News Roundup: 2/1/2010

BeyonceBeyonce dominated Sunday night’s 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, winning a record six golden gramophones, including Song of the Year, Best R&B Song and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” alone. Her closest competition was Taylor Swift, who snagged four Grammys, chief among them Album of the Year for Fearless. Other multiple winners included Kings of Leon, Jay-Z and Black Eyed Peas. Amazingly, this year also marked Neil Young’s first Grammy win, albeit for an award given at the pre-telecast ceremony: Neil Young Archives Vol. 1 (1963-1972) won the Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package category. Lady Gaga and Elton John’s sequined mash-up of “Speechless” and “Your Song” was among the standout performances, along with Beyonce’s medley of “If I Were a Boy” and “You Oughta Know”; Pink’s aerial performance of “Glitter in the Air”; and the 3-D tribute to Michael Jackson by Celine Dion, Carrie Underwood, Smokey Robinson and Jennifer Hudson. Jackson’s children Prince and Paris accepted their father’s Lifetime Achievement Award, with Prince saying “I want to thank the fans, our father loved you so much.” The complete list of Grammy winners is here. [VH1.com, NME.com, Grammy.com]

Just in case you’re not all Grammy-d out, here’s a list of 10 things you didn’t see at the Grammys ceremony. [Billboard.com]

Steven Tyler has threatened to sue Aerosmith if the band tours with another singer. Tyler’s new manager Skip Miller sent the group a letter which read in part, “Can you imagine the manager of the Rolling Stones calling for the replacement of Mick Jagger?” Miller writes. “Steven is Aerosmith, along with the others. He’s the guy the public knows. He’s the singer.” Miller has asked for a February 9th meeting to discuss the future of Aerosmith. [RollingStone.com]

Blues legend Etta James has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. James, 72, is currently hospitalized for conditions including a blood infection and the MSRA superbug. The Alzheimer’s diagnosis was made over a year ago, though it was not made public until now. [Guardian.co.uk]

R.I.P. New Zealand musician Pauly Fuemana, who died Sunday after battling a short illness. Fuemana is best known as the singer for OMC, who scored a worldwide hit with 1995’s “How Bizarre.” The band’s album How Bizarre became New Zealand’s biggest-selling record. Fuemana was 40. [Stuff.co.nz]

Michel Gondry’s eye-poppingly colorful video for Mia Doi Todd’s “Open Your Heart” must be seen to be believed. [TwentyFourBit.com]

Just how important is it for bands to communicate with their fans via social networking sites? The brains from Digg, Tumblr and Mashable have some thoughts. [LATimesblogs.latimes.com]

Leadbelly’s lyrics are just as poetic as works by Whitman, Dickinson or Blake. [The DailySwarm.com]

Comments

Leave a Reply

(Note: There may be a delay before your comment is published.)