GAUGING THE GRAMMYS

In recent years, I have felt like a bit of a grandma watching the Grammys.  Kids today!  You call that music?!  So, I was expecting a show full hip hop artists with their pants around their ankles when I turned on the program.  I was never so happy to see Bruce Springsteen.  I figured the opening act would be some pop tart.  Instead, it was the E Street Band (minus a missed Clarence Clemons).  A rock 'n' roll band.  In fact, there was very little hip hop this year. 

The big winner of the night was Adele.  She has a wonderful voice, and I am happy for her that she still possesses it after vocal chord surgery.  While I'm not a fan of that style of music, I can appreciate her talent.  Same goes for Taylor Swift.  I surprisingly liked her performance with her banjo slung low.

LL Cool J was a decent host.  His introduction included a respectful honoring of Whitney Houston.  Later, Jennifer Hudson delivered a beautiful rendition of "I Will Always Love You" at the end of the In Memoriam segment. 

Veterans like Glen Campbell, Paul McCartney and the Beach Boys were not in as good voice as they used to be, but their presence served as a reminder to the music stars of today what came before them.

A couple acts that left me scratching my head were Nicki Minaj and Deadmau5.  And prior to the awards, I thought Bon Iver was a band, not just one guy.  I guess these were my grandma moments for this year.

Random things I enjoyed: National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences President Neil Portnow speaking about keeping music in schools, Cherie Currie and others praising the MusiCares Foundation, Katy Perry's blue hair and Bonnie Raitt's tribute to Etta James.

The two highlights of the show for me were the Foo Fighters winning the Best Rock Performance award and the finale.  I loved watching Bruce Springsteen, Joe Walsh, Dave Grohl and Paul McCartney jam on guitars in the midst of the Golden Slumbers medley.  During Dave Grohl's acceptence speech he said, "The human element of making music is what's most important.  Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that's the most important thing for people to do."  I couldn't agree more.

Thanks for reading my ramblings.  Feel free to leave comments of your own.