Grammy Rundown

For anyone who didn't watch the 53rd Grammy Awards this year, here's a quick recap of the show with commentary by yours truly:

Yolanda Adams, Jennifer Hudson, Martina McBride, Christina Aguilera, and Florence Welch of Florence & the Machine kicked things off with a tribute to Aretha Franklin, who was present via video in drastically slimmed-down post-surgery shape. Christina sang her heart out, no doubt to make up for her Super Bowl lyric-forgetting fiasco, and managed to distract me from the fact that Florence Welch always looks like a transvestite for the majority of the performance.

Lady Gaga underwhelmed with the premiere of her latest song "Born This Way", which she would later gush that she imagined Whitney Houston singing it while writing because it was too good for her. False body modifications just don't cut it for over-the-top after the public spectacle she has been for the past couple years.

Justin Bieber amazingly did not ruin Usher's performance of "OMG" with what appeared to be their overly-complex secret handshake, singing less than Mr. Raymond got to on the same number at the Super Bowl. Fortunately the tween idol didn't win anything, so we all owe a deep debt of gratitude to Esperanza Spalding for having awesome hair, an awesome voice, playing upright bass, and being able to do all three at once. Katy Perry held it down with a ballad before hit "Teenage Dream", and Norah Jones, Keith Urban, and John Mayer did a wonderful version of "Jolene". Eminem's much-hyped performance with Dr. Dre and Rihanna was augmented by backing vocals from Adam Levine of Maroon 5 and Skylar Grey (who you may remember as Holly Brook from "Where'd You Go", but apparently wrote "Love the Way You Lie" and is featured on "Coming Home"). The hip-hop party took a break for the escapees from the old-folks home to do their thing, then came back with a vengeance as Drake tried his best to leer at and hump Rihanna in convincing fashion for anti-Chris-Brown benefit.

Country outfit Lady Antebellum gathered a ton of awards for "Need You Now", an inexplicably romantic-sounding ode to booty calls that has been all over the airwaves. Song of the Year, Record of the Year, Country Song of the Year, Country Album of the Year... all I'm thinking is that we better watch out for a swell in the number of redneck children born 9 months from now.

All this, however, was merely a distraction from the fact that this was the year of the hipster at the Grammys, with Arcade Fire performing twice and taking home Album of the Year, performances by Mumford & Sons and The Avett Brothers with Bob Dylan, who could not have cared less how hip they were when the accordion failed to cut off at his gesture. The trio of Janelle Monae [show review here], B.O.B., and Bruno Mars ensured that the more urban-oriented American Apparel shoppers would enjoy it all too, as did Muse for the rockers, and Cee-Lo Green outdid Gaga at her own game. They've arrived, ladies and gentlemen. And judging by Danger Mouse's win for Producer of the Year, they aren't going anywhere, either.

Articles in the Swinging Bridge

I had two articles published in the entertainment section of the most recent issue of our campus newspaper, The Swinging Bridge. I figured I'd post links up so you can check them out at your leisure...

Grammy's Blend Collaboration and Controversy
The Color Fred

My first article was on Kanye, Love Lockdown, and music blogging:
Love Lockdown Has Blogs Locked Down

Enjoy!

Blink-182 Reunion: Part One - Travis Barker

In the light of the recent announcement of a Blink-182 reunion at the Grammy's, I thought it would be interesting to explore what the members have been doing with their time since the band went on hiatus in 2005. Since there are 3 band members, this will be a 3 part series.
Since he has been arguably the most visible member of the band, I decided to start with Travis Barker. Originally the drummer for The Aquabats, Travis joined Blink-182 in 1998 between their first commercially successful album Dude Ranch and their most successful album Enema of the State.

While a member of Blink-182, he participated in "Dischord emo/post-hardcore" influenced side project with Tom DeLonge called Box Car Racer and the hip-hop and dub influenced Transplants with Tim Armstrong of Rancid.

After Blink-182 broke up, he and Mark Hoppus formed +44, an alternative-influenced pop punk band with electronic elements that had been absent from Blink-182. +44 still theoretically has another album in pre-production since May or July of '08. He also founded LaSalle Records and expanded his Famous Stars & Straps clothing line. Outside of music, he had an MTV reality show called Meet the Barkers with his then-wife and former Miss USA and Playmate Shanna Moakler.

Barker has done a lot of hip-hop material since the Blink-182 breakup, including the Expen$ive Ta$te group/mixtape with rapper Paul Wall (who also did a chopped'n'screwed version of the Transplants album) and Skinhead Rob (also of the Transplants), his amazing free mixtape and tour with DJ AM as TRVS DJAM(which included backing all the artists at the VMAs and the much-publicized plane crash sometimes credited as a catalyst for the Blink reunion), remixes of Bubba Sparxxx, Pharrell (of N.E.R.D. and the Neptunes), Rich Boy, the Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna, Soulja Boy, the Federation, Flo Rida, Busta Rhymes, The Game, Bun B (of UGK, RIP Pimp C), Wale and most recently Jay-Z, as well as production work for T.I.

On a more pop level, he has also played drums for Pink and Avril Lavigne. I'm just wondering how much of these influences will be incorporated into any new Blink-182 material. Obviously I don't think Blink should become a rap-rock band, but the hip-hop aesthetic might creep in, and I don't think that would be a bad thing. Travis's connections in the hip-hop world could also make for interesting guest spots and remix possibilities (a chopped'n'screwed Blink album?). Just throwing that out there...

Here's some links to give you a taste of what that might sound like:
Expen$ive Ta$te mixtape
DJ AM mixtape (amazing! tracks from Johnny Cash, Public Enemy, M.I.A., Led Zeppelin)
Travis Barker remixes

Watch this video of the Soulja Boy remix:

Swagger Like the Grammy's

Big news from the Grammy's:
Unfortunately, Diplo & M.I.A. did not win, but fortunately neither did the Jonas Brothers.
The odd choice of album of the year was possibly compensated for by these two performances:
M.I.A., Kanye, Jay-Z, Weezy, and T.I. - Swagger Like Us


Radiohead & the USC marching band - 15 Step


Also check out Diplo's hilarious Twitter posts from the ceremony here