Senator Obama Won A Grammy!

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MrsSpringsteen

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AP
February 9, 2006

LOS ANGELES - U.S. Sen. Barack Obama can add Grammy-award winner to his resume after winning in the Best Spoken Word category Wednesday.

Obama won for his readings of the autobiographical "Dreams From My Father," which first was published in 1995 but became a best seller as Obama became a rising political star.

Obama beat out Garrison Keillor, Al Franken, Sean Penn and George Carlin to win.

He joins fellow Democrats Hillary and Bill Clinton in grabbing the trophy. Hillary Clinton won in 1997 for her spoken word album, "It Takes a Village," and Bill Clinton won for his reading of his autobiography, "My Life."

When Obama's nomination was announced last year, his spokesman Julian Green quipped that "there is no truth to the rumor that the senator will now go by the name 'The Artist, formerly known as Barack Obama.'"

Obama's memoir examines race and racial identity. A recording of his 2004 Democratic National Convention keynote address is included at the end.
 
Ok, let's have some bs over what I posted to be a silly, lighthearted thread :hyper:

What does the race card have to do w/ it deep?

And does anyone know why Sean Penn was nominated for a spoken word album?
 
MrsSpringsteen said:
And does anyone know why Sean Penn was nominated for a spoken word album?

I was surprised by the number of catagories for Grammys.

How do you select a nomination/winner for spoken word? Clear diction? Voice inflection? Are there any meaningful criteria?
 
Category 77 - Best Spoken Word Album
(Narrated/dramatized books include authors' names in parenthesis for identification.)

* The Adventures Of Guy Noir
Garrison Keillor
[HighBridge Company]

* The Al Franken Show Party Album
Al Franken
[Artemis Records]

* Chronicles - Volume One (Bob Dylan)
Sean Penn
[Simon & Schuster Audio]

* Dreams From My Father (Senator Barack Obama)
Senator Barack Obama
[Random House Audio]

* When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops? (George Carlin)
George Carlin
[Hyperion Audiobooks]
 
nbcrusader said:


I was surprised by the number of catagories for Grammys.

How do you select a nomination/winner for spoken word? Clear diction? Voice inflection? Are there any meaningful criteria?



i don't know much about the recording industry, but i do know that there are many technical categories in the television and motion picture industry that only professionals would be able to judge, and having sat in on more than a fair share of narration sessions, there are many meaningful criteria to judge how well someone narrates. inflection and diction are just starters. there are myriad ways to distinguish between a good narrator and a less-than-good narrator in ways that probably aren't discernable to the layperson.

so, i assume that well-trained ears heard Sean Penn's reading (and the popularity of Dylan's book probably didn't hurt), and he was nominated on the basis of that.
 
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