Katie pointed out that I forgot to talk about the Grammys. So here are the things I remember:
-Even if you don’t like Amy Winehouse (I profess to be underwhelmed), her winning of, um, whatever was after her performance was adorable. They announced her name and she just stared at the monitor like she was 7 and her parents had gotten her a pony, then she went to hug her backup band and singers. And then her mom went up to hug her, clearly understanding that Amy was overwhelmed, and she proceeded to hold onto her mom in the posture that states, “This is MY MOMMY. Not yours!” She then thanked, “my Blake, incarcerated,” which sounds all strong and stoic in her accent. Less Nancy Spungen and more Winnie Mandela, y’know? (Stereogum has video, but you have to scroll to the bottom.)
-Tina Turner and Beyonce singing together? Fabulous, if mostly for the fact that 8-year old Beyonce is clearly absolutely dying. And I totally want Beyonce’s sparkly minidress. (It’s really cute if I don’t think about the fact that it was sort of a onesie.) I also loved that their backup dancers were dressed slightly differently. Tina’s: leather pants. Beyonce’s: thigh-high patent boots.
- Speaking of Beyonce, way to cut her out of the shot when you showed Jay-Z during his nomination for “Umbrella.” Good camerawork. I bet that shit was awkward.
-Mostly, the evening was a parade of people I didn’t realize were still alive (or at least still up and moving around). Little Richard needs to rethink wearing both a curly wig and a long wig at the same time. I am very worried that Jerry Lee Lewis was mid-stroke. He only moved his fingers. I am also worried about Aretha. Keely Smith and Kid Rock did a really great version of “That Old Black Magic.” Kid should clearly do a standards album. Katie thinks it should be called Kid Swing.
-The Band and Doris Day got these awful, half-assed tributes where the presenter talked about how they were awesome for a while, then zoomed right on to the larger, more marquee band. (The poor Band got buzzed over on the way to the Beatles.)
-I might be over Cirque du Soleil.
-Daft Punk was pretty awesome in their first TV appearance/special remix of “Stronger,” but the whole thing had this weird whiff of failed potential. They were in their big pyramid, which is a shout-out if you know them, but it never turned on. In fact, nothing ever turned on. It was just really dark, except for Kanye’s light up glasses and the LED pinstripes on Daft Punk.
-Finally, a note to the Academy: I know that it seems like a really good idea to encourage us not to steal music by showing us the good work you do with our money, but showing me the giant architectural wonder office buildings and “museums” you’re building as monuments to yourself does not encourage me to give you $20. Also, as my friend the label intern points out, half the time she’s tracking down bloggers for C&Ds, and the other half they’re purposely leaking tracks. This whole thing is just confusing.
-Final thought? The Grammys remain mostly boring, my fudge pie was kind of a failure, but still yummy, and we probably should have ordered the second pizza.
