March 1, 2002

Posted March 01, 2002

If you blinked while watching the Grammys on Wednesday, you may have missed the three-minute Lifetime Achievement Awards segment. Joni, along with the other honorees, each had their lifetime of musical achievement rewarded with precisely 20 seconds of well-timed praise on the show, in the form of a tidily packaged montage of visuals and voiceover. "Both Sides Now" and "Big Yellow Taxi" played in the background during Joni's portion of the segment; predictable, but at least not as bad as summing up Rosemary Clooney's career with "Come On-a My House" and "Mambo Italiano." (Get well soon, Rosie!) I was surprised to find the awards for these influential figures treated as an afterthought.

The recording industry, now running scared in the wake of a tardy response to the ever-increasing wave of internet music piracy, devoted more time to a statement by Recording Academy President/CEO Michael Greene that probably did little to inform, change the minds or even get the attention of an audience watching the telecast for a different purpose.

The actual presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Awards wasn't televised (only one of the surviving recipients showed up as far as I know), although the acceptance speeches for each of the honorees can be found on Grammy.com's video page under Grammy Fest. Accepting the award for Joni with an apparently unrehearsed statement only a few seconds longer than the televised presentation, Greene said "We talked to Joni today, she was going to try to get back, she's in Toronto. But she wanted to tell all of you that this means so very much to her, her words, again, are resounding, in terms of her independent spirit, and uncompromising, and the fact that we're honoring her for that, she says thank you, so thank you on behalf of Joni." Greene's voice trailed off as he turned and left the podium with Joni's award.