The 55th Grammys - My Take

8:24 - fun. sounds like Queen if Freddy Mercury couldn't sing. Seriously, bad live performance, guys. How many notes did Nate Ruess miss?

8:28 - And then to underscore the sellout nature of fun. -- there's the Taco Bell commercial featuring "We Are Young" en Espanol.

8:32 - Jon Mayer and Bonnie Raitt. There's one woman Mayer hasn't been linked to.

8:33 - My wife just informed me that Miranda Lambert likes to shoot cans in her backyard. Our research department is checking on that one... but her nails certainly seem to suggest that it's true.
UPDATE: OK, so Miranda Lambert may not shoot cans in her backyard, but she did shoot her own deer for her wedding meal. Which beats hitting it on the road and scraping it up for dinner.

8:38 - LOVE the vintage LL on Bandstand

8:39 - Miguel and Wiz Khalifa -- Wiz Khalifa may be the only rapper EVER from North Dakota (He was born in Minot in 1987.)

8:42 - Rihanna is there with Chris Brown?!? Scandalous.

8:48 - Is it me or is the commercial for the Microsoft Surface Pro trying too hard?

8:50 - Song of the Year -- If ubiquity was the criterion, "Call Me Maybe" would win. Or "We Are Young". See? I told you.

8:52 - The debate is raging in our house -- are fun. hipsters? Or just hipster poseurs? Is there a difference?

8:53 - Hey! No one told me Keith Richards was going to be here... oh, that's just Johnny Depp.

8:54 - Mumford & Sons -- See Mark E. Smith's critique here. My critique would be that the new stuff lacks the bite, the energy of the first record. I agree with John's take that they're on their way to irrelevancy, a la The Strokes.

9:02 - I liked it better when Beatles songs weren't allowed to be used by commercials. Now "Good Day Sunshine" will remind me of a Lisa Loeb lookalike drinking orange juice.

9:03 - There. We just heard the best piece of music on the show so far: "99 Problems" on the intro to Beyonce and Ellen Degeneres.

9:05 - Why the digital effects on the Timberlake performance? Just because you can make something black and white doesn't mean you should...

9:06 - ... unless Jay Z's about to come on stage.

9:07 - But JT's retro shtick is really annoying. I wish he'd use his considerable talents to do something I haven't seen yet. Is he singing "Just a little push of love, girl"? Because lyrics like that aren't helping.

9:12 - Best Urban Contemporary... my money's on Frank Ocean, but I've been impressed by Miguel tonight.

9:13 - So Frank Ocean gets in a fight with Chris Brown over a parking space, and then beats him for the Grammy.

9:18 - Big push for Justin Timberlake tonight -- I'm sick of the new album already.

9:21 - And Bruce Springsteen doesn't win the Rock Performance award.

9:22 - I have no use for Maroon 5. Or Alicia Keys. At least I can understand her appeal. Could someone explain the big deal about Maroon 5? What are they doing that's so terrific?

9:24 - Sadly, my beef with Alicia Keys has little to do with her music. (But Sheila E. is on line one and wants her act back.) Here's my beef with Alicia Keys -- this obnoxious credit card commercial where the guy gets dumped by a girl who calls him boring and then thinks he has a life now that he uses his credit card to get backstage pass to an Alicia Keys concert. I mean, that's living? Really?

9:50 - The Black Keys performance is the best thus far of the night.

10:09 - Sting and Bruno Mars -- The crowd seems to know Bruno's stuff... but not Sting's.

10:10 - I am a Ziggy Marley fan. "Tomorrow People" remains a terrific song, and my kids even like his family stuff.

10:19 - The Lumineers may be talented neo-folkies, but tonight they look like the most annoying people at the party.

10:20 - Sorry, that award might just have to go to Taylor Swift. Yes, Taylor, we know you know all the songs... thanks for singing along on every cutaway shot.

10:24 - Jack White playing a baby blue Fender Telecaster -- same guitar as the one I goof around on. Only his costs about $10,000 more and he can play it about that many times better.

10:27 - How does fun. win Best New Artist when they've been around about 12 years and before that they were Queen?

10:41 - Nice pick for Record of the Year -- Gotye is deserving -- and his song was the best of that crop of tunes that seemed like they were everywhere.

10:51 - Hanging in at least until Adam Yauch is recognized.

10:54 - Why does Leroy Sugarfoot Bonner of the Ohio Players have to share biling in the In Memorium video? Why does Earl Scruggs?? And Doc Watson??

11:14 - Waiting for Frank Ocean to take us somewhere here...

11:17 - Not sure I'm allowed to say anything here about Mumford And Sons. I was impressed with them two years ago at the Grammys but I feel the wind has been out of their sails ever since.

11:22 - I'm about to call it a night but Chuck D with LL Cool J intrigues me...

11:29 - Finally, some real love and respect for MCA Adam Yauch and the Beasties... and then the Grammy credits roll. Oh well.

Goodnight!