OK, it's just me, really. But after looking at the nominees for this year's Grammys (to be awarded Sunday, January 31), a few additional thoughts:
1) First, congratulations to all the nominated artists.
2) Well, I already said it, but I was surprised that Peter Himmelman wasn't nominated for My Trampoline. Quality of the album aside (and it's a great album), he was nominated last year -- surprising that he wasn't nominated again.
3) Because being nominated before definitely helps -- Cathy & Marcy and Buck Howdy both have previous nominations in the category (with C&M winning twice before), and Ziggy Marley's won 4 Grammys as well.
4) It looks like Milkshake took the "Brady Rymer" slot I had the Sippy Cups pegged for. I thought their constant touring to places like LA and NYC would help them. Insufficiently, it turned out.
5) Preschool teachers around the country are cheering Greg & Steve's nomination -- seriously, those guys' disks are in literally every classroom at Little Boy Blue's preschool.
Here are the three final points:
6) People more closely tied to the industry had some sense this would happen -- not only did Buck correctly pick Milkshake (not so surprising) and Greg & Steve (very surprising), but I'd also heard about Jonathan Sprout getting some attention.
7) Of the 6 artists nominated this year, 4 of the 6 played the Grammy Museum kids' series. Only Greg & Steve and Jonathan Sprout did not. I'm thinking booking agents should be calling to offer their clients' services for the 2010 series, because it couldn't hurt to play in front of Grammy voters, no?
8) Finally, the arcane voting rules make it hard to project what might happen in selecting a winner. Folks can only vote in 8 of the 29 fields. That means that people have to want to vote in the kids' category and that will keep Ziggy Marley from running away with the award. It means, in basest vote-gathering terms, that Marley needs to convince his reggae fans in the Academy to crossover just as it means that Cathy & Marcy need to convince their folk fans in the Academy to do the same. My money's on Ziggy (note: not actual money), but I wouldn't be totally surprised to see Cathy & Marcy take the award.
