Grammy Time ... With Some Tiger Interference

Hard to get your word out when another story sucks up all the oxygen. Tiger and his "transgressions" stole from Lady Ga-Ga and everyone else's screen time. Time that might have otherwise been use to talk music.

Only a temporary setback. (Though more Tiger tales out each day) Looking at the Grammy nomination bounce and buzz, Beyonce's talk/buzz seemed minimal. Taylor Swift, on the other hand, with eight nods, was the talk of the town again. Leno had her on and no shortage on mentions ...Google her name: Results 1 - 10 of about 18,700,000 for Taylor Swift. (0.19 seconds) 18 million hits ... whew!

L.A. Times even blogged a Kanye-like comment: she didn't deserve to win Album of the year. Taylor does get the pop sympathizers stirred up, doesn't she! TS is almost over-exposed in the Country world, but can't help it with her non-Country award season wins and nominations. It's just simply her time. The romping in a bikini on You Tube ... not sure how that fits into the mix. Either way she's a big deal and hopefully can have a few more dreams come true if the Grammy Gods shine on her.

There were other Grammy ins & outs. Keith Urban is a Grammy voter favorite ... Sugarland seems to be, too. Zac Brown up for Best New Artist, a pop category, a very hard for a Country client to win. Lady A is so good, but will the Grammy voters know about them like they do Sugarland? The answer is maybe.

Lots of good folks in all the categories ... getting on TV that night remains the goal. Taylor gets on a bunch. The producers have some room to move otherwise. Keith's four, BUT he played the AMAs -- that has, in the past, hurt your chances. Lady A sat out the AMAs and had a great moment on the CMAs ... who knows? More politics behind the scenes of this than a Baghdad peace meeting.

The concert season next year looks insane. The most big festivals on record and who will have all the money to do this? Even K Chesney can't seem to sit on the sidelines as planned. He's out there a few times for huge dollars.

The end-of-the-year stuff is coming very shortly ... also this will be end of the decade too! Christmas shopping ... beginning to hear a little Christmas music, but not a ton. '09 has been one weird year -- 10 points at being better, but a hell of a lot of uncertainty...

The year of the Taylor ... that much is for certain. The year of the AXE, too, with many heads left on the cutting room floor. Big names saying goodbye or being told to say goodbye. No shortage of stress going into the often stress-filled holidays. Just be glad you aren't having Christmas at Tiger's house!