Ms. Informed

She may not have been there in person, but Amy Winehouse still managed to dominate the 50th Grammy Awards ceremony on Sunday night, snagging five of six awards she was nominated for, including record of the year, song of the year, best pop voca and best new artist of the year. Will these wins be a wake-up call for Wino? Let’s hope so.

(U.S. officials initially rejected Winehouse’s request for the work visa she need to attend the Grammys. They then reconsidered, but it was unfortunately too late for Amy to travel across the pond.)

Kanye was the other big winner of the night, though not as big as Wine-y. He scored four of eight awards including best rap album for Graduation, best rap vocal performance for the track “Stronger,” best rap song for ”Good Life” and best rap performance by a duo or group for his collaboration with Common on ”Southside.” West dedicated his wins to his late mother, Donde West, who unexpectedly died in 2007.

Other winners last night included:
Album of the Year: Herbie Hancock, River: The Joni Letters
Best R&B Song: Alicia Keys, No One
Best Country Song: Carrie Underwood, Before He Cheats
Best Male Pop Vocal Peformance: Justin Timberlake, What Goes Around Comes Around
Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal: Maroon 5, Makes Me Wonder
Best Spoken Word Album: Barack Obama

…but they said “No, no, no.” (Editor’s Note: Ok, this song has officially been retired for use in puns.)

U.S. officials vetoed Amy Winehouse’s request for a Visa to attend this Sunday’s 50th Grammy Awards. The veto comes as a crushing blow to Winehouse, who is up for six awards, second only to Kayne West’s eight nominations. Winehouse six nominations include Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for “Rehab,” Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for Back to Black, as well as Best New Artist.

While Winehouse won’t physically be gracing the Staples Center with her presence, she is scheduled to deliver a virtual performance, via satellite.

Chillingly good.

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality.

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.

Yes we can heal this nation.

Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics…they will only grow louder and more dissonant ……….. We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check. We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea –

Yes we can.

What does that even mean??? We love Chris Brown, but can someone please inform Ms. Informed what this means, so she can be informed going forward?? [x5].

American Idol runner-up (and J Records reject) Katharine McPhee has married her longtime boyfriend Nick Cokas in Beverly Hills on Saturday.

I don’t know that anyone really cares otherwise, but the interesting tidbit here is that she is 23 and he’s 42. Grosssssssssssssssssssss.

After suffering a miscarriage upon returning home from a romantic getaway with Chemical Brothers boyfriend Ed Simons, singer Lily Allen and Simons plan to try for another baby ASAP.

For now, Allen is (naturally) “devastated and still in a state of shock,” sources say, but the show must go on, as she still plans to film the pilot for her new BBC3 show “Lily Allen And Friends” on Wednesday.

News of the pregnancy back in December caused Allen to clean up her party girl lifestyle as she quit smoking and drinking.

 {image courtesy of msnbc}

Broadway favorite Rent will loose its lease on June 1 as the Nederlander Theater will close its final curtain for the show after an amazing 12-year run. The show made a name for many Broadway stars including Idina Menzel (Maureen) and Adam Pascal (Roger), and featured many celebrities throughout its run including Joey Fatone of NSync, Melanie Brown of the Spice Girls, Drew Lachey of 98 Degrees and AI wannabe’s Tamyra Gray and Frenchie Davis.

Rent aquired a cult-following over the years, self-called “Rent Heads”, and was also turned into a movie in 2005 starring Rosario Dawson and most of the original Broadway cast.

The rock opera, based on 1896 classic opera La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini, is a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical for which author Jonathan Larson won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Now that it’s closing, what’s the new hot ticket in town? While Rent is currently competing for ticket sales with Legally Blonde (which if you saw for free on MTV you would have no desire to pay actual money for it) and Spring Awakening, a new rock musical based on based on Frank Wedekind’s classic drama about a dozen young people discovering their sexual identities. Duncan Sheik wrote the music for the show, currently playing at the Eugene O’Neill theater.

But for some reason, Spring Awakening-Heads just doesn’t have the same effect.

{image courtesy of Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times}