Alison Krauss & Robert Plant????

Oh, my. Well, as you may recall...when the Grammy nominations were announced in December Rox heard that the Krauss/Plant album was up I predicted that it would be the sure-fire pick of the voting members of The Recording Academy (producers of the Grammy Awards). They won a bucket full and so did Coldplay -- go figure. But for the Roxster I was missing star power!! I don't mean "legend" power because of course you had Whitney, Bono, Diamond, Wonder, Rev. Green, etc. I'm talking about those great big phat global STARS of today -- a la Mariah or Beyonce. I just missed them. However, I thought the 1-2-3 knock out beginning was fantastic -- with U2 singing a new song from their upcoming album (did you notice they weren't nominated for anything, they didn't do a tribute of one of the "hall of fame" songs which is how the Academy can sometimes get away with having a non-nominated act on the show etc. Nope. They were just on the show for ratings, folks. But does U2 pull ratings anymore?? Anywho, with U2 then the fabulously dramatic Whitney magically rising from the stage (not sure if she was on anything but the reason she sounded so strange is that she now has false teeth because of the crack....um, in all her teeth, well....anywho. And then with Ms. Jennifer Hudson getting the Grammy for Best R&B Album!!! And I couldn't have cared less that she got it despite the fact it's a horrible album. Sitting in the 19th row in the Staples center I looked around as Jennifer started talking and everyone was completely mesmerized by her. And at the point where she started to thank her friends and FAMILY the Oscar winner/human being lost it. And so did the 14,000 who were in attendance. But she pulled it together and said "And, again, I want to thank my family (and she emphasized each of the following words) "those up in Heaven and those here on Earth!" And the sniffles and sorrow that cried from the audience was a tidal wave. God Bless you, Miss Hudson! Katy Perry (and I love her album), should be stoned, tarred and feathered. WTF?? Jennifer Nettles from "Sugarland" added Paul McCartney to her list of thank yous when they won their second Grammy of the night. Coldplay better watch all those Grammys because they're being sued by a man who said HE actually wrote the song. Oops. Thought Carrie Underwood looked and sounded great it's just not a performance song. I know, I know, I'm getting to Chris Brown and Rihanna...so, Chris and Rihanna both had solo performance slots. I total of 11 minutes. They called and let everyone at the Academy know that neither would be performing. About 2.5 hours before the show. So when you have to fill 11 minutes and only have 2.5 hours to do it, you know you're dealing with some professionals at the Academy. And POOOOF! The segment with Al Green, Justin and Boyz II Men seeing "Let's Stay Together" Kudos to Ricky Martin who is musical director of the Grammys (also does that little show American Mentor or Idol or whatever). JT was a great sport and Al can still kill it! Didn't even notice Boyz II Men. Anywho, I thought Kid Rock actually did well but the big surprise performance for me was Radiohead! Those dudes ROCK!! So, those are my initial thoughts and I will be giving you more details throughout the day. Now, can the Grammy ratings actualy go up?