We don't normally watch most of the Grammys, but I did last night. And though it was enjoyable in many respects, it also was pretty empty. Too much of it was stiff and formal. The opening electronic duet with Alicia Keys live and Frank Sinatra on film set the tone for the evening that there would be a lot of nods to the past. I thought Keys could have toned her voice down a little and been more powerful. But that wasn't as bad as some of the other segments, for example the John Fogerty-Little Richard-Jerry Lee Lewis segment. Lewis, one of our musical heroes, looked horrible and completely lost. Fogerty was off key. Only Little Richard brought any spark to that performance. Amazing how he still can at his age.
Speaking of age, for the first time, Tina showed hers. She still can move it, though. Gotta give her that.
Aretha Franklin was good, too. We kept wishing Ray Charles was still around to sing with her like he did at the Fillmore way back when. How great that would have been.
We also wish Ringo Starr could have used a little of the natural Liverpool humor he exhibits in radio interviews. It would have made for a memorable highlight.
The Amy Winehouse bit was actually one of the best and one of the worst parts of the show. Her performance was good and reminded me of Phil Spector, who, you notice, was not remembered by the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Her reaction after winning the Grammy, though, was priceless and well worth seeing. The fact it was unscripted -- or seemed to be -- injected a little human drama that most of the show was missing. Too bad, though, the announcers saw fit to plug her performance every 10 minutes.
And we didn't even stay around to see Herbie Hancock's surprise win at the end. After the first five commercials after Winehouse, we gave up.
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