First of all, I think it’s somewhat sad that we’re celebrating an industry enjoying a slow death. When Alicia Keys opened with a cheers to the next 50 years I couldn’t help but think “Oh sad…”. But I guess a cheers is all we have left to go on. So on to the commentary…

- Alicia Keys with Frank Sinatra. Sure it’s cheesy, but I ate it up like baked brie on crackers. The fauxhawk up do? Awesome.

- What’s up with the commercial break awards announcements? The text is so small I’m having a hard time reading what the award is! Sorry Grammys, not everyone owns a bajillion inch plasma.

- This Carrie Underwood song is actually good. And she is rocking the performance. Do I like country now? Damn it!

- Amy Winehouse wins Best New Artist. Things are as they should be Good thing I don’t have to hurt someone this year.

- The Beatles performance thingy sucked.

- I now love Rihanna, or at least have a new found respect for her. She killed it with The Time. And the blue dress with orange nail polish and her new hair? In a world of cookie cutter pop stars, she’s actually standing out.

- Kanye West’s performance was good. At first I was like “Oh hellll noooo. Now he’s ripping off the Daft Punk pyramid?” But when the robotic duo revealed themselves, I was glad Ye finally gave them their due. (p.s. Was that really them? Because if that was fake Daft Punk the “Oh hellll noooo” is coming back)

- Fergie needs to go away. Johnny Legend? You can stand on your own/duet with much better people, so please do.

- Beyonce too… Worst performance of the night. A spoken word piece with to-the-left’s thrown in? Really? Tina put her in her place though. Even if she did look like a robot.

- Once was robbed. It was the only soundtrack with original music. Damn it.

- Song of the Year goes to Amy Winehouse. Again, as it should be. I’m hoping for a sweep of the big 4 at this point. Even though that would ruin my predictions (I have “Umbrella” for record and Kanye for album). But so far I’m 2 for 2.

- I love the Foo Fighters. Nice idea having them perform outside to a real crowd too. Taylor’s mic was too quiet though. Glad Pat Smear showed up and got an ounce of camera time.

- Rap Album of the Year. Kanye owns you.

- That’s it??? Why you gotta cut Feist’s song in half? And that performance was so underwhelming. She has so many more tricks up her sleeve. I don’t think the Grammys are a time to hold back.

- Alicia Keys and John Mayer. Nice.

- Vince Gill is trying to make me change my mind about country music too with his comment to Kanye. I hope you have body guards, and that was awesome.

- Amy Winehouse is the best thing to happen to this awards show. She looks great, sounds great, and she’s more than a marketing ploy. Drugs? Yay or Nay? I’m still unsure. And the telecast from the club was so much more fitting, even if it wasn’t the original plan. How adorable was she when she won Record of the Year? Especially when she thanked “my Blake, incarcerated”.

- Jerry Lee Lewis is the shit. Little Richard is the shit. John Fogerty is not the shit.

- Flight of the Conchords wins. I need a raise

- Barack has a Grammy! Sweeeeeet!

- Will.i.am is a professor? Of what? Being lame? Yes, I’m hilarious. Well he just put that lameness all over a bunch of non-lame songs. Thanks.

- Album of the Year. Ok, I love Herbie Hancock as much as the next guy. And it was heartwarming that an instrumental jazz artist has not won this award in 43 years. But… I can only think of this.

If the Grammys are trying to be relevant again, they sure did a poor job of it. You always watch because it’s THE GRAMMYS, but if things continue the way they are then that mindset will become less and less prevalent. However, there were a few highlights. Amy Winehouse, Kanye, you know… anything young and fresh and interesting. All I can say is I have my fingers crossed for this industry. It’s definitely going to change a whole lot in this next year and it will be interesting to see what becomes of the Grammys.