Crib Notes

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES: Herbie Hancock wins Album of the Year at the 50th annual Grammy Awards.

(Photo by Kwaku Alston)

Every year, we get excited about the Grammys and the Oscars in the weeks before they’re held, and then complain about them the night afterward. But out of the two, I think the Grammys have it tougher. When it comes to film, people love their niches — art flicks, action movies, teen comedies, whatever — but manage to agree on a few great movies. Unfortunately, music is hobbled by generational, cultural and even racial divides. Worse, each group claims to have the best musical taste, and has little tolerance for anything else.

It’s rare when everyone agrees an album is good, which seemingly happened with Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black last year. An indicator of its vast appeal was the wide range of media that gossiped about her well-chronicled drug problems: websites and blogs, tabloid glossies such as Us Weekly, music magazines such as Rolling Stone, and even mainstream publications such as the New York Times. Black and white, young and old audiences bought Back to Black, and everyone took interest in her musical and personal life.

That’s why Winehouse dominated the 50th annual Grammy Awards last night. She won five out of the six awards she was nominated for and nearly swept the major categories, picking up Record of the Year and Song of the Year for her “Rehab” single and Best New Artist.

Winehouse’s sole loss came in the Album of the Year category. Although many observers were surprised when Herbie Hancock’s River: The Joni Letters beat Winehouse’s Back to Black and Kanye West’s Graduation, it wasn’t out of the ordinary. When it comes to the Album of the Year, the Recording Academy, which hands out the awards, tends to opt for two choices: a multiplatinum hit that draws a diverse audience or a late-period work from a legacy artist. Hancock’s win was something akin to a lifetime achievement award for a jazz legend. (My colleague Andisheh Nouraee calls this the “Steely Dan award.” Steely Dan’s Everything Must Go famously beat out West’s The College Dropout at the 2004 Grammys.)

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Winehouse’s husband Blake Fielder-Civil was arrested today in London. Fielder-Civil, due in court next week on charges of beating bartender James King, is accused of “perverting the course of justice” by allegedly offering King £200,000 not to testify, the Times of London reports. National newspaper the Daily Mirror apparently tipped off cops who busted down the couple’s door last night and found the house empty.

If he’s found guilty, Fielder-Civil could be sentenced to life in prison.

Recently, bad press concerning drugs, fighting and general bad behavior has entrenched the songstress and her “better half,” overshadowing Winehouse’s musical successes.

For more about Winehouse and her music, check out her website, www.amywinehouse.co.uk.