2007 Record of the Year and Album of the Year

When the Dixie Chicks spoke-out about the hideousness and embarrassment of the George W Bush presidency, they were villified. Their careers suffered, their sales plummetted, and they lost a lot of fans. Or did they?

They began a rebuilding effort immediately, and found that not all their fans abandoned them, and that the New York Post, News Corporation, and Fox News don't buy many records anyhow.

In 2006, they released the album Taking The Long Way which includes the great song "Not Ready To Make Nice"

Not Ready To Make Nice won Record of the Year and Taking The Long Way won Album of the Year at The 49th Grammy Awards last night. Good for the music industry. The Dixie Chicks have stood-up to bullying and attempted black-listing and come out the other side stronger and better than ever (well, except for those dresses they wore during the performance of their song). It was wise for the industry to acknowledge them with this award.

The best performance during the broadcast was the Red Hot Chili Peppers whose stage presence included a spray-painted banner proclaiming: "Love To Ornette Coleman"!

The Police reunion was as exciting as it could possibly have been. Sting and the boys sang "Roxanne." Yawn.

Lifetime achievement awards to Ornette Coleman (who was disgracefully required to present an award to the tedious Carrie Underwood), Joan Baez, Booker T. & The MG's, The Doors, The Grateful Dead, Maria Callas, and Bob Willis were well-deserved and rather exciting to hear about and watch.

I would tell you to go to the grammy.com web site, but it is a hideously-designed, impoosible-to-navigate embarrassment to web development.

You can find a list of winners by searching Google!