Sunday, February 8, 2009

Huh. The Grammies.

I usually boycott awards shows.  But I accidentally tuned in.  Then left.  Then got sucked in again.  And I can say, in a preliminary fashion:  Best. Grammies.  Ever.

They finally got it:  comedians, blah, blah, blah, montages, yakking intros.  Nobody cares.  Just get big stars who can perform live and put them on the stage and let them go.  Blahdow.  That's it.  It's what the people want.

A few impressions:

Bono:  I love you.  I still love you.  I will always love you.

Adele:  Admitting you love the JoBros?  How cute is that?

John Mayer:  Did anyone, like me, hold their breath when he won best male vocal, thinking he might have some integrity and get up there and say "Hell, I don't believe it either.  Even I didn't vote for me."  But no.

Allison Krauss:  My next life, I'm going to be her.  The hair.  The face.  The voice.  She's just perfect.

Robin Thicke:  Can anyone explain why he was in the tribute to NOLA?  Not that I'm complaining.  He sounded great.  But.  WTF?  Isn't he Canadian?

Katie Perry:  I think I could actually here the clock tick to 14:59.

Josh Groban:  I am developing this weird thing for Josh Groban.  I have no explanation for this.

Radio Head:  I can't claim to be a fan.  I'm not that cool.  But, seriously, could you guys do something that isn't quite so ballsy?  You're starting to make everybody else look a little like pussies.  On the Grammies of all forums, you do something tough, blatantly uncommercial, weird and not at all  dumbed down.  And you back it with a marching band.  I stand in awe.

The Jonas Brothers with Stevie Wonder:  No.  Just no.

Billie Joe Armstrong:  See Bono.  Ditto.

And overall, nobody phoned it in.  Everybody came to play, and play hard.  Maybe the Grammies isn't dead after all.

2 comments:

WashingtonGardener said...

I watched the first half-hour than only flipped over during commercials in King of the Hill, Desperate Housewives, etc.

From the portions I saw - aside from Craig Ferguson being naughty - it was one of the most dull in years.

It didn't help that the sound mix was just plain awful for the full-blown performances -- all the singers lead vocals sounded like they were from the bottom of a pool. When folks talked on the podium mikes though, it was fine - they really need to fix that. I felt bad for many of the performers like Katie Perry for having to deal with that.

Gotta say I missed Beyonce and other show-stoppers at this one. And I love me some Al Green, but let him sing without the young imitators - please.

I do have a Josh Groban thing as well - his voice is mesmerizing. Just wishing he'd spiff up the image a bit.

FirePhrase said...

I'd have to agree on the sound mixing. But strangely, for me that kind of enhanced the live/anything could happen aspect. The imperfect aspect was right at good for me.

I think part of what I dig about Josh Groban is his deliberately un-spiffy thing. He just seems so . . . normal. Like finding out your IT guy can sing Nessun Dorma.

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