Jimmy Fallon isn’t known for his seriousness, and it’s easy to see that he loves his job. Here’s a supercut of Jimmy loving life. Warning, his laughter is contagious, so watch this if you’re ever feeling down.
Includes celebrities like Taylor Swift, Zac Efron, Louis CK, Artie Lange, Barbra Streisand, Chuck Berry, Jeffrey Tambor, Josh Brolin, Jilanna Margulies, Mo’ne Davis, Nick Offerman, Steve Harvey, Sylvester Stallone, Denzel Washington, Kevin Spacey, Dave Chappelle, Seth MacFarlane, Louis CK, Zac Efron, Tina Fey, Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Martin Lawrence, Julia Roberts, Michael Strahan, and Jason Statham.
How were proprietors to achieve economic growth in the mid-1600s? Like the owner of the first English coffee-shop did in 1652, London merchant Samuel Price deployed the time-honored tactics of the mountebank, using advertising to make all sorts of claims for coffee’s many “virtues” in order to convince consumers to drink the stuff at home. In the 1690 broadside above, writes Rebecca Onion at Slate, Price made a “litany of claims for coffee’s health benefits,” some of which “we’d recognize today and others that seem far-fetched.” In the latter category are assertions that “coffee-drinking populations didn’t get common diseases” like kidney stones or “Scurvey, Gout, Dropsie.” Coffee could also, Price claimed, improve hearing and “swooning” and was “experimentally good to prevent Miscarriage.”
11:12pm – Sam Smith wins Record of the Year. “Thank you to the man who broke my heart…who the record was about…because you won me 4 Grammys!”
11:05pm – Yes, that was Kristen Wiig dancing with Maddie Ziegler during the Sia performance of Chandelier.
10:59pm – Since he lost Album of the Year, Sam Smith won’t be winning all 4 big awards. Christopher Cross’ sweep is safe for another year.
10:57pm – Sam Smith’s Darkchild version of Stay With Me wins Song of the Year.
10:53pm – I dig Sia. Even if she doesn’t mant to show her face or sing to the public.
10:42pm – The Grammy Album of the Year goes to Beck – Morning Phase! Congrats, sir. You’re not a loser anymore!
10:42pm – “Like books and black lives, albums still matter.” – Prince
10:41pm – How beloved is Prince? He gets a standing ovation for literally walking onto the stage.
10:31pm – Ok, shhh. Sam Smith is performing with Mary J. Blige. See you in 5 minutes.
10:25pm – Hey! It’s the guy from Wings!
10:20pm – Eric Church started in bars playing Jimmy Buffett cover songs and got in a lot of fights – from the stage.
10:02pm – I’m in heaven hearing Tony Bennett sing and have him on this planet. His first album was in 1955!
9:58pm – Katy Perry is cool, but I wouldn’t mind if they brought back Annie Lennox for the final 6 performances.
9:38pm – Miranda Lambert wins Best Country Album. She was a finalist on the 2003 season of Nashville Star, where she finished in third place.
9:31pm – Oh. My. God. I know Annie put out her Nostalgia album last year, but come back to music full-time, Annie. We deeply, greatly miss you.
9:28 – I’. almost in tears knowing Annie Lennon and Hozier are going to do Take Me To Church.
9:16pm – I love ELO. Fun Fact – as big as they were, and they were, they have the most Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 hits, 20, of any group in chart history without having a #1 single.
9:11pm – Ed Sheeran gets a symbolic tattoo from every new country he tours in. Here’s Canada!
9:05pm – I’ve seen this Hyundai ad featuring “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons, 12 times already. I’ll be REALLY interested in THAT sales bump next week.
8:59pm – The Best Rock Album Grammy goes to … Beck’s Morning Phase. He started this album back in 2005. It was not until 2012 that he returned to continue the project, this time recording at Third Man Records (which, incidentally had not existed at the time of his previous sessions).
8:58pm – Note to people reading this that are also posting on social media. Before you write that snarky tweet about Madonna, just remember – she’s 56. Let’s see you move like that when you’re 56.
8:46pm – Trivia! Beck’s Album of the Year Grammy nomination for Morning Phase makes him 1st artist to be nominated in this category in each decade from 1990s-2010s.
8:41pm – Sam Smith wins Best Pop Vocal Album. “”It was when I started to be myself, is when the music started to flow.”
8:30pm – Tom Jones is amazing, I don’t care what you say.
8:20pm – This is already my favorite line of the night.
8:11pm – The Grammys for Best New Artist goes to Sam Smith, the first of a possible handful of awards tonight!
8:06pm – So far, two puns based on “Shake It Off.”
8:03pm – Performing on the Grammys for the first-time ever, AC/DC! \m/ \m/
7:47pm – Trivia! Sia’s “Chandelier” is the year’s only work to be Grammy nominated for both Record of the Year and Best Music Video.
7:42pm – “Not smiling makes me smile.” -Kayne West
7:37pm – In 2011, Meghan Trainor released two acoustic albums, I’ll Sing with You and Only 17.
7:33pm – Katy Perry will bring a more intimate tone to the Grammy stage through her performance of “By The Grace Of God.”
7:32pm – There will be 35 performers tonight. GRAMMY nominee Katy Perry, GRAMMY-winning band AC/DC; GRAMMYwinner and current nominee Beck; GRAMMY winner and current nominee Tony Bennett; GRAMMY winner and current nominee Mary J. Blige; nominee Eric Church; nominee Brandy Clark; GRAMMY winner and current nominee Common; nominee Ariana Grande; GRAMMY winner Herbie Hancock; nominee Hozier; nominee Jessie J; GRAMMY winner Tom Jones; 20-time Latin GRAMMY winner and current nominee Juanes; GRAMMY winner and current nominee Lady Gaga; GRAMMY winner and current nominee Miranda Lambert; internationally acclaimed pianist and GRAMMY Cultural Ambassador To China Lang Lang; GRAMMY winner and current nominee John Legend; GRAMMY winner and current nominee Annie Lennox; GRAMMY winner Adam Levine; the legendary Jeff Lynne’s ELO; GRAMMY winner Madonna; GRAMMY winner Paul McCartney; GRAMMY winner and current nominee Chris Martin; GRAMMY winner John Mayer; GRAMMY winner Questlove; GRAMMY winner and current nominee Rihanna; nominee Ed Sheeran; nominee Sia; nominee Sam Smith; GRAMMY winner Gwen Stefani; GRAMMY winner and current nominee Usher; GRAMMY winner and current nominee Kanye West; GRAMMY winner and current nominee Pharrell Williams; and GRAMMY winner Dwight Yoakam.
7:23pm – It’s over. Mastodon win the Grammys already with the most interesting attire.
7:22pm – The youngest person ever to be nominated for a Grammy is Billy Gilman. He was exactly 12 years, 273 days old when he earned the nomination.
7:19pm – Dave Grohl looking bad-ass as always at the Grammys. There goes my hero.
7:17pm – More trivia! Elvis Presley never achieved a Grammy in top category. He was honored with 3 Grammys for his gospel music, though.
7:15pm – Trivia! Every year approximately 7,000 academy members cast their vote. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu tabulates them all.
7:12pm – The Best Folk Album at Grammys – ‘Remedy’ by Old Crow Medicine Show. They were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 2013. They’re also pretty great in the documentary Big Easy Express, which won a Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video in 2013.
7:11pm – This is the same time as my favorite store.
7:09pm – I just wanna say…I tweeted this was going to win the first day this album came out. Best American Roots Performance “A Feather’s Not A Bird” and Best Americana Album ‘The River & The Thread’ – Roseanne Cash! #GRAMMYs – Roseanne Cash! The whole album is a stunner.
7:08pm – Pharrell Williams’ ‘Girl’ wins for Best Urban Contemporary Album at #Grammys. I still love that hat.
7:05pm: Best R&B Song ‘Drunk In Love’ – Beyoncé & JAY Z. It her 34,846th Grammy, and his 43,743rd.
7:03pm – Max Martin wins Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical. Since 1999, Martin has written and co-written 19 Billboard Hot 100 number-one hits (most of which he has also produced or co-produced) in the United States, including “So What” by Pink, “I Kissed a Girl” by Katy Perry, “Hold It Against Me” by Britney Spears, “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift, and “One More Night” by Maroon 5. He is the songwriter with third most number one singles on the chart, behind only Paul McCartney (32) and John Lennon (26). Martin has written 58 top ten hits in the United Kingdom and 51 in the United States.
6:45pm – Eminem’s ‘The Marshall Mathers LP2’ wins Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. 6 of his 8 studio albums have won this.
6:30pm – ‘The Monster’ – Eminem featuring Rihanna wins Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. Eminem now has 15 Grammy Awards; Rihanna has 8.
6:28pm – Why Beyonce only in Grammy R&B categories: Screening Committees from both Pop & R&B genres agreed where her music should be submitted.
6:26pm – Kendrick Lamar’s ‘i’ wins the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance. He debuted it live at WeDay in Toronto.
6:23pm – “Weird Al” Yankovic has won his 4th Grammy Award! This time for Best Comedy Album ‘Mandatory Fun.’
6:21pm – 2 deceased people have just won Grammys: Best Blues Album: Johnny Winter’s Step Back; Best Spoken Word: Joan Rivers’ ‘Diary Of A Mad Diva’
6:19pm – Sam Smith: “I actually didn’t listen to male vocalists until about 2 years ago. I just listened to Whitney Houston, Chaka Khan.”
6:18pm – Disclosure and Sam Smith thought that “Latch” was too weird for the radio and not clubby enough for the clubs because it’s in 6/8 time, not the normal 4/4 time for deep house music.
6:15pm – Paramore picks up the Best Rock Song Grammy for “Ain’t It Fun.” They lost Best New Artist to Amy Winehouse in 2008.
6:14pm – The Grammys Award for Best Alternative Music Album goes to… St. Vincent. She began her music career as a member of The Polyphonic Spree and was also part of Sufjan Stevens’s touring band.
6:13pm – Best Pop Duo/Group Performance – ‘Say Something’ – A Great Big World & Christina Aguilera, first heard on SYTYCD, without Christina’s vocals. She contacted them afterward for the duet.
6:12pm – The Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album of the Year goes to ‘Cheek To Cheek’ – Lady Gaga & Tony Bennett!
6:10pm – Carrie Underwood wins Grammy for Best Country Solo Performance with “Something In The Water.” She’s sold 64 million records so far, making her by far the biggest American Idol winner in history.
6:07pm – Trivia! Sam Smith winning Grammy for Best New Artist would make him 1st male British solo artist to win the award since Tom Jones in 1966.
6:06pm – “Frozen” wins the Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media. “Frozen” soundtrack hit #1 on Billboard Album Chart, becoming the 4th soundtrack album from an animated film to reach that peak. It also wins for Best Song Written For Visual Media with “Let It Go.”
6:04pm – Trivia! Why Taylor Swift’s 1989 nominated for Grammys: It was released October 27, 2014, making it and its subsequent singles ineligible. Watch for the sweep in nominations in 2016.
6:02pm – Congrats to Pharrell Williams for the Grammy Award for Best Music Video – “Happy”!
6:01pm – Best Music Film: 20 Feet From Stardom – Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer & Judith Hill. Love this movie. If you haven’t seen it, go. Now.
5:57pm – Trivia! Lifetime Grammy wins: Sir Georg Solti 31; Quincy Jones + Alison Krauss 27; Pierre Boulez 26; Vladimir Horowitz 25; U2 + Stevie Wonder 22.
5:50pm – Aphex Twin’s most recent LP, Syro, has won the Grammy for Best Electronic/Dance Album. Aphex Twin’s Syro is a neologism that was coined by Richard D James’ children + shortened version of “Syrobonkus”, a made-up word.
5:48pm – Beyonce has just won her 17th Grammys Award, out of 53 nominations. This time for Best Surround Sound Album. Blue Ivy won’t receive Grammy should “Beyonce” win Album Of The Year. She’s credited as ‘additional vocals’ & not enough credit for nomination.
5:45pm – The Rise & Fall Of Paramount Records, Volume One (1917-27) wins the Best Box Set at Grammys. An excellent choice!
5:43pm – Winner of the Best Children’s Album Grammys: I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up For Education And Changed The World (Malala Yousafzai).
5:41pm – Yay! Ziggy Marley won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album! Congrats to the entire TuffGong team!
5:37pm – Sam Smith nomination Grammys in the “Big Four” – Album, Record, and Song of the Year, Best New Artist makes him 2nd youngest ever for this sweep. If either Sam Smith and Brandy Clark win Best New Artist at the Grammys, they’d become the first openly gay artist to win in that category.
5:31pm – Trivia! Pharrell Williams is competing with himself for Grammy Album OT Year for 2nd year in a row. ‘GIRL,’ and as co-producer of ‘x’ and ‘Beyoncé.’
OK, let’s go! Music’s biggest night. I’ve stocked the freezer with cans of Coke, so I’m ready!
The process begins with members and record companies submitting entries, which are then screened for eligibility and category placement. The Academy’s voting members, all involved in the creative and technical processes of recording, then participate in (1) the nominating process that determines the five finalists in each category; and (2) the final voting process which determines the GRAMMY winners.
Submission
The Road To GRAMMY GoldRecording Academy members and record companies enter recordings and music videos released during the eligibility year which they consider worthy of recognition in the GRAMMY Awards process.
Screening
Reviewing sessions by more than 150 experts in various fields are held to ensure that entered recordings meet specific qualifications and have been placed in appropriate fields such as Rock, R&B, Jazz, Country, Gospel, New Age, Rap, Classical and Latin, among others. The purpose of screenings is not to make artistic or technical judgments about the recordings, but rather to make sure that each entry is eligible and placed in its proper category.
Nominating
First-round ballots are sent to voting members in good dues standing. To help ensure the quality of the voting, members are directed to vote only in their areas of expertise; they may vote in up to 20 categories in the genre fields plus the four categories of the General Field (Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best New Artist.) Ballots are tabulated by the independent accounting firm of Deloitte.
Special Nominating Committees
In craft and other specialized categories, final nominations are determined by national nomination review committees comprised of voting members from all of The Academy’s Chapter cities.
Final Voting
Final-round ballots are sent to voting members in good dues standing. The finalists determined by the special nominating committees are also included in this ballot. In this final round, Recording Academy members may vote in up to 20 categories in the genre fields plus the four categories of the General Field (Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best New Artist.) Ballots again are tabulated by the independent accounting firm of Deloitte.
Results
Results of members’ voting are not known until the GRAMMY Awards presentation ceremony when names of the winners are delivered by Deloitte in sealed envelopes. GRAMMY Award winners are revealed during the GRAMMY Awards telecast.
When we talk about puppets in television and film, Jim Henson is the first name that comes to mind. Henson’s legacy endures at his Creature Shop, where fabricators, engineers, and animators continue crafting the art of puppet-making and performance. Tested were privileged to be able to visit Jim Henson’s Creature Shop and learn how modern technologies combine with classic techniques to bring characters to life.
Next year will be the 40th anniversary of STeve Baker’s eclectic Electric Ladyland record shop. Steve has seen countless musicians, local bands and rock stars pass through his shop over the years, while the music was evolving and local music shops slowly decaying. In all of this, what remains is his love for the music and an inspiring willingness to give back.
If you ever find yourself in Bristol, don’t hesitate to go push that tiny door and step in this peaceful smoky musical haven for a minute or two.
YouTube user Isosine doesn’t reveal why he chose Nine Inch Nails to be mashed up with Taylor Swift, but mixing the 1997 NIN hit and Swift’s monster 2014 smash is pretty great, great, great, great, great.
Bob Mould, founding member of Husker Du, performs a medley of “Tomorrow Morning” and “Kid With a Crooked Face.” Jason Narducy, the bassist for the band, tweeted that “people in the studio audience confirmed that dust fell from the rafters as we played!”
For nearly sixty years, Jerry Lee Lewis has been a monumental figure in American life. The wildest and most dangerous of the early rock and rollers, he electrified the world with hit records such as “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” “Great Balls of Fire,” and “Breathless.” His music was raucous, exuberant, slyly sexual; his wailing vocals were grounded by the locomotive force of his pumping piano. But his persona and performing style were what changed the world: whipping his long hair back, he would pound the keyboard like a coal-fired steam engine, then kick back the bench, climb atop the piano, and work the audience like the Pentecostal preacher he almost became. Poised to steal the crown from Elvis Presley, he seemed unstoppable—until news of his marriage to his thirteen-year-old cousin broke during his first British tour, nearly ending his career.
Now, for the first time, Lewis’s story is told in full, as he shared it over two years with Pulitzer Prize–winning writer Rick Bragg. In a narrative rich with atmosphere and anecdote, we watch Jerry Lee emerge from the fields and levees of Depression-era Louisiana, blazing a path across Bible colleges and nightclubs en route to international fame. He shared bills with Johnny Cash and Chuck Berry, toured Australia with Buddy Holly and Paul Anka, and went Cadillac for Cadillac with Elvis on the streets of Memphis—even as both of them struggled with the conflict between their faith and their music. After a decade in the wilderness, he returned as the biggest star in country music, but his victory lap became a marathon of excess, a time of guns and pills and Calvert Extra. He crashed Rolls-Royces and Lincolns, including one he drove into the gates of Graceland; suffered the deaths of wives and loved ones; and nearly met his maker twice himself. Yet after six marriages, a long spell without a recording contract, and a bruising battle with the IRS, he overcame a crippling addiction, remarried, and scored his biggest hit records since the 1970s. Today, as he approaches his eightieth year, he continues to electrify audiences around the world.
The story of Jerry Lee Lewis has inspired songs and articles, books and films, but in these pages Rick Bragg restores a human complexity missing from other accounts. The result is a story of fire and faith and resilience, informed by Rick Bragg’s deep understanding of the American spirit, and rich with Jerry Lee’s own unforgettable voice.
Eric: I worked Jerry Lee Lewis’ Last Man Standing album and it was the only time I’ve ever been scared to meet with an artist because of his reputation. I know he can be a great guy, a gentle and kind man. But he still scared me.
Rick Bragg: Well you know, one of the things that happen was he showed me the brush steel .357 Magnum pistol that he had under his pillow. And he shot his bass player in the chest. And I was thinking to myself every time that I would ask him a hard question or brutal question, he shot his bass player, why not shoot your biographer?
Eric: What was your first meeting with him? When did you first realize that you wanted to write a book on Jerry Lee Lewis and how tough was it to get him on board?
Rick: Well, I was very lucky quite frankly. Jerry Lee had reached a point in his life where he wanted to tell his story. He wanted to tell, you know everyone else had had a shot at. He wanted to tell his story his way, at this point in his life. But he also did one whitewash. Jerry Lee doesn’t want to be whitewash in oh he wanted to do one of those books that make him less than he it. And I was just lucky that I got a call from a publishing house in New York that had Harper Collins had bought the rights to his story. And I got a call from my agent in New York saying, and this succinctly “You got any interest in doing a book on Jerry Lee Lewis”? And looking back I probably should’ve gone and he under my bed. But instead I thought, how can this be dull? How can this not be more fun than anything I could make up about Jerry Lee? And I was right about that.
Eric: Jerry Lee’s always been very paranoid about the journalist getting the story right. I don’t think it’s an act, I truly think he believes that we might have him all wrong a little bit. How much do you think we know about Jerry Lee Lewis is accurate?
Eric: Well I think in the things that matter. I think the historical record of Jerry Lee has been pretty straightforward. You know he did when the news of his marriage to his 13-year-old cousin Myra came out. He was savage in the press and he did claw his way back. All that is pretty basic. But it’s the details that Jerry Lee – generally owns up to his lifelong drug addiction. He owns up to the violence. That you could land the plane he was on at one point and you could shake the pills out of the cushion. And he doesn’t deny that he did that. And that he hit a guy in the face with the butt end of a microphone stand once. He really did make Elvis cry. But the way it happened is not the way that the news and others have portrayed it. It’s the details.
Eric: That’s why I love this book and that’s why I think in the age of the internet, living in social media in 140 characters, there’s still a place for a good biography where it takes a few weeks to read. Jerry has always owned up to everything he’s done. He’s claimed that God has not killed him in order to just keep reliving the punishment of his past sins. He’s not trying to deliver a line that we’ve never heard before or tried to change history. You were the perfect writer to tell the stories and the details. Did he recognize that in the beginning?
Rick: I don’t know. We had to do some pretty tough days together. There were days talking about – there’s so much death that has swirled around Jerry Lee Lewis. Not to be melodramatic, he buried two sons. Two wives. He’s had Rolling Stone virtually accusing him of murder, the death of one of his wives.
Eric: No to mention all the battles with the IRS.
Rick: Right, the IRS has dogged him but not just dogged him but cleaned his house out. Took the piano that his father bought for him when he was a little boy. There’s always been violence. He’d be playing a piano in Atlanta, look up and there’d be a .45 caliber bullet resting on the ledge of the piano where some jealous husband had put it. He doesn’t deny any of that. He talks about, every day I would sit in his bedroom – he was feeling terrible. Across two summers he had chronic arthritis in his back that resulted in a back surgery. He’s actually feeling a little better now. He had a compound fracture in one leg with an infection that almost killed him. He had pneumonia, you name it. He almost left us again. His obit has been written 100 times, he almost left this world again. But day after day, he’d lie there in that bed, in the cool dark of his bedroom and he would just take me off down to Sun Records in 1957/58. He’d take me to Faraday, LA in the bottom land where he learned to play in a church. Where he hid under the table in the Juke Joint to hear the gut bucket blues. People ask me – “Did you realize you were getting to listen to fine history?” I was so anxious to get it all down that I didn’t really appreciate it until I was done. Then I thought; man, you should have enjoyed this a lot more!
This is part 36 of an ongoing series where the kind folk of the music business reveal their favourite album of all time.
Ask people in the music industry the seemingly simple and straightforward question, “What is your favourite album of all time?” and you’ll find that it’s not always easy. After all, my industry peers listen to hundreds of albums a month – thousands of songs during that time. Because the question isn’t the best album of all time – the one that’s made them the most money in sales – but the one release they personally can’t live without, that one title they have two copies of in several formats, in case one breaks. It’s also about that album that for them has the best back stories and the one that has the most meaning in their lives.
Hilarious, psychedelic, bursting with colour and creative energy, laced with addictive jazz sounds and unique mc styles, it makes you wonder why other rappers or groups were so boring. This an album that stood out from it’s genre, an album that has a special place in the hearts of true hip hop fans. Shall I say “timeless masterpiece”?
Lorenz Rychner, Editor at Recording Magazine Ellington at Newport 1956, Duke Ellington and His Orchestra
The festival appearance was a comeback of sorts for Duke’s full band, after years of slim pickings, and the new charts and the surprisingly good sound of the recording (aside from the mishap with Paul Gonsalves playing his 27-chorus firebrand solo into the wrong microphone…) make for an exciting disc. I have the old vinyl – the concert has since been re-released and doctored, not for the better—the tracks I hear on Spotify for example just don’t sound right, but the original is still glorious.
The first time I heard that album, I was blown away to how innovative and original it was. At that time I was listening to garbage Top 40 music. It was the first band that got me into Canadian Indie music. I couldn’t stop listening to it.
My Uncle Steve Bosley was the original bass player, and as a kid I was always going to bars, and events and watching him perform. It was always just ‘Uncle Steve’ doing his thing, but as you get older and realize that Doug & The Slugs were an extremely well received and popular Canadian band, then it was even more impressive. The Gold record Grandma had hanging in her house made much more sense to me when I became a teen. Plus, they were on Arsenio Hall, the first time around. Speaks volumes.
Jenna Melanson, Canadian Beats
Storms, Hedley
The album was released around the time I was going through a lot in my life, most specifically when I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis and feeling very down. Some songs on this album had the power to lift my spirits and give me hope that it will in fact, get better. “One Life”, “Invincible” and “Heaven’s Gonna Wait” were the three specific songs that hit me hard when I heard them. “One Life” inspired me to take life by the horns and do what I want to, and not long after I began working towards my blog, Canadian Beats, which now is up to 87, 714 hits, which is something I never dreamed of. On top of these songs, the album features a great selection of “get up and move” songs, and I would recommend this album to anyone because there really is something for everyone on it.
