Grammys 2011

Has it really been a year since I started this blog? My very first post was about the 2010 Grammys so I’m excited to be writing about my favorite awards show again.

My review of music’s biggest night:

-Jennifer Hudson, Martina McBride, Florence Welch and Yolanda Adams showing 18-time Grammy winner Aretha Franklin the respect she deserves. Those are some huge voices. WOW.
-Christina Aguilera (almost) making up for her Super Bowl shit show.
-Madonna – I mean Lady Gaga – got everyone’s attention but it was nothing compared to last year’s dueling piano performance with Sir Elton John.
-Bruno Mars going black and white for what was a surprisingly great performance – not bad for a kid who used to be an Elvis impersonator.
-Loved the country music presence at this year’s Grammys – it shows how much the genre has grown and how popular it has become.
-Dear Usher and Justin Bieber – get over yourselves. Love, Laura
-Bieber and Jaden Smith? What is this? Fisher Price My First Grammys?
-David Letterman’s #9 surprise at the Grammy Awards: New music laws prohibit rhyming “ladies” with “Mercedes.”
-Letterman’s #4 surprise: Academy president finally explains the difference between “Song of the Year” and “Record of the Year.”
-Ladies and gentleman – Bob Dylan. Backed by what seemed liked 100 banjos and playing harmonica like it was 1975 even if only for a few seconds….so awesome.
-Lady Antebellum is one of my favorite country groups – they never disappoint.
-Cee Lo channeling Elton John in that sequin and feather outfit. His voice is so infectious that the accessories are fun rather than over-compensation. And the Gwyneth Paltrow duet – surprising because for some reason it worked.
-John Mayer, Nora Jones and Keith Urban – two guitars and three Grammy voices all singing Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.” Short and sweet but very well done.
-Three of music’s biggest names – Eminem, Rihanna and Dr. Dre – blowing everyone away. Rihanna’s voice is the perfect juxtaposition to Em’s aggressive voice and lyrics – and so is the mystery woman’s voice who was singing the hook for “I Need A Doctor.” For the record, since I don’t think anyone introduced her, the woman in question is Skylar Grey.
-Esperanza Spalding– loved her acceptance speech. Thank you for being so thankful.
-Mick Jagger paying tribute to Solomon Burke as he jumped around the stage like it was 1975.
-Random crowd shot of an 80s-haired Cindy Lauper.
-Rihanna pulling double duty tonight with two fabulous albeit different performances.
-Lady Antebellum cleaning up and winning three of the major categories including Record of the Year which I thought was for sure going to be taken home by Em and Rhianna or Jay-Z and Alicia Keys.
-It’s hilarious that CBS decided to have actors from its shows present several awards – I like all the actors but this is the Grammys not the Emmys.
-Was Arcade Fire trying to induce seizures?
-And did they really beat out Eminem for Album of the Year? FAIL.
-Kris Kristofferson doesn’t look a day over perfection. Very cool to see the man who gave Janis Joplin her biggest hit.
-Arcade Fire plays another song….ugh….ok turning the TV off.

The Two Eras of AC/DC

If you’re a fan of AC/DC there are a few things you know for sure: 1) They are one of the greatest rock and roll bands of all time. 2) Their hits will always get people excited. 3) They assured us that rock and roll ain’t noise pollution. 4) They’ve had two singers over the years that are so good and so similar that it’s extremely difficult to distinguish who is singing which song. So, here is a little trivia for all the AC/DC fans out there:

Original lead singer Bon Scott was born in Scotland before immigrating to Australia in his childhood. He was AC/DC’s captivating front man from 1974 until his death in 1980.

After passing out in the car on the way back to friend Alistair Kinnear’s house after a night of heavy drinking in London, Scott was left in the car. Since Kinnear was unable to move him, Scott was left in the car overnight to sleep off the effects of the alcohol. Unable to wake Scott the next morning, Kinnear rushed him to the hospital where Scott was pronounced dead on arrival. Pulmonary aspiration of vomit was the cause of Scott’s death and the official cause was listed as “acute alcohol poisoning” and “death by misadventure.”

Bon Scott’s Biggest Hits:

Whole Lotta Rosie
If You Want Blood (You've Got It)
Highway To Hell
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)
T.N.T.

After Scott’s death the band briefly considered ending AC/DC but then decided that Scott would have wanted the band to continue. They auditioned several candidates for his spot but a few days after hearing Brian Johnson sing “Whole Lotta Rosie” from Let There Be Rock and Ike & Tina Turner's “Nutbush City Limits” he was hired.

A few months later, AC/DC, with Johnson on the mic, recorded Back In Black, which would turn out to be their biggest-selling album ever. The album was certified platinum three months after its release, and by 2007 it had sold more than 22 million copies in the United States and over 45 million worldwide, making it the fourth highest-selling album ever in the US and the second highest- selling in the world. Johnson had made his mark and had showed the music world that AC/DC could continue on.

Brian Johnson’s Biggest Hits:

Hells Bells
Shoot to Thrill
Back in Black
You Shook Me All Night Long
Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution
For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)
Thunderstruck
Rock 'N Roll Train

AC/DC was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2003. In 2009 the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) upgraded the group’s US sales figures from 69 million to 71 million, making AC/DC the fifth best-selling band in US history and the ninth best-selling artist, selling more albums than Madonna, Mariah Carey and Michael Jackson. The RIAA also certified Back in Black as double Diamond (20 million) in US sales.

Super Bowl XLV

Everyone watches the Super Bowl for different reasons and only one of them has to do with football. Obviously if your team is competing then of course the game is a really big deal. For the rest of us, it’s all about the commercials and the halftime show. So let’s start with the commercials. I was happy to see that music was a big theme in this year’s commercials and of course I always appreciate the clever ones as well. These were my favorites:

1) Budweiser: I always look forward to Budweiser commercials because I love the Clydesdales! This year didn’t disappoint with the commercial taking place in a western saloon with an angry cowboy who becomes a very happy cowboy when he gets his Bud. He is so happy, in fact, that he breaks into song – Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” – and the rest of the bar sings along with him. A nod to the bus scene in Almost Famous? Either way, it was my favorite commercial of the Super Bowl.

2) Volkswagen: Coming in a VERY close second, the commercial with the little kid dressed as Darth Vader was awesome. After unsuccessfully trying to perform a Jedi mind trick on a dog and a baby doll, he is “successful” when he tries it on his Dad’s car. A.k.a. His father’s car has a remote start. The kid’s body language is hysterical – he is so startled and excited that his trick worked that he doesn’t know what to do with himself. The look on the father’s face is priceless as well.

3) Car Max: “I feel like a kid in a candy store…like a mermaid at a swim meet… like an acrobat in a mattress store…like a hippie in a drum circle.”

4) Mercedes Benz: Any commercial that starts with Janis Joplin singing “Oh lord won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz….” is bound to be great. And it was. Seeing all the different makes and models was very cool and seeing Puff Daddy (Diddy? Dirty Money?) get his car stolen was the perfect ending.

5) NFL: Loved the montage of characters from some of the most iconic television shows in history getting ready to watch some football: The Simpsons, 90210, Seinfeld, Friends, Happy Days, Cheers, etc. At the risk of sounding cheesy it was like seeing a montage of old friends.

6) Chrysler: The homage to the city of Detroit was full of hope and surprisingly, Eminem. I found myself, if only for 30 seconds, cheering for the city’s comeback. Somewhere Kid Rock and Bob Seeger were raising their glasses.

7) Best Buy: Ozzy Osbourne asking, “What’s a Bieber?” Good question.

Ok, onto the halftime show. After reading the mixed reactions on Facebook, clearly not everyone loved the Black Eyed Peas. But I found positives and negatives to the performance:

What was good:

-SLASH!!!!!!!! The notorious Guns N Roses guitarist is ALWAYS a welcomed musical guest and I sure as hell wasn’t expecting to see him appear on my television screen. I loved his glitter glam top hat and seeing him play the iconic “Sweet Child O’ Mine” guitar solo was amazing. Fergie – you are a lucky girl!
-The choreography was visually pleasing and all those lights with all those people looked very cool. I can’t imagine the amount of time it took to practice and put all of that together but they did it.
-Even though I’m not a fan, surprise guest Usher was fun – seeing him jump over Will.i.am and land in a split was also pretty impressive.

What was NOT so good:

-The group sounded terrible and the live auto-tune voice was not helping at all.
-Even though the number of hits Black Eyed Peas has is notable, their songs might as well all be called “In Da Club” because that’s the only place they are appropriate.
-The only people I know in that group are Fergie and Will.i.am so when the other two members sang it reminded me why they aren’t famous.

Clearly the Super Bowl is going to be the topic of conversation tomorrow so please share your thoughts and opinions with me!

Turn On Lights Out

Apparently boxing is making a comeback. Although there is no shortage of famous boxing movies from the past few decades – all the Rocky films, Raging Bull, The Hurricane, Ali, Cinderella Man– there has been a recent surge of boxing in pop culture. With the help of one of the best movies I’ve seen in awhile, The Fighter, and the newest FX television series Lights Out, boxing is seemingly everywhere.

While I’ve never really watched boxing on TV, I have covered a few amateur fights at the Denver Athletic Club which have always been exciting. That being said, I’ve never gone out of my way to watch HBO fights or boxing reality shows like The Contender until I saw the previews for Lights Out and thought it looked interesting. I also figured that if FX’s track record indicates anything (this is the same network that brings us Rescue Me, Sons Of Anarchy and Justified) the show was going to be gritty, hardcore, well-acted and contain a TV-MA warning before each episode. And I was right.

Lights Out stars Holt McCallany as aging former heavyweight boxing champion Patrick “Lights” Leary who struggles to find his identity and support his wife and three daughters after retiring from the ring five years prior. Leary’s career came to an end when his wife Theresa gave him an ultimatum to either stop boxing or lose his family. Unfortunately, this ultimatum came right after Lights loses a match he should have won after taking horrible advice from his father/former trainer. Now the loss (which was also his last time in the ring) haunts Lights on seemingly a daily basis as his neighbors, family, colleagues and people of the press constantly bring it up.

In addition to his father, Theresa and the girls, Lights’ family also includes his brother and businesses manager Johnny and their sister who owns a diner. After paying for his brother to go to business school, putting his wife through medical school, currently paying for his three girls to attend private school and their palatial house complete with a neatly manicured lawn, Lights is tapped out for cash. He should have all the money in the world but instead he is missing payments on the house and cars and is being chased down by the IRS. His financial problems leave him at a tough crossroads as he is battling the urge to return to boxing or reluctantly accept a job as a brutal debt collector. Meanwhile, Lights may be suffering from a form of dementia commonly found in boxers. Of course Lights doesn’t want his wife and children to know about the financial or health issues so he is, according to Theresa, “back to lying like the old days.” Clearly we will see what she means in future episodes – unless Lights gets back in the ring to fight the boxer he unfairly lost to five years prior.

While McCallany plays Lights with a calm, cool demeanor one wouldn’t expect from a boxer his character is a cliché so far. He keeps having flashbacks of his fighting days, specifically his final fight, and there’s no question he misses being in the game. Physically McCallany looks like a boxer who hasn’t missed a day of training and although Lights continues to be a local legend who draws people asking for autographs while calling him “champ,” the legend is fading. Like his brother Johnny says – “you were a champ but five years was a long time ago.”

How the series will go remains to be seen but I find myself very interested in what Lights decides to do with his life and how he plans to turn it around. I hope he stops doing these embarrassing public appearances (kids’ birthday parties, hosting bingo nights, mattress commercials, etc.) and does something great. I’m assuming he will get back into boxing but who knows – FX features ballsy shows for a reason and, like Lights himself, they are not afraid to do something unexpected.

Academy Award Nominees

It’s award season again and you know what that means: Wins! Losses! Dresses! Scandals! Speeches! Snubs! Surprises! The Golden Globes kicked off Hollywood’s favorite season with some exciting wins for both movies and television but today brought the announcement of the Holy Grail of all movie nominations: The Oscars.

The Oscars are a big deal because, like Grammy nominations, even if you don’t win the fact that you were nominated puts you in a very elite category. The actors and actresses who are billed as “Academy Award Nominee_____” are definitely noticed by both the public and the industry and if you actually win and are then billed as “Academy Award Winner _____,” that elite group gets even more elite.

On a less complicated note, everyone likes to win so when a director, actor, actress, musician or even a costume designer hears his or her name called it’s a game changer and maybe even a life changer. So, whose night will it be on February 27? The nominated movies I still need/want to see are True Grit, Inception and The King’s Speech (I know, I know I really need to see all three like yesterday) but until then I will put a star next to the people and movies I’m rooting for and why:


Actor in a Leading Role

Javier Bardem - Biutiful
Jeff Bridges - True Grit
*Jesse Eisenberg - The Social Network (At this point everyone has heard about this movie and it’s no accident. Like Facebook, this movie has taken over the conversation because of its superior acting, writing and storyline. I never wanted it to end.)
Colin Firth - The King's Speech
James Franco - 127 Hours

Actor in a Supporting Role

*Christian Bale - The Fighter (As drug addict/ex-boxer Dicky Eklund, Bale portrays a former local legend who has let life get the best of him. He is an out of control train wreck who makes people either gawk or literally and figuratively look the other way. As for the performance, I absolutely couldn’t look away.)
John Hawkes - Winter's Bone
Jeremy Renner - The Town
Mark Ruffalo - The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush - The King's Speech



Actress in a Leading Role

Annette Bening - The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman - Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence - Winter's Bone
*Natalie Portman - Black Swan (I haven’t seen any of these movies but if the Golden Globes and the media are any indication Portman has it in the bag.)
Michelle Williams - Blue Valentine

Actress in a Supporting Role

*Amy Adams - The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter - The King's Speech
*Melissa Leo - The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld - True Grit
Jacki Weaver - Animal Kingdom

(I’m torn for this one since both women were so hardcore and so vital to the success of The Fighter. Adams was brilliant as Micky Ward’s no-bullshit girlfriend and Leo was fantastic as Ward and Eklund’s no-bullshit mother. Either choice is a good one and, since it’s such a tough call, who knows if Leo winning the Golden Globe will help or hurt her chances.)

Directing

Black Swan - Darren Aronofsky
The Fighter - David O. Russell
The King's Speech - Tom Hooper
*The Social Network - David Fincher
True Grit - Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

(This is going to be a hard one for the people of the Academy since every single movie is so good. Because I haven’t seen True Grit or The King’s Speech my choice will be The Social Network for its fast-paced storyline, layered characters and perfectly cast group of actors.)

Best Picture

Black Swan
*The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech
127 Hours
*The Social Network
*Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

(Ever since the Oscars decided there were going to be 10 choices for Best Picture instead of five choices this category has become impossible to predict. Rather than choose I’ve only starred the movies I’ve seen because I literally have no idea how the powers that be are going to make this decision.)

Music (Original Score)

How to Train Your Dragon - John Powell
Inception - Hans Zimmer
The King's Speech - Alexandre Desplat
127 Hours - A.R. Rahman
*The Social Network -Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (I have to go with my favorite Nine Inch Nails alum for this one. His music was the perfect soundtrack to illuminate the contradictory themes in the movie - darkness and discovery.)

Music (Original Song)

“Coming Home” from Country Strong - Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
“I See the Light” from Tangled - Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
“If I Rise” from 127 Hours - Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
*“We Belong Together” from Toy Story 3 - Music and Lyric by Randy Newman (I have a special place in my heart for Randy Newman and this movie.)

American Idol Is Good Again!

Back in September I wrote about the surprising selection of the two newest American Idol judges – Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez – and what the new blood would do for the show. I mentioned that no matter what, the January premiere would be big because regardless of what you think about Tyler, Lopez, Randy Jackson, Ryan Seacrest or the show in general, the amount of publicity this whole thing has gotten is out of this world. In fact, last night’s 10th season premiere began with news clips gathered from the last several months featuring reporters talking about who would be the new judges. No question that those clips were indicative of the level of pop cultural importance American Idol has reached – the show is literally in the news all the time.

After watching last premiere – which kicked off the Tyler/Lopez era – I must say that I was impressed. First of all (and I know this is the least shocking thing ever) I love Steven Tyler. I just love him. I love his mouth, the feathers in his hair, the way he dresses and most importantly – that voice. Wow. Although most of the female contestants he was talking to/flirting with were young enough to be his daughters/granddaughters, I liked what he had to say. He can recognize talent from a mile away and he feels music in his soul. He is the epitome of what American rock and roll is all about and I can’t get enough of it. The more surprising portion of the program was how NOT annoying Jennifer Lopez was. Granted there’s only been one episode so far but I found her to be intelligent, fair, honest and kind – almost as if she checked her “Jenny from the block” bullshit at the door. I thought she was real and I also liked what she had to say. As for Randy “Dawg” Jackson – he’s fine. I can take him or leave him.

Now, judges aside, what people really are looking for from American Idol is new talent, right? Kids from all over the country (and apparently the world as there was a girl from Kosovo) find a way to get to these auditions and get up the nerve to sing in front of three people that could make or break them. Some of these contestants are so bad that I literally thank my lucky stars that I have a DVR which allows me to fast forward right through those people, while others are so unbelievably good that they make me cry like a little girl. Yeah, I said it. My name is Laura Lieff and some contestants on American Idol make me cry. But let me be clear: I’m not tearing up because of their publicity stunt back stories, I’m tearing up because these kids want this so bad and when they get a golden ticket to Hollywood they are so excited that they can’t believe it. Plus, seeing new talent hitting high notes, doing what they love and doing it well is amazing. It reminds me again and again how much I love music and why I love music.

So here’s to 2011 being the best season of Idol yet - talented judges changing the lives of incredible singers from the corners of the world.

The Social Network

As promised, I finally watched The Social Network. And you know when the action stopped in that movie? Never. For a movie that was supposed to be about computer nerds and people suing each other for millions of dollars it sure felt like a sports movie with all the best highlights.

At this point most people know that The Social Network is the story of how Facebook was created by a Harvard undergrad who, with a little help from his friends, created one of the most important contributions to popular culture. Not only did Facebook make the term “social media” a household phrase it also turned people’s social lives into something that other people cared about.

What was cool about watching Social Network is that I went through exactly what the students in the movie were going through upon discovering Facebook because I was in college when all of this was going down. I remember back in 2004 when a friend of mine at the University of Colorado asked me, “Why aren’t you on Facebook?” and I replied with, “What the hell is Facebook?” A few days later she helped me make a profile and showed me what this new web site was all about. At that point I wasn’t even on MySpace so the idea of making a profile and typing in my “relationship status” was completely foreign. As I gathered more and more “friends” it became clear how much I enjoyed checking Facebook and how it became, just like my email account, something I checked at least once a day. Then came the ability to upload photos, “tag” friends that were in the photos and posting “status updates.” And that was it –I was hooked and so was every other college kid in the country and subsequently the world.

What I didn’t know about Facebook was the background: It was created by Mark Zuckerberg (played brilliantly in the movie by Jesse Eisenberg) and that Napster “founder” Sean Parker helped Zuckerberg by convincing him to move to California and dropping “the” and just calling the site “Facebook.” I thought Shawn Fanning was the person who created Napster and I was pretty much right – apparently Parker was Fanning’s business partner. (Sean and Shawn…ridiculous). Anyway, Facebook incorporated in the summer of 2004 and Parker, who had been informally advising Zuckerberg, became the company's president. Currently, Zuckerberg owns 24 percent of the company and Parker owns four percent.

Alright back to the movie – which holds up so well because every character is played perfectly by every actor. Eisenberg plays Zuckerberg (I know it’s hard to keep all the “bergs” straight) in such a ferociously intense way that at first I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to keep up with the dialogue. I also initially thought that Zuckerberg might have a social disorder that made him tough to interact with but no – that’s just his personality and Eisenberg nails it. Meanwhile, Andrew Garfield is mesmerizing as Zuckerberg’s best friend Eduardo Saverin who he ends up totally screwing over. Garfield is the soul of this movie as he makes the audience feel for him and all the steps he takes to help Zuckerberg achieve something bigger than both of them. Then there is the phenomenal Justin Timberlake who makes you simultaneously love and hate his Sean Parker who exemplifies the epitome of contradiction. Parker is motivated and full of ideas but he also has a ruthless side to him – I’m still not sure if he’s a good guy or not. Armie Hammer (Like Arm & Hammer? What kind of name is that?) pulls double duty playing the WASPY McWASP twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss who also claim they got screwed by Zuckerberg and end up spearheading the lawsuits. And of course there’s the girlfriend/ex-girlfriend whose presence bookends the movie – we meet her in the very first frame of the movie when she breaks up with Zuckerberg for acting like a verbal nutjob and then the final frame of the movie shows Zuckerberg staring at her Facebook page. Superb.

So should you see the intricate masterpiece that is The Social Network? Absolutely. It’s already earned four Golden Globes including Best Picture so it might just be a sleigh ride into the Oscars. So go right now. Seriously. Walk away from the computer and find a way to watch it. The two hours will be done before you know it and you’ll wish the movie was longer.