Adele ‘cried all day’ after shaky Grammy performance

Culture Desk

Adele performs All I Ask on stage at the 58th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.

British superstar Adele said she cried all day after what was supposed to be a triumphant return to the Grammys stage turned into a shaky live performance in which she sang off-key, reports Reuters.
‘I was so embarrassed,’ the ‘Someone Like You’ singer told U.S. talk show host Ellen DeGeneres in an interview recorded on Wednesday and to be broadcast on Thursday.
‘I cried pretty much all day yesterday,’ said Adele, a six-time Grammy winner in 2012. ‘I don’t feel like it could go that much worse than the Grammys, though.’
Monday’s Grammy Awards marked the biggest appearance for the 27-year-old singer in four years. It followed the release in November of ‘25,’ which broke US sales records and quickly became the best-selling album of 2015 with worldwide sales of some 15 million. The November release made it ineligible for Grammy consideration on Monday.
Accompanied by just a piano on the Grammy stage in Los Angeles, she sang her new single ‘All I Ask.’ But the performance was marred by technical issues when a microphone fell onto the piano’s strings, and she turned in an uncharacteristically shaky performance, hitting sharp and flat notes.
Adele told DeGeneres she heard immediately that the song was not going well and wished she had stopped and started again.
‘Next time I have any sound issues, I am gonna stop. I’ll be like, sorry that’s not working for me. If we have time to do it again, let’s do it; otherwise, bye!,’ she said.
She also acknowledged feeling more pressure now to perform well than a few years ago. ‘The more successful I get, the more pressure there is, really,’ she said.
Adele starts a nine-month-long, sold-out European and North American tour on Feb. 29.

All set to observe Amar Ekushey

Mohiuddin Alamgir

Artists draw graffiti on a nearby wall of Central Shaheed Minar on Dhaka University campus on the occasion of International Mother Language Day on February 21. The photo was taken on Friday. — Sanaul Haque

The nation will pay homage to the martyrs of the language movement of 1952 a minute after midnight past today by placing wreaths at Shaheed Minars across the country amid beefed up security.
The Central Shaheed Minar has been well decorated with Bangla letters against the backdrop of a rising sun, for the observance of Shaheed Dibas, or February 21, which has also been observed simultaneously as the International Mother
Language Day since 2000 after UNESCO announced the decision in November 1999.
On February 21, 1952, which fell on Phalgun 8, 1359 on Bangla calendar, the rulers of the then united Pakistan banned protests against the announcement that Urdu would be the only state language even though a majority of the combined population spoke Bangla.
Salam, Jabbar, Rafiq and Barkat who were killed in police firing on a students’ procession brought out defying the ban demanding Bangla as a state language on February 21, 1952.
The events of the language movement led to other landmark movements, including the historic Six-point Movement of 1966, and culminated into the War of Independence in 1971.
Like other years, Dhaka University is supervising the Amar Ekushey observance programmes. Observance committee member secretary AM Amzad said that they completed all preparation for observing the day.
Fine arts faculty students had decorated altar of the Shaheed Minar and the walls around the Shaheed Minar monument with floral designs. Roads, dividers and islands have been decorated with the national flag, festoons and cardboard cut-outs with Bangla letters.
People from all walks of life will place wreaths at Shaheed Minars singing the chorus ‘Amar Bhaiyer Rakte Rangano Ekushey February, Ami ki Bhulite Pari’, standing in solemn silence for a while and file past the altar in honour of language movement heroes.
President Abdul Hamid is expected to lead the nation to pay tribute to language heroes at Central Shaheed Minar in the capital, built in memory of the martyrs, a minute past midnight. The president will be followed by prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her cabinet colleagues, the speaker and teachers of Dhaka University, language movement heroes and others.
Soon after the departure of the VVIPs, tens of thousands of people from all walks of life would throng the area to pay floral tributes to the martyrs.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Khaleda Zia and leader of the opposition in parliament Raushan Ershad are also expected to pay tribute to the language movement heroes.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Asaduzzman Mia said that the police had planned special security for the Central Shaheed Minar and in its vicinity for the observance of Amar Ekushey.
Bomb disposal squads, police personnel in plain clothes, special weapons and tactics personnel, patrol and roof-top security will be deployed to maintain law and order around the Central Shaheed Minar, the police said.
The police will set up checkpoints at strategic places, including all entry points to the campuses of Dhaka University and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, and Dhaka Medical College Hospital premises. Closed-circuit television cameras have also been installed.
Traffic will not be allowed on roads passing by the Shaheed Minar between 9:00pm Saturday and 2:00pm Sunday except for vehicles with authorised stickers.
Residents of Nazimuddin Road, Babupura and College Road have been asked to use Dewanbazar Road, Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, Nilkhet and New Market Gate 1 on their way to the Azimpur graveyard, officials said.
People coming from Lalbagh, Azimpur, Plassey crossing, Chawkbazar, Bakshibazar, Urdu Road and Dhakeswari Road area will have to travel through the new gate of the graveyard beside Gate 1 of New Market via Azimpur Road, New Market crossing and Peelkhana Road.
People will have to go by the roads in front of Sir Salimullah Hall, Jagannath Hall, Supreme Court building, Doyel Square, Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, TSC crossing, Nilkhet crossing, New Market, Old Railway Road, Azimpur Road, Azimpur crossing and Palassy to visit the Shaheed Minar. The police have asked people not to set up any awning on the roads.

The book nook

Adila Hoque

Give your home aesthetics a literary touch

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If you're an incurable bookworm, let it reflect in your home. Books are good for more than just imparting knowledge - it is a decoration must-have in many households. Infusing your room with that literary aura will create an inviting atmosphere that will make you want to curl up with a book and remain there for hours.
Although books are very easy to use as accessories, a little help here and there might take your decor to a different level altogether:
Colour co-ordination
Start by stacking books of the same size and colour together. Sometimes, even placing a pretty little desk clock on the stack could add a little more oomph to it. Also, remember that while new, glossy books have a very attractive appeal towards them, the old tattered classics will give an edge to any room you choose to bless them with.
The coffee table
We often wonder in what ways we could decorate the centre tables in our living rooms, other than the traditional centre piece and a crystal vase with plastic flowers. Convert this table into a mini library so all your favourite books are close at hand. For a library, a tiered coffee table is usually preferred. It makes your room look clean, classic and neat.
The entertainment centre
An old dresser can easily be turned into a bookshelf-cum-entertainment centre. Get rid of all the drawers except the top ones, where you should store all your tech gears. Stack books horizontally in the lower shelves. To add a little more polish, you might place a decorating piece on top. Make sure to keep the apparatus simple, otherwise the books and the complex designs will kill the classic vibe.
Mirror, mirror
If you have a large stuffed bookshelf, and you don't know how to break the monotony, here's your answer. Attach a small mirror in front of the shelf to break the rectangular feel of the furniture, and also, you could hide the rarely-read books behind the cute circular mirror.
Details
Don't clutter your bookshelves. Instead of it serving only its original purpose, turn it into a miscellaneous holder. Don't clog up all the space inside with books. For a clean look, begin with similar arrangements. If the books on the top shelf are arranged vertically, place the ones on the second shelf horizontally. Place them on opposite sides and fill up the remaining space with small, simple accessories. You could even attach a wallpaper to the back of the shelf to give it a more personalised appearance.