February 25, 1999

• I don't know about you folks, but last night's Grammy Awards show was dissapointing to me.  I tuned in with a few friends from work expecting to see them present awards.  Instead what I saw was a collection of mostly mediocre performances and a handful of award presentations; double-length commercial breaks and Rosie O'Donnel only helped make matters worse.  Me and a few others from work has a pool goin': WHo can guess who will win.  I lost, I owe $1 to one of my fellow employees.  :-)   (Hey, we don't get paid a lot where we work. $1 is like a huge assed chunk of our checks!)
  
  As for the awards that were given out...Celine Dion won a few (and didn't deserve it since her album came out in 1997,)  and Lauryn Hill got 5 making her the most awarded female artist in Grammy history in one year.  I was maddened by several of the awards!  If I get a chance, I'll write up my feelings on the awards and tell you what I feel about the winners.  I guess I'm about split 50/50, some deserved to win what they got, others were cheated and a bunch of losers won.  The best performances were by Shania Twain (who looked like she was ready for some S&M), I missed Maddona but heard good stuff about her performance.  I was very unimpressed by Kirk Franklin, Lauryn Hill, Clapton and King, Rocky Martin, Pavoratti, Dion/Boceli....  hmmmm.   Iguess I was overly unimpressed by last night's show!  No surprise.

February 24, 1999

• Two hot titles came out this week:  Blondie -"NO EXIT" and TLC -"FANMAIL".  It's been a pretty slow and dull year so far these last couple months with only a few good titles but nothing to drool for.  The surprise hit this week is Eminem's debut album.  He seems pretty fly for a white guy who raps.  He could be another phase in th eindustry or he could become another Beastie Boys.  Time will tell.  The next five weeks look pretty boring for new releases as well.  We got a new Wu-Tang release at the end of March, an NWA release and a few other minor releases.  I have a sneaking sensation that April will be a hot month .... or maybe that sensation is me wetting myself.
• Last week Scary Spice gave birth to a real baby spice whom she named Phoenix.   Wouldn't it be ironic if Scary's career goes kaput and Phoenix rises out of her mother's ashes and becomes a real star?!  We'll have to wait about 15-18 years to find out.  posh Spice's child should be coming soon.  We can only guess what this child will be called!  I have a suggestion: Roxy (as in Carmichael.)
• According to the Recording Industry of America (RIAA), music product shipments for 1998 were up by 5.7 percent from 1997.  '97 was a low year for the industry and had many labels and online stores worried, but with last year's best sellers (Brooks, Jewel, Dion, Beastie Boys, Jay Z., Hill, Morrisette, Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync and more)   sales were driven upwards!  That may seem like a small jump in sales, but the seemingly small amount of 5.7 percent accounts for 1.5 billion dollars more than the year before! The total dollar amount of commerce for music related video and audio software products for 1998 is 13.7 billion dollars of business! 
• While the music industry as a whole is booming, it seems that the country music industry is slacking.  Many country music ofices in Nashville closed up for good due to the lack of interest. Sure, we're always hearing about country artists - but how many of them are actually new?  We continually hear about Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, Shania Twain and I can only think of one new act to stay on the charts - The Dixie Chicks.  There have been hundreds of layoffs in Nashville offices and some labels like Sony's Nashville office laid off half of their employees!  While many smaller acts have lost their contracts due to consolidations and layoffs, most of them are staying in the business by signing onto other labels.  dreamworks is just one of the few labels grabbing the loose srings and hope to make a profit.  WHile I am not personally a fan of country, I hate to see any label close up or lose half their employees!  There's a lot of hungry singers, song writers, musicians, executives, mixers, engineers, etc.,  out there right now...and it seems most of them are in Nashville!