So, on Thursday morning we told you that our sources were saying Amy Winehouse would get the final word on her US visa application on Friday, that she'd most likely get a visa, but that there was doubt that would be in time for the singer to make it to Sunday night's Grammys.
Then on Thursday afternoon we get an official statement saying that Winehouse had had the final word on her US visa application already, that she had been refused access to the USA, and that therefore she would not be going to the Grammys. So we sacked our sources.
Then on Friday we get a second official statement saying that actually Winehouse had received final word on her US visa application on Friday, that she had been granted the visa, but that that didn't leave enough time for the singer to make it to Sunday's Grammys - ie what we had originally predicted. Which means now I'm going to have to buy our source a box of chocolates. Damn Winehouse Visa story.
Anyway, that's all old news by now, because this morning's news is that, despite not making the Grammys bash in LA, Ms Winehouse still stole the show picking up no less than five of the prestigious US music awards, including the gongs for Best Song, Record Of The Year and Best Newcomer. She was linked to the awards show from a London gathering by satellite, and from there gave the Grammys' audience performances of 'You Know I'm No Good' and 'Rehab', while accepting each of her five gongs.
Taking the Record Of The Year prize she hugged her mother, and told the small London audience the prize was for "my mum and dad, [and] to my Blake, my Blake incarcerated. And for London, this is for London, because Camden Town is burning down" (more on Camden Town burning down in a minute).
The other big winner of the night was Kanye West, perhaps not surprisingly, given he started the evening with the most nominations. He took four awards, including Best Rap Song and Best Rap Album. He paid tribute to his late mother Donda who, of course, died very suddenly last year. When Grammy producers tried to cut short his tribute by getting the house band to start playing, West was having none of it, remarking "It would be in good taste to stop the music". Speaking to his late mum, he said: "Last night I saw you in my dreams, and now I can't wait to go to sleep. I know you're really proud of me right now and I know you want me to be the number one artist in the world. And mama, all I'm going to do is keep making you proud. We run this".
Other multiple Grammy winners included Bruce Springsteen, who took three awards, and The White Stripes, Justin Timberlake and Mary J Blige, who each got two. Amy's mate Mark Ronson was named Best Non-classical Producer of the year for his work with Winehouse and Lily Allen not to mention his own album 'Version' while, in something of a surprise decision, the Album Of The Year gong went to the legend that is Herbie Hancock for his Joni Mitchell covers album. In a busy busy weekend for awards, Burt Bacharach got his Grammy Award for lifetime achievement at a separate ceremony on Saturday night.
Elsewhere at the Grammy circus, some of the media spotlight fell on Nas, who caught the snappers' attention by wearing a t-shirt labelled with the name of his upcoming new album - 'Nigger'. Asked about the t-shirt by a white CNN reporter, the hip hopper said: "It's all the experiences we go through every day, of all ethnicities, black, white, indifferent. We've all at some point felt discriminated on, whether it's in Dominican Republic, whether it's in China, whether it's in Iraq with soldiers getting their heads blown off for reasons we don't know why. The meaning of the word is supposed to be ignorant. So no longer are Black people still niggers, it's also me and you. I want people to think about what I'm thinking about today". As previously reported, Nas has already courted controversy with his choice of title for his next long player, especially as he announced his choice just as a new campaign to remove the word from mainstream music was gaining momentum.
Also getting some column inches over the Grammy weekend was Timbaland, who threw a bit of an on-stage hissy fit after headlining People magazine's pre-Grammy's party, because some of his posse had been refused admission to the VIP bash. He slated the organisers of the Saturday night party at the end of his headline set.
Unfortunately I wasn't there and the US media reports of this seem to have completely edited out the swear words he used, but we've been analysing this in some detail for you all, and we're pretty sure only variations of the word 'fuck' work, but apologies if we get this wrong. Anyway, here's what we think the superproducer said: "Next time I have one of my homeboys in line, let that fucker in! I don't like to see my people turned around for some fuckin magazine ... fuck y'all!"