Basie Orchestra, Brecker to perform at Moores Jazz Festival

By Christine McCreary
Daily Cougar Staff

The 41st Annual Grammy Awards were televised Wednesday on CBS, live from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles with comedic, talk-show diva Rosie O'Donnel as hostess.

Madonna, dressed as a modern-day Japanese Geisha (inspired by Arthur Golden's best-selling novel Memoirs of a Geisha), kicked off the evening's events. She also walked away with three trophies for Best Dance Recording, Best Short-Form Music Video and Best Pop Album for Ray of Light..

This seemed to be the year of the woman, as female artists walked away with awards in almost every category. Notably, the Album of the Year finalists were all female with the exception of the band Garbage, whose front is girlie-girl Shirley Manson (no relation to Marilyn). The rest of the band members are male.

Lauryn Hill, 23, was the first hip-hop artist to win Album of the Year for her debut solo, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Breaking the Grammy record for most awarded female artist (five trophies), Hill also won Best New Artist, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Song and Best R&B Album.

After receiving her Grammy for Best New Artist, a teary-eyed Hill read Psalm 40 and thanked God for giving her "the responsibility." Later in the evening, she performed her song "To Zion" which was written for her son.

Shania Twain's album You're Still the One, received Grammys for Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance. Dressed in leather, she electrified the audience with her charismatic energy as she performed "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" (Or was it the way she stood in that skirt?)

Sporting her new short hair, Sheryl Crow was awarded Best Rock Album for The Globe Sessions.

The Best Female Rock Vocal Performance went for "Uninvited" to Alanis Morissette. Her performance was accompanied by violins and cellos, miraculously keeping their places as the stage and their sheet music were enveloped by dry ice. Morissette's vocals were beautiful, as she sang in a haunted melody.

The Best Male Rock Vocal went to Lenny Kravitz for "Fly Away," while Best Alternative Performance went to the Beastie Boys.

Celine Dion's love song, "My Heart Will Go On," featured in the movie Titanic, was chosen by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences as Record and Song of the Year. In addition, it received two awards for the songwriters.

Ricky Martin's performance of "Vuelve" was incredible. He stole the show and the Grammy for Best Latin Pop Performance.

This year, the NARAS divided the Mexican-American/Tejano category into two separate categories.

Texas artists Los Super Seven won Best Mexican-American Music Performance and Flaco Jiménez received the Grammy for Best Tejano Music Performance. In the Tejano category, La Fiebre of Pasadena was among the finalists.

So, would the Grammy Awards be complete without bloopers and surprises? Hello people. This is live television.

Rosie was hilarious as she rambled on, telling jokes to the theater audience, unaware that those of us on the other side of TV land had returned from commercial break.

Somehow (blame it on the cue-card guy), Rosie confused Will Smith, who was awarded Best Rap Solo Performance for "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It," with Brandy & Monica.

Then there was her joke about Aerosmith, which was awarded Best Rock Duo or Group for "Pink," when she exclaimed "Steven Tyler, don't forget you're part of the group, too!"

Apparently, Tyler felt it necessary to leave the stage in the middle of the band's performance of "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing." He eventually returned, midway through the first verse.

The Best Pop Performance for Duo or Group was awarded to the Brain Setzer Orchestra for "Jump Jive An' Wail".

Another notable moment was the lack of enthusiasm shown for the overhyped Backstreet Boys, who presented an award with country star Faith Hill. It was a bit surprising that no one really cared for the appearance of the Boys.

In all, the Grammys were not full of surprises, but Hill blew everyone away with her dominance of this year's ceremony. Hill's five trophies beat the woman's record of four, held by Carole King and her performance on 1971's Tapestry.