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February 15, 2008

Grammys' Foo Fan Is A Professional Musician

You may think the most timeless story from this year's Grammys was the instant-legend comic gold of rhymery master will.i.am's how-does-he-do-it "Grammy/Slammy/Jammy" flow but -- actually, fuck it you're right. Still, there's at least one more instance of NARAS's poor judgment popping up in the show's wake: That violinist that won the My Grammys Moment contest the Foos were so excited about was a pro! With a pretty hefty CV. Via a fan letter sent to Lefsetz:

One more thing I can't believe no one caught on to, which further make the Grammys a fucking joke, was the "My Grammy Moment". The way the contest was structured, you would think it's meant for non-established performing musicians to get a chance in the pseudo spotlight. The winner last night? Ann Marie Calhoun. Now you may ask who the hell she is. She's currently in fucking Ringo Starr's touring/promo band for his new album! Alarm bells went off in my head when I saw her as one of the final three. I had just seen her a couple weeks before as part of Ringo's band on the Craig Ferguson Late Late Show. Add to that, her performing on a Dave Matthews record, and touring with Jethro Tull and Steve Vai!! (check out her site and Wikipedia entry). Pretty much a scam to the actual amateur musicians from around the country who submitted to this contest thinking they actually had a real shot.
As if the Grammys weren't fake enough.

Posted at 2:17 PM
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10 Comments

i would feel cheated
but i don't care enough

Posted by: brody at February 15, 2008 3:08 PM | Reply
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i would feel cheated
if i were better than ann marie calhoun

Posted by: cody at February 15, 2008 3:57 PM | Reply
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http://www.vai.com/News/index.html

Posted by: volume-addict at February 15, 2008 4:12 PM | Reply
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hmmmm. she's from virginia....so is dave grohl. that may have nothing to do with it whatsoever, but it's still interesting.

Posted by: nancy at February 15, 2008 4:28 PM | Reply
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I like your tags for this article: Grammys, Jammys, Slammys.

I'm still laughing. I can just picture someone going to Google looking for some pajamas for the wee one, and stumbling onto Stereogum.

Thanks for the laugh!

Posted by: 11/16=.687 at February 15, 2008 4:40 PM | Reply
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If she entered fair-and-square, I have no problem with her winning. After all, whoever won should be able to play an intstrument, and she fits the bill.

I don't know. I don't care enough either.

Posted by: The Other Matthew at February 15, 2008 4:44 PM | Reply
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Well at least she didn't play with Alanis Morissette

Posted by: philcobrothers at February 15, 2008 5:07 PM | Reply
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Oh how we love false outrage. It's not like one of the Dixie Chicks won. Is there even such a thing as a well known violinist? She won because her violin sounded kind of distorted and awesome and because she's smoking hot. Ringo Starr probably didn't even know she was in his band.

Posted by: Adam at February 15, 2008 11:38 PM | Reply
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lest we forget
miri ben ari
the hip hop violinist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLzO7JfvT2U

Posted by: brody at February 16, 2008 4:48 AM | Reply
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She is a HIRED hand in Ringo's band - it's not like she is a major artist. She is an awesome musician and I am glad she won.

Good old fake outrage.

Posted by: FakeOutrage at February 17, 2008 8:23 PM | Reply
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