The Streets of San Francisco: Grammy Awards

I am a huge award show watcher and the Grammy Awards are one of my favorite award shows to watch. I was very excited this year because one of my all time favorite artists/singers was nominated for eight Grammy Awards, Mary J. Blige. I saw Mary this past summer with Paul and our good friend Josh and she blew me away. She's an amazing performer and even more so an inspiring person. Her performance on the Grammy Awards last night was SO good that they are actually selling the single of her performance on iTunes already. I highly recommend it. The reason I love Mary so much is she went through many hard times and battles in her life and she overcame those rough times in her life, but she didn’t just "get over it" she thrived from it. I can relate to Mary. To me, there's a big difference from someone who gets out of a bad situation and JUST survives than someone who gets out of it, survives and then 'thrives.' Mary is a thriver and I admire that and have so much respect and admiration for that quality, it's rare. ( I still think I was an African American woman in my past life)HA! Congrats Mary on winning three Grammy Awards last night.

Above: No more drama for Mary J. Blige as she cradles
her three Grammy Awards she won last night.

Another big winner at the Grammy Awards were the Dixie Chicks. I am not a huge country fan but another example of getting through a hard time are these three courageous girls. A few years back they were ridiculed and bashed for speaking up against our dear President Bush and were trashed by the media and public. Their latest album "Taking the Long Way" and single "Not Ready to Make Nice," were responses to that backlash. The result of the album and hit single earned them five Grammy Awards, three of them being in the top award categories. BRAVO! Another lesson in life....speak your mind, even if everyone's seems they are against you, be true to yourself and speak your mind. I have a newfound respect for these ladies.

Above: The Dixie Chicks get the last laugh
at the 49th Grammy Awards.

Lastly, there were a few other performances that I was very impressed with outside of Mary J Blige and the Dixie Chicks. Christina Aguilera belted out "It's A Man's, Man's World," a tribute to James Brown, that girl can saaaaaaannnnng! Wow! Best New Artist Grammy Award winner, Carrie Underwood, continues to impress me as she paid tribute to The Eagles singing "Desperado." And, I have to give a shout out to the Queen (no I am not giving a shout out to myself!) ...the Queen is Madonna. She won an award for Best Dance Album, Confessions on A Dance Floor. That now puts Madonna at six Grammy Awards so far in her career. I predict a few more before she is done.:-)