Grammy Awards

The Dixie Chicks may not have been ready to make nice, but last night, band members showed they weren't above gloating -- at least a little -- as they accepted five honors at the 49th annual Grammy Awards, including record of the year, song of the year and best album. The super-trio was snubbed by many country fans and radio stations after lead singer Natalie Maines made disparaging comments in 2003 about President Bush. Taking the Long Way, last night's winning album, was ignored by the Country Music Association at its November awards ceremony.

Critics may carp that the Grammy Awards are overly commercialized and under-representative of musical quality, but one thing they're not is predictable.Just look at this year's ballot. Even though the artists earning the most nominations were all women -- Lauryn Hill, Sheryl Crow, Shania Twain and Madonna -- this year's Grammy race is more about genre than gender, as most of the major nominees owe their success to having crossed over from a pop pigeonhole to the anything-goes mainstream.That may be why the Grammy guessing game has grown harder in recent years.

Doris M. Drury,72, the first woman to head the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, died Tuesday. Ms. Drury, a longtime professor at the University of Denver and Regis University, also was a pioneer in helping women get bank loans.Patrick Heron,79, Britain's foremost abstract painter, died yesterday, the director of London's Tate Gallery said. The Tate Gallery held a retrospective exhibition of Mr. Heron's work last year. He was a principle member of the St. Ives group of artists.Marian Searchinger,81, New York theatrical agent who represented actors Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee and Jane Alexander, died Monday in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Ever wonder what it's like to cover the Grammy Awards show?If you imagine reporters in tuxes, sitting in the audience with all the big stars, think again. When the winners take the stage at the 41st annual Grammy Awards broadcast in Los Angeles this evening, the press will see them the same way you do -- on television.The only difference is that their TV is in an auditorium adjoining the Shrine Arena in Los Angeles, whereas your TV is in the living room.That's not to say there aren't advantages in being backstage at the Grammys.

NEW YORK -- On the charts, 1997 was mostly kid stuff, all fluff, silliness and sentimentality.But at the Grammys, 1997 turns out to have been a very grown-up year, indeed. When nominations for the 40th Annual Grammy Awards were announced in New York yesterday, the major categories -- Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist -- were dominated by adult pop acts, including Paula Cole, R. Kelly, Shawn Colvin, Bob Dylan and Babyface.Cole, in fact, was named in all four categories.

Michael Portnoy's 15 minutes of fame lasted maybe 30 seconds.In a night marked by Girl Power, sore throats and Aretha's aria, the 40th annual Grammy Awards will also be remembered for Portnoy's unscheduled performance as the "Soy Bomb" Boy. Hired as a show extra, he crashed the stage in New York City as Grammy-winner Bob Dylan was singing "Love Sick."What the TV world saw was this string-bean of a guy dancing next to an unflappable Dylan. Monica Lewinsky could have dived onto the stage and the folk legend wouldn't have flinched.

As the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences puts more effort into making its annual Grammy Awards ceremony a celebration of musical excellence, it gets harder and harder to predict who will win.Before, the Grammys generally went to the nominee who best balanced commercial popularity with musical conservatism. Picking winners was mainly a matter of guessing which of the nominees most appealed to this lowest common denominator.In recent years, though, big Grammy winners -- Beck, Seal, Alanis Morissette, for example -- have been downright respectable.

NEW YORK -- Who said the annual Grammy Awards broadcast only serves up the expected?That certainly wasn't the case last night. In an evening that mixed predictable victories with surprising upsets, Paula Cole bested million-sellers Hanson and Sean "Puffy" Combs in the Best New Artist category, while Shawn Colvin's hit "Sunny Came Home" was named Song and Record of the Year.In an award that echoed many critics' polls, Bob Dylan's "Time Out of Mind" was named Album of the Year. "Everybody worked extra special hard, even the musicians," Dylan joked.

You oughta know who was the big winner at the Grammy Awards last night.Although Seal dominated the major categories, winning both Record and Song of the Year, it was Alanis Morissette who took home the most trophies: Album of the Year, Female Rock Vocal Performance, Best Rock Album and Best Rock Song. Hootie & the Blowfish were named Best New Artist.It would be an understatement to say that Morissette's work is not typical Grammy fare. As host Ellen DeGeneres said after "Jagged Little Pill" was named Album of the Year, "I really couldn't imagine going to my parents and playing that song for them.

At least at this year's Grammys, neither A Taste of Honey nor Milli Vanilli is up for anything.* "Ellen" (8 p.m.-8:30 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- Ellen has no problem accepting a marriage proposal from Matt (Dan Gauthier) but thinks the ring is a bit on the small side. ABC.* "Grammy Awards" (8 p.m.-whenever, WJZ, Channel 13) -- Ellen DeGeneres is the host for this year's annual attempt by the music industry to show it knows what talent is. Past years have often proved more embarrassing than not, but this year the Grammy folks swear they'll get it right.

Chris Brown is out on bail - and out of Doublemint ad campaign for now Los Angeles authorities are continuing to investigate what took place between R&B singer Chris Brown, one of the biggest-selling performers in pop music, and his girlfriend, pop singer Rihanna, after the pair were seen enjoying themselves at the annual pre-Grammy party hosted by Clive Davis. Both singers were scheduled to perform at Sunday night's Grammy Awards but did not appear. Instead, Brown, 19, was being booked on suspicion of making a criminal threat stemming from an assault on Rihanna, 20, according to the Los Angeles Times.

She was a continent away, but that didn't stop troubled British soul-singer Amy Winehouse from being the main attraction at last night's Grammy Awards as she took home five awards, including best new artist. But the singer herself struggled to live up to the preshow hype as the visibly jumpy 24-year-old labored through shaky but stirring performances of "You Know I'm No Good" and her signature smash "Rehab." In a towering rose-accented beehive and a black ruffled minidress, she hit a few ragged notes before a supportive audience in a London club.

She generated almost deafening buzz last year, but industry insiders, pop culture bloggers and pop music fans weren't just going on about Amy Winehouse's music. Sure, her sound -- a self-consciously retro blend of vintage Motown beats and punchy Stax horns overlaid with wry, self-penned lyrics -- stood out. It was all showcased on Back to Black, the British star's American debut, which is up for the album of the year award on tonight's 50th Annual Grammy Awards show. Behind Kanye West, who leads with eight nominations, the blue-eyed soul sensation is up for six shiny gramophones, including record and song of the year for her ironic hit "Rehab."

THE POLITICAL SCIENTIST LANGDON WINNER HAPpened to be driving across the country in June 1967 -- just days after the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. "In each city where I stopped for gas or food -- Laramie, Ogallala, Moline, South Bend -- the melodies wafted in from some far-off transistor radio or portable hi-fi," he would write. "For a brief while, the irreparably fragmented consciousness of the West was unified, at least in the minds of the young." Forty years later, former Beatle Paul McCartney will attempt to re-create that spirit on Tuesday, when Starbucks hosts a 24-hour "worldwide listening party" with his new CD, Memory Almost Full, set on repeat at more than 10,000 locations in 29 countries.

The Dixie Chicks may not have been ready to make nice, but last night, band members showed they weren't above gloating -- at least a little -- as they accepted five honors at the 49th annual Grammy Awards, including record of the year, song of the year and best album. The super-trio was snubbed by many country fans and radio stations after lead singer Natalie Maines made disparaging comments in 2003 about President Bush. Taking the Long Way, last night's winning album, was ignored by the Country Music Association at its November awards ceremony.

YOU KNOW THE Grammys are on shaky ground when viewers would rather watch pitch-challenged amateurs on American Idol than multi-platinum, even legendary superstars. With recent ratings shrinking, the event advertised as "Music's Biggest Night" has become progressively smaller. The 49th annual Grammy Awards, airing live tonight, face myriad struggles: infinite audience fragmentation, competition from a glut of televised celebrity spectacles and the over-saturation of a pop culture whose disposability rivals Kleenex.

The Irish rock band U2 cemented its position atop the music universe last night as the band swept the 48th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, winning five awards, including album of the year and song of the year. "This is really a big, big night for our band," said lead singer Bono, in a leather jacket and white cowboy hat. "There's always the possibility with rock music that it might just amount to a little more than entertainment, on occasion, and you might be able to communicate some honest feelings."

RECORD OF THE YEAR "We Belong Together," Mariah Carey "Feel Good Inc.," Gorillaz featuring De La Soul "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," Green Day "Hollaback Girl," Gwen Stefani "Gold Digger," Kanye West MY PICK / / "Boulevard of Broken Dreams." This is one of the few bright pop-rock tracks of last year with lyrical substance and a good groove. The blistering, dramatic ending is nice, too. But Mariah Carey may snag this one, because "We Belong Together" was such a massive smash with an easy melody that resides in your head.

THE GRAMMY AWARD FOR ALBUM OF THE YEAR IS THE LAST award given out during the ceremony, so you could say it's the most highly anticipated. Imagine how the nominees feel as they sit through two hours of long, slow monologues, bombastic performances and tearful acceptance speeches, waiting to find out if their peers really liked their albums. Of course, it's hard to predict which artist at the 48th Grammy Awards ceremony, to be broadcast Wednesday on CBS, will walk away with the evening's most coveted prize.

We've come to expect nothing less than bloat and bombast from the Grammys. And, for the most part, that's what we got last night. Maybe that was to be expected after a year in which the most successful pop music was mostly predictable and unadventurous. But the 47th Annual Grammy Awards, hosted by a resplendently Pearl Bailey-esque Queen Latifah, carried on in that spirit. The choppy opening performances featuring the Black Eyed Peas (who used to be cool and edgy before they struck platinum with innocuous party pap)