Dedications: My four late friends Rory, Stan, Bryan, Jeff - shine on you crazy diamonds, they would have blogged too. Then theres Garry from Brisbane, Franco in Milan, Mike now in S.F. / my '60s-'80s gang: Ned & Joseph in Ireland; in England: Frank, Des, Guy, Clive, Joe & Joe, Ian, Ivan, Nick, David, Les, Stewart, the 3 Michaels / Catriona, Sally, Monica, Jean, Ella, Anne, Candie / and now: Daryl in N.Y., Jerry, John, Colin, Martin and Donal.

Friday 18 February 2011

And the Grammy goes to ...

Award season is in full swing in Feburary. We have already had the BAFTAs and the BRITs (the English music awards) and the Grammys this week .... now for the Oscars!



I had not seen a Grammy show before, it is not much taken notice of here in the UK - but the latest 2011 one popped up on a cable channel and it made fascinating viewing for a first time viewer ...(usually American shows like American Idol or Dance With The Stars are not viewed much here, they are on minor cable channels, as we have our own shows like X-Factor and Strictly Come Dancing which the whole country watches - the US versions are somehow too glitzy for us - but the Grammys were fascinating).

Surprisingly, a lot of my old favourites turned up ... as well as the new music sounds - Lady Gaga emerging from the egg (and that very Madonna sounding "Born This Way"), the all-conquering Rihanna, Justin Bieber and Usher, the country trio (including Norah Jones and Keith Urban) doing Dolly's "Jolene" - and best of all the crazy mix of Cee Lo Green and Gwynneth Paltrow doing that version of his "Forget You".



But there were Aretha, Barbra, Mick Jagger and Dylan! I bought Bob's "Maggie's Farm" back in the '60s, bizarre to see him performing it now. Jagger can still turn it on. The Aretha tribute was nice [glad they included "Ain't No Way"] and then there was the clip of Aretha herself, much slimmed down, one trusts she is recovering (?). She has always been top of my top favourites, along with Joni Mitchell, Streisand and a few others - I have so many of the albums and singles and it was of course terrific to see her live during her two London shows in '68 and '70 (before she stopped flying) and then her later renaissance in the 80s and 90s.



Barbra and Kristofferson re-united (don't mention their 1976 film to me ... I hate it) were interesting too. Is it really 45 years since I saw her on the stage in FUNNY GIRL in 1966? Will we ever see Joni in public or performing again? We will though all be glitzed (or glazed) out by the end of the current awards season.

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