GET OUT THE SHOE POLISH

I can't say that I'm a big fan of Ann Powers' work in the L.A. Times (though she's exactly the sort of "critic" the Times deserves), but when I read her Grammy report this morning, I nearly spit my Apple Jacks across the table. While I kinda dig the fact that Amy Winehouse is a white-trashy British Jewess with soul (and substance abuse issues), Ms. Powers found it necessary to describe her via satellite performance as "off-key at times, her drawled syllables sometimes veering uncomfortably close to blackface." Blackface? I didn't see her down on one knee, blathering on about her dear old mammy. WTF? White artists have been pretending to be brothas and sistas since the beginning of time. Why the hate toward Amy? She's got enough problems. Besides, Powers' personal pinup boy, Justin Timberlake, is the biggest soul poseur on the planet, yet Annie has nary a discouraging word for the object of her personal girlcrush.

All I'm saying is that we need to call a spade a spade.