| They're crazy about Gnarls
Most of 2006 was dominated by dance singles, especially from Timbaland and collaborators Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake, and Mary J. Blige's R&B ballad "Be Without You" (Geffen), but there were still plenty of surprises in all sorts of genres. Here are some of the year's best:
1. Gnarls Barkley, "Crazy" (Downtown/Atlantic). With Cee-Lo's sweet soul vocals sliding smoothly over Danger Mouse's sleek, innovative beats, "Crazy" was simply bobbing head and brawny shoulders above the rest of the year's songs. A diverse group - from Furtado to Ray Lamontagne to Twilight Singers' Greg Dulli - was so captivated by the song that they all added it to their sets while the original still was climbing the charts, just because they wanted to sing it. Millions of music fans know exactly how they feel.
Lesson From Aaliyah Joiner
Taking all video games out of the Tolson Center was not an easy thing for Clarence Thomas to do. The games were popular, but he believes, they were sending kids the wrong message. Clarence Thomas says, "I didn't think the violence that the video games were showing was a good thing to have in the center with kids this age." A move that family members of Aaliyah Joiner support. They say, violent video games may have been a factor in her death. Lori Harrington says, "Playing violent video games can really condition children to connect violence with fun and kinda see violence as a normal part of everyday life." The cousin who accidentally shot her played the games often and may not have understood just how deadly guns can be. "I don't think he really understood how dangerous guns are and I think this really is gonna wake him up." But this grieving family hopes the wake up call will also be heard by everyone in the community.
Tony Romo Likes Carrie Underwood Better Than Jessica Simpson
We've talked before at Cowboys FanHouse about the Tony Romo-Jessica Simpson pairing. That seems to have fizzled, though, and Romo has already moved on to another blond singer, former American Idol winner Carrie Underwood. All Romo will say is "I'm trying to keep my personal life under wraps," but the pairing seemed to be confirmed on NBC by Al Michaels, and Romo gave Underwood a hug on the field before the Cowboys-Eagles game, no doubt causing Bill Parcells to ask, "What in God's name is this person doing bothering my quarterback before the game?"Romo is in a position right now where his public image can go in a number of directions. Keep dating famous women and win in the playoffs, and he could turn into a Joe Namath-like legend. Keep dating famous women and lose in the playoffs, and everyone will say he doesn't care about winning and is too much of a distraction.
Albums: What a concept
Throughout 2006, technophiles continued to predict the imminent death of the album as we've known it, but several of my choices for the best recordings of the year qualify as old-fashioned concept albums, and the majority of music fans still seem to love collections of songs that take them on a journey, regardless of whether they're buying a CD or downloading the music online. One thing that is becoming meaningless, however, is the release date. My No. 2 album of the year isn't slated for a U.S. release until early 2007, but tens of thousands of American listeners downloaded Lily Allen's songs for free from her MySpace page, and she's already toured this country to considerable acclaim. In contrast, my album of the year was released in the U.K.
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