Grammy Nominations

The 51st Annual Grammy Nominations were announced tonight on CBS. Tonight’s announcement was a first for the Grammy’s having artists perform some old but great songs. Performers included Mariah Carey who opened the show with a Chistmas song. Other performers included Christina Aguilera, John Mayer, B.B. King, Taylor Swift, and the Foo Fighters. Some of my favorite artists who are nominated are:

Record of the Year: Leona Lewis Bleeding Love, M.I.A Paper Planes

Dance: Rihanna Disturbia

Best Female R&B Performance: Beyonce Me, Myself & I, Keyshia Cole Heaven Sent, Jennifer Hudson, Spotlight  Alicia Keys, Superwoman Jazmine Sullivan, Need You Bad

Best Male R&B Performance: Eric Benet, You’re The Only One, Chris Brown, Take You Down, Ne-Yo, Miss Independent, Trey Songz, Can’t Help But Wait, Usher, Here I Stand

Best Performance By a Male Duo or Group: Jennifer Hudson feat. Fantasia I’m His Only Woman

Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance: Jazmine Sullivan, In Love With Another Man

Best Urban/Alternative Performance: Chrisette Michelle feat will.i.am, Be Ok

Best R&B Song: Jazmine Sullivan, Bust Your Windows, Raheem Devaughn, Customer, Keyshia Cole, Heaven Sent, Ne-Yo, Miss Independent,  Jennifer Hudson, Spotlight

Best R&B Album: Eric Benet, Jennifer Hudson, Boyz II Men, Raphel Saadiq, Al Green

Best Contemporary R&B Album: Mary J Blige Growing Pains, Jazmine Sullivan, Fearless

Ne-Yo, Year of the Gentleman

For more Nominations go to www.grammy.com

Talk About Making Things Happen

William Earl Stafford a Virgina businessman will be making some things happen for some very special people.

As Washington gears up for January’s presidential inauguration,
tickets to the evening’s festivities are going for hundreds of dollars,
and the city’s remaining hotel rooms are edging into four-figure
territory. Even basements and couches miles from the National Mall are
going for a premium on Craigslist.

But one of the splashiest inauguration packages out there -
including high-end hotel rooms and luxury suites, food and drink, a
(heated) viewing spot right above the parade route, even gowns and
tuxedos to wear to celebratory balls, and a beautician to help you get
ready for it – is going for the most eye-popping price of all:
absolutely nothing.

Virginia businessman Earl Stafford has spent $1 million to give
hundreds of poverty-stricken and terminally ill Americans, along with
wounded men and women in uniform, an inauguration experience that would
ordinarily run each of them thousands of dollars or more.

The 60-year-old black businessman and son of a Baptist minister -
who said his effort was rooted in his faith and good fortune — told the
Washington Post he is ready to spend another $600,000 on meals and
private balls in the Marriott hotel two blocks from the White House
where he rented a bloc of inauguration week rooms just hours after the
election.

He also said he’s hoping to raise roughly the same amount from
sponsors. For now, the money is coming from his family’s non-profit
foundation, the Stafford Foundation.

“We wanted to… bless those who otherwise wouldn’t have an
opportunity to be a part of the great celebration, the inauguration and
the festivities,” he told the paper. “Our objective is to bring in a
cross-section of society — those who are distressed, those who are
terminally ill, those who are socially and economically disadvantaged,
those veterans who are wounded and served our country.

“…We’ve gotten away from those core values that made America great,”
he said. “We just need to get back to caring about one another.”

Stafford, who contributed to and voted for Barack Obama but said he
does not agree with all of the president-elect’s positions – has been
planning the effort since the primary season.

But he said he decided the inauguration would be “a transition in history, if you will… and everyone should be included.”

Source: CNN

Black Friday Nightmare

Due to the troubling economy this year’s Black Friday brought the worst in some people today. One man unlocking the doors at Long Island  Walmart lost his life as he was trampled on by customers who could not wait for the doors to open.  While at another store across the country in California two men arguing about an unknown dispute shot each other at Toys “R” Us. I guess people were to concerned with saving money at the cost of not worrying about the lives of others some were upset at the closure of Walmart due to the death of the worker today. What do you think about the state of economy? Do you think it is causing people to disregard the lives of people for the sake of saving a Dollar?

TV One’s UnSung Series

On Thanksgiving after stuffing my face, I was channel surfing and caught The Jackson 5 movie on TV One. After the movie went off I caught a glimpse of a new series  called UnSung. The series is about musicians who had the talent but life’s obstacles got in the way. I enjoyed watching  the DeBarge family learning about their trials and tribulations as they tried to make their way into the world of entertainment. I will say that I love their music and didn’t know that it was sampled so much. I would encourage you to catch UnSung on TV One this Sunday Phyllis Hyman will be featured. Visit http://www.tvoneonline.com/shows/show.asp?sid=902&id=2172 for more information.