GRAMMY GOES ON WITH THE SHOW DESPITE CHRIS BROWN ARREST

T.I. says his new movie, American Gangster, will be in the Oscar running next year.

The Grammy Awards opener was an impromptu performance by Boyz II Men, Keith Urban and Justin Timberlake due to the late absences of Chris Brown and girlfriend Rihanna. Their absences did little to dim the starpower of the show’s performances including Radiohead, Foo Fighters Dave Grohl joining in on drums with Sir Paul McCartney, and an all-star Hip-Hop collaboration of M.I.A., T.I., Jay-Z, Lil Wayne & Kanye West for “Swagga Like Us.”

According to Los Angeles Police Brown was arrested on domestic violence and felony battery, and girlfriend Rihanna allegedly called in to say that the two were involved in a car accident. The details will come out in the next few days but Grammy President Neil Portnow wants people to focus on the job that was done rather than the job that wasn’t done, and he details when he got word.

“Pretty late in the afternoon, and they came individually. We just get notified by management, record labels, and so on, so probably starting around two-ish or so we started to be aware that we were going to have that issue. I don’t know enough about it to be honest with you because our focus as you can imagine was to make this a great night and a great show, and I think we accomplish that. Musicians are no different than anybody else. Everybody has certain problems at times in their lives, things that you wish didn’t happen, maybe not proud of. I’m not a judgemental individual. I’m sorry that they weren’t there for their moments on the stage. That’s the thing that was most unfortunate to me at the moment. Ultimately, I think, years from now when people aren’t in the moment of the story, I think this will be one of those great Grammy moments where you had Justin, and Al Green, and Keith Urban and Boyz II Men doing this great song and re

One of the performances that kept the night special despite the tragic undertones was Dave Grohl getting behind the kit to play with Sir Paul McCartney. Artisan News caught up with Dave Grohl right before the show, and he talked about his big night.

“It honestly gets better every time. I can say that. Last year I was jamming with John Paul Jones, this year jamming with McCartney. So, I don’t even know who’s next?”

McCartney talked backstage about Grohl being in his band for one night.

“Dave originally played with us in Liverpool, where I did a concert last year, and he played alongside my drummer Abe, but Abe wasn’t available for this. He’s in Japan with Mr. Clapton. So, we rang Dave up and said, ‘Can you do it?,’ he said ‘yeah!’ So, this is great.”

Other pairings and performances throughout the night includede the Jonas Brothers and Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus, Kanye West and Estelle, and Coldplay with Jay-Z. The standout performance of the night was Jennifer Hudson with “You Pulled Me Through.” The 51st Annual Grammy Awards aired on CBS-TV Sunday night, February 8.