OK, it's just me, really. But after looking at the nominees for this year's Grammys (to be awarded Sunday, January 31), a few additional thoughts: 1) First, congratulations to all the nominated artists. 2) Well, I already said it, but I was surprised that Peter Himmelman wasn't nominated for My Trampoline. Quality of the album aside (and it's a great album), he was nominated last year -- surprising that he wasn't nominated again. 3) Because being nominated before definitely helps -- Cathy & Marcy and Buck Howdy both have previous nominations in the category (with C&M winning twice before), and Ziggy Marley's won 4 Grammys as well. 4) It looks like Milkshake took the "Brady Rymer" slot I had the Sippy Cups pegged for. I thought their constant touring to places like LA and NYC would help them. Insufficiently, it turned out. 5) Preschool teachers around the country are cheering Greg & Steve's nomination -- seriously, those guys' disks are in literally every classroom at Little Boy Blue's preschool. Here are the three final points: 6) People more closely tied to the industry had some sense this would happen -- not only did Buck correctly pick Milkshake (not so surprising) and Greg & Steve (very surprising), but I'd also heard about Jonathan Sprout getting some attention. 7) Of the 6 artists nominated this year, 4 of the 6 played the Grammy Museum kids' series. Only Greg & Steve and Jonathan Sprout did not. I'm thinking booking agents should be calling to offer their clients' services for the 2010 series, because it couldn't hurt to play in front of Grammy voters, no? 8) Finally, the arcane voting rules make it hard to project what might happen in selecting a winner. Folks can only vote in 8 of the 29 fields. That means that people have to want to vote in the kids' category and that will keep Ziggy Marley from running away with the award. It means, in basest vote-gathering terms, that Marley needs to convince his reggae fans in the Academy to crossover just as it means that Cathy & Marcy need to convince their folk fans in the Academy to do the same. My money's on Ziggy (note: not actual money), but I wouldn't be totally surprised to see Cathy & Marcy take the award.

Well, Buck Howdy and I make excellent Grammy predictors, but only one of us got two Grammy nominations tonight... the nominations for the 52nd Grammy Awards are out, and in the Children's Field they are... Best Musical Album For Children American Heroes #3 - Jonathan Sprout Banjo To Beatbox - Cathy & Marcy With Special Guest Christylez Bacon Family Time - Ziggy Marley Great Day - Milkshake Jumpin' & Jammin' - Greg & Steve Pete Seeger Tribute — Ageless Kids' Songs - Buck Howdy (Very surprised that Peter Himmelman isn't there...) Best Spoken Word Album For Children Aaaaah! Spooky, Scary Stories & Songs - Buck Howdy Captain Nobody - Dean Pitchford Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales (Various Artists) - Sharon Gelman, Michele McGonigle & Alfre Woodard, producers The Phantom Tollbooth - David Hyde Pierce Scat - Ed Asner Through The Looking-Glass And What Alice Found There - Harlan Ellison

Well, the Grammy Award nominations are being announced Wednesday night, and for what it's worth, I'm going to go out on a limb and predict the 5 nominations for the Best Musical Album For Children. (I miss doing my Oscar pool, perhaps.) This list isn't a list of my top 5 favorites, or top 5 best -- it's the list of the 5 albums I think are most likely to be nominated from the list of eligible albums. Now, that list is missing some fairly obvious candidates. For example, They Might Be Giants' Here Comes Science, which would be a shoo-in given that, you know, it's really good and the band won the category last year, isn't on the list, tripped up by the Aug. 31 cut-off date. Lunch Money's Dizzy isn't on the list, either -- the band simply didn't submit it. Other folks, previous nominees especially, will take their place. But here are five albums I wouldn't be surprised to see make the list (none of which would be an embarrassing choice): Ziggy Marley - Family Time Peter Himmelman - My Trampoline Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer w/ Christylez Bacon - Banjo to Beatbox Buck Howdy - Pete Seeger Tribute The Sippy Cups - The Time Machine (hey, somebody's got to fill the Brady Rymer slot this year, right?)