When the highlight of the Grammy Awards is Prince walking on stage to give an award, that points to a pretty dull awards show.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Prince.  I was in attendance at the Purple Rain Concert Tour.  He is easily one of the greatest if not the greatest concert performers who ever walked on a stage.  But he didn’t perform.  He just walked on to the stage in one of his strange outfits.  At least he’s finally left the color purple behind.  If he had performed, that would have raised the bar in what was an otherwise extremely boring show.  It’s the same energy that fills the arena when the Rolling Stones or Eric Clapton performs. There were not enough great groups to fill in the gaps between the weak groups.  And there were some weak groups.  I have absolutely nothing against Taylor Swift, but she is mostly hype with a small amount of talent.  Her voice is weak at best and her bubble gum break-up, melodramatic music, is enough to make one gag.  If you disagree with that comment, compare her voice to Carrie Underwood, or Kelly Clarkson and it will be completely clear.  Sorry young teenage girls.  She is tall, thin and blonde, so that makes her very marketable; not a dig, just the truth.  Did I mention that she isn’t a very good guitar player?  There were two highlights of the night, one, the Marley brothers playing on stage in honor of their father.  The only problem with that performance is there wasn’t enough of it.  Shouldn’t the sons of an icon like Bob Marley, playing in his honor, have been the centerpiece, as opposed to Bruno Mars and Sting?  Their performance was enjoyable but should not have been the focus in that context.  The second highlight of course, was Justin Timberlake.  He’s a huge talent and it was great to see him back on the stage.  Then there was LL Cool J.  While he’s cool, he’s a terrible host.  It’s just not what he’s good at.  Hosting requires a gift of gab, the ability to ad lib, quickness, timing, he has not of those qualities.  It’s time to move on.  Finally, the show lacked a cohesiveness.  It was clumsy and didn’t flow well.  The producers need to go back and watch it over and over again.  I’m sure they would agree that next year’s show needs tightening.  After the sudden and unexpected passing of Whitney Houston last year, one didn’t know what to expect and no one cared following her tragic death.  This year expectations were high however and the show just didn’t deliver.