2010 Grammy's In A Nutshell

2010 Grammy's in a nutshell: Lady Ga Ga is insane, Taylor Swift wins a lot, Kings Of Leon get "Record of the Year", Stephen Colbert takes sarcastic jabs at various celebrities, and MJ's kids say a few words. Stereogum had it right; there were better things on TV last night.

UPDATE: Congratulations to The Boss, for taking home a Grammy. And I will even congratulate Kings Of Leon. The boys deserve it. Plus, they're acceptance speech was pretty great: "We're all kind of drunk right now, but the good kind of drunk." Phoenix also won a Grammy for Best Alternative Album. Way to go, gentleman. Sorry you had to be interviewed by Snooki, that orange planet of gross.

"2009 VMAs", Meet My Thoughts

I surprise myself. I didn't think I'd make it through the whole show. I thought my head would explode and you'd have to listen to our automation setting of jazz and oldies on KUR this fall. Somehow, I survived. And the awards show was interesting. We all secretly love a little drama, don't we? Here are my thoughts. I commented religiously during this extravaganza and here are my uncensored and rude remarks:

8:59 – Who’s this English VJ?

9:01 – Here we go. “Michael Jackson”. Okay already. Madonna, it’s about The King of Pop, not you.

9:02 – Nice cut to Pete Wentz falling asleep during Madonna’s speech.

9:04 – Once again, Madonna – this is not about you.

9:07 – Hey Jimmy Fallon’s here. Sweet cut to vintage MTV launch clip.

9:08 – MJ Tribute with a shit ton of dancers. Special effects on “Thriller” video look great.

9:11 – Crowd is going nuts for “Scream”. Holy shit here comes Janet. Is she lip-syncing?

9:12 – Cool dance number for Janet.

9:13 – Katy Perry is the sexiest woman alive. What’s up with Joe Perry’s white hair streak? They do “We Will Rock You”. Are they related? I’m just thinking about that now.

9:14 – Russel Brand is in the house.

9:16 – “This night is dedicated to great music videos.” Shouldn’t MTV always be dedicated to music videos? Kill me.

9:18 – This guy is getting no laughs.

9:19 – Lady Gaga scares the shit out of me.

9:21 – Pink’s still relevant? Will.I.Am’s singing.

9:22 – Shakira, at 38, is hot as hell. Their spiel is awkward.

9:23 – Lyrically, the worst written song I’ve heard all year: Kelly Clarkson’s “My Life Would Suck Without You”. Please let best female go to Katy or Taylor.

9:24 – Taylor is a deserving artist. She’s probably the most natural woman nominated. PA local (I hear she’s about 10 minutes from here).

9:25 – KANYE WTF ARE YOU DOING?!?

9:26 – HOLY SHIT. THIS AWARD SHOW JUST GOT MAD AWKWARD.

9:29 – The Buried Life looks cool.

9:33 – People on Twitter flipping a shit about Kanye.

9:34 – BEST ROCK VIDEO, HERE WE GO. Jack Black and Leighton Meester. She’s slammin’. Way to mention shitty bands, Leighton. Coldplay’s got this in the bag. I think.

9:36 – Kings are getting a great roar. Paramore makes me want to drown myself.

9:36 – Green Day wins it. “21 Guns”. I liked the video. I wonder if they still hate America. Fall Out Boy’s starting to cry.

9:37 – BILLLY JOE, YOU ARE REDEEMED FOR SAYING MTV SHOULD PLAY MORE VIDEOS.

9:38 – Hey, it’s the loser of the original Shot of Love with Tila Tequila. Taylor Swift’s in a subway, trying to get as far away from Kanye as possible. Feelings have been hurt.

9:40 – Taylor Swift is angelic. All the extras in this performance look nervous and awkward as hell. This performance is pretty cool, though.

9:42 – Holy shit, their playing Major Lazer.

9:47 – So glad 3Oh!3 weren't at the Warped Tour is Oceanport this summer. Pete Wentz and dude from Cobra Starship just made out backstage.

9:49 – Lady Gaga? What the hell is this.

9:52 – I heard somewhere that Lady Gaga is a beast on the piano. Why wouldn’t she exploit that?

9:53 – We’re back to Will.I.Am., and what’s he doing to “Viva La Vida”?

9:56 – I’ve always been a fan of the 5 Gum commercials.

9:58 – Daughtry’s coming to the Sovereign Center in Philly. I will not be attending.

9:59 – For shitty nominees, text MTVBLOWS to…whatever.

10:00 – Lady Gaga is sitting down now, covered in a cherry Fruit Roll-Up.

10:02 – The Hills makes me want to die.

10:03 – Best Pop Video. I hope Cobra wins. That song is addicting. Nelly Furtado, shut the hell up with your Spanish.

10:04 – I thought Britney Spears died. Megan Fox reminds me of Jennifer Connolly in Career Opportunities. Remember The Clash? My mind wanders…

10:05 – Green Day’s on the stage now. Are they going to burn an American flag?

10:08 – I remember when Green Day didn’t wear eyeliner.

10:09 – Good luck singing with a bunch of idiots in your face. All I can hear is “OMG I LOVE YOU.”

10:13 – I need a beer.

10:15 – Can they stop doing Real World challenges? What’s the music concept?

10:16 – Twilight preview? Vampires? This sucks. Get it?

10:20 – Ne-Yo and some dude from Gossip Girl introduce Beyonce. Awkward intro.

10:21 – See, this is how a female pop artist should dress. Gaga, take notes. Beyonce is classy and sexy.

10:24 – Can she sing Sweet Dream instead?

10:27 – Announcer says Muse, “the band everyone will be talking about tomorrow”. Ha.

10:31 – Puffy! People boo Kanye’s name, chant Taylor’s.

10:32 – Best Male Video. God Eminem is so lame. I hope Jay-Z gets it. T.I. wins.

10:34 – Guy from 300 introduces Muse. Here’s some justice. Their playing “Uprising”.

10:37 – The crowd over there loves it. As they should.

10:40 – Great performance. We’re treated to more Tracy Morgan and Em trying to get people to text their votes for Best New Artist. Surprise cameo by Cyndi Lauper. Who remembers when Tom Green did this back in the day? Hysterical.

10:47 – What the hell is on the dude from All American Rejects’ chest? J-Lo is still alive.

10:48 – Best Hip Hop Video. “Love Lockdown” was actually a good music video. I don’t care who wins, just no Em, please. Or Asher Roth. I heard he was the biggest loser in West Chester.

10:49 – Shit. Slim takes the moon man. He looks like Sinead O’Connor right now. He shows signs of maturity on stage. Maybe I got this guy all wrong. …Don’t think so.

10:51 – Overall, horrible production quality of this show. DJ AM is remembered.

10:55 – Where The Wild Things Are trailer is played in the commercials. Arcade Fire’s “Wake Up” seems fitting.

10:59 – Lady Gaga wins the Best New Artist Award. God, she’s creepy.

11:00 – Pink hits the stage. I think I’m going to go to the bathroom.

11:03 – Didn’t someone else wear a tassel like this at the VMA’s a few years ago? I remember it being very awkward. For the love of Christ, she’s on a trapeze.

11:11 – I’ll make a wish: I wish Kanye West gets his ass kicked.

11:12 – Fallon and Sandberg love Boyz II Men. Video Of The Year is up now. Here’s the big one.

11:13 – Beyonce wins it for “Single Ladies”. Happy Kanye?

11:14 – SHE INVITES TAYLOR OUT! OH THE HOOPLA! Now “she gets her moment”. They’re both in red. Gaga is shown with a nest around her face.

11:15 – Taylor took this whole thing in stride. But even Beyonce knows what Kanye did was so dick.

11:22 – Jay-Z arrives. Alicia Keys will be performing with him. Brand calls him the “mayor of New York”. I liked Alicia Keys in the Common music video for “I Want You”. My mind is wandering again.

11:26 – This is a big pro-NYC performance.

11:29 – What is this, a MJ movie preview? I think everyone at this show owes a huge debt to The King of Pop for paving the way. Oh, Michael Jackson’s This Is It.

11:31 – Brand says peace and we are done.

Overall – it was a typical MTV awards show in the later 00s. Take that as you will. Music videos are dead. Kanye West sucks. Goodnight.

UPDATE: That guy I said was "Will.I.Am.", is actually some guy named Wale. My bad. Also Kanye apologized to the world for what he did, but that still doesn't redeem himself.

Some Interesting KUR News + Updates

Okay, it's Friday, and I have a few things to cover before I begin to booze, so let's get this rollin'.

I read my Yahoo! e-mail inbox messages for the first time in a few weeks this morning and I got some great news about our tiny, little station in K-Town. Seems like we're getting a lot of good press lately. Turns out more and more people are beginning to discover us. The only downside is that a lot of the coverage is about how we have a jazz format during the daytime. And that's really our manager's forte. I really wish we'd just switch to an indie/alternative rock station like 99% of all college radio stations. But beggers can't be choosers, I guess. Check out this article in the Reading Eagle:

"Kutztown University radio station finds new way to expand audience.
School is first college to join system that provides music, news, shows over the phone."

Comments include:

"A jazz format for a college radio station?? Somehow i don't see many college students spending their days listening to jazz.. Perhaps if they did a rock or top 40 format they'd get a better response from their target listeners."

"I've heard the station and it sounds good. Kutztown actually has a very decent jazz program. I know people in the program, so I can see it fitting and working for the school. They seem to be targeting the community."

The second comment was posted by "Mr. Uppity". I guarantee that's our manager. Actually, I'm almost positive.

Another tidbit of info about our station, we recently began broadcasting over the phone. It's pretty unique, not many stations have this option. You basically call this number: (610)-465-7860; and you can hear our station right on your phone. See, we've got all these fancy ways of hearing us and still not FCC license. Come on, congress! Notice us! Anyway, apparently we broke some kind of record. Here's the e-mail I received from my manager.

"Just got word from Audio Now that our dial in phone # received hundreds of people dialing in at one time yesterday obviously in response to the big article that ran in the Reading newspaper. The e-mails and phones have been ringing off the hook all day here at the KUR offices from hundreds of new listeners who found out about us through the article and are now new listeners. James Kastle's show can hardly handle the multitude of calls coming in this afternoon with comments like "love the jazz," "thank God for jazz on the radio," "we love KUR," "you guys have come such a long way.""

Cool stuff. These kind of news updates raises my faith in our station. Way to go, crew.

Also, make sure to tune into Jim's summer show tonight. It's an hour long of great music and great commentary. 6-7 PM @ kur.kutztown.edu. Stream it, hear it, love it. Comment and let us know what you think!

Moving on: Anyone who knows me, knows that my favorite late night talk program(s) include The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Funny, 30-minutes, directed towards young people, and the list goes on and on. Anyway, returning from commericial, Jon Stewart of The Daily Show was blatantly singing "Use Somebody" by Kings Of Leon. What a bump! I wonder if anyone else caught that. It's was a pretty cool two seconds.

Lastly: Bloc Party premiered their new single, "One More Chance" last night on BBC 2's Zan Lowe's Radio 1 program. I got around to hearing it this morning via the band's website. Blog Party had this to say about the tune:

"First thoughts? Old skool piano...yay or nay? Anyone else hear shades of 'Your Visits Are Getting Shorter' in the verse? Stay tuned for the video!"

I, for one, enjoyed it. I like the piano. The lyrics aren't too shabby either. I hope it grows on me like "Mercury" did. Bloc Party is definitely one of my favorite bands and they've been constantly changing their direction in alternative music since their first record, Silent Alarm, dropped in 2005. They have a tendency of putting out these singles in between full-length records, so maybe we can expect a new record in the fall? Kepe those fingers crossed.

Enjoy the weekend and (hopefully) get some sunshine! God knows we've had enough rain in the tri-state for one summer already...

Len - If You Steal My Sunshine

New Music Video: Kings Of Leon - Notion

Things seem to come in pairs here on the blog. And what a coincident: I just wrote about these guys. This is a mid-card track off "Only By The Night", which was released a couple of months ago. I like this one, despite it's music video. The video itself is right out of the Nickelback/Creed/Three Doors Down playbook, but the song itself, pretty sweet. "Don't knock it" without hearing it first. Enjoy:

Kings Of Leon: Saviors Of Rock?

King Of Leon. They've been around for years now. Years. From humble beginings in 1999 down in Nashville. Had a kickin' indie track from years past with "Four Kicks" off Aha Shake Heartbrake back in '04, but now they're getting some great recognition. Rolling Stone magazine did a cover story on them, MTV asked them to play their lousy excuse for a movie award's show, and they're concert tickets are selling. They're sound is not revolutionary, but compared to those dominating radio and charts, it might as well be. These guy's would've been sick in the mid-90's by sound alone, but now here they are, rockin' as a family and opening up some eyes. Strive forth, southerners. Nice guys don't always finish last. Keep your eyes on this group, as we here at NMTM always cross our fingers for saviors of rock.

Great band, great city, great song.