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Get To Know Sexy Music Bear Tony Banks

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Bear, hip-hop, LGBT.  Three words you don’t necessarily see in the music world, however it does exist and has quite a large fan base once you discover the talents that are out there.  One person in particular that exemplifies that is Boston (and frequent Manhattan visitor) Tony Banks, who has made quite a lot of strides in and out of the music world.  A well known presence in the bear community, Tony has developed a big following on social media with his R&B jams and hip-hop rhythms that he has created to get himself where he is today.  I respect someone like him who goes after their dreams and he is a great example of one that is out there today.

Tony sat down with me to discuss a bevy of topics such as his inspirations, thoughts about gay men in the music world, who he is feeling right now, favorite songs he has made and future plans.  Take a look.

Tony Banks, Manhattan Digest
Credit to: Tony Banks

Thanks for sitting down with me Tony.  So what got you into the music scene in the first place? 

Thanks for having me. I’ve been attracted to music since birth. My mother was a church singer so I did the whole church choir thing as a child. Growing up I also dabbled with many different instruments, from guitar and piano to trumpet and drums. I started writing and making beats when I was 15. My best friend at the time and I were tinkering around with the idea of creating a group called 2WICE. He was a rapper and I was a singer. Similar to the “Best Of Both Worlds” album but 15 years earlier. I still might do something like it for the LGBT community. I then did some work at a recording studio and learned the boards, how to produce, how to record and run a session. The rest was just time, experience and a little courage.

Growing up you had to have influences that inspired you to go this route in your career.  Who were some of your biggest influences?

I think my first influence like many in my age bracket was Michael Jackson. I remember the “Off The Wall” and “Thriller” album being played in the house. My sister used to scare me with the “Thriller” video. And when I was a little older and able to understand music being obsessed with the “BAD” album.  Then it moved towards other contemporary artist, mostly males.  Then when Missy Elliot came on the scene I saw a piece of myself. She was big in size but never let it slow her down. The music was fun and silly, but also had meaning- Real Hip-Hop in a Rap dominated world. Plus she could sing and rhyme. She still influences me to this day. Even if she did lose weight….haha. LL Cool J, Andre 3000, Mos Def, Slick Rick, Stevie Wonder and a mess of others have influenced me as well. But I’m also a fan of music of all types. From artist like Jim Croce to Dinah Washington to Leonard Bernstein to Pat Metheny to Buddy Rich Big Band and everything in-between and beyond. I’m not stuck in one style of music. Never have.

Tony Banks, Manhattan Digest
Credit to: Tony Banks

Your music has some serious R&B and hip-hop beats when it comes to the music you produce.  Was that always the venue you wanted to go in?

Yes and No. I’m a huge fan of the 90’s era of hip-hop/R&B music. The mixture of different styles and fusion of sounds was very moving. That was when my creative world really started to form. Actually my first dream was to be an R&B singer. So I would study male R&B artists, past and present. When I started to learn the business and who makes the money I said hell with that I want to be a songwriter. So I would write songs and poems all the time. Life took over. Fast forward. A few years ago I did a funny xmas song. A pop/ hip-hop track. It sparked something that has just evolved into a Hip-Hop/R&B/Pop mix which is the sound of Tony Banks. Something I think is very unique in the LGBT world. So if you listen I write a lot of my music like an R&B song but with more of a rap flow. But I am NOT a rapper!

In 2015 there still really isn’t an out and proud gay man when it comes to the R&B and hip-hop world, outside of Frank Ocean yet he is admittedly bisexual.  Why do you think this is?

There are plenty of out and proud gay men in the R&B/ Hip-Hop culture. Just not many getting the credit or artistic respect that they deserve by the mainstream market. Oddly enough the world has proven that it does accept gay pop artists. Look at Sam Smith, Ricky Martin, Lance Bass, Clay Aiken, Adam Lambert and Elton John. See a pattern? It’s only in the Hip-Hop world that the culture is holding on to this fantasy that gay artist don’t belong. So many of the ones who are mainstream have to hide on the DL. But yet everyone wants to know who the gay rapper is. We are out here! 1000’s of us within the hip-hop community. Creating good music we would love the masses to hear and embrace.

Do you think it is hard for any man of color to be gay in that particular industry that is known for its homophobic over and undertones?

Men….Yes outside a certain field but women no. We have female R&B/Hip-hop artist who are either out or creeping out the closet. Yet the men who are in the industry are the A&R’s, designers, hair and make-up, choreographers, etc. People who are accepted because of their jobs, skills and trades and could make a difference but are afraid to rock the boat. But the more people realize that hip-hop music is for the story teller, the dreamer, the underdog and not just some stupid mask of masculinity the sooner we will be able to move forward. But the black community as a whole has to accept those things first. And erase their negative views on homosexuality. Which is why shows like “Empire” are so ground breaking and important.

Tony Banks, Manhattan Digest
Credit to: Tony Banks

How do you plan on breaking that mold?

I’m not trying to break any molds because I don’t believe I’m stuck in one. Either you accept me or you don’t, but that is more your problem and less mine. I’m making music for the grown and sexy. The hip-hop head who wants to feel something again when they listen to music. Who can relate to what I’m saying and see themselves in my words. Hell just by being me I’ve already broken any mold that my big ass would have been squeezed into anyway. But I would love to perform more and get the music out to new audiences. Become a sort of trailblazer for others who might want to follow in my music bear foot steps.

Of all the songs you recorded, what has been your favorite and why?

I don’t have a favorite but I do have a lot of songs I LOVE. One of those is a song called “Bring it Home”. It’s a song about my partner working, going to school, having fun, living life but when you done all that bring it home to me. Other songs I love are “Whip It”, “Work It”, “Sex Tape” and “Lemme Do You”. Basically if I put it out I love it. I’m a fan of my own work for sure and my own number 1 fan. You have to be. If not then why do it. But I must say one of my most emotional songs that I really love is called “Blue Lights”. “Red and Blue lights in the rear view. While I’m trying to get home to you”. Very cinematic. Sorta like the end of the movies “Set It Off” and “Waist Deep”. Moments when the cops are facing you, you in the car and all you do is think about that person you love before you press the gas and gun it.

Do you have a dream artist or group you are looking to work with?

Missy would be my dream artist to work with for sure, Then LL Cool J. I modeled my swag after him a lot. In reality there are plenty of artist and groups in the LGBT world I would love to work with. I just finished 2 features on other artist projects just this week, both nationally and internationally, but at the same time I’m trying to evolve my sound past “Beats” and more into Hip-hop/Soul just like the Roots. Doing things like bringing in live instruments and opening my music to a wider community. Festivals, concerts and more “mainstream” while still being hip-hop and a gay artist. At almost 34 years old I’m too old to stay in one lane. If you couldn’t tell I’m not a one dimensional person which certainly shapes my music and artistic choices.

Who currently do you think is killing it in the music biz?

My favorite artist right now is Sam Smith. Not because he is gay but because he created a masterpiece of an album. I’m glad he is single again, but would be interested to see what his music would sound like if he were in a relationship. It sucks that so many people come and go in this industry. One hot song and you are everywhere, then nothing. I’m excited to see what Kendrick Lamar has for his follow-up album and I’m personally a big fan of Childish Gambino. A Grammy nom isn’t easy to get but was worth it. He is becoming a great story teller of hip-hop, same with School Boy Q.

You are and out and proud gay man and artist.  What was the experience for you to come out and was the process difficult?

Coming out was a 8 year or so process. A mother always knows but most moms don’t just approach you about it. I recall being younger, maybe 12 and my mother asking me if I were gay. Knowing I was, I told her no. She asked every few years and I always said no. Christmas day in like 2002 or 2003 my older sister found a picture in my book bag of my then boyfriend and I kissing on the fountain at a resort in Orlando. I told my mom I was bi to soften the blow…haha, but since then things have been really smooth. My family loved both my partners since then, and they are very cool with it to where my mom came to my wedding.

What do you have going on right now musically that our readers can know about?

Like I said I’m working on evolving my sound as well as trying different ways to explore music and creativity. I’m about to start working with DJ Shane Phoenix on an EDM/Hip-Hop project as well as releasing my first full length LP “Chocolate Cake” which I’m excited about. I’m performing as a featured artist in NYC end of March for the Bureau Of General Services-Queer Division which should be very cool. I’m looking at doing a concert window event with a guitarist and performing at a few festivals down in Texas. Doing shows in the Southern Region. I just got booked as entertainment for a cruise4bears event this summer. For the first time traveling I’m past London into Spain and Italy. I’m also working on a few more dance/pop tracks for that trip as well as a doing a bunch of collabs. Lots of fun things. All part of the Music Bear Movement.

What are your hopes for 2015 and beyond?

I’m growing beyond being just an artist but becoming a brand. I’ve got a few sponsorship deals and have been the face of a few products for the bear community as well as the overall hip-hop community. So I hope to continue with those ventures. This is one of the first summers I’ve had off since becoming more involved in my career, so I’m excited and looking forward to performing at as many Pride festivals as possible, both in the US and abroad. I also hope to get to London later this year as well as Asia. I just want to reach as many ears as I can- Straight, Gay, doesn’t matter. Believe it or not I do have straight fans. And when you as a gay male can make a lesbian feel sexy and nasty with your music you know you have reached new heights.

For more on Tony Banks, check out his official page & Facebook. 

If I Lose Weight Do I Lose The Bears As Well?

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1-Bear

 

I can honestly say that weight, just like aging and the ever presence of The Kartrashians (spelled correctly folks) is an ever present issue in someone’s life.  When it comes to dealing with weight in the bear community, it takes on a whole new world of self-criticizing, self-loathing, comparisons to other guys and so on and so forth.  Yes of course this can be translatable to any community, any age, any arena.  For me as a gay man, it has been a constant struggle to keep up with.

I never saw myself as being obese.  I was lucky enough to grow up in an area that accepted me for the most part for being gay.  I think because I had such a big personality growing up that people were drawn to me and didn’t see me as the “gay” kid or the “fat” kid they really just saw me as Ryan.  At the same time, I knew subconsciously that I was fat.  I quit football after my freshman year due to my insecurity in being gay and on such a masculine and homophobic (to a certain degree) sport.  That was when the weight problems came on due to not being apart of any sports team and due to my struggle with being a homosexual.

To make matters worse for myself, I was in an area with little to no gay men or women so my references were little except if I would watch Will & Grace or something gay themed on a cable channel.  So I struggled with finding my identity which led to overeating.  When I was 18 and went away to school in Providence, Rhode Island was where I truly was able to begin the process of finding myself as a gay man seeing as there were multiple outlets around me for that self discovery.  At the same time, I really didn’t focus on my weight and mainly focused on determining factors like who am I in this community, what kind of guys am I into, etc etc.  Down the line though is where I started to realize that I fit into the bear community due to the “stereotypical” aspects of being a bear like more weight and body hair.

267
I look like a picnic blanket.

 

By the time I was 21 or 22 I was tipping the scale at 270.  Yes, 270.  And I had no fucking idea that it was getting that bad. Even my first real relationship with a guy I later on came to find that he wanted me to be a “gainer”. Look it up,  it’s odd but there is no judgement there.  There were so many types of guys that I would try to talk to online and many of them rejected me or didn’t message me back.  The only types of guys that seemed to be into me were other heavyset dudes and “Chasers” which are defined as smaller guys who happen to like a big dude.  Problem for me was these two types are ones that I wasn’t into.  I was into the Scott Caan’s and the Chris Pratt’s but at the same time I could go for Chris Meloni’s and LL Cool J’s.  I really just wanted the type of guy who took care of himself but at the same time could eat and not bitch about the calories.  You know, huskular.

248235_867261384495_2977035_n
Progress.

By the time I was 24 was when I finally figured it out and started the process or “journey” of losing weight.  I lost roughly 55 pounds in a matter of a year and people really started to notice.  What was even better was the guys that would usually not talk to me online were actually reaching out to me not vice versa.  It really made me excited and happy because I felt some ubiquity in that I could finally attract a different aesthetic which is what I have been wanting ever since I was fourteen or fifteen.  In the past three years I have yo-yo’d back and forth gaining and losing 15 pounds but never really dealing with an extreme on either end.

Selfie.
Selfie.

 

Now I am at a place where I want to take it to the next step and get down to roughly 170-180, which would put me at a smaller frame.  The problem for me is that i don’t want to feel that I am rejected again by a certain portion of the community because I am not technically a “bear’ anymore and even though it might sound self absorbed but I enjoy that I attract a decent portion of it.  If I get a six pack or get skinny, what happens?  Where do I go from there?  I find it very frustrating to deal with because health should really be a top priority but when it comes to finding a date, mate or sex even, you want it to be a mutual attraction and not a fetish, which seems to populate a lot of this community as well.  Ultimately I just want to figure out a way where I can blur the lines so that I am not labeled and can adapt to any sub-community that is out there.

I put this on my Facebook and got a great amount of responses, many of them saying for me to focus on myself and not on what other people think.  One friend said- “Honestly, I don’t think that should figure into what you decide to do. If they view you differently, so be it, but don’t make that your problem. Besides, your friends should treat you the same way no matter what.”.  Similarly I got a response like “You gotta do you. at the end of the day, other people are not responsible for your health, paying your bills, or paying your damn rent.  Be yourself and people will like you for who you are, the people that leave are what you leave in the toilet; basically just floaters.”

On the contrary I had a couple of friends say its not that easy, where friends have said this situation rings true for them as well.  One summed it up the best though for this (Mainly because they use a “Drag Race” reference and that always gets me going)- “I don’t know what, if anything, the bear community feels as a whole, but why should that matter? If you want to lose weight, for whatever reason, you should do it, regardless of what a demographic has to say about it. Whoever doesn’t like it can bite the wienie. As they say on RuPaul’s Drag Race, you just do YOU. Whatever makes you happy, man.”

What is your take on this?

My Road To The VMA’s… Why Persistence Pays Off

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Credit to: Social Media.biz
Credit to: Social Media.biz

 

I can honestly say that the past three years for me have truly been quite the amazing trip when it comes to so many different facets of my life, yet one thing remains clear in all of them- I didn’t allow anyone else to make my destiny that is my life today.  Three years ago, I was out of work with no money to my name, student loans were piling up and I started to think things like “Why did I even bother going to college” and “Fuck this economy” and so on and so forth.  While I was out of work,  I had a great conversation with a lifelong friend of mine who suggested that I started writing seeing as they know how much I love the music industry and they felt that would be a good platform for me to start with.  And so my road to the Video Music Awards started…

I got hired by the multi-purpose website Examiner literally two hours after I applied.  My original title was “Long Island Hip-Hop Examiner” which I was more than happy about having seeing as hip-hop tends to be my favorite type of music and ultimately my forte when it comes to writing.  I started writing about my own personal feelings about the industry in itself and started getting a following shortly after that and was able to interview a bunch of acts in Long Island that weren’t always necessarily the hip-hop vibe.  Regardless, it was a great starting off point for me but I never really saw it as a career because the pay was pathetically low and it didn’t pertain to what I majored in in college.

I continued to make leeway for Examiner for the next year or so but nothing really seemed to come out of it the way that I wanted it to.  Finally I was granted passes to The Vans Warped Tour in July of 2012.  It was there that I met a pivotal role model for myself, Glenn Gamboa at Newsday.  He is one of the nicest guys I have ever met and is uber professional in so many different ways.  Newsday is a paper that I have been reading since I was a kid on Long Island, and the thought of writing an article for such an esteemed paper really made me want to push myself harder than I ever have before.  I came up with a great idea for the paper which he loved and I continued to work on it over the next month or so.

Around that time, I got an email from a PR agency out in Los Angeles asking me if I wanted to interview T-Pain.  That’s right, chart topping, Grammy award winning hip-hopper T-Pain.  I instantly replied back with an emphatic YES (or as I like to say lately YAAAAAAAAAAASSS) and interviewed him the next day over the phone.  That was when it really set in that I was doing something right for agencies to feel comfortable enough for me to interview someone on that level and my drive, which I already thought was at an all time high, increased exponentially over what had happened.

I got to write for hip-hop site HipHopDX and do an in depth story about the never ending saga of beef and problems at hip-hop award shows, something that got me recognized by many up and coming rappers and people alike for just that one article.  I also had a good stint at AOL’s “The Boombox” in which I interviewed legends in the game from LL Cool J to Fat Joe just to name a few.  About a month later some sort of ubiquity happened.  The article that I pitched for Newsday was finally becoming a reality.  On February 19th, 2013, I woke up extra early to see where I would land in the paper.  I am glad that I went into this with no expectations because I actually was the cover story in the supplemental section of Newsday called “Explore LI”.  I was in total disbelief and shock and couldn’t have been more on cloud 9 than I ever was before.  Just baffled that such an esteemed paper would take a new kid on the block and write something that they deemed worthy of a cover story. Truly blessed.

Around this time is when me and my partner in crime Lane developed this site, Manhattan Digest.  Since its inception we have garnered close to 200K in views which is huge for a new site.  I have been able to interview some really big people in the celebrity world for my site such as Kristin Cavallari to Andy Grammer and the writers for this site have gone above and beyond what was necessary of them to make this site a success.  It is most likely the reason why I was granted a press pass to the Video Music Awards last week.  I was one of 126 press outlets that were invited out of thousands and for that I am truly grateful and happy.  The moral you should get out of this story is this-  Be persistent, be patient, but above all realize that you make your own destiny in life.  No one else does.

Summer 2013- Best gym songs

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robin-thicke-blurred-lines-video

As summer is already here, and the winter days are gone for now, we all have a lot to look forward to while basking in the glory of the sun and being with our friends and family.  It also gives us initiative to get our fat asses to the gym and make sure we look good at the beach, walking in the city, and just being more in public as the winter time can force us to get under the covers and watch “True Blood” repeats.  I have come up with 10 essentials that will keep you jamming throughout the gym session and make the overall experience there more fun and satisfying! Take a look.

 

La Bouche- “Be My Lover”

If you were a GIGANTIC fan of the Jock Jams movement in the late 90’s, there was no denying this chart topping hit by this EDM duo.  With a fast paced rhythm to go along with what i like to call “melodic rapping”, this song is designed for the avid cardio-lover and help you get to that next mile.

Robin Thicke Featuring Pharell Williams- “Blurred Lines”

Thicke, more notably known for his slow paced songs like his chart-topper “Lost Without You”, has the number one song in the country with this funky dance anthem that is sure to be one of the biggest songs of the summer.

Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams- “Get Lucky”

Daft Punk have sort of become synonymous with creating insanely great dance music and the adoration of fans worldwide.  “Get Lucky” is the first track off of their new album which easily debuted at number one on The Billboard 200.

Icona Pop- “I Don’t Care”

This song has been out for a couple of months now and has been heard everywhere, even in “Shoedazzle” commercials.  It is another great cardio anthem to jam out to when sweating it out on the elliptical.

Papa Roach- “Last Resort”

Are you mad? Want to get that aggression out when you are at the gym? Blast this hit from 1999 and keep it on repeat and the aggression will be released in the masses.

Bauuer- “Harlem Shake”

This year’s “Gangham Style” became quite the internet sensation back in February with its endless parody videos of mainly the first 30 seconds of the song, yet the entire song itself is pretty dope and definitely a gym jam.

Chris Brown- “Beautiful People”

I hate Chris Brown as a person, but I love this song.  Enough said.

Kanye West- “Stronger”

This was ranked a couple of years ago as the best song to listen to at the gym, and I agree to a certain extent.  Kanye could have a couple of records on this list (Monster, Mercy) but this one suits the bill. Daft Punk on this track as well.  Yeezus.

LL Cool J- “Mama Said Knock You Out”

At a boxing gym? This will have you covered.

Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz- “Get Low”

Inescapable in 2003, and the song that quite frankly put Lil Jon on the music map, “Get Low” is hands down a beat spectacle and one that will be sure to get your heart racing when working out.

55th Annual Grammy Awards Live Coverage!

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8pm Eastern Time tonight, CBS                  

CBS standards and practices is desperately trying to avoid a repeat of this (Photo Source: Wikipedia)
CBS standards and practices is desperately trying to avoid a repeat of this (Photo Source: Wikipedia)

7:30 pm Eastern: Good Evening! Welcome to what will be the first of many Manhattan Digest awards ceremony liveblogs! LL Cool J hosts the ceremony, which starts at 8 pm Eastern time on CBS. This should be an interesting evening tonight, with the Album of the Year award showing a surprisingly rock heavy slate with Mumford and Sons’ Babel, Fun.’s Some Nights, The Black Keys’ El Camino, and Jack White’s Blunderbuss, with Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange being the sole R&B outlier. Personally, I think that Babel and Channel Orange are the clear favorites, with Channel Orange being my pick to win the whole thing.

That being said, I’m here mostly to look at the show in terms of its’ presentation than to heavily critique the award choices themselves. The Grammy’s are known mostly for being the safest show on the February awards season, often only garnering attention for a killer performance (such as Elton John and Eminem’s killer performance of  “Stan” in 2001), or some truly horrendous fashion calls (see Jennifer Lopez’s infamous green dress from the 2000 show). The latter is under intense scrutiny this year, as earlier this week CBS standards and practices sent out a letter vilifying the use of thongs or costumes that allow for exposed “breasts and buttocks”, singling out that earth-shattering corrupter of morals: the thong. Needless to say, my gut instinct is telling me that someone is going to find a way to defy this (odds on favorite here? Rihanna).

I would love for tonight to be a dialogue as we all react to the show together (and get different opinions at the same time), so feel free to use the comments section below and get involved in the conversation! Stay tuned to Manhattan Digest for more updates as the ceremony unfolds!

 

Taylor Swift at the Grammy Red Carpet (Source Grammys.com)
Taylor Swift at the Grammy Red Carpet (Source Grammys.com)

7:45 p.m.: Some early updates from the red carpet. Generally speaking it looks like the artists are complying with the S+P guidelines, with only a handful of particularly deep plunging necklines (including Miranda Lambert and Ashanti). Similarly the men seem pretty buttoned up, with a surprisingly large number of skinny ties. I think Taylor Swift’s dress was pretty impressive from a fashion standpoint. Conversely, Adele’s floral print design leaves a lot to be desired.

For me though, the highlight of the red carpet was Jennifer Lopez’s angry shrieks of protest after Ryan Seacrest noted that her dress was skirting the lines of what CBS was allowing screaming “I’m just showing a little leg and a little shoulder!”.

 

7:57 p.m.: Three minutes to the curtain and a large number of the awards have been given off camera already. Notable award winners included Gotye (who won two awards including Best Alternative Music Album, and Best Duo/Group Pop Performance – the latter with Kimbra for “Somebody that I Used to Know”), Skrillex (who also wont two awards for Best Dance Album and Best Dance Recording both for Bangarang), Rihanna (for her video for “We Found Love”), and Taylor Swift (for Best Song Written for Visual Media ).

Additionally it was announced on the red carpet that Ms. Swift will be the opening performance tonight, so expect to see her on your TV screens sometime in the next few minutes.

8:15 PM: And on cue we open with a weird man on a bike with a torch to introduce Taylor Swift who opens the show with “We are Never (Getting Back Together)” in a very sideshow circus vibe that involved a boyfriend strapped to a carnival wheel, trapeze artists, fire spinners and a large amount of pyrotechnics. The performance itself was pretty mediocre in spite of the spectacle, but it seemed like a fine way to amp up the crowd for tonight’s show.

Afterwords, we see our first appearance of show host, LL Cool J. He devotes his somewhat meandering opening monologue discussing music as a vehicle for bringing people together before pitching it to Eddie Sheeran and Elton John to perform Sheeran’s song “A Team”. I love Elton John as much as anyone, but it seemed like he was off for most of the song and it adversely affected the vocal harmonies. I did enjoy the off in the crowd staging aspect that they used, as it seemed to highlight the “lighter song” vibe that one gets when listening to “A-team”.

Fun. Performing Carry On (Source Grammys.com)
Fun. Performing Carry On (Source Grammys.com)

8:27 PM: LL  Cool J asks us to use #Grammys when talking about tonight’s show before kicking it to J-Lo and Pitbull (with a split screen to the infamous green dress from 2000) with Pitbull fawning over J Lo before announcing the nominees for best solo pop performance:

The nominees are:
“Stronger” (Kelly Clarkson), “Set Fire to the Rain” (Adele), “Wide Awake” (Katy Perry), “Call Me Maybe” (Carly Rae Jespen) and “Where Have You Been?” (Rihanna)

AND THE WINNER: Set Fire to the Rain by Adele.

Adele gives a very brief speech (in which she called back to last year’s six wins) before Neil Patrick Harris enters to introduce Fun. (whom have six nominations this evening). Fun. then took the opportunity to play “Carry On.”, which started a little slow but picked up once the instruments kicked in. Once it built, we got a performance with a very strong cinematic vibe, including the obligatory downpour towards the end. One thing did bother me about the performance however, and that is why frontman Nate Ruess wore those Capris?

8:48 PM: Bonnie Raitt and John Mayer appear to introduce Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley. The duo play a couple of country tracks in “Over You” and “Home”. Their performance was perfectly fine and fairly low key compared to the immediately preceding performance before cutting to LL Cool J on American Bandstand in an awkward transition. LL then takes the opportunity to pay tribute to Dick Clark.

LL Cool J then makes an another abrupt transition, introducing Miguel and Wiz Khalifa, whom perform “Adorn” . The performance was sizzling, with Miguel showing off his pipes and performing the standard issue R and B theatrics. From there, our performer then announced the nominees for…wait for it…best country solo performance (because that made sense to me too right?)

The nominees for best country solo performance:
“Home” (Dierks Bentley), “Springsteen” (Eric Church), “Cost of Living” (Ronnie Dunn), “Wanted (Hunter Hayes), “Over (Blake Shelton), and “Blown Away” (Carrie Underwood)

AND THE WINNER IS: “Blown Away” by Carrie Underwood.

8:58 PM: LL Plugs social media again before telling everyone in the Northeast to stay warm and kicking it to Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, whom are presenting song of the year.

The nominees are: “Adorn” (Miguel), “The A-Team” (Ed Sheeran), “Call Me Maybe” (Carly Rae Jespen), “We are Young” (Fun. Feat Janelle Monae), and “Stronger” (Kelly Clarkson).

AND YOUR WINNER: “We Are Young” by (the now completely dry) Fun.

Nate Ruess gives a speech that has the first real crack of the night in “I don’t know what we’re thinking writing this chorus, now that we’re in HD and you can see our faces, we are clearly not young.”. They then thank Jay-Z (who mouths a “You’re Welcome” from the crowd) and Chick Corea before the orchestra kicks in to introduce Johnny Depp. I want them to win more awards now because they are clearly the only people so far who have not taken this awards show too seriously tonight.

Depp is there to introduce Mumford and Sons in 20 words or less. They play their hit “I will wait” in front of a large display of lights and had an excellent performance aside from some sound issues that seemed to keep the backing vocals from coming through, though the remainder of the sound was very impressive.

Justin Timberlake performs at the 2013 Grammy Awards (source: Grammys.com)
Justin Timberlake performs at the 2013 Grammy Awards (source: Grammys.com)

9:15 PM: We return to Ellen Degeneres and Beyonce (in a pantsuit tonight) whom do a shticky introuction for Justin Timberlake, whom is here to perform “Suit and Tie”. The screen goes black and white, which is probably not a right call because it makes Justin Timberlake look disturbingly like Rick Astley. Jay-Z then climbs on stage to perform his verse. The screen then goes color befor Justin does a new song with a full orchestra and band (Update: The song is titled “Pusher Love Girl”). All internet memes aside, the performance is excellent and realizing the irony in saying this about someone whose only a few years older than myself, he still clearly has it.

Following that performance, we next see presenters Kelly Rowland and Nas, whom announce the nominees for a new category: Best Urban Contemporary Album

Fortune (Chris Brown), Kaliedoscope Dream (Miguel), Channel Orange (Frank Ocean)

AND THE WINNER: Channel Orange by Frank Ocean

9:30 PM: 

During the commercial, we saw a hard release date for Justin Timberlake’s new album, which will drop on March 19th.

Dave Grohl and Pauley Perette (Abby from NCIS) whom are here to announce that Dan Auerbach won producer of the year earlier in the day, before presenting the award for best Rock Performance

“Hold On” (Alabama Shakes), “Lonely Boy” (The Black Keys), “Charlie Brown” (Coldplay), “I Will Wait”, (Mumford and Sons) and

“We take care of our own” (Bruce Springsteen).

AND THE WINNER: “Lonely Boy” by the Black Keys

Following that, Maroon 5 and Alicia Keys perform “Room on Fire” and “Daylight”. While Maroon 5’s performance of Daylight was fine, “Girl on Fire” felt a little flat at points. This was a bit troubling as if there are two vocal artists who not only can, but are expected to let their vocals soar, it’s Adam Levine and Alicia Keys.

Kaley Cuoco and Keith Urban next came out to introduce the award for “Best Pop Vocal Album”. The nominees were:

Stronger (Kelly Clarkson), Ceremonials (Florence and the Machine), Some Nights (Fun.). Overexposed (Maroon 5), and The Truth About Love (Pink).

AND THE WINNER: Stronger by Kelly Clarkson

Kelly comes up and wings an acceptance speech, where she mentions being “stuck to Miranda Lambert” and expressed interest in working with Miguel. It was truly spontaneous and very welcome in this very overstuffed and seemingly overscripted show.

9:55 PM:  After a performance from Rihanna that had shades of Adele’s performance of “Someone Like You” from last year, Carly Rae Jespen and Ne-Yo come out to present the award for best Rap/Sung collaboration

“Wild Ones” (Flo-Rida f. Sia), “Tonight” (John Legend f. Ludacris), “Cherry Wine ‘ (Nas f. Amy Winehouse), “Talk that Talk” (Rihanna f. Jay Z), and “No Church in the Wild” (Jay-Z/Kanye West feat. Frank Ocean and the Dream)

AND THE WINNER: No Church in the Wild by Jay-Z and Kanye West featuring Frank Ocean and the Dream.

In a classy move, Jay-Z gave most of the speech to Frank Ocean and the Dream, whom both give quick shout outs. Jay-Z on the other hand, simply thanks “The swap meet, because that’s where he (The Dream) got that hat.”

10:02 PM: The Lifetime Achievement award was announced with The Temptations, Carole King, Ravi Shankar, Patty Page, Glenn Gould, Charlie Haden, and Lightning Hopkins amongst the recipients.

After the break, Kat Dennings comes out to introduce the Black Keys, Dr. John, and the New Orleans Preservation Hall Band. All parties involved come out rocking, performing the Black Keys’ hit “Lonely Boy”. While I am typically not a fan of brass instruments in Rock Music. Adding to the proceedings was Dr. John, whom was dressed about as outlandishly as one could possibly be on a grammy stage, in full Hoodoo gear. It was a great performance, I do with it would have highlighted Dr. John a little more.
This was then followed up by Kelly Clarkson performing a medley including “Tennessee Waltz”, “Natural Woman”, in order to honor Patti Page and Carole King. This then segued into the nominations for best country album.

The nominees are: Uncaged (Zac Brown Band), Hunter Hayes (Hunter Hayes), Living for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran (Jamey Johnson), For the Record (Miranda Lambert), The Time Jumpers (The Time Jumpers)

AND THE WINNER: The Zac Brown Band’s Uncaged.

Bruno Mars and Rihanna during the Bob Marley Tribute (Source Grammys.com)
Bruno Mars and Rihanna during the Bob Marley Tribute (Source Grammys.com)

10:13 PM:  We now get the Grammy’s tribute to Bob Marley with Bruno Mars, Sting, Damian and Ziggy Marley. The tribute started with Bruno Mars, who performed his hit single “Locked out of Heaven”. After the first chorus Sting came out in a fun moment as “Locked out of Heaven” is really Bruno Mars’ attempt at writing a police song. This then segued into The Police’s “Walking on the Moon”. This performance has been the best of the show so far, as Bruno hung out there with Sting and didn’t look out of place, though it looked like Sting initially hindered by the fact that “Locked out” was sped up.

Midway through the performance, Rihanna, Damian and Ziggy Marley came out and performed “Could You be Loved”. This actually created a largeness to the performance that made it feel more worthy of the Grammy stage, eclipsing even Rihanna’s prior appearance 15 minutes earlier.

10:30 PM: LL introduces The Lumineers, whom perform their hit single “Ho Hey”. The performance seemed perfectly servicable, and it seems like they have fixed the microphone problems from earlier. This then swept into Jack White’s performance of “Love Interruption”. After the completion of “Love Interruption.” Jack then exploded into “Freedom at 21”, giving the perfect loud kick after two quieter songs.

Katy Perry is now out to present the Best New Artist award. She marvels at the dedication it takes to get to that point before offering a little solace for those who didn’t win, saying: “I didn’t even get nominated for best new artist, but now I have my own eyelash line!”

The nominees are: Alabama Shakes, Fun., Hunter Hayes, The Lumineers, Frank Ocean

AND THE WINNER: Fun. (Fun has taken two Grammys tonight, I think they are now very much in the discussion for Album of the Year).

I think this one is a little bit of a shocker, I was pretty sure Frank Ocean was going to be a mortal lock for this one.

Hour three right now seems to have been a lot kinder to this show than the first two hours.

Carrie Underwood and her projection screen dress (Source: Grammys.com)
Carrie Underwood and her projection screen dress (Source: Grammys.com)

10:45 PM: And apparently I jinxed everyone (sorry!).

Hunter Hayes is out to sing (I wasn’t impressed, but I’m not a country guy) before introducing Carrie Underwood, who then sung two of her songs. Carrie’s vocals did not feel particularly impressive, but the lighting for this was particularly impressive as they used Carrie’s dress as a proxy for a projection screen, allowing for a neat visual that worked out superbly.

After this, Prince made a rare appearance to present Record of the Year, looking like a hybrid of Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, and Puff Daddy.

The Nominees are:
“Lonely Boy” (The Black Keys), “Stronger” (Kelly Clarkson), “We are Young” (Fun.),“Somebody That I Used to Know” (Gotye f. Kimbra), “Thinking About You” (Frank Ocean), “We are never ever Getting Back Together” (Taylor Swift).

AND THE WINNER: “Somebody That I used to Know” by Gotye f. Kimbra.

11:04 PM: We come back to “Take Five” (no introduction, but it’s one of my favorite Jazz songs of all time, so uh, I know it…and now you do too.) for what I’m assuming is the tribute to Dave Brubeck as performed by Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, and Kenny Garrett.

Neal Portnow and Ryan Seacrest (who’s now the honorary chairman of the Grammy Foundation) are out to introduce Justin Timberlake. Mr. Timberlake comes out to shill for the Grammy Foundation and the new “music educator” award.

We now get the in Memorian Montage, which includes Dave Brubeck, Donna Summer, Andy Williams, Chuck Brown, Robin Gibb, Patti Page, Davy Jones , Dick Clark, Fontella Bass, Hal David, Marvin Hamlish, Richard Adler, Andy Griffith, Ravi Shankar, Adam Yauch (Adrock of the Beastie Boys), Levon Helm and others. Looking back at that last sentence, it seems like every genre of music took a heavy loss in 2012.

This then leads to a tribute to Levon Helm fronted by Elton John, Zac Brown, Mumford and Sons, T-Bone Burnett, Mavis Staples, Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes as they played “The Weight”. This performance had a looser jam band performance due to the larger nature of this collaboration. Elton seemed a lot stronger in this performance than his earlier performance with Eddie Sheeran. This performance is easily in the upper echelon of performances tonight.

11:18 PM: We return to Juanes paying tribute to Elton John singing “Your Song” in English and Spanish in a very intimate acoustic vibe before kicking it to Frank Ocean, who’s performing his single “Forrest Gump”. They start with a cool visual effect where Frank is running on a video screen before completing his run up a hill to his keyboard in person. Frank wrenched a ton of emotion into this one and it created an excellent and haunting performance

We’re down to one last award, Album of the Year, and Adele is here to award it after making a quick crack about she got knocked up after winning Album of the Year last year.

The Nominees are:

El Camino (The Black Keys), Channel ORANGE (Frank Ocean), Blunderbuss (Jack White), Some Nights (Fun.),Babel (Mumford and Sons)

AND YOUR WINNER: Babel by Mumford and Sons.

A pretty deserving winner and one of my favorites from earlier. They managed to spread the love around somewhat with only Jack White not making the winner’s podium during the course of the show tonight.

11:42 PM: We’re down to the grand finale, a performance by LL Cool J, Chuck D, Tom Morello, Travis Barker, and DJ Z-Trip, whom performed “Whaddup”, which was a fun way to end the show if only because Chuck D’s voice IS rap to me, and LL was game. It was a pretty solid performance and I would kill to see the single, though it would not have killed CBS not to stick fee plugs in the middle of the song.

My Final Thoughts: This year’s Grammy ceremony felt a little overstuffed with tons of abrupt transitions and sequences and with a little bit of breathing room we could have cut some of the weaker performances (notably the lacking Maroon 5/Alicia Keys collaboration and Hunter Hayes’ introduction of an introduction). Additionally, at times the show had a somber, joyless feel at points during a night that should be the biggest party for the music industry of the year. That being said, what you expected to deliver did deliver (the Marley and Levon Helms’ tributes, as well your Album of the Year candidates’ performances), so check out those seven performances.

Also some enjoyable moments I didn’t get to point out amid the I Love Lucy Conveyor Belt pace of the show:

  • Taylor Swift was rocking out to EVERYTHING. I’m not sure why, but this is really amusing to me.
  • The full extent of Kelly Clarkson’s gushing about R+B artist Miguel
  • Once the show hit hour three and it slowed down a little bit, it seemed like the show was able to gel a little more as the orchestra wasn’t cutting off awards speeches at the 30 second mark as it did for Fun.’s first speech

Final Verdict: If you haven’t seen the whole show, it’s probably not worth watching all three hours. You owe it to yourself to YouTube up the Marley tribute though, and I would probably check out Fun.’s , Jack White’s, and the Black Keys’ performances as well. LL Cool J was passable as a host, but the role of host honestly felt superfluous with the rapid pace that the show took.