This ain’t straight news folks, so here comes a grammy recap with some commentary too. With an apology to the nice people at the Recording Academy, we’re not going to spell grammy in caps either, though they’d like it that way (but it is not the law).

The 50th anniversary TV show Sunday was, well, kinda ho-hum. Had a few good moments, but not a lot to get worked up over. Even the special tributes to Aretha Franklin and The Beatles fell flat–one shrill and the other overblown rather than rich or meaningful celebrations, compared to some past grammy ceremonies (remember the intense Joe Strummer memorial?). Those once-great classical music moments are MIA as well.

Most of the awards (about 100 or so) were handed out before the telecast, though the biggies always get TV time. Once again, too many nominating/voting academy members confuse sales achievement with artist achievement (which isn’t to say one can’t have both).

The night’s big winners were Brit retro-soul singer Amy Winehouse (who wasn’t there in person (visa issues due to those drug problems) but performed via satellite, and rap star Kanye West (who was there and performed).

Winehouse took five in all: Record and Song of the Year (a writer’s award) for “Rehab,” as well as Best New Artist, plus Best Pop Vocal Album for Back to Black, and Best Female Pop Vocal. Though she should be thanking Shirley Bassey all over the place, the wins were pretty deserved.

West, who received eight nominations in all, took Best Rap Album for Graduation, plus Best Rap Solo Performance for “Stronger,” Best Rap Performance for his appearance on Southside by Common, and Best Rap/Song Collaboration for Good Life. His performance of “Stronger” was all gimmicks, but his shift into “Hey Mama” held some emotional ground in the wake of his mother’s death last November.

The album of the year honor went to Jazz veteran Herbie Hancock for his frankly too-dull-in-spots, guest star-filled Joni Mitchell tribute, River: The Joni Letters, making it this year’s Ray Charles or Santana-like win. Perhaps Bruce Springsteen needs to do an album of guest stars too, it seems.

Surprisingly not nominated at all in the category, in a major snub (and sheer act of Recording Academy idiocy, really), Springsteen still won three awards: Solo Rock Vocal Performance and Best Rock Song for “Radio Nowhere,” and Rock Instrumental Performance for “Once Upon a Time in the West” on the Ennio Morricone tribute album.

The Foo Fighters took Best Rock Album over nominees that included The Boss’s Magic (too bad, because it’s just not the Foos’ strongest work), and also snagged Best Hard Rock Performance for “The Pretender.” The White Stripes won Best Alternative Music Album for “Icky Thump” and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with vocals for the title track.

Justin Timberlake won Best Dance Recording and Male Pop Vocal. Madonna won her first Grammy in eight years–her feh-ugh Confessions Tour DVD. Other winners included Alica Keys, Prince, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss of their fine team-up, and Vince Gill’s ambitious four-disc set, These Days, as Best Country Album.

And get this:
Barack Obama won his second Grammy for Best Spoken World album for The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream over nominees that included his presidential election rival’s husband, former President Bill Clinton. But that still can’t beat Al Gore’s Academy Award AND a Nobel Peace Prize–not even close.

Legendary Canadian group (except for American Levon Helm) The Band was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

The “Grammy Moment” contest winner for unknowns was violinist Ann Marie Calhoun, whose talents were already evident last year, touring with Jethro Tull and in 2006 for Ian Anderson with orchestra concerts. Maybe Anderson should get a special honor next time around for actually nurturing young artists on the road–something major label A&R departments don’t seem to do much anymore; they just let ‘em get known first on myspace.

The complete list of nominees and winners is at www.grammy.com.