Free Republic

If you’re a dedicated country music fan, just hearing the names Joey and Rory Feek is probably enough to produce tears streaming down your face. But if, like many others, those names don’t yet ring a bell, you might want to grab some tissues before reading on — or before watching Monday night’s Grammys. You’re going to hear a lot about the couple over the next few days.

South Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s office is claiming her appearance at the Grammy awards Sunday wasn’t a just a junket for a star-struck politician dying to rub elbows with the glitterati. It was a research trip, paid for by the congresswoman’s campaign funds. That’s the story being spun by Wasserman Schultz’s office, anyway, after a New York Times reporter posted a photo of the Democrat in the background of a television standup – a photo that rocketed around the Twitter world. (The presence of Texas Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee in the same photo helped.)

RUSH: Now, I haven't seen the full transcript of Obama's public service announcement on violence against women that ran during the Grammys. Did he mention ISIS or Al-Qaeda at all? (interruption) He didn't mention ISIS or Al-Qaeda in that PSA during the Grammys? (interruption) Well, just domestic -- oh, just some domestic folks that were engaging in -- oh, okay. So he just confined himself to making up statistics about the number of women who were sexually assaulted in the US. Did you hear about this? This is really, really problematic here. The president said, "Right now nearly one in...

On Sunday night President Obama delivered a pre-taped speech to audience members at the Grammy awards. Drudge posted a photo of the President from the speech and called Obama’s appearance “greasy.” He continued with the following ominous words: Hoarse, watery eyes. Like he knows something terrible coming. Very unsettling…

Forty-eight years after he won his first Grammy Award, country music legend Glen Campbell won another honor, claiming Best Country Song at the 2015 Grammys (with co-writer Julian Raymond) for ‘I’m Not Gonna Miss You,’ the theme song from ‘Glen Campbell … I’ll Be Me,’ the documentary that followed Campbell on his farewell tour as he battled Alzheimer’s disease. While the 78-year-old Campbell was not in attendance, his wife Kim took to the podium to speak on behalf of her husband. “I’m so proud of him tonight,” she told the crowd. “It’s been an amazing journey. He’s been so courageous...

..... Video The artists behind a few of this year's biggest party anthems including Thrift Shop, Same Love and Can't Hold Us have been the subject of Jewish controversy after the duo's rapper Macklemore appeared to be dressed up as a stereotypical Jew during a Friday performance, which was captured in a six-second YouTube clip. ..... Upon realizing how offended viewers were from his so-called stereotypical Jewish attire, Macklemore defended himself on Twitter Monday morning, saying that was not at all what he had in mind. ... "A fake witches nose, wig, and beard = random costume. Not my idea...

This year, the Grammy Awards weren't just about the music, they were also about making a statement in the same-sex marriage debate. Heavily hyped in the hours leading up to Sunday night's show, 34 couples -- both gay and straight -- exchanged rings and said "I do," as officiated on stage by Queen Latifah. The actress/rapper/talk show host was recently deputized by Los Angeles County to legally conduct wedding ceremonies and will sign the marriage certificates for each couple. The event took place on a stage set to resemble a giant chapel with stained-glass windows during a performance by hip-hop...

....The 56th Grammy Awards were held last night, and while there were no twerking incidents to stir controversy, a planned marriage ceremony for 34 gay and straight couples officiated by Queen Latifah in the middle of the rap by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis about marriage equality (with a cameo by Madonna) had people talking. "It was a brave move by the rap duo who are just experiencing their first flush of fame, but it showed the Seattle based duo are serious about using their profile to push a progressive message," writes the New York Post's Hardeep Phull. "It's something that...

It’s not every day 33 couples of different types — same-sex, heterosexual, interracial — tie the knot at once on live TV. In fact, it was unprecedented…until the 56th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday night. During their performance of “Same Love,” Grammy-award winning duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis were joined on stage by Queen Latifah, who officiated a mass wedding, followed by a surprise performance by Madonna, who sang her hit “Open Your Heart.” “I look forward to the day when presiding over a historic wedding ceremony like this is just the norm,” Latifah, 43, told reporters backstage...

Yes, I stayed up late and watched the 56th Annual Grammy Awards so you didn’t have to. You’re welcome. I felt that watching the annual freak show would be good conditioning for tomorrow’s State Of The Union (SOTU). I was not wrong…about the freak show anyway.Before I begin, I’d like to acknowledge the prescience of the Buggles who accurately predicted the migration of the music industry from being about the “song” to being about the “performance” back in 1978 with their hit “Video killed the radio star.” To this day, their jingle-tune is best remembered as the video that launched...

Former Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron, who is preparing for the NFL Draft, was watching the Grammys on Sunday and felt that the "really demonic" performances showed that "there is a lot of evil in the world." At the Grammys, Katy Perry dressed up as a witch and was "burned at the stake" in her act while gay couples were married to the song "same love." Though it was unclear what performance prompted the tweet, McCarron later re-tweeted a response in which one of his followers wrote, "I know right? I can only imagine what Katy's Preacher Father is thinking." Other...

While the Oscars routinely go political and the VMAs pull out all the shock stops, the annual Grammys telecast eschews overtly dividing moments. Assuming you don't mind musical genre mashups worth rubbernecking over. Tonight, LL Cool J emceed another Grammys telecast aimed at the widest audience possible until rappers Macklemore and Ryan Lewis sang Same Love while 33 couples--both straight and gay--got married. "This song is a love song not for some of us, but for all of us," said Queen Latifah who officiated the live wedding in front of a church-like setting complete a gospel choir. "Strip away the...

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis cap off an enormous year at tonight's GRAMMYs, garnering nominations in multiple categories -- including for Song of the Year for "Same Love." The duo will perform the marriage-equality anthem during the ceremony, and during the performance, dozens of couples will be wed in an on-air ceremony.

Kanye West took aim at U.S. Recording Academy officials for his Album of the Year Grammy snub at a show in Arizona on Dec 10, suggesting the oversight is racially charged.

I’ve been so busy lately that I forgot to tell you about Lady M’s latest honor: she’s been nominated for a Grammy! No, not for her singing, silly! For reading: just like Big Guy! And I think she’s a shoo-in for this year’s Best Spoken Word Album award for the audio edition of her book American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America. Lady M was as gracious as usual in issuing her acknowledgment of the nomination: "This nomination is such an honor not just for me, but for everybody who contributed to the...

Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" won record and song of the year. Rolling in the Deep" is a song recorded by English singer-songwriter Adele for her second studio album, 21. The song was written by Paul Epworth and Adele, who described it as a "dark blues-y gospel disco tune. It is considered to be a crossover hit, the biggest in the United States from the past 25 years, gaining airplay from many different radio formats. It was first released on 29 November 2010 as the lead single of the album. The lyrics describe the emotions of a scorned lover.

The guy walked up to me and said—well, what he said started with a word not often seen in print. He ended his two-word phrase with a “you”. Far from being insulted, I was instead so overcome by his artistic brilliance, by the sheer eloquence of his remark, that I organized an ad hoc street committee so that we could vote this gentleman a major award. The man, whose named I discovered to be Cee Lo Green, gracefully accepted our honorarium but said he thought it was misplaced. He explained that he wasn’t speaking to me, but that I happened...

Garth Brooks was in Washington D.C. recently to take part in "Grammys On The Hill," an event that supports intellectual property rights. During an interview with CBS, Garth spilled the news that he presented President Barak Obama with his second Grammy, for Best Spoken Word Album for Audacity of Hope. President Obama won his first Best Spoken Word Grammy in 2006. "We're the same except I don't have the peace prize," Garth joked with CBS reporter Bob Schieffer about his own two Grammys.

Is anybody watching the Grammy's? I don't usually but happened to tune in right when Celine and Carrie and Usher and Jennifer Hudson did a Michael Jackson number...but it was all about the trees and butterflies...however, the music was nice.

After 24 years, polka has had its last dance at the Grammys. The Recording Academy, which bestows the Grammy Awards, announced late on Wednesday that the polka category would be eliminated, saying in a statement that it had been cut “to ensure the awards process remains representative of the current musical landscape.” To many in the polka world, that read as a kind of industry code meaning that their genre — once capable of supporting artists with million-selling hits, but long since relegated to micro-niche status — had slipped off the mainstream radar entirely. “It’s devastating,” said Carl Finch of...