Day 81, rainy and very chilly on a late in the month of march. May the sounds of Joseph Shabala and the Grammy Award winning world music group Ladysmith Black Mambazo warm your hearts today!
The unique and uplifting sounds of Ladysmith Black Mambazo earned them the Best Traditional World Music Album in 2004 and again in 2008! Their first award came in 1987 for their American market debut album, Shaka Zulu for Best Traditional Folk Recording. Enjoy the sounds of African-Rhythm.
Day 80, I decided to go to the 80′s. One of the hottest acts back then was a guy named Christopher Cross and as fast as he came, he vanished out of sight even faster. I guess it’s the curse of being SOO damned good, or just plain lucky and the stars lined up. If you’re not familiar with the name, you’ll certainly recognize the song.
Christopher Cross pulled off an incredible magical-act at the 1980 23rd Grammy Awards. The guy came out of thin air as a new artist and nabbed 5 Grammy Awards in one night and not only that, but he walked away with the coveted BIG 4…(Best Album, Best Song, Best Record and Best New Artist) and the 5th award was for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist. By the way, this cat also won and Oscar for Best Original Song for his work on the theme for the movie “Arthur.”
Unfortunately, the Grammy Genie only grants wishes like this ONCE in ones lifetime, for Christopher Cross soon fell into the abyss of the Forgotten, never to see the likes of the Grammy’s again.
In my closing comments, I leave you with 2 questions: The first should be obvious, “Where the HECK is Christopher now?” and “Who in the heck was his stylist?” There were stylists in the 80′s, but what’s up with dudes get up? He’s from San Antonio, TX, so I clearly see the Houston Oilers jersey connection, but errruhhh….Oh well…saaaiiiiling!
Day 79, another beautiful day here in Buffalo and another day of thanks for all of the mercies bestowed. Today, I was feeling like hearing some throwbacks from the 70′s and 80′s, and for some reason, “Loving You,” kept playing over and over in my head, so I had to touch it, although its not Grammy related, but surely Grammy-worthy. Nonetheless, the real lesson today is about gratitude and love.
Minnie Riperton. I don’t need to elaborate much further, for if you watch and listen to the song above, that is her signature song and voice, to which no one should be unfamiliar with. She transitioned from an earthly angel to a perfect angel at the age of 31, but left us a wonderful catalogue to cherish. Thank you Minnie! If you haven’t seen the mini-documentary on TV1 Unsung, its definitely worth watching, but very sad. I ask you all to appreciate those near and dear and repair what is broken with loved ones immediately, with all pride aside.
STEVIE WONDERS Tribute Song – Perfect Angel
Day 78 and feeling GREAT! I normally post information about Grammy Winners, however, ALL Grammy related news is worthy of noting. My man T1x informed me on Facebook that rapper Paul Wall, has been appointed as the President of the Texas Grammy Chapter. Paul Wall was nominated for a Grammy in 2007 for Best Rap Performance as a Duo or Group, see the IG’NANT video below. I feel dirty, duurrty, derrtay even posting a video like this, but, I try and respect all forms of art and expression, I’m just not sure WHERE the ART is or WHAT the EXPRESSION is.
Interesting how a guy with a $30,000 “grill” of diamond-studded, platinum teeth can become the President of ANYthing?
Day 77, I’m going back to another epic movie classic by Stephen Spielberg, Close Encounter of the Third Kind, released in 1977. I’m not sure when I first watched this movie, but I do know that it was one of the movies I’ll always remember. Of the entire movie, essentially it boiled down to the actual encounter with the Mothership, which was popularly defined by 5 notes (B flat, C, A flat, A flat (octave lower), E flat). Once again, as mentioned in Day 74, John Williams strikes again winning a Grammy for Best Original Score for a Motion Picture. Check out the clip below and if you don’t know, now you knoooow!
Day 76, feeling like royalty. So, while I was just checking out one of the best rappers to ever touch a mic and tell or sell a story, I asked myself, “Was Slick Rick ever nominated for a Grammy?” Well, the answer is yes, but it wasn’t for his debut classic The Adventures of Slick Rick. Keeping true to his name, it was actually pretty slick how Rick found himself nominated for a Grammy.
Slick Rick is credited as the Producer of the ever-popular hip hop crime-tale with the Keystone Cops inspired video, “A Children’s Story.” Slick Rick made it a hit in 1988, until 7 years later, enter Montel Jordan, with “This is How We Do It.”
Montel Jordan was nominated for a Grammy Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male, for the #1 spot, Billboard hit-song, and as a result of Montel sampling Slick Rick’s song, The Ruler was listed as a writer, therefore enabling him to mention himself as a “Grammy Nominated artist” for the rest of his life That was Pretty Slick, Rick! I REFUSE to post the Montel Jordan video as it was one of those hits from 15 years ago, that should remain a part of the 90′s instead of still getting regular rotation in 2010.
Unless someone knows otherwise of better, thats the theory I’m going with.
Day 75, the year was 1989, when hip hop was in its golden era and I was truly loving its transformation, R&B was also churning out some of it’s most memorable artists and recordings, one of them being Luther Vandross. Vandross was referenced in many hip hop lyrics and his first name became a phrase all in itself in thanks for his song “It’s Over Now.” I’m not sure if it was a national or regional thing, but I remember we’d use the phrase “It’s Luther.!” or “He/She’s Luther!!” meaning it was over or they were finished, done, the equivalent of today’s phrase “It’s a wrap!”
Anyhow, the 1989 release of “Here and Now” earned a Grammy for Best R&B Male Vocal Performance at the 33rd Annual. 20-something years later its still one of the most requested songs for weddings. Classic without a doubt.
Day 74, lets take it to 1974, the year of so many great things, one of them being the year that the movie Jaws was released, one of the many Steven Spielberg hit flicks, this one in particular about a big a&& fish. The movie won a Grammy for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture at the 18th Annual, 1975. The award actually went to John Williams, who is well known for scoring many other cult-popular films that I’ll share later, or you can look him up yourself right.
Check out the original trailer for the movie, some 30+ years ago.
Also, to hear the theme song, just in case you need a refresher, click here.
John Williams was friggin’ genius in his compositions.
Day 73. Today I’m dedicating this post to all of the people who HAVE or have HAD a special someone. The other night while at dinner with one of the most special people in my life, truly a god-send, I looked into her eyes from the across the table and she asked in her normal bashful tone, “whuuaat! what are you looking at?” I wish at the moment that Stephanie Mills would have jumped out from behind the kitchen door and started singing this song to us beneath the candle light.
(What’s up with the “big eyeballs” expression @ 0:22, see pic above..lol)
Sticking with the 80′s, I picked another artist who soared to fame with the song, with the really long title, “Never Knew Love Like This Before.” I’m not sure how many of you remember Stephanie, but I was in love with her as a kid. I didn’t have posters or anything like that, but I did have my mom’s album covers and I sure thought she was gorgeous and I liked her voice. Stephanie Mills won Best R&B Female Performance and Best R&B Song at the 23rd Grammy Award Show in 1980. Where is Stephanie now!?? She also had this hit song as well.
No video today, just the easiest way for me to post a musical sample of his phenomenal influence on jazz from the Latin perspective. I asked my wife to give me a random year and she picked 1980. So, I started digging and while digging the name Cal Tjader kept repeating in my head from a rhyme I was thinking about, so I thought to look it up today, just out of curiousity, and I found out that he was a musician, a Grammy Award winning artist in fact, in the year 1980. Best Latin Recording “La Onda Va Bein.” How lovely was that find…hmmm, all things fall in place when you just roll with it. His music was sampled many a time by hip hop producers, so Thank you and RIP to Cal Tjader.
This post is also a testament to how powerful Hip Hop can be when used properly, as a tool for education, uplift, inspiration and information. If it weren’t for Pete Rock (of Pete Rock and CL Smooth) I would never had heard of the name Cal Tjader (silent “t”).
“It’s coming soon, so chill and don’t stress the creator/ I’ll kick funk loops from here to Cal Tjader…
From the Pete Rock and CL Smooth song called “In the Flesh,” from an incredible “Main Ingredient” album. I had no idea who Cal Tjader was or what it was, because the quoted lyric makes a reference as if its a location, just to show you how much I knew about Tjader. Anyways, thanks Pete for the inspiration for the Grammy Chase entry.
lyric at the 3:42 mark.
