TV Times

TV Times

Norah shines at 45th Annual Grammy Awards
Rising star Norah Jones dominated the 45th Grammy Awards held at Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday, February 23, taking eight Grammys at the music industry's most prestigious ceremony.

'Come Away With Me took'the album of the year 'award, as well as 'pop vocal album' and 'female pop performance' prizes.

She also took the 'best new artist' prize, while her track 'Don't Know Why' was named 'record of the year.'

In addition to the five awards Jones won under her own name, 'Don't Know Why' was also named song of the year for its writer Jesse Harris, and 'Come Away With Me' also won awards for its production and engineering.

"I never ever thought the music I made would be considered popular music," said Jones, 23, whose jazz-influenced debut was one of US music's biggest sensations of 2003.

Rock legend Bruce Springsteen also received noted awards. Springsteen earned the best male rock vocal performance for his song "The Rising" which was also named the best rock song. The song is the title track from his album that was deemed the best rock album.

Other coveted winnings were granted to India Arie, Ashanti, Eminem, Dixie Chicks and Alan Jackson.

The following is a list of the night's big winners.
RECORD OF THE YEAR
Norah Jones - "Don't Know Why"
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Norah Jones - Come Away With Me
SONG OF THE YEAR
Norah Jones - "Don't Know Why"
BEST NEW ARTISTE
Norah Jones
BEST POP VOCAL ALBUM
Norah Jones - Come Away With Me
BEST ROCK SONG
Bruce Springsteen - "The Rising"
BEST ROCK ALBUM
Bruce Springsteen - The Rising
BEST ALTERNATIVE ROCK MUSIC ALBUM
Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head
BEST R&B SONG
Erykah Badu featuring Common - "Love Of My Life"
BEST R&B ALBUM
India.Arie - Voyage To India
BEST RAP ALBUM
Eminem - The Eminem Show
BEST COUNTRY ALBUM
Dixie Chicks - Home
PRODUCER OF THE YEAR, NON-CLASSICAL
Arif Mardi - come Away With Me (Norah Jones)
BEST SHORT FORM MUSIC VIDEO
Eminem - "Without Me"

Of Damage, Hut and the music
Where would you go if you wanted to listen to a hit of yesteryear by Paul Simon, CCR, KC and the Sunshine Band, Kool and the Gang or a not- so-old tune by Santana, Queen or Bryan Adams?

The answer is 'Hut' at Mount Lavinia Hotel. 'Damage' is the band that keeps the hutmosphere alive on Fridays and Saturdays.

Enthralling their audiences ever since they got hitched together about a year and a half ago, Damage has simply been moving in the right direction, providing better-than-ever sounding music all the time.

And now the boys are all geared up to rock the scene with the re- opening of The Hut at the Mount Lavinia Hotel. Always considered one of the hottest nightspots around, The Hut reopened recently to a new concept of playing the tunes of the '70s '80s and '90s with a fantastic ambience to suit its theme.

The band's repertoire is simply awesome with songs ranging in style from retro, pop, reggae, country, rock 'n' roll, disco, rock, to standards and even golden oldies. The widened selection ensures that there is something for everyone in the audience at every performance by Damage. That may be why their audiences never leave dissatisfied.

According to the band, the support extended by the team at Watson MVM, has been a great asset, giving the band a boost at all times.

Damage at The Hut now also features Sherry - joining the outfit on female vocals. Sherry who was formerly with the band 'Kings', has now teamed up with 'Damage'. The band comprises Chaminda Dantila on (lead guitar/vocals), Inshiran Deen (bass/vocals), Shehan Perera (lead vocals/guitar), Oshan Sampath (drums) and Ashantha Perera (leader - keyboards/vocals).

'Vibrations' for original products
'Vibrations', the state of the art music and movie store complete with listening stations, was opened for the public at Union Place last week.

'Vibrations' has a wide range of English, Sinhala, Tamil and Hindi original Audio and Video CD's, DVD's and Audio Cassettes.

"For the first time, Sri Lanka will see a store that will sell only quality, original products. From the Bee Gees to Boyzone, from Bob Marley to UB40 to Eminem, R&B, Pop-Rock, Jazz, Classical, Country, Instrumentals and Movie soundtracks - Vibrations will have them in stock." said Ahsok Paravani of M- Entertainment.

This 'One Stop Shop' includes a comprehensive collection of Sri Lankan Music - All at reasonable prices for wholesome family entertainment.

Vibrations will have promotional campaigns throughout the year including exclusive membership schemes.

'The Shop will also be selling concert tickets for international and local events and we do promotional events too' he said.

'BBC World' team is here
Thirty-six top-level members of the BBC's sales management team was in Sri Lanka last week for their annual global sales conference, held over three days at the Mount Lavinia Hotel.

Sri Lanka had been chosen as the venue for this important conference over several hundred other such venues around the globe.

This conference further consolidated SriLankan Airlines' promotion of the country as a favourable venue for MICE tourism, and would be a key 'selling point' when promoting MICE tourism in Sri Lanka.

The MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) market is a fast growing niche market in Sri Lanka. SriLankan Airlines in fact played an important role recently, by bringing together the different organisations in the MICE tourism industry in "Meet Sri Lanka". The Commonwealth Press Union Conference, Indian Trade Exhibition and the DHL Management Conference are among more than ten MICE events already slated for this year.

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