54th Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards got underway on Sunday with the Recording Academy trying to focus on music's biggest night after of the death of one of music's biggest names: Whitney Houston.
Houston died on the eve of the Grammys at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where she was preparing to attend a pre-Grammy party. Her death cast a huge shadow over the event.
As the pre-telecast awards ceremony began, co-host Dave Koz acknowledged the tragedy, noting the "great legacy of Miss Whitney Houston. She's in our hearts and our minds."
A tribute to Houston featuring Jennifer Hudson and Chaka Khan was to take place during the main ceremony later Sunday.
Before the death of one of pop music's most important figures, the Grammy buzz focused on whether Adele, 2011's top-selling artist and set to make her first public performance on the show since having vocal cord surgery, would be the queen of the Grammys. Although Kanye West leads all nominees with seven and Bruno Mars and the Foo Fighters tied Adele with six nominations, she was favored to sweep all of her categories.
But as show time neared, the focus remained on Houston's death.
Grammy show producer Ken Ehrlich was quick to announce Hudson's tribute. "It's too fresh in everyone's memory to do more at this time," he said late Saturday, "but we would be remiss if we didn't recognize Whitney's remarkable contribution to music fans in general, and in particular her close ties with the Grammy telecast and her Grammy wins and nominations over the years."
More Houston tributes from nominees and presenters are expected during the three-and-a-half hour Staples Center show, which was to feature the Foo Fighters, Mars, Nicki Minaj, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift, Chris Brown and Rihanna.
It will mark the first time Rihanna and Brown have appeared at the same awards show since his attack on her three years ago also on the eve of the Grammys forced both to drop out of the show and led to an assault conviction for Brown. It almost derailed his career, but 2011 marked a huge comeback, and he was rewarded with a Grammy performance slot on Sunday night's CBS broadcast.
Rihanna is also a nominee, up for album of the year. She is competing with Adele's "21," Mars' "Doo-Woops & Hooligans," the Foo Fighters "Wasting Light" and Lady Gaga's "Born This Way."
Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" is nominated for record and song of the year. Both categories also include Bon Iver's "Holocene," Mumford & Sons "The Cave," and Mars' "Grenade." Katy Perry's "Firework" is up for record of the year but instead of that song, West's "All of the Lights" takes the remaining position in the song of the year category. CBSnews.com

Adele was the biggest winner who won all six categories she was nominated in, the most coveted song of the year for Rolling In the Deep, which she performed to a standing ovation.


She also received Grammys for best pop solo performance for Someone Like You, best pop vocal album and album of the year for 21, and record of the year and best short form music video for Rolling In the Deep.

Perhaps what followed is harder to swallow. Today, US Weekly reported that three years after viciously assaulting his then-girlfriend Rihanna, Brown tried to pick up a woman at the Lasio Professional Hair Care suite Grammy gift lounge last week. He asked for her number and then said, "I promise I won't beat you." Chris Brown won RnB album for F.A.M.E



Here are the List of Winners in the recently concluded 54th Grammy Awards

Record of the Year – Rolling In The Deep, Adele

Album of the Year – 21, Adele

Song of the Year – Rolling In The Deep, Adele

Best New Artist – Bon Iver

Best Pop Solo Performance –Someone Like You, Adele

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance – Body And Soul , Tony Bennett & Amy Winehouse

Best Pop Vocal Album – 21, Adele

Best Dance Recording ­- Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, Skrillex

Best Dance/ Electronica Album - Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, Skrillex

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album – Duets II, Tony Bennett & Various Artists

Best Rock Performance – Walk, Foo Fighters

Best Rock Song – Walk, Foo Fighters

Best Rock Album - Waiting Light, Foo Fighters

Best R&B Performance – Is This Love, Corinne Bailey Rae

Best R&B Song – Fool For You

Best R&B Album – F.A.M.E., Chris Brown

Best Rap Performance – Otis, Jay-Z and Kanye West

Best Country Solo Performance – Mean, Taylor Swift

Best Country Song – Mean, Taylor Swift

Best Short Form Music Video – Adele

                       Red Carpet Hits at the Grammys

Rihanna Pulls it off this year at the Grammys

Donning a daring see-through dress that couldn't be missed on the red carpet, Fergie lived up to her fashion-risking reputation. The Jean Paul Gaultier frock left little to the imagination, revealing a set of black undergarments underneath.

This is the absolute best Paris Hilton has ever looked!

Jessie J, who showed off the sophisticated way to do sparkle in this second-skin mirrored gown by Julien MacDonald.

Carrie Underwood can do no wrong.This white sequin-and-tulle gown by London-based designer Gomez Gracia was elegant from the front and insanely sexy from behind.

Farewell Whitney..

August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012

The World lost another music legend.The most powerful voice I have ever heard belongs to Whitney Houston.Whatever people say about her cause of death, Still she made one of the biggest impact in the Music scene..

Her career was full of world records. Houston was cited in 2009 by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most awarded female act of all time, and was one of the best selling music artist of the 20th century, selling over 170 million albums, singles and videos during her lifetime. Houston released seven studio albums and three movie soundtrack during her career, all of which have diamond, multi-platinum, platinum or gold certification. She was the only performing artist to release seven consecutive number one Billboard his: "Saving My Love for You," "How Will I know," "Greatest Love of All", "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)," "Didn't We Almost Have It All," "So Emotional" and "Where Hearts Go Broken By"


Following the end of her professional career she remained in the public eye, a victim of the tabloids and a cautionary tale of the dangers of addiction. In 2009 when she appeared on Oprah following her divorce from R&B bad-boy Boby Brown she appeared shaken but self-aware. During the 2000s she checked into rehabilitation centers twice, and once more in 2011.


On February 11, 2012, Houston was found dead in a suite of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in California, submerged in the bathtub. The cause of death has been attributed to the abuse of prescirption drugs and alcohol. Following her death many singers have performed her most popular song, "I Will Always Love You." The day afterwards she was honored at the Grammy music awards, and again last night at the NAACP.


Her music swelled in popularity in the days after her death as old fans revisited her work and new fans flocked to her hit singles, discovering her incomparable voice. Her body was transported back to Newark, NJ, where she was born so that her friends and family could gather for a private funeral service, which is also being broadcast on TV and online.


www.ibtimes.com

Whitney Houston's memorable hits

Floyd Mayweather on Jeremy Lin

Boxer Floyd Mayweather can't seem to keep his mouth shut.

Mayweather tweeted, "Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he's Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don't get the same praise." Floyd also went on to tweet, "Other countries get to support/cheer their athletes and everything is fine. As soon as I support Black American athletes, I get criticized."

In my opinion,.. I agree with Mayweather that Jeremy Lin is good in what he does in Court,.. no doubt about it.. But when he said something about the race that made him famous more than the black athletes in NBA is somehow not good to hear especially when your Asian. He keeps dissing Asians,. Mostly is Manny Pacquiao Mayweather’s chief boxing rival and nemesis whom he keeps dissing over the micro blogging site Twitter. This Jeremy Lin Story who was tagged as "Linderella" because of his incredible rise is an inspiration to everyone around the world,. that any race have a chance to play in NBA.


Meanwhile, Filmmaker and passionate New York Knicks fan Spike Lee has come out swinging against boxer Floyd Mayweather who earlier charged that Jeremy Lin is attracting a lot of attention because of his race, not necessarily his basketball skills.

in response, Lee tweeted: "Floyd Mayweather I Hope You Watched Jeremy Hit The Gamewinning 3 Pointer With .005 Seconds Left. Our Guy Can BALL PLAIN AND SIMPLE. RECOGNIZE.”

The 54-year old director, perhaps best known for his films “Malcolm X” and “Do the right thing,” also added: "Floyd Mayweather Sounds Like Rush Limbaugh When He Talks About Jeremy Lin Saying He's Only Getting Attention Because He's Asian. WAKE UP YO."

Jeremy Lin.. Man of the Hour

                                                                    Jeremy Lin


Jeremy Shu-How Lin (born August 23, 1988) is an American professional basketball player with the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After receiving no athletic scholarship offers out of high school and being undrafted out of college, the 2010 Harvard University graduate reached a partially guaranteed contract deal later that year with his hometown Golden State Warriors. After his first year, he was waived by the Warriors and the Houston Rockets in the preseason before joining the Knicks early in the 2011–12 season. Lin is one of the few Asian Americans in NBA history, and the first American player in the league to be of Chinese or Taiwanese descent. Courtesy of Wikipedia

The emergence of Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin, who fueled the Knicks' recent seven-game winning streak, resulted in pressure being applied by Knicks fans, and even politicians, hoping for a quick resolution to the bickering so they could watch basketball's latest phenom.
New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn celebrated the deal a day after she publicly pressured the parties to come to an agreement in the wake of "Linsanity" across New York

"I want to thank the MSG-Network and Time Warner Cable for coming to a deal that will put the Knicks and the Rangers back on TV. Now, a million more New Yorkers will be able to go Linsane in the privacy of their own living room," Quinn said in the statement.

On Thursday, Quinn effectively gave the two sides an ultimatum, telling MSG Executive Chairman James Dolan and Time Warner Chairman and CEO Glenn Britt to either come to a deal within two weeks or face public hearings.

"At a time when all New Yorkers are getting together behind Jeremy Lin and the New York Knicks, now is the time for you to resolve this dispute once and for all," Quinn wrote in a letter to both companies' executives.

Council member Margaret Chin also wrote a letter to the companies' executives Thursday, expressing dismay that "thousands of Asian American families in New York are unable to watch [Lin] play." Chin's representative Kelly Magee said by phone Friday afternoon that the council member had planned a rally later Friday before she found out about the news.
Chin released a statement later Friday afternoon, saying she was glad the two sides had "put aside their differences for the sake of the fans." She added: "At the end of the day, businesses are accountable to their customers. ... New Yorkers made it clear to both TWC and MSG that this standoff was unfair."
Even without the Time Warner subscribers, Lin had driven ratings to season highs. Ratings hit a peak Wednesday when the Knicks handily beat the Sacramento Kings in Madison Square Garden. The 5.78 Nielsen household rating was the highest-rated Knicks game since Carmelo Anthony's debut with the team on Feb. 23 of last year.
Michael Neuman, managing partner of Scout Sports and Entertainment, a division of Horizon Media, said the deal was in the best interests of both parties. From a fan perspective, interest and excitement is at a season high. From an advertiser's perspective, the deal brings back the full subscriber base.

"Over [the] last couple weeks, there was even more interest to come to a resolution on this matter, given how well the team is playing," Neuman said in a phone interview Friday. "Nobody can say that Jeremy Lin was the savior. But his ability to elevate the play of the Knicks motivated both parties to come back to table and work to a resolution in the best interest of fans and New York City."

It continued the trend begun by Lin's emergence over the past two weeks. Lin, a point guard cut by two other teams this season, blossomed over the past seven games, six of which he has started. In those six games, the average television household rating increased 1,109 percent, compared with the previous 20 games. Ratings overall for the first 26 Knicks games this season have leaped 69 percent over the same time period last year.
MSG and Time Warner reportedly met earlier this week, but there were no signs of an imminent deal. However, MSG Media President Mike Bair told the New York Post that "now is the time to do a deal." He said, "I think right now, because of the Lin story, because of the performance of the team, and because of what we've seen in the ratings."
On Tuesday, Time Warner representative Maureen Huff didn't address whether the company had felt any increased pressure to resolve the dispute because of Lin's quick ascent to national prominence, but she did provide a company statement that pinned blame on MSG.
Huff said MSG was demanding a 53 percent price increase for carriage at the time, dramatically up from a 6.5 percent increase before the December negotiations. Time Warner said it requested an extension in December, but that it was denied, "preventing our customers from viewing games on MSG."
With the tremendous hype surrounding Lin and his story, it's easy to forget that this deal also brings back the NHL's Rangers to the MSG Network. The Rangers currently occupy first place in the Eastern Conference and appear poised to make a deep run in the Stanley Cup playoffs, which begin in April.

Courtesy of www.ibtimes.com

Check out Jeremy Lin as he hits this three pointer with .5 seconds left on the clock to lift the Knicks to their sixth straight win and continue his stellar play!

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