AU AV -W AV VV V V 4B - The Michigan Daily - Weekend Magazine - Thursday, February 5, 2004 JOEL HOARD - GET THAT PAPER HAPPY "EVERYONE GETS AN AWARD" DAY! Q uestion: Which of the following received at least one Grammy nomi- nation this year: Hillary Clinton, Al Franke , Ruben Studdard, Sophia Loren, Bill Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev, Kenny G, Carl Reiner, Eric Idle, Bill Maher, Don Cheadle, Quentin Tarantino, Jack Black, Martin Scorsese? Answer: All of the above. It took me at least 20 minutes to browse through the entire list of nominees to pluck out those names that seemed painfully out of place - a former president, a former first lady turned United States senator, an American Idol runner- up, a washed-up soprano saxophone player, a former Soviet leader, a handful of comedians, a few actors and a pair of legendary film direc- tors. I was also able to locate at least five recent- ly-deceased nominees: Johnny Cash and his wife June Carter Cash, George Harrison, Warren Zevon and Rosemary Clooney. But I suppose you're bound to get a large, diverse list of nominees when you have 105 award categories spread across 30 fields. For the Grammys, "Best Album" isn't enough. The musical landscape must be broken down by genre, subgenre, sub-sub-subgenre and sub-sub- subgenre with at least a dozen awards handed out at each level. It was only by some fluke that I wasn't nominated this year, but I'm not upset. My mantle is overflowing with Grammy statues as it is. Thankfully only a few of the 105 awards will be presented during this Sunday's ceremony, but the mere existence of so many categories under- mines the premise of the award show. The Grammys should take a cue from the Academy Awards and realize that less is more. The fewer awards you give out, the more meaningful the awards are. Wouldn't it be easier to combine categories such as "Best Musical Album for Children" and "Best Spoken Word Album for Children" into the more convenient and respectable "Best Album for Children"? And why keep "Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media" and "Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media" sep- arate? And what exactly is "Urban/Alternative" music? Apparently it includes Erykah Badu, Kelis, Les Nubians, Musiq and OutKast. Was 50 Cent left out because he's too urban and not enough alternative, or is it the other way around? Beyond the number of categories, it is neces- sary to question the timeliness of the nominees. According to the official Grammy Awards web- site, this year's nominees were culled from "recordings released during the Eligibility Year October 1, 2002 through September 30, 2003," creating a four-month gap between the end of the eligibility year and the actual ceremony. I remember watching the Grammys in 2002 and scratching my head when OutKast's Stankonia won for Best Rap Album. I thought to myself, "As one of the best rap albums in history, of course it's deserving of the award, but didn't it come out in the fall of 2000?" Yes it did, said the All Music Guide. But that's just how the Grammys work. This year's Stankonia would have to be Eminem's "Lose Yourself" (from the "8 Mile" soundtrack), which was nominated in five cate- gories. Because it was released on Oct. 29, 2002, it wasn't eligible for a Grammy until this year. Never mind that the Academy Awards already honored the song nearly a year ago or that it's one of the defining songs of our gener- ation, it still has to wait almost two years to receive recognition from the music industry itself. Another oddity is the nomination that Fountains of Wayne received in the "Best New Artist" category. Apparently the fact that Fountains of Wayne have been around for eight years and have already released two successful, major-label releases slipped past the Recording Academy. Well, at least they're finally getting some propers. But year-in, year-out the most frustrating aspect of the Grammys .is the regularity with which the major awards (Best Album in particu- lar) seem to go to the best-selling artists of the year. (Last year was a bit of an exception with Norah Jones, but she subsequently turned into a multibillion-selling superstar and her music is mild and inoffensive enough to not upset the masses, so she doesn't really count.) My real question is, couldn't the Academy, just once, go out on a limb and select a little-known group who didn't sell 10,000,000 copies like the Libertines? Or maybe one who makes middle- aged squares uncomfortable like 50 Cent? Well, with album sales slumping miserably and the record industry's image becoming more tarnished every day, maybe the time for them to take a chance at the Grammys isn't too far off. It sure as hell couldn't make mat- ters any worse for them. - Joel is a 37-time Grammy winner who has sold more than 180,000,000 albums world- wide. Fan mail can be sent toj.ho@umich.edu. ADMISSIONS Continued from Page 3B program. "I like it a lot - glad I'm here. I like the combination of the engineering stuff and the music stuff...to sort of take a mathemati- cal approach to music." Becca Gleckstein, a freshman studying theatre, was unfazed by the daylong interview/audition she underwent during the admissions process. This process involved two monologues of contrasting nature in front of a panel of professors and a number of activities such as improvisation exercises. "A lot of other people said it was (difficult) but the thing is, I sort of applied on a whim, and I didn't really realize what I was applying to until I got here," says Gleckstein. According to junior Karenanna Creps, who is also a RC student, the audition "was nerve-wracking, but it was also really fun. When I left, I felt really good about the whole morning and afternoon," despite the fact that she "really went in without very much in terms of expectations because, other than forensics and two plays, I hadn't been formally given any instruction. I knew I wanted to do an academic, but I also wanted the experience, so I applied. It was a seriously a couple of months before (applying) that I thought, 'I wanna do this."' Now that both are part of the pro- gram, they feel that they made the right decision. Gleckstein believes her program is "really challenging a lot of the time for me simply because you come from high school, you're used to being the top. Here, everyone's good. It's a lot of fun." Creps adds, "I feel like it's really a program of self-discovery because you have to know yourself before you can go off and play other peo- ple. It's really, really fun, and it's more than I could hope for - it fits me very well." "It seems they're looking for someone who's willing to play, obviously has a vested interest in the theater, is willing to take p instruction and go with it, and be willing to walk on the edge of plan- ning ahead and then just letting impulse take over," says Creps. "They're looking for the people they want to work with, basically." Philip Kerr, Claribel Baird Halstead Professor of Theatre and Drama, said, "I am especially inter- ested in a student who is furthering an interest in art training in the con- text of a stimulating, diverse and varied liberal education." It is this flexibility that attracts many stu- dents to the School of Music, for "unlike a strict conservatory, there is opportunity to take a variety of classes, do a double major, have your sensibilities possibly swayed to other fields of endeavor, and be stimulated by more than one's own experience and area of interest." At the same time, adds Theatre Professor John Neville-Andrews the program has a "very competitive, demanding and rigorous curricu- lum, one that embodies professional technique, discipline and confi- dence, all valuable characteristics for a successful career in the world of professional theatre. Therefore, getting work is that much easier for a student who studied with us." Sarah Evans, a junior in the dance program, cites the quality of the School of Music in the University as a whole as a main attraction for her, as "I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, so I wanted to have the option to change or do two things, I just wanted a large, liberal university that would have a lot of different choices." Heather Vaughn-Soughard, a graduate dance student, was attract- ed by the collaborative opportuni- ties within different departments in the School of Music and the com- munity, making it easy "to create work and get work produced within the community" and establish "pro- fessional ties here and start produc- ing work as a professional while I'm a student." This includes "Dances for St. Petersburg," a pro- gram inspired by the St. Petersburg semester theme that runs from February 6 to 8. Evening shows are at 8 p.m. and a matinee is at 2 p.m. Delanghe notes, "It takes about 10 years to make a dancer. You can't do it in four years, and that's part of the competitiveness ... that you have to have the chops, so to speak." She said prospective students should not have a serious injury or an either too-full or too-skinny figure, and they should display a reasonable amount of flexi- bility, as "for dancers, you have to cul- tivate your instrument because you can't go buy it; you have to make it." Indeed, all students in the School of Music turn to their instruments - be it their violins, piano, their ability to empathize enough with a character to assume their role in a play, or even their bodies - to express their pas- sion for their arts, and basically edu- cation. As Fredricksen says, "I believe it is not only possible, but today (it is) essential to get good training and a fine education. One can do that at the University of Michigan and not always so completely at many fine conservatories." WEEKEND MAGAZINE: WE LOVE HAIKUS. , f ..h..