January 23, 2017 — I had a lot of driving last week. That meant I had a lot of radio listening last week. Sure, this listening included whatever I could get of the inauguration of our new President, but it also had a fair amount of music and music news. Adding to that I’ve been quite distracted “driving-while-trying-to-see-the-mountains”, DWTTSTM, let’s call it, mountains super covered in snow. Can anyone say skiing?

As for music news, the past week brought the announcement of the initial performers for the Grammy Awards show, set to air on February 12. The initial performers are heavy on country, Carrie Underwood with Keith Urban, and include a pop performer, John Legend. The surprise, although not the first time for this band, is Metallica. I’m wondering? Do the Grammy peeps know that’s a rock band? I was surprised by that one. Indeed, I was not alone in the reaction of surprise. Carson Daly had the same surprised reaction as I did when his music news reporter read the names on the air. He must have said Metallica at least three times, his voice getting higher each time. Metallica … with all the normal Grammy stuff. It is unlikely, especially given the massive amount of EDM in pop music right now. I’m not sure if this signals an entrée to more rock, but I can hope.

Then there’s the Superbowl and Lady Gaga. News has it the NFL asked her to refrain from any political commentary. There are rumors she wants to perform on the roof of the stadium, risking her life the news terms it, and even that she asked to have a hole cut into the roof. Reports were all over the place about whether she will be a solo act or not, although today the news seems to be that she will in fact perform solo, a rare thing, apparently. Reportedly, two artists who were not specified turned down the opportunity to perform with Gaga. I’ve seen Lady Gaga, and she actually sings, so if the offers were made to pop performers who don’t actually sing when they perform (thinking of that abominable performance by Mariah Carey on New Year’s Eve), they might have declined so they wouldn’t be upstaged by actual singing. All of this talk makes me wonder whether any rock performers were asked to perform with Lady Gaga. Metallica? That combo could be interesting, and both are practicing for their own respective gigs, so they could have been ready. Or how about Alice Cooper, co-singing Born this Way. We all know he can do that song!

Without some rock co-performer, I doubt y’all are looking forward to the Superbowl halftime show. Gaga is good though, so I am actually looking forward to it. And I want to see what Gaga has in mind regarding the roof. Mind you, I’ll see it after-the-fact because I’m not going to watch another Patriots Superbowl. Nope, no way. As for Metallica at the Grammy’s, I’m on the fence. I like the songs they play on the radio, but I’m not sure the long length of their songs will translate well to a Grammy performance. Then again, given that Metalllica’s one shorter song Hardwired is the song nominated for best rock song, perhaps they will play that song and keep the performance length manageable. I guess we’ll see.

Oh, and back to my distractions, please don’t let the snow melt before I figure out how to get up there, to ski, hopefully, or if not, then just to see it. Sixty inches and counting; that was the commercial on the radio. In Southern California, that’s something! DWTTSTM, Bitches!