Favorites and Not-So-Favorites from the 2008 Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards celebrated its 50th birthday at Sunday night's ceremony in Los Angeles. And what a celebration it was. Starting things off were Alicia Keys and Frank Sinatra, performing "Learnin' the Blues" together, much like Natalie Cole and her father performed "Unforgettable". Following on the heels of that stellar performance was Carrie Underwood singing "Before He Cheats". Apart from appearing a little nervous about descending the stairs in her stiletto boots, she looked like she belonged. She sang with all the confidence of a veteran and could have put Christina to shame with that last note.

The show continued with one amazing collaboration after another. Rihanna performed "Umbrella" and "Please Don't Stop the Music" with The Time in their first performance together in 15 years. The band sounded great and Rihanna looked beautiful and performed flawlessly. Next was a Beatles tribute introduced by Tom Hanks. Cirque de Soleil did a number from their show Love, and cast members from Across the Universe performed "Let it Be". It was a moving performance, complete with war video footage and a gospel choir. Another brilliant collaboration was Beyonce's introduction of and performance with Tina Turner.

They sounded great together on "Proud Mary" and danced even better. A fitting moment for Tina to "pass the torch" to Beyonce, who seems the most able to fill her shoes. The Gospel tribute beginning with Aretha Franklin and Bebe Winans and ending with Israel & New Breed was a fantastic showcase of traditional and contemporary gospel music and how it's progressed through the years. Other performances of the night included Alicia Keys and John Mayer singing and playing her song "No One", Josh Groban and Andrea Bocelli singing "The Prayer", and John Fogarty, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis giving us a lesson from the pioneers of rock. Every collaboration was brilliantly conceived and executed. The organizers of the show did a great job putting them together, and the performers lived up to the moment.