Ah, Awards Season

Yes, I am gay for awards season.  I can't help it.  I suppose its just because I like being entertained so much, and I would say for the most part I have heard of the artists being nominated.  I realize that I missed the Golden Globes, but let's be honest, that's like a golf tournament in Dubai and the Grammys, Emmys and Oscars are the U.S. Open, the PGA, and the Masters.

The Grammys, I would argue, are the most wildly unpredictable compared to the other awards shows.  For some reason music and musical taste seem to vary in such a way that no one seems to agree on anything.  A lot of times I would be left asking, "Who the hell is that?" in response to the nominees.  In a lot of ways, the commercial success of music that helps drive the awards is not necessarily what a lot of general consumers consider worthy of winning an award since all kinds of crap gets played on the radio.  

The point is that the Grammy winners surprise (baffle) me more than almost any other awards show.  I was glad to see certain people win.  Keep in mind that I'm a sucker for pop-music-bubblegum-misery, so I was glad to see Train win for pop vocal and to see Eminem win for rap album and whatnot.  But let's be honest.  An awards show about music comes down to the musical performances themselves.  Some of note:

• 15 minutes of Aretha Franklin tribute singing at the top of the show is certainly overkill for a 20-something male 
• Eminem, Dr. Dre, and Rihanna were great.  People that don't even like their music may have even paid a little more attention during that set
• Bob Dylan sounded like shit.  I mean seriously its time to hang it up.  He sounded like he was singing from the grave.  Mumford and Sons was awesome though
• Cee-lo dressed as a rainbow chicken was by far the show-stopper.  I mean you can't make that up.  His back up dancers were muppets, and he had Gwyneth Paltrow singing along side him.   If that's not the most random pairing ever.  Please enjoy:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6-gc5rOqow
• Despite Katy Perry's subpar live vocals, she can do no wrong in my eyes

The performances certainly command more attention than the awards themselves.  I mean, really, there's Song of the Year, Album of the Year, and Record of the Year.  I actually don't really know what the difference is between the three.  There are so many categories now the awards seem diluted.  Also, there is no way that just because Justin Bieber was nominated for Best New Artist you can convince me that he is new to the music business or the charts.  He's had singles out for years!  Now he's a 3D movie star.  How can he even qualify as a new artist?

So as it turns out, of all the awards shows, the actual awards at the Grammys take a back seat to Lady Gaga's womb, Rihanna's dress, and Muse's was-it-fake-or-not riot on stage.  Once the movies and TV shows are honored, I can make more sense of that.  I spend over half my life glued to moving pictures anyway.  Either way, it is an exciting time of year for someone who lives for the red carpet hoopla that surrounds celebrities.  It truly makes for great TV.

Also, something to ponder.  If an artist can sing but not dance, do they fail to be a pop star?  It would seem to me that all current pop stars can do both.  Can you have one without the other?  Hmmm.....