The 66th annual Grammy Awards show was actually really good!

Let's start off that awards shows can go one of three ways: Great, Bad, or Meh. For my jaded self, I was expecting "meh", but after watching this year's Grammy's, I have to say how pleasantly surprised I was by what the Grammys did with regard to producing the show! This won't be a recap of the entire ceremony, just my highlight picks, because there really wasn't any bad things to point out (except for one little "controversy" at the end, which was quickly squashed). First off, having Trevor Noah hosting is always a good thing. He kept things moving, even if some of the major stars (see Meryl Streep, Taylor Swift), arrived late due to the heavy rains pounding the Los Angeles area! Noah's on-the-fly improvising as he was hosting live while those ladies strolled into the Crypto.com Arena were quite funny. And as for hosting the rest of the show, Noah kept the energy and enthusiasm up as host, with nary a hint of false musings or ego.Trevor was having fun! And that set the tone for the show. The first fun moment for me was when Miley Cyrus won for Best Female Pop Song for her mega-hit "Flowers". The nominees were being read by none other than Mariah Carey herself, and when Miley got up on stage to accept her Grammy, she insisted that Mariah stand with her, as she fan girled out gushing about Mariah! This was Miley's first-ever Grammy win, so to have most of her speech talking about the Queen of Pop was definitely an adorable moment. MC2 never looked better! "Flowers" also won Miley and her team Record of the Year, as well!

Shortly after MC2, I had my first "gather" myself moment as Luke Combs told the story of how when he first heard Tracey Chapman's "Fast Car", he knew it was HIS song, the song, for him, as it gave him the feels as a young man. Fast forward to 2023 where Combs got the permission to do his cover version of the song, which hit #1 on the Country charts. So it was a MOMENT when the show revealed that he would be performing this iconic song with none other than Tracey Chapman herself, who has basically retired from the music industry and living her best life in San Francisco! The audience went wild upon seeing her, and were enraptured by the performance, much as I was! Definitely an emotional highlight for me and others. Found out this morning that due to the Grammy performance, Tracey's original version of "Fast Car" has topped the I-Tunes charts! Tracey herself, based on her social media, was blown away by the reaction of the Grammy performance! A very happy Colby at getting to see this duet! I snagged a snippet of the performance in the video below. Enjoy!

Local Bay Area artist SZA garnered three Grammy's, and seemed to be all over this show, even for a very expensive new ad for Master-Card that is promoting the planting of more trees. After 30 years, Billy Joel came out and played on piano as he sang his new song, then closed the show with one of his classics.

Victoria Monet snagged the Best New Artist award, and gave a sweet, rambling acceptance speech.

Billie Eilish and brother Finneas performed and then scored the Song of the Year Grammy for "What Was I Made For?", the tender ballad from the "Barbie" movie. (It's also nominated for Best Song at the Oscars). And for the gays (and other fans), Kylie Minogue won "Best Pop Dance" for her club smash "Padam Padam". The other big moment was 80 year-old Joni Mitchell performing "Both Sides Now". Joni has never performed at the Grammys, so this was a MOMENT. Even at her current age, Joni managed to hold the audience in such a rapture, that you could hear an eyelash drop in that arena. Folks I chatted with or what I read on social media were definitely ferklempt with emotion once Joni had finished, and she received a rousing standing ovation! Volume up for this, as it was filmed by someone in the arena. Have the hankies ready!

Another nice surprise the Grammys did was have the In Memoriam section broken down into four set pieces with four different types of performers honoring those in the music industry who have passed on. My particular favorite section was Annie Lennox performing the late Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares to U", Annie comes closest to getting the aura and power of Sinead's voice in that song. The Grammys should consider going forward with this type of In Memoriam format for future shows. And to finish this post off, it's Tay-Tay time! Taylor Swift made history with her "Midnights" album, as it won Album of the Year, becoming the first artist ever to win that award four times! Before this night, she had been tied with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon. Taylor sent Swifties into a frenzy when after winning the "Best Pop Solo Album", she announced that she will be releasing a NEW ALBUM in March. Shortly after the announcement, her website crashed!

And to wrap up, recall at the beginning that lil controversy that lasted for about two hours I mentioned at the beginning? Well, it was because in Taylor's excitement to thank her production crew (including bestie and fellow nominee, Lana Del Rey), it seemed that Taylor iced out surprise presenter Celine Dion as Taylor took to the microphone. Social media backlash was harsh for that brief period of time, but then this photo was released to put the kibosh on that scuttlebutt (I sound like a Boomer!) :

As one of Taylor's song lyrics goes" "Haters gonna hate, hate, hate". Celine not one of those haters!