WOO-HOO! My brother-in-law Jeff won BOTH of the Grammys he was up for tonight, including the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album! Of course I don’t know why “A Ghost Is Born” wasn’t up for Record of the Year (what does alternative mean?) but then again, it wouldn’t have gotten past the Ray Charles juggernaut! Congratulations, Jeff (who is playing in Birmingham, Alabama, tonight) on these well deserved awards! And to my sister Sue I can only say “WHY AREN’T YOU HERE?” Let’s see, at about this time I’d be dancing with Beyoncé at the after-party or else Alicia Keys would be cajoling me into yet another duet with her. "Alicia, please, I’m trying to have a conversation with Norah Jones, will you just leave me alone for a second?" Okay, I'm lying, I barely know who any of these people are and if Kendall and I were at the after-party we'd be hiding in the corner looking for free shrimp.
As thrilled as I am for Jeff, the whole awards show thing still gives me pause. And it gives Jeff pause, too, as he said to the Birmingham News this weekend: "I can't say that having Grammy nominations means an enormous amount to us. I don't see it as being a validation of anything." Right on. But as I said in my Golden Globes and Oscars diatribes, my misgivings about such honors vanish the second someone I know wins one! Kendall and I are completely clueless when it comes to most of the current nominees—nothing makes me feel like I’m 103 as much as the Grammys. But I’m excited to see Jeff in the winning circle with the likes of Loretta Lynn (her first Grammy in 33 years), Brian Wilson, the Dixie Chicks, Nancy Wilson, Gladys Knight, Etta James, Jon Stewart, the cast of “Wicked,” Zach Braff, Annie Lennox, and most exciting of all, our idol and former music teacher at the Bernard Horwich Jewish Community Center in Chicago: the internationally renowned folk singer Ella Jenkins! I ran into Ella recently at a conference for teachers of young children and she told me what a fan she is of my nine-year-old nephew’s band, The Blisters. And THAT was almost as exciting as Jeff winning two Grammys! Even Bill Clinton won a Grammy tonight. Who knew?
Ironically, the only one in the family to attend a high-fallutin’ Grammy event was Leah! She spent the weekend at a friend’s 10th birthday party at the Beverly Hills Hotel (!) which was entirely packed with Grammy folks. The huge pre-Grammy EMI party was happening there last night and to get Leah in for her sleepover we had to walk the red carpet to the confusion of the paparazzi and the watchful eyes of security. Definitely an “Only in L.A.” kind of experience. The girls were bopping around the hotel in their pyjamas encountering the likes of Puff Daddy and Viveca Fox. Oy.
(Should we move to Kansas before it’s too late?)
Danny, did I tell you that Tom loves Wilco? He listens to them all the time. He was thrilled to hear your news this morning.
I can't wait to read your posting about Leah, the party, paparazzi and lots and lots of names dropping everywhere!
Posted by: Tamar | February 14, 2005 at 08:59 AM
Danny, after enjoying your Peterson School post so much, I went back to read your other posts. I just finished reading what you wrote about Rwanda and Anne Bancroft. As the daughter of two Holocaust survivors, I feel great shame that the Rwandan massacres barely registered on my radar. I also completely agreed with what you said about the movie that "humanized" Hitler. The world needs to see him as a human being to fully understand the horror of what happened. Humans are capable of incredible good and incredible evil--we have the choice. Anyway, you've got a new fan; and I'll keep reading.
Posted by: Mindy | June 09, 2005 at 09:17 AM
Jeff Tweedy gave a shout out to all the Korolnek's in the audience tonight at the Wilco/Neil Young concert tonight in Toronto. Hilarious to find this page as a Korolnek!
Posted by: Aaron Korolnek | December 04, 2008 at 11:02 PM