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Morning, folks! And happy V-Day.
Alas, ’twas a heartbreaking Grammy night for most D.C. nominees. Local legend Chuck Brown couldn’t beat Sade for best non-solo R&B performance; Raheem Devaughn failed to upset John Legend and the Roots for best R&B album; and Cee-Lo, dressed as some sort of Dr. Suess-jacking peafowl, proved too formidable for upwardly mobile newcomer Carolyn Malachi. See Click Track for the play-by-play.
Most satisfying win of the night? Esperanza Spalding. Dig it.
Jealous of the winners? YOU TOO can be a Grammy winner! A helpful how-to, courtesy of J.L. Fischer.
The Grammy performances were nothing if not a picture of (literal and figurative) racial harmony. But as the film industry’s own climactic awards show bears down, A.O. Scott points out that “it was perhaps the whitest year for Hollywood since the post-Richard Pryor, pre-Spike Lee 1980s,” a fact that should reflect glaringly on Oscar night.
In Friday’s WaPo: National Endowment for the Arts chairman Rocco Landesman says this country needs fewer theaters. “Look, you can either increase demand or decrease supply,” he said at Arena Stage last month. “Demand is not going to increase. So it is time to think about decreasing supply.” Refreshingly candid or needlessly fatalistic? In either case: YIKES.
The Atlantic picks some love-themed cultural artifacts on the occasion of the holiday. Props to features editor James Gibney for repping Gram Parsons.
What does it mean when your mom and your girlfriend get you the same Valentine’s Day gift? Guesses are welcomed in the comments, I’m desperate to know.
Bye!