And I Am Telling You I Am Not Going: Music awards shows vie for talent. For anyone who was hoping the Grammy rule didn't exist, it has been confirmed that Whitney will not perform at the upcoming American Music Awards, and she apparently will not attend the show either. Read the details...

Let's keep voting for Whitney in the American Music Awards poll! Try clicking on the submit button once, and then hitting your space bar repeatedly before the next page has a chance to load. This trick apparently works sometimes rather than having to use your "Back" button to vote repeatedly. The winners will be announced on the show!

Have your VCRs ready just in case! Here is an excerpt from an Associated Press sports article regarding the boxing match where Whitney will perform the U.S. national anthem: "Before Jones and Telesco go on stage before a sellout crowd of 5,700, Whitney Houston will sing the national anthem. The 12-round bout will be part of an HBO-televised doubleheader with a 10-round heavyweight fight between Derrick Jefferson and David Izon. The telecast begins at 9:45 p.m. EST, with the title match set for about 11 p.m." The match will air on HBO. There is no guarantee that the network will air Whitney's performance, but be prepared if you don't want to miss it.

Read this article from the February issue of Sister 2 Sister magazine, which covers Whitney's all-star benefit gala from last year.

Also, here's a picture from the event of Whitney, Bobby and Sister 2 Sister magazine publisher Jamie Foster Brown, who has been mothering Bobby since he was very young and teases Whitney all the time. The caption reads: "Jamie said she pinched Bobby on his butt and he wimped out and told Whitney. Whitney said, 'You're going to learn to keep your hands off my husband.' (She doesn't scare me!)"

Billboard reports poll results that we already know: "With 42.7% of the votes, Whitney Houston's Arista release 'My Love Is Your Love' got the nod as favorite Top R&B/Hip-Hop album, with TLC's LaFace/Arista set 'Fanmail' close behind with 27.3% of the vote." Many thanks again to all the fans who voted! But a 15% point difference does not equal TLC being "close behind." It was a solid win.

Looking back, MTV Europe rebroadcasted Whitney TV on January 9th from London's HMV megastore. It was filmed not long after releasing MLIYL. Whitney was interviewed by the presenter and by her fans as well. There was a cut through her videos, and when "I'm Every Woman" aired, Whitney said it was her favorite because she was "pregnant, happy and fat." When asked what was her favorite song from MLIYL, she answered "You'll Never Stand Alone," because it's for Bobbi Kristina, and "I Learned From The Best." (Thanks Katerina L.)

Take a look at Jonathon Ashley's newly revamped site, which includes "Shrine to the Diva," dedicated to Whitney! You can also listen to RealAudio of Jonathon's new album! The man can sang! He counts Whitney as a major musical influence, and you can hear it when he sings. Check it out!

Let's vote for Whitney at this new Diva Madness poll! (Thanks Tod)

New Screen Captures: Take a look at Whitney counting down the final seconds of the millennium in Hong Kong yesterday! Plus, check out these pictures of Whitney from the Grammys Greatest Moments special!

Apparently, ABC-TV did not cover millennium festivities from Hong Kong yesterday. I didn't notice any footage on their network from the event. They also didn't mention Whitney's name among the artists who appeared during their stellar 24-hour millennium coverage, even though she had been advertised some time ago. It appears the only network to show Whitney in Hong Kong was NBC-TV, but I only saw a brief clip. Her private concert apparently was just that, because they only showed Whitney during Hong Kong's millennium countdown.

I saw Whitney live in Hong Kong. She repeated the "compte a rebours" for the millenium. She looked great and her hair was similar to the Divas Live/99 show. (Thanks Lucas)

Whitney achieved two spots on Grammys Greatest Moments' Pop Female Vocal countdown. She reached No. 5 for her Grammy performance of "Greatest Love Of All" and NUMBER ONE for her 1994 performance of "I Will Always Love You." Whitney, Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin were the only artists recognized for two performances on the show. [Personally, I've always found Whitney's performance of "One Moment In Time" to be superior to the performances of GLOA and IWALY. In that case, she should have had three spots instead of two!]

While voting online for the MTV Asia reigning female artists in the Year 2000, you can click the submit button once and then hit the space bar over and over to send multiple votes rather than having to wait for the response screen to load, click "back" and do it again. Just do it fast enough so that the response screen doesn't have time to load. You'll notice that your votes still count this way! If we all do this, we can beat everyone for sure! (Thanks Eric)
[We can see if this works for other polls too. This may be the trick some non-Whitney fans have been using to generate unusually large numbers for other artists.]

NBC-TV has begun advertising the United Negro College Fund's "An Evening Of Stars" telethon, which airs January 9th at 12 p.m. EST in New York City. They showed a very brief concert clip of Whitney singing ILFTB in the commercial, but there is no confirmation that it will be the performance they will air during the show. Check your local listings! The show will air at different times across the country.

If you missed the earlier Nippy News, use the News Archive or the news log.