judy garland, frank sinatra and dean martin

Now THIS is REAL music being belted out by three of the biggest superstars with the smoothest voices!

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I've got the coolest Mom!

She indulged me and sat through the entire Grammy Awards Sunday night.

I consider myself a music aficionado who DOES like an extremely wide range of music from Classical to Rap and everything in between.

My personal opinion--this year's Grammy Awards lacked and left a lot to be desired. I can not remember if it was last year or two years ago, but one of those shows was top notch! It presented the best acts, who all sounded identical to their record albums...intermixed with the proper mix of award-giving, comedy, nostalgia and entertainment.

Not this year. Don't get me wrong, there were a handful of enjoyable songs. I like how the academy pairs up entertainers from days or yore with today. There were other acts with 'more' talent who should have been included or who should have replaced some of the borderline acts in this year's show.

And it is always fun to see the various performers, what they are wearing, who they are with, get the latest dish!

I'm sorry. I kept watching hoping that the production would make the turn for the better and really take off.

And though Mom was not enjoying much of it, she sat there doing her correspondence spending quality time with her daughter. Mom's knowledge and enjoyment of music mimics my interest. We've enjoyed some of the greatest concerts together including Sir Elton John, Billy Joel, Eric Clapton, Springsteen, Don Henley...oh the list is endless really.

She made so many valid points as we listened. I have to say I agreed with almost everything she said. There ARE good acts today, unfortunately not as many as the marginal or stinky ones. And unfortunately, you can put on a dozen girls or guys, close your eyes and not be able to tell the difference.

Back in the day, every artist who came on had quite a distinctive voice. You knew at the first note who was singing! You could understand every single word, no one screamed at the top of their lungs, and you enjoyed the entire production from the lead singer to the entire arrangement.

She was impressed that I have Coldplay while finally putting two and two together on who Gwyneth Paltrow married. I think she's amused by Chris Martin's zany antics on stage from his Mexican jumping bean dancing to his extra small shirt, holes in his pants, and shrunken socks barely big enough for his feet. I told her he and Gwyneth were living on a budget and she almost fell off of her chair!

There were fun moments where she was belting out the song with the performer! It's so good to see Mom full of life and THAT is why I LOVE music! Music brings people of all ages, races, religions, economic status and different countries together--literally living in peace and harmony! Music fills us with hope and life, gives us energy, and makes us feel younger at times!

Though this year's Grammy Awards were a bit flat, music is in our blood so it was an event we could not miss. It gave Mom and I some quality time together while enlightening both of us on some of the newer acts and reinforcing which acts we really can not stand!!!

She's the coolest! I hope someone is still saying that about me when I get to be her age!!!!!

Viva la Vida!