You see, Pop Tunes is the place where Big Daddy and I used to shop. He owned jukeboxes before he retired and once a week, he would trek from Hoots to Memphis to pick up the 45s to load them. When I was a kid, Billboard magazine was always at his shop, and he would diligently look for what was going to hit the Top 40. He would make a list of what the thought would trend and then head to Memphis and on some occasions, we would get to go with him. Homer and I were usually allowed to buy a cassette or an 8-Track while the shop owners would go to the back and pull the songs, sometimes dozens of copies to go onto each jukebox.

You may understand my joy and love of a good jukebox now. It’s a part of my history and a good one is always sort of hard to find. I’m not talking a CD/Internet box, but the ones where you can hear the scratches on the vinyl when a song has been played too much because it’s beloved.

I would always go through the records and touch each album cover while I was in Pop Tunes. It got to the point that the store clerks knew my sister and my names, and they always greeted Big Daddy with a smile. He was a regular and they would talk about what songs would be a hit, and which ones wouldn’t. Inside the store, there really wasn’t much to see except swinging fluorescent lights and it was a bit junky, in retrospect. But there was the music, the stories of Elvis and Johnny Cash, the smell of cigarette smoke and cardboard dust, but it didn’t matter. We would look through everything and we loved it. I went years later, and it hadn’t changed much other than the 45s were pretty nonexistent at that point and store clerks were relegated to the parking lot to burn one.

My father still has a Wurlitzer in his house now that he’s retired. Every one of those ancient 45s ready to play once you push the buttons for the song of your choice came from Pop Tunes.

I realize the older I get, I grieve the small things. Pop Tunes was a large part of my childhood with my father.

I will miss it.

I think this is my new anthem. Day-um. SQ found it and I cannot quit listening. The damn shame of it all is she heard it in a commercial first.

Gots to say: Anthem for a new, very sad, political generation tired of the crap.

Also, Trent Reznor produced it.

Day-um.

It’s written on the palm of my hands.

10:27 I’m out. Thanks10:26 HERBIE HANCOCK wins Album of the year! Whoa, didn’t see that one coming. Joni Mitchell. If you’ve never hear Court And Spark I command you to go hear it right now.

10:25 Thankfully, and believe me I’m thankful. It’s almost over.

10:23 Will. I. Am. Will he sing “Yes We Can?” Nope, it’s Mack The Knife that has been updated. I wonder if these people are wanting a beer yet. Okay, this is sorta fun. I’m kinda proud I have a hat like his.

10:20 I have had three birthdays since this show began.

10:15 Is it wrong to want to invite Little Richard over to my house just for fun and the hell of it? I think he would be cool and we do have a piano.

10:13 Chez Coma report. The dogs, the entire house and most possible much of the world, is asleep. I wish that invite the Talking Heads to play just to entertain me. That would be swell.

10:11 I’m seeing Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, who I saw tear up a piano in Memphis once. BUT, there is John Fogarty so all is good in the world. He looks good or it might be the Benedryl. Lewis looks … umm … I don’t want to get another penalty from Rex as I did at Twitter.

10:10 Okay, I started a new post because by gum when I start something I finish it. As this might just possibly be the last ever live-blogging of a live show, let’s go.

9:58 Saying goodbye. I liked Robert Goulet. He was fun. Bye folks. I didn’t know Luther Ingram had died. Bad year for Opera with the loss of Luciano and Beverly Sills.

9:50 Twitter is popping on the Grammy talk. And highlights of the night: Vince Gill and Kanye West as well as Amy Winehouse saying “To my Blake who is incarcerated.” The Benedryl is making me hallucinate penguins reading election speeches but I realized I had accidentally turned the channel to CSpan.

9:47 Record of the year goes to AMY WINEHOUSE! She looks startled and terrified at the same time. This is actually a groovy moment.

9:46 Squirrel Queen is asleep but if she knew Doris Day was being honored she’d just literally pee herself. I know, who knew? Sports and Doris Day. Yeah, I know.

9:44 Winehouse first song great. The Rehab song was okay but hell, after as many magazine covers as she’s been on, I’d be weirded out singing that song too. Torch.

9:38 Okay, it’s Amy Winehouse. Here we go. Okay the back up dancers ARE AWESOME. She looks great.

9:30 Let’s go to Best Rap Song Colloboration goes to Rhianna. She took off the wheat dress. Suddenly, I miss it and wish it well.

9:28 Sidenote: Captain Brody from Jaws (actor Roy Scheider) died. Man, Jaws scared the hell out of me as a kid. While I’m listening to Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin.

9:24 Lifetime Awards. Getting our classical music on and now Joe Mantegna is introducing the jazz/classical portion of the evening. Wonderful. Shhhh, I’m watching it.

9:22 Off Topic but how the hell are the going to put Dexter on CBS without, you know, the sex, serial murder, killings and general weirdness.

9:16 And Vince Gill get the line of the night in reference to Kanye West saying “ever had a Beatle give you one of these” or something like that because I’m on a Benedryl IV now. Still pointing fingers at Lake Neuron.

9:14 I’m old. I miss Dave Stewart from Eurythmics hair. So he’s with Ringo. It’s Country Album time. And the winner is JOHNNY CASH. I’m teasing, it’s Vince Gill. Self-deprecating. Pretty funny.

9:12 How many keyboards does Alicia Keys have? John Mayer can play guitar, but Homer’s husband gets all weird and disconcerted when he’s on television. Like he has the hiccups. He doesn’t bother me though. I kinda like him.

9:09 Stevie Wonder is introducing Alicia Keys who will sing apparently 57 times tonight and they say he is a 25 time winner. Heck, I can’t even win a free car wash at Mapco. I need to make one with the earth and the cosmos. His sleeves are zebra/leopard print. Heh.
9:07 Why isn’t anyone talking about Rhianna wearing wheat? I don’t understand. And this commercial break has allowed me the time to wash all three dogs.

9:05 From GingerSnaps at the top of hour three. Me too.

8:56 Feist is always fun.

8:55 My mother made me listen to Tapesty by Carole King every day of my life during 3rd and 4th grade. She looks great. EVERY DAY People. Fiest is up.

8:54 I’m distracted by a story I just saw about people born with tails. I can’t help it.

8:50 Here’s a list of who’s one so far. Icky Thump won. Woot.

8:43 There isn’t anything better than cool trumpets.

8:40 Aretha and The Winans. Aretha, oh Aretha. She is a swirl of yellow chiffon.

8:37 Kanye giving his acceptance speech. Being gracious sorta. Saying something about his mom. Asked them to stop the music. “It would be a good time to stop the music there …” He’s right. Hell, remember Julia Roberts going on forever at Oscar. Yeah, I had time to get a college degree and cook a five course dinner when she gave that one. Yeesh.

8:35 Thank God that’s over. Now for the Grammy for best Rap Album. Niece loves Akon. I kinda like the Kiss, Kiss guy. Chris Brown… is that right? Anyway, the winner is Kanye West for Graduation. And I kinda want his jacket too. I like jackets. Sue me. He can complain no more. Where is 50 cent? I want to see a brawl.

8:33 Brad Paisley is singing about Ticks. I am, umm, whaaa, confused. Is this a hit? ‘Course my nieces call me Aunt Tick but it’s about tickling not checking for parasitic bugs in a love song. Sigh …

8:30 George Lopez was funny on Reno 911. Introducing Brad Paisley. I’ve never heard him before so I guess I’m a virgin no longer.

8:25 While watching commercial, I’m singing “They said I need to go to rehab I said No, No, No.” Foo Fighters were the best performance of the night in my opinion. Pondering if I should get hair extensions because it apparently is something every one but me is getting. I’m thinking in a lovely cranberry color.

8:18 Jason Bateman is announcing the winner for the Grammy Orchestra. And the winner is Anne Marie Calhoun. She was hella fun. And now it’s the Foo Fighters…. And they are rocking. Remember Dave Grohl was the Devil in the Tenacious D movie. Not David Groh from Rhoda.

8:12 SONG OF THE YEAR IS Amy Winehouse’s The Irony Song…, DAMMIT. She is good. Sorry campers, I love her singing. Not so hot on the blonde beehive but dang she can sing in that alto like nobody’s business.

8:10 And the house goes wild. WHAT… Andy Williams with Nelly Furtado? First Grammy host of the show.

8:08 Beyonce is channeling Tina from 1970. Okay, that’s groovy. Tina is channeling Tina from 1970.

8:07 Beyonce returns to the stage. She’s not wearing Rhianna wheat. For this I’m proud. Wait, did I say proud. It’s Proud Mary, bitches!!! (Channeling Ivy.)

8:05 I want to be Tina Turner when I grow up.

8:03 Tina looks awesome. I look like hell and I’m a quarter of century younger than she is. Dang. And she has a good wig too. Britney, CALL THEM!

8:01 If Cher can have a cool wig, why can’t Britney Spears find one? Beyonce is cool. OOOhhhh, Tina Turner. Sing Nutbush City Limits Dammit!!!

7:56 Just experimenting here and the cold has the best of me. I’ll check in periodically. And why isn’t anyone talking about Rhianna’s Wheat dress? Waiting on Amy Winehouse. I know she’s a hot mess but I think she’s cool. I may move into hour two on a new post. Maybe, maybe not.

7:53 And the winner is ….. Love. It’s Beatles night. Ringo is headed to the stage with George Martin. With his son? Martin giving credit to George Harrison for getting it started.

7:50 Fergie and John Legend are doing their thing now. Wait. Fergie can sing. I don’t listen to radio so I have no reference. Sneezing. This might not make it into the next hour. I think I caught a cold from John due to innertube osmosis. Presenting best album for compilation album

7:47 Kanye is doing a slow song. I wonder if this is for his mom. It is.

7:46 DAFT PUNK…. I want an outfit like theirs. Told ya…

7:43 Shut up. I have to watch Daft Punk with Kanye. DAFT PUNK! I dig this song. But it weirds me out when singers edit their own censored songs. Actually, Kanye is really cool on this song.

7:40 And commercials are continuing. Why aren’t there groovy commercials for the Grammys. This I have no answer to. Also check out GingerSnaps keeping a Live Tweet blog at her house on ‘de web.

7:36 I dig Tara the cello player.

7:33 Jason Bateman, how my crush on you continues to grow. But, you know, you were kinda creepy in Juno. He’s on LA Live and is talking about the Foo Fighters. The Foos will be joined by the My Grammy Orchestra (huh) conducted by John Paul Jones of Led Zepplin. My Grammy Moment is having a competition. So, you get to vote. You have to text which means that you probably have to pay to vote. (Welcome to the world of art and money.) You can vote for free. My bad.

7:31 Cindy Lauper and Miley Cyrus. And the nieces go wild and ask who Cindy is. I may have to chase them with a step. Gooo Cindy. Announcing Best New Artist and the award goes to Amy Winehouse.

7:28 Okay, this kid is good. He’s getting the Beatles better than most folks. Okay, put a gospel chorus in and I’m groovy with that. Let it Be … timeless no matter who you are.

7:27 Yes, I definitely want to be a trapeze artist. Or a Carnival Barker because that’s where the carny money is. Su-weet.

7:24 Debbie Allen really did come out of retirement, didn’t she. I love this song but apparently they found Christopher Lloyd to be in this segment. But, it’s Cirque Soleil so it’s kind of interesting but I’m still channeling Allen but it’s better than Underwood’s segment. I have decided I want to be a trapeze artist.

7:20 Tom Hanks talking about The Band. Now this is what I’m talking about. I guess they are honoring The Band. Tom’s hair is really short. Lifetime Achievement Award recipients. Deserved. But, Tom’s short hair is wigging me out. He’s now talking about The Beatles saying they changed the history of our planet. Agreed. “THE POWER OF THE BEATLES” … well yeah.

7:19 Okay, Morris and Rhianna are getting down together. As Rex said on Twitter, this segment brought by the Letter R. Sesame Street would be so proud.

7:18 Rhianna still singing. She’s still wearing wheat.

7:16 After 700 commercials, it’s MORRIS DAY. Okay, I like Morris Day. He looks pretty good. Man, I think someone should give me his jacket. “Juuunnnggllleee Loooove.” Note: How does one combine Morris Day and Rhianna’s Umbrella. There isn’t enough booze in the world to explain this. Is she wearing wheat?

7:09 – Okay, Alicia Keys just won to the surprise of no one for best R&B for “No One”. Me, I was for Jill Scott but what do I know. She sang with Frank Sinatra then we got some Carrie Underwood which wasn’t too bad but her dancers apparently were choreographed by Debbie Allen. I’ll keep this up for awhile as long as Squirrel Queen brings me wine.

Now, if you want to know who this is, you have to go here because he’s one of Tennessee’s best and brightest.

Man, I loved JJ Jackson.

So, it’s weird to see these interviews with Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, Nina Blackwood and Martha Quinn on Sirius.

Reliving the youth. Well no, I just miss music on MTV because isn’t that what it’s supposed to be.

Music?

After a very trying morning where I wanted to seriously throw myself into a hole, I went home with my new present that you gave me.

I downloaded a ton of songs. I’ve gone from Joni Mitchell’s “Court and Spark” to Joan Osborne’s “Mother Theresa”, from the Scissor Sisters “Music is the Victim” to Elvis Costello’s “Pump It Up”. I’ve smiled all afternoon. I even threw in some Buffalo Springfield “What’s It’s Worth” and Bob Dylan “Tangled Up in Blue” in for good measure.

After a really ass rotten day, you made it better.

And “Eleanor Rigby” …. I’m in heaven.

I knew that music always made me smile, but you see, I’d forgotten.

I had forgotten.

I’m shaking my butt right now to Justin Timberlake. (Now, just shut up. He will make you shake your hiney and you know it.)

Thanks, SQ.

You are the best,

Newscoma

Me: “So, you were born under Reagan.”
Her: “Yep.”
Me: “Have you ever heard of Kennedy?”
Her: “I think I read about him in an Ancient History book.”

Ouch!

From Jim Reams over at FBI Memos