Grammy Gravy

Of course the day after any major media hoopla, brings mountains of opinion usually in the favor of "haters." We saw it recently with the Super Bowl and it will get even nastier in a few weeks over the red carpet of the Oscars. Thus, I jump into the fray with last night's Grammy's. They are usually bottom of the barrel on my bucket list. As hard as I try to stay current on music trends, even I struggle to find the purpose in the show. Both country and hip-hop music are lost on me. I am at a loss to find a single radio station in the car I can stomach. My favorite resource is an app call Band of the Day which introduces me to a whole slate of talent that will never hit the Clear Channel airwaves and I am lucky to even track down an MP3 of the great material out there. (check it out)


But because the show has morphed into more of a tele-concert than an awards show, I gave it the benefit of the doubt last night. I will start in the camp of haters and mention that if I never hear Sam Smith's "Stay With Me" again in my lifetime I will be just fine. For some reason he leaves me flat and I'd much rather hear Idol contestants Jennifer Hudson, Adam Lambert or ANYONE who has ever appeared on the Voice. But - the curiosity in the pairing of talent won me over more times than not. Tom Jones & Jessie J were dynamic. Hozier (who I have recently taken a shine to) & Annie Lennox were dynamite. Tony Bennett & Gaga continue to defy. And even Brandy Clark and Dwight Yoakam won me over. I agree with many critics that the show had a ballad-heavy somber tone which became boring at times. But I did like Ed Sheeran for being uniquely himself. Usher, Katy Perry & Beyonce continue to stretch themselves as artists and even if you didn't like the great performances they gave - no one can accuse them of selling out! The same with Pharell Williams and Happy. How many times have we heard that song and still loved it? Why not push it in a new direction and collaborate with other musicians who would never cross paths with. And Kristin Wiig - it wasn't even until today that I realized the surprise she had pulled off. Bravo to all these brave individuals. I was entertained over and over.

I am disappointed that Sam Smith made off like a bandit over other great places at the table like Megan Trainor,  Haim or Hozier - but this is just reassuring that there is fresh talent coming on board. As much as I love the new Beck disc, I question that in 20 years it will be the defining album of the year we recall. But this has not been the first time such call has been made. And major shame for Kanye for being the dick that he is. How does he constantly get away with this? There is plenty of quality stuff in the awards that didn't make the show such as Pentatonix, Dianne Reeves, John Williams, Alexander Desplat & Rosanne Cash to name a few. So the Recording Academy is not totally missing the boat.