Sister's Gonna Work it Out

Never been big on Beyonce and can't really see what the fuss is all about. But the fuss has been undeniable: not since Madonna in her decades-ago heyday has a female pop artist garnered the devotion of the masses like Mrs. Carter has, which also includes a significant amount of critical admiration, as well.

But Beyonce's fans have so much emotional investment in her career that her perceived snub at this past Sunday's Grammy awards exploded into as far reaching areas as treatises on how the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, aka the Grammys, by failing to properly recognize the greatness of Beyonce's most recent album, have put into question the role of the popular black artist in our society and how...

Oh, please. Calm the fuck down. So the Grammys goofed. Big deal.

I am not for a second defending whatever faux pas the Academy made in this particular case, but being surprised about this is akin to discovering that it snows in the Northeast in February. Deserving artists are snubbed year after year. It happened to Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix. Bob Marley's children have waaaay more Grammys than he ever got. And we all know how Jethro Tull was once infamously awarded Best Metal Performance (?) over Metallica. (For those unaware, JT isn't even a metal band.)

 
YMMV, of course, but being disappointed about Grammy awards is too much of an investment for anyone.

Quote of the Day: 'Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'

"People for some reason, and this happens, had been sharpening their knives for Aaron Sorkin and I don’t know why. It’s like you’re about to give birth and people are standing around and the baby is born and immediately they start saying, 'Why is he crying? Why isn’t the baby standing and talking? You’re not a good parent!' And that’s what they did to Studio 60, they immediately leapt on this new creation and immediately compared it to West Wing and any other movie he’d done..."

- Actor Steven Weber from the cast of Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip on the unfair attacks that led to the demise of the show.

Pop Life (and death)

Here's something to ponder: a significant portion of music fans under the age of 25 barely know who Prince is. Sobering, huh? The go-to explanation is that the young folks who consume music via YouTube or streaming services aren't that hip to the late Minneapolis Monarch because the man was no fan of these platforms and made sure his music wasn't featured on them. No more. As of yesterday, Grammy Sunday, Prince's catalog will be available via Amazon Music, Napster (?!), Pandora and Spotify. 

On the one hand, any opportunity for people to discover this legendary artist's music is a beautiful thing. However, one can’t help feeling kinda weird about something he vehemently opposed in life now being a reality, less than a year after his death. Hmm…