Monday, February 11, 2008

The Grammys

OK. I was actually somewhat blown away. Not so much by any of the awards, but by the performances. Some random thoughts:

Jerry Lee Lewis is alive?!

Fashions were, over all, horrible.

Kanye is a world class *sshole.

Having said that, his performance was compelling, and his MAMA song was touching. Still, he's a jerkbag. I'm glad he didn't win more than he did.

Feist not only looked out of place in a nice dress, she wasn't very good. About the only uninspired performance of the night.

Having said that, I don't quite understand the appeal of Amy Crackhouse. She performed better than the last time I saw her, but for me that's not saying much.

Being a rocker, I really liked the Foo Fighter's performance. It sounded great with the orchestra back up.

Tina Turner, you blew me away. But, NASA wants their spacesuit back. Yikes.

The Cirque de Solei-ish performance during the Beatles tribute was stupid.

Josh Grobin and Andrea Bocelli were excellent. Very moving.

Rhianna clearly has the best legs though I'm not sure what to make of the outfit she wore. It was a combination of cave girl meets Emu. Or, cavegirl kills emu and wears it. Anyway, her Umbrella song never sounded so good after she paired with Morris Day and the Time. Geat performance.

My favorite performance was "No One" by Alicia Keys. John Mayer was an unexpected vurp, but a really good performance by Alicia. Now, I will say Alicia doesn't know how to move, and I'm sure the keyboard on the runway was really just a prop for something for her hands to do . . . because she doesn't move well. Still, she sang her heart out. Once again, the outfit was a little strange. Half slip, half disco dress . . . too short for her legs.

Beyonce got owned by Tina Turner. That's saying something.

It was absolutely incredible that Herbie Hancock won best album. I wasn't sure, but he said it. It was the first time in a number of years that a jazz artist won this award. I'm not a huge fan of jazz, but good for him and good for the genre. As long as Kanye didn't win.

How Springsteen beat Satriani or Vai for best instrumental rock performance is beyond me.

Prince must have a painting of himself in an attic somewhere.

It's funny, in spite of it's length, not many awards are handed out during the show. It's mostly the performances. If you check the website there must be 100 awards actually awarded. Seems to be a good strategy for the show. I'm much more compelled to go listen to an artist that I've been given a sample of than because they've won an award. Maybe the Oscars could use the same template?

No comments: