My Sick Mind

For those of you who enjoyed the Grammy Awards this year, congratulations. I haven't watched the show since 1973. As Glen Macnow would say, "It's a sham of a fraud." What happened in 1973? Roberta Flack's version of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (written in 1957 and appeared on Flack's "First Take" album in 1969) won both Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 15th annual awards show. What song did it beat out? A little something called "American Pie" by Don McLean. That's right. Since then, I haven't had time for an awards show that doesn't seem interested in awarding the best music. I can hold a grudge like Khomeini. I still remember McLean singing "Vincent" at the awards show with the look of a guy who just got punched in the stomach. I'm sure he had a nice acceptance speech written. I figured that if it was really deserving of a Best Song award, it would have won either in 1957 or ...

The Grammy awards are being given out tonight. I think I've expressed my opinion on this before, (see Grammys Schmammys ) but it bears repeating. The Grammy's are a sham of a fraud. I've managed to distance myself from popular music over the past few years, so I couldn't tell you the relevance of who is nominated this year, but I can tell you that I have no doubt that the nominees don't represent the best music of the past year. That's experience talking. Just like parking lots are never replaced by parks, so are the Grammy awards never going to be about the best music. One of the many things that bothers me about it is the way music is categorized. Alternative, pop, rap ... I hate categories. Doctors do not, however ... WASHINGTON – Two drugmakers spent hundreds of millions of dollars last year to raise awareness of a murky illness, helping boost sales of pills recently approved as treatments and drowning out unresolved questions — including whether it's ...

Tonight, the music industry pats itself on the back. Tonight is the 49 th Annual Grammy Awards, and the instrument has not been invented that can measure my indifference to the program. I'm what most people would call a music snob. I've never been interested in popular music - mostly because it's popular. It's easy to turn on the radio and be spoon-fed music that some programmer has been paid to tell us we like. As for me, I prefer to do my own research and find musicians whom I feel are worthy of my attention, time and money. I came of age during the so-called "progressive rock" era of the early 1970s, and my favorite musicians were bands like Gentle Giant, Focus, Yes, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, King Crimson and Manfred Mann's Earth Band. They were acquired tastes, and the music was challenging to listen to, but to me, that made it so much better. My Grammy hatred comes from the 1972 Awards show, when "American Pie" was nominated for Best Son...