“Once again I am caught in the glare of ageism and
misogyny that permeates the world we live in. 
A world that refuses to celebrate women past the age of 45.”
– Madonna.  I don’t know what 45-year-old woman she’s talking about.  Certainly it’s not an
autobiographical statement from the 64-year-old pop star.  If so, boy, has she struggled the past two decades!

Leave it to Madonna to turn her disastrous appearance at the Grammys into an ageist, misogynistic attack.  I am not going to criticize the Material Girl’s looks – although she’s been known to take potshots about the appearance of other females in the industry.  When you show up looking like a cross between “Heidi: The Golden Years” and Frau Blucher, you should anticipate a few raised eyebrows – at least from people who still can raise their eyebrows!

The person I feel bad for is poor Bonnie Raitt, who won Song of the Year more than three decades after winning Album of the Year for Nick of Time.  The Daily Mail ran the headline, “Shock as unknown blues singer beats Beyoncé, Adele and Taylor Swift to win Song of the Year at the Grammys”.  Unknown?  Oh, the humanity!

When you watch a televised awards show, you often see famous faces sitting alongside complete unknowns.  As it turns out, they are often completely unknown to the people they’re sitting with.  Those people are “seat fillers”.  They’re hired (or, more often than not, unpaid) to fill empty seats during a telecast.  One seat filler called “AlmostAnna” on TikTok shared a bit of “insight” into Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez’s behavior during the show.  “J.Lo showed Ben Affleck the phone and was like ‘Oh my God, honey, look at this meme circulating about you,’ and he was like ‘Oh God, this again.’”  Isn’t it fascinating that these two people from completely different backgrounds now speak in almost identical cadences?  It’s as if it were coming out of the same person’s mouth.

This year, the Grammys honored The Supremes with a Lifetime Achievement Award.  This was not Diana Ross and the Supremes.  This was not even the 70s Supremes – from which Diane plucked two backup singers for her Return to Love Tour.  No, the Grammys paid tribute to the classic Supremes lineup – Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard, and Diane Ross (as she was called).  Although they were nominated twice, The Supremes never won a Grammy (it should be added that Miss Ross never won one, either).  One would imagine that the sole surviving member would be there to graciously accept this honor.  And one would be wrong.  The award was accepted by two people – the daughter of Mary Wilson (who is also Diane’s goddaughter) and one of Florence Ballard’s daughters (the one Ross clutched at Flo’s funeral).  You know who wasn’t there?  Miss Ross!  Surely one of Diane’s kids could have filled in.  OK, maybe not Tracee.  But what does Chudney have to do?  Or those Naess boys?