Grammy's Last Night

[McLovin]

What in the hell was up with Sly and the family Stone last night??????? Also, I have never been a fan of Mariah Carey but she really impressed me with her performance, and lastly, Jamie Foxx now actually believes he is Ray Charles, Kane West is borderline retarded and they both suck together onstage.

[rhjanes]

given all the post around the drum-forum's, I'm glad I went to band practice and skipped the whole thing....

[tcraw1010]

I watched American Idol and LOST . . . I couldn't have cared less about the Grammy's this year.

[FullCollapse]

I watched American Idol and LOST . . . I couldn't have cared less about the Grammy's this year.
i second that. with a vengence.

[JLee]

What in the hell was up with Sly and the family Stone last night??????? Also, I have never been a fan of Mariah Carey but she really impressed me with her performance, and lastly, Jamie Foxx now actually believes he is Ray Charles, Kane West is borderline retarded and they both suck together onstage.


For starters, let me just say that I am still not jaded enough to say that I did not watch the Grammys. However, normally I watch and am disappointed. Last night contained some of the best live performances I have seen in quite some time on an awards show.

However, to me ALMOST everything Rented Mule said was absolutely correct. I am a big fan of Sly Stone's music, but after seeing him last night, I felt more said than nostalgic. He would likely be somewhere in his 60's I would think, but the odd way he carried himself (almost like he was not paying attention to what was going on) ws pretty off putting. I have a feeling, judging from the forward posture of his head, that he has health issues as well.

Mariah Carey is way over the top as a personality, but I have to say, last night she did tear it up on that gospel song. I know she has trouble with some of the high notes, as her voice cracked a few times (yet oddly enough, she handled the really really high notes without a problem).


Jamie Fox has done a 180 over the last year or two in my book. Now EVERYTHING is about him - how he feels about this and that, how this performance is going to change life as we know it, etc. Sad, actually, as I know a former publicist that worked with him and said that, at one time, he was one of the nicest and most easy to work with performers she had ever seen. Now, it is quite different, and I know that, during the filming of one of his recent TV specials, he pitched a fit over a number of different issues behind the scenes.

I would not say Kanye West is retarded, but he also seems to think a lot of himself. I am not a fan of rap in general, but I will say that some of the compositions he uses as music are a lot more interesting than what is out there today.

On the bright side, there were a lot of good performances. Country is not really my thing, but I thought Keith Urban did great (and that guitar work, while singing, is no picnic), Sugarland did really well, Springsteen was outstanding both by himself and backing Sam Moore. Joss Stone is starting to great on my nerves - she is amazingly talented, but going berserk on every line of every song is a little much. Christina Aguilera is undeniably talented as well, but when sang that Leon Russell song last night, I actually got lost and would not have been able to tell what song it was if I did not already know it.

Sam Moore and Irma Thomas sounded great, I thought. All in all, one of the best Grammy shows I have seen in a while.

[McLovin]

i actually only saw the mariah carey set and the tribute sly (the only thing i was waiting for) and i wondered into the foxx\west set. i saw a clip of springsteen and was unimpressed, i thought his guitar sounded like crap. You are right about joss stone, i fear she is another one that may be reading too much of her own press. Oh, sly stone is 61.

[JLee]

Music is a subjective medium, after all . . .

[moosryan]

keith and sugarland played? and i missed it? darn...

[ange d mange]

So Sawyer got Charlie to follow Locke so they could find where Locke hid the guns.
Well now Sawyer has the guns and..........

Oh sorry. I watched LOST, not the Grammys

[drummaman1]

this relates more to the "nostalgia" of seeing bands re-unite that haven't in a while:

Last year, the Police was inducted into the RnR Hall of Fame. I was so psyched to see them perform their three song set. When they finally showed the playing the tunes, it sounded good, but I couldn't help but feeling "tired" throught the whole thing. They looked tired, it sounded tired, though Stewart still managed to break his snare drum batter during the choruses to "Roxanne".

It was then that I decided that it is better that they DON'T play or re-unite, especially if it's going to sound like that. Very anti-climactic, if not dissapointing.

Which furthers a thing said to me by an old high school friend of mine:

Bands NEVER break up. Never. Except Nirvana, because...well, they have no choice.

I heard that Herbie Hancock was playing piano with Christina Aguilera. How did that go?

[JLee]

this relates more to the "nostalgia" of seeing bands re-unite that haven't in a while:

Last year, the Police was inducted into the RnR Hall of Fame. I was so psyched to see them perform their three song set. When they finally showed the playing the tunes, it sounded good, but I couldn't help but feeling "tired" throught the whole thing. They looked tired, it sounded tired, though Stewart still managed to break his snare drum batter during the choruses to "Roxanne".

It was then that I decided that it is better that they DON'T play or re-unite, especially if it's going to sound like that. Very anti-climactic, if not dissapointing.

Which furthers a thing said to me by an old high school friend of mine:

Bands NEVER break up. Never. Except Nirvana, because...well, they have no choice.

I heard that Herbie Hancock was playing piano with Christina Aguilera. How did that go?

He played great. It was actually a lot of fun to see that, though I thought Aguilera was way over the top. That song, (I think it is entitled "Singing My Song" written by Leon Russell is absolutely outstanding when it was sung by Ray Charles, and even Peabo Bryson, but I have to say, as great as Aguileras vocal chops are, I kind of lost my way halfway throught he song.

[skaman]

i cannot believe those asshats got stevie wonder to tell all those blind jokes. i thought it was very bad. but i just dilike the concept of it. IMO music should never get so big. i hate how this industry works how half brains get so famous for singing somebody else's song. for god sakes they DIDNT EVEN WRITE IT THEMSELVES! IMO music shouldnt get any bigger than small/medium clubs.

[JLee]

i cannot believe those asshats got stevie wonder to tell all those blind jokes. i thought it was very bad. but i just dilike the concept of it. IMO music should never get so big. i hate how this industry works how half brains get so famous for singing somebody else's song. for god sakes they DIDNT EVEN WRITE IT THEMSELVES! IMO music shouldnt get any bigger than small/medium clubs.


You are certainly entitled to your opinion as far as the industry is concerned.

I can tell you though, as far as Stevie is concerned, those blind jokes are his idea. He uses them often. If you have seen him at other awards shows, etc. he often works them into his dialogue - probably to make people feel at ease. He spoke at a Martin Luther King celebration right outside where I work, and when it proved to be poorly attended, he pretended to notice, and said "There aren't many out there celebrating! Don't think I can't see you!

At one time he owned an LA radio station - KJLH. Not sure if he still does, but I know at the time, the radio staff loved him. He came to a couple of shows at a club where I worked, never strongarmed for comps, and when he received comps, he always requested his staff to insist that they be granted only for the least attended shows if it was a multi-show run.

Plus, there was more magic in that twenty or thirty seconds with Stevie and Alicia Keys singing than there was in the whole opening number by Madonna. What a "So What?" moment THAT was.

[skaman]

that madonna thing was so overdone. gorillaz are really good though.

[Chippy569]

that madonna thing was so overdone. gorillaz are really good though.
i like the gorillaz... did they actually perform in-person?

[JLee]

Actually, if I heard correctly it was a couple of guys that were in a group called De la Soul (from the 90's). Not totally sure I am right on this, but the two guys came out and did a few bars of the song at the very end, with the cartoon images still on stage.

I think the song itself is fairly catchy (the refrain reminds me very much of the Kinks' "Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon") but the whole production, with the cartoon characters "playing along" seemed a little cheesy. I have nothing against Madonna, per se, but I just don't see the relevance over all. Seems to me they could have chosen an opening number with a little more relevance. Last Year's (Prince and Beyonce) went over a lot better, even though I find him fairly odd and full of himself). The guy can definitely play a guitar though.

[lexlord]

The industry is much like it was in the late fifties early sixties, a lot of Brill building songwriters, fabricated groups/acts, all are competent, just not much that goes deep at least in top forty... nothing new/what comes around goes around... thought the grammy's were a bore...
Yah, Prince has got a big head, but there are few that can play/sing/write/perform as well as he. In a word the man is brilliant, that doesn't mean I like everything he does but as musician's go, he is to the world of pop what Miles Davis was to Jazz... in R&B and rap, "pop" rock, his influence is deep and obvious...and his bands are always killer, in my itty bitty humble opinion that is...

[vaughn]

Yo Mule! Pistol Pete, that rules!!!!! I look at his retired jersey hanging at the Delta Center every time I go there. That dude...I loved that dude.

[FullCollapse]

that madonna thing was so overdone. gorillaz are really good though.
gottta love gorrillaz

[drummaman1]

...the members are fictional, right?

...further proof that shows one of the better bands of the night is the one that doesn't exist...as humans...:)

[skaman]

yeah the cartoon moemebers are fictional ( noodle, russel, 2-D etc.) but the real members are deep into their full time projects whcih include Blur. speaking of blur, does anyone like Banksy, the londoner graphitti artist? im a big fan.

[Snarekick1214]

I watched most of it and only have two words to say.....Helter Skelter.....

[JLee]

Damn Straight About that!!


You can argue that Sir Paul has not done anything worthwhile in quite some time, and that song "Freedom" was just pandering, but he certainly throws himself into what he is doing - no doubt about that. Very cool to see.

[drummaman1]

did I hear correctly that there was a trio??

Featuring Paul McCartney, Linkin Park, and Jay-Z???? are you kidding me, man?

People's eyes must have gone back into their heads...and stayed stuck there. IMO, I'm not too thrilled even for the Linkin Park/Jay-Z collaboration...basically I'm not a big fan...of Linkin Park, that is. Jay-Z is somewhat tolerable to my ears, Timbaland made some UNREAL beats for him (Dirt Off Your Shoulder).

[JLee]

did I hear correctly that there was a trio??

Featuring Paul McCartney, Linkin Park, and Jay-Z???? are you kidding me, man?

People's eyes must have gone back into their heads...and stayed stuck there. IMO, I'm not too thrilled even for the Linkin Park/Jay-Z collaboration...basically I'm not a big fan...of Linkin Park, that is. Jay-Z is somewhat tolerable to my ears, Timbaland made some UNREAL beats for him (Dirt Off Your Shoulder).


Yeah, that did happen. Personally, I have no problem with Linkin Park, per se, but I am not much of a rap listener in that I often can't tell what is good or bad in that genre. I thought the Linkin Park guy did a pretty good job of showing the Beatles song a little respect. Rapping over it? Not sure about that. Then again, I am hardly their demographic.

I do have to say though, that I was impressed by the fact that, when Linkin Park and JayZ did win the award, and the Linkin Park guy spoke first, when offered the opportunity to speak, you could see Jay Z deferring to the other bandmates as if to say "no, it should be their time as well". Not often you see etiquette at an awards show.

[McLovin]

Yo Mule! Pistol Pete, that rules!!!!! I look at his retired jersey hanging at the Delta Center every time I go there. That dude...I loved that dude.
He was the man. Never got to meet him in person but I did pay my respects at his funeral when he died.