Elizabeth and watched the Grammies (Grammys?) last night, and mostly it sucked. I don't know what Dustin Hoffman was smoking/drinking, but he didn't exactly get the show off on the right foot. Bruce Springstreet? Come on, dude.

So we started flipping back and forth, between stuff on VH1 and other channels. As a result, we caught most of a pretty cool documentary about Nirvana, one that was a bit too reverential to Kurt Cobain and company, but had some nice bits, and a smartly-edited video of their "new" single. So much wasted potential...

And then it was really freaky to flip from that special to the awards show, where Dave Grohl from Nirvana was singing on stage with the Boss and Elvis Costella and Steve Van Zandt, covering a pretty good, if neck-muscle-straining, version of "London Calling," in honor of the late Joe Strummer of the Clash.

It made me sad, and nostalgic, for the "good old days." The whole grunge movement was a favorite of mine, and still is, and it also reminds me of a simpler time, without so much news of war and terrorism, and a booming economy in the Clinton years. And the Clash reminds me of both junior high, when "Rock the Casbah" was popular (though I was clueless about what it MEANT) and also in college, when I rediscovered them and wore out my cassette of "London Calling."

Strummer was only 50 when he died, and Cobain wasn't even 30. That freaks me out. Both were way too young. As cheesy as it sounds, I'm glad that their music will live on. I know I still enjoy both bands today.

All this thinking about music reminds me of a story from CBS' Sunday Morning yesterday, about the "horrible state" of the music industry. Well, not so much the state of Music, but more the state of the Fatcat's Wallets. Waah. The big record companies have been gouging us for the last decade, having made tons of cash off folks upgrading their entire libraries from vinyl or cassette to CDs, and now they're bitching and moaning because people download stuff for free off the Internet.

Now, as a creative person, I want to make sure the artists who make the best music get paid, don't get me wrong. I haven't gotten into the big time-sink that downloading MP3s represents, yet. But if I find some music I really like, I'll eventually pay for it.

What annoys me about the whole situation is the way the CEOs claim that music will be dead in 5 years if people don't stop downloading music. No. Sorry, doesn't work that way. Just like people who write fiction or any other creative endeavor, people are going to create regardless of how much money they are or aren't making. That's an arrogant attitude to take, and it really annoyed me that some CEO who probably can't even play an instrument or carry a tune, is convinced that artists will just STOP creating, all because of money. Sure, the folks in it for a fast buck will fade away. Is that a BAD thing? Do we need another Creed? Or Nickelback? Or Christina Aquilera? Come on.

What's going to happen, and is already happening, is that artists are going to have to improvise and do things differently. That's why I was so pumped up to see my boys, Big Head Todd & The Monsters, get interviewed on the news show yesterday (have I ever told you the story about how Lizzie was able to smooth-talk us back to meet the band after one of their shows?). They were dropped by their big label during a buyout when it was decided the band wasn't profitable enough, and I think it was the best thing to happen to them -- they produced their latest CD, "Riviera, which kicks ass, by the way, on their OWN label, and sold it on the Net and other venues. Mostly by word of mouth. And hard work.

Just like the future of book-publishing, where already marketing departments are being slashed and there's minimal support for new authors, us creative types are gonna have to think on our feet and generate our own buzz. The story's not over when we type "The End" on our manuscript. Just another chapter is finished.

What's really sad is that people see this as a Bad Thing. I think it's pretty cool -- we don't have to bow to the big-ass conglomerates. We just have to continue to create cool shit, and then help people find it. The Net is great for that sort of thing.

Later.