TV worth watching

There was alfombra roja stuff earlier in the day, but the show started at 6 pm CST. We weren't around for the earlier part and were too done in to see it through, but the Latin Grammy people know how to put on a show. Shakira was the biggest multi-winner of the evening. Categories 21 through 26 more or less covered our part of the world. Joan Sebastian may have come in second among the winnners for numbers of awards. Thalia probably had the most off-the-wall gigantic production number. The opening tableau was an echo of the opening of Der Rosenkavalier, with Thalia dressed as Octavian and a lot of people, including some guys, dressed in costumes of the Marie Antoinette era, complete with panniered skirts and towering wigs. We saw Adamari in the audience when Luis Fonsi did his number, which included one of the ZZ Top guys, if you can believe it, on guitar. Madison Square Garden was completely full. The greatest revelation was Joan Sebastian. How many people could come out on stage, sing solo accompanied only by himself on guitar played with great expression and finesse, and hold a large audience completely rapt? I discovered that one of my favorite songs of this past year, "Mas alla del sol," was by Joan Sebastian. He performed it last night accompanied by a small banda of only about a dozen people. Too bad we couldn't stick it out. The pace was lively and the performances were entertaining on a grand scale, with stupendous production values and excellent live sound. I think that Joan Sebastian is due to perform around here sometime quite soon, as are Los Tigres Del Norte and Los Tucanes de Tijuana, but I'm catching only the tail-end of radio announcements. Pepe Aguilar has already been here and Juan Gabriel is due soon, but the venue for both of them was set for the UT PAC, I think. The others will perform where dancing is possible.