UPDATE: The Pop Media Examiner quotes a TMZ report on the Grammys that mentions a total of 250 or so musicians that died in the last year, and that the name of each—including LeRoi Moore—appeared in the program for the Grammy Awards. If the Grammy statement from TMZ is accurate, then time was the deciding factor that kept Moore and other musicians from being honored during the broadcast.
For a few reasons—among them, the ensemble performance of "Swagger Like Us" and Lil Wayne’s wins for Tha Carter III—I was pretty pleased with last night’s Grammys. For a few other reasons—among them, Coldplay and its relentless pandering to Sir Paul McCartney—I was not.
But when a picture of Dave Matthews Band saxophonist LeRoi Moore failed to appear alongside the mugs of Isaac Hayes, Eartha Kitt, Danny Federici, Bo Diddley and Levi Stubbs, I didn’t quite know what to make of it. OK, I thought at first. Awards shows have to draw the line somewhere.
The more I consider it, however, the more careless it seems. Dave Matthews and crew were nominated for their share of Grammy Awards, and took home a golden gramophone for "So Much To Say." And a few DMB fans shared my surprise on the web, in various degrees of outage and anger.
"It just goes to show how full of shit the Grammys have become," read a post on a Twitter account credited to a "Stefan Lessard." Comments also appeared on a Twitter account for The Grammys. "It’s unfortunate that Kid Rock gets a 5-minute song and you guys couldn’t at least throw a picture of a legend, LeRoi Moore," reads one comment. Truly, when Kid Rock enters the equation, I have a hard time defying that logic.
The debate rages on at WeeklyDavespeak.com, where a message board thread now stretches to seven pages and counting. "[I] agree i too was very upset," one writer comments. "[I] mean HE WON A FUCKING EMMY." Er, close.
If the Grammys were going for an authoritative list of musicians that died in 2008, they clearly missed the mark. And maybe something as simple as a list that included the likes of LeRoi Moore (and even the recently deceased Lux Interior of The Cramps) would’ve sufficed. Or did he belong with Isaac and Eartha? What do you folks think?
Sidebar: There was probably more self-promotion among presenters last night than in any previous Grammy Awards, from the Blink 182 reunion announcement to the name of Green Day’s new record: 21st Century Breakdown. A lot of airtime for a lot of hot air, Grammys.