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Home > Atlanta Music Scene > Archives > 2009 > February > 04
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Pick Your Hometown Grammy Winner - Day Three
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The music industry’s highest honor - the Grammy Award - will be handed out Feb. 8 in Los Angeles. And as has been the case in recent years, there are a remarkable number of contenders with Georgia connections.
With that in mind, each day this week we will highlight a category with Atlanta (or Georgia) nominees - in italics - and ask for your winning pick.
Today’s category: Best Rap/Sung Collaboration - where three of the five nominees have hometown ties:
“American Boy,” Estelle featuring Kanye West
“Low,” Flo Rida featuring T-Pain
“Green Light,” John Legend and Andre 3000
“Got Money,” Lil Wayne featuring T-Pain
“Superstar,” Lupe Fiasco featuring Matthew Santos
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“The Black Lips Get Kicked Out of India”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Or at least that’s what was in the subject line of the release Atlanta’s garage rockers press people sent over.
(Guess this should make for even more of a fervor for their Feb. 24 album, “200 Million Thousand” and their Feb. 27 concert at the Variety Playhouse. Planning to pick that CD up, and/or attend the show? )
But back to that release - here it is:
Like the Sex Pistols’ January ‘78 tour of the Deep South, The Black Lips recent expedition to India was marked by a series of fairly seismic culture shocks. Everything from bottle-throwing fans at a gig in Pune, to livid show promoters in Chennai, all in response to a bunch of full-frontal punk rock provocateurs from Atlanta.
For those that still haven’t heard the story, the band was booked to play on India’s equivalent of American Idol, The “Campus Rock Idol” Tour, a big-ticket televised series with large corporate sponsors.
Last Saturday, in Chennai, the band entertained the crowd with what stateside fans would consider a typically raucous Black Lips show, replete with intra-band lip locking, and Cole de-pantsing, mooning the crowd, and attempting to play his six-string with, well, his privates.
Barely okay in America, definitely NOT okay in India, the band was subsequently chased out of the country and the sponsors pulled the plug, effectively canceling the rest of the tour and the television season. The events have caused an international wave of news coverage, rounded out by everything from defensive “It’s only rock n roll” stories to meatier pieces that tease out the more nuanced concepts at play here, namely artistic freedom versus cultural respect.
Considering the wealth of information - some accurate, some not so much - that washed up on American shores after the event, it’s fortunate that VBS.tv cameras were there to document what transpired. Over the coming weeks, VBS will be running a series entitled “The Black Lips in India,” which faithfully documents the band’s turbulent experience before and after the Chennai gig, their escape to King Khan’s pad in Berlin, and beyond. The (100% NSFW!) trailer for the series — which captures every bit of Cole — is now available on VBS.tv.
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John Legend In Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
PHOTO CREDIT: ROBB D. COHEN/www.robbsphotos.com
The R&B singer who made his debut four years ago elegantly sitting behind a piano, appeared on the Fox Theatre stage Tuesday night up and sweating in a boxing ring.
And for the next almost two hours, there was hardly a musical swing (from gospel to pop to reggae to hip-hop), a song or even an unexpected cover that five-time Grammy winner John Legend didn’t land solidly.
Like Alicia Keys — another lauded vocalist withe exceptional skills at the keyboard - Legend has been trying to break out of the somewhat reserved, VH1 persona he initially fell under. After all, he does have the biggest dance hit of his career with “Green Light” (featuring Atlanta’s Andre “Dre” Benjamin of OutKast). And, as he told the sold-out Fox crowd, he only just turned 30.
And to his credit, last night’s show was a big step towards proving him an “Evolver” (as his current CD is called). After his Ali-like opening on screen, the real Legend took center stage and confidently- and comfortably -began with an uptempo set including “Used To Love U” and “It’s Over”. He was personable, welcoming a rather unabashed woman to “Slow Dance” with him. And for the first time in his three studio-CD career, when Legend got to the ballads in the well-paced set - including a surprise bit of “Computer Love” - they weren’t the concert highlights. They were merely beautiful parts of a remarkable turn for Legend as a concert artist, and entertainer.
Were you at the Fox last night, and if so, what’s your take? (See the rest of our photo gallery HERE ) And did you get a chance to see opening act Estelle? How would you say she compares to other Brit-soul upstarts of late?
