The Flip Side

Cher looking stunning

Last night I watched the Grammys (and the Baftas - the remote was heating up).  And while 30STM was not up for an award this year…alas…it was still a good show with lots more flash than I expected.  The first high point for me was Daft Punk and Kanye West singing “Stronger”.

Daft Punk

Kanye West

All in all, it was a good night on the Grammys (and I can’t say that every year).  The pictures on this post are from Rollingstone.com and there are many more to look at on their site.

Steve Vai

While I’m sure everyone nominated is deserving I couldn’t shake the feeling of boredom.  It feels like the same people are nominated for everything.  So I looked up the entire list of nominees to see if there was anything different (for me) in there.  Lo and behold the Rock Instrumental Performance category caught my eye.

ROCK INSTRUMENTAL PERFORMANCE
“The Ecstasy Of Gold” - Metallica; Track from: “We All Love Ennio Morricone” [Sony Classical]
“Malignant Narcissism” - Rush; Track from: “Snakes & Arrows” [Anthem/Atlantic]
“Always With Me, Always With You” - Joe Satriani; Track from: “Satriani Live!” [Epic/Red Ink]
“Once Upon A Time In The West” - Bruce Springsteen; Track from: “We All Love Ennio Morricone” [Sony Classical]
“The Attitude Song” - Steve Vai; Track from: “Sound Theories Vol. I & II” [Epic/Red Ink]

Look at this.  Rush?  Steve Vai? Joe Satriani?  Why don’t we ever see any of these people at the televised Grammys?  I know Justin Timberlake is a wonderful performer…as are Rhianna, Foo Fighters, Beyonce, and everyone else that we actually get to see on Grammy night.  What I’m suggesting is that maybe…just maybe….we can see other performers too.  I’d like to see India.Arie and Herbie Hancock and about 20 other artists that we never get to see.  Time to shake up the Grammys folks.  Let’s book someone other than the obvious and inject some life into this awards show.

Max Vadukul

He’s taken dozens of photos of Beyonce (I suspect she is his muse).  They’re great photos and if I were Beyonce I’d stick with him.  He’s famous for satirical and wacky imagery influenced largely by cartoons, silent movies and British media.  Here are a few samples and you can see more here: http://www.art-dept.com/artists/vadukul/.

Beyonce

Ellen von Unwerth

Gina Gershon

Vanessa Paradis

There are so many more beautiful photos and you can see them here: 

http://home.frognet.net/~mcfadden/evu/Ellen_von_Unwerth.htm

Annie Leibovitz

Ms. Leibovitz has a way of making every photo look like a fairy tale.  Maybe because of this she has photographed the Queen of England more times than I can count.  Here are some of her other shots some of which I’m sure you’ll recognize.  She’s done lots of work for “Vanity Fair” (including the famous Demi Moore pregnancy cover) and “Rolling Stone” magazines.  She is probably at the very top of the celebrity photographer list.

Meg White and Jack White of the White Stripes

Nicole Kidman

Angelina Jolie

Brad Pitt

John Lennon and Yoko Ono (probably one of her most famous pieces)

And because she’s so good at that fairy tale look, she was hired to shoot the Disney ad campaign including these shots:

Scarlett Johansson as Cinderella

David Beckham as Prince Charming

Beyonce as Alice in Wonderland

There are a lot of really great celebrity photographers out there (that don’t use cell phones as their cameras) and I plan to hunt down a few of them to highlight and show what really great celebrity photos look like.