50 years of Grammy

Hey did anyone catch the Grammy's last night? I fell over laughing when Vince Gill, white bread country boy, dissed Kanye West. I don't care how talented people say Kanye is, I think he's full of shit. His ego is so large it's amazing it could fit in the room. There were truly famous people in there. Learn some humility bwoy, when you get like the Beatles or Ray Charles and your music is an institution then you can boast like you've been doing.

I'd stopped watching the Grammy's a few years back, they stopped being interesting or maybe I'm just too old to appreciate what passes for music these days. Okay, I still love music, I buy CD's and download's but I find there are very few thing now that have the staying power of many songs that we consider standards. Last night proved that in some ways, many young "superstars" were paired up with icons. Let me tell you, Rihanna looked stupid next to The Time, and the Time is one of the campest bands around. Beyonce and her weave were pale in comparison to Ms Tina Turner, that sister can move. Oh Beyonce gave it a good shot but Tina's husky rasp, fabulous figure (she's over sixty!) and cool moves were amazing. I want to be her, when I grow up!

And can anyone say yay for Amy Winehouse. The singer, under pressure for her drug taking, was denied an entry visa to the US to perform, cleaned up with her song Rehab. It's sad that Amy is probably going to be another rock n roll statistic but damn that girl is good! Amy, I hope you do go to rehab and are around a long time but if not, then that's what was meant to be.

You certainly couldn't beat Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and John Fogarty belting out standards like Good Golly Miss Molly and Great Balls of Fire. People were up and dancing. It was infectious, you know rap might be the thing but it sure as hell does not inspire all kinds of people to get up and dance. These songs were around long before I was born as was much of the Beatles music. They were my mom's generation but Let It Be is still one of my favorite songs of all time. Largely for the same reason I like Eminem, the music speaks to me.

To everything there is a season and music is most representative of this. But it is delightful to know, even though it has been thirty years since the Beatles stopped performing together, their music continues to reach new fans. Tina can still shake it with the best of them, and Josh Groban may yet turn out to be one of those voices with staying power. " You better be good to me, that's how it's gotta be......"