Last night Malia and Sasha Obama along with Joe Biden’s four granddaughters were front and center for the Kids’ Inaugural Concert at the Lincoln Memorial. The concert featured performances from the Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato, and Miley Cyrus, who sang a duet with her dad Billy Ray. The event sounds like a lot of fun, and the girls all seemed to really enjoy themselves.

The night before becoming America’s next first daughters, Malia and Sasha Obama got toasted by tweens. Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers were among the acts that performed at the Kids’ Inaugural Concert, an invitation-only event for military families and other area children at the Lincoln Memorial on Monday.

Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, offered small waves to the crowd before taking their seats in the front row with their J. Crew-clad mother, Michelle Obama, and Vice President-elect Joe Biden’s four granddaughters.

“What an amazing show,” Michelle Obama — who also signed autographs — told the crowd. “You kids are the future of this great nation. At this moment in our nation’s history, we wanted you to be able to join in this celebration.”

The crowd went wild for the Jonas Brothers. Both Malia and Sasha jumped up when the boys took the stage and started clapping. They danced along with their mom and Biden’s grandchildren. Sasha even took several steps ahead of Michelle to take a picture. She was working the camera as the boys, one by one, walked to the section of the stage nearest to them.

Another show highlight? Miley Cyrus. She dedicated her inspirational tune “The Climb” to the Obama daughters. “You girls must be awfully proud of your dad — and so am I,” said Cyrus, who sang with her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, on stage. After her performance, an out-of-breath Cyrus got off stage to shake hands with the Obama girls.

[From Us Weekly]

Comedian George Lopez also performed, and the girls cracked up at his jokes. It sounds like this was a fun and entertaining way to get kids interested in politics a little bit and show them that they matter too. It’s not just something only adults can be interested in.

The Obama girls are going to get a lot of attention in the next 4-8 years, though obviously the president and first lady are going to do their best to keep their lives as normal as possible. But considering how drastically everything has changed, it’s nice that they can get some fun in there too.

Many announcement ceremonies for major televised awards shows are done in press conference form, often star-studded, but nothing with any production value. In an increased effort to stay relevant, the Grammys decided to take a different approach, making a mini-event night of it with new stars doing nostalgic performances between the nominee announcements.

CBS aired the Grammy Nominations Concert that was mercifully shorter and even more entertaining than the actual Grammys usually are. The show opened with Mariah Carey in a 60′s inspired Christmas number, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”. There weren’t alot of close-ups, but from what I saw, Mariah looked great, sounded great, and wasn’t lip syncing. Christmas songs are kind of Carey’s element.

Mariah Carey “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”

The show was hosted by LL Cool J and Taylor Swift. LL always seems so laid back and easy going, and hosting works for him. Taylor held her own and got better as the show went on. She’s young and truthfully didn’t seem to know anything more about LL than what was on the cue cards, though. Needless to say, it was LL who mini-interviewed The Jonas Brothers after their first, and only, nomination.

Ne-Yo announced the nominees for Best New Artist: Adele, Duffy, The Jonas Brothers, Lady Antebellum, Jazmin Sullivan.

Celine Dion took the cheese level off the chart with “Too Young at 17″ which is a borderline cheesy song, anway (although, the kind of cheese you can’t help but love, like this garlic and herb gournay from Costco I’m eating right now!). But as great a voice as Dion has, you add her turn of phrase to an already yummy cheese song, it instantly becomes Cheez Whiz. Throw in the way she looks longingly into the camera and it’s spray can cheese.

Celine Dion – “Too Young at 17″

Celine announced the nominees for Album of the Year: Coldplay “Viva la Vida”, Lil Wayne “Tha Carter III”, Ne-Yo “Year of the Gentleman”, Robert Plant & Alison Kraus “Raising Sand”, Radiohead “In Rainbows”

Foo Fighters laid down the Foo on Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain.” I wouldn’t have thought anyone could rock out to a Carly Simon hit, but Dave Grohl can often pull things off you never expected. Loved it!

Foo Fighters – “You’re so Vain” (recorded by an audience member)

Dave then announced the nominees for Best Collaboration with Vocals: Alicia Keys & John Mayer “Lessons Learned”, Madonna Justin Timberlake & Timbaland “4 Minutes”, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss “Rich Woman”, Rhianna & Maroon 5 “If I Never See Your Face Again”, Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown “No Air”

And Best Country Performance: Brooks & Dunn “God Must Be Busy”, Lady Antebellum “Love Don’t Live Here”, Rascall Flatts “Everyday”, The Steel Drivers “Blue Side of the Mountain, Sugarland “Stay”

Christina Aguilera once again vocally blew everyone away with her verson of Billie Holiday’s “I Love You Porgy” from Porgy & Bess. It was fantastic. She also looked lovely, with relatively understated makeup.

Christina Aguilera – “I Love You Porgy”

Taylor Swift did an less than stellar rendition of Brenda Lee’s “I’m Sorry” but Joe Jonas was sitting right in the front row so that had to feel good for her, probably a little uncomfortable for him. Swift’s performance improved considerably when she switched to her own “White Horse” which was just as appropriately aimed at Jonas.

Taylor Swift – “I’m Sorry” and “White Horse”

Taylor announced the nominees for Best Rap Duo or Group: Big Boi, Raekwon & Andre 300 “Royal Flush”, Jay Z, TI, Kanye West & Lil Wayne “Swagger Like Us”, Lil Wayne & JayZ “Mr. Carter”, Ludacris & TI “Wish You Would”, Young Jeezy & Kanye West “Put On”

John Mayer was in his comfort zone, where he actually makes some pretty good music, with BB King, playing and singing some great old R&B. Mayer should make more of this kind of music than his corny pop ballads. He’s not without talent. I do hope he didn’t think the standing O was in any way for him, though. BB King is legend.

John Mayer and BB King (audience recorded video)

Mayer announced the nominees for Record of the Year: Adele “Chasing Pavements”, Coldplay “Viva La Vida”, Leona Lewis “Bleeding Love”, MIA “Paper Planes”, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss “Please Read the Letter”

The 51st Annual Grammy Awards will air on CBS on February 8th.

Shown last night are Taylor Swift, Ne-Yo, LL Cool J, Christina Aguilera, John Mayer, Smokie Robinson, and Natalie Cole. Credit: WENN

If you have children, you were probably subjected to Nickelodeon’s 25th Annual Kid’s Choice Awards ceremony on Saturday night. You have my sincerest condolences. I, too, had to watch, and it was often eyeroll-inducing: lame banter between celebrity presenters; boring and unfunny “behind the scenes” skits; stupid slime stunts that dragged out the show even longer and wayyyy too much Disney product, in the form of Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers. Miley Cyrus won favorite female television star and favorite female musical artist, much to my daughter’s delight.

There were a few bright spots in the broadcast, including host Jack Black’s over-the-top opening musical number, in which he wore a bright green superhero costume and rocked out with a giant octopus playing guitar to the Kiss song “I Was Made for Loving You,” with the lyrics changed to “I Was Made for Sliming You.” (In my opinion, Black was the only funny, high-energy part of the show and should have been allowed to riff and get crazy even more.) The theme of each Kids’ Choice Awards, you see, is that celebs and kids in the audience get buckets of green slime poured on their heads at random moments. Slimed celebs included Harrison Ford, who recreated a famous scene from “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” which concluded with him being covered in green slime. Other mildly amusing segments included a celebrity belching contest that featured Jodie Foster attempting to burp along to the song “YMCA.”

All in all, the show had the same problems as most other awards shows: it went on too long, there was too much unfunny dialog, and the host didn’t get enough chances to do what he does best. But if you are at all interested in the winners, here they are.

Favorite TV Show: Drake and Josh
Favorite Reality Show: American Idol
Favorite TV Actor: Drake Bell (from Drake and Josh)
Favorite TV Actress: Miley Cyrus
Favorite Cartoon: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Favorite Movie: Alvin and the Chipmunks
Favorite Movie Actor: Johnny Depp
Favorite Movie Actress: Jessica Alba
Favorite Animated Movie: Ratatouille
Favorite Animated Voice: Eddie Murphy (Shrek The Third)
Favorite Music Group: The Jonas Brothers
Favorite Song: “Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne
Favorite Female Singer: Miley Cyrus
Favorite Male Singer: Chris Brown
Favorite Male Athlete: Tony Hawk
Favorite Female Athlete: Danica Patrick
Favorite Book: Harry Potter Series
Favorite Video Game: Madden NFL 2008
Wannabe Award: Cameron Diaz

If anything, the Kids’ Choice Awards gives parents a glimpse into the music, movies, and other pop culture their kids like– which should scare the crap out of you. I know I had a hard time sleeping knowing that the youth of America wants to be just like Cameron Diaz.