It’s been a couple weeks since this year’s annual Grammy Awards were held, but February 23, 2003 was the day Norah Jones really cleaned up at the 45th annual Grammys. 

  Jones took home eight awards, including Album Of The Year for her “Come Away With Me” album.  The song “Don’t Know Why” took home Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Best New Artist, and BestFemale Pop Vocal. 

  Born in New York City on March 30, 1979, Norah is the daughter of internationally acclaimed musician Ravi Shankar.  She grew up in Texas, attending the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.  At the school, she won a student music award for Best Jazz Vocalist and Best Original Composition.  She attended the University of North Texas in Denton for two years before going to Greenwich Village with a friend in the summer of 1999.  Although intending to return to college, she was captivated by the jazz clubs and folk coffeehouses of New York, and decided to stay and write her own songs. 

  After recording a handful of demos for the jazz record label Blue Note Records, Jones signed with that label in 2001.  “Come Away With Me” was released in early 2002 and eventually went multi-platinum, selling 18 million copies worldwide and earning her those eight Grammys. 

  Enjoy the music! 

Most of us have heard of “Bollywood” spoken in reference to the thriving Indian Film Industry, but not many of us have seen an “Indian Movie”.   I saw two this year, and one before any buzz started about Slumdog.  I saw the movie “Namesake”.  It starred Cal Penn, from “Harold and Kumar go to White Castle”, as an Americanized Indian teen who wants to eshew his Indian roots.   I really liked it and it was a cool glimpse into a culture, of over a billion people, us Americans hardly understand.

The second was Slumdog Millionaire.   Great movie, great story, great inside look at the biggest slum in the world, but very different too.   One of my favorite parts of the movie was when the people gathered in the slums, huddled around whatever tv they could find, and cheered one of their own to victory.

It was life imiatating art last night and the subject of this news story:

India Celebrates ‘Slumdog Millionaire’s’ Oscar Sweep

From slum residents to filmmakers, Indians celebrated as the film Slumdog Millionaire swept eight Oscars and hoped it would bring global recognition to Indian technical talent. There was also jubilation that the Oscar for the best short documentary, won by American filmmaker Megan Mylan, was inspired by an Indian story.
It was perhaps the first time ever that some residents of Mumbai’s sprawling Dharavi slum forgot Monday morning’s grind and watched television to hear what news would emerge from the Oscar ceremony in Los Angeles.
The crowd broke out in lusty cheers each time the film bagged an award, although not many residents of Dharavi were even aware of what exactly the Oscars were.
The heart of the film Slumdog Millionaire – the rags to riches story of a boy from an Indian slum – is based in Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum. Two of the children who act in the film came from Dharavi.