Posted on 06/05/2009 1:35:50 PM PDT by a fool in paradise
After 24 years, polka has had its last dance at the Grammys.
The Recording Academy, which bestows the Grammy Awards, announced late on Wednesday that the polka category would be eliminated, saying in a statement that it had been cut “to ensure the awards process remains representative of the current musical landscape.”
To many in the polka world, that read as a kind of industry code meaning that their genre — once capable of supporting artists with million-selling hits, but long since relegated to micro-niche status — had slipped off the mainstream radar entirely.
“It’s devastating,” said Carl Finch of Brave Combo, a band from Denton, Tex., that has won the Grammy twice. “Polka is so misunderstood, you know, the butt of jokes. Having a polka category was the most important step to legitimacy that we could ever hope to achieve. To have that taken away, it’s like it was all for nothing.”
The news was met with sadness but little surprise. The number of albums considered by the Recording Academy for the polka award has dwindled in recent years. In 2006, for example, only 20 albums were considered, and of the five nominees, only one album had wide distribution.
“When it gets down to around 20 entries, just by entering, you have a one in five chance of being nominated,” said Bill Freimuth, the academy’s vice president for awards. “That’s not as competitive as we’d like these awards to be.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
My favorite band was “Bob Blecha and the Bouncing Czechs”
***
Wonder if Weird Al will protest?
Really? And what kind of competition is there for "best spoken word" (which encompasses everything from poets, historical recordings, comedy, drama, oh yeah and liberals' books on tape):
Grammy Awards of 2009
Beau Bridges, Cynthia Nixon and Blair Underwood for An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It by Al GoreGrammy Awards of 2008
Barack Obama for The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American DreamGrammy Awards of 2007
Jimmy Carter for Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis; and
Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee for With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together (Tie)Grammy Awards of 2006
Barack Obama for Dreams from My FatherGrammy Awards of 2005
Bill Clinton for My LifeGrammy Awards of 2004
Paul Ruben (producer) & Al Franken for Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the RightGrammy Awards of 2003
Charles B. Potter (producer) & Maya Angelou for A Song Flung Up to HeavenGrammy Awards of 2002
Jeffrey S. Thomas, Steven Strassman (engineers) & Elisa Shokoff (producer) & Quincy Jones for Q: The Autobiography of Quincy JonesGrammy Awards of 2001
Rick Harris, John Runnette (producers) & Sidney Poitier for The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual AutobiographyGrammy Awards of 2000
LeVar Burton for The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.Grammy Awards of 1999
Christopher Reeve for Still MeGrammy Awards of 1998
Charles Kuralt for Charles Kuralt's SpringGrammy Awards of 1997
Hillary Rodham Clinton for It Takes a VillageGrammy Awards of 1996
Maya Angelou for Phenomenal WomanGrammy Awards of 1995
Henry Rollins for Get in the VanGrammy Awards of 1994
Maya Angelou for On the Pulse of MorningGrammy Awards of 1993
Earvin "Magic" Johnson & Robert O'Keefe for What You Can Do to Avoid AIDSGrammy Awards of 1992
Ken Burns for The Civil WarGrammy Awards of 1991
George Burns for Gracie - A Love StoryGrammy Awards of 1990
Gilda Radner for It's Always SomethingGrammy Awards of 1989
Jesse Jackson for Speech by Rev. Jesse JacksonGrammy Awards of 1988
Garrison Keillor for Lake Wobegon Days
Nobody polka!
John Shermerhorn!
No agenda there, huh?
“Wonder if Weird Al will protest?”
Probably not; he only does one polka track per album.
There’s a cable channel called RFD that airs “The Big Joe Polka Show.” I’ve never been a big fan but I enjoy Big Joe, the bands and the hundreds of couples dancing.
"Allow me to introduce myself, Gus Polinski-How are you? Polka King of the Midwest? The Kenosha Kickers? No? That's okay I thought you might have recognized-- ...Anyways I had a few hits a few years ago. That's why I... Polka. Polka, Polka?(singing) Polka,polka,polka... No? Twin Lakes Polka... Domavougi Polka A.K.A. Kiss me polka...Polka Twist?"
If ManBearPig gets Best Spoken Word Album for droning the audio book of An Inconvenient Truth, some band just needs to do, gee I dunno: `It Sure Is Gettin’ Warm In Here’ or sumpin.
THANK YOU!!!!
More proof that the Grammys are more about cash flow than quality.
The RIAA and Grammys are a joke. The award to Milli Vanilli is just the start.
Brian Wilson came back from mental collapse to finish writing/compiling the SMiLE album a few years back. 40 years in the making.
He and his cowriter put their heart into the lyrics. It was his response to Sgt. Pepper (which itself had been McCartney’s response to the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds which was Brian’s response to Rubber Soul...).
The only category it got nominated for was best instrumental for a song about Mrs. O’Leary’s cow burning down Chicago. It’s just a noisy dirge. Hardly worth an award (especially when there are notable instrumental recordings every year) and it was a complete insult to the songwriters.
And this is the basis for a band getting into the RNR Hall of Fame.
So true.
And I would rather listen to Tejano or Brave Combo over 95% of the crap they play at the grammys.
I am rafther fond of Slovenian turbo folk (think Polka meets rock/pop).
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