Zac Brown Band takes home CMT's USA WEEKEND award
A hearty congratulations goes out to the Zac Brown Band today. The group's video for their hit Chicken Fried won the USA WEEKEND Breakthrough Video of the Year honor at last night's CMT Music Awards in Nashville. We profiled Brown last week on the blog, as well as the other three nominated acts (Julianne Hough, Lady Antebellum and Jamey Johnson), and last night when accepting the award, Brown acknowledged all the people that voted for them. "We want to thank the country music fans," he said, "because without the country music fans buying our music, we wouldn't have a life in country music." (You can catch the acceptance speech in the video below.) Taylor Swift and Brad Paisley were the big winners of the night, taking home two trophies each: Swift for Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year, Paisley for Male Video of the Year ad Collaborative Video of the Year with Keith Urban. Other honorees included Rascal Flatts (Group Video of the Year), Sugarland (Duo of the Year) and Kid Rock (Wide Open Country Video of the Year).
Photo by Robert Deutsch/USA Today
June 05, 2009
Dierks Bentley, Joe Nichols and their hit country videos
The June 16 CMT Music Awards are coming up fast, so in this weekend's issue, we have a story featuring two country stars' takes on their past award-winning videos. Dierks Bentley (at right) talks about his 2004 winner, What Was I Thinkin', and Joe Nichols waxes nostalgic about Brokenheartsville, his 2003 hit. Also, our Dennis McCafferty chats with director George Flanigen about I Wonder, which was a USA WEEKEND Breakthrough Video of the Year winner for Kellie Pickler last year. You have until June 15 to vote for this year's group of awards, so come back to the blog next week. We'll have exclusive interviews with the four nominated acts in the 2009 Breakthrough category, Julianne Hough, Jamey Johnson, Zac Brown of Zac Brown Band and Hillary Scott from Lady Antebellum.
Photo by Robert Deutsch/USA Today
January 08, 2009
NAACP Image Award nominees for 2009
I'm just catching up today with the long list of nominees announced yesterday for the NAACP Image Awards. It's the 40th anniversary of the event and the 100th anniversary of the NAACP. In fact, the NAACP was founded on Feb. 12, 1909, and this year's Image Awards show, live on Fox, is Feb. 12. There are plenty of great nominations in movies, television, music and literary arts — you can read them all here — but my all-time favorite is Blair Underwood, and not just because he is nominated in three different categories: outstanding supporting actor in a comedy for The New Adventures of Old Christine (he's sweet and sexy as Christine's beau); outstanding supporting actor in a drama series for Dirty Sexy Money (he's ruthless, manipulative and scary as an egocentric billionaire); and outstanding actor in a drama series for InTreatment (he's a damaged, controlling military man prone to playing mind games). Underwood did his finest work in the latter, HBO's In Treatment, and he is rightly nominated as a lead actor by the Image Awards; he's nominated as a supporting actor for the same work by the Hollywood Foreign Press who give the Golden Globes. Underwood will be joined by a really stellar list of other stars on Feb. 12. Click on read more below for more of my favorites.
Photo by Claudette Barius
December 18, 2008
SAG Award nominees announced
Just watched the announcement of Screen Actor Guild Awards nominees and will spend the day writing our upcoming cover story on them. No big surprises. See the list and judge for yourself here!
December 11, 2008
2009 Golden Globe awards: Cool stars on red carpet
It's going to be a great Golden Globes ceremony on Jan. 11. The nominations are out today and if you look at the list just for a taste of who will be making the awards scene at this party, and probably the ones for the SAG Awards and the Oscars, there's lots to look forward to. Brad Pitt (at right in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and Angelina Jolie (Changeling) will be arm in arm again, this time with matching nominations as best actor and actress; Meryl Streep will be there as well — she has two nominations, for Doubt and Mamma Mia! — and I always like to see whom she will bring (often one of her children). We'll see good friends and co-stars Kate Winslet (another double nominee, for Revolutionary Road and The Reader) and Leonardo DiCaprio (Revolutionary Road), and Vicky Christina Barcelona co-stars turned couple Javier Bardiem and Penelope Cruz. We'll see heartthrobs Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors) and, for we women of a certain age, Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment). Favorites like Sally Field (yes, we still like her), Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Shirley McLaine, Susan Sarandon and Laura Linney got nominations — all for movies except Field, who is up again for Brothers and Sisters. Tom Cruise got a Globe nomination for his Tropic Thunder cameo, so he and Katie Holmes should go because that nod is not likely to be repeated. And I'm thrilled to see Blair Underwood nominated for In Treatment, as it may have been the best performance on television this year. To see if your favorites made the list, click here.
Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures
December 08, 2008
Washington glams up for KenCen honors
Happy Monday everyone. As I write this, it is indeed Monday, very early Monday, and I'm just back from Sunday's Kennedy Center Honors, an evening of much-needed glamour in the nation's capital. I could hardly believe my seat — front row, literally — and so close to the stage I could see the dirt on Joss Stone's bare feet as she bounced around singing My Generation in tribute to Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey of The Who.
Politics was back-burnered for this night of focus on, as Caroline Kennedy introduced them: "A dance-mad girl from Indiana (Twyla Tharp)... two rockers from working class London (Townshend and Daltrey, pictured on left)... a funny girl from Brooklyn (Barbra Streisand)... a lanky son of the Mississipi Delta (Morgan Freeman) ...and a honky-tonk boy from East Texas (George Jones)." That doesn't mean, however, that politicos and media heavyweights were not in evidence. There was Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi up in a box close to President Bush and Vice President Cheney, while former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich was, well, down with the masses. Former Democratic National Committee chair Terry McAuliffe sat a row behind me and new Meet the Press host David Gregory walked the red carpet with the "real" celebrities. He must have felt like one at a dinner after the show, thanks to the way Washingtonians were gathering round to pay homage.
There were some terrific performances - Beyonce and Broadway star Idina Menzel for Streisand, Garth Brooks, Randy Travis, Allan Jackson and Shelby Lynne for George Jones (with Laura Bush doing his spoken tribute), Rob Thomas and Dave Grohl for The Who. But I had the most fun watching the entrances on the red carpet. Click read more below for some info I snagged from some of the stars.
Photo courtesy of the Kennedy Center
November 11, 2008
George Carlin honored with Mark Twain Prize
The Kennedy Center paid tribute to George Carlin with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor last night, and our Kathy Rowings was on hand to see the famous faces, from Jon Stewart to Joan Rivers, who came out to honor the late, great comedian. Here's her report from the evening:
I have to admit, I had only a passing knowledge of Carlin's humor before last night -- I knew about the Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV but that was about it. I walked out of the Kennedy Center, though, with a real appreciation for Carlin. Not just because his jokes consistently made me laugh, but because of his love of and skill with language. As a writer, I identified with, and was completely impressed by, his manipulation of words and desire to use every syllable in the best possible way. Jon Stewart, in particular, seemed to share Carlin's level of comfort with language -- he didn't use a teleprompter for much of his speech. There were plenty of political jokes throughout the night (the presenters certainly knew how to play to the crowd), from Bill Maher noting, to huge cheers, that it was a great day to be an American again because "we have a president who can speak English" to Richard Belzer's reveal that he'd gotten his hands on Barack Obama's inaguration speech...which he proceeded to present, in fake Arabic.
Most of the night fell right in line with Carlin's ironic and often-censored (several of the presenters noted the irony that some of those famous dirty words actually were censored in the ceremony) persona, but it wasn't without its sentimental moments, too. Lily Tomlin celebrated some of Carlin's more playful BrainDroppings, including my personal favorite, "I'm not concerned about all hell breaking loose. I'm more concerned about a part of hell breaking loose, and that will be much harder to detect." The evening ended with a performance by Ben E. King (pictured above), who sang Stand By Me, a favorite of Carlin's (and me, too -- that's one of the songs that will always remind me of my childhood). All the presenters joined him on stage, though Stewart and Denis Leary looked like the cool kids who didn't want to be caught dancing, so they made a quick exit off. Carlin's family was sitting in the box directly above me, and they were clearly touched: His brother was waving down at the crowd, thanking everyone for honoring his brother.
(photo by Margot Schulman)
November 06, 2008
George Carlin gets his due on Monday
George Carlin (at right) died last June of heart failure but before he died - just days before, in fact - he learned he would be the recipient of the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor this year. Carlin is the 11th recipient and the first to be honored with the award at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. after his death. Though he won't be in the room Monday, as was the intent, our Kathy Rowings will be, so she will hear Carlin's life and career come alive as he is remembered by some of the best funny men and women in the business. Among those paying tribute are Jon Stewart, Margaret Cho, Garry Shandling, Lily Tomlin, and, my personal favorite, Denis Leary. The whole show will air on PBS eventually.
(photo courtesy the Kennedy Center)
September 19, 2008
Rainn Wilson: Emmy notices a classic sidekick
Rainn Wilson (at right) is back for round five as Dwight Schrute, America’s
favorite uptight paper salesman and the classic sidekick to Steve Carell's Michael Scott. And due to his unflinching work on
NBC’s The Office, which premieres this week, Wilson was rewarded with
his second consecutive Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor
in a Comedy. While he lost out last year to Jeremy Piven in Entourage, here’s hoping Wilson, 42, “beets” the competition this
year. Wilson rang our Jon Tollestrup from the set of The Office to chat about his unusual name, how he mischievously
passes the downtime on set and what he splurges on now that
he’s pulling in the big bucks. Click on read more to read it all.
60th Emmy Awards showcase iconic stars
Every year at award show time I try to come up with fresh ways of presenting a special report on my Who's News page. I study the nominations in search of a theme because often it's obvious right there in the list of names. Certainly, that was the case with this year's Emmy noms. As I read through the list I couldn't help but notice that a number of TV icons - favorite actors who years ago created groundbreaking roles - were being honored for current work. There was Ted Danson, nominated for Damages, Phylicia Rashad for A Raisin in the Sun, Sally Field (at right) for Brothers and Sisters, Candice Bergen for Boston Legal and, my personal favorite, Sharon Gless, for Nip/Tuck. And that got me thinking about a younger group of nominees who are now creating iconic characters — Steve Carell in The Office, or Tina Fey, whose character on 30 Rock is a more neurotic Mary RIchards for a new generation, and more. We set about getting interviews with actors from both generations for the Emmys special report in print this weekend. We ended up with six, three from each generation And because all were generous with their time we had more material than we could put in the magazine. Click read more below for outtakes of our interviews with Bergen, Rashad and Gless, conducted by Gayle Carter. In separate posts you'll find our interviews with icons-in-training Amy Poehler, America Ferrera and Rainn Wilson, conducted by Jon Tollestrup. All will get you ready for the Emmy Awards 60th anniversary show on Sunday.
