There was a time that winning a Grammy award was worth a sales bump of one million units. Fifty years later, that bump has turned into 50,000 additional units, the amount sold after the Dixie Chicks took home the album of the year award last year. The problem with the Grammy's is age. The Recording Academy, the folks that do the voting on the awards, needs new blood and new thinking. The Grammy's need to come of age - this age. There's no reason why Radiohead and Daughtry should not be eligible for awards. Both were major acts in 2007 but because the eligibility year runs from October 1, 2006 to September 30, 2007, neither act is eligible. There's a solution for that. Change the damn eligibility period. Why is it a movie can be released in December and still be eligible for awards the following year???
Lack of new star power, another problem for the music industry, creates singers like Amy Winehouse, more famous for drug tantrums than for music. There was some hope a few years back when new artists like Lauryn Hill, Norah Jones, Beyonce, Alicia Keys and Carrie Underwood, provided a much needed shot in the arm to the industry. This year's nominees for 'Best New Artist' include Feist, Ledisi, Paramore, Taylor Swift and Winehouse. Feist, Swift and Winehouse could be viable artists with a big 'if' attached to the latter if she can straighten her life out. I'm not familiar with Ledisi or Paramore...
The biggest Grammy Award of all is for 'Album of the Year' and the nominees are: Foo Fighters, Vince Gill, Herbie Hancock, Kanye West and Amy Winehouse. West has been nominated for 8 awards, Winehouse for 6. At fifty years and counting, the Grammy's are a far cry from what they once were but it's still the granddaddy of all awards' shows and produces huge audience numbers. TV and Radio coverage begins at 8 p.m. Sunday night. Let's hope the focus of the show is on the music, not the red carpet...
10 Timeline Memories:
- 1895] Bikinis to follow: The game of volley ball is invented by W.G. Morgan (2/9)...
- 1897] All the news that's fit to print: The New York Times begins printing that slogan on their front page (2/10). Their most recent slogan is "These Time's demand The Times"...
- 1910] On my honor: The American version of the Boy Scouts, which started in England, is started here by William D. Boyce (2/8). We'll be right back after this message from the BSA: http://youtube.com/watch?v=3gC0Wu0UK1Y ...
- 1915] Giving birth: Director D.W. Griffith's civil war epic, "Birth of a Nation" premieres at Clune's Auditorium in Los Angeles. The 3-hour silent movie cost $100,000, a fortune in 1915 (2/8)...
- 1933] Hmmmm: The singing telegram is introduced by the Postal Telegram Company of New York City (2/10) and it's still around today: http://youtube.com/watch?v=kB7nCj9wZps&feature=related ...
- 1968] Olympic Queens: Peggy Fleming wins a gold medal in women's figure skating at the Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France (2/10)...1992] Bonnie Blair wins gold in 500-meter speed skating at Albertville, France becoming the first woman to win gold medals in consecutive winter olympics (2/10)...
- 1973] 'Happy Trails': Max Yasgur, owner of the farm that staged Woodstock, is the victim of a heart attack at 53 (2/9)...1981] Bill Haley suffers a fatal heart attack at 53 (2/9)...1990] Singer Del Shannon dies from a self-inflicted gun shot wound at 50 (2/8)...1992] "Roots" author Alex Haley dies from a heart attack at 70 (2/10)...2002] Britain's Princess Margaret suffers a fatal massive stroke at 71 (2/9)...2005] Former Epic Records head of promotion, Al Gurewitz passes away from bladder cancer at 73 (2/8)...2005] Playwright Arthur Miller is a victim of heart failure at 89 (2/10)...2007] Anna Nicole Smith dies from 'combined drug intoxication' at 39 (2/8)...2007] Former Yankee outfielder Hank Bauer dies from lung cancer at 84 (2/9)...
- 1992] Guilty as charged: Mike Tyson is convicted in Indianapolis of raping a Miss Black America contestant (2/10)...
- 1997] Homer for President: 'The Simpsons' passes 'The Flintstones' as the longest running primetime animated series (2/9) which prompts a campaign to elect Homer as our next president: http://youtube.com/watch?v=addXg-iDSfc ...
- 2004] Grammy Gold: Beyonce wins 5 Grammy Awards tying the record for female performers held by Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys and Norah Jones (2/8)...
Music Memories:
- 1955] Number One on this date: "Sincerely" - McGuire Sisters (2/9). The original version was done by the Moonglows: http://youtube.com/watch?v=NfDVvt_x3zk ...1961] "Calcutta" - Lawrence Welk (2/8)...1976] "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" - Paul Simon (2/9)...1981] "Celebration" - Kool & The Gang (2/8): http://youtube.com/watch?v=YwEMxYggoKQ ...
- 1962] Recorded on this date: "Breaking Up is Hard To Do" - Neil Sedaka (2/9)...
- 1964] Debuted on this date: The Beatles make their first appearance on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' (2/9): http://youtube.com/watch?v=ubkwVWH-Ia0 ...
- 1971] Released on this date: "Tapestry" LP - Carole King (2/10)...1974] "You're 16" - Ringo Starr (that's Carrie Fisher with Ringo) (2/8): http://youtube.com/watch?v=76O6tuJPe3w ...1983] "Little Red Corvette" - Prince (2/9)...
Commentary:
The CBS Radio O&Os did some belt-tightening yesterday. Gone are programming people Rick Martini of Fresh 102.7 WWFS, Tracy Cloherty of K-Rock (WXRK) and on the news side, Crys Quimby of WCBS-AM. I also heard that sales, engineering and promotion people were affected but no names were made available. It's called consolidation, a familiar word in the halls of CBS...There was some good news too - Charlie Tuna, who I had the pleasure of working with in syndicated radio, has surfaced to do weekends at K-Earth in Los Angeles. Charlie had been doing work for Ron Jacobs in Hawaii...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
(2/8) Gary Coleman (40), John Grisham (53), Mary Steenburgen (55), Dan Seals (60), Robert Klein (66), Tom Rush (67), Nick Nolte (67), Ted Koppel (68) and John Williams (76)...
(2/9) Mookie Wilson (52), Mia Farrow (63), Joe Pesci (65), Barbara Lewis (65), Carole King (66), Barry Mann (66), Roger Mudd (80) and Kathryn Grayson (86)...
(2/10) Amber Frey (33), Laura Dern (41), Glenn Beck (44), Lenny Dykstra (45), George Stephanopoulos (47), Greg Norman (53), Jim Cramer (53), Mark Spitz (58), Jimmy (Teenagers) Merchant (68), Roberta Flack (71), Robert (RJ) Wagner (77) and Leontyne Price (81)...
Timeline Countdown for February 8, 2007: 2 days until Red Sox pitchers & catchers report, 6 days for other teams to report voluntarily, 42 days until the begining of spring and 47 days until the March 25th opening day in baseball...
