Norah's NightA quiet, repressed evening at the Grammys.
By Virginia HeffernanUpdated Monday, Feb. 24, 2003, at 11:51 AM ET
Bruce Springstreet, as Dustin Hoffman called him, is still enraged and rapturous for reasons we can't know. Music has not failed him. Music has nearly failed Paul Simon and almost entirely Art Garfunkel. But, as they opened the Grammys (CBS, 8 p.m., ET) on Sunday night, that note of desolation made their reunion almost as good as Bruce's full-throated performance of "The Rising" later in the program. Hello, darkness their old friend. Singing, still, with their pale faces projected wide on the big screens in Madison Square Garden, Simon and Garfunkel again found their melancholy harmony.
It was a night of unabashedly easy listening. Set off against the familiar awards-show swaths of feathery Ramada-lobby blue and violet décor, a polite but sad audience sat through a repressed ceremony, at which the soothing Norah Jones won practically everything that wasn't reserved for men (record, album, song, female pop performance, new artist).
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MSN Entertainment's Grammy package has the complete list of winners, audio clips from the nominees, and more.
Performers had been gagged from protesting the war, and showmanship at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards seemed by extension to be generally inhibited. But without outbursts or even all-out light shows, the program seemed frankly to illuminate some of pop's mysteries during a year that has been, in the words of Jones, "really weird."
First off, the recent day-late-dollar-short admiration for the Bee Gees is almost insulting. (Barry and Robin Gibb got the Legend Award; Maurice is dead.) What's more, having 'N Sync deliver a tribute barbershop medley destroyed the band's chance at gaining posthumous credibility any time soon.
The ubiquitous cover by the Dixie Chicks has steeply cut into my enthusiasm for "Landslide." During the Grammys, I finally realized why: Stevie Nicks' iconic song about loneliness should not be sung by a trio. And speaking of trios, three voices seem brittle: Sheryl Crow's, Faith Hill's, and Eminem's.
I still like the Nelly-Kelly Rowland duet. It just makes a night better. Same with "Sweet Baby James," James Taylor's old elegy for WASP life, which brought the hall to its feet. (Maybe winter makes saps of us all.)
Now the first of December was covered with snow And so was the turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston. Lord, the Berkshires seemed dreamlike on account of that frosting With 10 miles behind me and 10,000 more to go
But it was Fred Durst's geeky violation of the gag order that really established consensus: "I hope we're all in agreeance that this war should go away as soon as possible."
Yes, we are. And yes, Norah Jones may be pop's teacher's pet, getting props even from old geezers who like her torch-song sound. She could have played the Eisenhower White House. But she is lovely and hits the notes, and who, at the start of her career, while she is so spectacularly unfailed by music, would dare to complain about her yet?
Norah's Night: A quiet, repressed evening at the Grammys.
Virginia Heffernan is a television critic for The New York Times. Her book, The Underminer, which she wrote with Mike Albo, comes out in February.
Photograph of Norah Jones by Peter Morgan/Reuters.
COMMENTS
Remarks From The Fray:
The Grammys featured some truly poor live performances. Most of the performers were off-key, and the lead singer from Coldplay looked like he was having a grand mal seizure while having to go to the bathroom really REALLY badly...
Virginia forgot to mention the only worthy live performance of the evening: The New York Philharmonic played a movement from 'West Side Story' but were then forced (at gunpoint, one can only assume) to continue on as backup to the previously-mentioned pants-wetters Coldplay.
The musical tribute that closed the program, London Calling, performed in honor of Joe Strummer's death in December, was just wrong. The singers were, in order of merit, Elvis Costello, Dave Grohl, Bruce Springsteen, and Steven van Zandt (who was he blackmailing to get up there???). They would have been better served to allow Costello to do it solo. We were, unfortunately, treated to the now-familiar sight of Springsteen singing with Great Earnestness, which emotion makes him strain to the point of what appears to be orgasm. Most unappetizing.
Overall, it was a very blah evening. And Sheryl Crow managed to make herself look like J. Lo in the role of a very low-rent prostitute. Will wonders never cease...
Maybe yesterday I was on the receiving end of some terrific TV karma (payback for all the dreck I've sat through over the years), but I flipped on the Grammys just as the standard "In Memoriam" sequence was spooling over the monitors (What do you know: I'd totally forgotten about Layne Staley's overdose last year). As the nostalgia trip for rock's dearly departed drew to a close with Joe Strummer's photo, you could hear the first, unmistakably percussive chords of London Calling rising from behind the giant screen fronting the stage. And when the panel rose to reveal Steven Van Zandt, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello and Dave Grohl forming a battalion of guitar heroes sending their absurdly gifted colleague into the hereafter with a 24-string salute, all the contrived sadness of the memorial reel evaporated. The Grammys have sucked for years, I thought, but at least they didn't screw up a tribute to Joe Strummer. It was a great moment, and immediately afterward I turned off the TV: didn't want to push my luck. Now I'm stunned this morning that very few reviews even mention that singular event, given that the rest of the telecast seems, from the reports anyway, to have been pretty dull.
The tribute to the Clash and Joe Strummer really rocked with an all-star rock line up, while Eminem and the Roots paid tribute to RUN-D.M.C. during their live song last night, incorporating a guitar riff from "King of Rock" and a sample at the end of Eminem's song.
Both are great bands, but I can't help thinking that RUN-D.M.C. deserved a bigger tribute than the Clash. RUN-D.M.C. introduced rap to the mainstream of American youth culture, and ultimately the world.
Jam Master Jay, Run, and D.M.C. infused rap with their own sensibilities, inventing a "new style" that went on to become as popular as rock, R&B, country and other American music styles. That's quite an accomplishment, deserving of an honorary grammy, IMHO. -- trainwreck
Heffernan's criticism that the musicians were told not to do their anti-war speeches on Grammy time was absurd. I am there to watch the awards, not to hear about some guitarist lecture me on the evils of war. They may be celebrities, but their are still one vote each. Last time I checked, their anti-war verbage and $2.50 still won't buy me a latte at Starbucks. I would have been just as disgusted with the awards becoming a platform for political views as I was when Vanessa Redgrave did her completely inappropriate hijacking of the 1978 Academy Awards.
Last night's awards were a step in the right direction. Let's hope the Grammy's continue in the right direction.
I am there to see about the music and the awards. If I want politics, I have plenty of other channels to choose from. -- Athairic
Bruce Springstreet, as Dustin Hoffman called him, is still enraged and rapturous for reasons we can't know. Music has not failed him. Music has nearly failed Paul Simon and almost entirely Art Garfunkel. But, as they opened the Grammys (CBS, 8 p.m., ET) on Sunday night, that note of desolation made their reunion almost as good as Bruce's full-throated performance of "The Rising" later in the program. Hello, darkness their old friend. Singing, still, with their pale faces projected wide on the big screens in Madison Square Garden, Simon and Garfunkel again found their melancholy harmony.
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Remarks From The Fray:
The Grammys featured some truly poor live performances. Most of the performers were off-key, and the lead singer from Coldplay looked like he was having a grand mal seizure while having to go to the bathroom really REALLY badly...
Virginia forgot to mention the only worthy live performance of the evening: The New York Philharmonic played a movement from 'West Side Story' but were then forced (at gunpoint, one can only assume) to continue on as backup to the previously-mentioned pants-wetters Coldplay.
The musical tribute that closed the program, London Calling, performed in honor of Joe Strummer's death in December, was just wrong. The singers were, in order of merit, Elvis Costello, Dave Grohl, Bruce Springsteen, and Steven van Zandt (who was he blackmailing to get up there???). They would have been better served to allow Costello to do it solo. We were, unfortunately, treated to the now-familiar sight of Springsteen singing with Great Earnestness, which emotion makes him strain to the point of what appears to be orgasm. Most unappetizing.
Overall, it was a very blah evening. And Sheryl Crow managed to make herself look like J. Lo in the role of a very low-rent prostitute. Will wonders never cease...
-- andkathleen
(To reply, click here.)
Maybe yesterday I was on the receiving end of some terrific TV karma (payback for all the dreck I've sat through over the years), but I flipped on the Grammys just as the standard "In Memoriam" sequence was spooling over the monitors (What do you know: I'd totally forgotten about Layne Staley's overdose last year). As the nostalgia trip for rock's dearly departed drew to a close with Joe Strummer's photo, you could hear the first, unmistakably percussive chords of London Calling rising from behind the giant screen fronting the stage. And when the panel rose to reveal Steven Van Zandt, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello and Dave Grohl forming a battalion of guitar heroes sending their absurdly gifted colleague into the hereafter with a 24-string salute, all the contrived sadness of the memorial reel evaporated. The Grammys have sucked for years, I thought, but at least they didn't screw up a tribute to Joe Strummer. It was a great moment, and immediately afterward I turned off the TV: didn't want to push my luck. Now I'm stunned this morning that very few reviews even mention that singular event, given that the rest of the telecast seems, from the reports anyway, to have been pretty dull.
-- intastella
(To reply, click here.)
The tribute to the Clash and Joe Strummer really rocked with an all-star rock line up, while Eminem and the Roots paid tribute to RUN-D.M.C. during their live song last night, incorporating a guitar riff from "King of Rock" and a sample at the end of Eminem's song.
Both are great bands, but I can't help thinking that RUN-D.M.C. deserved a bigger tribute than the Clash. RUN-D.M.C. introduced rap to the mainstream of American youth culture, and ultimately the world.
Jam Master Jay, Run, and D.M.C. infused rap with their own sensibilities, inventing a "new style" that went on to become as popular as rock, R&B, country and other American music styles. That's quite an accomplishment, deserving of an honorary grammy, IMHO.
-- trainwreck
(To reply, click here.)
Heffernan's criticism that the musicians were told not to do their anti-war speeches on Grammy time was absurd. I am there to watch the awards, not to hear about some guitarist lecture me on the evils of war. They may be celebrities, but their are still one vote each. Last time I checked, their anti-war verbage and $2.50 still won't buy me a latte at Starbucks. I would have been just as disgusted with the awards becoming a platform for political views as I was when Vanessa Redgrave did her completely inappropriate hijacking of the 1978 Academy Awards.
Last night's awards were a step in the right direction. Let's hope the Grammy's continue in the right direction.
I am there to see about the music and the awards. If I want politics, I have plenty of other channels to choose from.
-- Athairic
(To reply, click here.)
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