THE GRAMMY AWARDS, which takes place at Staples Center, near the heart of downtown Los Angeles, is definitely one of those nights that brings excitement into those of us who live in Southern California, the way football brings excitement to residents in other cities.
In many ways, though filming and recording take place all over the United States and the world, this is still a company town. Angelenos take pride in bringing entertainment to the world. The excitement that it was Grammy time was felt everywhere. People were talking about it in coffee houses, on phones, and a lot of parties were celebrated at home as people watched the tube. This is our way of participating. We're still talking about it today.
Last year, we embedded some YouTube videos of the Grammy Awards 2011, and very soon they were taken down from YouTube as copyright violations, so we aren't going to embed any videos from last night's performance.
Christine and I were interested in the performances of the Beach Boys, Glen Campbell and Paul McCartney, since they are artists we blog about here at WES BRYAN-MY LIFE IN MUSIC. (The news here on the West Coast is dominated by the death of the long term drug embattled but superior songstress Whitney Houston.)
The Beach Boys, all the original band members who remain alive, performed "Good Vibrations." That includes songwriting genius Brian Wilson, 70, who had his own long battle with drugs and mental illness but has recovered and reemerged to perform over the last few years.
Glen Campbell, 75,who toured with them for a year or so many years ago - as a Beach Boy - jumped up from his seat to the music. Glen, who now suffers from Alzheimer's, and who has won five previous Grammys, was honored with a LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD. He performed "Rhinestone Cowboy, his hit from the 1970's. We're attaching to an article that has a video of Glen about his Alzheimer's from CNN on line.
Paul McCartney, 70, sang an original song he wrote for Valentine's Day, which appears on his new album of classics, and some Beatle's songs of the slow variety. He can be heard in a radio promo fo
r the album saying he's channeling Fats Waller and Fred Astaire.
r the album saying he's channeling Fats Waller and Fred Astaire.Christine feels that none of these artists were in fine voice, that it was Glen Campbells' voice that still has some of the resonance that it used to. After years of performing, and with age, many artists do loose their voices. What can help, sometimes a whole lot, is practicing vocalizations, in other words, voice lessons. That's the way to keep and improve what you've got. Still, we have to appreciate that they lost their voices performing, for the fans, the audience.
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