March 1, 1994: The Grammy Awards, presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, are held at Radio City Music Hall in New York, broadcast on CBS. Whitney Houston opens the show with Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You," which she sang in the film The Bodyguard. It wins Record of the Year.
Frank Sinatra, 78 years old, is presented with a Grammy Legend Award. He had previously won 11 Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Peabody Award. (He would win 2 more regular Grammys. He was nominated for 4 Emmy Awards, but didn't win any.)
The award was presented to him by Bono, lead singer of U2, who recently recorded with him on his Duets album. His acceptance speech suggests that he's not exactly with it anymore. He drifted around, and said some things that suggested that some racial, ethnic and religious terms that were once considered okay were no longer so.
The "Your time is up" music was played. It was a tough decision: Is it showing Sinatra more respect by letting him finish, or by stopping him from embarrassing himself?
Billy Joel, himself the winner of 5 Grammy Awards and a Grammy Legend award, was nominated for 4 awards: Album of the Year for River of Dreams; and, for the title track, Record of the Year (for the performer), Song of the Year (for the writer), and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. (He didn't win any of them.)
As a Song of the Year nominee, he was obligated to sing his nominated song. He was just about to start his 4th and final verse, when he stopped. That wasn't surprising: On the original recording, there's a three-second gap there.
This time, though, he stood at his piano, and looked at his watch, and said, "Valuable advertising time going by." The crowd at Radio City got it immediately, laughed, and cheered. He said it again: "Valuable advertising time going by. Dollars. Dollars. Dollars." After 23 seconds, he returned to the song, and finished it.
Frank was the biggest music star of the immediate pre-rock and roll era. But, occasionally, rock stars have shown his influence on them, and their respect for him. Billy was sending a message: "I don't care if you are CBS, or the Recording Academy: Nobody, but nobody, shows disrespect to Frank Sinatra." Especially in what amounted to both men's hometown: Hicksville, Long Island stood up for Hoboken, New Jersey that night.
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March 1, 1994 was a Tuesday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 9 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Sacramento Kings, 100-88 at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento.
* The New Jersey Nets beat the Detroit Pistons, 108-98 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.
* The Washington Bullets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 109-103 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 102-99 at The Omni in Atlanta.
* The Indiana Pacers beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 106-94 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.
* The Miami Heat beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 110-102 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.
* The Houston Rockets beat the Orlando Magic, 97-85 at The Summit in Houston. (It's now the Central Campus of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.)
* The Golden State Warriors beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 114-109 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.
* The Seattle Seahawks beat the Charlotte Hornets, 112-96 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.
And there were 4 games in the NHL:
* The New York Islanders beat the St. Louis Blues, 4-2 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Washington Capitals, 4-3 at the USAir Arena (formerly the Capital Centre) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Calgary Flames, 5-2 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
* And the Edmonton Oilers beat the Vancouver Canucks, 7-4 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.
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