Bob,

For close Grammy-watchers, by far the most cringe-worthy moment of the show was not Dylan (weird for years).
And it wasn’t the Aretha tribute.
But rather, it was Aretha’s over-the-top left-field tribute to: ‘that Grammy Visionary, Producer Ken Ehrlich.’
Whoa? What the hell?  What just happened there?!

Well let’s see.
Back from death’s door, ‘Re looks 100 pounds thinner, and not at all bad.
So she does the bit, but lobs in this completely inappropriate inside-baseball kudo to Ehrlich.
Who JUST CREATED THIS SHOW-OPENING TRIBUTE TO HER that lasted forever.
And don’t forget, it was Ehrlich that had her thank-you Clip produced in Detroit.  

This circular ass-kissing just got a little sick, right.

Now wouldn’t you think somebody (the Grammy folks, Portnow, John Cossette, somebody) would’ve maybe had a comment about this platinum ego-trip?
And then said to Ehrlich, no fuckin’ way, do an edit, man, fix it, or drop it, but, hey, that’s NOT going in the GRAMMY SHOW.

Well, it seems NO ONE SAW IT IN ADVANCE!!  
That’s right.  I called around.
Seems it wan’t screened for the Grammy folks, or Cossette.  
Which is apparently very unusual.

Even more suspicious, seems it wasn’t even run during the Dress Rehearsal.
So NOBODY SAW IT in advance, except Ehrlich.
Which is way, way unusual.
Unless Ken went to great lengths to HIDE IT!!
Which he obviously did.
Think about that.

So what do we have here now:
The Producer of this uber-big network prime-time special, the biggest in music, ARRANGES for and PRODUCES a personal love note from the Queen of Soul to himself, and then HIDES it from the folks that OWN the show (the Grammys), and SLIPS it into their live show without their knowledge.  

I’m told that when some officers including the Chairman of the Board asked Portnow how this could happen, Portnow backed Ehrlich.

Go figure.

btw–it was a pretty great show.
Eminem, Gaga, Mumford, Cee-lo, Arcade, and, Mick ‘friggin’ Jagger.
Best ratings in 10 years, since 2001!!
Which, don’t ya know, was the last year Mike Greene was there.

Which only make this episode more cringe-worthy.

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