Kanye West, Chris Rock, Chris Brown, Mary J. Blige, Jill Scott, Morris Day &The Time,Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly to Play Essence Festival

It was announced today that Kanye West, Chris Rock, Chris Brown, Mary J. Blige, Jill Scott, Morris Day and The Time, and Maze featuring Frankie Beverly will be performing at the 2008 Essence Festival.

Kanye West will be fresh off of his "Glow in the Dark" tour with N.E.R.D., Rihanna, and Lupe Fiasco. While Mary J. Blige will have just concluded her tour, "Heart of the City, with Jay-Z.

It was also announced that Chris Rock will be performing at the festival for the first time in 10 years.

Tickets for the evening concerts are on sale immediately at ticketmaster.com or (800) 488-5252. For updates on performers, hotel accommodations, ticket prices and weekly promotions log on to www.essence.com.

And the Oscar goes to........

Here is a complete list of the winners

BEST PICTURE
"Atonement"
"Juno"
"Michael Clayton"
"No Country for Old Men" (Winner)
"There Will Be Blood"

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"
Julie Christie, "Away From Her"
Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose"(Winner)
Laura Linney, "The Savages"
Ellen Page, "Juno"

BEST ACTOR
George Clooney, "Michael Clayton"
Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"(Winner)
Johnny Depp, "Sweeney Todd"
Tommy Lee Jones, "In the Valley of Elah"
Viggo Mortensen, "Eastern Promises"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, "I'm Not There"
Ruby Dee, "American Gangster"
Saoirse Ronan, "Atonement"
Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"
Tilda Swinton, "Michael Clayton" (Winner)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Casey Affleck, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men"(Winner)
Hal Holbrook, "Into The Wild"
Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Charlie Wilson's War"
Tom Wilkinson, "Michael Clayton"

BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood"
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men" (Winner)
Julian Schnabel, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"
Jason Reitman, "Juno"

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Diablo Cody, "Juno" (Winner)
Nancy Oliver, "Lars and the Real Girl"
Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"
Brad Bird, Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird, "Ratatouille"
Tamara Jenkins, "The Savages"

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood"
Christopher Hampton, "Atonement"
Ronald Harwood, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men"(Winner)
Sarah Polley, "Away From Her"

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
"Beaufort" (Israel)
"The Counterfeiters" (Austria) (Winner)
"Katyn" (Poland)
"Mongol" (Kazakhstan)
"12" (Russia)

BEST ANIMATED FILM
"Persepolis"
"Ratatouille"(Winner)
"Surf's Up"

BEST ART DIRECTION
"American Gangster"
"Atonement"
"The Golden Compass"
"Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"(Winner)
"There Will Be Blood"

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" Roger Deakins
"Atonement," Seamus Mcgarvey
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," Janusz Kaminski
"No Country For Old Men," Roger Deakins
"There Will Be Blood," Robert Elswit (Winner)

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
"Across the Universe," Albert Wolsky
"Atonement," Jacqueline Durran
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age," Alexandra Byrne (Winner)
"La Vie En Rose," Marit Allen
"Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street," Colleen Atwood

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
"No End in Sight"
"Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience"
"Sicko"
"Taxi to the Dark Side" (Winner)
"War/Dance"

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
"Freeheld" (Winner)
"La Corona" ("The Crown")
"Salim Baba"
"Sari's Mother"

BEST FILM EDITING
"The Bourne Ultimatum," Christopher Rouse (Winner)
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," Juliette Welfling
"Into the Wild," Jay Cassidy
"No Country for Old Men," Roderick Jaynes
"There Will Be Blood," Dylan Tichenor

BEST MAKEUP
"La Vie en Rose" (Winner)
"Norbit"
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
"Atonement", Dario Marianelli (Winner)
"The Kite Runner", Alberto Iglesias
"Michael Clayton", James Newton Howard
"Ratatouille", Michael Giacchino
"3:10 to Yuma", Marco Beltrami

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Falling Slowly" from "Once" (Winner)
"Happy Working Song" from "Enchanted"
"Raise It Up" from "August Rush"
"So Close" from "Enchanted"
"That's How You Know" from "Enchanted"

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
"I Met the Walrus"
"Madame Tutli-Putli"
"Même Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)"
"My Love (Moya Lyubov)"
"Peter & the Wolf" (Winner)

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
"At Night"
"Il Supplente (The Substitute)"
"Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)" (Winner)
"Tanghi Argentini"
"The Tonto Woman"

BEST SOUND EDITING
"The Bourne Ultimatum" (Winner)
"No Country For Old Men"
"Ratatouille"
"There Will Be Blood"
"Transformers"

BEST SOUND MIXING
"The Bourne Ultimatum" (Winner)
"No Country For Old Men"
"Ratatouille"
"3:10 to Yuma"
"Transformers"

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
"The Golden Compass" (Winner)
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"
"Transformers"

2008 Grammy Awards Recap

GRAMMY RECAP: KANYE WEST, BEYONCE, RIHANNA, ALICIA KEYS, ETC.

The best performance of the evening would have to go to Kanye West. He gets an "A" for Attire as well as for his moving tribute to his late mother. Later that evening, when accepting his award, the award show producers began to run the "wrap up" music that leads into a commercial. He continued to talk over the music until he began to pay homage to his mother. At that point, he asked if they were going to continue to run the music while he talked, and remarkably they stopped the music. In appreciation for their thoughtfulness, an growing applause grew in the Staples Center.

Beyonce gave a great performance, sharing the stage with the eternally young Diva, Tina Turner. Their performance gives you a glimpse of what Beyonce will look like if she continues to perform well into her sixties.

Other winners included:

BEST FEMALE R&B VOCAL PERFORMANCE
No One- Alicia Keys
BEST MALE R&B VOCAL PERFORMANCE
Future Baby Mama - Prince
BEST R&B PERFORMANCE BY A DUO OR GROUP WITH VOCALS
Disrespectful - Chaka Khan Featuring Mary J. Blige
BEST TRADITIONAL R&B VOCAL PERFORMANCE
In My Songs - Gerald Levert
BEST URBAN/ALTERNATIVE PERFORMANCE
Daydreamin' - Lupe Fiasco Featuring Jill Scott
BEST R&B SONG
No One - Dirty Harry, Kerry Brothers & Alicia Keys, songwriters (Alicia Keys, artist)
BEST R&B ALBUM
Funk This - Chaka Khan
BEST CONTEMPORARY R&B ALBUM
Because Of You - Ne-Yo
BEST RAP SOLO PERFORMANCE
Stronger - Kanye West
BEST RAP PERFORMANCE BY A DUO OR GROUP
Southside - Common Featuring Kanye West
BEST RAP SONG- Good Life - Aldrin Davis, Mike Dean, Faheem Najm & Kanye West, songwriters
BEST RAP ALBUM- Graduation - Kanye West
BEST RAP/SUNG COLLABORATION
Umbrella - Rihanna Featuring Jay-Z