Reading through my Facebook news feed Monday morning, I felt kind of like the only guy who had just missed a good party.
In this case, I didn't even realize the party was going on. It was the annual Grammys telecast, which aired the previous night. Apparently, this was a big deal to many of my Facebook friends.
"I'm impressed that Billie Joe Armstrong pulled off a country song. But he should have smashed his guitar after, just to balance things out," said one friend.
"So Beyoncé gets a huge fail and loses her cool points. What the heck was that?!" commented another.
"Pink is awesome!" gushed one.
I can't argue with any of that, because I didn't watch it. My Sunday night television viewing was split between the NFL Pro Bowl and "The Godfather Part II," which was airing in AMC. I guess I'm not cool enough for the Grammys.
But urged on by one friend, I took to YouTube to see what it was I had missed. In one clip, Katy Perry performed with somebody named "Juicy J." Now, I am aware of Ms. Perry, and I have no problem with any of her music. And I can admit that from a production standpoint, it was an impressive performance. But "Juicy J"? This was the first time I had ever heard of him. He wasn't bad, mind you; he was just a complete unknown to me prior to this point.
It made me feel kind of like the Bruno Kirby character in "Good Morning Vietnam." In one of many great scenes from the movie, Lt. Hauk (played by Kirby) admonishes Adrian Cronauer (played by Robin Williams) for playing "inappropriate" music.
"Furthermore, you are to stick to playing normal modes of music, not weird stuff," Hauk says. "Those who we'd find acceptable here would include Lawrence Welk, Jim Nabors, Mantovani ... Percy Faith ... Andy Williams, Perry Como and certain ballads by Mr. Frank Sinatra."
OK, so my musical taste isn't that ancient, but you get the idea. I'm kind of old. A little out of touch, perhaps. In the most general terms, my knowledge of modern music pretty much ended sometime in the late 1990s. Out of more than a hundred songs on my iPod, I can probably count on one hand the number of tunes that were released this century. And I'm not ashamed to admit that I do have a Frank Sinatra song on my playlist.
Of course, there were some "oldies" at the Grammys. I'm told the two living Beatles -- Paul and Ringo -- performed together. Apparently Chicago took the stage with Robin Thicke. And Led Zeppelin even walked away with a Grammy win (for Best Rock Album). So perhaps I might have gotten some enjoyment out of the Grammys, after all.
Still, I don't regret not watching. I can't help but think that if I had sat down to watch that show, it would be several hours of my life that I could never get back.
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I did manage to glean some good life wisdom from Facebook Monday morning, however. It came by way of a comment made by my friend's 8-year-old son, which she shared on the social media site.
Apparently, the young boy had suffered through several unpleasant experiences at the dentist's office, but recently, had a good experience. When his mom told him how proud of him she was, he said, "I just kept telling myself, 'This is what life is like.'"
I think he nailed it. It's something we all could tell ourselves, from time to time.
aweld@blythevillecourier.com