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Dave to honor Neil Young, Grammy nod?

Posted by Jake Vigliotti in Random Appearances on 11/14/09 9:47am

Dave Matthews will be one of many artists honoring Neil Young at the 2010 MusiCare’s Person of the Year, according to Rolling Stone. Fellow Farm Aid-er Director John Mellancamp and The Red Hot Chili Peppers are among the announced acts so far.

The item also mentions that artist that often play the MusiCare tribute often play The Grammy's as well. That's RS's little way of saying that they expect Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King to score some nominations. In a year that clearly not strong in music, perhaps DMB will finally land a best Album nomination. And don't forget that the Grammy committee is the most self-serving, point-making group out there. So perhaps this is part of their mea culpa for disregarding LeRoi's passing last year and the subsequent fallout from it. Or maybe they're just finally given DMB credit for putting out a good album.

(Lack of) Grammy Apology

Posted by Jake Vigliotti in Band Member News on 2/11/09 8:53am

The Grammy's said... well, I'm not sure what they said. According to their press release, which you can read here, they reason: "Unfortunately we are unable to include all of the talented and wonderful people within the allotted timeframe." So in a three-hour show, it was impossible to shave 30 seconds off some intro by someone, or heaven-forbid drop a 30 second commercial to squeeze in a few more fallen musicians?

As we stated previously, the decision to exclude Roi was made in the pre-production stage of the program. So the 'unable to include' was made about a month or so before the Grammy's even aired. So pretty much the Grammy's are saying, 'We left him out on purpose, it wasn't a mistake.' Now you feel better?

LeRoi Snub Gets Press

Posted by Jake Vigliotti in Band Member News on 2/10/09 10:14am

The die-hard Dave Matthews Band fans weren't the only ones to notice Saxophonist LeRoi Moore's name absent from the Grammy's memorial to artists that lost their lives in 2008. Entertainment Weekly, Perez Hilton, and MTV all kept the story going, along with numerous radio stations around the country, including WEQX in Manchester, VT.

There is still no 'official' word from the good people who honored Allison Krause and Robert Plant for their album no one heard of until it got nominated. The closest thing to an 'official' reply came from the well-respected music blog Bob Lefsetz, which said (via an email), "(Roi Moore) was... named in the In Memoriam section of the program book along with 274 other deceased musicians. They simply can't fit all 275 people on the telecast. When it was brought to the producer's attention that he was missing from the telecast, it was supposedly too late to add him."

Of course that's simply not true. The way that a video-roll out segment is edited goes basically like this: first the names are selected, then the order is decided. Video is then acquired (still shots or actual video [called b-roll]). This is done by one of the production people for the show, a Production Assistant or Associate Producer. The segment is given a specific time by the producer of the Grammy's, and it is then edited together by a video editor. Once complete, the Producer (or someone he assigns to it) will double-check the segment to assure it's correct. That means that LeRoi Moore was skipped over at the name picking, acquiring of video, editing, and spot check processes in the preparation of the In Memoriam segment. Four times. At least.

As for reaction from the band, Dave and Stefan both commented via their Twitter accounts. Matthews commented, "We all know what a great man Mr. Moore was, we remember him," and "The Grammies (sic) are not my cup of tea." Lessard was a bit more blunt, responding to the snub, "It just goes to show how full of s*** the Grammys have become."

LeRoi Moore forgotten by Grammys

Posted by Joe M in Band Member News on 2/8/09 11:59pm

LeRoi Moore (1961-2008), 12 time nominated and 1 time Grammy winner, was shockingly forgotten by the Grammy’s. Lifetime musician, influential jazz saxophonist and one of the founding members of the Dave Matthews Band was left out of the Grammy’s annual Memorial Tribute. The Tribute is a video montage put together by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences honoring those in the music business that have passed in the last year. A number of known (and not-so-known) artists (and a photographer) were honored in the video but LeRoi was missed (or skipped, we aren’t sure.) While we are disappointed and saddened that the Grammys and CBS did not give LeRoi the tribute he deserves, they do not properly represent the music industry’s and the many billions of music lovers feelings. Although the so called National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences did not honor him, we at AntsMarching.org will continue to pay tribute to his contributions. If you haven’t already checked it out, or you want to revisit, here is an amazing medley of some of LeRoi's top moments with Dave Matthews Band (featured in Podcast #15) and a tribute article titled Remembering LeRoi (both put together by AntsMarching.org's own Jake).