Category : Awards

If you’ve been wondering, Lance’s clay sculpture is now complete – and here’s the finished article. A video of its development can be viewed here.

Thanks again for sharing it, Lance.

The chatroom will be open tomorrow from 3pm (UK), so have some of the Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll lined up and we’ll chat about… something completely unrelated, I’m sure.

Keep those songs coming, please.

On this day in 1969, David’s pick of his Desert Island Discs – ‘Dancing in the Street’ by Martha and the Vandellas – was a UK Top Five hit behind Diana Ross, the Supremes and the Temptations (‘I’m Gonna Make You Love Me’), Peter Sarstedt’s ‘Where Do You Go To (My Lovely?)’, ‘Blackberry Way’ by The Move and Cardiff’s very own Amen Corner, with ‘(If Paradise is) Half As Nice’. Would you nominate any of those as a song that shaped music?

If ever a recording studio influenced music more than most, it’s Abbey Road. We’ll talk about this legendary London landmark next week, by which time there may have been a decision made as to its new owners. Fingers crossed.

Until then, here’s something to consider: Should the National Trust try to save it?

Lastly, in continuing with references and bold directions to old posts that you might like to re-visit: Oasis won the BRIT’s Album of 30 Years award, by the way.

Guitar Player magazine’s 2010 (yes, the ballot paper did say 2009) Readers’ Poll.

Tricky one, this. In spending time thinking about it, whilst simultaneously compiling a list for one of next week’s topics in addition to a Favourite 50 Liverpool Goals countdown (the latter for personal amusement, although it did start as a kind of therapy), and unfortunately not knowing when the voting would cease, I’m now mentioning it too late to positively affect the votes. Unless you follow the comments and tweets, that is. I’m sorry.

To make matters worse, I’m none the wiser for the time spent pondering and have given up trying to confidently produce a completed form.

So I leave it to the experts to enlighten, secure in the knowledge that there are plenty of you who know much more about Country and Jazz guitarists than I ever will or indeed would care to admit. I look forward to your commendations, particularly if you could suggest a song or two to go with the name.

Now that this is just for fun and the nominations cannot be transferred to the voting form irrespective of Guitar Player’s far stricter rules, your choices do not have to exclusively reflect recent activity, either on the road or in the studio, so you need not limit yourself to the creative outpourings of the last year, nor to the 36 days of this one. I trust that makes it much easier.

Best guitarists in as many of the following fields as you can muster, please (I know, Best again; should be Most Popular or at least Most Respected): Acoustic, Blues, Classical, Country, Jazz, Metal, Rock, Slide, World.

Told you it was tricky, but remember: it’s good for the brain to strain and stretch for those names, faces, riffs and melodies that are so often tantalisingly out of reach. And far less monotonous than Sudoku, I like to think.

Joe Bonamassa has been claiming the Best Blues Guitarist accolade in recent years – I think it’s four in a row for him now.

Other 2009 winners include Eric Clapton, Kirk Hammett, Fareed Haque, Warren Haynes, Pat Metheny, Brad Paisley and Derek Trucks.

Who do you predict will be triumphant in 2010?

If you really know your stuff, there were also categories for Best New (Guitar) Talent, Best Outsider/Experimental Guitarist, and Best Overall Guitarist.

I thought this rather interesting when I belatedly stumbled across it today: the shortlist for the BRIT Awards’ ‘Best Album of 30 Years’ accolade, representing the finest of 30 years of previous BRIT Award-winning albums.

They are as follows:

- Coldplay, A Rush of Blood to the Head
- Dido, No Angel
- Dire Straits, Brothers in Arms
- Duffy, Rockferry
- Keane, Hopes & Fears
- Oasis, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?
- Phil Collins, No Jacket Required
- Sade, Diamond Life
- The Verve, Urban Hymns
- Travis, The Man Who

The thing is, the BRITs being the music industry’s own awards, to be eligible you had to have already won a BRIT Award – in the Best British Album category – and you win this in the first place based on sales figures.

So, I had a look and found the other past winners… and realised that the shortlist probably is as good as it can get, although I would definitely substitute the two Manic Street Preachers albums at the expense of pretty much any of them bar Brothers in Arms and Urban Hymns. I would also like to see Annie Lennox (Union Jack-et negotiable) win a BRIT each year, even though she has seven already.

Do you favour any of these over the actual nominees? If, as many believe, Britannia ruled the (air)waves in the ’60s and ’70s, are these award-winning albums conclusive proof that things have gone downhill dramatically ever since?

- Adam and the Ants, Kings Of the Wild Frontier
- Blur, Parklife (Pink Floyd’s The Division Bell had been nominated)
- Coldplay, Parachutes and X&Y
- The Darkness, Permission to Land
- Fairground Attraction, First Of a Million Kisses
- Fine Young Cannibals, The Raw and the Cooked
- Annie Lennox, Diva
- Manic Street Preachers, Everything Must Go and This is My Truth, Tell Me Yours
- George Michael, Listen Without Prejudice
- Seal, Seal
- Stereo MCs, Connected
- Sting, Nothing Like the Sun

If, like me, you initially find the idea of the ten albums in contention representing the pinnacle of 30 years of British music as depressing as a bowl of cold porridge on a wet winter’s morn (and the use of ‘Best’ as contentious as, well, the last equivalent survey we discussed), you might find this stirs you from your malaise.

Ten ‘better’ albums, even if they weren’t as commercially-successful – from 1980 onwards, please. From UK artists only, don’t forget. (The Division Bell… Hello?)

Should you care to vote, voting closes at 9pm (UK) tomorrow – Thursday 28 January. The winning album will be the one with the most votes when voting ends.

You have to register to vote and the registration form asks for everything other than your shoe size, which may prove off-putting to some. (Slight exaggeration there, but why should one’s date of birth, not to mention telephone number, be required? Presumably the only advantage to registering is being able to cast a vote and leave a comment, not buy cigarettes, and nobody should expect a ring-back.)

The 2010 BRIT Awards will take place on 16 February. Will you be watching?

As tempting as it may be to pretend, after giving this post such an uncharacteristically snappy title, that David is to perform a series of ostentatious tribute concerts in memory of the great Michael Jackson and his equally great 1987 album, it’s obviously best not to make up silly stories for my amusement.*

Instead, I’ll just say that Blog Action Day (BAD, get it?) is coming ’round again, so I’d like to know what you would like to discuss on 15 October.

The aim of Blog Action Day, you may recall or even guess, is to get people talking about the same issue via their blogs, podcasts, tweets, etc.

Last year, when the theme was Poverty, nearly 13,000 blogs got involved, reaching more than 13 million readers. Some of those blogs, like this one, tallied up some extremely sharp, thoughtful, stirring comments. Thank you, all.

Although you can suggest your own topic, this year’s listed choices are:

- Water and Food Sustainability
- Human Rights
- Gay Rights
- Peace and Armed Conflict
- Education
- Climate Change
- Health
- Internet Freedom

My vote, not surprisingly, is for Climate Change. I invite you to vote, too.

Oh, and if you’re in the mood for casting votes this evening, I heard through the grapevine that Gala, daughter of Richard Wright and Guy Pratt’s (much) better half, has once again been short-listed in the British Design Awards – congratulations, Gala – so, I don’t know, maybe some of you might want to vote for Viable London, ‘Milton’ range in the British Design of the Year category…?

*Admit it, many of you would snap up tickets.

It’s the Grammys on Sunday. As you know, David has been nominated for Best Instrumental Rock Performance (for the GdaÅ„sk version of ‘Castellorizon’).

There will be a live stream of the non-televised portion of the night’s events from LA – the pre-telecast – over at GRAMMY.com, launching at 16:00 (Eastern).

That’s 13:00 (Pacific), 21:00 (UK).

This will be available on demand throughout February, if you’ve better things to do than watch hours of build-up and only really want to see how David fares.

You can watch the ceremony itself live on CBS in the States. Check your TV listings for details.

In the UK, ITV2 will be showing over two hours of highlights on Monday night, from 21:00 (UK).

Needless to say, you’ll have heard if it’s worth tuning in before then.

Have a good weekend, everyone, and Happy Birthday to Tom for tomorrow.

Guitar World magazine’s Fifteenth Annual Readers’ Poll is currently underway, and a few careful clicks of your mouse could help get our David inducted into their Hall of Fame.

He has some stiff competition, in the form of Eric Clapton, Tony Iommi, Joe Satriani and Angus Young.

Previous winners are Dimebag Darrell, Kirk Hammett, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

You can also cast a vote for David in the Best Rock Guitarist category, where he’s up against Mick Mars, Keith Nelson, Eddie Van Halen and Angus Young.

I hope to see you tomorrow, in another place, another time…

As you should have seen by now over at the fast-as-lightning Latest News page, David has received a Grammy nomination – for the live version of ‘Castellorizon’ from GdaÅ„sk, in the Best Rock Instrumental Performance category.

Well done, David.

Grammys, considered the highest accolade in music, are presented each year by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (of the United States) for outstanding achievements in the record industry.

See GRAMMY.com for all the categories and nominees.

Does anything catch your eye? (No, I haven’t heard of half of them, either.) Who would you give the key awards to?

If you have any interest in any category, be it Best Polka Album or Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals, let us know.

The 51st Grammy Awards will be held in February in LA.

Harder than the last, I imagine (if you can cast your mind back that far), today I’d like to know your ten favourite albums from the Seventies.

However, to make it a little easier, please vote whether the first half of the decade (1970-1974) was better than the second (1975-1979) and select a maximum of ten – that’s right, ten – albums from each half (so you have 20 in total, enough for most people to trawl through, I’m sure).

Alternatively, one list of ten would do. Maybe as two lists of five, as I have done?

Do include the year, as it would be interesting to see which is most-often mentioned.

I have not included the obvious ones, partly because they’d only cancel each other out.

The chatroom opens at 14:00 (UK), closing on time to catch the Q Awards on Q TV at 16:00 (UK).

- Black Sabbath, ‘Paranoid’ (1971)
- The Doors, ‘L.A. Woman’ (1971) 
- George Harrison, ‘All Things Must Pass’ (1970)
- The Who, ‘Who’s Next’ (1971)
- Neil Young, ‘After the Gold Rush’ (1970)

- Kate Bush,’The Kick Inside’ (1978)
- Bob Dylan, ‘Blood on the Tracks’ (1975)
- Bob Dylan, ‘Desire’ (1976)
- The Eagles, ‘Hotel California’ (1976)
- ‘Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ (1976)

Q Magazine awarded David an Outstanding Contribution to Music award at yesterday’s Q Awards, which he dedicated to the late Richard Wright.

You can hear what David had to say as he accepted his award, here.

You’ll find a link to Q Awards with Russian Standard Vodka Highlights – Monday – 18:00 on the right, under LISTEN AGAIN. You may wish to jump to 01:10:00.

You can also catch the awards ceremony on Q TV every day this week. See the calendar for details.

Well done, David.

A few photos from yesterday’s Ivor Novello Awards, as promised.

Thank you all for your congratulatory words, by the way.

Well, that’s another week over and done with. As Monday’s a holiday in the UK, The Blog will now be closed until Tuesday. (Don’t be too sad, will you?)

Until then, sad or not, have a good weekend.

Breaking news: David has just been awarded a Lifetime Achievement award.

The 53rd Ivor Novello Awards were held at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel this afternoon.

‘The Ivors’ recognise the best of Britain’s songwriting and composing talent – the only annual event to honour music writers, in fact.

Expect a photo or two just as soon as something materialises.

Well done, David. It’s very well deserved.

I regret to inform you that the scheduled release of ‘Remember That Night’ in both Brazil and Mexico has been delayed.

It should have been released on Wednesday in Brazil. It’s now out on Monday 15 October instead.

The planned release for Mexico – Monday 8 October – unfortunately cannot be met due to an issue with the DVD’s packaging. I’ll have a new date for you – on our calendar – just as soon as possible.

Apologies to disappointed fans in Brazil and Mexico.

There is no confirmed date as yet for Chile, but the DVD is now available in Argentina. Again, as soon as I hear from Sony and can give you more information, I’ll update you.

The winners in our latest contest are Andrew and Ax (who each win the exclusive ‘Remember That Night’ DVD set from Borders, with poster), Adriano and Michael (who each win the Best Buy equivalent, complete with bonus AOL Sessions CD), and Craig (who wins a five-track promo CD, as issued to US radio stations in the run-up to the DVD’s release).

The winning captions can be seen at the foot of this page.

Congratulations to all five of you, and thanks to everyone who submitted a caption. Choosing the five best ones was easier than picking out three, as originally planned.

Thanks also to everyone who sent in kind words about our DMA win, plus birthday greetings. Your support is always greatly appreciated.

The latest country to propel ‘Remember That Night’ to the top of its Music DVD chart is Denmark.

It has also reached the Number One spot in Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden, the UK and the US, but appears to have peaked at #3 in Holland, #2 in Ireland and #6 in Spain.

I’ve got a real treat for some of you on Monday, so don’t miss it.

Until then, have a very good weekend.

Well, thanks to your votes, we won the BT Digital Music Awards’, er, award for Best Music Blog.

Guy Pratt and Richard Wright collected the award for us at tonight’s ceremony at the Roundhouse in Camden, highlights of which are televised on Channel 4 on Friday night/Saturday morning. Please see the calendar for details, although it’s not yet known whether this part of the event was covered by the TV cameras.

Thanks to Guy for doing the honours and, no doubt, for giving a typically-witty acceptance speech. Thanks to Richard for accompanying him. Thanks to the BT DMA folk, of course.

But, above all, thank you all very much for voting. We wouldn’t have won without your votes.

In the unlikely event of any Brazilian fans needing reminding, David’s ‘Remember That Night’ DVD is released in Brazil tomorrow. Please tell us what you think of it.

‘Remember That Night’ has just reached the top of the Music DVD charts in New Zealand, meaning that it has now reached the top spot in the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, the UK and the US.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: DMA TICKETS

I have two pairs of tickets to attend the BT Digital Music Awards tomorrow night, where we stand a chance of winning the award for Best Music Blog (and DG Management of winning Best Official Music Site).

If you can make it to the Roundhouse in Camden by 8PM (UK time) tomorrow – and “dress smart,” as it says on the tickets – let me know.

However, you must be able to collect the tickets from the management office’s new location in London (N8) by 6PM (UK) tomorrow. There isn’t time to send them out to you, unfortunately.

If you can definitely meet the above criteria, let me know.

Just in case you’re still blinded by optimism, the Blu-ray (or blu-ray, Bluray, Blu-Ray, or whatever it’s called) version of David’s ‘Remember That Night’ set will not be released this month, as some reports have suggested.

It will definitely not be available before late-November.

I’ll have a precise date just as soon as one can be confirmed, so please continue to be patient. For now, it’s scheduled for Tuesday 20 November in North America, but this is subject to change.

The same applies for Fender’s David Gilmour Stratocaster, which will hopefully (that’s the best I can do right now, sorry) be launched the same week as the Blu-ray version of ‘Remember That Night’.

More, as ever, when it’s carved in stone.

Another update on how ‘Remember That Night’ is doing in the Music DVD charts… It’s now hit the Number One spot in Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, the UK and the US.

The winners of yesterday’s 24-hour contest are as follows:

- Borders exclusive ‘Remember That Night’ DVD (with Abbey Road mini-poster): Lorraine (for Tantastic).

- Best Buy exclusive ‘Remember That Night’ DVD (with three-track AOL Sessions CD): Pete from Germany (for Powerful).

- ‘Remember That Night’ programme from the UK & Europe premiere, plus a choice of any other listed prize: Tom (for being the only person to opt for Sincere, hence the extra prize).

- ‘Backstage’ pass from UK & Europe premiere: Andrew McHarg (for Magical… and I’ll throw in a programme, too, as the pass alone looks a bit rubbish).

- Promo CD, as issued to radio stations: Jessica (for Personal).

A bonus prize also goes to Tom B, for introducing us all to the word Tantastic. Thanks for that, Tom.

Congratulations to all six of you. Please let me know where you want your prizes sent, and they will be winging their way to you next week.

By the way, voting for the BT Digital Music People’s Choice Awards ends on Sunday. If you wish to cast a vote for us in the Best Music Blog and/or Best Official Music Site categories, please do.

I know that some of you have been voting religiously since I first told you about these awards. Thank you, all, for your time and support.

That’s all for another week. Have a good weekend, everyone.

Yes, that annoying pink button will be gone by Monday…

We’ve just about dished out all of our awards, but what about the ones you’d like to give?

We invited you to throw some award categories our way back on 5 December, when we first announced our Blog Awards, but what of your winners?

Let us know your awards and who you’d like to give them to, but not in the form of long lists. Give me a break, it’s Christmas. Ten at most, please.

Also, feel free to contest the choice of recipient whenever you get the urge. It wouldn’t be a proper blog without some "healthy" debate.

You will all find Humour pills in the drawer to your right. You might like to take one now, just in case.

Don’t forget to cast your vote over on the Stuff & Nonsense page for the group you feel most deserved of our Bless You award. It’s our final poll of 2006, but we’ve just about got time to fit in one more…

The most interesting of your award suggestions will be magically transformed into a beautiful poll tomorrow. So, if you spot a good one, pounce on it. The more nominations it receives, the greater its chances of gracing our fine Stuff & Nonsense page.

Remember, no more than ten award suggestions per person.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: £16,500 RAISED FOR CRISIS

The two giant ‘P.U.L.S.E’ eyeballs auctioned off in aid of homelessness charity, Crisis, have raised a staggering £16,500.

As you know, David is vice-president of the charity, who are said to be "thrilled" by the gift.

OK, so we said that yesterday’s award was the last one.

We just couldn’t close our inaugural Blog Awards without offering some form of thanks to you all.

Our final, and rather appropriately-titled, Bless You award should be presented to (almost) all of you at some swanky bash where there’s lots of free champagne and truffles. And where David performs a four-hour version of ‘Echoes’, naturally.

But where’s the fun in that? (No, not the four-hour ‘Echoes’. That would be terrific, boss.)

What I mean, of course, is that we want to know what you think.

So let us know who you think this award should be given to (it doesn’t have to be an individual, it can be awarded to a group of people if you wish) – and why they should receive it – and we’ll give it to them. We’ll give something to them, at least.

My personal nomination goes to all the people who sent in the most beautiful messages of sympathy when we told you the sad news that Syd had died. It seems very appropriate on this the day that we offer a video of David performing one of Syd’s most touching songs.

Over on the aptly-titled Stuff & Nonsense page right now, you can choose your favourite from our favourite Most Novel Way for David to Save the World (Again) suggestions.

We’ll announce the person who received the most nominations and, therefore, scoops our Best All-Round Contributor award tomorrow, so there’s still time to nominate your peers if you haven’t already done so.

Loads of you told us that our Am I Talking to a Brick Wall? award should go to anyone who keeps banging on about Pink Floyd reuniting. That’s really good to hear. Thanks very much.

2006 has undeniably been a rewarding year for David, with so many high points. For some of the most hardcore Floyd fans to now truly understand that David is interested in making music for pleasure, without the incredible burden of Pink Floyd, is certainly appreciated.

It’s our final, and most prestigious, award, this one.

The award for Best All-Round Contributor should go to someone who has not necessarily posted more than everybody else, but who has shown common sense on a consistent basis, as well as loyalty to the cause.

Someone who has quelled rumours and in-blog squabbling in an even-handed and admirable way, whilst not being afraid to voice his or her opinion and ruffle a few feathers when required.

Someone who may have broken the odd rule, but who was big enough to apologise without whining about it.

Someone you can trust. Someone who has given good advice.

Someone Polly may have had in mind when she remarked that David’s bloggers are "so nice".

You can nominate yourself, but you are allowed to forward no more than five names in total. Put simply, those with the most nominations by this time tomorrow make it on to the shortlist and you’ll then be able to vote for the one person you’d most like to see win.

To be fair to all, your nominations will be secret if you wish – they will not be published – so the only person who will see who you have nominated will be me. Please make this clear when you post.

The Well, I Never award was a closely-contested affair. That "David would be so into this web stuff" won, with 33% of the vote. That "reading a blog could be so addictive" came a close second, with 29%.

Thanks to all who voted.

The Stuff & Nonsense page is now awaiting your vote for the Am I Talking to a Brick Wall? award, so please pay it a visit.

The Most Novel Way for David to Save the World (Again) poll will be here tomorrow, fear not.

Today we (loosely) honour those oft-asked questions, such as "When’s David’s DVD coming out?", "Will there be more shows in 2007?" and "Where can I get me a David Gilmour pin badge?"

Go on, humour me. Which ones have cropped up most often in 2006 and which, or who, deserves to win our Am I Talking to a Brick Wall? award?

Is it the Floyd reunion lot? The people who ask questions before looking for answers? The frequent rule-breakers among us? The profiteers? The bootleggers?

Let us know what you think and don’t forget to vote over on the Stuff & Nonsense page for who you feel ought to win our Well, I Never award (and tomorrow our Most Novel Way for David to Save the World (Again) award – so keep those nominations coming in).

Our prestigious Best Shoe award goes to David. Of all the accolades this year, I think this one should rank right up there with the best of them.