The Grammys: The best show I've seen in years

Last night's Grammy Awards telecast was the best I've seen in years. Most of the performances were fruitful, they actually gave out awards every once in awhile and some of the performances were incredible.

Let's start with the awards. No surprise, Adele and Foo Fighters took home almost everything, but deservedly so. I predicted 20 of the main categories and I ended up getting 14 out of 20 correct. The song that screwed me up the most was "All of the Lights," which isn't all that good but one a bunch of hip-hop awards anyway.

I was happy to see Foo Fighters win so many awards. They definitely had one of the best rock albums of 2011. Bon Iver also took home two trophies and I liked hearing Justin Vernon both be grateful and make a comment on how many worthy artists would never even be nominated.

Unfortunately, Omaha recording legend Tom Ware didn't win. He was nominated for his work on Lady Gaga's album, "Born This Way." Adele couldn't be stopped last night and she took the trophy for album of the year ahead of Gaga (and Ware, who was among 17 people included in the nomination for "Born This Way").

As for the performances, let's break down the best and worst.

THE BEST

Paul McCartney's performance of his song "My Valentine" was a total yawn-fest, but his telecast-ending performance of the medley from "Abbey Road" was incredible. Best of the night, in my opinion, although if you were watching in Omaha, you saw KMTV unceremoniously interrupt it with the evening news. I haven't gotten comment from the station as to what happened, but I'll post as soon as I do.


I was most skeptical of pairing the reunited Beach Boys with Foster The People and Maroon 5 because I thought they'd do a weird mashup of "Pumped Up Kicks," "Moves Like Jagger" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice," which would have been a total travesty. But it was actually a medley of all Beach Boys songs performed by each group. It ended up being a great tribute and the Beach Boys looked pretty good even though Brian Wilson looked a little overwhelmed.


I was also really skeptical of the "dance music" segment that was going to include David Guetta, deadmau5, Foo Fighters, Lil Wayne and Chris Brown. It ended up being like a live version of an electro mashup and it was pretty cool if not awkward at moments. I think most viewers probably wouldn't get it, but it was certainly a step in the right direction.


Jennifer Hudson's tribute to Whitney Houston was appropriate and moving.


I also liked that Foo Fighters got a big slot to play "Walk," but why were they stuck in the outside tent? It appeared that the edgy stuff wasn't allowed inside the actual ceremony, so they had to stick it outside. Weird. (Also, did anyone else think that it was weird to hear a guy who's voiced two animated panda films, Jack Black, talk about having indie cred?)


THE WORST
Nicki Minaj, what were you thinking? Ugh. Whomever told her this performance would be a good idea should be fired. Instead of doing something people knew, she went with newer track "Roman Holiday" and a Lady Gaga-imitating performance that will/did offend just about any Christian watching it.


Chris Brown needs to learn how to sing and dance at the same time or how to lip sync better. Either way, it was completely obvious that he was lip syncing the entire performances, which looked like a life-size version of the video game Q-Bert.

Grammy Awards live chat!

Hey! Yeah, you. The Grammy Awards telecast starts in a little while and we're going to talk about it.

Tune into CBS and join us starting around 6:30 p.m. to talk about the performers (Beach Boys, Foo Fighters), the host (LL Cool J... really?) and wonder what in the hell it is that Lady Gaga is wearing.

Weekend Candy: OEA Awards, Grammys, Ranch Bowl Orphans and a ton more

I'm not going to do OEA Award predictions because I already know who's won. No, I can't tell you. It's a secret. Go to the awards and find out yourself. They're Sunday night at the Hilton Omaha. You can get tickets here.

Speaking of the Grammy Awards, I have written a whole column of predictions, which you can check out in the paper and on Omaha.com on Sunday. I also talked to Omahan Tom Ware, who's nominated to win a best album Grammy for his work on Lady Gaga's "You and I." Others nominated with Nebraska ties are jazz singer Karrin Allyson and the Chiara String Quartet. It would be great for Ware to win, but I'm guessing Adele will take home just about every trophy she's nominated for.

On Sunday night just before the Grammy telecast (it starts at 7 p.m.), I'll be doing a live chat right here on the blog and on Omaha.com/music. Tune in with me and we can talk the awards and performances. We can also mock people. It's fun.

Now, on with the shows coming this weekend:

• Tonight at the Waiting Room is a hard rock show headlined by The Wreckage. Show's at 9. $7 at the door.

• Slowdown is closed tonight, but reopens tomorrow with Pert Near Sandstone and The Big Deep. Expect a lot of banjo and toe-tapping. 9 p.m. show. $8 tickets.

• I like the lineup at O'Leaver's on Saturday night. It's Dirty Fluorescents' one-year anniversary show with Techlepathy, Comme Reel and Melissa Dundis. As usual, show starts at 9:30 p.m. with a $5 cover.

• If I were to pick a show for the weekend, I'd go to the MS Society benefit Saturday at the Waiting Room. Not only will Rock N Roll Suicide play David Bowie's "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars" in its entirety, but a band called the Ranch Bowl Orphans will play a bunch of songs by bands that played the old bowling alley's stage a bunch of times. Bands such as Grasshopper Takeover, Clever, 5 Story Fall, The Fonzarellis and Blue Moon Ghetto are groups I saw there a lot.

• Singer-songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs plays the Waiting Room on Sunday. 9 p.m. show. $10 tickets.

• On Sunday after the OEA Awards, Slowdown also hosts an after-party. Snake Island! and BASSthoven play starting at 9:30 p.m. It's free with an OEAA ticket or $5 at the door.

Grammy noms are out, I'm not impressed

Fresh on the heals of Paste's best of the year list are today's Grammy nominations, the official "best music" awards.

Seems like everyone was nominated, at least according to all the e-mails I've been getting today.

We'll get to the actual categories in a minute, but the most interesting tidbit to me is that of 542 total nominations in 109 categories, 273 went to artists on independent labels.

1) 542 nominations?! Holy cannoli... That's, um, a lot. If I put out a record next year, maybe I'll be nominated for a Grammy.

2) 273 for indies? That's more than half. Granted, the guys nominated for contemporary jazz album or best instrumental soloist performance (without orchestra) aren't putting records out on Sony. But that's still a lot.

Let's take a look at the big categories, shall we?

Record of the Year (This one goes to the performer and/or producer of the best song.)
"Nothin' On You" by B.o.B. feat. Bruno Mars
"Love The Way You Lie" by Eminem feat. Rihanna
"Fuck You" by Cee Lo Green
"Empire State of Mind" by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys
"Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum

Um, could we think of a more mainstream list? I think it's cool that "Fuck You" is on there, but nearly every one of those artists had a better song on the album they released. Ugh. Moving on...

Album of the Year (Goes to the artist and/or producer of the best album.)
"The Suburbs" by Arcade Fire
"Recovery" by Eminem
"Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum
"The Fame Monster" by Lady Gaga
"Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry

I give props to Arcade Fire for scoring a huge nomination by one of the little guys. Awesome. Superb work. And congrats to Merge Records, too. But Katy Perry did not put out one of the five best albums of the year, let alone one in the top 25. Gross.

Song of the Year (Goes to the best songwriter, which is not necessarily the performer)
"Beg Steal or Borrow" by Ray LaMontagne
"Fuck You" by Cee-Lo Green, Philip Lawrence, Bruno Mars
"The House That Built Me" by Tom Douglas, Allen Shamblin (performed by Miranda Lambert)
"Love The Way You Lie" by Alexander Grant, Holly Hafferman, Marshall Mathers (Eminem & Rihanna)
"Need You Now" by Dave Haywood, Josh Kear, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott (Lady Antebellum)

Again, not feeling it here. Move on? Good idea.

Best New Artist
Justin Bieber
Drake
Florence & the Machine
Mumford & Sons
Esperanza Spalding

Bieber? Oh, come on. Drake I understand, but Florence & the Machine is only on there because of the MTV awards show they performed on. Mumford & Sons is a damn fine pick and a very surprising one to me, at that. I hope they win, but they won't. Who in the hell is Esperanza Spalding??? If she wins, I'll eat a raw egg. Then I'll upload the video here. Promise.

Best Rock Performance By A Duo or Group With Vocals
"Ready to Start" by Arcade Fire
"I Put A Spell On You" by Jeff Beck, Joss Stone
"Tighten Up" by the Black Keys
"Radioactive" by Kings of Leon
"Resistance" by Muse

I'm surprised by the amount of good stuff in this category, which is why I included it. It's actually a good mix of expected and unexpected for me. Kings of Leon feel like they're in here because of their last album, not their current one, but the inclusion of Muse, Black Keys and Arcade Fire is pretty stellar.

Best Alternative Music Album
"The Suburbs" by Arcade Fire
"Infinite Arms" by Band of Horses
"Brothers" by the Black Keys
"Broken Bells" by Broken Bells
"Contra" by Vampire Weekend

This is generally the category I care about most since it usually highlights an indie-ish band. Phoenix won last year. Arcade Fire is going to win this time around. I don't really doubt that considering they were nominated for best album. These are all good choices, though certainly not my top five. But it's a pretty good representation, I think.


So, that's the big ones (in my opinion). Close to the date, I'll list about 20 of the pop/rock/rap categories and list who I think should win and who I think actually will win. I went about 50/50 in my choices last year.

Overall, I think it's pretty lackluster, but that's usually my opinion of the Grammys in general. The awards almost never go to who deserves them and neither do the nominations. Where's the nom for Sleigh Bells or Blitzen Trapper? They both put out better records than Katy Perry.

Oh well. Just 73 days until the awards are given out. I'll bitch about it more then.

Grammy Award predictions: How did I do?

First off, thanks to the folks who joined in on our live chat during the ceremony last night. If you'd like to, you can replay the entire thing. The chat itself probably goes pretty fast.

Before we get to my predictions, let's take a look at the ceremony. Nearly four hours was waaaaay too long. Everyone didn't need two or three songs for each performance and some performances were flat out unnecessary. I could have done without Lady Antebellum, Maxwell, Zac Brown Band and Bon Jovi. They were all fine performances, but there were just too many of them. And you could easily have cut most of them in half. (I'm looking at you, Taylor Swift.)

Also, during the Oscars you get actors and directors and other movie people as presenters. At the Grammys, you get whoever is currently promoting an album, book, TV show, film or just about anything else. I love me some Kristen Bell, but there's no reason to see her present a music award.

As for my predictions, I didn't do great but I wasn't terrible. I was an even 50/50 scoring 12 out of 24 of the categories that I predicted. If you want to look at the list, check out the main list and the secondary one.

I actually did much better in the minor categories compared with the main ones. I should have bet bigger on Beyonce (she took home six trophies, a record for a female artist) and Kings of Leon. I basically thought that KoL were way too much like an indie band to beat out Green Day or the Black Eyed Peas.

It seems like the old, white voters in the Recording Academy went for many more younger, newer artists this year. Phoenix, Eminem, Kings of Leon and Lady Gaga all went home with trophies and they're all the kids of groups that the academy tends to ignore. Good work all.

An e-mail I received this morning boasted that independent artists won an astonishing 43 awards last night (take a look at my story about how few indies win Grammys).

Well, that's pretty much bull. They don't specify that they're counting all 109 categories, which includes genres such as New Age, Latin and Gospel. Those genres are made up almost entirely of small, independent labels.

While an indie is an indie, those aren't the independent labels that are on everyone's mind. For the record, 33 awards were given to major label artists and only 9 to independent artists in the pop categories (pop, rock, country, R&B, rap).

Those nine awards given to indies include four awards taken home by Taylor Swift, who is only an independent artist in name. She's signed to Big Machine Records, an independent, but she's distributed by the big boys at Universal. And when you're selling more than 5 million copies of one record, you're no longer considered an "independent artist."

So, let's call it 37 to 5.

Those five independent artists are Bela Fleck, Booker T, Jeff Beck, Phoenix and Steve Wariner (winner of a country instrumental Grammy).

So, did indie artists really do well this year? Not at all. In fact, it's about the same as in past years.

Live Chat: Grammy Awards tonight

Starting at 7, I'll be hosting a live chat about the Grammy Awards.

Catch the telecast on CBS and tune in here for the chat.