Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

It looks like winning debates is a black job!

An almost top 10,000 blog!

American History and Black History can not be separated.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about it’s history.”

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

When they say they’re pro-life, they don’t mean yours.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

When we show up, we win.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

You are here: Home / Music / Entertainment Open Thread: The Grammy Awards

Entertainment Open Thread: The Grammy Awards

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  1. 1.

    TaMara

    Other favorite moments:

    In Memorium segment with Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt and Mick Fleetwood, the Barry Gordy salute, performances by Brandi Carlile, Bad Bunny, and 50 years of hip hop (feeling old now?!).

  3. 3.

    The Up and Up

    Someone posted the Sam Smith and Kim Petras duo win on Mastodon. That’s great.

    Kim’s Future Starts Now song was on the air just prior to

  4. 4.

    geg6

    It’s especially delicious that Sam Smith and Kim Petras have the wing nuts and talibangicals going nuts.  Love me some Lizzo, who also drives them nuts.  Pretty much everything about the show would drive them nuts, which is just one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much.  I only wish Beyoncé and Taylor had performed.  I really like both of their latest albums.  I’m amazed Taylor Swift has grown on me like she has over her last few albums.

  6. 6.

    J R in WV

    I was so happy for Bonnie Raite’s Grammy awards, she was so stunned when Dr Jill announced her success. Have been a huge fan for… lessee, since the late 1970s at least. So 40 (very) odd years now. Great guitarist, singer, and obviously composer/songwriter.

  7. 7.

    Martin

    Not to take away from the artists, but I’ve always found it to be rather unpalatable to hand awards out to folks that invariably are among the most privileged in society. They wouldn’t even have been nominated if they hadn’t have become wildly successful. Academy awards at least has the prior day awards to more of the rank and file artists – best costume design, etc. That person doesn’t name drop for restaurant reservations.

    It always feels like handing out awards for greatest return on investment to some billionaire, as if they need the added recognition, and as if we are obligated to give it.

    It doesn’t help that these awards so often seem so far from the mark. For me, the best picture was always the one that expanded the artistic space – that plowed through some boundary that filmmakers weren’t supposed to go past. They do get those now and then, but I think the protests against some of these orgs for failing to see black artists, etc. shows that isn’t really what they’re in the business of doing.

    I always feel like the weirdest person when awards come around because I not only don’t give a shit, I find them actively offensive – and I have friends who have won Oscars.

  8. 8.

    Alison Rose

    Bonnie’s face when she won was adorable, honestly. The fucking Daily Mail’s post about it originally had the headline “Unknown blues singer wins…” and I was like, did an actual preteen write this?

    One thing the show taught me is that some people’s favorite flavor is sour grapes, and also that you can outwardly look like an adult while inwardly being a toddler and thinking that’s something to be proud of.

  11. 11.

    Alison Rose

    @Martin: Well…I mean, yeah, the people who get nominated are successful. The Grammys aren’t gonna give awards to indie bands playing at local pubs. There were (I believe) 86 in total and plenty of the ones not televised were for smaller categories where I’m sure some of the nominees are not millionaires living the high life.

  12. 12.

    RaflW

    @Martin: Yeah. Though the record of the RIAA members voting on Black women for Album of the Year is not great. Women who have become wildly successful, and yet don’t get the top award. Too many times.

    Harry Styles saying “This doesn’t happen to people like me”? Huh.

  14. 14.

    Origuy

    @Alison Rose: Exactly. Bluegrass and traditional jazz, for example, aren’t pulling in Lizzo money. Not to mention that a lot of people work on the major productions; even if they don’t get a statue they can say that the worked on a Grammy winner. That doesn’t look bad on the CV.

  16. 16.

    Brachiator

    @Alison Rose:

    Bonnie’s face when she won was adorable, honestly. The fucking Daily Mail’s post about it originally had the headline “Unknown blues singer wins…”

    This might have been deeply tongue in cheek.

  18. 18.

    raven

    @Alison Rose: I posted this last night and no-one gave a fuck but I’m going to post it again. Art was a great person and not anywhere near what  our “valuable commenter” said.

     

    Arthur Spark Rosenbaum (December 6, 1938 – September 4, 2022) was an American art professor at the University of Georgia, an artist, musician, and folklorist. He won a Grammy award in 2008 for Best Historical Album, for his music collection Art Of Field Recording Volume I: Fifty Years Of Traditional American Music Documented By Art Rosenbaum.[1][2]

  19. 19.

    Alison Rose

    @RaflW: Okay, so many people around the internet have been ragging on him for that line. First, I’m gonna point out, there were Beyonce stans literally heckling and yelling her name during his speech, so he might have been thrown off a bit, which is also maybe why he got quiet and let the other guys come up to speak. I’d imagine trying to give a thank-you speech for the biggest award of the night is a little difficult when people are acting like embarrassing fools and you can hear it up on stage.

    But also–it’s hardly as though he meant “white men” when he said “people like me”. My assumption is he was referring to two things: having started out in a boy band, which people generally dismiss as not real music, no talent, lightweight, etc etc; and that he came from a modest, mostly working-class background. It’s frustrating to me that people are taking that one line and trying to make him seem like an ignorant douchebag when he is neither of those things.

  21. 21.

    Brachiator

    @Martin:

    Not to take away from the artists, but I’ve always found it to be rather unpalatable to hand awards out to folks that invariably are among the most privileged in society.

    The Grammys categories are among the most diverse of the arts, because there are so many music genres. And knowing how dishonest and cutthroat the music industry can be, to talk about many of these artists and other contributors as being among the most privileged is unnecessarily cranky. There have been times when an artist won a Grammy for a song that he or she had lost all rights to.

    Also, artists are people who have sometimes been raised to heights because of fans and appreciative audiences. We celebrate them because they are where we want them to be.

  23. 23.

    suzanne

    @geg6: Same. I am enjoying pop music more right now than I have in years.

    I have tickets to see Springsteen and T Swift this summer. Wish I could also afford Madonna and Beyoncé!

  25. 25.

    raven

    @Alison Rose:

    Art of Field Recording Volume I is a four disc set with a 96 page book that contains essays and annotations by Art and over 100 illustrations and photographs by Art and his wife Margo. Art took a similar approach to Harry Smith in assembling the music: the discs are divided into Blues, Instrumental and Dance, Sacred, and a Survey disc that has a little bit of everything.

    Art also did the “art” for the Athens Folk and Dance Society Folk Festival  for all of the 37 years it has been held.

  26. 26.

    SpaceUnit

    Congrats to Bonnie Raitt and Viola Davis, but if I were an espionage agent captured by a hostile nation they would only have to pin my eyelids open and threaten to make me watch the Grammy Awards.

    I would tell them everything I knew.  Maybe things I didn’t if I thought they wanted to hear it.

  27. 27.

    zzyzx

    I don’t follow the mainstream categories but I was stoked that Molly Tuttle won best bluegrass. I love her album and she’s a great person.

  29. 29.

    suzanne

    Funniest part of the night: when the camera panned over to Mrs. and Mr. JLo, and it looked like he had never heard music ever before and didn’t know what to do.

  30. 30.

    middlelee

    @raven: Are these recordings in the Library of Congress?  Years ago our library had about 100 LoC LPs of American folk music that could be checked out.  Amazing music collected by volunteers wandering around the country, I think in the 1930s and 1940s.

  31. 31.

    raven

    @middlelee: Yes

     

    Art Rosenbaum Georgia Folklore Collection AFC 2000/003

    Guides to the Collections in the Archive of Folk Cultur

     

    Art Rosenbaum donated 325 reels of field recordings to the University of Georgia Libraries in 1987. The Media Archives of the University of Georgia Libraries restored the original reel-to-reel tapes and donated a reference set of audiocassettes to the American Folklife Center in January 2000. David Taylor coordinated the donation from the University of Georgia Libraries Media Archives. Katie Lyn Peebles accessioned, arranged, and processed this collection.

    Preferred Citation

    Art Rosenbaum Georgia Folklore Collection (AFC 2000/003), Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

  32. 32.

    JMG

    After the Smokey-Stevie duet on “Tears of a Clown” I turned it off and went to bed. Knew that couldn’t be topped. No offense meant to any other participants, award winners, etc.

    BTW, my wife was at the old Harvard Sq. Theater concert where Springsteen was the opening act for Bonnie Raitt. According to legend, Raitt refused to go on after Bruce. According to Alice, she came on and did her set, but didn’t look happy about it.

  33. 33.

    SpaceUnit

    @raven:

    But what if you were strapped down and couldn’t reach the on-off switch.

    You could literally be bored to death.

  34. 34.

    Anne Laurie

    @suzanne: Funniest part of the night: when the camera panned over to Mrs. and Mr. JLo, and it looked like he had never heard music ever before and didn’t know what to do.

    Somebody on twitter said Ben Affleck has ‘resting bored face, the male equivalent of resting bitch face’.

    I’ve always had a soft spot for Affleck, because he reminds me of the best of the working-class Irish Catholic men I grew up among.  Ruefully cynical, even at their most hopeful.  We called it the Ash Wednesday Irish Creed:  Remember, man, thou art but dust, and unto dust thou shalt return! as a mantra.

    (You can see this in the way Joe Biden reacts sometimes, and I think people find it relatable in the same fashion.  Terrible stuff’s gonna happen, we’re all weak sinners in the end, but meanwhile, crack a joke and extend a hand… )

  40. 40.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Martin: ​
      I can be an towering and insufferable indie, hipster snob about music when the mood strikes, but I don’t hate the Grammys. They are mainstream awards for largely mainstream musicians. I don’t watch them but I don’t feel compelled to shit on them. FWIW, I also don’t take part in gaming threads or the Sunday morning garden threads because I really don’t care about the subjects. But thanks for sharing.

  43. 43.

    Tony G

    @J R in WV: Bonnie Raitt and her band performed at my college in 1977, and she had already been a star for several years at that point.  (Yup; I’m old.  Of course, during the concert we all wore onions on our belts …)

  45. 45.

    trollhattan

    Injuries, that’s what I like.

    February 6, 2023 at 6:34 pm EST By Taegan Goddard

    “The two highest-ranking Republican leaders in the U.S. House are going to war with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as the new Congress takes shape,” CNBC reports.

    “House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Republican House Majority Leader Steve Scalise both refuse to meet with the the Chamber after the lobbying group endorsed a handful of Democrats in the last two elections, clearly making an enemy of two of the most powerful leaders in Congress.”

  47. 47.

    Martin

    @Omnes Omnibus: I don’t mean to shit on them. Y’all do you. I get that people enjoy them, but for some reason that I don’t really understand I can’t get there. Like at all. So I guess I am the weirdo after all.

  49. 49.

    raven

    @Tony G: I don’t know if she was really a star then. She had a solid following but didn’t really hit till “Nick of Time”.

     

    In 1989, after several years of limited commercial success, she had a major hit with her tenth studio album Nick of Time, which included the song of the same name.

  52. 52.

    Scout211

    @Alison Rose: Thank you, Alison. I agree. But I am a Harry fan (even though I am an old).

    I always look forward to your righteous rants, Alison.  And I don’t think there has ever been one that I disagreed with.

    Carry on. 😊

  53. 53.

    trollhattan

    Two weeks ago we replaced our big gas-electric furnace-AC unit with a heat pump. The drop in the PG&E gas bill has been precipitous (we have consumer-owned electric utility). Now, this.

    Gov. Gavin Newsom asked the federal government Monday to investigate why Californians are seeing unusually high natural gas bills this winter. In a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the California Democrat requested that the agency assess “whether market manipulation, anti-competitive behavior, or other anomalous activities” are driving elevated prices in the Western U.S. Families across California are opening up their utility bills to discover eye-popping charges.

    Wholesale natural gas prices are up 63% since October, according to Bloomberg. While an early burst of cold winter weather contributed to the jump, Newsom said that it “cannot explain the extent and longevity of the price spike.” The California Public Utilities Commission last week voted to fast-track the release of credits to help Californians struggling to pay off their high utility bills. But in a statement Monday, Newsom acknowledged that it would provide “only temporary relief from soaring bills.”

    https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article272194028.html#storylink=cpy

    CPUC are utility lapdogs and I’m interested to see whether this gets meaningful traction.

  54. 54.

    oldgold

    I enjoy the Grammy Awards show. Granted it is usually a hot mess, but almost every year there is at least one transcendent performance that makes it worth watching.  Last night, in my opinion the Higher Ground performance was it.

  60. 60.

    Craig

    I didn’t watch the Grammys, but I did read Go Fug Yourself’s coverage of the red carpet this morning. Some crazy outfits. I have no idea who half these people are. Viola Davis is a classy dresser. I learned that Nancy Wilson and Cameron Crowe have been divorced for over a decade. Last week I learned that Nancy Wilson is in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. She’s the blond that Brad gives the eye to, until she laughed and he realized he was wearing his pirate uniform.

  61. 61.

    HumboldtBlue

    I didn’t watch the Grammys’s, but I have been watching some cooking videos. I’m switching up my mac and cheese from roux-based to custard based.

    That’s all the news I have, other than awaiting word on whether I get hired for a new job this week.

  63. 63.

    SpaceUnit

    @Martin:

    My dislike for these events stems from my weariness for the music industry in general.  The awards are for achieving great things in narrowed genres best defined by their conformity.  There are some wonderful artists, obviously.  Bonnie Raitt is a legend.  But she’s mostly confined to the music-industry established genre of Adult Contemporary on Clear Channel radio stations.

    As an explorative music lover who’s been mostly interested in alternative acts, I feel like most of the real creative action is taking place on the fringes of the music biz.  And there’s been so many incredible but non-conforming artists, so many bands that have labored away in obscurity, producing amazing art only to be surpassed by acts that are more suited to the mainstream music industry’s business model.

    It bothers me.

     

    ETA:  Okay, actually it pisses me off.

  64. 64.

    Suzanne

    @oldgold: I enjoy the show, too. I don’t really care about the awards themselves at all. I like the performances and the clothes.

    I like some music in every genre, really, so there’s always something worth watching.

  65. 65.

    coin operated

    is it me, or does it seem that the way winners are chosen in these big-ticket award shows is from a saving throw on a D20 die? They are all quality acts…how in the fuck do you choose best artist/album/track from the plethora of talent considered for each award?  Sorry…I don’t get it and never will.

  66. 66.

    coin operated

    @SpaceUnit:

    As an explorative music lover who’s been mostly interested in alternative acts, I feel like most of the real creative action is taking place on the fringes of the music biz.  And there’s been so many incredible but non-conforming artists, so many bands that have labored away in obscurity, producing amazing art only to be surpassed by acts that are more suited to the mainstream music industry’s business model.

    It bothers me.

    Every word of this, in addition to my little rant above.

  68. 68.

    Amir Khalid

    @trollhattan:

    I doubt that Kevin and Steve Scalise are either really powerful or really leaders of this Republican House. And the way I see it, they have made an enemy of the traditionally pro-Republican US Chamber of Commerce, rather than the other way around. I’m pretty sure the US CoC supported far more Republican candidates than Democratic ones in both 2020 and 2022.

  71. 71.

    tam1MI

    @Alison Rose:Well…I mean, yeah, the people who get nominated are successful. The Grammys aren’t gonna give awards to indie bands playing at local pubs. There were (I believe) 86 in total and plenty of the ones not televised were for smaller categories where I’m sure some of the nominees are not millionaires living the high life.

    And let us not forget that in 2011 the Best New Artist award went, not to the mega-successful teen idol (Justin Bieber), or the mega-successful rap star (Drake), but to a relatively unknown young jazz musician (Esperanza Spalding).

  73. 73.

    different-church-lady

    I am told we have a “certain demographic” around here and thus should not discuss such things lightly.

  74. 74.

    Amir Khalid

    I don’t know that Grammys or Oscars or whatever awards really matter in the end. I like what art I like, I am moved by whatever moves me, and whether or not it won an award just doesn’t enter into what I think of it.

  75. 75.

    Alison Rose

    LOL. The GOP Twitter account tried to do some “REAL MURRICA” shit by tweeting a photo of farmland and saying “Wait until the coastal elites find out that this is where their food comes from!”

    Except the Twitter sleuths pointed out that the photo is of Manteca – which is in the Central Valley in California. A rep from there got in a good clapback:

    Wait until the @GOP find out this is my district. https://t.co/qj7JcdbrM3
    — Josh Harder (@JoshHarder) February 7, 2023

    Do these absolute dipshits not realize that 1/3 to 1/2 of all the produce they eat comes from California?

  76. 76.

    different-church-lady

    @SpaceUnit: 1) The Grammys are, first and foremost, an industry reward, not an artistic reward.

    2) Bonnie also toiled in relative obscurity before becoming mainstream.

  77. 77.

    different-church-lady

    @Alison Rose:

    Do these absolute dipshits not realize that 1/3 to 1/2 of all the produce they eat comes from California?

    These absolute dipshits do not realize that the elbow is the pointy one.

  79. 79.

    different-church-lady

    @trollhattan: ​
     

    In a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the California Democrat requested that the agency assess “whether market manipulation, anti-competitive behavior, or other anomalous activities” are driving elevated prices in the Western U.S.

    AGENCY: “We can’t tell, because it’s all three.”

  82. 82.

    Suzanne

    @SpaceUnit: Not to mention their healthcare.

    It’s so cute how rural people act like they can survive without cities. I mean, human civilization literally pushes us to specialization of skill in order to advance.

  84. 84.

    Suzanne

    @Alison Rose:

    Do these absolute dipshits not realize that 1/3 to 1/2 of all the produce they eat comes from California? 

    Assumes facts not in evidence. Don’t be sure that they eat produce unless you see it.

  86. 86.

    Another Scott

    @HumboldtBlue: Excellent!  But linky no worky!!

    TST Health is proud to announce the launch of Samuel Alito’s Mom’s Satanic Abortion Clinic in New Mexico. TST Health believes in honoring those, like the clinic’s namesake, who couldn’t choose legal abortion, no matter how much they may have wanted to.⤵️ https://t.co/a4U0wodhyB pic.twitter.com/0a44XmsrPr— The Satanic Temple (@satanic_temple_) February 2, 2023

    :-)

    Thanks.

    [eta:] Actually, user error here (URL viewer box was hidden).

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  87. 87.

    Tony G

    @coin operated: Old joke from my long-ago college days … “I used to be into Charles Nobody and the Nothings, but then they got too popular so I had to hate them.”

  90. 90.

    coin operated

    @HumboldtBlue:

    TST Health is proud to announce the launch of Samuel Alito’s Mom’s Satanic Abortion Clinic in New Mexico.

    I’ve hit some quality indica in the bong tonight, so my inner 5y/o is surfacing.  They missed a golden opportunity to name it the “Sam Alito’s Mom Should’ve Swallowed” abortion clinic.

    Other than the name…totally support what they’re doing here.

  92. 92.

    Suzanne

    OT but OMG….Spawn has these little ice cube feet. And she wants to rub them on my tummy EEEEEAAAAAAAAAGGHHHH.

  99. 99.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Suzanne:

    It’s so cute how rural people act like they can survive without cities.

    Especially when the Midwest / Great Plains farmers rely on mechanized and computerized equipment, which is manufactured where….

    Ironically, CA is far more reliant on actual farmer workers because our crops require more hands-on attention and harvesting, unlike the corn-belt/wheat-belt states.

  100. 100.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Sister Golden Bear:
    The family thread has been the scene of a lot of vitriol for PGE. Bills have skyrocketed, and even in my small apartment my bill was nearly $100, an absurd amount considering my energy bill hasn’t broken $75 dollars in winter in the 15 years I’ve lived here. Family reports huge increases as well.,

  101. 101.

    Hungry Joe

    Saw Bonnie Raitt at the Bacchanal in San Diego about 35 years ago. She and her band tore the place apart. I mean, at the end of the evening we had to crawl through rubble to get out.

  102. 102.

    David 🎈🕵️The Establishment 📸🛩 Koch

    Meanwhile, 3rd Lady Melania announced the winner of the best golf course grave site.

  103. 103.

    Joey Maloney

    Wow, here’s a blast from a blog era past. Remember this guy? GB News presenter quits after channel tries to make him pay Ofcom fines

    One of GB News’s leading presenters has quit after the channel tried to make him personally responsible for paying fines issued by the media regulator Ofcom.
    Mark Steyn, who presented the station’s 8pm peak-time slot, is already subject to two investigations by the media regulator after he used his show to cast doubt on the safety of Covid vaccines.

    The presenter’s departure has led some viewers of GB News – which has given airtime to conspiracy theorists warning of a globalist elite takeover – to suggest the channel has itself sold out to shadowy globalist forces.

    I can’t remember if it was TBogg, or Roy at alicublog who nicknamed him “The Human Steyn”.

  104. 104.

    Soprano2

    @Martin: All I’ll say about this is that it seems small to think we shouldn’t award excellence if the person is successful and has money. Most of these people weren’t born rich; they earned their money with hard work.

  105. 105.

    The Thin Black Duke

    I never understood the people who go out of their way to piss in other people’s cornflakes.

  106. 106.

    J R in WV

    @J R in WV: ​
    Bonnie Raite won multiple Grammys back in 1990, 12 13 in all so far, and was inducted into the R&R Hall of Fame in 2000. “Unknown Blues artist” indeed. One of her albums is on the Library of Congress list to be preserved. On the Rolling Stone list of best guitarists AND best singers. But “Unknown” to whoever did the Grammys for the Daily Mail… who also doesn’t know how and when to use Google.

  107. 107.

    J R in WV

    @raven:

    raven
    February 6, 2023 at 9:51 pm

    @trollhattan: Glen Schwartz was the guitar played for PG&E, check him out.

    Glenn Schwartz: The Fall And Salvation Of The White Hendrix

    I saw them open for Jeff Beck and he blew Beck away.

     

    Lots of times we’ve seen an opening act tear it up successfully, leaving the headliners to just do the best they could. Back in 1969 in Philadelphia I went to the big arena hall, the Chambers Brothers opened for the Kinks. The Bros were great — classic big R&B band with horns dancing in unison, singers doing 5 part harmonies, just a remarkable musical performance.

    Then the Kinks came out after a really long set up intermission. Shit wasn’t even in tune. I left my great seat going into the third song. They were terrible even without that great opening performance by the Chambers Bros.

  108. 108.

    Paul in KY

    @RaflW: I think he meant blue collar English blokes who are a little fey, like me. Might have been a tad tone-deaf, though.

  109. 109.

    Paul in KY

    @suzanne: Think movie stars like him are inherently uncomfortable in places where they have no control over the lighting, camera angles, etc.

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