Grammys - The Morning After

It was the most entertaining Grammy Awards show I can remember in a long time, in spite of horrible sound problems for the musical performances. They really could have used a Shane Hurlbut-style knob tweaker. I felt awful for Estelle; everytime she went up at bat for the duet with Kanye the music dropped out of the mix. She had the pipes to pull it off.

Miscellaneous thoughts:

How can anyone say anything bad about Michael Phelps' bong hit, when Whitney Houston was that trashed on the job?

I've been working on and will eventually get around to posting a wee essay on the anti-Coldplay movement; in the meantime, it was delicious to see Chris Martin's wife, Gwynneth Paltrow, nab the honor of introducing Radiohead.

Is Katy Perry the new Madonna, or the new Marlene Dietrich? Inquiring minds are dying to know.



I'm pretty sure I went to bed not long after that, but thanks to the glory of YouTube, many Grammy moments are still available - at least until NARAS demands they all come down. No idea how long this McCartney/Grohl and company stomp will last:



One of the more disappointing - and bizarre - moments I missed was a hugely pregnant M.I.A. coming out on stage, practically on her due date, to perform with Kanye, Lil Wayne, et all, for "Swagger Like Us." As said elsewhere, it would have been nice to see M.I.A., a woman in a state where things don't get any more feminine, and her nominated song get their own spotlight without getting buried underneath a stage full of "Swagger." The outfit was cute, though.



With the guest list they had - all the above, plus others that happened after I went to sleep - last night should turn out to bring in the high ratings they were hoping for. I would have liked to see "Paper Planes" take Record of the Year, but can't complain that "Please Read the Letter" did. Except that it was written a few years ago from Page/Plant, it was the only of the five that stands out as something that lives entirely in its own time, instead of heavily borrowing from past musical movements.

And T-Bone just brought on so much cool.