For comparison

Here's the - oh what's that term for writing as something is happening, contemporaneous? I dunno. I found the Grammy Blab that I did last year - reading it over, I'm thinking that was a better show. Do you remember any of these scenes?


Wednesday, February 8, 2006
Seatbelts on . . . the Grammys! The 48th.
(Wherein I reveal my cluelessness about many matters musical. Cluelessness and major attitiude.) My promise – Not Ironic. Mostly serious.
Finishing my Superbowl guy’s dinner of hot wings and beer. I’ve got chips and salsa and beer nuts. Also, a new bottle of Dewar’s.

8:04 PM
Are the Gorillaz really a band? Are those puppets onstage? Oh – here we go, real people.
Now Madonna is here with a Flipper hairdo and a crew doing a Bob Fosse cage thing . . .
. . . more Fosse-esque tableaux . . .
Well, I guess you don’t want to start a show with a show stopper.

They’re naming the lineup now – presenters and performers - I don’t think there’s anybody in the music biz not here.
Here’s Stevie Wonder and ?
Fuck, yeah! Do “Higher Ground”, Stevie. Good one – a capella.
Yo, there’s Bonnie Raitt with a – a – date?
Best Female Vocal Performance – Kelly Clarkson – all broken up. Seems like just yesterday she was an “American Idol” ingénue.
Is this Coldplay? The guitarist owes The Edge some props. Come to think of it, the whole band owes U2 some props – but that’s okay.
Newcomer John Legend – solo at the piano – smooth crooner, good pipes. Seems like a regular guy – getting some standing O.
Performance by Sugarland? That guy is whacking away at a mandolin? Straight ahead country pop. Okay.
Best Country Album - Allison Krauss & Union Station.
A duet with Mary J Blige and U2 –
Yeah, Edge – that’s our Tele! Yes, Coldplay has U2 aspirations. Here’s Mary J for the duet – “One Love”. Must be some kind of cool to have all that speaker cone wind at your back to sing like this! Great mixed up pile of Vox and Fender amps behind The Edge.

Award for Best Rap Album – Kanye West. TWO black gloves. Cool thank you list! It says “Thank You List”.

Football star, Steelers QB (somebody boos) – introduces a Kelly Clarkson performance - a little bit of old film that will probably make her cringe. She’s doing her latest hit, “Because of You”. What she said in the film clip is true, though. Performing on the Grammys is the shit. There they are in front of you – the music industry.

Oh, Gwen Stefani – in my opinion, when you take away the band, she falls over.

Award for Best Rock Album – Coldplay up against U2 and The Stones and Foo Fighters and Neil Young. Did anyone hear that Neil Young album “Prairie Wind”?
U2 gets it. I mean that both ways. Don’t we love these guys? Larry and Adam leave the talking to the other guys . . .

Ellen Degeneres says “ this next performer needs no introduction.” She’s right. It’s Paul.
This is live music – kind of cool that it sounds mostly pretty good.
Helter Skelter – first time in front of an audience? A rock’n roll song, to be sure. Thrash it, boys!
I want good seats at the Grammys some day.
Bonnie Raitt is sitting with a Charlie Rose-looking guy?
Black Eyed Peas intro Best Male Vocal Performance – J. Foxx – J. Legend – Mario – Usher – S. Wonder
Grammy goes to John Legend.

They say that Sly will be here . . . they’re doing a tribute to him, maybe he’ll show.
Mariah Carey - - - - - wonder if she’ll ever be as big as Aretha? No, as big.
Duh, I stopped paying attention and a choir appeared behind Mariah Carey.
Teri Hatcher – nighttime makeup -
Best Pop Voc Album – Fiona Apple, Kelly Clarkson, Paul McCartney, Gwen Stefani.
The award goes to Kelly Clarkson – Break Away. This little girl is overwhelmed. Thanking Bonnie Raitt. Talking a mile a minute.

Aside from seeing the Edge playing a Tele just like mine, I haven’t had a Grammy moment yet.

Jenna Elfman has got gams. Intro-ing Faith Hill and Keith Urban.
Get another Dewar’s and ice.
Is Faith Hill a blonde sometimes? Or is that somebody else?
Alright – that boy is playing a Tele Nashville. I guess the Telecaster was pretty close to perfect 55 years ago or so. Still the same guitar, but now available in 30 flavors. Hey, he can play – that’s alright, boy.

Chris Brown (?) and Carlos Santana (saying a prayer for us all as he comes on) with an award for Mo Ostin. And presenting award for Rap/Sung collaboration – Jay Z and Linkin Park. Concise thank-you.

Never seen Bill Frisell on here – has he won a Grammy yet?

Thank God, thank Jesus, thank Legal and Management, thank my team at Sony.

Hey, here’s Dave Chappelle. Intro for the great disappearing Sly Stone -
Is that Tom Hanks sitting next to Nicole Kidman?
Intro for SLY! Okay, starts out with NOT SLY . . . doing “Family Affair”
Joss Stone, John Legend and ? good cover . . .
That Joss Stone can channel some 70’s music.
Fantasia and ? (way tattoo! guy)
People go nuts doing Sly’s music – it is good stuff.
Maroon 5 and Ciara (?) – “Everyday People” – you‘ve got to love singing “oooooh, sha sha”.
Will I. Am from Black Eyed Peas - “Dance to the Music” rapped up – yeah.
Robert Randolph (I was just wondering about him!) and Steve Tyler and Joe Perry
doing “I Want to take you Higher” . . .
Fuck! It’s Sly! Here he is with a white Mohawk! Boom lakka lakka lakka Boom lakka lakka lakka!
Goddamn! Can’t stick around – too cool for the room. It was a cool ninety seconds, Sly. Come back soon.

Elder LLCoolJ – talkin’ about Rob’t Johnson. Some award. Most Posthumous Of All.
Intro to JayZ (with a John Lennon tee shirt under his white suit ) & Linkin Park . . . segue into “Yesterday” with Paul McCartney. You’d better have your harmonies dead on with Sir Paul.
Tom Hanks announcing a Lifetime Achievement Award for the Weavers. Pete Seeger was in that band . . . Lifetime Achievement Award accepted by Fred Hellerman and Ronnie Gilbert. Intro for Bruce Springsteen.
Our folk man, Bruce. “Devils and Dust”. Bruce is the son of Bob Dylan, you can be sure. This is one of the Performances . . . he’s a master of nuance, guitar and harp in a rack. As far as I’m concerned, he’s earned a year’s salary for what he can do in this couple of minutes. Bono gives a standing O. Camera pans across front row, James Taylor is there.

Destiny’s Child announces Song of the Year – U2 wins. “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own” – Bono thanks his dad, Bob. ‘gave me a voice and the attitude to use it’.
Says that the album title “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” is really about his dad. Bob was the bomb.

10:37 PM
Kanye West – he says it! Grammys is the Superbowl!
Here’s a Superbowl halftime show – Jaimie Foxx and Kanye West – throw down marching bands – two guys with too much talent . . . if I was hip I’d know who those guys doing the “Broke Phi Broke” routine are.

Sheryl Crow and Sting announce Lifetime Achievement Award for Cream – there’s Jack Bruce in shades – kind of a non-moment.
And announcing Record of the Year Award – to Green Day - Blvd of Broken Dreams : (
I think there were nominees that deserved it more. Green Day has dumbed down Green Day, I think.

Terrence Howard announcing a Lifetime Achievement Award for Jessye Norman . . .
Announcing Herbie Hancock and Christina Aguilera doing “Song for You” – was that a Leon Russell tune? (Ellen came in later and said “Wasn’t that a Carpenters song?”)
If my Facial Recognition Software was any worse, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between Gwen Stefani, Paris Hilton and Christina Aguilera. Would that be a bad thing?
I wish there was a ‘what was I just thinking’ button on the computer. As I get older I just get more confused – song of the year, record of the year, album of the year . . .

Announcing Best New Artist - John Legend gets the Grammy.
Montage of the ’05 music family departed. We lost a lot this year.

Queen Latifa announces a Lifetime Achievement Award for Richard Pryor.
Bonnie Raitt and James Taylor announce for Producer of the Year - Steve Lillywhite.
And Trustees Award for Al Schmidt – producer.
Album of the Year nominees – Mariah Carey, Paul McCartney, Gwen Stefani, U2, Kanye West.
It’s a white show – U2’s “How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” gets the award.
Bono is gracious, mentions each of the other nominees.
Adam speaks!

Pres. Portnoy announce Bonnie Raitt , the Edge, Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, Elvis Costello, Irma Thomas – a New Orleans tribute – “I Know We Can Make It”
Good! Too Short!
Bruce comes out – Midnight Hour! Goddamn, I should know who that black man is – red jacket with fringe? Wilson Pickett? This lineup promises much, but no snap appears.
Fade out, Grammys over.

PS – Obviously, the reappearance of Sly is the event of the night. The Letterman Band is totally medly-ing with Sly tunes tonight. And isn’t the Letterman show taped in the afternoon? Before the Grammys even happened?

More Dixie Cicks commentary

First, a quote that made me chuckle (yes, chuckle - well, smile. But isn't chuckle a funny [funny strange] word?)
So, the quote:
But it is not clear that the support was uniform. Mr. Ayeroff, who founded the voter-registration group Rock the Vote, said a man sitting behind him in the Grammy audience snickered each time the Dixie Chicks received another trophy. “Finally,” Mr. Ayeroff said, “I got so disgusted, I turned around and said: ‘Dude, you’re in California now. Even our Republicans are Democrats.’ ”

This is from another NY Times commentary, linked here.

What's for breakfast? Re-hash.

Bonjour, mes amis. Here's Jon Pareles NY Times assessment of the spectacle.
Meant to post this early today (b'fast) but didn't get the syntax right. Hadda look it up on one of the Redw0rm posts. ;-)

Post-wrap post

Postly post-wrapping my posts. Posthumously. Dead tired, but still having fun reading the West Coast posts. Who's coming out of the speakers on my laptop right now? Well, it's Mister Lyle Lovett. He surprised a few people a dozen or so years ago when he appeared with his Large Band on the Grammys and performed "Hot To Go". Someone in an apartment on Kearney Street was heard to exclaim "Who the fuck is that?! Wow! Holy shit!"
I've taken a few liberties with that reconstruction, but I just want to make the point that from amid the gears of the big frightful machine that is the Music Industry sometimes amazing things emerge. God bless. Be safe 'till next year.

Your host, the natch'l born Irish® person,
MQMurphy

That's a wrap.

Okay, y'all. Thanks to all of you who included me in your Grammy Experience®. I had a blast - more fun that just emailing out my feeble comments post-event. More thoughts on the posts? Keep posting. We can chat about this stuff. Funny - with trying to keep seven or twelve fingers going on the keys, the show seemed to go by pretty quickly. Was I distracted? Did any of the performances make me just stop dead? Uh, - I don't think so. The video of James Brown was pretty electrifying - you don't know what you've got 'till its gone (to quote a pretty darn good songwriter). If he had come out and performed tonight, everyone else woulda looked pale. (Intentional pun? - you decide)

Now - let's move on to something really important. The father of Anna Nicole Smith's daughter. My money is on the old guy. A real underdog story.

Natalie Manes accepts . . .

Yeah - it was tough on these gals. I do congratulate them. Big machines have big wheels - slow moving, slow to correct course.
Maybe the Dixie Chicks will want to record my song "Double Standard Time". I had them in mind for it right from the beginning.

The meaningless categories

Chili Peppers just performed - now they win. Stadium Arcadium - Album of the Year.
Was it a good album? Do you know how much music I buy each year? That's right - a farmer in Somalia would starve on what I spend on music. How the fuck would I know what that album sounded like? Am I curious now that it has won a 'major' award?
I can't answer that right now - I'm busy filling out my RSVP to my invitation to Anthony Keidis' and Beyonce's wedding to be held in Majorca tomorrow morning. Yeah, I got that invite because my blog is so influential. I'm a player too, y'all.
Correction: Chili Peps won something else. Dixie Chicks got Album of the Year.

Thrilling conclusion!!??

Here they are . . . I'd like to see Flea turn around too soon with his bass and smack Anthony in his very-nice-hair head and give him a quick case of amnesia. Ellen likes Flea's Little Miss Sunshine outfit. Okay, I'm an old fart - how come this is the Big Show Stopper? There isn't anything positive to quote from the crowd here in the studio at GrammyBlabHQ. Wow - lots of confetti. Nice. That's positive.

More Wow

That Tarantino fella - he ought to have a TV show or something. He just did a bunch of shouting, now it's over.
We're at Record of the Year. Dixie Chicks. The guilt be DEEP in us. They piled the awards up on those gals. I liked the songs - I thought that they got a raw deal from the 'country music fans' - you always feel bad, though, for the good music that doesn't get an award because of the overriding sympathies or politics that are tilting the votes.

Comments from the 909ers

I'm asked if Mr. Keidis' performance will be worse than Christina Aguilera's was. What kind of question is that? IMO, his cluelessness is more innocent, and therefore (slightly) less annoying than her testosterone-fueled chop-a-rama. Wow, I'm a gracious pundit, ain't I? Compare them apples.

I'm slowing down.

What a weak-ass white boy I am! Haven't had that much to drink - fingers getting mo slowly slow.
Comment from a staff member here at Grammy Blab HQ - "You're Beautiful" isn't any better than the songs we make up on the spot for our dogs and cats. Sorrry, Mr. Blunt.
How many songs get published each year? Jay? Do you have any figures on that?
They be way toutin' the Chili Peppers, yo. I said it before, didn't I? Anthony Keidis has only a passing familiarity with the notion of 'singing in key'. Maybe I'm just too 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st century.

The dead.

Always an eye-opener when they do a recap of the music stars who have winked out in the past year. The Godfather of Soul.
God speed, James Brown.

Reinvention? Metamorphosis? Evolution?

What, exactly, is Christina Aguilera doing? Give someone a pile-o-chops and let 'em loose on the Grammy stage. An amazing display of . . . energy?

Hey! What happened to Smokey's wrinkles?

Okay - that's not nice, but he's saying 'take a good look at my face'.
Commodore Lionel - isn't he the father of the Extremely Famous Nicole Ritchie? Does he have a talent too?
Followed by Scary Guys in scull masks - but they hand jive and dance good. Damn! Little tiny people, too.
If Michael Jackson hadn't imploded, what could he be showing us now?

Cole and Coleman

When worlds collide! Ornette Coleman - Lifetime Achievement Honoree. I would cry tears of embarrassment if I was one of the people whose names were being read by Ornette Coleman. How many years did he live on as much money as some of these folks spent on their last big deluxe Hollywood SUV?

Didja ever notice . . .

how someone who is performing a tune will be the winner in a subsequent (immediately subsequent?!) category sometimes.
Carrie Underwood is doing "Rose of San Antone" - she is nominated in a couple of categories.
Here now we've got Rascal Flatts. Nothing against them - there's nothing wrong with being a great bar band. I think they're fun and all. This is turning into an Eagles (read: Don Henley) tribute. I read ahead on the Grammy site - he's getting a 'Great, great humanitarian Guy' award. Carrie U'wood is back doing "Desperado". One of the things about this show is that you're exposed to people who are coming up in genres that you aren't necessarily tuned in to. Carrie Underwood may have been toiling in the fields of Country Music for years and years (though she looks too young for that).

Best Country Album

Dixie Chicks. The H'wood/music industry elite are trying to show some appreciation for the aforementioned brazen display of integrity. Je ne regrette nien! Go, Gals.

Mary J

Heartfelt intro from Terrence Howard. Will Mary J be our next Aretha? These days the background info arrives simultaneously with the front stuff. I don't know what the dark things are that MJ alluded to in her earlier acceptance speech - some struggles, professional or personal? Standing O from the crowd.

Gnarls!!

Take me to the pilot! Layer upon layer - a production number par excellance! It misses the funky energy of the radio version, though. IMHO. That is the costume we all must get. Instant respect.

Leftish

Just got a post from the time-challenged West Coast. OY! This presents a dilemma. How about I don't mention any of the winners? We're all winners, my dear friends.
Hey - speaking of the West Coast, Grammy Lifetime Achievment for the Dead. First Grammy? Far out.

An Award

Song of the year - Dixie Chicks. Not Ready To Make Nice.
Sometimes it is about politics - and that's okay. Maybe lots of us are embarrassed for the country. We be cretins.
Corrine Bailey Rae was a great new talent, but there'll be time. Hey, put your records on . . .

Yo - belly dancer

I am so clueless. Shakira. All Bali-esque 'n shit. Everything old is new again - what was that movie about Bob Fosse? Where he was played by Roy Scheider? Song from that movie was "Everything Old Is New Again"

A Mayer shredfest

I used to think he was just a cute kid crooner. Someone who can really play an instrument gets extra points in my book. He just picked up an award for . . . "Best Some Damn Thing". Congratulations.

Stevie!

"I, Stevie Wonder!" Overjoyed to intro Corrine Baily Rae, John Legend and John Mayer.
Stop reading and watch them! Three young stars who've got something to offer. All us johnny-come-lateleys who never heard of John Legend until last year or CBR until this year - we're thankful to the machine for rotating them into our view.

Energy conservation

I've shut down a couple of programs in a futile attempt to conserve battery power. Ellen and I are sharing a power connection and I've got one of those batteries that don't hold their jam together for long. Oops - the show is back . . .

Wow - verite'

Grammys get all 60's modern 'n shit with the hand held camera. (Best I can do on the 'accent acute' thang up there. Sorry.)

Timberland, Justin

Never been a big fan - though I must say I love the tune he did with Black Eyed Peas, "Where is the Love?"
Is he great, or was he just in the right place at the right time? Hereinafter: ITRPATRT.

Oh Boy!

Advertisement break - let me say that I'm looking forward to the Chili Peppers performance. I'm dying to find out if Anthony has found himself a singing coach yet. He has a sort of free-form approach to key that is very liberating.

Awards vs Performances

Did you all just realize as I was realizing that I'm posting about Performances. The Awards - eh . . . who cares.

Beyonce!!

Not sure if I'm watching a shampoo commercial or something else. MusicBizPackaging at its best!

The gals

Dixie Chicks - a case of integrity nicking your commercial appeal.
Great heavy production to hammer that message through - Not Ready to Make Nice.

Stevie and Tony

In the middle years - both of them at a point where they'll look like this for years to come. And then they'll look old and need help getting up the steps. And then they'll be the subjects of memorials. Kings, both of them.

Roxanne

Damn right the audience is on their feet. How many of us have sung that song somewhere some time. I remember replacing the sills in a crawlspace in Avalon or Stone Harbor. Jay Bethel and I were down there swinging our mighty hammers and sawzalls, wailing "Roxannnnne!"

Fuckin' Pleece!

Can't we have them back more often, please? Copeland swingin hard! God, they must've had too much fun being that band.

Nora Jones on Soixant Minutes

I like that gal. She's got a good attitude. Her interview with Katie Couric (they played pool, too) was good. She is a songwriter, but she is also a performer. The two are definitely not mutually inclusive. My thanks to CBS for the warmup.

Will there be magic?

I've got to keep coming back to the performance thing. Sometimes even a bad performance is riveting, but it is still something that is happening as you watch. As you watch. When it is over you have your memory of it, but the thing itself has evaporated.

Pre game show

Well, my multimedia fiends - uh, friends - while we wait for the main event, you should check out 60 Minutes on CBS. They are going to have an interview with Nora Jones about her sweep of the awards a few years ago. Like her or not, it was an amazing debut. I still like to listen to some of those songs - I thought the production on that album was spare and restrained. Ah - that magic word, RESTRAINT.

Housekeeping

Tim pointed out the "crazy moth&%#$@*! time stamp" on my posts. Okay - I'm putting &$%#%@ in his mouth. He actually just observed that it seemed to be West Coast Time. So now I'm going off to the engine room to see if I can twist some levers to make us all more comfortable. Be right back.

I may fail miserably

I might not have the 'fast typey fingers' needed for this arena. Especially when I start to fall under the spell of music and Dewars and wings. Isn't America great? I can certainly understand how people all over the world can hate us - I'll even give a damn until 8:00 this evening. After that the hungry and homeless and dispossessed will have to wait a while.
When you do this kind of thing it becomes easier to understand some of the recent blog uproar at the John Edwards campaign.
I am obviously not a journalist - I'm a construction guy/artist/smartass who has internet access. This blogging starts out as a personal thing and maybe - for some - never gets far from that. I feel a distinct lack of constraint.Right now I'm just warming up these typey fingers - waiting for de music.

Provisions

Alright - about 3 hours and 20 minutes to go. Just got back from a dog walk and provisioning trip. We have obtained the requisite quantities of spicy chicken wings and blue cheese dressing. I've already got enough scotch because I just don't go through it that fast. I'm thinking of putting together a likely list of blog victims who can be battered with bulletins from the MQMurphy Grammy Blab Headquarters. If people are shunning me in the community and email-o-sphere in the next couple of days, I'll know why.

About 8 hours to go . . .

A lot of the time when I'm looking at blogs or some other sort of online journaling I find myself thinking ". . . doesn't this person have a life?"
So - haven't I got a life? Isn't there a yard that needs to be cleaned up? Tools that need to be put away? And this thing - this Grammy blog - does it have any more than a day or two of life itself? I haven't got a plan for it beyound the telecast tonight. This is sort of an experiment in comment and discussion. If none of my friends are geeky enough to be watching the Grammys with a computer right next to them - there'll be no comment and discussion.
So, don't disappoint me.
(Whoa - what does that mean? Disappoint by not showing up? Or by showing up?)
Alright - I've got to go put away some tools.

10 hours and 11 minutes . . .

2/11/07 9:49 AM
So – I started this thing up in a new Blog titled “Too Much Monkey Business"
I'm still writing it in Word, though.
I’m more confident – less intimidated? – writing offline. Well, even when you’re putting a post together you are offline – but this page/venue/medium is familiar and comfortable. I’ve got somewhat more control over the typeface effects here in Word.
A few words about performance (see there? that’s what I mean) – as I type this I’ve got earphones on and I’m listening to “Crossroads” by Cream. This is a performance that was captured on a record back in the late 60’s or early 70’s. The guitar solo is a sort of benchmark/rite of passage for a certain stripe of musician. Some guitar players want to be able to nail it. (I'd like to be able to, someday) It was laid down in who knows how many takes – the one I’m thinking of might be a live recording. Anyway, it is a few minutes of fingers pressing strings against a fretboard – a snapshot of a given level of expertise and a certain type of taste at that moment in time. A performance. There may or may not be a memorable performance on tonight’s show, but if there is one I intend to witness it. Why? Why not?

49th time around

2/11/07 7:54 AM
This is getting more like the Super Bowl each year. For me, that is. I’ve never started my game day coverage early in the morning like this before. One thing I haven’t mentioned in previous Grammy commentary is that I don’t care, for the most part, who gets what award. The categories get more finely sliced and parsed as the years go on. There might be an award for “Best Female Guitar Solo / Scat Singing While Wearing an Evening Gown By Some Fabulous Designer” – if not this year, then not too far off. What I’ve always watched the Grammys for is the performances. There’ll be new acts that you have never seen before and people that you always enjoy seeing. And they’re performing for their peers. I’ve always thought that added a little edge to the performance.
The event does manage to build anticipation about what music will get what award, but I find it almost irrelevant to distinguish between Song of the Year and Record of the Year or Best Pop Male Performance and Best Male Rock Performance or Best Pop Performance by a Group or . . . well, you get the idea.

The friends upon whom I’ve foisted my comments for the last couple of years know that this isn’t any deep analysis of the music industry or awards ceremonies. I’m just a guy who loves music and loves to talk about it. This is a little performance of my own and I hope that it might have a couple of amusing moments. I enjoy the back-and-forth that has started to develop. Friends have replied to my commentary and some small discussions have gone on for a few days after the event. I’ve never started bugging you all twelve hours before the event, though. Good Morning! Grammy Day!