Friday Funhouse: Feb. 17, 2012

Those of you who follow me on Twitter know that I watched the Grammy award ceremony on Monday night. I did a fair amount of tweeting. If you missed it, well, you missed out. 

In honor of the recent gathering of rock and roll superstars and the people who love them, this week's edition of "The Funhouse" will be Grammy-focused.

Let's rock:

WHITNEY HOUSTON PASSES AWAY AT AGE 48

There are several different ways to go on this one. You can judge Whitney for her poor judgement and recreational drug misuse. You can use this as an opportunity to bash Bobby Brown for leading her down a rotten road.

I don't want to do any of that. We all know what she did and who she was.

It's sad. That's all. It's just sad. She was a daughter. She was a wife. She was a mother. 48 is way too young to leave this earth. It has nothing to do with the fact she was famous. Sure, she could sing with the best of them, but her passing is tragic and the music is a small part of it.

I don't see any reason to make judgments or say mean things. I feel bad for her family and sad for the years she left on the table.

That's all.

FOO FIGHTERS WIN GRAMMY, GIVE MUSIC INDUSTRY A POLITE BACKHAND

Rock band, Foo Fighters, cleaned up on Monday night at the Grammys, taking home four different awards.During their acceptance speech for one of the awards, frontman Dave Grohl had the following to say:

"To me, this award means a lot because it shows the human element of music is what's important. Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that's the most impotant thing for people to do...It's not about being perfect, it's not about sounding absolutely correct, it's not about what goes on in a computer. It's about what goes on in here [your heart] and what goes on in here [your head]."

You can read between the lines.

Grohl was saying what a lot of people were thinking. I like rap music. I don't listen to it all the time, and I don't think it's as good as it used to be, but I enjoy getting my "gangster" on from time to time.

But deep down, I'm a musician. It kills me to see people who are famous because of computer magic. There's just something to be said for playing instruments and being able to sing live.

Go head, Dave Grohl. I salute you.

BON IVER WINS AWARD FOR BEST NEW ARTIST

Let me go on record as saying I love "Bon Iver," so I was exciting that Justin Vernon won this award. 

That said, I feel conflicted. The reason has to do with the title of the award. What exactly does "new" mean, anyway?

Vernon has been releasing records under the alias: "Bon Iver" since 2008. For four years, he's been pumping out the folk goodness.

I guess I don't like the award because it's like saying: "What you were doing didn't matter until we said it did."

I suppose I should be less cynical and just be happy that good music was recognized. What can I say? I'm a cranky old man.

NICKI MINAJ GIVES OFFENSIVE, OVER-THE-TOP PERFORMANCE

I'm not easily offended. As a Christian, I try to have a thick skin and not take stuff too personally when people insulted my faith.

But I thought Minaj went too far on Monday night with her "exorcist" performance that seemed to mock the church.

Maybe even more importantly, I just thought she sucked. Not very eloquent, I know. But I'm being real. I thought it was stupid. I wasn't amused.

I could have gone the rest of my life without seeing or hearing what she did.

If you disagree, you probably have bad taste in everything.  

What'd I miss? Did you have any Grammy highlights you want to share? Hit up the comment section!