It's Grammy nite, 2009, and I'm back again with a few predictions. Even though some of the "early" awards have already been announced, I swear I've been ignoring the news reports. So if this post "predicts" awards that have already been announced, I swear I'm not cheating.
Let's make a few wild-ass-guess predictions, after the jump...
For Grammy 2008, I made 22 predictions, and based on my scoring method, I racked up only 12.5 points. Ugh. Let's do better this year, even though this year is much more challenging.
(I'll score myself this way: 1 point for a correct prediction; 0.5 points for a "should win" or "dark horse" prediction that hits)
(For the full list of nominees see this)
(Also, if you're looking for a cool liveblog of tonite's events, try the only other music blog that matters, Idolator)
* * * * *
1) Record Of The Year
(Award to the Artist and to the Producer(s), Recording Engineer(s) and/or Mixer(s), if other than the artist.)
* Chasing Pavements, Adele
* Viva La Vida, Coldplay
* Bleeding Love, Leona Lewis (Simon Cowell, Clive Davis & Ryan "Alias" Tedder, producers; Craig Durrance, Phil Tan & Ryan "Alias" Tedder, engineers/mixers)
* Paper Planes, M.I.A
* Please Read The Letter, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
As far as I can tell, this is American Idol judge Simon Cowell's first year of Grammy nomination. And, in case you're wondering, Clive Davis has won only three Grammys, which is actually a surprise to me.
This is a very tough category. Plant/Krauss will take home lots of hardware tonite, but probably not in this category. I think better bets are Coldplay (who will also take home lots of hardware) or Leona Lewis.
Prediction: "Bleeding Love"
Dark Horse: "Viva La Vida"
2) Album Of The Year
(Award to the Artist(s) and to the Album Producer(s), Recording Engineer(s)/Mixer(s) & Mastering Engineer(s), if other than the artist.)
* Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, Coldplay
* Tha Carter III, Lil Wayne
* Year Of The Gentleman, Ne-Yo
* Raising Sand, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
* In Rainbows, Radiohead
All of these albums are worthy of this award. I had Lil Wayne as my "number one album of 2008", and Ne-Yo was my "number four". Plant/Krauss made my 2007 Top 10, but it's eligible here because it was released three weeks into the eligibility year.
Regardless of each of these albums' worthiness, Plant/Krauss are a solid-platinum lock here.
Prediction: "Raising Sand"
Dark Horse: "Viva La Vida"
3) Song Of The Year
(A Songwriter(s) Award. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.)
* American Boy
William Adams, Keith Harris, Josh Lopez, Caleb Speir, John Stephens, Estelle Swaray & Kanye West, songwriters (Estelle Featuring Kanye West)
Track from: Shine
[Atlantic/Homeschool; Publishers: Will.I.Am Music/Cherry River Music/Chrysalis Publishing/John Legend Publishing/Cherry River Music/Please Gimme My Publishing/EMI Blackwood Music/Larry Leron Music/Speir Music/Broke, Spoke and Gone Publishing]
* Chasing Pavements
Adele Adkins & Eg White, songwriters (Adele)
Track from: 19
[XL Recordings/Columbia; Publishers: Universal-Songs of Polygram Int.]
* I'm Yours
Jason Mraz, songwriter (Jason Mraz)
Track from: We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.
[Atlantic; Publisher: Goo Eyed Music]
* Love Song
Sara Bareilles, songwriter (Sara Bareilles)
Track from: Little Voice
[Epic; Publisher: Tiny Bear Music]
* Viva La Vida
Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion & Chris Martin, songwriters (Coldplay)
Track from: Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
[Capitol Records; Publishers: Universal Music-MGB Songs]
I have no clue. None of these "songs" are far and away better than the others.
Prediction: "Chasing Pavements"
Dark Horse: "Viva La Vida"
4) Best New Artist
(For a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that artist.)
* Adele
* Duffy
* Jonas Brothers
* Lady Antebellum
* Jazmine Sullivan
Another very tough category. All are worthy, but none are head-and-shoulders above the others.
Adele and Duffy -- aren't they the same person? The Jonas Brothers -- my niece likes them. Lady Antebellum -- aren't they a country group?; must be why I've never heard their music. Jazmine Sullivan -- sorry, her R&B does nothing for me.
Prediction: Adele
Dark Horse: The Jonas Brothers
LOW-HANGING FRUIT
This category includes predictions I am guaranteed* to get right, mostly because the nominees made it to the Big Four.
(*guarantee not valid in any state -- Eds.)
5) Best Rock Album
Prediction: "Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends"
You don't need to know who the other nominees are. Only Coldplay made it to the AOTY category.
6) Best Alternative Music Album
Prediction: "In Rainbows"
See above, and this is the last time I'll write this.
7) Best Contemporary R&B Album
Prediction: "Year Of The Gentleman"
8) Best Rap Album
Prediction: "Tha Carter III"
9) Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album
Prediction: "Raising Sand"
10) Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
"Viva La Vida"
NOT QUITE LOW-HANGING FRUIT
This category includes predictions that are contested, but make it to the Big Four.
11) Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
Prediction: "Bleeding Love"
Dark Horse: "Chasing Pavements"
12) Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
Prediction: "Viva La Vida"
13) Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
Prediction: "American Boy"
RANDOM PICKS
14) Best Short Form Music Video
Prediction: "Pork And Beans"
15) Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical
Prediction: will.i.am
Dark Horse: Rick Rubin
16) Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical
Prediction: "Closer"
Dark Horse: "4 Minutes"
17) Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
Prediction: "Bleeding Love"
Dark Horse: "Chasing Pavements"
18) Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
Prediction: "Closer"
Dark Horse: "I'm Yours"
* * * * *
Okay, it's 7PM EST, and some of the early winners have already been announced. I can't really go any further without looking like I'm cheating, so I'll stop with these predictions. I'll be back later to score myself.
-- DHMBIB
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Grammy 2009: Some Predictions
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
This Week In Tonight In American Idol [12 March 2008] -- Part I
No liveblog tonite, because, what's the point of liveblogging a one-hour "results show", in which only one Idol finalist gets the bad news, and that won't be until the last 2 minutes???
[Also, family business -- Ed.]
But there will be a report later, here, and elsewhere.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot -- did you check out Idolator today? I reported on last nite's performance show in Maura's absence, and I'll provide tomorrow's results-show write-up.
And exxxtra special thanx to Maura -- and Jess -- for the chance, and the exposure...
Great to see you all again, and let's see each other again later...
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
This Week In Tonight In American Idol [11 March 2008]
7:55 PM: It's finally here! Idol begins it finals tonite as the Top 12 take on the songs from the Lennon-McCartney songbook -- but just the pre-Sgt. Pepper stuff, alas.
We'll be live-ish-blogging tonite. So join us live or stop by after the fact and see how stupid our insta-reactions were.
Oh, and one more thing...
Last week, Maura Johnston, editor of our favorite music blog [ahem, our SECOND favorite --Ed.], Idolator, asked me to produce the site's day-after write-ups of this week's shows. I'm super-stoked about this, of course, so make sure to swing by over there tomorrow and Thursday to see my more-considered view of this week's shows.
8:02 PM: The new set, "bigger and better than ever!"...elicits yawns from me...
8:03 PM: The Beatles were apparently pretty good songwriters back in the 60's...
8:06 PM: But Simon disses "She Loves You". Ooh!
8:08 PM: Syesha Mercado opens the nite with "Got To Get You Into My Life", which I had predicted Chikezie would take on. It's quite flat at the beginning, but she picks up the steam, and the finish is okay for me.
Randy: started rough, pitchy, but you started having fun with it...it was alright for me...
Paula: started off pitched, but midway through, you found the song...and then, there was Syesha...look great, sounded fantastic...
Simon: I thought it was better than "alright"...great choice of song...you looked nervous, but you were much better than last week...
8:15 PM: Okay, I still can't get over this new JC Penney ad featuring Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' "Killing The Blues".
Raising Sand. HEAR IT!
8:18 PM: Next up is Chikezie, who takes on "She's A Woman". Ryan promises it will be "original".
Chikezie starts off with a Blue Grass-Americana vibe, with banjos and such. Then he rocks it out fiercely!
HOLY COW!!! He's got this place on fire!
That was dynamite!!!
I predicted last week that Chikezie would step it up a bit, and he's doing it.
Randy: loved the arrangement...who knew 6you had that falsetto...CHIKEZIE SMASHED IT!
Paula: when Ryan asked me what people should do, and I said those who take a risk, the greater the reward if they change it up...I knew once you hit the top 12, this was what was going to happen...the reward paid off, my dear...
Simon: I'm really surprised that I actually agree with these two...
[Chikezie starts whooping!]
Simon:...what I really liked about that, is you've actually changed over the course of the week...you controlled the stage, it didn't control you...you were terrific...
8:24 PM: Poor Ramiele Malubey, a "favorite" of mine, but not in the I-think-she's-gonna-win way, is gonna have a really tough time following that!
Ramiele takes on "In My Life". It's definitely a change-of-pace after Chikezie's Ruben-Studdard-on-Taylor-Hicks [eww -- Ed.] routine.
It's a very nice jazz-lounge-esque take on the song, but it's just a little too slow and winceful for my tastes.
But she does look great in that dress.
Randy: it was kinda pretty, but it was also kinda pretty boring for me...I was waiting for you to do something special and interesting with it, but it just kinda laid there for me...
Paula: you look very pretty tonite...
[it's always a bad sign when the first thing Paula tells you is that you look very pretty -- and she sounds like she's struggling to say something nice]
Paula:...you're an amazing singer, and your voice allows you to go lots of places, and you need to take advantage of that...i think your holding back...
Simon: I was bored to tears throughout the entire song...dreary song choice which did absolutely nothing for you...forgettable, boring, and I expect a lot better from you, because you're better than that...
Even Randy is not sure if she'll make it through. Ruh-roh.
8:35 PM: Next up is Jason Castro. He'll shine in comparison to that dreary performance. Jason tells us in the intro that when he first starting to sing, he fell in love with "Yesterday". Which obviously explains why he'll be performing "If I Fell".
Note to self: "dreadlocks-and-acoustic-guitar" is the new "frosted-tips-and-beatboxing". Check.
Eh. I didn't like that all. But he's got the girls screaming, and that's worth something, eh?
Even his strumming is sleepy.
Jason feels like he's been coasting a bit recently.
Randy: I like it, I didn't love it...with a melody that classic, you just gotta sing it with a more heartfelt thing...the switches in the melody didn't do it for me, I just kinda tuned that out...
Paula: I disagree with Randy...I think it was heartfelt, and I could feel your heart, and the audience could feel your heart, and I wanna perform open-heart surgery on you right now...oh wait, I mean your special and unique, and that's why we've made a special connection...to you and your heart...
Simon: last week you were incredible...this week, it was all a little bit "student in a bedroom at midnite"...the song was quite boring...Jason is very unique, very different, I'm a big, big fan...will he make the same big impact this week he did last week, no...you need to choose brilliant songs...good enough to stay another week? Deffintely, but not as good as last week...
Someone who looks like Kim Kardashian is in the audience cheering Jason on, and then Ryan and Simon get into another of their "innuendo-wink-wink" fights about getting out of the student dorm at midnite. Did I miss something on TMZ today???
8:45 PM: Next up is Carly Smithson.
Either Nigel misspoke, or something changed at the last minute. Carly will be taking on "Come Together", from the about-as-far-away-as-possible-from-"early"-Beatles Abbey Road. Did Carly and roommate Amanda Overmyer have to fight over this one?
Carly says she performs this song to an acoustic arrangement all together, but tonite she's changing it up a bit.
I'm really not sure about that. It was technically perfect, and her voice is HUGE and STRONG. But I actually think she might have oversang it a bit. I'd like to hear the acoustic version.
But the audience is eating it up, and, of course, the judges can't find enough compliments for Carly.
Randy: confident...not a note out of tune...stellar performance...
Paula: watching you up there, I thought I was already watching a star...I couldn't wait until you made it to the top 12, so you could really shine...
Simon: week after week so far, I think you've chosen the wrong song...until now...this reminds me of Kelly Clarkson 6 years ago...
8:55 PM: Wrapping up Hour One is David Cook. David takes on "Eleanor Rigby"
David nixes the strings and chamber-music sensibilities of the original for an almost-but-not-quite-over-the-top Daughtry-esque rocker. This is pretty powerful, and Daughtry's fans will eat David up this season.
By far, the best performances of the nite have been the near-the-top rockers.
The audience is going nuts!
Randy: started a little pitchy, but once you hit that chorus, it was rockin'!...let it go!...
Paula: I've been saying you're the darkhorse in this race...more than one horse in this race...
Simon: I thought it was brilliant...if this show remains a TALENT competition rather than a POPULARITY competition, you actually could WIN this entire show...
And Simon is right...
HOUR 1 QUICK PIX:
1) David C.
2) Chikezie
3) Carly
4) Jason
5) Syesha
6) Ramiele
9:05 PM: Brooke White kicks off Hour 2. Brooke will take on "Let It Be", and I'm already dreading the thought of this.
This has always been one of least favorite Beatles "classic", and Phil Spector probably shares a lot of the blame for that.
Brooke's performance is nice, and stronger than the other "slow" numbers tonite. Allowing the contestants to play instruments really does add something to the show, I think.
Randy: I love that you have all this conviction, and you take a song sung by everyone, and you make it heartfelt...
Paula: the emotional connection is what makes people fall in love you...
Simon: once again, one of the best performances of the nite...there's a difference between karaoke and making the performance believable, and that was believable...three weeks in a row...
Brooke left her shoes over by the piano, and Ryan offers to retrieve them for her. This causes Randy and Simon to throw up all kinds of red flags for Ryan, which is obviously another reference to what might be in Ryan's "closet".
9:16 PM: David Hernandez is next, and he takes on "I Saw Her Standing There". Which probably has Simon chuckling right about now.
David H. is insistent that HE, and not Chikezie, will be the one vieing for the votes of Taylor Hicks' "Soul Patrol" this season.
Yeah, too Taylor-esque for me.
Randy: for a song so simple, you tried to do too much...too overdone...
Paula: you know I love your voice, and I think you kinda overdid it a little bit...too many runs...
Simon: no, no, no...corny verging on desperate...it just wasn't very cool...not a particularly strong performance...
Ryan alludes to a "stressful week" and wonders whether David might have "overanalyzed" his song choice. Heh.
9:26 PM: Tomorrow night's filler-filled results show will be 1 hour long, at 9/8 PM. "Kat" McPhee and David Foster will perform.
Amanda Overmyer will perform "You Can't Do That", and after she tells us she's never heard the song before this week -- so who chose it??? -- I'm very worried for her.
Amanda's Janis-by-way-of-Aretha-and-Tina interpretation is, horrible? Is that the word I'm looking for here?
Spirited, but just not good enough for me.
Randy disagrees...: took a Beatles song to a Southern bar and rocked it out...I loved it...
Paula: you're smiling, you look fantastic...you're a star up there...
Simon: I didn't think it was as good as last week...I could only understand about 30% of that...it's a good thing you're in this competition, because you're like a breath of fresh air...but week-on-week, not as good...
9:36 PM: Michael Johns is up next, and he's taking on "Across The Universe", which is a beautiful, but difficult song.
Michael starts out with the backing of only an acoustic guitar, but gradually adds instrumentation, and makes it powerful.
For me, Michael is okay, but, like Carly, he always seems to be...lacking...something.
Randy feels it too...:wasn't your best performance...I kept waiting for something to happen...a little sleepy, just "a'ight"...
Paula: I disagree...you sing beautifully...your quiet confidence, and the way you connected...brilliant...
Simon: I agree with Randy...it was solid, but monotonous...Carly did something brilliant -- now is the time when you have to do something different...I keep waiting for you to do something different...
9:42 PM: Next up is Kristy Lee Cook who, in a SHOCKING! move, will turn "Eight Days A Week" into a country song.
Wait, isn't this Lurleen Lumpkin singing "I Finally Bagged Me A Homer"???
A country-fied version of "Faithfully" was interesting last week. This is horrible. This would get no where near country radio today. Or ever, one hopes.
Randy: i actually liked the arrangement, but I think you were trying to force some runs into it...shoulda kept it like a jig...I'm torn by that...half of me likes it, half of me doesn't...
Paula: I didn't enjoy it, and I'll tell you why...
[whoa! I can't remember the last time I heard Paula say "I didn't like it"]
Paula:...you can't take what we say -- "go for the country thing -- too much to heart...you've gotta make it your own...
Simon: horrendous...sounded like Dolly Parton on helium...very brave but probably foolish thing to do...that song doesn't work in that style...
9:52 PM: We're racing against the clock now. Last up tonite is David Archuleta. David, because he's only like 12 years old, is not familiar with the songs of the 60's. He chose "We Can Work It Out" because he loves Stevie Wonder's version.
BREAKING! DAVID ARCHULETA forgets the lyrics.
David Archuleta will not win this competition.
Also, this is a pretty weak performance. even without the forgetting-the-lyrics, it would be hard for the judges to pimp this with a straight face.
Randy: you know I like you...this week was not on point for you...this is not your style...it felt forced...
Paula: not your best week...forgetting the lyrics -- never let it show on your face...
Simon: that was a mess...your weakest performance so far...
10:00-ish PM: There will be mentors! Ugh.
Wow, Hour 1 ended with such a bang, that Hour 2 was a real let down. Or maybe it's just hard for me to liveblog for 2 hours.
HOUR 2 QUICK PIX:
1) Brooke
2) Michael
3) David H.
4) Amanda
5) David A.
6) Kristy Lee
* * *
BREAKING: AMERICANS WHO STILL HAVE "MODEMS" IN THEIR "'PUTERS" SRSLY LURVS THEM SOME DAVID ARCHULETA: America's 60-year-old grandmothers, their 10-year-old granddaughters, and disillusioned Ron Paul supporters feared on Tuesday nite that poor little David Archuleta, after bravely overcoming his fight with winning Star Search, might lose his chance to be America's Next Top Idol due to forgetting the words to his song, more than once. America-Hating "judge" Simon Cowell called Little David's performance "a mess" and "your worst performance so far", but that didn't stop our nation's robo-dailers from casting their "votes" for Little David. The polls may now be closed, in both Mississippi and Texas, and on the internets, and here is what you had to say:
1) David Archuleta ("Not predicted to be voted off")
2) Brooke White
3) Chikezie
4) Carly Smithson
5) Amanda Overmyer
6) David Cook
7) Kristy Lee Cook
8) Jason Castro
9) Michael Johns
10) Ramiele Malubay
11) David Hernandez
12) Syesha Mercado
It may or may not be too bad for David A.'s "modem-loving" demographic that no one has a "modem" or even a "computer" anymore. Everyone now votes for the favorite Idols using iPhones and "i hrt crly" "SMS" thingies. Hooray!
We'll talk again on Wednesday / Thursday.
Friday, May 18, 2007
BREAKING: Long-Time Music Blogger Knows Her Shit... [19 May 2007]
[image courtesy Fox via Idolator]
...or 75% of her AI-finalist-predicting shit, which is still pretty fucking awesome!!!
[sure, we coulda saved this for next week, but we're bored NOW, DAMNIT!!! plus, these were who's-gonna-make-the-top-12 predictions, not who's-gonna-win predictions, so, why not now??? -- Ed.]
I was blowing the dust off some old posts on my blog when I came across a link to a piece on Idolator in which Maura Johnston evaluated the AI-top-24 and made her predictions for the top 12.
And "Damn Girl" -- Maura needs to pat herself on the back big time.
Maura looked at the top 12 men and the top 12 women at the end of "the Hollywood round" and made a prediction about which 6 men and which 6 women would make it to the finals -- as well as a prediction about which 2-of-each would get booted in the first week of the semifinals.
Here's what Maura got right about the top 12 [in order of her discussion]:
MEN: Chris Richardson, Sanjaya Malakar, Chris Sligh, Blake Lewis, Phil Stacey
WOMEN: Melinda Doolittle, Jordin Sparks, LaKisha Jones, Gina Glocksen
Two words: WOW!!!
Put another way, here's Maura's top 12, along with their actual finishes:1-2: Blake Lewis, Jordin Sparks
3: Melinda Doolittle
4: LaKisha Jones
5-6: Chris Richardson, Phil Stacey
7: Sanjaya Malakar
9: Gina Glocksen
10: Chris Sligh
Leslie Hunt [17-20]
Rudy Cardenas [21-24]
Nicole Tranquillo [21-24]
And Maura's first 4 out:Antonella Barba [13-16]
Sundance Head [13-16]
Alaina Alexander [17-20]
"Shoeless" Paul Kim [21-24]
And Maura's "missing" 3 finalists:Haley Scarnato [8]
Stephanie Edwards [11]
Brandon Rogers [12]
And the rest:Jared Cotter [13-16]
Sabrina Sloan [13-16] [!!!]
Nick Pedro [17-20]
A.J. Tabaldo [17-20]
Amy Krebs [21-24]
This was all done the night the top 24 were introduced to us -- in some cases, with very little info to go on.
Kudos to Maura for nailing the top 7, and 9 of the top 10. That's a bunch of highlight-reel home runs, right there. Sure, there were a coupla big swing-and-a-miss-es there [2 of Maura's top 12 were out in the first week of the semi's], but, occasionally, the pitcher throws a spit ball [STEPHANIE EDWARDS] and the ump misses the call [SABRINA FUCKING SLOAN!!!]. Plus, every big home-run-hitter strikes out a few times -- BUT STILL, Maura bested even the bestest!!!
Congrats, Maura, on showing us how it's done.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
BREAKING: Cynical Bloggosphere Once Again Crushes Area Bloggers' Hopes And Dreams [12 April 2007]
Here at the DHMBIB Country Club & Salad Bar, we got all excited last nite about American Idol's new "Hit List" segment which promises that we, the average Idol viewer, can go to the website and vote for our favorite current chart toppers, who will then perform during the Wednesday results show:
" 9:14 PM: Okay, this is pretty cool. Ryan tells us we can go to AmericanIdol.com and vote for songs from "the top 50 from all the charts" that we want to hear, and AI will bring the performers in to kill time on these hour-long results shows.
" This week, we have Akon performing the #1 song in the country, "Don't Matter".
" That really is cool! "
But today, those party-poopers over at Idolator had to go and crush our hopes and dreams of being able to dial up Xtina, JT, Nelly Furtado and Timbaland whenever we get the urge:
" HEY, LOOK, IT'S AKON: Expanding the results show to an hour meant the chance for even more filler content; first, you had a group performance of Enrique Iglesias' "Bailamos," then a performance of "Ignition (Remix" "Don't Matter" by Akon--which was actually taped two weeks ago, when he took the stage with Gwen Stefani. Ryan Seacrest, for some reason, attributed the (taped) presence of Akon to The American Idol Hit List, during which viewers allegedly "book the show." Can we call shenanigans? And can we presume that Robin Thicke and Fergie--both of whom have, according to reports, performed after results shows in the previous weeks--will "win" this vote, too? "
"Allegedly"? "Shenanigans"? Thanks, Brian & Maura. Thanks a lot.
:(
UPDATED Thur. PM: TMZ is reporting that after Wednesday's live performance, AI taped P!nk [a/k/a "Pink"] performing her song "Who Knew". TMZ is reporting that this performance was recorded as part of the "American Idol Hit List" segment for the results show. So I guess we should expect to see P!nk in the next couple of Wednesdays.
Monday, April 2, 2007
Video Of The Day: This Is Why We Still Love Alanis Morissette [2 April 2007]
We here at the DHMBIB bar social club were big fans of Alanis Morissette's angsty Gen-X post-feminism 10 years ago. Sadly, she lost us with her last few albums, but we still from time-to-time wade into our CD collection to give Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie another spin [that CD was awesome!!! -- Ed.].
We also loves us some Fergie. Shut up. [pun completely intended -- Ed.]
So, it's not surprising that our hearts and ears and eyes were warmed today when we came across this video of Alanis channeling Tori Amos in a cover of the Black Eyed Peas' "My Humps".
Seriously. We could not possibly make this up...
[Alanis: "Hey, Fergie! Tori! Go down on THIS in a theater!!!"]
Now, we're sure you're asking yourself, "How did DHMBIB possibly discover this gem???"
We were first tipped off to this by the fine folks over at Idolator. After watching it, we searched some of our other favorite music blogs to see if they had it too. Both Stereogum and Pitchfork have it as well.
Time stamps on blogs are notoriously unreliable as indicators of when a post was "posted", because some blogging software programs allow the blogger to "set" a time, and some blogs use the time of the host server, which may be in a different time zone from the blogger. So, determining who had this first is difficult to ascertain. Stereogum credits Pitchfork's "Forkcast" as their source. Pitchfork credits "[a tip] in our mailbox" as their source. Idolator credits "YouTube" as their source.
We're not sure which is funnier -- this video, or the idea that the Idolators -- and perhaps the Pitchforks and Stereogums -- possibly spend their day searching for the following tags on YouTube: " 'Alanis' 'Morissette' 'My' 'Humps' 'Black' 'Eyed' 'Peas' 'Fergie' "
YMMV
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
This Is Why We Love Idolator [27 March 2007 Edition]
It's been a while since we last ran a "This Is Why We Love..." post. It's not because we don't love anything -- it's just that the mood hasn't quite struck us for a while.
That's why we were so happy to see the following item in Idolator's most recent edition of "On The Shelf", Idolator's Monday preview of this week's new CD releases:
" Various Artists, Now That's What I Call Music 24
The artists: Pop's heavy hitters, plus Lily Allen.
The sound: All the hits you got sick of hearing in Walgreen's four months ago ("My Love," "Irreplaceable").
The first in line: The still-surprisingly high number of people who have never heard of iTunes. "
*****
This DHMBIB feature debuted back in November with a post about Idolator's "Who Charted?" wrap-up of the chart success of the previous installment in the Now! series [which wrap-up made the same "heh! heh! these songs are OLD!!!" and "gosh, some people still don't get their music from iTunes while it's popular??? for realz???" jokes, just sayin' -- but the classics are still the classics -- Ed.]. It came back in January with a look at Idolator's OTS.
Now, we love us some Idolator and "Who Charted?" and "On The Shelf" here at the men's shelter DHMBIB headquarters, but we've decided to rename this feature and run it more frequently, spotlighting some other sites we love as well.
xoxo
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
On The Internet, Nobody Knows You're A Dog, btw [21 March 2007 Edition]
This is one of my favorite truisms jokes about the Internet. It first appeared in the 5 July 1993 issue of The New Yorker. [wait -- "the Internet" has been around since 1993??? -- Ed.]
[Thanks to this site for the pic, which helpfully also has a magnified screen grab of the monitor (scroll down).]
And now, thanks to an interesting -- and, alas, long-overdue -- decision announced today by Gawker Managing Editor Choire Sicha, now on the Internet, everyone will know whether "this is Balk, btw" or that is "Rhymes with Memily".
Regular readers of Gawker [DHMBIB raises hand!], Gawker Media's [GM] flagship blog about media and New York -- or any of GM's blogs -- are familiar with GM's signature unsigned "royal 'We' " style of posting in the third-person-plural. Even though most GM sites have multiple editors and contributors, this anonyfiction has allowed each site to present its snarky opinions as if they were those of "the site" instead of the individual contributors. It also has encouraged GM's active commenter community to play a game of speculating who authored any particular post -- a game encouraged along by Gawker Editor Alex Balk's occasional interjections of "[this is Balk, btw]".
But in an out-of-the-blue post this morning, Gawker Managing Editor Choire Sicha announced that henceforth -- or at least until the policy is changed -- Gawker's posts will be bylined.
GM clearly does not have a corporate policy on this. Most of their sites are not bylined, and there is precedent for going the other way. Back in the "1.0" days of Wonkette [GM's politics-and-DC blog], only posts not written by founding editor Ana Marie Cox were bylined -- all others were supposed to be understood to be hers. Even though AMC's signature style -- who can forget the glory days of the "ass-fucking" and "Butterstick" tags??? [not related, you Last-Tango-In-Paris-thinking pervs!!! -- Ed.] -- could not be mistaken, AMC's policy was to let her readers know when someone else was posting on her site.
[Ana Marie Cox is still so revered by regular Wonkette readers that she is still listed as "Wonkette Emerita" on the site, even though her contract with Time (hey! blogging about disclosures!) surely limits her ability to post there...unless she's writing about "ass-fucking" or "Butterstick"...or both -- Ed.]
After AMC left Wonkette barely a year ago, the new editors of "Wonkette 2.0" -- David Lat and Alex Pareene -- announced as their first editorial decision that they were elminating bylines. Since then, all posts on Wonkette -- even those written by "guest editors" -- have gone "un-bylined", thus being attributed instead to "Wonkette". Wonkette's policy remains in place to this day. [N.B.: David Lat left Wonkette last summer. Alex has since been joined by Ken Layne from another part of the GW corporate family for "Wonkette 3.0" -- Ed.]
Contrast that with this interesting editorial judgment over at GM's music blog, Idolator. Several months ago, quite famously, Idolator editors Brian Raftery and Maura Johnston called out the anonymous author of the music blog Gerard vs. Bear for refusing to identify him[?]self. Like Wonkette's editors, Brian and Maura do not byline their posts, but they do identify themselves as editors. Their beef with "Gerard" was that "he" would not even identify himself -- making it impossible for readers to make editorial judgments about potential conflicts-of-interest in his posts -- even though "Gerard" 's [75% -- "75%", because "Gerard" does also post "his" own opinions about music matters] raison-d'etre appeared to be calling out other music bloggers on conflicts-of-interest. [Sadly, such conflicts are notorious in the world of music blogs. This public spat is what led us to make our own disclosures when we started DHMBIB 2.0 back in December 2006 -- Ed.]
So, while Idolator is calling on "Gerard" to identify himself -- without identifying themselves, post-wise, Wonkette has gone one way, and Gawker has now gone the other way. Now, one can make an argument either way about whether posts should be individually bylined for conflicts-of-interest purposes, or whether group-blog opinions -- and, consequently, conflicts-of-interest -- should be attributed to all editors of a site.
All of this is very "inside baseball", as either Brian or Maura [see how difficult this is??? -- Ed.] Idolator would say, and I probably wouldn't be writing about this, except for Sicha's curious pronouncement today, and GM's own conflicted history about this.
So, I wonder -- what prompted Sicha's change-of-heart today?
GM commenter "Chief Wahoo" speculated -- jokingly, I hope and assume -- in the announcing post that this change related to "Gawker" nominating GM boss Nick Denton in their "Worst Bosses" "contest".
But Eat The Press editor Rachel Sklar has a different idea.
Sklar posits that this is all a CYA thing for...wait for it...Sicha himself! As Sklar notes, Sicha used to work for GM, left GM to work for the New York Observer, and has recently returned. Any anonyposts about the NYO are thus automatically questionable. Plus, there's that whole "you're real journalists not just snarkers" thing GM has to deal with. Can you imagine the outcry that would result -- from sites like Gawker -- if CBS [for example] were to read its news with an unidentified "voice" instead of with "Katie Couric"?
What's my opinion about all this? Well, I respect and appreciate bloggers taking personal responsibility for their posts. I can understand why group-blog sites would want all of their posts to be "of the site", but I have greater respect for the notion of standing proud for one's words.
I applaud Sicha's decision -- even though either he or his bloggers were not taking [unsigned] it [unsigned] seriously [unsigned] by the end of the day.
I'm also curious -- will this be the new GM policy for all GM sites??? Or does this only apply to sites that might be, yaknow, conflicted about something???
*****
This post marks the debut of a new "feature" for DHMBIB. Future posts tagged "On The Internet, Nobody Knows You're A Dog" will focus on topics such as "you can't believe everything you see on the Internet" or "one of these things is not like the others", for example.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
This Week In American Idol: Post-Hollywood Meta Edition
I suffered some unfortunate problem with my internets last week, and then some other business got in the way of posting about American Idol's last audition show from 7 February. Although I did take some notes about that show, it would seem a tad outdated to post them now, what with Hollywood Week already over and everything. 'Tis a shame really, because I actually found a whole bunch of people out there in the MySpace and such.
I took some notes about Hollywood Week, nite 1 [Tuesday 13 February], but my efforts at noting last nite's show were thwarted by Idol's let's-hurry-up-and-get-this-over-already attitude.
So instead of partial notes about old shows, I've decided to do a meta post wrapping up some of the recent developments in the AI-verse.
* Breaking: Maybe J.Hud really was a good choice for that whole "My Grammy Moment" thing after all:
In my recent Grammy wrap-up [scroll down], I commented that it seemed odd that the Grammy producers had AI3 seventh-place finisher [oh, yeah, and Oscar-nominee] Jennifer Hudson present the winner of Grammy's AI-style "My Grammy Moment" contest [wherein the winner got to perform onstage with Justin Timberlake], especially considering that there was an actual AI [and Grammy] winner in the house in the person of Carrie Underwood. [N.B.: I should also note the real possibility that CBS had leaned on the Grammy producers to select Jennifer Hudson for this duty as a way to pimp the upcoming CBS telecast of the Oscars.] I might not have been bugged so much by this if Jennifer Hudson's stumbling intro had not been anti-climacticized by her talk of "second chances" for the non-winners [Jennifer, why don't you brush that chip off your shoulder???].
[N.B.: I should also note here -- keep reading -- that this entire contest, except for the "final" voting done via AI-style text message, was conducted online at Yahoo! Music. Oh, yeah -- also, the winner of the contest, in addition to getting to sing with Justin Timberlake, was to win a Chevy vehicle. Unlike, say, on Idol, where the winner gets a Ford vehicle.]
Here's the video of J.Hud's poorly-executed introduction and winner Robyn Troup's excellent good performance.
But maybe J.Hud was the "right" choice for this after all. As her words were more prescient than the viewers realized.
Undisclosed to the voters viewers -- apparently for NDA reasons -- was the fact that contestant Robyn Troup had auditioned for American Idol this season and was one of only 172 contestants who made it to the Hollywood round. Robyn was shown performing on Tuesday nite's AI during the "group performances" stage in a group that included eventual semi-finalist Sundance Head. As far as I can tell, this was the first time Idol had identified Robyn Troup in the contest this season. She was cut in this stage, as the field was being winnowed to the top 136.
Here's Robyn's group performance from Tuesday:
The Hollywood round of AI had been filmed, and the cuts had been made, prior to Sunday's Grammy telecast. Or, in other words, at least Robyn already knew that she had been booted from Idol before she won the "My Grammy Moment" contest.
Sorry to get all Jack Shafer up in everyone's grill and shit, but I have a few questions here:
1) As far as I'm aware, Robyn could not be NDA'd from discussing anything that had already aired on American Idol -- though she had not personally been identified on any of the Idol episodes that had aired by Sunday, she was free to tell people she had made it to Hollywood [N.B.: after her victory, she would only confirm to MSNBC.com that she had auditioned for Idol]. There are lots of competing big media [and car] companies potentially involved in something not-completely-transparent here. What, if anything, did the Grammy producers and/or CBS and/or Yahoo! and/or GM/Chevy know about Robyn's involvement in Idol [on News Corp.-owned Fox]?
2) If Grammy et al. knew that Robyn had made it to Hollywood -- or had even auditioned for Idol -- why wasn't this disclosed to the viewers?
3) If Grammy et al. knew about this, did they also know Robyn had already been booted from AI?
4) How can we be confident Grammy et al. didn't engage in a little vote-tally manipulation hanky-panky -- and News Corp./Fox & Ford nose-tweaking -- to ensure the AI castoff would win this "contest"?
Do you think this is all a little too inside-baseball??? Am I being a little too tin-foil-hat about all this???
And yes, I can GUARAN-DAMN-TEE you that Fox saw this and went back and re-edited Tuesday's episode of AI to highlight Robyn Troup's performance. This could have been either to say, "hey, we had her first, and she wasn't good enough for us", or just to subtly raise these questions in the minds of people like me. AND I HAVE ABSOULTELY NO PROBLEM WITH THAT, as Robyn had already been booted -- that result did not change.
Regardless of all of this, "congratulations" to Robyn Troup for "winning" the "My Grammy Moment" "contest". Robyn also has "won" the right to say to all of the other Idol contestants -- except for the 6-or-so who will get contracts and release actual CDs -- "Bitches, I got my contract and my car, and I got to sing with Justin Timberlake. So suck it!!!"
* Breaking: Nigel Lythgoe <3's Baylie Brown too:
In the same recent media relations teleconference in which Idol Executive Producer Nigel Lythgoe all-but-spilled the beans about an upcoming "Michael Jackson event episode" of Idol, he made cryptic statements about a contestant that had been booted:
" During a recent media conference call, Nigel Lythgoe revealed that his favorite had been cut from the competition. Lythgoe said “There is one young lady in Hollywood who I would have said would have been in the top five this year that got cut purely and simply because she couldn’t remember her lyrics in a group. She just “Ma, Ma, Ma,” for the whole of the song. It broke my heart. But they have to have reasons to cut you, and that was the reason that this young lady will disappear off the show.”
" When asked to reveal who his favorite was, Lythgoe replied “I can’t name my favorite. It is a girl; I’ve got to be honest with you. Hopefully, she’ll come back next year. I certainly don’t want to compromise her with anybody else if she comes back in further years. ‘Wasn’t that Nigel’s favorite? If she gets through It’ll be she gets through because she’s Nigel’s favorite.’ So I wouldn’t do that.”
" When Baylie Brown was mentioned and Lythgoe was asked if his favorite contestant was from Texas, Lythgoe said “Hmm. I really hope that -– please trust me when I say that I don’t want to say anything regarding an individual, or name somebody, because it could affect them in the competition should they return.” "
[source]
These comments went unreported at the time, as most AI watchers viewed the Jackson story as the big takeaway from the presser. But after Baylie Brown was booted from Hollywood in the Tuesday 13 February episode, everyone returned to these comments and read them in a whole new light.
I also really liked Baylie Brown -- she was easily one of the "top five" [thanks, Nigel -- Ed.] in the audition rounds, and she absolutely nailed Faith Hill's "Stronger", a favorite of mine. As I wrote in my last episode update:
" Simon commented that Baylie was exactly what the record labels were looking for in new talent, by which I think he meant that she's a great singer, she's very attractive, and she has a nice personality [Simon also told Baylie she was "'commercial' with a capital 'c'" -- Ed.]. Baylie Brown will go far in this competition. Write that down. [*cough* Carrie Underwood *cough*] "
I didn't say she would go far this season [ahem].
In any event, there seems to have sprung up a "Bring Back Baylie" movement on the internets. Most people seem to want her back either because she's very talented or cute-as-a-baby-kitten-playing-with-rainbow-colored-yarn, or possibly both. Plus, there's that whole "she got screwed by being grouped up with the mean girls" thing. But there is a substantial minority of people who point out, well, she flubbed the lyrics.
Got an opinion???
* Breaking: Long-haired no-good-niks ain't got no chance on no American Idol no-how:
Sean Michel, the "Fidel Castro of American Idol 6", was sent home in the Tuesday episode of Idol. There was a rumor floating on the internets ahead of Tuesday that Sean had been cut because he refused to cut his hair and beard. Do you believe that?
* Odds & Sods -- AI Meta Edition:
* Here are the top 24.
* Idolator has already made its predictions on the final 12.
* What song will Idol use this year when it whacks contestants [last year, it was Daniel Powter's "Bad Day"]? Leave a note in the comments if you have a good idea.
* Just because...
This has nothing to do with Idol, but....Here's the super-awesome Cat Power [Chan Marshall] doing an excellent cover of Grammy Record Of The Year winner nominee "Crazy" in Berlin in late 2006. Enjoy!
Cat Power - Crazy [mp3, via YSI]
Cat Power - Crazy [mp3, via zShare]
Friday, February 9, 2007
META: Breaking: Blogger Googling Results In Loud Echo In Bloggosphere
I'm sorry this couldn't be more timely, but I was busy on other matters for most of Wednesday, and when I finally got free, my "google" went down until mid-day Thursday.
If you've ever heard the old adage that, "in the future, we'll all be doing each others' laundry writing each others' blogs", or you believe that "there are two things you don't want to see being made -- sausage and legislation blogs", you may not want to read this post.
On Tuesday 2.6, American Idol aired an audition show from San Antonio. One of the contestants shown on television was Akron Watson. Watson was shown on the air receiving one of the coveted "golden tickets" to Hollywood.
I watched that show and took some notes about it during the broadcast [sadly, I have neither a TiVo (or similar DVR device) nor a VCR (VeeCeeWhaa???)]. After the show, I worked up a blog post about the show.
Inspired by earlier work done by Eric at deathbycamera, I googled several of the contestants looking for MySpace pages, YouTube videos, etc. etc. One of the hits I received was this story on the Pegasus News site about Watson's invitiation to Hollywood having been revoked just days before he was scheduled to leave. As you can see on this page, the story originally appeared online on 1.31. No one -- no one -- had picked up on it before Watson's appearance on the 2.6 airdate of his audition. In my post, I linked to this story [with attribution] and questioned why Watson's ticket had been torn up. My post went up at 10:39 PM PST on 2.6 [1:39 AM EST on 2.7]. [N.B.: The Pegasus News article was updated at 9:17 PM CST (10:17 PM EST) 2.6, after Idol aired in the Eastern and Central time zones and after I had already found and cached the page, to reflect the fact that Idol aired Watson's audition in spite of the fact that he had already been uninvited.]
Puzzled about the lack of corroborating evidence of this story when I was ready to post my report -- I googled again, and found only the updated page [N.B.: my post reflected the updated title of the PN post] -- I began to wonder if this was some internet hoax. I went to bed wondering whether this story was on the level -- What is "Pegasus News"??? Would I have to "update" my blog??? -- or, if it were, when this explosive news would "filter" in to the entertainment websites.
I should not have been so naive.
Dear reader[s], it is at this point that I must refer you to my earlier disclosure. Take a moment to refresh yourself. Back? Okay, let's go...
On Wednesday 2.7, the entertainment bloggosphere was abuzz about the plight of Akron Watson, the contestant from the Dallas-Fort Worth area who had received the "golden ticket" on Tuesday's show but had been uninvited from Hollywood by the AI producers. Here are some representative post times -- and sources -- of some of these posts:
* RealityTVMagazine -- "10:33 PM 2.6" -- PN [note -- RealityTVMagazine.com uses TypePad for their blog; TypePad is centered in San Francisco; TypePad's website does not specify how the post time is determined or what time zone is used as the default time zone; RTVM's post did not appear in my post-post [ha ha!] google search]
[all dates below are Wednesday 2.7]
* TMZ -- 11:30 AM [EST?] -- PN via RTVM
* BestWeekEver -- 1:43 PM [EST?] -- PN via TMZ
* Stereogum -- 5:30 PM [CST?] -- TMZ
* Idolator -- time unknown -- RTVM [note: RTVM "reported this morning"]
* MollyGood -- time unknown -- TMZ
Okay, DHMBIB, we're getting tired of reading. What's your point?
My point is.... It's pretty clear to me that the big, "well-respected" entertainment sites [*cough* bloggers *cough*] RTVM and TMZ got this story the same way I did -- by googling with a search that looked something like this:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22akron+watson%22&btnG=Google+Search
And the other sites [*cough* bloggers *cough*] got their stories by...reading other blogs.... If you regularly read any blogs, you should not be surprised to read that most bloggers' content is merely recycled from other blogs. Trust me -- I'm not hatin' on this method of creating content. Different blogs have different audiences, and the bloggers behind them blog what they blog because they believe their eyeballs meal-tickets readers want to know about this info, regardless whether it is "original news".
Okay, so we all write each others' blogs, and our readers don't want to know that.
[Go back and reread my disclosure.] But I am especially unimpressed with the work of TMZ here, which advertises itself as the "go-to" entertainment news blog:
" Named one of the year's 50 coolest websites by Time magazine [where is the disclosure??? -- Ed.], TMZ -- a joint venture between Telepictures Productions and AOL -- has enjoyed a meteoric rise to prominence by breaking [emphasis added -- Ed.] the biggest stories in entertainment. From Mel Gibson's DUI arrest and subsequent encounter with law enforcement to Michael Richards' ill-fated trip to the Laugh Factory to the breakup of Britney Spears and Kevin Federline's marriage, TMZ dominates the entertainment news landscape by changing the way the public gets their news. Frequently referenced by the media, TMZ is one of the most-cited entertainment news sources, utilized by national network and local newsgathering organizations across the country. "
I was the second site to have this news online. Please think about that the next time you "learn" something from TMZ, BWE, USMag, etc.
"Timing" is "everything".
Thank you. Drive through.
Monday, January 15, 2007
This Is Why We Love Idolator, Episode ---
More posts coming about many important things, but I had to point this out...
I don't like to crib others' excellent posts, but this is just so money I had to post it...From this week's Idolator's "On The Shelf" [new releases preview...links removed -- please click on over to Idolator and give them some love]:
Stacie Orrico, "Beautiful Awakening"
The artist: Squeaky-clean pop singer who lists her influences as Jesus, Lauryn Hill, Ella Fitzgerald, and Whitney Houston.
The sound: Spunky, R & B-tinged Radio Disney fodder.
The first in line: Kids whose mothers think the Hyde-lurking JoJo is too wild of an influence.
Diana Ross, "I Love You"
The artist: The original Dreamgirl heads down the Rod Stewart cover-album path.
The sound: Soupy reworkings of "Always And Forever," "Take My Breath Away," and "You Are So Beautiful."
The first in line: Michael Jackson.
Stars Of Track And Field, "Centuries Before Love And War"
The artist: Blogger buzz band that got snapped up by Wind-Up.
The sound: A product of its Pacific Northwest surroundings: the electro beats of the Postal Service mixed with the massive guitars of Built To Spill.
The first in line: Bloggers who forgot that they downloaded this album last spring.
Friday, December 22, 2006
BREAKING: Area Music Blogger Is Paranoid Other Music Bloggers Are Lurking
Last week, I joked that Gerard was lurking around my blog, and that Chris Ott may have "outed" himself in response to my earlier post about conflict-of-interest disclosures. I also noted Gerard's subsequent denial of Ott's "disclosure". Later that day, Idolator returned to the "who is Gerard?" subject to highlight Gerard's denial that Ott was Gerard.
Then, later again that same day, Idolator posted a piece about Technorati's "Popular Music" page, which post was headlined, "Bloggers Outside Of Music-Blog World Have No Idea Who Cold War Kids Are". When I saw that, I thought to myself two things: 1) "I could've written that headline, except it would've begun with 'BREAKING:'"; and 2) "Is it possible Maura is lurking around here too?"
Granted, lots of bloggers subconsciously absorb the phrasings and stylizations of other blogs they read and enjoy. Hell, I'll be the first to admit that I owe a lot [e.g., "Area Blogger"] to the snark of The Onion. And I loves me some Idolator. So, I can't really complain if I'm giving as good as I'm getting [whoa!]. It's all good.
Maura, if you're reading, hollaback girl! [Plus, I could use some advice.] Brian, same to you dawg!
Saturday, December 9, 2006
Disclosure
I recognize that any blog about a commercially-available product or service should disclose any potential conflicts-of-interest the author[s] may have. This does not necessarily mean the author must blog under her/his "real name", even though that in and of itself can help the reader quite a bit in making a judgment about potential conflicts. It's the conflicts themselves that are important. Idolator has been hammering this point home specifically in reference to the Gerard vs. Bear music blog, whose anonymous author ["Gerard"] refuses to identify her/himself and -- more importantly -- any potential conflicts [A&R rep for a label? Chief programmer for KROQ? Manager for My Chemical Romance? etc.] s/he may have.
Fair enough.
I own 80 shares of stock in Time Warner Inc. [NYSE:TWX] Even though Time Warner sold its music business to Edgar Bronfman, Jr., and most of my posts will be about music, there is of course the chance that I will blog something that has some relation to the TW empire.
Thank you for listening.
P.S. AOL is waaay cooler than MSN.
