When I watch the Grammy ceremonies (as, in case you’re missing the point here, I did tonight), I have to be careful. As I’m watching I tend to take mental notes about what new CDs I have to run out and buy first thing tomorrow. Even worse, I have to force myself to stay off the online shopping sites, or I’ll end up with another ten or fifteen albums I’ll play once.

The Grammy show is made for someone like me, who loves (almost) all kinds of music but doesn’t know a whole lot about very many of them. The offbeat combinations of artists in one-of-a-kind one-time performances are what distinguish the Grammys from other music awards shows (which, by the way, I don’t watch).

Even though tonight’s show lasted forever into the wee hours, there were a couple of segments that (thanks to TiVo) I watched twice. One was the all-star tribute to southern rock featuring the Dicky Betts-Tim McGraw duet on “Ramblin’ Man,” and the other was the electrifying performance by Melissa Etheridge of “Piece of My Heart” during the Janis Joplin tribute.

The ability to rewind and replay also allowed me to fast-forward through some of the more embarrassing acceptance speeches.

I don’t understand how anyone can listen to the same music, or even the same kind of music, all the time. I go through phases and stages, alternating loud and soft, comfortable and edgy, old and new. Lately I’ve been glued to the Singers and Standards satellite music channel, but that doesn’t mean I won’t within a few days be switching over to Blues or Classic Rock (or Classic Country or Classic R&B). There’s just too much music to keep hearing the same twelve songs over and over.