TNL

Sometimes when a cover is performed, it can be so bad that we consider it to be insulting and sacrilegious even to the classic nature of the original.  Exhibit A – Madonna’s rendition of American Pie.  Some songs are too perfect as they are to be remixed.  

Other times a cover can be so good that we almost forget the original rendition.  Exhibit B – Heroes by the Wallflowers.  

Other times a cover can be redone as often as anyone likes and each rendition just amounts to a new tribute to the original.  Exhibit C – I wanna know what love is – Mariah Carey or Tina Arena. 

But one of the most talked about covers for this year is the product from the creative genius of Thom Yorke.  Radiohead are set to offer their rendition of a Nelson Mandela tribute from Peter Gabriel. 

It’s a common leisure activity to switch on VH1 on a Saturday morning and plonk yourself in front of the television to enjoy the long and relaxed breakfast you never get to have on a weekday.  

But if you happened to tune into a rerun of Friday’s Hope for Haiti telethon, you would have had a different kind of wake up on your weekend.  

‘Haiti I can see your halo…pray it won’t fade away,’ Beyonce crooned from under her fringe; ‘I’ll stand by you…wont let nobody hurt you,’  Shakira consoled in her rendition of a Pretenders’ classic, and then, the most prayerful moment of all, when Justin Timberlake very humbly offered his rendition of a piano-accompanied Hallelujah.  

It wasn’t just the music; it wasn’t just the fact that if you called to donate money you could talk to Julia Roberts or Meg Ryan or Taylor Swift; what kept you watching was the scary reality that people, not too different from the rest of us, who usually beam sun-kissed smiles and bask under the shade of plaintain leaves, just like the rest of us, were now struggling to lift themselves out of a great tragedy.  A tragedy that moaned through the unsettled dust of collapsed buildings, rubble of broken lives, while we, in an island of our own, remained preoccupied with a flagrant display of ring-side politics. 

Did you ever thing Carrie Underwood was a Billie Jean?  Or Celine Dion was the real Dirty Diana? Of course we all knew that Usher’s slip n’ slide dance moves made him look like he had no ankles, because of the MJ magic his feet had kicked into.  

These are three of the former Grammy winners who will be teaming up together with Smokey Robinson and Jennifer Hudson to perform a moving tribute to the late King of Pop at the 52^nd Grammy Awards to be held this weekend! 

The tribute will also include the 3 minute film that Michael Jackson did for the Earth Song as a part of his This Is It tour. 

And this year, each of the music-makers who are nominated for Album of the Year will be performing live including Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga. 

Bon Jovi will be a part of a special segment called You Pick It They Play It, where the band will perform a song picked out by fans.  Fans just had to log on to www.cbs.com/grammys to vote for a Bon Jovi song they want to hear performed live at the Grammys. 

Some of the nominations include songs that are no longer played as often on radio, but that’s because the eligibility for this year’s Grammy’s is for artists and music from the October 2008 to August 2009. 

Leading the nominations is country/pop sensation Taylor Swift and R&B diva, Beyonce.

If you’ve ever looked out the window of the highest floor of a hotel into Colombo at night…you will see just how unexpectedly breathtaking this city is.

It’s a city that doesn’t need the tacky extravagance of boughs of tinsel and parades of plastic Christmas trees to invoke images of holiday magic.  And somewhere way up close to the sky there could be two people wrapped in awe of the splendor below them, soaking up the city that sparkles with its own understated charm.

And that’s what we invited you to see this past holiday season…the warm wonder and magic of Colombo, caught up in the rhythmic hum of holiday classics and brilliant excitements of sharing the season with loved ones.  The simple thrills of family games, irresistible goodies and timeless as well as rocking new seasonal favorites to sing along jovially to.  Giggling revelers, locked arm in arm, some enjoying the school holidays and others thrilled with nostalgic reunions with friends and family visiting for the yuletide celebrations, and others faithful followers of the irresistible excitements of gifts, shopping and bonuses, all joined in on the fun and took time to share their seasonal moments with us at Majestic City.

Unconditional Moments – Donuts on the Go!

How crazy does your weekday morning get? Crazy enough to leave a little Jello on your nose; a sprinkle of sugar crumbs in your hair; or a little chocolate on the corner of your mouth? That’s the kind of crazy Unconditional Moments offers you every weekday morning with the Gonuts giveaway!

The end of a year brings in the countdowns.  Countdowns to the midnight hour of the brand new year and countdowns of the top moments and worst events that defined the year for you.  We’ve been counting up and down way before the final days of 09 – on the Hangover Café!  The top ten lists of great music moments, impacts and themes were broadcast on 101.7 TNL Rocks and here’s a recap of some of the best top tens we aired this year!

January

It was the time when Beyonce became so very irresistibly sasha fierce and started hollering about Jay putting a ring on it!  And Taylor Swift was just a quiet country girl in a princess dress looking for her Romeo…without any interruptions from Kanye.  And Britney was back reprimanding all men who couldn’t keep their tiger wood in control.  And what were we doing – we were playing Lady Gaga’s first international hit single, spying on Beyonce in a hot cop outfit and laughing as Pink set her hair on fire!  The top hits we kicked off the year were Just Dance, If I Were A Boy, Hot n’ Cold, So What, Love Story, Womanizer and Disturbia!

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