Last Night's Party: Alicia Keys Breaks Out The Air Horns

last night's party

Alicia Keys Breaks Out The Air Horns

Downing many beers during the first hour of the American Music Awards live-blog last night to dull the pain made me a little sleepy, even if I was in no way as out of it as 90 percent of the performers and presenters. But I snapped back during the only real highlight-cum-spectacle of the evening that didn't involve boggling at Chris Brown's Tron costume, where Alicia Keys proved that the best way to sell ersatz reggae during one of the cheesiest events of the year is by turning your performance into a celebration of late '80s and '90s dancehall, squeezing in Junior Reid, Chaka Demus and Pliers, and Beenie Man for an air-horn happy medley of their most iconic hits. Probably the first time "Murder She Wrote" has been heard on American awards show in some time, and sadly probably the last, since you could almost hear the rest of the country wondering where Daughtry was already.

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12:30 PM on Mon Nov 19 2007
By jharv
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7 comments

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by Chris Molanphy at 12:46 PM on 11/19/07
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If anyone out there downloads the VH1 "Best Night Ever" video podcast (yeah, I know...shut up!) they get off some really good snark about the airhorn portion of Keys's performance.

Srsly, what was that?!
by Halfwit at 01:28 PM on 11/19/07
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So... is "Murder She Wrote" the greatest dancehall song of all time, or just the best one that got to our Anglicized ears? I have a deep, burning love for the song, but have always wondered if Jamaicans just roll their eyes every time it comes on during "nostalgia night" at the clubs.
by ShanaElmsford at 01:30 PM on 11/19/07
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@dennisobell:
Anyone who's ever been to a Jamaican dance club would recognize the airhorn sound effect as a staple of the Jamaican DJs' repetoire. This performance/medely made me dance in my living room.
by mkemp at 01:31 PM on 11/19/07
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Watched it with the sound down while catching up on my Dirty Sexy Money and Pushing Daisies episodes online -- though I did pause it when I saw all those old dancehall dinosaurs joining Alicia onstage. Sheesh, that was worse than the Southern rock mash-up Tim McGraw, Gretchen Wilson and that group that calls itself Lynryd Skynyrd at the 05 Grammys. Well... maybe not worse.
by brianp at 01:47 PM on 11/19/07
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That was a totally cool performance with the dancehall music and artists. Alicia is the bomb.
by Botswana Meat... at 03:45 PM on 11/19/07
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Air horns >>>>>>> cow bells.
by dutchtwista at 04:43 PM on 11/19/07
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@Halfwit: Murder She Wrote is legit, which is why AK chose to include Chaka Demus & Pliers.

@mkemp: try again...it was the only part of the show worth watching.