Editorial
Front Page - Friday, February 25, 2011
A Day in the Life
Rebecca Brockman
Aretha Franklin was recently honored during the 53rd Annual Grammy awards on Feb. 13. Before streaming a video of the legend, a group of vocally blessed women paid tribute to the Queen of Soul.
Jennifer Hudson, Martina McBride, Christina Aguilera, Yolanda Adams and Florence Welch opened with “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.” It was excellent.
I was familiar with most of the women except Welch, who is supposedly from Florence and the Machine – she was great.
They started the show by showcasing their amazing vocal chords and I-can-hit-a-higher-note-than-you competition. Hudson already blew everyone away in “Dreamgirls”, and she continues to give Beyonce a run for her money. I grew up listening to McBride, and my dad was and is still a huge fan of the country singer.
Aguilera took center stage and even had an extra-fancy microphone and mic stand. I don’t know if she was trying to make up for the anthem flop or what, but she did an outstanding job. Adams belted out a lovely gospel song in honor of Franklin and showed the other ladies how it’s done. The opening act got us in the mood for the rest of the award show – Parish even liked it.
We stuck with the rest of the show, switching back and forth between a basketball game and musical acts. Bieber, as in Justin Bieber, seemed to be the buzzword for the evening. He performed with Jayden Smith and Bieber’s mentor, Usher. The 16-year-old Canadian sensation is on fire right now. It will be interesting to see what happens to him once he goes through puberty, cuts his hair and starts driving a car.
As we watched performance after performance, including Lady Gaga coming out of an egg, Parish looked at me and asked, “What artists are going to be remembered from our generation?” He paused, looked back at the screen just as Eminem was shouting something in the microphone. “Can you understand anything he is saying?” Parish asked. I could make out a few words, and from the ones I could decipher, it’s safe to say that Eminem is an angry man. Then I thought about Lady G coming on stage in an egg and then crawling out of the egg to sing, “Born This Way.”
Seriously, what artists will we tell our children and grandchildren about? My parents had Elvis, The Beatles, Aretha Franklin, Nat King Cole, the Bee Gees, the sounds from Motown and many more amazing artists.
Not to say that there haven’t been some talented people from the late ’80s until now; there has.
Let me think … there is the aforementioned talents of Beyonce, Jenifer Hudson, Usher, John May-
er, Madonna (late ’90s notably), Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson (both thanks to “American Idol”), John Legend, Lady Antebellum and Jamie Foxx. I’m sure I’ve left out a few, but those were the ones that came to mind as I wrote my column.
There seems to be a lot of one-hit wonder makers who don’t have the staying power of Elton John, Barbara Streisand or Dolly Parton. Perhaps I don’t have a lot of room to talk, because I can’t carry a tune in a bucket. Seriously, I was given the only main, non-singing role in a musical. Therefore, I’m not one to judge who gets the right to make their stamp on the singing world. But I am the one who has to listen to it – so give me something good.
|
|