What I Learned Watching the Grammy Awards

• Carrie Underwood was amazing. I don't even like country, but her presentation of Before He Cheats complete with 10 women beating on car parts was nothing short of amazing.
  • You can sing a song or sell a song. Carrie sold it.
• Tom Hanks did a little speech and was spell-binding. His gifted ability to speak had the crowd responding to his every word.
  • Good communication matters.
• There was a Beatles tribute. They didn't say this, but I'm guessing the Beatles were rediscovered after we did our Beatles Christmas series. The Grammy performance included a song from the Las Vegas Love Cirque du Soleil show, as well as a song from the movie Across the Universe. Does anyone have any idea how they did the exploding Volkswagon? I rewound it and watched it three times.
  • We hit the Beatles wave at the right time.
• They had a stunning music video behind Let if Be including synchronized singing on the video by the same guy who was singing live. Our guys do this amazingly well.
  • This is the future for effective, life transformational, musical performance.
• The show was interactive. Stage inside; outside; and in London. Even a way for the audience at home to vote and see their results happen during the show.
  • Churches have to figure out how to involve the audience more.
• They included new and classic; young and old; edgy and traditional. I was watching the show with my 13-year old daughter and 67-year old dad. There was something for all of us.
  • A church "targeting" a certain age doesn't have to exclude other ages.
• About an hour into the show I got a text message from a friend saying, "Wasn't Daft Punk amazing?" I had no idea what he was talking about. I had to rewind it.
  • I'm not as in touch with pop culture as I'd like to think.
• That same friend asked me to save it on my DVR. No problem. Then at the end of the show I accidentally hit "enter" twice and deleted the show. Bummer.
  • I might need a new friend.
• They have a category for "album" of the year and a different category for "record" of the year. I have no idea the difference between the two, but I was disappointed the Foo Fighters didn't win either category.
  • I'm not disappointed, however, that I have my ticket for their Chicago appearance in two weeks.

I really didn't expect to enjoy the awards show. But it was a good night and a great way to learn better ways to impact our culture.