Standing Ovation for 50th Anniversary Grammys

Posted by TBC Management

February 10, 2008

Well just when we thought that the musical universe forsake us and fed us to the dogs we are rewarded with the Grammys celebration. For 50 years they have been acknowledging the accomplishments of musicians, some we’ve agreed with and others have caused us to think the Grammys Board lost their minds or forgot to take their pills. I used to think that the old people on the board didn’t have their hearing aids in and nodded to with the majority.

Well this year everyone seemed to be awake and alert to what was going on. For the most part those who walked away with awards truly had reasons to. It seemed that pay-offs were not necessary this year and the votes were all accounted for. From Herbie Hancock to the Foo Fighters it seemed as though everyone deserving to be acknowledged were. Now of course there were others that did well this past year but they simply did not shine as much. That’s cool, maybe next year - and remember: It was simply an honor being nominated.

What had us glued to the screen were the performances where past collaborated with the present. These were some of the best performances of the night and even the history of the show. Time was taken to realized who would shine together and make the audience enjoy the fact that they were present. Something that was not as favorable was the dead performing with the living. Yeah, yeah it was cute around the first two times it was done - now it’s just getting creepy. Can we stop picking up dead people to perform with. Please - stop. There are too many living legends one can choose from and even some of them have no business on the stage.

The Time’s performance with Rhianna was a nice one. We loved watching Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis and Morris Day do their thing. I had flashbacks of them in most of Prince’s movies carrying on and loving music. This set the night off just right. The other collaborations that followed were equally as nice even the Tina Turner & Beyonce collabo. Yes Beyonce stepped on Tina’s (Ms. Turner’s) foot but we all make mistakes. Tina simply proved how much of a professional she was and kept on dancing. She was not about to go out like a punk!

Then we had Kanye West. The first song he performed was alright. Not many fans at TBC but we can respect decent music.The only question we had was why did we need to go through two songs with him and one was a Eulogy? Say what you will but the show was called the Grammys not The West Show. Then not only did he win an award - congratulations and all - but he wanted to have a ten minute speech. No one else took ten minutes so why should he have been allowed to. So they played the music cue and rightfully so. They always play the music cue for people but, oh wait, he began to speak about his mom. *insert tear here* Sooooooo, will this be the beginning of performers using dead relatives as an excuse to speak for ten minutes and call them tributes? We hope not. Yes, let the cries of “Wait until your mom dies” begin because that is what mature Kanye West fans say, but let us please remember that not everything West does is because he’s such a strong Black man. The tears he sheds on most award shows are not because he’s so profound but because not enough attention is paid to him. From the moment he’s hit the spotlight he has perceived himself to be greater than what he is. We’ll let this moment pass and chalk it up to a man in morning but as the following award shows quickly approach we’ll see what the behavior and excuse will be then.

Back to the Grammys.

The scene stealer of the night must have been Ms. Druggie back from rehab. Yep, that’s right. Amy herself. Not only did she do an excellent performance of her rehab song but she walked away with FIVE awards. If this doesn’t say that the industry commends their druggies then we don’t know what will. Britney still has a shot for next year’s awards. Start humming in the streets chick. You can still make performer of the year!!!

Since she couldn’t get her visa in time Amy was all set to perform in London to her adoring fans. They loved every second of it and we could actually make out the words to her song. For, maybe, the first time in a long time this chick was able to sing coherently. she must be clean. Just as a side note: song of the year and record of the year always seemed redundant to us so we’ll subtract one from Amy and any other artist who rocks up these two awards at the same time. Almost as if a consolation prize for Album of the year or if they wanted to give two artists Song of the Year but couldn’t. No duplications please. If you can point out the difference to us then by all means do so.

But the real record breaker was Herbie Hancock, one of the greatest musicians. He was able to walk away with the Album of the Year award and the Contemporary Jazz Album. Nominated for three and walked away with two, not bad at all. There are many who are confused by the change that occurred that night but it’s real simple - a Jazz musician, after 43 years, was able to bring home the award for an amazing album. If we had to sit through West’s tears then you slow folks could sit through Herbie accepting his award.

Congratulations Herbie!!