SOUND BITES As anticipated, the will move back to New York next year after a five-year absence, giving a post-9/11 boost to a city still in need. The awards had long alternated between New York and Los Angeles but have remained in L.A. since 1999. Much has been made, including at yesterday's press conference at once and future Grammy home Madison Square Garden, about the feud between Grammy chief Michael Greene and then-mayor . (Just before the 1998 Grammys at the Garden, Giuliani accused Greene of cursing out a female mayoral aide; Greene denied the accusation; and Giuliani called him a liar. When cooler heads warned the mayor that Greene might take the Grammys and the $35-40 million they pump into their host city's economy to L.A. permanently, Giuliani said, ''If they want to go back to L.A., they can. We could replace the Grammys in a day.'') Yesterday, Greene noted that new mayor Michael Bloomberg had made a conciliatory phone call to him a couple days after he was elected last November, a call that Sony Music honcho Tommy Mottola took credit for. Greene also said he tried to bury the hatchet with the newly statesmanlike, post-9/11 Giuliani, inviting him to introduce Billy Joel and Tony Bennett's performance of ''New York State of Mind'' at this past February's Grammys, but the former mayor declined, citing a scheduling conflict.
However, a simpler explanation for the Grammy's long stay in L.A. is that it's about $2.5 million cheaper to stage the show at the Staples Center than at Madison Square Garden. Offsetting the cost at the Staples Center are 300 luxury boxes, which can be rented out for $30,000 apiece; the Garden has only 100 such suites. Also, the Garden has had security problems; the last Grammy show there was the one where that Soy Bomb guy crashed Bob Dylan's performance.
In any case, viewers probably don't care where the Grammys are held; declining ratings suggest they don't even care much if they're held at all. To spike the numbers, CBS says it's taking a page from ABC and the Oscars and moving the show from a weeknight to Sunday. So next year's ceremony will air on February 23....
After 19 years and 13 albums, speed-metal pioneers Megadeth are counting down to extinction. The quartet is calling it quits because founder and guitarist Dave Mustaine suffered an unspecified injury to his left arm and hand in January. ''My doctors tell me it will take about a year to make as complete a recovery as I can, and even then, we don't know how complete that is going to be,'' says the 40-year-old Mustaine, whose ailment is a nerve pinch called a radial neuropathy. ''I am working hard and with a great team of doctors and physical therapists daily, and God willing, someday I hope to play guitar again.'' Megadeth released its first-ever live album, the two-disc ''Rude Awakenening,'' last month, and will release a video version next week....
Anyone who's ever played the slots knows that the one-armed bandits can rob you blind. Just ask Ray Charles, who's lending his voice and likeness to a series of slot machines designed for use by the visually impaired. The three Bally-manufactured, Charles-themed machines, including a ''What'd I Pay'' model, will feature Braille buttons, snippets of Charles' music, and other audio cues. Said Charles in a statement, ''Independence is a helluva thing, man. And we all appreciate it. I know I do. So here's a device where I can use it, I can go out and have as much fun as the next guy and I don't have to depend on anybody else to do it. I think that's great.'' No word on whether, when you run out of quarters, the machines will play ''Busted'' or ''Hit the Road, Jack.''
Maybe they should call them The Strikes. During a recent trip to Paris, The Strokes' singer Julian Casablancas struck John Voigtmann, RCA's senior director of international marketing, when he found out the label had booked the band for a TV gig without consulting them. ''They were making us do this thing and we hadn't been told about it,'' guitarist Albert Hammond told England's New Musical Express. ''He didn't hit him hard, though.''...
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