No.... nooooo.... noooooo!!!!!

I'm glad I skipped the Grammies this year. What a joke. I decided I'd skip it last year after embarrassingly awful performances from Chris Brown (the pirater here omits the heinous acts of cutting both Lionel and Smokey short to get to the new hotness who sings along to a backing track... and can barely keep his breath), and a terrible performance from the Police.

I knew I would have to check out the winners soon enough. All I can really say is that the members of the panel must have been more fucked up than Winehouse herself. The woman is talented, yes. The songs are catchy, yes, but the woman doesn't need to be encouraged to destroy herself in such a manner. I've never seen Iggy Pop with a golden gramophone. David Bowie didn't win his one Grammy for a song! (If you feel like wasting half an hour, seek out the long form version of the video)... when the Academy smartens up and starts handing out hardware for talent consistently, then I'll stand up and applaud Winehouse.

Speaking of talent, Herbie Hancock reminded the world why he should put out an album every single year by stomping over the competition in the Album of the Year category. There is a glimmer of hope after all.

No hope however for Justice, LCD Soundsystem, Feist, Queens of the Stone Age, or the Arcade Fire. Why anyone would even bother giving them a nomination at all is beyond me.

Here's a great thing about the whole debacle - we're reminded of just how idiotic and insipid "Country" "music" is with these two category victories:

Best Female Country Vocal Performance

Before He Cheats
Carrie Underwood
Track from: Some Hearts
[19 Recordings/Arista Nashville]

Best Male Country Vocal Performance

Stupid Boy
Keith Urban
Track from: Love, Pain & The Whole Crazy Thing
[Capitol Records Nashville]

Wha...? I thought country was supposed to be about outlaws and bad guys, not bitches and sissies.
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Other Grammy highlights: Guilty pleasure Maroon 5 winning "Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals", Joni Mitchell winning "Best Pop Instrumental Performance", Prince somehow coming away with one for "Best Male R&B Vocal Performance", and the Flight of the Conchords winning best Comedy album. I recently saw the EP on sale for $4.99 at a major music store chain in downtown Toronto. Culture Bully raises a good point about the lack of proper nominees in the Comedy category (where's Patton?), but Steven Wright's latest doesn't even compare to the fresh take on both music and comedy brought by the two Kiwis. Long live the Conchords!