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I just finished watching the Grammys, and now I'm going to share my random thoughts about the show. I wrote down short notes and reminders during commercials so that I know what I want to talk about.

- Coldplay was performing "Talk" when I began watching this year's Grammys. What's up with Chris Martin? His hair's all shaggy and he looks like he hasn't shaved in months. Help him out, Gwenyth! Good performance though, although I have to question Chris going out into the crowd. Who does he think he is, Bono?

- Congrats to Alison Krauss for winning country album of the year! She and her band totally deserve it, and I was rooting for them to win. She looked REALLY uncomfortable up on stage, though. I think her win may have caught her by surprise. I think that's her 18th Grammy now!

- U2's first performance was pretty good, they certainly rocked the house. Their second performance, "One" with special guest Mary J. Blige, had mixed results. Mary sang the hell out of the song, but her performance and U2's music just didn't blend well. I think it would have been better if she had just covered the song in her own way. I was seriously wondering why she and U2 were paired up, but that's the Grammys for ya.

- How adorable is Kelly Clarkson? She had the greatest night of her life, not only performing (and performing very well, I might add) but also winning best pop album. I loved how she gave respect to the other women in the audience. It was cool to see her go straight to Gwen Stefani and give love, even though it was her moment to shine.

- Paul McCartney did really good, as can be expected. It's great to see him up there doing his thing, and it's a crying shame that was his first Grammy performance! His voice sounded a little weak at the start of "Helter Skelter" but he finished it out wonderfully. It's great to see Paul getting some much-deserved love, even if he didn't win album of the year.

- Why do the presenters mostly do such a terrible job? Will.I.Am of the Black-Eyed Peas should have just SHUT UP and presented the award without making it all about him! Did Taboo really say "I'm the Mexican in the group"? People, just say your little thing, read the names, and step aside!

- The Sly Stone tribute was fairly good. I think there were probably too many people put up on stage. They should have just kept Joss Stone and Steven Tyler/Joe Perry up there the whole time. Sly Stone himself looks to be in pretty bad shape. He looked like he was in NO condition to be performing. And what's with the yellow mohawk? Oh well, his music still deserves a tribute and I'm glad he got one tonight.

- Craziest performance of the night was Jay-Z/Linkin Park and . . . Paul McCartney? Jay and LP did a great job as usual with their main performance, and I was wondering why Jay was wearing a John Lennon shirt. Then Chester started singing "Yesterday," and Paul comes out in a white suit and sings along! That was just really weird and random, but it's still cool too see Paul come out on stage once again. I wonder what the reaction was when someone proposed that Paul join a rapper and hard rock band on stage for one of his softer hits.

- Bruce Springsteen's performance was Ok, but Bruce needs to work on enunciating his words so we can understand them! Or maybe it was something to do with the microphone. He really is another Bob Dylan, isn't he? If he wasn't Bruce, you'd think he was imitating Dylan with his wild hair and harmonica.

- Congrats to U2 for song of the year! I think that was the song I wanted to win the most out of the nominees for that category. Very weak song of the year field this year.

- Another crazy performance tonight was given by Kanye West and Jamie Foxx. It was just silly and strange and hardly had anything to do with music. I'll admit the marching band thing was creative, but what was with the "Kanye and Jamie are opposing schools" thing? The song itself was ok, but when the cheerleaders and "Broke Phi Broke" guys came out, things just got too stupid and flashy. Stick to the music, Kanye.

- Major congrats to Green Day for winning record of the year! I was rooting for them in that category, and they won! "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" is a great song, and I think it's as deserving as any other for record of the year. Somehow they managed to get Grammys two years in a row for the same album! Not too bad at all.

- I was not very impressed with the best new artist category this year. The only artist I think will have much of a career is John Legend, and that's who won. I'm kind of sick of his song, but at least he's talented and low-key.

- Congrats to U2 for winning album of the year. Wow, they did some major winning tonight, didn't they? My personal pick, though, was Paul McCartney. Hey, at least Kanye didn't win.

- The New Orleans tribute was touching and probably the best musical performance of the night. Too bad they couldn't have made it longer, though. I wanted more Elvis Costello! Hopefully everyone who won a Grammy will donate some money for some musical instruments for the out of work musicians down in Louisiana.

- There are more and more performances each year on the Grammys, and I think they're doing far too many. The awards hardly seem to matter anymore. It's like a big concert all night, with a few awards given out to shake things up a bit. On the other hand, more performances mean we don't have to listen to the crap the presenters have to/want to say before they hand out the awards.

My score for this year's Grammys ceremony: C+. It would be a C- if it wasn't for good performances from Paul McCartney and Coldplay. My hope for next year is that we can have more awards given out, and fewer random and weird collaborations. I'm glad I didn't even watch the Madonna/The Gorillaz thing. My final hope for next year is that we can have some better nominees. Very few songs and albums really stood out this year, for me at least. It's up to the musicians to change that.