ages affair: in a performance-stuffed live broadcast on CBS, the subject of age — and intertwining musical realms — was always close at hand. Taylor Swift, 19, and Miley Cyrus, 16, sang a duet of Swift's “Fifteen.” The 66-year-old Paul McCartney, with 40-year-old Dave Grohl on drums, sang the Beatles classic about a girl who “was just 17.” Stevie Wonder performed with the Jonas Brothers and even a nine-month pregnant woman — the rapper M.I.A. — hobbled out on the stage to join the dapperly dressed Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lil Wayne and T.I. in a “rap summit” performance of T.I.'s “Swagger Like Us.” The Grammys this year offered a CBS telecast without a host and — unexpectedly — without several performers. Rihanna and Chris Brown, both nominated for awards and scheduled to perform, were absent after the Los Angeles Police Department announced that Brown — who is dating Rihanna — was the subject of an investigation into a felony domestic violence battery from around 12:30 a.m. Sunday. Brown turned himself into police late Sunday and was released after posting bail. Police booked the 19-year-old R&B singer on suspicion of making a criminal threat. To fill in for Rihanna's scheduled performance, the Recording Academy hastily put together an ensemble of Al Green, Justin Timberlake, Boyz II Men and Keith Urban performing Green's “Let's Stay Together.” One of the night's superior performances, it reflected the comments of producer T. Bone Burnett, who explained while accepting the award for record of the year: “Good things happen out of nowhere.” The broadcast from the Staples Center in Los Angeles sometimes had the appearance of a bubble. No mention was made of economic troubles across the country or of the music industry's continuing declining sales. Though download sales are rising, album sales dropped 14 percent last year. Instead of focusing on the awards, though, the Recording Academy has increasingly turned the Grammys into an all-star revue, packing the three-and-a-half-hour long show with performance after performance, duet after duet. Among them: U2 kicking things off with their new single “Get on Your Boots”; Lil Wayne and Allen Toussaint paying tribute to New Orleans; Neil Diamond singing “Sweet Caroline”; Radiohead performing with the University of Southern California marching band; Jay-Z joining Coldplay; a tribute to the Four Tops; and Jennifer Hudson singing a rousing, touching version of “You Pulled Me Through” that left her teary-eyed. The Grammys also sought to tap into online traffic with official updates on Twitter and Facebook throughout the broadcast. There were some oddities in the show, too: from short and glimmery to fruity and funny, musical stars hit some high and low fashion notes. Just-about-to-pop pregnant hip-hopper M.I.A. performed her hit “Paper Planes” prancing around in a polka-dot outfit with a sheer midriff that made her look like a bumble-bee. Pop songstress Katy Perry summoned up memories of Carmen Miranda with a fruit-filled short mini dress featuring hanging bananas as she sang her breakout hit, “I Kissed A Girl.” “The highlight of my night would probably have to be the looks on…faces when people saw my ridiculous outfit,” Perry said backstage later, sporting a more elegant mini pink lace dress. Shimmery metallic dresses seemed popular, including ones worn by both Grammy winner Estelle – who nabbed a trophy for best rap/sung collaboration with Kanye West for her hit “American Boy,” — and actress/presenter Gwyneth Paltrow, wife of Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. Rappers like T Pain wore outlandish hats and jumbo size glasses, while other male musicians, like former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant, 60, who swept the Grammys with bluegrass queen Allison Krauss for their collaboration “Raising Sand,” stuck to the rocker-chic jeans formula. But he admitted that the tight jeans look was getting harder to pull off at his age . When asked backstage if he had future plans to work on anything with his former band, Plant, sporting his trademark long blond curls, said to a reporter, “I don't know how old you are, but you look older than me. You try doing ‘Communication Breakdown,' in tight jeans!”
