with the 52nd Grammy Noms

Tonight the 52nd annual Grammy nominations were announced on CBS. This year they chose to make it a big deal by having a “concert” to declare who was in the running. I’m going to pick the categories that I am most interested in and let you know what my choices are.

Record of the Year:

“Halo”-Beyonce’, “I Gotta Feeling”- The Black Eyed Peas, “Use Somebody”-Kings of Leon, “Poker Face”-Lady Gaga, “You Belong With Me”-Taylor Swift

Who I want to win: I’d like to see Kings of Leon win one, just because they are the underdogs.

Who will win: Taylor Swift…I love her, but I’m kind of getting bored with her winning everything. After the Grammy’s she will have no more award shows to dominate for the Fearless record

Album of the Year:

“I Am…Sasha Fierce”-Beyonce’, “The E.N.D.”-Black Eyed Peas, “The Fame”-Lady Gaga, “Big Whiskey And  The Groogrux King”-Dave Matthews Band, “Fearless”-Taylor Swift

Who I want to win: Lady Gaga, she had an amazing year and has re-invented musical entertainment…again. And this album had 5 hits.

Who will win: Ahhh…I don’t know! lol I’m gonna go with…TSwift…let’s just be honest…she will probably be my default in all categories that she is nominated in.

Song of the Year

“Poker Face”-Lady Gaga, “Pretty Wings”-Maxwell, “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)”-Beyonce’, “Use Somebody”-Kings of Leon, “You Belong With Me”-Taylor Swift

Who I want to win: Beyonce’-this song was stuck in my head all summer and actually brought not only an awesome performance at the MTV Awards, but many laughs from a hilarious YouTube video, a fun number in one of my favorite TV shows of the fall season Glee, and who can forget Justin Timberlake.

Who will win: You guessed it.

Best New Artist

Zac Brown Band, Keri Hilson, MGMT, Silversun Pickups, and The Tings Tings

Who I want to win: The Ting Tings. They are a fun duo and different from the norm.

Who I think will win: Zac Brown Band. They have had a great year in country music and probably the best with radio hits out of anyone in this category.

Best Female Pop Vocal

“Hometown Glory”-Adele, “Halo”-Beyonce’, “Hot N Cold”-Katy Perry, “Sober”-Pink, “You Belong with Me”-Taylor Swift.

Who I want to win: Adele!!!!! I love her!!!!! Her voice is unique and she is a singer. Please come to Austin!

Who will win: TSwift

Best Male Pop Vocal

“This Time”-John Legend, “Love You”-Maxwell, “Make It Mine”-Jason Mraz, “If You Don’t Know Me By Now”-Seal, “All About The Love Again”-Stevie Wonder

Who I want to win: Jason Mraz. I love me some acoustic, chill music.

Who will win: I’m gonna go with Stevie just because he is a legend.

Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or  Group With Vocals

“I Gotta Feeling”-Black Eyed Peas, “We Weren’t Born To Follow”-Bon Jovi, “Never Say Never”-The Fray, “Sara Smile”-Hall & Oates, “Kids”-MGMT

Who I want to win: The Fray! Love this band and their new album. And I get to see them in 2 weeks! Woot!

Who will win: Black Eyed Peas. This song was huge and still is. I’ll admit it…I’m still not sick of it. But then again, I don’t listen to the radio and with an iPod on shuffle that has close to 6,000 songs it doesn’t come around too often

Best Pop Vocal Album

“The E.N.D.”-Black Eyed Peas, “Breakthrough”-Colbie Caillat, “All I Ever Wanted”-Kelly Clarkson, “The Fray”-The Fray, “Funhouse”-Pink

Who I want to win: Kelly Clarkson. She has the best vocals out of this whole group, even though I love all of them.

Who will win: Black Eyed Peas. They’ve had 3 huge hits from the record so I can’t see them not winning.

Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals

“Can’t Find My Way Home”-Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood, “Life in Technicolor II”-Coldplay, “21 Guns”-Green Day, “Use Somebody”-Kings of Leon, “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight”-U2

Who I want to win: Coldplay-Better Recognize!

Who will win: U2-no explanation needed.

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration

“Ego”-Beyonce’ & Kanye West, “Knock You Down”-Keri Hillson, Kanye West, and Ne-Yo, “Run this Town”-Rihanna, Jay-Z, and Kanye West, “I’m On A Boat”-The Lonely Island and T-Pain, “Dead and Gone”-T.I. and Justin Timberlake

Who I want to win: T.I. and JT-This song has a lot of emotion in it and I like T.I.’s reflection on his life.

Who will win: Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Kanye. Good song, so no hard feelings.

Alright-I’m getting lazy, I’m not going to list everyone anymore I’m just going to say my input. But if you want a full listing you can go to the official Grammy website.

Best Female Country Vocal Performance

Who I want to win: Carrie Underwood. Her voice is unreal.

Who will win: TS

Best Male Country Vocal Performance

Who I want to win: Keith Urban! He’s my favorite hands down. If you haven’t seen him live, please do!

Who will win: George Strait-old but still chuggin’ along

Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals

Who I want to win: This one is so hard! I’m gonna go with Lady Antebellum. They are my new favorite country group.

Who will win: Sugarland. I love them as well and they deserve it. Jennifer Nettles voice is stunning and so heartfelt in every song.

Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media

Who I want to win: Twilight…even if you don’t like the movie, the soundtrack was pretty good and it was on the iTunes top downloads for a long time.

Who will win: Slumdog. It won best movie…come on.

Alright, there were a few more that I wanted to write about, but my battery is about to die. What are your picks for the Grammy’s?

Have a good night all. And until next time…PEACE OUT!

…with Switchfoot at The Parish

It has been about 3 years since I have seen Switchfoot live in concert. It was their tour for Nothing is Sound. I enjoyed that show, but thinking back on it now, nothing really stood out. The one thing I remember is Augustana opening for them, and beginning that love affair. Their next album “Oh! Gravity” had not been one of my favorites, so when I bought the tickets to go it was a compulsive buy. They had a new album coming out that was being released only a week before the concert, so I was taking a gamble without knowing if I would like it.

Alicia and I got there about 30 minutes before the doors were to open and the line was already down the block. The Parish is one of my favorite venues downtown. I had the privilege of seeing Angel Taylor/Gavin DeGraw here back in April.

When we got in we found a decent spot on the side of the stage but for some reason every tall man decided to stand around us. I know I am not tall by any means, but this was the first time in awhile where I felt like I was a munchkin.

The stage had numerous seagulls floating around from the ceiling, which is inspired by their album cover art (no worries, the band assured us during the concert that there had been no accidents).

The show was about to start. The band was coming on stage and everyone was screaming and clapping in anticipation. The only one missing was lead singer, Jon Foreman. I was looking around to where their green room was when I notice a man walking towards me. I realize its Foreman! No one around me realized it. He had his hood up trying to  be discreet. As soon as he passed I realized who he looked like at that moment. Dominic Monaghan (Charlie from Lost). Side note: The countdown is on. February 2nd for the last season!

To start the concert Foreman began by singing in the audience. He stood on a bench on the opposite side of where I was. At that moment I knew it was going to be a different kind of concert.

Foreman announced they were going to play their new album “Hello Hurricane” from beginning to end. They said they worked hard on this album and felt like to play it in its entirety for the fans would be a great way to showcase it. Right away my mind went to the Decemberists when I saw them at SXSW. They did the same thing. I loved how I did not have to worry about whether they were going to play my favorite song off the new CD. It was a given

By the time we got to the 6th song, “Free,” Foreman left his mic and guitar to pound on a big drum (I tried to look up the technical name for it, but I failed miserably). I really enjoyed when they performed my favorite song, “Always.” Foreman actually played the piano for this song and said he wrote it while playing on the piano he learned on as a child. He dedicated it to Led Zeppelin, who made him stray from the piano and move onto the guitar. It was beautiful.

For “Bullet Soul” they whipped out the cowbell. Which always sends my mind straight to Will Ferrell and his skit from SNL. To add more to that feel in the following song, “Yet” they whipped out an accordion and harmonica.

Throughout the entire set Foreman was very interactive with the audience. Not only sharing in between songs but coming down, standing on things, borrowing hats. After they finished the entire set they told us they were going to leave and whatever song we started singing they would come back and do. So, right away different groups begin shouting different songs, until one large group begins to sing in unison Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA.” It was pretty funny. The band came back out, but they did not perform Cyrus. They played their song “Home.” Someone was singing it in the front.

The entire time I was hoping they would play my all my time favorite song “24.” I had seen in a tweet earlier in the week that they had done it at a show, so I was crossing my fingers hoping they would repeat it in Austin. And what do you know…they did! And it was awesome! They played some of their other popular songs like “Dare You To Move,” “Learning to Breathe,” “Stars,” and “Oh! Gravity.” And their encore included “This is Your Life” and “Meant To Live.” During the encore John walked around the audience, getting on top of tables, hence how I got this lovely pic:

The show was a full two hours and I loved every second of it. With the band doing the new album in its entirety it definitely helped me fall in love with it even more and I think it is one of their finest they have done. I recently read an article in Relevant Magazine, where they interviewed John Foreman. He said for the new record they started with 120 songs! That is so many! Maybe that is normal, but to me that is crazy. But it is obvious they chose the right one’s. “Hello Hurricane” has a good balance of upbeat and slower songs. And the lyrics–one can most definitely feel the passion and message that each song holds.

I would encourage you to check out Switchfoot’s latest album “Hello Hurricane” and if you get a chance–check them out on the road. They are putting on a great show, in a semi-intimate setting, for a great price.

Until next time…PEACE OUT!

…with serious phone conversations in public places

I kind of want to cry right now because I was almost done with this post when Firefox decided to disappear and WordPress only saved the title of the post! AAAAAHHH! Well, let’s hope I can communicate this as clear the second time around. I was on such a roll as well. DANGIT! Moving on…

Last night my friend Alicia and I were perusing Borders. We were on the hunt to purchase those poetry word magnets for refrigerators. On a side note, we didn’t find any, so if you know where we can get some please let me know, thanks.

While we were on our search there was a young woman near us on her phone. She was engrossed in a very serious conversation. From what we could identify, she was talking with her boyfriend and was asking if him and his family were going to come to Thanksgiving at her place. What we were able to decipher was that he said he was going to come, but his parents declined the invitation.

This response set the woman off on an emotional and angry tirade. She began to say that she didn’t even want him to come anymore and that this was more proof his parents didn’t like her and never will.

Let me be upfront and say we were not trying eavesdrop on this conversation. She was very emotional, so she had no concept of how truly loud she was. Anyone who was on the lower level of Borders could probably hear her. Well…that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but at least everyone in the card and calendar section

I do believe this conversation is important. But what made it inappropriate was having it in the middle of a bookstore. This kind of conversation should be done in person, but if that cannot happen than it should at least be in a private place.

Coming away from this experience I know personally I don’t ever fall into this trap. I am a fairly private person when it comes to my emotions, so I don’t see myself ever being in a position where I may do this. But I felt like I needed to present a public service announcement for others who may get caught up in this:

PLEASE DO NOT HAVE SERIOUS PHONE CONVERSATIONS IN PUBLIC PLACES. No one want to hear them and you shouldn’t want anyone to hear them either.

Until next time…PEACE OUT!