The 55th Annual Grammy Awards Live Real-Time Blogging

In about five minutes, the 55^th Annual Grammy Awards will air LIVE from the Staples Center in Los Angeles on CBS, hosted by LL Cool J.  Last year, the Grammy Telecast had a dark cloud over it, as the ceremony took place about 24 hours after the death of Grammy-winning singer Whitney Houston.

There will be a lot of performers singing tonight, from Taylor Swift to Elton John to Dave Grohl to Fun..

Also for this year’s ceremony, CBS lowered the boom on Grammy guests with a STRICT dress code that bans clothing that reveals the breast and buttock areas.

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8:01PM- There will be a lot of once-in-a-lifetime performances and collaborations, let’s get ready…

8:04PM- Up first, it’s Taylor Swift, dressed up for an Alice in Wonderland Tea Party with one of her 35 breakup songs “We Are Never, Never Ever Getting Back Together.”  The girl is only 23, and she’s written more breakup songs that we’ve listened to in our lifetime.  This is the Anti-Valentine’s Day Anthem for 2013.  This is also the Break Up Anthem of 2013, as well.

8:05PM- The Host, L.L. Cool J arrives to the stage.  “My friend T-Swizzle has also already won a Grammy tonight.”

8:06PM- “At the Grammy Awards, we will always get back together.”

8:07PM- “For Justin Timberlake in Memphis, from Beyonce in Houston, from Carrie Underwood in Oklahoma, from Adele in England, from Gotye in Bruges, and from Rihanna in Barbados…”- LL Cool J about the roots of the aspirations of many Grammy-nominated musical artists

8:08PM- “When I won my Grammys, I gave them to my Grammy.”- LL Cool J

8:09PM- “A Grammy isn’t just a shiny medal.  It is a dream come true.  Or in the case of Adele last year, six dreams come true.”- LL Cool J

8:13PM- Ed Sheeran and Sir Elton John perform Sheeran's “The A Team” on the Grammy stage.  Up next after the commercial break, the first category of the night, plus more presenters.

8:26PM- Fun. performs “Carry On” (the song heard in the pilot of the F/X comedy Legit), which is from their Grammy nominated Album, “Some Nights”.  Fun. leads with six Grammy nominations, including the coveted “Top Four” (Album/Record/Song of the Year, and Best New Artist).

8:27PM- More categories and more great performances after (yes, you guessed it) another commercial break.

8:32PM- Grammy winners Bonnie Raitt and John Mayer present “Over You” and “Home”, performed by country singers Dierks Bentley and (often outspoken) Miranda Lambert.

8:38PM- A video clip of LL Cool J on “American Bandstand”.

8:39PM- LL Cool J pays tribute to the late Dick Clark.

8:41PM- Nelly and Wiz Khalifa perform together.

8:42PM- Nelly and Wiz Khalifa also present the second award tonight, Country Solo Performance.  “Home” (Dierks Bentley), “Springsteen” (Eric Church), “Cost on Livin’” (Ronnie Dunn), “Wanted” (Hunter Hayes), “Over” (Blake Shelton), and “Blown Away” (Carrie Underwood) are the nominees for Country Solo Performance.

8:43PM- Carrie Underwood wins the Grammy for Country Solo Performance for “Blown Away”.

8:44PM- More commercials, and after that, more performances, and husband-and-wife duo Tim McGraw and Faith Hill present “Song of the Year”.

8:49PM- Husband and Wife Country Singers Tim McGraw and Faith Hill present the Grammy for “Song of the Year”.  Will breakout “We Are Young” take it?  Will the song of the summer “Call Me Maybe”?  OR Will Another?

8:51PM- “The A Team” (Ed Sheeran), “Adorn” (Miguel), “Call Me Maybe (Carly Rae Jepsen), “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You” (Kelly Clarkson), and “We Are Young” (Fun. featuring Janelle Monae) are the nominees for Song of the Year.

8:52PM- “We Are Young” takes home the Grammy for Fun.

8:53PM- “This is in HD, and if anyone can tell by our faces, we are not very young.  We’ve been doing this for the past twelve years.”

8:53PM- “I want to thank Chick Corea and the band, I want to thank Jay-Z, I want to thank Taylor, I want to thank everyone.”

8:54PM- Johnny Depp introduces Sublime and Mumford and Sons, who perform “I Will Wait For You” together on the Grammy stage.

8:58PM- Another commercial break, but there are a lot of performances coming up, such as Justin Timberlake, Carrie Underwood, and Rihanna.

9:03PM- Ellen DeGeneres and Beyonce introduce Justin Timberlake, who returns to the Grammy stage with a performance from his upcoming album “The 20/20 Experience”.

9:06PM- The screen goes from color to black and white as Justin Timberlake performs some songs from his upcoming album “The 20/20 Experience”.  The first song is called “Show You a Few Things”.

9:06PM- Joining Timberlake on the stage now is Jay-Z.

9:07PM- From black and white to color, Timberlake performs a third song from his new album.

9:11PM- Kelly Rowland and Oz present the fourth category of the night, a brand new category, “Best Urban Contemporary Album”, and “Fortune” (Chris Brown”, “Kaleidoscope Dream” (Miguel), and “Channel Orange” (Frank Ocean) are the three nominees in this Grammy Freshman category.

9:12PM- Frank Ocean, an openly gay R&B artist, wins the Grammy for Best Urban Contemporary Album for “Channel Orange”.

9:13PM- “The best way you disengage an audience is imagining them naked, but I don’t want to do that.  I’ll pretend that you are all kids with tuxedoes.”- Frank Ocean

9:14PM- Commercial Break is up now, but Maroon 5 and Alicia Keys are waiting, as are Keith Urban and Kaley Cuoco to present the next category.

9:19PM- Dave Grohl and NCIS co-star Pauley Perrette present the fifth category of the night, which happens to be Best Rock Performance, and announce the Producer of the Year winner Dan Auerbach.  Grohl and Perrette also acknowledge the technicians.

9:20PM- “Hold On” (Alabama Shakes), “Lonely Boy” (Black Keys), “Charlie Brown” (Coldplay), “I Will Wait” (Mumford and Sons), and “We Take Care of Our Own” (Bruce Springsteen) are the nominees for Best Rock Performance.

9:21PM- The Black Keys win the Grammy for Best Rock Performance for “Lonely Boy”.

9:22PM- “WE hold these truths to be self-evident as the Grammys bring music together.”- LL Cool J introducing Maroon Five and Alicia Keys who are going to perform “Daylight” and “Girl on Fire”.

9:23PM- Maroon 5 starts off with “Daylight” with (part-time Reality Show Judge and Actor) Adam Levine singing “Daylight” with the rest of Maroon 5.

9:24PM- Alicia Keys joins in with her breakout hit “Girl on Fire” (which has been heard in a Visa Mastercard commercial, and on last week’s episode of Glee).

9:27PM- Kaley Cuoco and (American Idol Judge) Keith Urban present Best Pop Vocal Album.

9:27PM- “And now Keith Urban and I are going to be the next presenting country duo.”- Kaley Cuoco
“They cut that.”- Keith Urban

9:28PM- “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” (Kelly Clarkson), “Ceremonials” (Florence and the Machine), “Some Nights” (Fun.), “Overexposed” (Maroon 5), and “The Truth About Love” (Pink) are the nominees for Best Pop Vocal Album.

9:28PM- “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” wins the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album for Kelly Clarkson.

9:29PM- “Miguel, I don’t know who you are, but we should sing together.”- Kelly Clarkson

9:30PM- More performances and Best New Artist, after the next commercial break.

9:36PM- Rihanna performs “Stay” on the Grammy Stage with John Mayer.

9:40PM- Carly Rae Jepsen and Neo present the Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration”

9:41PM- “No Church in the Wild” wins Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for Jay-Z, Kanye West, Frank Ocean and The Dream.

9:44PM- Glenn Gould, Charlie Haden, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Carole King, Patti Page, Ravi Shankar, and The Temptations are this year’s Lifetime Achievement Grammy Winners.  Page and Shankar are two of the artists who have passed away in recent months.

9:49PM- Actress Kat Dennings introduces The Black Keys and Dr. John and the Preservation Band.

9:51PM- The Black Keys and Dr. John and the Preservation Band perform The Black Keys’ Grammy-winning “Lonely Boy”.

9:53PM- Kelly Clarkson pays tribute to Patti Page and Carole King, two of this year’s Lifetime Achievement winners.  Clarkson kicks off with Page’s 1950 hit “The Tennessee Waltz”.

9:55PM- Next, Clarkson moves to a song that was written by Carole King that was made famous by Aretha Franklin.  Yes, you guessed it, “(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman”.

9:57PM- Clarkson also presents the Grammy for Best Country Album.

9:58PM- “Uncaged” (Zac Brown Band), “Hunter Hayes” (Hunter Hayes), “Living for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran” (Jamey Johnson), “Four the Record” (Miranda Lambert), and “The Time Jumpers” (The Time Jumpers) are the nominees in this category.

9:59PM- “Uncaged” wins the Grammy for Best Country Album for The Zac Brown Band.

10:00PM- Up next is a commercial break, and then coming up, Bruno Mars, Sting, The Lumineers, and later Katy Perry, Carrie Underwood, and Frank Ocean.

10:04PM- Marilyn & Alan Bergman, and Alan Livingston were the 2013 Trustee Winners.

10:05PM- “Music knows no borders.”- LL Cool J, introducing the Bob Marley tribute segment

10:06PM- Bruno Mars kicks off the tribute to Bob Marley.

10:07PM- Sting joins in with Bruno Mars.

10:10PM- Rihanna and Bob Marley’s sons Ziggy and Damian Marley are now joining in on the stage for this musical tribute with “Could You Be Loved”.

10:13PM- There is a lot more coming up after the break, including an all-star In Memoriam tribute to the late Levon Helm.

10:20PM- Best New Artist nominees The Lumineers perform their breakout song “I Belong With You”.  Even Taylor Swift is singing along in the audience.

10:21PM- Jack White performs “I Want Love”.

10:23PM- White performs another song.

10:26PM- Katy Perry (both with Y’s) presents the Grammy for Best New Artist. “If you don’t win, don’t feel win.  I wasn’t even nominated, and I even have my own eyelash.”

10:26PM- The nominees for Best New Artist are Alabama Shakes, Hunter Hayes, The Lumineers, Frank Ocean, and Fun.

10:27PM- The Grammys are having some more Fun.  Guess who the Grammy for Best New Artist goes to?  Yup, Fun.

10:28PM- We’ve got more Commercials, plus tributes to Dave Brubeck and Levon Helm, plus more performances, and of course, the top two: Record and Album of the Year.

10:34PM- Best New Artist nominee Hunter Hayes performs a little bit before introducing Carrie Underwood to the stage.

10:36PM- Carrie Underwood performs her Grammy-winning song “Blown Away”.

10:39PM- Prince (or The Artist known as, um yeah) presents the Grammy for Record of the Year to a standing ovation as he arrives on the stage.

10:40PM- The Nominees are: “Lonely Boy” (The Black Keys), “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You” (Kelly Clarkson), “We Are Young” (Fun. featuring Janelle Monae), “Somebody That I Used To Know” (Gotye, featuring Kimbra), “Thinking About You” (Frank Ocean), and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” (Taylor Swift)

10:41PM- “Somebody That I Used To Know” derails Fun’s chances for a sweep by winning for Record of the Year for Gotye.

10:42PM- “I’m a little bit received for words, receiving this from the man behind me.”- Gotye

10:43PM- Coming up is the Memoriam, plus a couple of other performances, and Adele with Album of the Year, and a finale by LL Cool J.

10:48PM- The In Memoriam Tribute kicks off with a tribute to the late jazz musician Dave Brubeck, as performed by Chick Corea, Stanley Goff, and Henry Garrett.  “Take Five” and “Blue Rondo a la Turk” were the songs played this trio.

10:50PM- Academy Chair Neil Portnow and American Idol host (and Grammy Foundation Honorary Chair) Ryan Seacrest join the stage to introduce the Grammy Foundation.

10:51PM- Justin Timberlake returns to the stage.

10:52PM- Outstanding Music Educator Award will be part of the Grammys next year.  (http://grammymusicteacher.com)

10:53PM- Portnow segues into the Memoriam.

In Memoriam: Dave Brubeck, Andy Williams, Donna Summer, Sugarfood, Chuck Brown, Robin Gibb, Patti Page, Douhg Dillard, Scruggs, Davy Jones, Dick Clark, Jimmy Jones, Fontella Bass, Cleve Duncan, Herb Reed, Frank Wilson, Hal David, Scott McKenzie, Andy Griffith, Marvin Hamlisch, Richard Adler, Patty Andrews, Dorothy McGuire, Jenni Rivera, Kitty Wells, Frances Preston, Donna Hilley, Rick Blackburn, Doc Watson, Mickey Auldridge, Joe South, Ravi Shankar, Mickey Baker, Carl Davis, Donald “Duck” Dunn, Adam Yauch, Ed Cassady, Ronnie Montrose, Jon Lore, Frank Baralona, Chris Lighty, Billy Strange, Jim Marshall, John Strongack, George Marino, Howard Hilson Scott, Al Delory, Mike Melve, Jules Chaikin, Yomo Toro, Maurice Andre, Elliot Carter, Red Holloway, Carrie Smith, Bob Welch, Bob Birth, Andrew Love, and Levon Helm were among the musical artists whom we lost.

10:57PM- Sir Elton John pays tribute to the victims to the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, before kicking off an all-star tribute to the late Levon Helm with “The Weight”.

11:11PM- Miguel also introduces Frank Ocean, who will be performing his song “Forrest Gump”.

11:15PM- “Most artists who go on to win Album of the Year go on to success…”- Adele; Adele presents the coveted Album of the Year.

11:16PM- “El Camino” (The Black Keys), “Some Nights” (Fun.), Babel (Mumford and Sons), “Channel Orange” (Frank Oceans), and “Blunderbuss” (Jack White) are the Nominees.

11:16PM- The Album of the Year for the Grammy Awards goes to “Babel” for Mumford and Sons.

11:17PM- “Adele is looking so wonderful tonight.” (And then Adele blushes); Mumford and Sons were completely not expecting to win

11:18PM- The Grammys are going to close this show with a grand finale with host LL Cool J (and a few of his friends).

11:24PM- The Grammys close out with LL Cool J taking the stage with Chuck D, Tom Morello, Z Trip, and Travis Parker with “Whaddup”.

11:27PM- MCA joins in with “No Sleep To Brooklyn” as the Grammys close out with “Whaddup”.

11:30PM- What a great Grammy show!  In two weeks, I do it again with Hollywood’s Biggest Night, the 85^th Annual Academy Awards, hosted by Seth McFarlane on ABC.  Next Monday on The DJBC Happy Hour on WCRS-FM (102.1 and 98.3FM Columbus- http://www.wcrsfm.org), an Oscar Preview, and in two weeks (February 25), a LIVE After-Oscars Broadcast.