Could we draw some sort of inference from the inability of the GRAMMYs to get their complete list of nominations up until a good 20-25 minutes after they were promised? Some broad reluctance to get into the digital age? Probably not. But still annoying for the multitudes of folks who wanted to see the winners at 11 PM East Coast time as promised. Anyway, I'm over that now. The nominees, with some thoughts, after the jump. The main GRAMMY awards are Sunday night, Feb. 13 -- most of the awards (including this category) are typically awarded that afternoon.

As I noted about 3 months ago, I'm always interested in seeing musicians take more responsibility for the GRAMMY process, and a key deadline is coming up in a couple weeks. October 1st is the last day for musicians (and others in the industry) to join The Academy and receive the first round voting ballot. Lots of really good albums this year deserving of a nomination for Best Recording for Children -- including maybe yours -- so if you've been thinking of joining, now would be a good time, no?

Longtime readers know that I care about the voting process for the Grammys more than I probably should. But seeing as it is the music industry's biggest self-congratulation event, I think it's important that family musicians care about it and take pride in the artists nominated for their genre's big prize(s). The Grammys get pounded when the general membership makes a poor selection for a winning entry, but the musicians in the genre can help ensure that the nominee pool makes it impossible to make a poor choice. (Last year's nominee list was a big step forward in that regard.) Karen Rappaport McHugh of Muddy Girl Productions was recently elected to the Los Angeles Chapter Board of Governors for the Recording Academy and says she's "really going to try to enhance the visibility of kids music." (As you might expect, the LA chapter might have some outsized importance in the field.) So, here are some dates for musicians to consider as they plan their 2011 Grammy campaigns. The key date -- if you want enter your disk online, deadline for membership in order to do so is Wednesday, June 30. Other note: last year had an 11-month eligibility window -- this year and this year only it's 13 months, from Sept. 1, 2010 2009 through Sept. 30, 2010.

Well, the Grammys are almost upon us, and once again the Grammy Museum is hosting a Children's Recording concert. It's tomorrow, Saturday, at noon, and for $10 a pop, you'll get to hear music from all six kids' music Grammy nominees -- Ziggy Marley, Buck Howdy, Milkshake, Jonathan Sprout, Greg & Steve, and Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer with Christylez Bacon. That's a pretty good lineup for $10, plus Dean Pitchford and Buck Howdy will do some readings from their Best Spoken Word-nominated albums. Grammy weekend has always had a bit of a convention-week feel for folks in the industry, and the kids music folks are capitalizing on it, having another breakfast on Saturday that'll bring together musicians and other folks in the industry. For a variety of reasons, I won't be able to make it this year, but I will soon... Now, as for the actual awards, the Best Children's Musical Recording and Spoken Word awards will be handed out on Sunday at 1 PM Los Angeles time. As they were last year, these not-ready-for-prime-time (or at least, not shown-on-prime time) will be streamed live GRAMMY.com. You'll be able to follow folks like Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer on the interwebs throughout the weekend. As for who'll actually win, as I said right after the nominations were announced, I think Ziggy Marley has to be considered the favorite taking into account the long Grammy history he has, but Cathy & Marcy could pull off an upset. Maybe next year there'll be 10 nominees.