•••••• i think they ran through best buy on their lunch hour to pick these nominees:

Best Recording Package

* Chutes Too Narrow
Jesse LeDoux, art director (The Shins)
[Sub Pop Records]

* Educated Guess
Ani DiFranco & Brian Grunert, art directors (Ani DiFranco)
[Righteous Babe Records]

* A Ghost Is Born
Peter Buchanan-Smith & Dan Nadel, art directors (Wilco)
[Nonesuch]

* To The 5 Boroughs
Nathanial Hörnblowér & Dechen Wangdu, art directors (Beastie Boys)
[Capitol Records]

* The Wandering Accordion
Qing-Yang Xiao, art director (Various Artists)
[Wind Records]


Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package

* The Complete Verve Master Takes
Hollis King, art director (Charlie Parker)
[Verve Music Group]

* Goodbye, Babylon
Susan Archie, art director (Various Artists)
[Dust-To-Digital]

* The Hip Hop Box
Michele Horie & Ryan Rogers, art directors (Various Artists)
[Hip-O Records]

* Once In A Lifetime
Stefan Sagmeister, art director (Talking Heads)
[Sire/Warner Bros./Rhino Records]

* Unearthed
Christine Cano, art director (Johnny Cash)
[American Recordings/Lost Highway Records]

•••••• BUT,i would actually be interested in reading a few of these, especially paul krassner on lenny bruce.

Best Album Notes

* The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964 - Concert at Philharmonic Hall
Sean Wilentz, album notes writer (Bob Dylan)
[Columbia/Legacy]

* Carry It On
Barry Alfonso, album notes writer (Peter, Paul And Mary)
[Warner Bros./Rhino Records]

* The Complete Columbia Recordings Of Woody Herman And His Orchestra & Woodchoppers (1945-1947)
Loren Schoenberg, album notes writer (Woody Herman & His Orchestra)
[Mosaic Records]

* Let The Buyer Beware
Paul Krassner, album notes writer (Lenny Bruce)
[Shout! Factory]

* No Thanks! The '70's Punk Rebellion
Chris Morris, album notes writer (Various Artists)
[Rhino Records]

Look at this list. These are the underground or admired artists we champion so much around here who have been nominated this year:

Brian Wilson
Ryan Adams
Modest Mouse
Franz Fredinand
Wilco
The Killers
Bjork
Kanye West
PJ Harvey
Green Day
Elvis Costello
Basement Jaxx
Joe Strummer & Johnny Cash
Chemical Brothers
Scissor Sisters
Steve Earle
Tom Waits
Killswitch Engage
Mos Def
Beastie Boys
The Roots
NERD
Loretta Lynn
Jack White
Ozomatli
Ani Difranco
Tift Merritt
The Shins
Talking Heads

That's pretty exceptional when you think of the crap state of pop radio, MTV and our entertainment culture in general.
And even many of the mainstream/pop artists nominated are great; Alicia Keys had my 2nd favorite record of last year, and Jay-Z, Usher, Sheryl Crow and Joss Stone are entertaining far more often than not.

So there's a bunch of crap in there, too. So what? There's lots of quality, as well. Stop hatin'...

It's like an orange on a toothpick.

Where the fuck is Jethro Tull?

seriously. there's some good stuff this year. i would never expect the grammys to actually be relevant, but some of the categories are somewhat respectable. SMiLE for pop and production? definitely.

No. Many are nominated for the wrong categories, for obscure awards, plus there are so many other choices that aren't even considered.

Yeah, I like a lot of the acts nominated, but think there's a hell of a lot that's BETTER.

My complaint is these guys are the industry. They can do better than this. But lots of industry guys are conservative as hell and completely uninterested in discovering music.

I also hate when artists get tossed in for lesser albums as a bone to their entire career (Costello for instance).

And I think my enjoyment of bands like the Killers takes a hit when they're nominated in place of deeper or more innovative acts.

These awards are touted as "best." They're not fan awards. They're not even supposed to be popularity contests. They're supposed to be about quality, but rarely are.

They're about surface quality, about what's easily obtainable or heard. That's not really "best" and it actually diminishes the fact that some of the nominated acts are pretty good, because they're being called "best."

I'll hate all the hell I want to.

Word. What f-spoon said.

How did UNKLE not get nominated for that? The packaging 2 disc version of Never, Never, Land is SIIICK. I think it was eligible since it was released stateside this year.

maybe unkle packaging didn't get nominated because the voters were so put-off by such dismal album.

When this year? I think the cutoff is the end of September or October...

the grammys consider albums from october 1 to september 30. that UNKLE album was released in late october of this year, so it will eligible next year.

Jinx... though you had more detailed info.

Does anyone remember Shelby Lynne's acceptance speech when she won "Best New Artist" for her sixth album? That was a highlight for me. Never have so many people fucked up so bad (by voting her in).

Yep. But I like her. She's got that come-here-and-kiss-me-or-I'll-kick-your-ass vibe going for here. Hawt.

Yeah, not really my thing (although I'd do her), but I liked her acceptance speech. It was something to the effect of, "thanks for voting me best new artist...even though I've been working and slaving in the biz for blah blah blah years..."

Sarcasm. I like that in a woman. I like it even better coming out of a woman.

Ummm...

i was pretty disappointed when they managed to break her down for the follow up:

"Songs or no songs, grammy or no grammy, you gotta give me something to spank to, missy."