Sunday morning coming down
Watching the HBO documentary “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” (trailer below) turned me into a belated Bee Gees fan. Twin brothers Robin and Maurice are prematurely deceased, Robin at age 62 and Maurice at age 53. Youngest brother Andy (a solo artist, not a member of the Bee Gees) died way too soon as well, of an addiction-related ailment at age 30. Only oldest brother Barry Gibb, age 74, survives. The air of mortality hangs over the story of their success like a cloud, but what an incredible story. Even though the curiosity of the documentary is distinctly limited, I was fully satisfied with its telling of the family story and insight into the Bee Gees’ singing, songwriting, and recording. All three Bee Gees brothers were gifted.
Here are Alabama’s 2020 Entertainers of the Year
Updated Jan 05, 2021;
Posted Dec 31, 2020
Among AL.com s Entertainers of the Year in 2020 are (clockwise from top left) Charles Barkley, Madalen MIlls, the Sidewalk Film Center and Cinema and Ashley Monroe. (AL.com / Getty Images / Madalen Mills / Sidewalk Film Center and Cinema)
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Check out these Alabama people and movements that made significant cultural contributions locally, regionally and nationally in 2020, especially during a global pandemic that forced so many unforeseen changes in their respective industries and a social justice movement that informed and enhanced the pop culture conversation.
Charles Barkley: The funniest guy in the steam room
Devastating doesn’t quite cover the global impact the pandemic had on the music industry this year, with countless artists forced off the road and venues shuttered across the country. Yet in spite of the crushing blows, innovation reigned, as musicians put a unique spin (with a few socially distanced adjustments) on show business’ oldest rule: the show must go on.
Some completely reimagined the concert experience by safely reaching their fans through their screens. DJ D-Nice drew hundreds of thousands of viewers on the strength of his #ClubQuarantine Instagram sets, with a virtual VIP section Drake, Missy Elliott, Jennifer Lopez, Michelle Obama, and more praising his expert mix of hip-hop and R&B classics. Superproducers Swizz Beatz and Timbaland took things a step further, teaming up to launch Verzuz, a streaming series that matched legends (and even reunited them, in Brandy and Monica’s case) in unforgettable musical battles, from Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight’s hit-
, his latest solo effort on which he not only penned every song, but sang and played every single instrument. He’s recorded as a one-man band before, on his first solo album, the controversial
McCartney which he made in secret in the months leading up to the Beatles dissolution and his second, 1980’s
McCartney II, which he released right before his second band, Wings, called it quits
.
McCartney had risen to fame as a team player and an integral part of a band, which made
McCartney and
McCartney II stark contrasts to his typical approach: these solo efforts not only gave him complete creative control, but a chance to explore lo-fi territory after decades of rock and roll din. Many artists wear multiple instrumental hats when they cut a record, but an elite few join Macca in this club of pop and rock triple-threats, who were eager to take each component of an album’s sound into their own hands and, in the process, push themselves to new creative heights.
Credit: Frank Ockenfels
Until this year, the Grammys had never nominated a female-only slate in one of its rock categories. But it’s no surprise to Phoebe Bridgers that she’s surrounded by women and only women as a nominee for Best Rock Performance at the 2021 ceremony.
“It makes sense to me!” she says when asked about this year’s rock performance race. “This is f -ed up, maybe, but I don’t know of a man’s rock album that really touched me this year, so I’m glad.”
Bridgers’ Best Rock Performance nod is for the jubilant, brutally honest “Kyoto,” the lead single off