Obama Beats Clinton! (In the Grammys, Anyway)

We won't know the outcome of the Barack Obama/Hillary Clinton presidential derby for some time, but here's a sure thing: Obama has beaten a Clinton in 2008 at the Grammy Awards. Obama won the Best Spoken Word Grammy for the audio version of his book, "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream."

Obama beat out former president Bill Clinton, who was nominated for his book "Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World." What's more, Obama beat out another former president (Jimmy Carter), who was nominated for "Sunday Mornings in Plains: Bringing Peace to a Changing World." Also in the running was Maya Angelou, the poet who was a supporter of the Clintons.

Don't feel bad for the Clintons as far as the Grammys go, though... Hillary won the same award 12 years ago for her first book, "It Takes a Village." And Bill Clinton was won the award twice.

Woody Guthrie Nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award

It's been 40 years since he died, but folk music pioneer Woody Guthrie is nominated for a 2008 Grammy award for a rare live recording of his, The Live Wire - Woody Guthrie In Performance 1949.

A native of Okema, Oklahoma, Guthrie is known for many classic American songs, most notably This Land Is Your Land. When he died of Huntington's Chorea in 1967, he left behind hundreds of lyrics for songs.

Woody's son Arlo Guthrie was a popular folk singer in the 1960s and 1970s who is best known for the song "Alice's Restaurant." Woody's daughter Nora Guthrie manages the Woody Guthrie archives, and about a decade ago she enlisted the British singer Billy Bragg and the American alt-country band Wilco to put music to some of the many pages of lyrics by Woody Guthrie that had no music. You can learn more about Woody Guthrie and his archives at www.woodyguthrie.org.

Sarah Lee Guthrie, a daughter of Arlo Guthrie, makes music with her husband Johnny Irion.

Woody Guthrie died of Huntington’s Chorea in Queens, NY on October 3, 1967. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 in the "Early Influence" category.

The 1976 biography "Bound for Glory" starred David Carradine as Woody Guthrie.

2008 Grammys: Predictions on Who Will Win

No, they're not my picks... I'm pretty bad at correctly choosing the winners of awards. I've been doing an Oscars pool at a friend's annual party and the only time I came close to winning was the year I spent all of five minutes on my ballot and pretty much guessed at most of the categories.

So I'm turning to some other sources for their picks on who's going to win the 2008 Grammys this Sunday in Los Angeles.

Rolling Stone weighs in with who they think will win, and who should win, in their opinion.

The Top 40/Pop guide for About.com lists his predictions, explaining the thinking behind his picks.

For those of you more interested in the handicapping of the Grammys rather than musical value, the Web site Betfirms offers its predictions. The site also offers articles on betting on poker, football, etc., so after you check out the Grammy predictions you can slide right into some serious gambling, if you choose.

Amy Winehouse Gets Her Visa... But Too Late for Grammys

Amy Winehouse finally got her visa to come to the U.S., but it came too late for her to get to the Grammys on Sunday. Winehouse's visa request was originally turned down due to immigration rules covering "use and abuse of narcotics," a U.S. State Department official was quoted as saying in an ABC News article.

Winehouse will perform live during the Grammys via satellite from a studio in London, which was the original fallback plan when her original visa application was turned down. Winehouse, her album "Back to Black," and her single "Rehab" are nominated for a total of six Grammys, and she will be able to accept any awards she wins via the satellite hookup.

ABC News said that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had been "rapidly" processing Winehouse's appeal, and the staff of the U.S. Embassy in London had been working to speed up her application.

Grammy Nominations Out; Problem Children Score Big

Being a temperamental, or downright self-destructive, artist seems to be no obstacle to racking up Grammy nominations. Kanye West, who likes to take the stage to voice his displeasure when he doesn't win, scored a total of 8 nominations for the 2008 Grammy Awards, while train wreck Amy Winehouse, who seems to see how many times and ways she can mess up her career and life, racked up 6 nominations.

I have to admit I haven't heard all of Amy Winehouse's much-praised album, “Back to Black.” The song rehab I found to be catchy upon first listening, but now I find it tiresome. I like the old-style soul sound of her CD (from what I've heard of it), but I'm not sure whether credit should go to Winehouse or to her producers and her outstanding backing band, the Dap-Kings (who are also the band for Sharon Jones, a journeywoman soul artist who gets about 5% of the attention the tattooed, drunk-and-disorderly Winehouse garners).

I'll need to look over the 2008 Grammy nominations in more detail before deciding how good a job the Grammy folks did in their picks. I was glad to see one of my favorite singers, Feist, nominated for Best New Artist (even though she came out with her third album in 2007), and to see the Albuquerque-born band The Shins nominated for Best Alternative Album.