Wild At Heart

Wild Bill Ketelhut provides the "blog" to this anti-blog

Wild At Heart

For someone who loves music as much as I do, it still amazes me that most year’s I totally forget about the Grammy’s. Maybe it’s because I see average records by big name artists get nominated over wonderful albums by unknowns. The only good thing I really get out of the Grammy’s is looking at some of the lesser known musical categories (bluegrass, folk, blues, world) for potential new artists to listen to. I do like the Lifetime Achievement Award which could give a few pointers to the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame selection committee. It seems weird to see the Kingston Trio and the Ramones given the same award (not to mention Julie Andrews). I always look over the winners’ categories to look for surprises and this year I was amazed that Esperanza Spalding beat out Drake and Bieber (thankfully) for best new artist. I do like Florence + the Machine but thought they would be an outside chance. I didn’t even know most Grammy voters knew who Esperanza was. I saw her at the Detroit Jazz Festival in 2008 and here is some video a fan put up on youtube.

Also, while Cyndi didn’t win for best Blues album, it was nice seeing Pinetop Perkins & Willie 'Big Eyes' Smith win. They played a blues and boogie woogie festival in Detroit a couple of years ago at the Music Hall and they were awesome. At the age of 97, Pinetop is still putting on great shows and here is a song from the new album.

This is a pretty slow week for music though you can’t go wrong with Zydeco, Bland or Rasputina. Here are my picks for the week:

Tuesday (2/15) – Buckwheat Zydeco @ the Ark

Thursday (2/17) – RATT lead singer Stephen Pearcy @ Token Lounge

Friday (2/18) – Rick Springfield @ Motorcity Casino

Saturday (2/19) – Motor City Blues Festival featuring the Manhattans and the legendary Bobby "Blue" Bland @ Detroit Opera House

Sunday (2/20) – Goo Goo Dolls @ Caesar’s Casino, Rasputina @ Magic Stick

Not much else is going on as I started a new job today. So thankfully, I’m off the unemployment and back to work at a job where I get benefits. And to think I was looking for fulltime work for about 2 years in Detroit and it only took me about 3 months in Rochester. I guess sometimes it pays to get out of Dodge, but I still miss the city. See you next week.