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Pop Rock Nation

Category: People

all-about-musicians-and-the-people-who-help-them-make-music

  • Lil Wayne’s Long Goodbye

    You don’t have to watch the hour long live stream. God knows I kept fast-forwarding. But as he gets ready for sentencing on last year’s gun charges, Wayne took an hour of his dwindling freedom to light up, talk to his fans and rotate in whoever was wandering by.

    There’s no denying Wayne’s appeal or credibility. President Obama name checks him, Billboard is suggesting that Rebirth might sell more than 100,000 units in its debut week and he’s already sitting on 4 Grammys. But last year’s multiple arrests on weapons and drug charges means Wayne is likely going to prison for a time.  Even multimillionaire musicians can’t like prison.  Maybe they like it less.

    But a little dental surgery bought him an extra month on the outside.   Apparently prison dentists aren’t as good as the ones in Miami so the dude who smoked a Grammy stage earlier this month has until March before being sentenced.  Which gives President Obama one more time to namecheck him.  Maybe about dental hygiene.

    Here is the full hour on Ustream for completists.

  • Stranded

    We’ve told you about the Haiti charity singles that are soon to be released such as the Simon Cowell All-Star version of Everybody Hurts and the 25th Anniversary 2010 version of We Are The World. I wanted to give props to another song that was put together for the same reason.

    While we haven’t heard the final update to the We Are The World remake, I’m going to guess that it won’t be able to match the perfect combination of Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Bono on Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour).

    I didn’t watch the Hope For Haiti special live. But I did go on iTunes and download both the album and concert broadcast. I thought all of the songs performed by Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, and others came straight from the heart. The performances were subdued and the artists let their voices shine as to not overshadow the goal of the evening, which was to raise money for Haiti.

    Save for Shakira’s I’ll Stand By You, which I simply couldn’t get into because of her wailing, I enjoyed everything. It was a perfect evening, not only for the money that was raised for Haiti, but also for how the music community showed that once again it can come together when needed.

    The best thing I heard that night, and maybe the best thing I’ve heard in a long time was Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour). From Jay-Z’s whispery delivery, “When the sky falls and the earth quakes, we gon’ put this back together, we won’t break,” to Rihanna and Bono complimenting each other on the chorus, it’s a song that I hope becomes timeless.

    If you haven’t heard it or seen the performance, it’s definitely worth checking out.

  • Zac Brown Band Shreds All-Stars – Grammys 2010

    JoBros in the house, and the screams start early.  Need You Now and Lady Antebellum take the stage.  They’re not really country no matter how much music companies want to slot them there.  Brilliant harmonies.

    CBS shills The Big Bang Theory during Best Comedy Album.  Six nominees and Colbert wins for a cute skit that turned into a record.  And for this we’ve given up a Kings of Leon or a jazz or a blues performance?  Or maybe even that, whaddya call it?  Classical.

    Off of commercial, Norah Jones and Ringo Starr.  Remember, Norah’s dad and Ringo go way back.  Bobby Darin gets a Lifetime Achievement Award as Mack The Knife plays.  Ringo pumps up the audience for Norah.

    Beyonce’s Halo, I Gotta Feeling by the Peas, Use Somebody by Kings of Leon, Gaga’s Poker Face and Taylor Swift’s You Belong With Me are the nominees.   Kings of Leon pull off another huge upset.  Peas and Swift were safe here.  Good for the Academy voters.

    Robert Downey, Jr. is introduced as the most self-important actor of his generation which is a joke gone bad or a horrible intro.  He is Sue’s at Movie Rewind’s main dude. Gotta give it to Jamie Foxx who can make an intro.  Autotune at The Grammys is a big no-no in my book especially when we all know Jamie can sing.  Some weirdness when Jamie’s mic seemed to cut in and a different timbre was heard.  I’m just saying…  T-Pain who is never losing AutoTune regardless of venue prances a bit. The whole thing is a bit muddy for stars this talented.

    It’s the big jam as Slash enters with hat and blazing guitar.

    Katy Perry, kind of looking like his daughter, shows up with Alice Cooper.  They give  Florence Greenberg a posthumous  Trustee Award and start naming   Best Rock Album nominees.

    Best Rock (Kid Rock?  Rock of Ages?) whatever that means anymore, goes to Green Day.  That’s a strange choice with Dave Matthews and the album I thought had won, AC/DC’s Black Ice.  Insiders Butch Vig and Chris Lord-Alge get name checked by Billie Joe Armstrong who doesn’t let anyone else talk.  He writes great hooks, but I’m getting bored with Billie Joe again.   This happened after Dookie too.

    Chris O’Donnell shills one of the NCIS shows.  He throws a lifetime award to Harold Bradley.  He then gives way for Zac Brown Band and Leon Russell.  I would say Leon looks great, but between the shades, big white hat and beard, I couldn’t say.

    He sounded great though as did the protracted acapella version of America that opened the segment.  Brilliant, brilliant band.  Harmony.  Lyrics.  America.  Shredding acoustic guitar solo.  These guys will be around on a decade.