A review of the 2000 Academy of Country Music Awards - televised CBS in the U.S - live from Universal Studios, Los Angeles. I was invited recently by my cousin who works in TV Advertising sales, to attend with her the taping of the live broadcast of the Academy of Country Music Awards in Los Angeles. This was broadcast on CBS in America, who is one of my cousin's clients. Now... let me first introduce my musical backgrounds... I'm a pop girl. Pop
music, Funk, Rock and Roll is my bag! Anything with great hooks, groove, hip hop beats to jive to and hunky heartthrobs on MTV... and I'm there! So, the cynic that I am happily accepted the invitation and with some reserve I arrived at B.B Kings on Universal City Walk, for pre-Awards drinks with the CBS bunch. I was prepared to see lots of bouffant hair-dos, tall cowboy hats, and jeans. What I didn't expect to find was the most elegantly dressed, beautiful women in all the sparkles you could possibly imagine, gorgeous men in suits (yes the black cowboy hats with studs, some reaching higher than 7ft!), and celebrities galore. Oh, did I mention heart throbs? I realized at first glance, that I, as an artist, was in the wrong music field. The spunks were in "Country"! We began our trek from BB Kings to the Universal Studios like a herd of sheep in our glitz, past the decorated tables in the sun that were awaiting us for after the show, into the Theatre itself. Inside it look similar to the Sydney Entertainment Centre, and tonight the stage was amass with props and sets and cameras on dollies. We were to be the live TV audience. Later I found out that this Dick Clark Production was better than the Grammies. Thirty-one acts, one after the other, with amazingly quick setups, just blew me away. The timing was great and the show ran seamlessly, well at least from a spectator's point of view. First up, the tiny, (not everywhere) Dolly Parton. My gosh, she looked so good for her age and her comic style was great. The hair, the dress, the one-liners, the whole bit.. I was very impressed. She goofed on her rockabilly number, even with lyric cue cards and M.D (musical director) conducting the timing to her from the back of the Theatre, BUT she was still full of spunk. First performer was George Strait, followed by the aging George Jones. I had no idea who he was but he was definitely greeted as a big-wig. The story goes that he was asked to perform at the Country Music Awards (the ACM's competition), who consequently asked him to cut his performance short. In an outcry he refused to perform.... "I'm legendary.. he cried". So, when he got up at this Awards, he began his song with "I'm going to finish this one!", to which he received a standing ovation. Lonestar followed. Now, let me get this clear. I'm supposed to be at a country music Award night, but the more we went in to it, the more I kept on feeling we were at some pop concert. Lonestar, and a few others who performed, like Jo Dee Messina, Sawyer Brown (liked his funky pants) Martina McBride (Country's version of Sheryl Crow?) and Winona Judd, all seem to be getting a little "pop-ish". Shania Twain (who didn't show) has certainly set a new precedent in cross over music. Tim McGraw and model looking wife Faith Hill win my "I Love You Husband Forever" Award, while they did their own "making out to music" on the stage with gay Paris on the video screen behind them. Ahh love is bliss in the limelight. I just know that hunky Tim was really looking at me.. I know he was.... Yeah... he was! Clint and Lisa Black were definite runner ups with their love rendition. Congrats go to the production team who did a 16 piece orchestra set up in 1 minute... Wow! Marie Osmond, Patti Page, Winona Judd and Trisha Yearwood win my "I'm getting on the podgy side of life" Awards and the Dixie Chicks win my "is it dark or blonde hair this year.. oh I don't know, let's just clean up all the awards tonight" Award. In reality, even though there was an immense wealth of talent on the stage, not one act really blew me away. Well Collin Raye has a certain stage presence which was heartening (now he was looking at me.... I know it!) Also, newcomer Jessica Andrews has certain potential with a sweet smile and pretty voice. But generally I was not blown away by any star quality or high impact entertainment value. I'm not saying that this would have happened elsewhere. This is the standard feeling I'm getting from a lot of these events. I'm in Hollywood, I'm going to the best shows, but to tell you the truth, when it comes to showmanship, we have equal if not better caliber of talent in Australia. Our outback pubs, Leagues Clubs and hardworking gigs have created seasoned and great Australian entertainers, a background which many American artists lack. So back to the show.. a quick beer in the foyer and back we were counting down from the commercial break, 5,4,3,applause please....oh no, not Faith Hill again. (she deserves her success, very pretty, nice voice, gorgeous husband, two wonderful kids... all perrrrfect.) And with her husband Tim McGraw also cleaning up... all I could think was ... is there a conspiracy going on? Well, the show ended on time apparently, with the missing Shania Twain winning the last Entertainer of the Year award, announced quickly over the credits in defiance of her disappearance.. and Dolly said goodnight in her squeaky Southern drawl... while we rushed out to grab a Vodka and Lime or two and a plate of good 'ol countrified food at the buffet. It's nice to be in Hollywood. But give me Tamworth any day!!! © 2000 gilli moon
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Article categories
All
AuthorAll written matter copyright Gilli Moon/Warrior Girl Music, and cannot be printed, disseminated or published unless by the strict permission of the writer. Archives
March 2013
|