Put A Spotlight On The Silent Stars

The Pompeii Oscars were sure a lesson in how not to do an awards show. Hope the CMA was watching and reading the comments from the disenchanted.

You can’t just have the flavors of the moment and expect anyone to watch.

Unknowns don’t attract mass audiences. The Oscars let winners talk as long as they wanted to. BORING. No comedy, no major box office stars, political under- and overtones. Lowest rated ever, but still bigger than the lowest-rated Grammys.

As media tastes and viewing habits change, you have to throw everything you have at the show. You can’t lie to the audience and imply Dolly Parton will be there when she is just doing a taped intro. Audiences remember getting burned by that, and that carries over to the next year.

Award shows in general are now in the intensive care unit. If they don’t start having fun, and parading out high Q stars with the fresh faces, they are dead! They may still be dead. I heard someone call them an infomercial with prizes. The golden goose’s head is in the oven!

All hands of deck. Promote who will all be there, give away a car, think outside the box! Stop letting these industry shows be platforms for ONE network.

It’s a genuine mess right now, with little time to fix it.

The recording industry lost one of its greatest gentlemen this week: 91-year-old Hall of Fame recording engineer Albert Harry Schmitt. He captured the studio magic and got 23 Grammys and credits on 150 Gold and Platinum albums. Enough stars to fill a galaxy, and too classy a man to tell you all he saw. In his 80s, he won two Grammys for his work with Paul McCartney.

It is more than time for Country music to start shining the light on these unsung stars of Music Row. Make that someone’s project to get some well-deserved credit for capturing those songs. Al never used EQ, FYI. These legends’ ears are special, and they need to be recognized and their work explained. It’s nerd stuff, but fascinating.

Lifetime CMA Awards, or some kind of special acknowledgement. Ernie Winfrey and Mike Bradley were, for years, behind the board at The SoundShop in Nashville. Lets learn about the others!

Garth Brooks is leading the cows out of the barn in July. The big stadium shows return beginning in Vegas then, on July 17th, in Salt Lake City. It’s not a stadium, but a free crowd in downtown Nashville for the 4th of July may be above 300,000.

Brad Paisley is playing for the masses there, and Chris Stapleton is at Wrigley Field in mid-July.

The debate rages on: masks on or off outside? Vax required or not on cruises, planes and concerts? Lots to be worked out. Meanwhile, keep getting folks to take those shots! Look at India. That is terrifying! We need to get that 1/3 of the population not doing it to change their minds.