.A. will bring her brand of Sri Lankan hip-hop to the festival in Manchester, Tennessee, which will be held June 12-15. And popular new Brooklyn band Vampire Weekend will be in attendance. There will be more than 100 different musical acts and, for comic relief, 20 comedians.
You can also see The Raconteurs, Willie Nelson, Death Cab for Cutie, and B.B. King, as well as Rilo Kiley, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and many, many more.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Tom Petty Summer 2008 Tour - Where to Find Tour Dates
I'm sure lots of people were complaining that they would have liked to see a young, edgy musical act perform during halftime of the Super Bowl, but I've always liked Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. They've certainly paid their dues over the decades, so I was glad to see them get a very public moment in the sun. And the Super Bowl performance will be a nice advertisement for their upcoming summer 2008 tour.
You can find the tour dates here. The tour kicks off in Grand Rapids, Michigan in May and ends in Woodlands, Texas at the end of August. More dates may be added.
You can find the tour dates here. The tour kicks off in Grand Rapids, Michigan in May and ends in Woodlands, Texas at the end of August. More dates may be added.
Friday, February 01, 2008
Microsoft Offers to Buy Yahoo
Microsoft has coveted Yahoo for a long time in its quest to better compete with Google, and now Mr. Softy has formally made a bid for Yahoo.
Microsoft's bid, which it made on Friday, is an unsolicited offer to purchase Yahoo for $44.6 billion in cash and stock. Mr. Softy is offering $31 a share for Yahoo, which is 62% above Yahoo's closing stock price on Thursday afternoon. Yahoo said it would consider the bid.
From a music fan's point of view, I'm wondering what the purchase, if it goes through, would mean for services like Yahoo Music. Would Microsoft try to put its clunky DRM protections or other restrictions on Yahoo music, in order to try to get users to pay for unrestricted content to try to make money to earn back some of the millions it would pay for Yahoo? Microsoft doesn't have a good track record on music and copyright-related matters, so I'm wary. And as someone who uses a number of Yahoo services, I'm not sure I want Microsoft in control of my personal info, especially in light of Mr. Softy's many problems with Windows security.
Microsoft's bid, which it made on Friday, is an unsolicited offer to purchase Yahoo for $44.6 billion in cash and stock. Mr. Softy is offering $31 a share for Yahoo, which is 62% above Yahoo's closing stock price on Thursday afternoon. Yahoo said it would consider the bid.
From a music fan's point of view, I'm wondering what the purchase, if it goes through, would mean for services like Yahoo Music. Would Microsoft try to put its clunky DRM protections or other restrictions on Yahoo music, in order to try to get users to pay for unrestricted content to try to make money to earn back some of the millions it would pay for Yahoo? Microsoft doesn't have a good track record on music and copyright-related matters, so I'm wary. And as someone who uses a number of Yahoo services, I'm not sure I want Microsoft in control of my personal info, especially in light of Mr. Softy's many problems with Windows security.
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