A little over a month ago, we posted news of the double murder of, Academy Award Winning, former American Idol Contestant, Jennifer Hudson’s mother and brother, at their own home in Chicago. Since then, Hudson’s nephew, for whom an amber alert was issued, was also found dead in an SUV the following Monday. All three were brutally murdered by multiple gunshot wounds.

Hudson has already held funeral ceremonies for her loved ones; however, since then the only “person of interest” in the case has been 27 year old William Balfour, estranged husband of Hudson’s sister. Since the murders on October 24th, he has been held on a Parole violation charge, but, is now (finally…) a waiting formal charges by the Cook County State's Attorney's Office for the 3 homicides. This could take a day, or up to a week.

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Jennifer Hudson's Family Found Dead

Last night the 2008 American Music Awards were hosted by Jimmy Kimmel live on ABC. Throughout the night the AMA’s kept their tradition of having truly powerhouse performances and a clean mix of genres (which was noted by some artists) not found anywhere else.

Ordinary Joe here, and I’m going to give you the low down on the show. Firstly though, I must admit I didn’t catch it all (being ordinary in all, life has many requirements). So included are only those events that I witnessed.

American Music Award Recipients Included:
out Coldplay and the Eagles

Best Pop/Rock Group
Daughtry beat out Coldplay and the Eagles

Best Country Group
Rascal Flatts (2nd consecutive year winning this category)

Best Rap Album (Ironically introduced by Nickelback…lol)
Kanye West’s “Graduation” trumped Jay-Z’s “American Gangster” & Lil Wayne’s “Carter 3”

Favorite Country Male Artist
Brad Paisley

Best Pop/Rock Album
Alicia Keys “As I am”

Pop/Rock Female
Rihanna beats music queens Alicia Keys and Mariah Carey

Favorite Rap/Hip Hop Male
Kanye West won, but for the not so first time this year said rather, that Lil Wayne deserved his award (while fans took time to for vote him)

T-Mobile Breathrough Artist
The Jonas Brothers

Best Country Female
Taylor Swift

Best Soul/R&B Album
Alicia Keys “As I am”

Artist of the Year
Chris Brown surprisingly beat out Lil Wayne, Alicia Keys, Eagles, Coldplay. The win obviously took him by surprise suggesting he would have given it to Coldplay. He and girlfriend Rihanna are well on their way to becoming Pop Gods.

Annie Lennox, whom I know best for her vocals in “Sweet Dreams are Made of This”,
gave a touching performance. After 78 million records sold worldwide, and more recent humanitarian efforts, she received the American Music Award of Merit, the society’s highest honor.

Performers were:

Taylor Swift “White Horse”

The Fray “You found Me”

Pussycat Dolls

Jonas Brothers “Tonight”

Coldplay “Lovers in Japan”

Ne-yo with “Miss Independent” & “Closer” with lots of microphone moves and a crazy cool female dancer.

Leona Lewis “Better in Time”

Mariah Carey with “I Stay in Love With You”, performed in a sleek black dress and helped down a stage prop by husband Nick Cannon. MIMI was also congratulated on having the Most #1 hits and Spending the Most Weeks at #1, two positions formerly held by the king Elvis Presley himself.

Miley Cyrus almost takes the show with her performance of “Fly on the Wall”. Afterwards the new 16 year old moved to cutting her cake backstage.

Beyonce “Single Ladies”

Natasha Bedingfield Medley of “Soul Mate” & “Unwritten”

Rihanna “Rehab”

Kanye West “Heartless”: solid performance, with a Japanese techno style background

Sarah McLachlan “Arms of the Angels” ft. Pink whom also had a solo performance

Global New Age music phenomenon Eithne Bhraonain, along with her lyricist Rona Ryan and producer Nicky Ryan, collectively known as Enya, can revel once again in her huge international success with the release of her 9th album. The Christmas/winter themed “And Winter Came…”

The album opens with a thought capturing ‘lyric-less’ piano solo composed by the great musician herself, it is titled after the album “And Winter Came…” The hypnotic flow continues as the Irish song bird sings “Somewhere in a winter night/ The angels, begin their flight/ Dark skies with miles to go/ No footsteps to be lost in snow” from the track “Journey of the Angels”. The songs speaks of the heralding of the angels the night of Christ’s birth, however it introduces a dark element possibly ominous of his death that would soon bare the earth’s sins.

Joyful, is “White is in the Winter Night” in which Enya expresses the deep-rooted delight that fills every good heart during the season. Next, follows, a heavenly take on, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”. She includes the Latin version of the text, “Veni, Veni, Emanuel/ Captivum solve Israel!” The album’s first single “Trains and Winter Rains” sounds much like previous hits by Enya. “Trains and winter rains/ No going by, No going home/ Trains across the plains/ And in the sky, the star alone.”

In place of the “Little Drummer Boy” Enya sings of the “One Toy Soldier” whom asks “Who can mend my broken drum? / Will it be as good as new?” The album continues with “The Spirit of Christmas Past” which seeks to inspire those who are depressed by the season with words of encouragement “Believe in what I say/ Don't throw this time away/ Tomorrow will be Christmas Day”. “My! My! Time Flies!” I feel, is the most eccentric track on the album, and exhibits more extensive synthesizing of her voice.

The album closes with “Oiche Chiuin” (Chorale), the Irish version of the Christmas carol “Silent Night”. The song was originally written in German and titled “Stille Nacht” but was translated, while its melody remains world renowned.

Enya brings together calming lyrics with beautiful melodies; a mix of traditional with contemporary winter themes. The famous multiple layering of her voice pays off again to produce her signature sound and a rocket for the New Age genre. Show me someone who’s stressed, listens to this, and doesn’t come out smiling. This album which was 2 years in the making and sits at #8 on the Billboard Hot 200 this week does a great job of bringing in the season. Enya’s “And Winter Came…” gets an “A” from the Ordinary Joe Music Blog for her complete mastery of her craft, excellent compositions and the way her voice can both instill fear in the mind, while also asking it to leave reality and dwell wherever its overtones will take you.

Watch the video below, to hear Enya’s comments and hopes for the album.

A tribute to the queen herself, who could not be there, Britney Spears, "Crazy", "Oops I did it again", "Slave 4 U", "Boys", "Me Against the Music", "Toxic", "Piece of Me" and "Womanizer"

At #1 is “Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears, the song ruled the countdown. Carson Daly says it best “Those three notes” at the beginning signifying the beginning of an era.

And thus, it’s over, after a decade, TRL calls it quits. With Fahey, Daly, Kid Rock, and Snoop dancing to Britney’s hit. They make one last move to the famous window, and tell the fans goodbye.

Good Charlotte member Benji and Joel Madden speak to Vanessa Minnillo about rock star perks and coping with being a father.

Youtube Star Esmee Denters was signed to Justin Timberlake’s label; he introduced her during the final show just now. Sadly new artists like herself won’t have a TRL to play their music on.