Vignettes from the Grammy AwardsFashion critic Steven Cojocaru loves the Grammy Awards for its fashion missteps. "This is train wreck city," he said Sunday night. "It allows for very bad fashion. It's all over the map." People don't know whether to dress up or down and it leaves them confused, he said. Cojocaru's pick for worst dressed? Best new-artist nominee Imogen Heap, who was wearing a one-of-a-kind creation by a designer she met on the social-networking site MySpace.com. "There's an origami thing going on, a little Polynesia. There's a plant on her head," Cojocaru said. "She's desperate, desperate, desperate for attention and she will be in every magazine tomorrow." On the red carpet, chic and sleek play better than ornate and overdone. "Less is more," he said. "Even though I used to wear a live panda on my head." ___ LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Ludacris gave a "special shout-out" to Oprah Winfrey and Bill O'Reilly as he picked up the Grammy for best rap album Sunday night. "I love ya," said the rapper-actor, tongue firmly in cheek. Ludacris has been critical of Winfrey, who he has said edited out many of his comments when he was a guest on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." Other rappers 50 Cent and Ice Cube have suggested Winfrey has "a problem with hip-hop." Winfrey has insisted she does listen to hip-hop. A message left with her show wasn't immediately returned late Sunday. O'Reilly criticized Ludacris on his Fox News show "The O'Reilly Factor," which led to Pepsi dropping Ludacris in an ad campaign. ___ LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Mary J. Blige may have set an awards-show record Sunday: most people thanked in an acceptance speech. Accepting her R&B album of the year award for "The Breakthrough," Blige dropped 55 names _ including God, Jesus, her three children, countless record-company executives and the tape delivery guy. Blige talked for nearly two minutes, including going on for a good 30 seconds after the music started playing to signal her to wind down, spitting out names faster and faster as the music swelled. Accepting her second televised award for best female R&B vocal, she held it to a lean, TV-friendly 35 seconds. ___ LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Tony Bennett, a double winner at Sunday's Grammys, loves traditional pop. "It means the music is going to last forever," said the 80-year-old crooner, adding that he always wanted to make timeless music "like Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald." But even with decades of performing behind him, Bennett said he's still learning. "The best way to learn is to listen to the audience," he said. "When you listen to the audience, they will tell you what they like. I wish these big corporations, instead of telling the audience what they should have, would listen." ___ LOS ANGELES (AP) _ "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson was wearing his record producer hat at Sunday's Grammys, but he took a moment to defend the TV talent show, which has come under fire this season for seemingly amping up the personal level of criticism. Flanking singer Van Hunt, who won an R&B Grammy, Jackson said the success of show alums such as Carrie Underwood and Jennifer Hudson shows the program opens doors for undiscovered talents. "People talking about how mean and crazy we are _ Simon (Cowell) calling people names and all that kind of stuff _ the truth of the matter is that at the end of the season, someone great that wouldn't have had a chance otherwise, wins it and gets a shot at a career and I'm really happy about that," Jackson said. Underwood took home best new artist and a country Grammy. Hudson's performance in "Dreamgirls" has earned a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Academy Award nomination. ___ Associated Press writers Andrew Dalton, Jake Coyle, Alex Veiga and Nekesa Mumbi Moody contributed to this report.
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