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Maybe people just felt relieved to talk about something aside from the presidential race. Or perhaps people are starved for a little bling and red carpet after the writers withheld our dose of “Desperate Housewives” for so long.
Whatever the case, people got excited about the Grammy Awards this year. I heard recaps from friends, coworkers, family. But I didn’t watch. Not only that, I completely forgot it was on. In fact, I wrote off the Grammys years ago. Not out of any bitterness or jealousy, mind you, but simply because they never seem relevant to what I was pursuing musically. Sure, I enjoyed seeing Eminem and Elton duet, but the awards themselves meant nothing.
This year, people seem particularly shocked about Herbie Hancock’s big win. Indeed, Quincy Jones’s disarming exclamation — “unbelievable, man!” — was one of those great award show moments (so great I heard it replayed later). I even know it happened at 10:40pm CST, because I got a euphoric text from Jazzy Jeff.
Hey, good for Herbie! Too bad it wasn’t for one of his more ambitious or landmark records. But this hardly seems such a surprise to me. Remember when Steely Dan won?