The Grammys: The Good, the Bad and the WTF?

Last Sunday's 53rd annual Grammys was a night full of surprises!

The Good:

Aretha Franklin Tribute: The show started with well-put-together tribute to the "Queen of Soul". Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, Yoland Adams, Martina McBride and Florence and the Machine's Florence Welch performed. While at times, the the notes were off and some of the girls screeched, I know they meant well. Yolanda Adams and Jennifer Hudson blew me away as usual and Florence Welch was surprisingly better than I thought she would be. Marina McBride sadly was a little flat and Christina Aguilera was trying way too hard. At least they sang some of my favorite Aretha songs!

Train won for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group for their song "Hey Soul Sister." That was a surprise for me because I didn't know Train had another album out and I've heard that song on commercials, not realizing it was them. I need to keep in the loop more.

Muse sounded great singing "Uprising". But now everyone including Glenn Beck (yuck) is saying Muse is calling for a "revolution." Or maybe it's the illuminati, haha!

B.O.B., Bruno Mars and Janelle Monae: B.O.B. was classy with his orchestra and monocle performing "Beautiful Girls", Janelle Monae stole the performance with "Cold War" and Bruno Mars tried with his "oldies but goodies" throwback to the Motown singing "Grenade, but sounded a little froggy. Sorry Bruno, still love you!

Seeing Jaden Smith make Justin Bieber's performance 100x better with his rap skills, however... (keep reading)

Bob Dylan, Avett Brothers and Mumford and Sons almost convinced me to go pick up a banjo and head to the country. Still it did have its uncomfortable moments, like the mentioning of a noose in the Mumford and Sons' song.

Cee-Lo sang "F*** You" as Big Bird!!!!! Some said he looked like a Liberace peacock. I thought it was hilarious and fun, especially with the Muppets. And Gwyneth Paltrow wasn't bad...See Gaga, that is how you look weird and make it work!

Norah Jones, John Mayer (looking like Johnny Depp) and Keith Urban sang one of my favorite COuntry song "Jolene"...John I hope you know that this does not erase that we black women have not forgotten your white supremacist dick comment...

Esperanza Spalding winning Best New Artist was definitely a shocker. Most expected either Bieber or Drake, but the upright bass-playing Jazz artist snuck in and took it right from under them. To all of the Bieber and Drake fans who are asking who Spalding is and/or are mad she won, get over it and check her out. She is talented and you may learn something; be respectful and open your damn mind!

Mick Jagger and Raphael Saadiq paid tribute to one of my favorite Soul singers, Solomon Burke. I was so excited to see Mick Jagger in his first appearance at the awards show performing "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love." You should have seen me jumping around in my room! And it seemed as if Mick didn't want to stop jumping around either...all that energy for a 67-year-old!

The Bad:

Sorry to all the Lady Gaga fans, but the debut performance for her song "Born This Way" was weak! Besides the song sounding like a bad Techno mash-up of Madonna's Express Yourself" and "Vogue," the dancing was ridiculous. This is what makes me angry -- Lady Gaga does strange stunts like coming to the awards show in an egg, but her music does not live up to the hype!

Miranda Lambert basically was boring--I don't even remember the name to the song--That goes for you, too, Katy Perry.

Rihanna performed twice! TWICE!!!!!!! First with Eminem, who looked pissed off all night and then with Drake. Hearing her once was enough, thank you!

And finally The WTF Moments:

The overly-sentimental beginning of Usher and Justin Bieber's performance made me want to gag...A Lot! Also, what was with the mortal combat ninjas and drummers in Bieber's perfomance; were they to mask how bland he looks and sounds in real life?

Lady Gaga said she wrote "Born This Way" with Whitney Houston in mind. While she probably would have sounded better, was saying that necessary?

Teddy Pendergrass tribute...what Teddy Pendergrass tribute!!!!!!!!!!!! First of all you have a group named Lady Antebellum (a reference to pre-Civil War times) doing the tribute and it was ONE song "If You Don't Know Me By Now," which was done while he was in Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. WOW!!!!!!

Why were Kings of Leon on the same stage as Miley Cyrus?

Hey Grammys, you left an artist out of the Memoriam to those who past....hello, Guru, rapper from the 90s, member of Gang Starr!

Arcade Fire won Album of the Year...this was a WTF moment only because after seeing Lady Antebellum win award after award, this woke me up!

Eminem was called, "The most dangerously talented man in Hip Hop history!" REALLY?!!!!! Either this shows how much other Hip-Hop artists are failing or how much amnesia we have when it comes to Hip-Hop history. Ever heard of Biggie, Tupac, Rakim, Kool Moe Dee, Chuck D, KRS-One, Mos Def, Jay-Z, I could go on!

Mini-Reviews: Superbowl and Katie Couric's Grammy Special

Of course, Sunday's Superbowl game did not interest me, but the performances did! First, the lovely Jennifer Hudson, who made a great comeback after the tragedy of losing her mother, brother and nephew. She was amazing, as usual, and seemed to take the pain she was feeling and put it into "The Star Spangled Banner." She gave our national anthem the spark it needed; even I felt like crying. Ok, it was pre-recorded, but it was still awesome!! It was definitely one of the best performances of the song, up there with Whitney Houston. Love you, J. Hud.

Second, the Halftime show with Bruce Springsteen was great. I bet it would have been better if I was actually there (not because I am that special!) because it would have sounded better (TV just does not show it that well). The Boss said it would be a party and it was, just wish it was longer (only twelve minutes for the Boss, come on). Springsteen and The E Street Band performed "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," "Born to Run," "Working On a Dream," and "Glory Days" (one of my favorites). It was just excitement from beginning to end. Bruce was so hyped that he even slammed into the camera when he did a slide during one of the performances. Although, at time I was annoyed by his running out of breath while he was singing, which led to him dropping endings of words, he greatly made up for it with his big band. As Steven Van Zandt from the band said it was so "Boss Time!!!"

Grammy Special with Katie Couric: Top 10 Stand-out moments

1) Justin Timberlake trying to prove himself as an "independent" actor and golfer. We'll see...

2) Justin Timberlake said "badass" on broadcast TV. He is such a rebel (NOT!!!!!)

3) Katie Couric's long-sleeved, red shirt does not make her look cool at all!!!

4) No wonder Katy Perry turned out the way she did!!! A mother who dated Jimi Hendrix and a father who was part of an LSD-promoting group led by Timothy Leary, who both became extremely devouted Christians who would let Katy only listen to Sister Act 2 soundtrack. WOW!!!!! Then to make things even weirder, she use to be a blonde (freaked me out!!!), she met Glen Ballard, who produced Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette, he stuck by her after she was dropped by two record labels and she has a Jesus tattoo on her wrist to remind her where she came from and that she can go back. Interesting life, like any other celebrity?

5) Lil' Wayne is more interesting and complex person than I thought!! Although I do not get the huge hype over him (He is a good rapper, but he is not one of the best! I can think of 10 rappers who are better!), I do like him as a person. He is smart and he proved it by stating he had straight A's in school. Wayne looks great in glasses and he likes bowling (one of my favorite things to do). Last, he does not give a damn about what anyone says about him! Now, if he would only get the grills out of his mouth, I would be attracted to him!

6) Lil' Wayne stood up for Marijuana in front of Katie (who seemed scared to say the word "weed") and the whole world!

7) Katie Couric saying "Weezie" does not make her one of Lil' Wayne's peeps now!

8) Justin Timberlake has a bad promotion for fashion line and record label if we never really hear about either (Did you see any of his commercials or know the name of his artist?)

9) Taylor Swift is boring as usual and trying to be funny and "perfect" (which she is not!). I still don't buy her "trying to be cute and innocent" act!! Yet, people keep buying her record and she is still number one! WTF?!!

10) Ne-yo admits that he is a nerd and would wear a pocket protector if Gucci made one! I love him and he is so funny. Plus, I am such a nerd, too, so I agree. Go cool nerds!!!