Best Album Notes Category - 52nd Annual Grammy Awards Predictions and Picks

These are those writers who create the story behind albums. These are no ordinary liner notes, either. Some of them could be published books all their own, but are included as part of a package that creates the whole. It takes a special gift to craft a story to paint that picture for the listener. Some take us back, some move us into the future...their words enhancing the story unfolding on record. Not an easy feat. Again, another category I am always enthralled by.

This year it creates a nice, interesting sub-plot.

Here are all of the nominees...

Best Album Notes

The Complete Louis Armstrong Decca Sessions (1935-1946)
Dan Morgenstern, album notes writer (Louis Armstrong)
[Mosaic Records]

Dance-O-Mania: Harry Yerkes And The Dawn Of The Jazz Age, 1919-1923
Mark Berresford, album notes writer (The Happy Six)
[Rivermont Records]

Gonzo: The Life And Work Of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson - Music From The Film
Douglas Brinkley & Johnny Depp, album notes writers (Various Artists)
[Legacy Recordings]

My Dusty Road
Ed Cray & Bill Nowlin, album notes writers (Woody Guthrie)
[Rounder]

Origins Of The Red Hot Mama, 1910-1922
Lloyd Ecker & Susan Ecker, album notes writers (Sophie Tucker)
[Archeophone Records]

My Prediction:

Gonzo: The Life And Work Of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson - Music From The Film

Douglas Brinkley & Johnny Depp, album notes writers (Various Artists)[Legacy Recordings]

I am thinking there are enough younger voters in the Academy who would vote for Johnny Depp, only to say "Isn't it cool that Johnny Depp won a Grammy?" However, his work here with Brinkley is as in depth and deserving as any others. Yes, it would be an interesting feather in Depp's cap.

My Pick:

Origins Of The Red Hot Mama, 1910-1922
Lloyd Ecker & Susan Ecker, album notes writers (Sophie Tucker)
[Archeophone Records]

I thought their words were as hot as their subject.

Seriously, it would be kinda cool if Depp won with Brinkley - and I think they will.

The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards will be telecast LIVE on CBS - Sunday, January 31 at 8pm EST. For FULL coverage visit http://www.grammy.com/.

Check Yourself, Girl (Photography Archive #015)

"Check Yourself, Girl"
Model: Anya Allen
Photo: Antonio Cassone
2004

I always play with contrasting. Even more so than messing around with sharpness. Sometimes I even blur intentionally (as I do in some of my later work). I do a lot of work in Photoshop in the post. I am a digital photographer. I wouldn't know how to handle a traditional camera, quite frankly - although I am sure I would learn in time. I know from the various online communities I am a part of, it is greatly debated if digital photographers should even be classified as regular photographers or not. Some feel they should be listed in a class all by themselves. I, for one, artistically do not care, or have a preference. I guess because what I have learned I have done so by trial and error. For the most part, I would suppose so long as the image turns out to the liking of the client FIRST, then the photographer - anything the critics have to say can be taken at there worth based on whether it is constructive or otherwise. Goodness knows, there are plenty of them out there.