whatever homes. your wife has fooled you into believing the Dixie Chicks
are something. Justin Timberlake is legit. and besides. kelly clarkson is much more than an American Idol winner...the rest are average at best, but you know how kelly holds a place in my heart. that girl can belt.

Adam Paul, my beloved brother, in response to the fact that I took exception to his
dissing of the Dixie Chicks in his Grammy predictions last week.

I've used this space to soapbox for the Dixie Chicks before, so I'll spare you the full-blown ordeal. Let me just say however, that I am very happy to see Natalie finally emancipated. Let me also say that the Grammys have begun to take the long way around to becoming a legitimate award in my eyes. Much to the chagrin of some folks in the audience, I have issues with American Idol winners winning Grammy's. They can have all of the bar prizes and MTV Video Awards they want, but please.

I've watched exactly one episode of American Karaokee in my entire life, and in that brief experience I learned that the young lady who won a Grammy last night wasn't even the best musician or singer during her season. But she's cute and Americans dig cute girls who sing trite songs that mention Jesus. Whatev.

So I'm glad that the Chicks cleaned up last night. It spoke as much about politics as it did about music, but both needed to be recognized. I'm glad that Gnarls Barkley won because it validates the number of hours I spent listening to them this summer and gives them some love for being a truly unique sound on the radio. Just bummed that they didn't don the Star Wars garb like they did for MTV. I'm glad I have the whole thing on TiVo so that I can watch all of the live performances again.

My apologies to all of the Timberlake fans out there, but I"m also glad that JTim got shut out of the major awards. No offense, but he just isn't that great. He has a fine album, but it's all thanks to Timbaland. Go back and listen to Timbaland's stuff from the late 90's or Missy Elliots stuff from a few years later. JTims stuff now sounds pretty much the same, except that JT is singing background over Timbaland's tight beats. At least Missy is a lyricist who brings an added dimension to the stuff. I'm sure JT will do the right thing, scratch his name off of the Grammy he did win and put Timbaland's name on there instead. Or at least he should.

I'll be listening to the Dixie Chicks for the rest of the day if you need me.

Fair Dinkum