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The 'you really like me' department: Grammy nominations were announced last week and, all in all, 24 Texans were among the honorees. Dallas' Erykah Badu got a nod in the Female R&B Vocal Performance category, but will vie with Paula Cole, Fiona Apple, Hanson, and Puff Daddy in the New Artist category. In the Female Pop Vocal category, Austin's Shawn Colvin will be going up against the likes of industry heavyweights Mariah Carey and Sarah McLachlan. Colvin was also nominated for Song of the Year and Record of the Year for Sunny Came Home.
Houston's La Mafia compete once again for the Mexican-American/Tejano award with their album, En Tus Manos; they won the Grammy in that category last year. Joe Sample received a Contemporary Jazz nomination for his solo album Sample This and Dallas-born trumpeter Roy Hargrove received a nod in the Latin Jazz category with his Cuban group, Crisol. Dallas' Pantera was included in the Metal Performance category. Austin's music scene was represented with the nominations of Abra Moore in the Female Rock Vocal category for her song "Four Leaf Clover" and Eric Johnson's "S.R.V." for Rock Instrumental. Dallas' youth gospel choir God's Property was nominated for R&B Song and Group Performance for "Stomp," their crossover hit produced by and featuring Fort Worth's Kirk Franklin. They are also up for Best Gospel Album by a Choir. Franklin, who won a Grammy last year for Contemporary Soul Gospel Album, was also nominated for Producer of the Year for his work with God's Property. Country categories were chock full of Texans, including Houston-raised Clint Black (Male Country Vocal, Country Collaboration with Vocals), San Antonio's George Strait (Male Country Vocal, Country Album), Dallas' LeAnn Rimes (Female Country Vocal); Willie Nelson (Male Country Vocal); and Austin's Asleep at the Wheel (Country Instrumental). Do the Grammys mean anything? Of course not. Even if someone you like is lucky enough to get nominated, they probably won't win. The major categories seem to mostly follow Billboard sales charts, and it sometimes seems the nominators have trouble even finding enough nominees to fill up the smaller categories. But congratulations to all those Texans who did get nominated, it's always nice to be recognized.  The 'you really don't like me' department: On a more entertaining front, Wiley Alexander reported in the January 11 San Antonio Express-News that the irrepressible Kinky Friedman was stirring up trouble again, as he's likely to do anytime he's allowed to get close to a microphone. Seems he was a guest on a taping of the country music show "Crook & Chase" to promote his mystery novel Road Kill when he offended host Lorianne Crook with a couple of bawdy golf jokes ("The only good balls I ever hit were when I stepped on a rake"). He also mentioned that he was asking k.d. lang to cover his song "Put Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed" for a forthcoming Kinky tribute album. The jokes and the k.d. lang comment were eventually cut from the taped show and never aired, but producer Tom Spychalski, a seven-year veteran, was fired for not preparing the hosts for Kinky's style.
(1/1/98) |
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