50th Grammys- K's POV

It was the 50th anniversary, so the show was all about celebrating the classic with the contemporary; thus, you had a duet with Alicia Keys and Frank Sinatra to open the show. Cher introduced Tina Turner and Beyonce (who just needs to stop- I'm sorry I'm just not into her jerky movements) performing Proud Mary. Kid Rock and Keely Smith performed That Old Black Magic. They were very playful and somehow it worked.

Jason Bateman referred to a cello as a violin with thyroid trouble, LOL. He also mentioned John Paul Jones playing with Foo and said "as in Led Zeppelin, for all the morons out there". I really miss Arrested Development.

Dave Grohl dedicated the record of the year award to his daughter- he got slightly choked up.

Cirque du Soleil performed a bit of their beatles themed show with song A Day in the Life, which is one of my favorites.

Kanye gave an emotional performance clearly dedicated to his mother after "Stronger". It was moving.

Amy, my god- I don't know what to say. She looked and sounded terrific. That girl sang her heart out last night.

The big surprise was that Herbie Hancock won album of the year. Even Quincy Jones, who gave away the award, was shocked.

All in all, it was not boring, which is all we can ask for! -K

Schadenfreude - [shahd-n-froi-duh]

dictionary.com defines this word as: satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune. As I read the reviews of Britney's performance, schadenfreude summarized the comments.

I’m probably not as nice as K is. When the pre-show began, it was 1:00 in the morning for me. There’s nothing I love more than sleep so goddamnit you better entertain me. The thing about Britney is that it is obvious that she surrounds herself with people that have no sense. Britney is a beautiful woman. I would think it would be a heck of a lot easier to put her in flattering clothes and make her look pretty but instead, someone went in another direction, making her look like she had a beer gut and greasy hair. While I feel somewhat sorry for her, I’m glad that FINALLY, there’s a sucky performance (there have been many over the years)that people are actually saying sucked! Did anyone really think that bullshit performance with Madonna and Christina Aguilera a few years ago was any good? Of course it wasn’t but we had to hear how cutting edge it was.

Does anyone care at all about Kid Rock and Tommy Lee? I think they totally staged that to get some needed publicity. I could hear the cell phone conversation before the show:

Tommy Lee calling Kid: Dude! You know how neither one of us have had a hit in years?
Kid Rock: Uh,yeah
Tommy Lee: Let’s fake fight at the VMAs so we can keep getting free drinks in Vegas.
Kid Rock: Sure.
Tommy Lee: Rad!

My favourite moments:

1. Beyonce getting the no cheek when she went to kiss 50 Cent after she won her award.

2. After John Norris saying to Dave Grohl that he was the musical leader for the night, he responded laughingly with “Yeah and I’m a high school dropout!”

3. Justin Timberlake jumping up and down like a kid after he won an award.

I am sure there are lots of good moments we missed in the fantasy suites, however, we got stock in the main room with the bullshit. --J

Beyonce Burns St. Louis --- Alive!

Beyonce was here in St. Louis on Sunday with opening act Robin Thicke, and the following review was posted on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch website. The review says blah, blah, blah, and then describes a pyrotechnics malfunction. Since no one was seriously hurt this really made me laugh. Imagine spending hundreds of dollars on front row seats to see Queen B and then getting sprayed by sparks. I immediately had to contact my Beyonce-lovin pal M in Houston and he had already heard about it, even knowing the sexual orientation of one of the victims and pointed me to this post on Perez Hilton’s website. You have to watch the video from the local St. Louis news. The victim could care less about his injuries, he got to meet Beyonce! Looks like she did some quick damage control because as M says, you don’t want to alienate the gays, mkay? --J

Houston Bound

My friend M is moving to Houston next week. I knew this was coming for some time, but I guess in the back of my mind, I was hoping it wouldn’t. To avoid missing him, I’ve been giving him shit about his latest musical passing fancies. About three weeks ago we went to lunch together and on the way back he said “Lady Sovereign”. I don’t think I let him say much more before I went into a tirade about how much I can’t stand her. I have a real problem with the Brit hip hop stars. I challenged him to find a picture of her without that side ponytail. He has yet to produce such a picture! Two weeks ago we were at brunch and he mentioned Lily Allen. He laughed when I rolled my eyes. I don’t hate her but I think she has zero stage presence and she’s not half as clever as her P.R. machine says she is. But then he went for the jugular with me. He went to Houston last week and saw Beyonce in concert. I can’t abide by this. I texted him the day after the concert and asked how the show was and he started in with “Brace yourself”, and blah-bity blah she was awesome. I had a one-word text response: “Bullshit”. If he feels the need to pull away through music, that is his choice.

Today for my birthday, M sent me the attached birthday greeting which made me laugh out loud.

M, I’ll leave you with this parting comment: the STL hip hop scene kicks Houston’s ass. I know after some self-reflection, you will understand how important that is. –J