The Grammys 2018: Random Thoughts

Here's what we thought of the 60th Grammy Awards, which were held Sunday night at New York's Madison Square Garden.  Prepare yourselves.

• Wasn't this supposed to be the year the Recording Academy (the new name for NARAS) was going to give Latin and hip hop music its due, with the most diverse lineup of nominations ever for its major awards?  Instead, we get past Grammy fave Bruno Mars, sweeping the top three awards for Song of the Year with "That's What I Like", and Record and Album of the Year for "24K Magic".
• To understand the Grammys' state of mind (with apologies to Billy Joel and Jay-Z), you have to consider how the Academy made the decision to reward Mars instead of someone else.  Our theory:  (A) Taylor Swift's new album wasn't eligible to be nominated this year,  (B)  The voters were probably as sick of "Despacito" as you were, and (C) Would you want to reward your top honor to an album titled "Damn"?   At least Kendrick Lamar was able to take home Best Rap Album for that one.
• Alessia Cara was named Best New Artist.  She also happened to be the only woman to receive a Grammy during the three-and a-half hour CBS telecast.  Janelle Monae called out the music industry for its sexism.  Kesha performed an emotional version of "Praying", her account of  the abuse (sexual and otherwise) she endured--allegedly--at the hands of her record producer.  Academy president Neil Portnow responded to all this by saying women need to "step up" if they want to get ahead in this business.  Like the rest of the entertainment industry, alarm bells have been ringing over the treatment of women and the lack of opportunities that don't involve the casting couch, and they're right to be mad as hell about it.  It's just that the men who've been running the show have been hitting the snooze bar once too often.
• It was a bad night for the "shut up and sing" crowd.  Shout-outs for the #MeToo movement, a commercial disguised as a song promoting a suicide hotline, and a skit of celebrities reading excerpts form Michael Wolff's book "Fire and Fury" including Hillary Clinton were sprinkled through the telecast, with mixed results.  Besides United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, who criticized the skit, was anyone at the White House watching?  
• Classic rockers Sting and U2 came aboard to lend their expertise to the proceedings, as well as to help increase the Boomer TV audience.  So did Elton John, whose "Tiny Dancer" duet with former wild child Miley Cyrus drew positive reviews.  As most of you know, Sir John recently announced his retirement from touring, only to spend the next couple of years performing around the world.  It sounds like one of those movies where the cop or crook who is about to retire gets conned into doing one last job before riding off into the sunset.  What could go wrong?
• James Corden hosted the Grammys for the second consecutive year, and only because he happens to host a late night CBS chat show.  Nineteen million of you watched the awards, which were the lowest in a decade.  Come back, LL Cool J.  All is forgiven.