CLICK & DOUBLE CLICK: GRAMMY WEBCAST GIVES BEHIND-THE SCENES SCOOP AND FRONT-ROW SEAT (COLUMN 77)

CyberTip: A new contest begins this week at SEMissourian.com. Make your picks for the top five Academy Awards and you might win free movie tickets to Cape Girardeau's Wehrenberg Theaters. Two people will win two movie tickets each week. We'll provide a running total of our entrants' Academy Award choices each week.

As you might have heard, Wednesday is Grammy night. Grammys are awards for the music industry, as opposed to the Oscars for the movie industry.

Both are gala events online. The Internet will allow you a front row seat.

The Internet changes more and more traditions with its interactive and live capabilities.

Peggy: This is the 40th anniversary for the Grammys, a favorite award ceremony at my house. My kids call their grandmother, Grammy. They wonder why all these musicians get awards from their grandmother.

Joni: Right. First stop, the official webcast of the Grammy Awards. It's brought to you by the Recording Academy and Yahoo!

www.grammy.com

Peggy: This is the fourth Grammy webcast. People from more than 100 countries joined last year. This year's cast is expected to be even bigger.

Joni: The webcast has already started. You can see rehearsals, chat with recording artists and listen to online music.

Peggy: During a six-hour period, 92 awards are given. The majority of awards aren't seen on television. But Internet viewers can experience it all. Online, you can also interact with the winners, ask questions and get a different perspective on the show.

Joni: Six hours. Holy cow. The actual televised portion is from 7 to 10 p.m. on CBS. Who decides who gets these Grammy awards since now we know it's not your mom?

Peggy: We learned on the site that more than 9,000 members of the Recording Academy, singers, musicians, composers, engineers and other music professionals decide.

Joni: If you would like to see all the nominees in all 92 categories, they are listed here. From polka to gospel to the spoken word, they are all here. Polka? Did you know they give a polka Grammy?

Peggy: I didn't know. But I did learn that this afternoon and tonight you can chat with Abra Moore, Clint Black, Julia Sweeney and Megadeth. You need at least 3.0 on Netscape or Internet Explorer and a Yahoo chat ID. The ID is free. Are you planning to chat, Joni?

Joni: Maybe. Courtesy of Music Boulevard, you can hear audio samples from the nominated artists. PCs work best for these sounds. For more information from the official source, check out the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences at

www.grammy.org

Peggy: As you can see, the last three letters of web addresses can make a big difference. At this .org site they explain that the Grammys are really an award from artists' peers. They are expecting an international audience of 1.7 billion people in 170 countries for the televised program.

Joni: That's a lot of popcorn. They also explain the process from start to finish. Basically members and record companies submit recordings and videos they consider worthy. Everyone tosses their hat into the ring. The entries are screened, then the Academy members vote.

Peggy: The names of the winners are delivered by an accounting firm in sealed envelopes. No one knows who won until the award is presented. MTV and Yahoo! provide a guide to popular music on the web called UnfURLed.

www.unfurled.com

Joni: The top 10 artist pages start with the Spice Girls and Hanson. That tells me most of the popular music is decided by pre-teens. Categories include encyclomedia; Riffs online to listen to music; Totally Whacked, which is musical gizmos; Smarty Rants, music magazines; and gossip, gossip, gossip.

Peggy: Of course, this site links you back to the Grammys. You can also find artists listed alphabetically or you can search by name.

Joni: This links you to all sorts of official and unofficial links. Under the ultimate artists, you can find, yes, Hanson and the Spice Girls. Hanson was on my box of waffles this week. According to the waffles, they have a new baby sister.

Peggy: You can learn more about, like, what the Spice Girls are, like, like. For more information about music, try

www.allmusic.com/amg/amg_root.html

Joni: This is a comprehensive database of music and film. It's an ongoing project to review all music whether in print on CDs, or out-of-print on vinyl. They have a database of more than 230,000 albums. They also have a goal to find and rate all movies. It looks like this is a ratings guide.

Peggy: Another popular online music site, where you can listen to songs, is

www.tunes.com

Joni: Web Magazine describes this site as "an infinite music station connected to every music listener in the world." You can get updates on your favorite artists via e-mail.

Peggy: You need RealAudio Player and a 28.8 modem or better to listen.

Joni: What's your favorite music site on the Internet? E-mail us at click@semissourian.com

See you in Cyberspace.

Joni Adams and Peggy Scott are members of the Southeast Missourian online staff.