Roundup: Grammy, BAFTA

Thanks to ITN news… here’s the quick lowdown on two big award shows… the Grammys in the U.S., and the BAFTAs in the UK. Please to enjoy!

First up, Amy Winehouse shows how shocked she is to win:

Secondly, Marian Cotilliard pulls off a bit of a shock at the UK’s film awards with her win in La Vie En Rose as “that crazy Mexican singer”. (At least, that’s what my wife thinks I consider her — I know who Edith Piaf is. Don’t necessarily like her… but… )

Shock!

(almost didn’t survive will.i.am’s travesty. will.i.am = nightmare fuel.)

And the Album of the Year is…

NOT AMY WINEHOUSE

Nor is it Kanye.

Herbie Hancock!!!!

Yes, the man who did Rockit back in the day comes up with quite possibly the most surprising victory I’ve seen in a long time. (OK, two weeks? Giants 17, Pats 14? Nope, Herbie beats that.)

Excellent. Well done, sir. Clearly, 2008 is the year of the upset.

And with that, good night, all!! Thanks to everyone who read the blog tonight. You blew up my blog stats!!!

A pleasant surprise

They bring out John Fogerty to rock out with two of those rock-n-roll cornerstones they love to show off for ol’ school rock: Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis.

(Little Richard’s still sounding good… Jerry’s calmed down considerably, but he’s still got it on the keys.)

And then I see someone I thought I’d never see again: Kenny Aronoff, bangin’ on the skins!

Kenny was one of the ’80s best drummers — working with John Mellencamp in his Cougar days, the BoDeans, Bonnie Raitt, Belinda Carlisle… you name it, he was there.

Still looking good. Still hammering away. Good stuff, Mr. Aronoff!

This is what we waited for????

And so, with the glorious introduction of Academy Award-winning director Cuba Gooding Jr., the long-awaited performance of Amy Winehouse. …

What a twitchy mess.

Now, those who’ve become familiar with Amy know that she had — key word, HAD — a great voice… Her excellent first album, Frank, was killer, great jazzy stuff. She had the Dap-kings (who are an a amazing band, better when they back up the awesome Sharon Jones…).

Back in Black hooked her up with producer Mark Ronson, whom I really enjoy, but regurgitated girl-group stuff never really grabbed me. Then all the crap started…

And tonight? She looked nervous, sounded average and basically wasn’t all that great.

And oh by the way, she just got No. 3 of the big 4 with Record of the Year. If she sweeps, I will invoke the name of the only other who’s pulled it off. But not until then.

G.G. can still rock the house.

That’s George Gershwin. Thank you Herbie Hancock and Lang Lang. (Or H.H. and L.L.)

Sadly, I think a lot of people were puzzled why everyone was making a big deal about playing the United Airlines song. <sigh>

Also, Jiggaman and Rihanna need to take that act on the road. Rihanna, give him the Heisman!

Line of the night

After Alicia Keys blustered through “No One” with John Mayer, wasn’t really into it…

But then Country Music Album of the Year saved the day…

Handed the award by Ringo Starr, Vince Gill — whose These Days four-disc set (!) is amazing — had the line of the night:

“I just got handed an award by a Beatle. Hey, Kanye, have you had that happen to you yet?”

Even Kanye had to laugh at that one.

Feist = new artist?

About as new as Shelby Lynne was.

But this version of 1-2-3-4 is so downcast. I almost feel like they said “Hey, let’s throw Indie chick a bone!” and she kinda knew it. And it didn’t work for her.

Keeley Smith + Kid Rock: Kinda fun. Surprised the heck outta me. Comment me — what’s googotz????

FOOOOOOOOO.

When did Aretha join Justice?

Resisting urge to tell jokes. Fearing lightning during gospel section.

Kanye wins … something…

Yay?

He gets rap album of the year, but we’re fearing that Winehouse is gonna ace him for record. And this won’t be pretty if it happens!!

Wow. He just shamed the Grammy folks to stop playing the music over his speech. That was kinda cool. Even if his ego is runneth amok.

What ya got for us, Pepper?

Jason Bateman introduces Foo. Nice to see Pat back in the band. FOOO.

The JPJ Orchestra makes The Pretender a weird misfitting song. It doesn’t need this.

Ah, FOOOOOO. The true rock sound.

The wife misses her Davey Grohlton Band. Hey, Brad Paisley’s coming on! Calm down!

(After the 10 minute break…)

She’s blissful. It’s Brad. Plays like Knopfler, funny lyrics. Ya can’t go wrong.