Feb. 10-16: Well, THAT Was Different!
Music's biggest night? How about calling the last seven days Music's biggest week? Between the spine-tingling and/or yawn-inducing excitement of the Grammy Awards, the much-publicized alleged tangle between singers Chris Brown and Rihanna, and a proposed merger of music biz behemoths TicketMaster and Live Nation that some contend will raise concert ticket prices a billion-fold, the Music World as we know it seems to be coming to a head. And a severely stuffed one at that!
It's old news by now who the night's big winners were: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss took to their respective homes five Grammys, including the coveted Album Of The Year award; Coldplay won three awards, wore funny clothes, and avoided the unpleasantries of an onstage teleportation by guitarist Joe Satriani with legal papers in hand; hot Brit newcomer Adele took honors as Best New Artist, and deservedly so by our count; and lovable Lil Wayne, who'd garnered the night's most nominations, came on strong with four big awards as well as winning Rap Album of the Year for his sales blockbuster, Tha Carter III.
As for the show itself: It was watched by many and took a laudable 10 percent leap in viewership compared to last year's telecast. One supposes that might have happened because most viewers were stunned by what they were seeing: Performance pairings of artists clearly devised by grinning sadists. Stevie Wonder & the Jonas Brothers? Coldplay and Jay-Z? B.B King, Buddy Guy, John Mayer & Keith Urban? Paul McCartney & Dave Grohl? Miley Cyrus & Taylor Swift? Justin Timberlake and T.I.? While the logic may have played out on paper--it's all one big beautiful world of music, so let's get everyone up there onstage playing "Kumbaya"--the overall effect was that no single human could enjoy 100 percent of any given performance. Wise humans TIVO'd the show, fed it to their computers, then created two separate shows boasting absolutely fantastic half-songs! Oh well, let's hand it to the Grammy peeps for trying!
But what didn't happen at the Grammys ended up being the biggest story of all. And that would be the non-appearance of singers Chris Brown and Rihanna, both up for awards and scheduled to perform, and both no-shows due to a well-publicized scuffle following an industry party the previous night. While it's difficult to discuss here, as the incident is still under investigation, the ramifications have been grim and swift, especially for singer Brown. Upon turning himself in to the police and being arrested and charged with "making criminal threats" to an unnamed person, he was then released and soon watched his fairly spotless career began to systematically evaporate: Within two days, lucrative deals with Wrigley's Chewing Gum and the "Got Milk" people appeared to unravel, and planned appearances at the upcoming NBA All-Star game and elsewhere seemed extremely doubtful.
And while Rihanna still retains her CoverGirl cosmetics affiliation, a planned performance in Malaysia later in the week was yanked, as were her 21st birthday festivities, scheduled to take place in New York on Feb. 20. People everywhere are horrified, frankly.
On a happier note--especially if you're billionaire music enthusiast with serious financial holdings in TicketMaster and Live Nation--news that the monster companies are aiming to merge just for kicks came through earlier this week and caused many a music fan's jaw to drop. Why? Well, why do you think? In the words of Bruce Springsteen--himself enmeshed in a recent struggle with TicketMaster--as posted on his website: "The one thing that would make the current ticket situation even worse for the fan than it is now would be Ticketmaster and Live Nation coming up with a single system, thereby returning us to a near-monopoly situation in music ticketing."
Word soon came that Justice Department plans to investigate whether the proposed merger Springsteen refers to will in fact constitute a monopoly; if their investigation requires any documentation on Ticketmaster's part, one hopes the Justice Department's printers are loaded with ink and some of that "bailout money" everyone's talking about can cover the service charges.
These are all heavy topics, though, aren't they? So let's move on to some of the week's more enjoyable news! If we're talking romance, you can't beat the announced engagement of singer/actress Mandy Moore and colorful musician Ryan Adams, whose talent for top-notch songwriting is only matched by his ability to issue a brand new recording anytime one of the world's fruitflies tragically perishes--which reportedly is quite often. We like them both, wish them the best of luck, and hope they will record each and every conversation they have and eventually offer them all to consumers as paid downloads!
Let's not forget that the Grammy stage was where the three members of Blink-182--Tom Delonge, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker--announced their intention to kiss and make-up and join forces again. As they have noted on their website: "Hi. We're Blink-182. This past week there've been a lot of questions about the current status of the band, and we wanted you to hear it straight from us. To put it simply, we're back. We mean, really back." Say what you will about their music--some love it, some hate it, some weren't even born when they made it--but they are among the wittiest humans playing music today. Many of us here at Yahoo! Music look back with fondness on the day they came to our video studio for an interview and proceeded to "pants" each other on camera! Who said there are no good role models anymore?
Finally, speaking of overall moral standards, one must scratch one's head at the news that a 48-year-old man in Clearwater, Florida recently convinced a woman that he was the drummer from classic rock band Foreigner--and thereafter stole her 2002 Chevrolet Corvette and eventually crashed it. Word is that the police actually used a dog to track him down! Really, one has to ask: If you're going to claim to be someone famous, is "the drummer from Foreigner" really where you'd want to go? Scoff at her for being fooled if you will, but it could have been worse. What if she actually knew what the drummer from Foreigner looked like?
THIS WEEK'S TOP 10 STORIES
1) Plant & Krauss, Coldplay, Lil Wayne Big Grammy Winners - "Grammy" not slang for Grandmother in this instance!
2) Chris Brown Investigation Deepens - Scandal shocks the music world!
3) Sponsors Say Yes To Rihanna, No To Chris Brown - Endorsement deals take unexpected turn!
4) Justice Department Probing Proposed Ticketmaster Deal - Are they using Monopoly money?
5) Britney, K-Fed & The Kids Hitting The Road - It's a family affair! Sort of!
6) Usher's Wife In Coma After Liposuction Incident - Circumstances less than pleasant!
7) Blink-182 Announce Reunion Plans - They plan to attend and hope to meet former classmates!
8) Mandy Moore and Ryan Adams Engaged - Not the sort of thing one hears every day, newshounds contend!
9) Ian Dury's Former Blockheads Reunite For "Rhythm Stick" Anniversary - Fabulous band to be fabulous once more!
10) Man Claims To Be Foreigner Drummer, Steals Car - Man bites dog update!
"who r dose old dinosurs? i thhink th Jbs should hav goten teh gramny!"
Next up, I thought the JB's were DREADFUL with Wonder. I mean...that's almost an INSULT. If I could EDIT that thing, I'd take away the freakin' JB's and only hear Wonder, and that would make the performance worthwhile. Stupid JB's!
Anyhoo, that aside, we should all boycott Ticketsmaster & Live Nation. Let them know that money-hungry corporations are not wanted (even if we are living in a Capitalist world).
As for the Blink-182 re-union, I suppose my friends will be happy. As for me, they s'kay, but I have my doubts (and some hope) for it.
Finally, how the HELL do you fall for "I'm the drummer of Foreigner".
Maybe Dice G the bot should go there!
(^_^) (^_^) (^_^)
and all those companies taking away their contracts are going to be sorry....
i'm gonna be a chris brown fan till the end..nothing can change that...love u Chris..
Nothwithstanding, it certainly is a shame that it happened. Chris Brown has got a long road ahead of him to retain some sort of respect with his audience. By the way, the singer is the man and vice versa. Deal with your actions and responsibilities people.
I have no doubt that pop stars should be treated with the same amount of consequences as a "regular" person.
Do the right thing Rihanna! Stand and take your "dish" Chris!
fans have him, let him beat on them, as long as he 'fine' apprently it doesn't matter. You can have 'your man',even though he doen't even know you. Bobby Brown, Chris Brown. I see a connection. It amazes me females can hate on anothr one so much over a dude that isn't all that fine. You have NO clue as to how this fool act after he does his supid dances.
On the upside, at least the Jonas Brotheres didn't win anything, SOMEONE was still in ther right mind.
I do not condone physical abuse in a relationship but at the same time when you do awful things to people; that person can respond in a very bad way. I always say watch how you treat people because you never know how they are going to respone to you. You can not walk around doing and saying what ever you want to people.
Im sure Rihanna never thought Chris would beat her up after she told she gave him a STD. But this is a clear case of people being careless and not wearing protection which is SO stupid in this day and age. And people not caring about committment. It is a very sad situation...Chris has lost his career because he responded badly to very bad news and for getting with the wrong woman.
But if the STD story is a rumor and the other story is true which is their relationship was always volatile, then Rihanna should had more self respect for herself and left him.
Happy days oh happy days.
MCR is working on a album, 30STM is working on a album, and Blink-182 is back together!
Maybe music is starting to look up a little!
Now if only we could somehow wipe rap off the face of the earth...