Page 29 - Aruba Today

PEOPLE & ARTS A29
Newcomer James Bay is ready Tracy Morgan:
to rock at the Grammy Awards Back from the edge and returning to stage
James Bay poses for a portrait ‘Wow, that would be fun
in New York. Bay is nominated
for three Grammy Awards for
his debut album “Insane.”
(Drew Gurian/Invision/AP) last March and recorded
MESFIN FEKADU
AP Music Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — For rock
singer James Bay, receiv-
ing not one or two — but
three — Grammy nomina-
tions for his debut album is
“insane.” That’s because
Bay, 25, remembers how
scary it was to finally re-
cord music after perform-
ing around Europe for
more than 10 years.
“It’s one of those situations
... (where) there’s as much
anxiety as there is excite-
ment,” Bay said in a recent
interview. “Recording it
was a kind of a scary thing
because it was very un-
known. ... I did my first show song;
when I was 14 ... (and) re-
cording is not something
I’m familiar with.”
Enter Jacquire King, the
Grammy-winning produc-
er-engineer-mixer who
worked on Kings of Leon’s
colossal hit “Use Some-
body” as well as songs for
Tom Waits, Norah Jones
and others. Bay had put
King at the top of his list of and you grow and you sort
dream producers to help
him not only craft good
songs, but also develop his
own style and sound.
“Literally I opened up a
couple of his demos ...
about five minutes into
them ... I was totally on-
board,” King said. “I loved
his voice.”
At the Grammys, airing live
Feb. 15 from the Staples
Center in Los Angeles, Bay
is being recognized for a
wide range of his talents:
There’s his songwriting
(best rock song for “Hold
Back the River”); his full
body of work (rock album
for “Chaos and the Calm”);
and his overall artistry as a AP Television Writer
singer-to-watch on the mu-
sic scene (best new artist).
“Awards are fun, but the
Grammys are pretty damn
special,” said Bay, who
grew up in England and
regularly rocks a fedora. “I
didn’t think about awards
too much growing up, I
really, really didn’t, but
I always recognized the
Grammys and thought,
one day to get nominated
for one of those.’ It’s a bit and continues through
of a dream come true.”
His debut album, released
with King in Nashville, Ten-
nessee, is a rock adventure
that explores elements of
indie rock, soft rock, Ameri- “I’m in a good place in my
cana, folk, blues and pop
rock — all with the guitar
at the forefront. “Best Fake
Smile” and “Hold Back
the River” are thumping,
passionate tunes; “If You
Ever Want to Be in Love”
is a sweet mid-tempo love
“Let It Go,” which is rising
on Billboard Hot 100 chart,
is a winning slow burner.
“I got trapped into too
may bar jobs in the same
small town. As you mature
of develop new tastes for
new things, I didn’t want
any of that anymore, and
I wanted something differ-
ent. And it was all spurred
on by wanting to play mu-
sic,” Bay said.
“Chaos and the Calm” be-
came one of the top-sell-
ing albums last year in the
U.K., where it debuted at
No. 1. Bay is nominated for
four Brit Awards — includ-
ing British album and single
of the year — at the Feb.
24 awards show.
But Bay isn’t only being
recognized with awards:
The budding singer has
been praised by rock vets
Keith Richards and Ronnie
Wood, whom Bay has per-
formed with.
“It’s really hard to put into
words, but it makes me feel
like things are on a whole
other level,” he said of the
love from The Rolling Stones
members. “It’s an amaz-
ing, surreal experience.”q
FRAZIER MOORE
NEW YORK (AP) — A grue-
some highway accident
followed by months of pain
and rehab. That’s no laugh-
ing matter.
Not unless you’re come-
dian Tracy Morgan, who’s
mining this ordeal for laughs home to ‘SNL,’” he says. “It
with his “Picking Up the
Pieces” stand-up tour. After
its current warm-up phase,
the tour officially launches
Feb. 5 at the Horseshoe Ca-
sino in Hammond, Indiana,
May. Among other dates,
he will perform three shows
in New Jersey, including
a New Brunswick theater
about 20 miles from where
the accident occurred.
life,” says Morgan during
a recent phone conversa-
tion. “When I first got back
on the stage, I had to work
on my confidence. But I
wasn’t scared. I wasn’t ner-
vous. I was excited!”
It was June 7, 2014, when
a Wal-Mart truck slammed
into the limousine Morgan
was riding in. The crash
killed a close friend and
fellow comedian, and left
Morgan with broken bones
and brain damage. He was
in a coma for two weeks.
“I was basically knocking
on The Door,” he says, but
adds with undisguised grat-
itude, “I came back. That’s
the spirit moving me.”
That was plenty impressive.
But still it held no promise
that Morgan, who has long
scored laughs in concert,
on “30 Rock” and “Satur-
day Night Live,” would ever
be able to perform again.
On the “Today” show last
June, in his first public ap- back, but, you know, in
pearance since the acci-
dent, Morgan sat clutching
a cane and, with a tear
streaking down his cheek,
acknowledged he wasn’t
“100 percent yet.”
“When I’m there, you’ll
know it,” he said. “I’ll get
back to making you laugh,
I promise you.”
He made good on that
promise three months later
with a surprise appearance
on the Emmy telecast.
By then he had made good
on a promise to himself to
wed his fiancee, Megan
Thursday 28 January 2016
Wollover, on his own terms: things that happen in your
walking her down the aisle life that weren’t funny —
with no cane. tragedy turned inside out.
Then, in October, he re- If you don’t laugh about it,
turned triumphantly as you’ll cry about it. And I’m
guest host of “SNL,” where tired of crying.
he had been a cast mem- “But comedy doesn’t just
ber from 1996 to 2003. come from pain,” he adds.
“I felt so good going back “It comes from joy, too.”
Chief among his joys are his
was like the first day I was wife and their 2 1/2-year-
there many years ago. That old daughter, who, as Mor-
first time was crazy, but to gan speaks, can be heard
Tracy Morgan poses in Los Angeles. Morgan will officially
launch his “Picking Up the Pieces” standup tour Feb. 5, 2016, at
the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Ind., continuing through
May.
(Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
have the opportunity to chiming in with, “Mickey
have the feeling all over Mouse, Mickey Mouse,” as
again — wonderful, man! she addresses Mickey’s im-
And I said, ‘I want to (tour) age on her iPad.
again.’ That was the end” “Now you see what’s im-
of any doubts. portant and what’s not,”
He admits to grave doubts declares Morgan. “I’ve
during his long convales- learned a lot, man. I
cence and therapy. learned about life, about
“I remember being vis- the things I used to stress
ited by a good friend I’ve out about, things we worry
known all my life, and I about on a day-to-day ba-
said, ‘Why did God let this sis but aren’t important —
happen to me?’ And with not when it comes down to
the meanest look, she said, life and death. I talk about
‘Never question God!’ all that onstage.
“I said, ‘I’m sorry.’ And she “But I talk about things that
said, ‘OK, baby. That’s all are happening right now,
right.’ too. I look back. But I look
“Tough times don’t last. forward, too!”
Tough people do,” Morgan One thing he’s looking for-
sums up. “We’re ALL here ward to is a pilot deal for
‘cause we’re tough.” a prospective series that
Morgan, 47, has made he would star in. To be
amusing use of a lifetime of developed in partnership
tough challenges, includ- with Jordan Peele (“Key &
ing a harsh childhood and Peele”), the new FX com-
health issues that included edy would cast Morgan
a kidney transplant in 2010. as a career criminal re-
So it’s no surprise that he’s leased from prison after
dressing his latest wounds in 15 years who finds himself
humor. flummoxed by the modern
“The accident was a set- world he’s re-entering.
It could begin production
my world, a setback is a as soon as this summer. q
setup,” he says. “You use