Source: Grammy.com

The 52nd Annual Grammy Award Nominees are in! Beyoncé leads with 10 nominations, but Taylor Swift is in a close second with 8 nominations.  The Black Eyed Peas earned 6 nominations, Jay-Z and Lady Gaga received 5 nods, and Colbie Caillat, Kings Of Leon, Bruce Springsteen, T-Pain, and Keith Urban each received 4 nominations.

Here are some of the nomination highlights:

Album Of The Year:

• I Am…Sasha Fierce (Beyoncé)

• The E.N.D. (the Black Eyed Peas)

• The Fame (Lady Gaga)

• Big Whiskey And The Groogrux King (Dave Matthews Band)

• Fearless (Taylor Swift)

Record Of The Year:

• “Halo” (Beyoncé)

• “I Gotta Feeling” (the Black Eyed Peas)

• “Use Somebody” (Kings Of Leon)

• “Poker Face” (Lady Gaga)

• “You Belong With Me” (Taylor Swift)

Song Of The Year:

• “Poker Face,” Lady Gaga & RedOne, songwriters (Lady Gaga)

• “Pretty Wings,” Hod David & Musze, songwriters (Maxwell)

• “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It),” Thaddis Harrell, Beyoncé Knowles, Terius Nash & Christopher Stewart, songwriters (Beyoncé)

• “Use Somebody, “Caleb Followill, Jared Followill, Matthew Followill & Nathan Followill, songwriters (Kings Of Leon)

• “You Belong With Me,” Liz Rose & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift)

Best New Artist:

• Zac Brown Band

• Keri Hilson

• MGMT

• Silversun Pickups

• The Ting Tings

The full list of nominees can be found on Grammy.com.

The Grammy nominees for 2010 are out:

Best Zydeco Or Cajun Music Album
(Vocal or Instrumental.)

• Alligator Purse
  Beausoleil Avec Michael Doucet
  [Yep Roc Records]
• Lay Your Burden Down
  Buckwheat Zydeco
  [Alligator]
• Stripped Down
  The Magnolia Sisters
  [Arhoolie Records]
• Live At 2009 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
  Pine Leaf Boys
  [MunckMix, Inc.]
• L’Ésprit Créole
  Cedric Watson et Bijou Créole
  [Valcour Records]

From People.com:

With only one day left before nominees are announced for the 52nd annual Grammy Awards, the industry is buzzing about who’ll make the cut – and why one of the year’s biggest hitmakers is ineligible. Lady Gaga sold more than 1.5 million copies of The Fame, but the costumed diva won’t be recognized in the Best New Artist category due to her nomination in the Best Dance Recording category for “Just Dance” last year. However, we’ll most likely see her in the Album, Record or Song of the year categories.

Gaga’s exclusion mirrors last year’s snub of Jennifer Hudson in the same category due to her 2007 nomination in the Outstanding Motion Picture Soundtrack Compilation category for Dreamgirls.
Could it be time for the Grammys to consider changing their rules? “This particular issue in the Best New Artist category is on our radar and I would expect changes to address it in next year’s voting,” Grammy president Neil Portnow tells PEOPLE.

Other artists to watch this year includeTaylor Swift, U2, Beyoncé, Maxwell, Green Day, the Black Eyed Peas, Keri Hilson and Kings of Leon.

On this day in 1990 – Milli Vanilli was stripped of their Grammy Award because other singers had lent their voices to the “Girl You Know It’s True” album.

SOTD: Human Highway – The Sound

CAHOTD

DOTD (WOOT OFF DAY  3!)

RCOTD

Question of the Day:

What is the best kind of milkshake, and what item goes best with it?

Gail Boyd Artist Management is pleased to announce the addition of Grammy-nominated pianist/composer/bandleader Danilo Perez to it’s talented roster. In addition to being a one of the influential and dynamic musicians of our time, his distinctive blend of Pan-American jazz (covering the music of the Americas, folkloric and world music) has attracted critical acclaim and loyal audiences around the world. We are pleased to welcome Danilo!

oneindia

Wednesday, November 4, 2009, 12:39

Washington, (ANI): Rihanna wants to turn things around after the infamous domestic violence incident involving former boyfriend Chris Brown and shed some light on the reality of domestic violence. The ‘Umbrella’ singer’s ex-beau Brown, 20, assaulted her before the Grammy Awards kicked off in Los Angeles. But now the stunning pop singer is embracing change.

Named with four others “Woman of the Year” by Glamour, the 21-year-old Barbadian singer has said that despite the shame owing to the media frenzy over the incident, she wants to use her experience to make young women aware of the “big secret” about abusive relationships.

“Teenage girls can”t tell their parents that their boyfriend beats them up…It’’s one of the things we (women) hide because it’’s embarrassing,” CBS News quoted Rihanna as saying. “I want to give as much insight as I can to young women because I feel like I represent a voice that isn”t really heard. Now I can help speak for those women,” she added.

I post the articles above and below with pending questions as well as concerns.

Since Rihanna’s assault became public many felt that she had every opportunity to be a voice for victims of domestic violence if she would have only pressed charges instead of going into hiding.   The impact of her voice would have been a loud message to all, “I DO NOT AND WILL NOT TOLERATE ABUSE”.  This did not happen.  Many were disappointed to see/read/hear that she did not come forward, press charges and then explored rekindling a relationship with Chris.   But then again, this is a very common saga/cycle.  The vicious cycle of domestic violence:

This assault brought national and international attention to domestic violence and abuse but was not the first time between Chris Brown and Rihanna.

We’ve witness Chris Brown trying to salvage his career on national television and in interviews.  Now Rihanna comes forward.

What are the guidelines for picking  “Woman/Women of  the Year” awards given by Glamour?  Glamour choose five women for 2009, Rihanna, Maria Shriver, Michelle Obama, Amy Poehler and Serena.  “They’ve got strength, talent, altruism, humor, and intellect in spades–and did we mention incredible style, to boot?” stated on Glamour’s website.

I pray that Rihanna has come to her decision on her own accord to speak out and not pressured by her award by Glamour nor others (agents and camp).  I pray that this is NOT a ploy to salvage her career but rather be a voice and Advocate for victims of Domestic Violence.  However, Rihanna is still healing as the transition from victim to survivor takes time and everyone heals in their own time.  We all know the impact that Rihanna can/will have on her fans (especially our young people) regarding domestic violence – a considerable impact of awareness only if for the “right” reasons.

However, the mixed signals that were sent to all and now again can be damaging in many ways.  Rihanna definitely has our attention and we are waiting to hear from her lips to our ears what her intentions are.  Any person of fame that advocates for a cause has to be willing to step up and be ready and able to be in the spotlight of their cause.  How will Rihanna handle her role?

Time will tell.

After months of silence, pop sensation Rihanna is talking publicly about her relationship with her ex-boyfriend, Chris Brown, and the February 2009 events that led to his arrest.

“The more in love we became, the more dangerous we became for each other,” she told ABC News’ Diane Sawyer in an exclusive interview set to air on “Good Morning America” at 7am ET Thursday, Nov. 5. Their full interview will air on “20/20″ at 10p E.T. Friday, Nov. 6.

In August, Brown was sentenced to five years of probation, six months of community service and one year of domestic violence counseling for assaulting the 21-year-old pop singer the night before the Grammy Awards.

“This happened to me … it can happen to anyone,” Rihanna told Sawyer in the “20/20″ interview, which will also be seen on “GMA.”

Rihanna told Sawyer that Brown was “definitely my first big love” before the dramatic incident, which resulted in the tabloids tearing apart the couple’s seemingly fairy tale relationship.

American punk rock crew Green Day will take their latest tour overseas after completing a late summer run of the U.S. and Canada. The 26-city trek across Europe kicks off September 28 at Atlantico Pavilion in Lisbon, Portugal, and ends November 12 at Palaolimpico in Turin, Italy.

Green Day will perform a total of 29 shows on the jaunt, playing two-night engagements in England on October 23-24 at the O2 Arena in London, on October 27-28 at the LG Arena in Birmingham and on October 30-31 at MEN Arena in Manchester.

Other stops on the European circuit include an October 4 show at Bercy in Paris, France, an October 12 concert at Spectrum in Oslo, Norway, and a November 3 performance at Olympiahalle in Munich, Germany. The first ticket sales for the currently confirmed European dates begin April 30. The fall trek will be Green Day’s first European tour in four years.

The punk rockers announced plans for a 38-city tour of the U.S. and Canada last week and just rolled out venue confirmations for the trek. The North American shows, which kick-off the entire world tour, pick up July 3 at Key Arena in Seattle, WA, and continue through August 25 at the Forum in Los Angeles, CA. A full listing of the confirmed venues can be found below.

Green Day is touring in support of the upcoming May 15 release, “21st Century Breakdown,” the band’s eighth studio album. The record is a follow-up to and continuation of 2004’s Grammy Award-winning rock opera “American Idiot,” which hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and went Platinum five times in the U.S. The 2004 album makes its stage debut as a musical later this year in Green Day’s hometown of Berkeley, CA.

Country singer, Carrie Underwood, always look fantastic when she appears on stage. The Grammy Award winner was often criticized by the media for her “fuller figure” earlier on in her career. Up to present Carrie has managed to shed 20 pounds since first appearing on American Idols despite her obsession with cheese and can teach one a thing or two about how to keep their body weight under control.

Carrie follows a vegetarian diet and is very conscious about what she takes in. “I’m slightly obsessive-compulsive about what I eat, more than I should be. I write down everything I eat,” she says. She keeps a diary of her food intake and in this way can monitor her calories intake. …

read more on

http://www.sevafrica.com/HealthWellness/CarrieUnderwoods-Diet.shtml

Reporting from Mexico City – Los Tigres del Norte, Mexico’s superstar norteño band, abruptly canceled its participation Wednesday in a major awards show after it was barred from performing a song critical of the government’s campaign against drug cartels.

The band, best known for its corridos, or Spanish ballads, chronicling the legendary exploits of drug traffickers, had already traveled to Mexico City from homes in Los Angeles for Wednesday night’s event. Organizers of the show insisted the band refrain from playing its latest single, “La Granja” (“The Farm”), the group’s record label, Universal Music Group, said in a statement.

“They have to explain to us the reason for this censorship,” Tigres leader Jorge Hernandez said, referring to the organizers.

“We always sing what the people want to hear, and what the people are living,” added Hernandez, a vocalist who also plays the accordion that gives the Tigres their distinctive sound.

Los Tigres’ repertoire spans four decades and includes so-called narcocorridos about drug smugglers. It is regarded as the first Mexican band to make the illicit business an acceptable topic in popular music. Critics complain that the music glorifies the drug trade, and a number of radio stations over the years have refused to air some cuts. Los Tigres, whose members come from the state of Sinaloa, have always maintained they are not apologists for traffickers, merely singing about reality.

Although narcocorridos catapulted Los Tigres to fame in the early 1970s, the Grammy Award-winning group has also built an enormous and loyal following — especially in Los Angeles — by writing and singing about poor immigrants and their hard lives.

“La Granja,” Hernandez said, is a fable.

“The song speaks of all the problems in Mexico, through a fable with little animals,” he said. “We wanted to deal with the problems our government has – narcotics trafficking, the violence, what we already know about and live. There is nothing to offend anyone, it is simply a representation of what is happening to us.”

In the song and a video accompanying it, fat pigs represent politicians who get rich on the backs of the people, and a vicious dog with fiery red eyes represents drug trafficking. A zorro, or fox (former President Vicente Fox), releases the dog and there is hell to pay, especially for peasant farmers who get caught in the middle.

Translated into English, the lyrics go:

Today we have, every day

Much insecurity

Because they let the dog loose

And it all came tumbling down . . . .

The band sings that peasant farmers can’t plant like they used to, a reference to the destruction of their marijuana and poppy fields, and can’t escape the farm because of a huge fence — the wall built on the U.S. border with Mexico. Finally the dog bites the farmer “even though he didn’t agree” with the government’s actions, and the farm — Mexico — ends up a virtual wasteland.

The Mexican Interior Ministry, which oversees broadcast regulations, issued a statement denying “categorically” it had ordered the song censored.

The event that Los Tigres had been scheduled to attend was the prestigious Las Lunas (Moons) award ceremony at Mexico City’s National Auditorium. In addition to performing, the band was to receive a prize. Organizers later Wednesday rescinded their ban and invited Los Tigres to perform anything it wanted, but the band said it was too late.

dalla rubrica “Musica, musica, musica!” de “Il Taglio”

The Beatles

Quando uscì il disco “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, era il 1967 e i Beatles erano già da anni famosi in ogni lontano angolo del mondo. Una carriera grandiosa e John Lennon fu come un proiettile dichiarando: “Adesso siamo più popolari di Gesù Cristo”. Lo stesso anno vide l’esercito USA scatenare una feroce offensiva in Vietnam e i Pink Floyd realizzare il primo singolo “Arnold Layne”. Il contorno mediatico ha sempre avvolto i “baronetti” di Liverpool, ma in sostanza questo disco rappresenta una fondamentale sterzata nella storia della musica, una sorta di “distruzione-ricostruzione” come nelle più perfette rivoluzioni. Tutto ciò che era stato fatto prima fu messo in discussione e rinnovato. E’ la grande apertura alla psichedelica, il primo concept album della storia con canzoni che spiegano una via per “migliorare la vita” e “diminuire la solitudine” attraverso gesti di liberazione interiore, visioni e amore. Con questo lavoro i Beatles sono riusciti a fare della musica pop qualcosa di “serio e importante”, innalzandola allo stesso livello di qualsiasi altro tipo di espressione artistica, come la scultura, la pittura o la poesia. Per la cronaca: l’album vinse un Grammy Award nel 1968 come miglior album dell’anno oltre ad essere classificato dalla rivista “Rolling Stone” come miglior album di tutti i tempi.

Tracklist

1 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

2 With a Little Help from My Friends

3 Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

4 Getting Better

5 Fixing a Hole

6 She’s Leaving Home

7 Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite!

8 Within You Without You

9 When I’m Sixty-four

10 Lovely Rita

11 Good Morning Good Morning

12 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)

13 A Day in the Life

NME.com reports that the follow-up to Amy Winehouse’s Grammy Award-winning album Back To Black is supposed to be released next year. Island Records co-president Darcus Beese was very impressed with some demos for that album that he heard. He told BBC News:

“I’ve heard a couple of song demos that absolutely floored me. Hopefully we’ll have her album next year.”

In other Amy Winehouse news, the debut album by her 13-year-old godddaughter Dionne Bromfield, which is titled Introducing Dionne Bromfield, was released on Monday in the UK on Winehouse’s Lioness Records label.

This past Saturday night, October 10th, Winehouse appeared on BBC-TV’s Strictly Come Dancing with Bromfield to promote Bromfield’s album. Bromfield sang “Mama Said” with Winehouse providing backing vocals. You can watch a video of the performance below:

Bromfield’s got a good voice. Best of luck to her.

The Times of London ran an article last week (October 6th) about the Strictly Come Dancing appearance.

I hope that Winehouse’s work with Bromfield and the upcoming third album of her own will get her focused back on music. She has made the news far too often over the past two years for reasons other than her considerable musical talent. If Winehouse can get the third album completed and it turns out to be a great album, she will have pulled off one hell of a comeback story. This is one writer who is rooting for that to happen. I look forward to hearing the album.

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll well known as Shakira, a Lebanese Spanish and Italian mix is a heart throb who has made it big in the Latin American genre of music…How I love her sway her body! Born on the 2nd of February, this aquarian damsel is a multi- talented artist who penned songs and poems at the tender age of 8 years.

Who hasn’t fallen in love with the whenever wherever gal…She is amazingly flexible and has immense talent….What I love about her is that she puts in 100 percent of her talent, not just showing her skin….Like a true artist she uses all her talent which is fabulous! Shakira’s first english album Laundry service was an international success and gave her overnight fame…. She has adopted many genres which includes folk, mainstream pop and to a certain extent rock. Most of her songs are about her being a surviver and being alive,  self introspection and analysis. Adding a Grammy to her kitty, this talented lady has not looked back since then…

sHe wOLf

This is her first album in electro pop…The vedio is amazing , of course all praises to our belly dancer. Her expressions and enacting of a she wolf who is caged and is in rage is amazing. Well for all you people who havent yet seen or heard the song, here’s the vedio.

As a girl growing up in rural NC, Billy Joel was not only one of the coolest guys I’d ever seen but he just made me want to hop a Greyhound or a Trailways bus to New York City and find out all there was to learn about those Turnstiles and that New York State Of Mind of his. Nowaways, I still love Billy but Ms. Schuur’s ’smooth jazz’ rendition of New York State of Mind is what I reach for when I need my NY fix.

We’re very proud to announce that the most recent Billy Gorilly CD, “Rockin’ the SchoolHouse vol.1” is on the ballot for this years’ Grammy Awards in the category of Best Children’s Music Album. The first round of voting is taking place now, the final nominees will be named in December, and the winner will be announced at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards celebration, January 31, 2010. A big thanks to our friends and fans for all your support.

You can listen to sound clips of the Rockin’ the SchoolHouse vol. 1 Album  HERE

To learn more about Billy Gorilly go to  billygorilly.com

Warmest Regards,

Tamara
Flying Kitten Music

Aretha Franklin had competition come the late Sixties and early Seventies, with Dusty Springfield on one hand and Roberta Flack on the other.

Flack was coming from D.C., and from Howard University, where she had developed her own understated but lovely style. She was discovered by jazz pianist Les McCann, who helped her get a contract at Atlantic. However, Flack’s work went nowhere at Atlantic Records until Clint Eastwood used her song, “The First Time (Ever I Saw Your Face)” for his love scene in the film, Play Misty for Me That song, and Flack, took off into the musical stratosphere.

The same named album, Killing Me Softly, won the 1974 Grammy for Best Record. The music and lyrics were written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel. It was Flack’s fifth album.

Flack is well-known for her musical collaborations with the late Donny Hathaway (who was at work with Flack in New York at the time of his suicide) and with Peabo Bryson and Maxi Priest. Nowadays, you can hear her on adult contemporary or Quiet Storm-influenced stations. At 72, she is active in an organization that assists other singers and musicians in retaining the rights to their musical output.

La prima volta che ebbi tra le mani una batteria elettronica Roland TR-808 provai un’emozione strana, qualcosa di embrionale rispetto all’abbassamento delle soglie di competenza tecnica necessarie per accedere alla composizione musicale.
C’erano dei bottoni con le lucine che si accendevano, bastava selezionare uno strumento percussivo e poi pigiarli per attivarli su una linea di tempo predefinita e la magia si scatenava. Il festival dell’usabilità e della creatività resa disponibile a tutti.
Poi ho ascoltato una rara registrazione di Marvin che provava un’idea di melodia partendo da una ritmica strana contornata da una sequenza di accordi. Stava girando attorno alla melodia di una canzone (Sexual healing appunto…), ritmando parole per la precisione, perché quel pattern ritmico non sarebbe venuto in mente a nessun batterista umano. Semplicemente perché non si poteva suonare davvero. E la melodia nacque di conseguenza.
Dunque: una ritmica che ha dettato una sequenza di accordi che ha suggerito una melodia…ah certo. Sarebbe a dire un divano che ha dettato un salotto che ha suggerito una casa…ahahah sto scherzando.
Però questa canzone, trionfatrice al Grammy Award del 1982, bandita a causa del testo esplicito dalle radio principali che poi ottennero di trasformare il titolo in “Healing” rimane uno dei misteri più affascinanti della musica. Un brano che davvero tende a rivoluzionare il principio compositivo della musica, che si rifiuta di pensare che una canzone parta da voce/chitarra (sigh…) e che invece c’è qualcosa che prescinde…il ritmo, il suono e, sì, la voce. La voce di Marvin.
Marvin venne ucciso da suo padre poco dopo questo enorme successo. Era il 1 aprile 1984, avrebbe compiuto 45 anni il giorno dopo. Ancora oggi se ci penso mi commuovo. Che Dio (o un dio qualunque e disponibile) ti benedica Marvin.