Nothing better to do than liveblog the Grammys

9:04 p.m. Came in during Kelly Clarkson's performance. I really wish she would have done "Since U Been Gone" or even "Behind These Hazel Eyes". "Because of You" is a glorified "For A Moment Like This". I appreciate the fact that she wrote it, but it's still pap.

U2 wins for Best Rock Album. Makes sense, given their current influence over much of guitar rock these days. If Coldplay had won, I think Bono and the Edge still should have accepted the award.

9:09 p.m. Yay for Paul McCartney! I need to hear more of Creation and Chaos in the Backyard, but what I heard live I really enjoyed. "Fine Line" could be a later Beatles song or earlier solo song, and that's good enough in my book. The lights are pretty, too.

Dave Grohl's looking pretty clean cut.

Oop, reference to the Apple Building roof concert.

Holy shit, "Helter Skelter"! Should Jay Z show up on stage and do "99 Problems"? Nonetheless, more proof that there is no element of rock that the Beatles haven't influenced.

Could Sir Paul's drummer be any scarier? When they play "Eleanor Rigby", he sings backing vocals (nothing for him to play, duh!), and does this really bizarre dance near the back of the stage, out of the spotlight, all by himself. Creeeeeeeeepy.

9:17 p.m. Eff the Black Eyed Peas, honestly. Jeniffer Love looks waaaaaaaaaay out of place. Best Male R&B performance. I've got nothing to say. Jamie Foxx better not win, because...wait, what did that Black Eyed Pea just say? You're announcing the nominees, back off, man. Stevie Wonder? Nope, John Legend. Where did this guy come from? I'd heard his name bandied about, but had no idea he was 8-nomination caliber. Oooo, he works with BEP. Definite loss of cred. Kanye connections? Little bit of a boost.

Sly and the Family Stone get this year's tribute. Awesome. Black Eyed Peas probably manage to sneak their way in there. Not so awesome.

9:28 p.m. How out of touch am I that I didn't realize Mariah Carey had the biggest album of 2005? What was I doing messing around with this Sufjan Stevens crap? Nice to see she's not crazy anymore.

Thanks to the MSU journalism school's subscription to Knight-Ridder (or Knight-Rider, as I like to call it), here's some red carpet pics.


Death Cab For Red Carpet


In E!'s (damn that punctuation) red carpet coverage, as Ben Gibbard was being interviewed by a clueless DJ "Former Fiance of Nicole Richie" AM, they put his head in a little circle in the lower left-hand corner of the screen. Doni Rai(who?)'s junk took up the rest of the screen. Nicely juxtaposed, E!


Fiona looking...earthy


Dennis Hopper, still crazy after all these years?


Kelly Clarkson, classy in black


Not even being preggers will get between Gwen and leopard print


Kanye and mystery guest. No, really, KRT didn't identify her. MYSTERY GUEST!!!!!!

Wouldn't it be nice if Fiona won? Kelly can win, too. But what about Sir Paul? And everybody loves Gwen! But.......

Kelly Clarkson wins, as does non-ironic appreciation of "Since U Been Gone". Radio has been vedy vedy good to her this year. Girl can talk FAST.

What is that music they're playing to get the winners off the stage? Sounds like a rejected Miami Sound Machine demo. Baby, I live for loving you.

9:41 p.m. Dharma, get off of that coffee table! You're such a free spirit!

Un oh, pop country time. Keith Urban's Australian, isn't he?
Reference to highway in the first verse? Check.
That line about the cat reminds of me of 2Ge+her's "The Hardest Part of Breaking Up (Is Getting Back Your Stuff). Way to go, Nashville. You're ripping off a fake boy band.

Wasn't "The Lucky One" an Amy Grant song?

9:48 p.m. Remember when Santana won all those Grammys in '99? Those were the days.

I had no idea Sinatra founded Reprise. Bitchin'.

Please, don't let "Rich Girl" win.

Thank you. Or not. Yay to Jay Z, boo to Linkin Park. Can they go away yet?

Jay Z: Too cool to give a speech.

9:57 p.m. Oh, Dave Chapelle hosts Dave Chapelle's Block Party. Nice to see he can joke about his last few months. Tom Hanks sure enjoyed it.

Oh, different strokes for different folks.

Contrary to popular belief (in my apartment, at least), white British soul singer Joss Stone is not related to Sly or any of the Family Stone.

How could they not give any credit to Randy Jackson and Niles Rodgers playing in the backing band. Are they honorary members of the Family Stone?

Who is this singing with Fantasia? Did he just hit that note?

Adam Levine lookin' kinda Chris Carraba. Probably more soulful than any white guy has any business being

Look! will.i.am is dancing to the music! Get it?

Wait, Sly doesn't shout out M.C. Hammer in this song!

Robert Randolph, also getting no credit. Wait, wrong.

Classy guitar, Joe Perry.

Oh man...here comes Sly. Look at that mohawk! Turn up his mic for crying at loud!

He does not look like he's is good health.

Sly's performance? Anticlimactic.

Now it's time for a battle of egos. Who's going to diva all over this outro? I'm rooting for Niles.

10:14 p.m. It took them this long to give an award to Robert Johnson. Yikes

Seriously, can't Linkin Park just go away?

Jay Z giving a t-shirt shout-out to John Lennon. Nice.

"Yesterday" mash-up? That's right, I called the HOVA/Macca collabo! Makes me forget about Linkin Park. Almost.

Does this mean the remaining Beatles (and remaining Beatle families) don't mind The Grey Album?

10:25 p.m. Good segue to Springsteen through the Weavers lifetime achievement award. I don't know why I don't like the Boss (though "Born to Run" is a guilty pleasure of mine). This performance isn't too bad, I guess. I bet Dylan would approve.

10:32 p.m. I suppose "Devils and Dust" can win Song of the Year. Just not U2.

GODDAMMIT!!!

Ha ha, apparently someone thought Mariah Carey should have won.

I feel like I'm being kind of harsh on U2. As I do own and enjoy some of their records, I guess I shouldn't act like they're so bad. They are the consumate anthemic rockers. I just feel like they've fallen into a rut. And Bono's gotten too big for his britches. And those britches were already pretty good. And they do like Arcade Fire, so I suppose they've got good taste.

10:39 p.m. Kanye influenced by Michael Jackson? Get out!!!

Man, I didn't get the K.W. State J.F.U. thing. I am dumm.

I can't think of a more deserving Record of the Year than "Gold Digger". Definitely the pop song I associate with 2005.

Can we put the marching band fetish to rest yet? I think this performance is the pinnacle.

Is Kanye allergic to buttons?

10:48 p.m. I guess "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" kind of ruled the first half of 2005.

10:55 p.m. Yep, there's Christina sliding up and down the vocal scales. She sounds good, though. As does Herbie. 13 Grammys between the two of them. That's got to count for something.

Little virtuoso show from Aguilera-Hancock.

11:06 p.m. Common, Fiona Apple and Chuck D. Which of these things is not like the other?

John Legend wins Best New Artist. Comes out of nowhere, fated to return.

I bet Fallout Boy is heart broken.

11:08 p.m. Parade de la Muerto. I'm glad they don't do the applause thing like the Oscars.
Nope nevermind.

11:10 p.m. Chapelle should be doing the Richard Pryor tribute.

What was the deal with that zoom out?

11:20 p.m. U2 again? Album of the Year? Ugh. I guess the Grammys still suck.

If I was U2, I would not get in Kanye's way tonight.

Also, don't forget about New Orleans. Dr. John should be the mayor of New Orleans by now, right?

And "In the Midnight Hour" puts a cap on the evening.

She didn't enroll but she wiped the floor with all the arseholes

I really like the the new Belle and Sebastian; one might go as far as to say that it's really fucking good. This may be due to the fact that in order to get my State News review in on time, it's all I've been listening to the last two days. It may also be due to the fact that the girls in the liner notes are all amazingly cute. And wearing kilts. I can't find any online pics of them, but here's an adorable picture of the band:


Here's a few of my favorite songs:
Belle and Sebastian-The Blues Are Still Blue
Belle and Sebastian-Sukie In the Graveyard
Belle and Sebastian-To Be Myself Completely
(Buy it)

I'll reserve my opinion for the review, but tell me what you guys think.

Everybody's Talkin' At Me: Erik's Guide To Musical Conversation

Thanks for lending me the new Jenny Lewis CD, Jan. It's really fucking good!

It’s very easy to get your point across when writing about music. Talking about music, however, is a whole new ballgame. It can be difficult to vocalize your feelings about a particular song or record or whathaveyou, maybe because eloquence is fleeting in conversation, and there’s a rarely thesaurus on hand, etc., etc. The following are conversational standbys I employ (along examples of what may be actual conversation!), and though they don’t always work for me, they just might work for you!

1. Really fucking good-Probably lifted from Jack Black in High Fidelity, this is ascribed to the tunes that have earned my utmost respect. Emphasis is given to the word “really”, so much so that its phonetic spelling is “hreally”.

ex. Have you heard the new Broken Social Scene? It’s really fucking good.

2. So so so good-This is a specialty number, used exclusively in relation to live shows. Affect a tone of breathlessness; plenty of air should be released with the third “so”, and as a result, should make the speaker sound as if they are going to pass out.

ex. I couldn’t believe how well the New Pornographers translated to the stage. They were so so so good (*speaker collapses*).

3. Pretty good-For use when something hasn’t lived up to expectations, those expectations being set by both the speaker or other fans.

ex. Yeah, Plans is only pretty good. I probably shouldn’t have got my hopes up.

4. Eh, it’s alright-Once again, it’s all about the emphasis: draw that “i” out, make it nasally, and trail off. The speaker should have luke-warm feelings towards this entity. May also be used to obscure the speaker’s true feelings when said entity is too “mainstream” or past their prime or genuinely lame.

ex. Q: What are your feelings on Steven Page’s solo work?
A: Eh, it’s alright.

note: Nos. 3 and 4 may be used in together with No. 1. For instance, there are some songs on both Plans and Page’s The Vanity Project that are really fucking good.

5. (It/that/he/she/they) suck(s)-For use in the most dire of musical situations. Try to limit the times you play the “sucks” card, lest you appear to be an uber-opinionated douche. Not for use with ironic appreciation or guilty pleasures (try No. 4 for that).

ex. For crying out loud, “My Humps” S-U-C-K-S sucks!