Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Music Grammys? Anyone?
Posted by Andria Lisle on Tue, Feb 2, 2010 at 9:10 AM
Much of the spectacle of the event has no effect on my daily life, and this year I didn't know most of the songs or artists that had been nominated. My fault, I guess; even though I'm a music writer, I tend to live in a bubble that consists of local artists, vintage records, and whatever I happen to hear on WEVL, WDIA, and NPR.
Several folks I know and respect were heavily involved in this year's Grammys, however — Robert Gordon was nominated for the documentary Johnny Cash's America, and Scott Bomar had a vested interest in the category of Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance, since he produced Anthony Hamilton's "Soul Men." And, of course, MGMT were up for nominations in a couple categories.
And so I braved Michael Jackson's kids and Taylor Swift's horribly flat "duet" with Stevie Nicks — but for what?
Ex-pat Booker T. Jones took home a Grammy for Potato Hole, but other than that, not one Memphian — not even Justin Timberlake — won a single award. Even the blues categories were dominated by Chicagoans, Brits, and Left Coasters.
The biggest mention Memphis got all night was in the "people who died" montage, which included Willie Mitchell, Hank Crawford, and Jim Dickinson. Depressing stuff.
My spirits lifted when up-and-coming Canadian rapper Drake (pictured above) came onstage at the end of the night, flanked by Eninem and Lil Wayne. Drake, a breakout star on Degrassi: The Next Generation, is the son of onetime Jerry Lee Lewis drummer Dennis Graham and nephew of Memphis' greatest rhythm section, Teenie, Charles, and Leroy Hodges. As tenuous as that connection is, right now, he's the only hope we've got.
Comments (6)
Showing 1-6 of 6
Andrea: actually, Memphis got a better, if less noticeable, mention in one of the highlights of the evening, the appearance of a REAL musician (rare as that was during that broadcast), Leon Russell.
He sang the first couple verses (as much as the Zac Brown band would apparently let him---they, of course, being more interested in establishing their country cred by singing some BS "patriotic" songs) of his song, "Dixie Lullaby" which has the lyric in it, "blind Willie Time, he had a dime shoe shine stand down on Beale Street." Here's a site that has the lyrics: http://www.songlyrics.com/leon-russell/dix…, and here's a YouTube of Leon's performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZmdev_ksbo…
Leon Russell is a god in music. Zac Brown, country poseur, didn't deserve to be on the same stage. Leon will always be remembered (at least by some of us) for his appearance/performance at the Concert for Bangaladesh in '71, which managed to gather one of the most impressive lineups of music icons of all time (Billy Preston, Bob Dylan, Ravi Shankar, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, etc.) for what was, then, a monumental human tragedy which dwarfs the Haitian earthquake.
like
dislike
AE, thanks for pointing that out! I think I went to make dinner the minute I heard that Zac Brown would be coming on after the commercials...
did you catch Leon Russell at the Hi-Tone last year?
The 'BS patriotic song' that has the Humbug foaming at the mouth, was of course a cover of Ray Charles' unforgettable rendition of America.
One of my daughters had a report on Ray Charles due this week. That's the first song I played for her. Beautiful.
Are we all in agreement? Ray Charles' rendition of "America" -- beautiful. Zac Brown Band's version, not so much.
Humbug's complaint was about Ray Charles' choice of songs, not about the relative performances of people imitating him.
THIS WEEK'S ISSUE
SPECIAL ISSUES
