Coldplay was sure to have one of the most successful U.S. tours of 2009 before last night's Grammys show. But how much faster will the Brit band's July 11 show at the Gorge sell out now thanks to last night's Grammy buzz?

Speaking of which, ticket pre-sale for the show in Grant County starts at 10 a.m. on Friday (Feb. 13) according to the Ticketmaster site.

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss take album of the year with "Raising Sand," beating out a gang of edgier bands that people under 40 like? That wasn’t utterly predictable.

Overall, it was a fairly bland, forgettable Grammy show, though there were some enjoyable moments in the last hour: The Bo Diddley tribute; Justin Timberlake and T.I. with the nice string arrangement for “Dead and Gone”; Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles knocking it out of the park on her own hit before helping Adele out on “Chasing Pavements.” And can’t forget my favorite goofball moment of the night, a sweaty and possibly buzzed Jay Mohr standing at L.L. Cool J’s side and shouting out Farmer’s Boulevard. You know, that's where he and E out. Cool out. Know what he's sayin'? That's where the crib's at. Sweet! So what stands out for you all?

I'd been wanting to catch up with Olympia singer-songwriter Kimya Dawson for a while, ever since several of her songs helped the soundtrack for "Juno" become perhaps the most unlikely No. 1 album of 2008. She's been elusive for sure, but finally I got her on the phone for a spell to talk about the soundtrack being up for a Grammy tonight. And I've gotta say she was worth the wait. I found her to be disarmingly thoughtful, genuine and modest as we talked about everything from her recent concert at Thurston County's Timberline Library to Samuel L. Jackson.

Here are a couple of sound bites for starters. Check back later, and I may have a few more clips posted. And pick up a copy of the Sunday Trib to read the Kimya Q & A I wrote to go with our Grammy coverage.

Pt. 1: How she got involved with "Juno," how "silly" being embraced by the mainstream feels

Pt. 2: The next soundtrack she'll be on; her newest obsession ... community choir

Grammy nominees Kenny Chesney, Coldplay, Jonas Brothers, Lil Wayne and Katy Perry were the first performers announced for the 51st annual awards show, which will be broadcast by CBS on Feb. 8. More here.

Grammy winning rockers the Foo Fighters will headline KeyArena on July 11, promoter Live Nation announced today. Tickets are set at $25 to $45, and they will go on sale at 11 a.m. on Saturday (Feb. 23).

Dave Grohl's chart-topping outfit is still riding high after winning in the best rock album and best hard rock performance categories at the 2008 Grammys, for last year's "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace" album and hit single "The Pretender" respectively.

A few thoughts on last night’s Grammys …

Last night’s Grammys were definitely more interesting than last year. But that whole yesterday meets today mash-up deal they were trying – pairing artists of today with hit makers of yesteryear – was very hit or miss. The intro, which paired the lovely Alicia Keys with a video of Frank Sinatra, was pretty classy. The Beatles tribute was nice, too, with Cirque du Soleil performing a snippet of their "Love" show with “A Day in the Life” (the most awesomest Beatles song ever, as far as I’m concerned) followed by a moving gospel treatment of “Let It Be.” And while I was a little uncomfortable as a several decades past her prime Tina Turner got started, I was on board by the time Beyonce showed up to help out with “Proud Mary.” You know, even if Tina can’t shake those geriatric bones like she used to.

But when the show went wrong it really went wrong. First of all, if you read this blog last week, you know I was pretty excited about Jimmy Jam getting back together with Morris Day and Jerome Benton from the original lineup of The Time. And it was pretty smooth how the performance was set up, with Jimmy sauntering out like he’s just there to present before – BAM! – his homeboys show up for a funky delivery of “Jungle Love.” I just about jumped out of my seat over at Puget Sound Pizza.

And then what do those Grammy knuckleheads do? They trample all over this magic moment – the funk equivalent of last year’s Police reunion -- by shoving Rihanna in the middle of it!!! AGGGGHH! Don't get me wrong. I like Rihanna; loved that “Umbrella” song the first million times I heard it. But DO NOT MUCK WITH THE TIME REUNION! Let them do their song, maybe throw in a few snippets of “Wild and Loose” and “Cool” and make it a medley. Then let her do her song. That's the way it should go. Period. (And speaking of the whole Minneapolis scene, Prince presented a little earlier, and does that guy still look suave and like he's still 25 or what? Is it clean livin’? Good genes? The best surgery a bazillionaire rock star can buy? Whatever, I just want some of what he’s got when I get his age. But I digress.)

And speaking of train wrecks, whose idea was it to pair Keeley Smith, who won at the first Grammys 50 years ago with “That Old Black Magic,” with Kid freakin’ Rock? Huh? What? Why didn’t they just boot up a video of Billie Holiday and have her duet with Ghostface Killah? It might have been less awkward and tortured. Then again, the move was brilliant one one level. A stroke of comedic genius? Yeah, we'll go with that.

But the thing I was most looking forward to was Amy Winehouse who performed via satellite from London. We can look past some of her spacey, strung out demeanor, considering what she’s been through lately. (You Tube it if you don’t know already.) Oh, and the fact that it took her something like 15 seconds to remember she needed to give an acceptance speech after she won her next award – ahem – for some reason. But will someone please give that girl a ham sandwich? Extra mayo. Side order o’ cheesy fries. They could show a clip of that performance at Calista Flockhart and Mary-Kate Olson’s next intervention. I thought Amy’s legs might snap every time she did that weird knee-knocking thing during her oh so appropriate set list, “You Know I’m No Good” and “Rehab.” Her voice still sounds good. All jokes aside, congrats to Amy for racking up a whole shelf of well-deserved awards. And here’s hoping she can get her life back together before it's too late.

And was I the only one who kinda sorta wanted Kanye "the worst sport of all time" West to get shut out again? Not because I hate the guy (who will headline KeyArena on April 16, by the way.) It's just that awards show freakout Kanye is a lot more exciting than well-behaved acceptance speech Kanye. I'm just sayin'.

Anyway, that's enough of my jibba jabba. Here are some of the night's big winners. Find the rest on the Grammy site, and leave your comments on the show.

Partial list of 2008 Grammy winners

Album of the Year

Herbie Hancock "River: The Joni Letters"

Record of the Year

Amy Winehouse - "Rehab"

Song of the Year

Amy Winehouse - "Rehab"

Best New Artist

Amy Winehouse

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance

Amy Winehouse "Rehab" (noticing a pattern yet?)

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance

Justin Timberlake - "What Goes Around ... Comes Around"

Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals

Maroon 5 "Makes Me Wonder"

Best Pop Vocal Album

"Back to Black" Amy Winehouse (there she is again)

Best Rock Song

"Radio Nowhere" Bruce Springsteen, songwriter (Bruce Springsteen)

Best Rock Album

"Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace" Foo Fighters

Best Alternative Music Album

"Icky Thump" The White Stripes

The big Grammy news this week was about Amy Winehouse's work visa woes. But I'm more excited to read about The Time's upcoming performance at Sunday's awards ceremony. Everybody! Ceeeeeee-oh-oh-elllllll. What's that spell?

I just dated myself, but whatever. Jimmy Jam's even back on board, but where's Terry Lewis when ya need 'im? Anyway, enough jibba jabba. Don't forget to take the Bring the Noise Grammy surveys.

Hmmm. Something big is supposed to be happening in the world of pop music this weekend. What was that? Thinking, thinking …

Oh yeah! The 50th Grammy Awards are Sunday. And I'm curious about who you think should win in some of the big categories. So click the links to add your two cents, and I'll post the results on Sunday.

Aaron Stewart-Ahn – up for best long form video yesterday – sent me this report from the Grammys. Pretty funny. Except the losing part.

So we lost. In semi-spectacular fashion. We found out at the last
minute that our award was being presented first thing, despite being
one of the last categories. We got stuck in traffic, and literally
sprinted out of the car through Grammy security and ran into the LA
Convention Center asking people to get out of our way as we ran in as
people there kept calling and txting us... And literally the split
second we got into the room RUNNING our category was up... And heard
we had lost it. To The Boss. And I am very much just an employee.

In a funny way it meant we got to spend the day not being anxious.
And we were always the leftfield dark horse. All in all an amazing
day, though. I'd heard it was hectic and awful... And the red carpet
definitely is (it goes nowhere, literally). But for me loving all
types of music it was a hell of a kick to see The Police followed
mere minutes later by Timberlake and then John Legend followed by
Shakira (and I swear to you being in that room, her butt made the
place roar. I've never seen anything like it thanks to one butt.
People turned to the person next to them and remarked upon her a--,
man woman and child) and the Dixie Chicks and that unbelievable
Gnarls Barkley performance which had me mesmerized. Got to be near
Ornette Coleman and Smokey Robinson, which is really cool to me. I
saw lots of recognizable people all night long but people I wouldn't
freak out over. Like Randy from American Idol. Also, true story, I
made eye contact with that guy from Nickelback and it creeped me out.
Honestly I had fun and we had to duck out (like nearly everyone does)
to go to some parties early but I would've been glad to sit there the
whole show.

But for me the biggest highlight was that I got to sit next to
Terrence Blanchard, Spike Lee's composer, jazz musician
extraordinaire, and the heart and soul of Spike Lee's vastly
underrated and underwatched "When the Levees Broke". He was nominated
in the same category as us and I humbly told him that he'd been the
center of the most moving, damning, important film I'd seen in years
and thanked him for making that film personal for all of us. I got to
just give the man an embrace and I don't know why but that's the
third best thing that happened to me last night.

The first best was seeing my parents there.
And the second best was being there with Nick and all the Death Cab
people. I couldn't have asked for better extended family to go
through it with.

Ok I sleep now... Thanks again,
aaron

Plus he tells me Al Gore showed up at Diddy's party. A.G. in the house! And who said our former V.P. was stiff again?

OK, I managed to make it through the entire show this year. And here are a few of my favorite moments:

* Common telling Kanye West, "We're tired of you cryin' about not winnin'." Kanye was in on the joke and all. But, seriously. We are tired of your crying about not winning.

* Christina Aquilera's bringing the house down with a powerful delivery of James Brown's "It's a Man's World." There's a reason why she's still relevant on the pop spectrum, and we're more worried about whether or not pop peer Britney is going commando than her actual music.

* Seeing that one-time supergroup with Corrine Bailey Rae, John Legend and John Mayer. Let's call 'em the Legend of Rae Mayer. Maybe not.

* Shakira's belly dancing. 'Nuff said.

* Nerdy Quentin Tarantino trying to sound hip-hop as he announced the nominees for record of the year. I ain't mad at you, though, Q.T.

* Chris Brown's performance of "Run It" with the step dancing. By the way, little kids who can bust sick dance moves = the greatest performance gimmick ever.

* Natalie Maines quoting Nelson from "The Simpsons." Take that, haters!

* Say, is that Al Gore? What's he doing announcing a Grammy award? Weird.

But enough about what I thought. What worked or didn't work for you all?

The good: Since I didn't give the Purple One his due props after the greatest Super Bowl halftime show in recent memory. So let me say it now, after his brief cameo, introducing Beyonce. Prince is the man! And I want some of whatever he's using when I get to my 40s, 'cause that cat still looks 25. Also, Beyonce killed on "Listen." Justin Timberlake wasn't too shabby, either.

The bad: Now why did they have to get all impatient and give Mary J. Blige the "wrap it up" music (all the more hilarious since it only reminded me of that "wrap it up" skit from "Chappelle's Show.") Love how she went into auctioneer mode and snuck in about 320 shout outs before they drowned her out. You go, girl!

The ugly: Not only does Fergie subject us to really corny songs. She also doesn't read a teleprompter very well. I'm just sayin'.

... or was the Grammy-opening performance by the Police a bit anti-climactic? There was Sting's flat declaration, "We're the Police and we're back!" There was the predictable choice of "Roxanne," and the way they took a punchy new wave number and diluted it by gettin' all jammy, like they were bored with the thing and playing to a crowd at the MGM Grand in Vegas. Hope it gets better before the tour. Granted, I'd built the whole thing up in my head for a while. And a "Don't Stand So Close to Me/When the World's Running Down/King of Pain" medley was probably a bit much to wish for.

And did Tony Bennett just sully Stevie Wonder's plaintive and emotional acceptance speech -- during which he acknowledged the passing of his mother -- with a shout out to Target? I'd left the room for a minute, but did I hear that right? Gross!!!

Anyway, the Dixie Chicks sounded and looked great with the Chili Peppers' Chad Smith backing them on drums. And Natalie Maines rockin' the brunette look? Hmmmm. Interesting.