The new me, just for you

From last week

[Hoja van, Saskatchewan]
Song of the day: Beautiful World - Coldplay
Album of the day: B is for b-sides - Less than Jake
*Journal Blog from Feb.15th*

So we watched the Grammy's this weekend. Honestly I can say, that's the first time I ever remember seeing them. And I know people make fun of the Grammy's, so I gave it a fair shot and came up with my own conclusions. And having done so, here is my beef with the Grammys:

Point the first: I hate the songs. Now, don't get me wrong, a lot of them are great. But most of them are the top-40 replays we all have come to hate over the year. I was sick of the Los Lonely Boys last year; I don't need to be reminded.

Second: All of the awards I really want to see aren't shown. There are a SHIT load of amazing professionals in the music industry that deserve credit for all the work they've done. And they aren't small tasks either. Producers of albums, recording engineers, all the people actually dong the work for these flash-in-the-pan pop artists. And where do you find the recognition for these awards? In the subtitles at the bottom of the screen in the 10 seconds before they run commercials, and while they flash images of Usher and Jennifer Lopez so that you don't read them anyway (ps> Lopez was by far the WORST performer of the whole night).

Third helping of beef: Any credit that the Grammy name may get for itself by handing out awards to truely talented people is tarnished by a huge number of nonsense awards given out to anyone that fits some abstract category. Case and point: the award for 'Best spoken album of the year'. Aside from being thrown in with the other awards in subtitles before commercials, do you know who won this award this year? It's unbelievable. I could give you 105 guesses and you still would not get it. Granted, I guess the guy's got some talent, but honestly. 'Best spoken album of the year'. Such a bunk category. It might sound reasonable by itself, but where do you draw the line? "Best song played with a toothbrush on a table made prior to 1971".

While we're on the music topic, here's a success story for ya. Moose Jaw Herald. CDs in the foyer. $2 each. Demo's sent in by bands. Staff picked through them already. So I look through them trying to think to some of the bands that I'd love to have albums by that might be in this collection. The only band that I found whose name even sounded familiar was Less than Jake. So I figured it was $2, why the hell not. I couldn't remember if this was an emo band or a hardcore band, but I was banking on hardcore. So the CD sat in my backpack unlistened to for a good two weeks before I finally pulled it out tonight. I was planning to fall asleep listening to music anyway, so even if it sucked, I wouldn't be listening to it for long.

Man was I ever wrong. First off, they're a Ska band!! Never even crossed my mind. And they're effin good! Wow. Instantly put me in a wicked good mood. This disc will definitely get some time in the future, but not until March 21st. No Ska until Spring (right, Sean?)

I can't tell how long this has been cause I'm writing it by hand in a book. But if it's uber long (and I think it might be) thanks for the reading effort. Much appreciated.

Brennan "For those of you that were wondering, the award went to Bill Clinton" Cuff

posted by Leah Wilburn @ 11:48 PM