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Soundcheck ~ Orange County music news, OC concert announcements and more from Orange County Register critic Ben Wener.

Archive for the 'Grammys' Category

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Grammys 2010: Dullest telecast in years?

February 1st, 2010, 2:36 am by BEN WENER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Grammy Awards Show

grammyslide

Click here for a slide show of Grammy fashions!

Click here for a complete list of winners!

I sure am glad there was some simmering drama over all that Grammy record-breaking business this time. Because the show itself was a definite drag.

I mean it dragged on and on and on, coming in on time yet never finding any consistency, with the most sublime and exciting attractions scattered among just as many duds.

That made for frustrating viewing, given how many actually memorable performances there were –- notably a handful of those special collaborations Grammy is so good at putting together, and which aren’t likely to ever happen twice.

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Grammys 2010: Beyoncé makes it 6, Taylor 4

January 31st, 2010, 8:01 pm by BEN WENER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

beyoncelive

slideshow_lady_gagaThat’s it: record broken.

Beyoncé’s “Halo” just trumped Taylor Swift’s “You Belong with Me” for the best female pop vocal performance award … and that gives her six, the most Grammy wins in a single evening by a female artist.

Taylor, meanwhile, has pushed her total up to four, now that her multiplatinum disc Fearless has won arguably the most coveted Grammy, for album of the year.

A deadline for tomorrow’s print edition beckons. Later tonight, when I’ve had a chance to watch the full ceremony, I’ll return with thoughts on performances … like Lady Gaga & Elton John (in matching crazy-spangled shades) opening the show by duetting on “Speechless” with a bit of “Your Song” tossed in.

“How wonderful life is with Gaga in the world?” Sir Reg sings. I dunno about that, but their pairing is at least saving a predictably ludicrous but somewhat annoyingly self-serving Gaga production.

Click here for a slide show of fashions, performances and winners!

Click here for a complete list of winners!

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Grammys 2010: Jay-Z takes one from the missus

January 31st, 2010, 7:39 pm by BEN WENER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

As expected, best rap/sung collaboration has been awarded to Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West for “Run This Town,” the same track that also won best rap song. It also gives Jay three wins overall.

That’s not surprising — but it is interesting because it robs Mrs. Jay-Z of another chance to break the record, and leaves only two Beyoncé/Taylor Swift face-offs left at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards, unfolding at this moment at Staples Center.

Anything could happen — Beyoncé could still win as many as seven overall, yet it’s not entirely unthinkable that Taylor will even it up with five.

And then, for the fifth and sixth time, no one will have reached a record-setting six wins.

Click here for an up-to-the-minute list of winners!

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Grammys 2010: enter Kings of Leon, spoiler

January 31st, 2010, 6:31 pm by BEN WENER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

kingsI’ve been saying that the key battleground in this race for the record of most all-at-once Grammy wins by a female artist has been best pop female vocal performance.

Maybe I was wrong, as the unpredictable just happend:

Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody” was named record of the year.

Just as votes for Beyoncé and Taylor Swift could get split in the pop vocal category, so may they have for this bigger prize. Few if any prognosticators had picked the Followill brothers to take that Grammy, with most figuring it would go to Taylor.

Now the country darling really has to win for best female pop vocal — and steal album of the year — or she has no chance of catching Beyoncé.

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Grammys 2010: now it’s Beyoncé 5, Taylor 3 … Zac Brown Band named best new artist

January 31st, 2010, 5:51 pm by BEN WENER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

beyoncekissThe race for the record (most Grammy wins by a female artist in a single night) has heated up quickly at Staples Center … and within a half-hour of the telecast starting, Beyoncé has seized her fifth win, matching her own record-tying haul of 2004.

Ms. Knowles, along with Thaddis Harrell, Terius Nash and Christopher Stewart, was awarded song of the year for last year’s smash sensation “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).”

It’s a big win that bodes well for her to sweep the top prizes … and more. In fact, at this point, if the Beyoncé ball keeps rollin’, she could go home with nine Grammys. She’s only lost once, for best song written for motion picture, television or other visual media, in which her Cadillac Records ballad “Once in a Lifetime” lost to “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire.

Taylor Swift, however, still has a fighting chance to match her five wins — or even achieve a record-setting six herself. She has added another to her country-categories haul, as Fearless was named best country album.

And just announced: as I thought might happen, country upstart Zac Brown Band has won for best new artist, acing out MGMT, Silversun Pickups, Keri Hilson and the Ting Tings.

Click here for an up-to-the-minute list of winners!

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