Though he came out winless in the recent Grammy Awards, local boy Bruno Mars copped the International Male Solo Artist at the BRIT Awards 2012, topping Aloe Blacc, Bon Iver, David Guetta and Ryan Adams.
He was the competition’s Best International Breakthrough Act at last year’s competition, providing he’s still a popular fixture on the global music scene. “I want to thank everybody in the UK for supporting me,” said Mars.
His global counterpart for International Female Solo Artist was Rihanna.
Other gong winners included Lana Del Rey, International Breakthrough Act; Adele, British Female Solo Artist and MasterCard British Album of the Year; Ed Sheeran, British Male Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act; Coldplay, British Group; The Foo Fighters, International Group; One Direction, British Single; and Blur, Outstanding Contribution.
Mars told the Brits that his second album should be released sometime soon.

CBS’ “Hawaii Five-0” has found its voice again, recovering lost viewers over the past week, drawing 10.20 million viewers Monday night (Feb. 20). It led its hour with a 2.8 adults 18-49 rating, besting an also-improving “Castle” on ABC (9.66 million viewers, 2.1 adults 18 to 49) and a declining “Smash” on NBC (6.47 million viewers, 2.39 adults 18 to 49), according to preliminary overnight Nielsen ratings numbers.
Tapping Hawaiian culture and loaded with local color and guest stars, the “Five-0” segment, “Kūpale, earned sufficient points for effort and a demerit or two for execution.
The theme of na koa Hawaiian warriors, duking it out in traditional costumes in an ancient artistry of warfare, was certainly an opportunity to depict a rarely seen and photographed element of Hawaiian culture. The peg to economic greed (involving ferry service), however, was a bit far-fetched, and a crime involving shark-toothed weapons clearly a miniority issue. If anyone owned one of these rarities, would he really use it in a traceable offense?
The parade of jock guest players — notably Apollo Ohno, Olympian medalist skater as a thief of an artifact, and Shane Victorino, the Phillies outfielder as a corporate type conducting training in the wild a stone’s throw away from the Hawaiian practitioners — were casting coups but were essentially extended cameos, not fully realized roles. Ohno’s gig, the larger one, should have somehow found an arc to the finale; folks adore him, after all, and would be eager to see him delude McG and company at least with a fight — not via tear gas drop.
Nice to see Islanders Al Harrington and Dennis Chun in recurring appearances, linking the old “Five-0” with the reboot, and doubly nice to hear Steve McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin) uttering the effective but infrequent “Book ‘em, Danno” to Danny Williams (Scott Caan) again, with tongue slightly in cheek.
The banter between these two was spot-on spiffy, from the opening scene when Danno turned McG’s quarters into his personal refuge while the latter was away, to those in-the-car exchanges about anything and everything. The friction is fun, fast, frequent — caustic conversation.
With James Caan, actor Scott Caan’s dad, guest-starring in next week’s episode, it’s a good bet that “Five-0” will maintain its momentum to lead the hour again. We can only hope.
* * * *
Maybe “Five-0” should invite Bruno Mars to be a guest performer sometime. Might steal more viewers from "Smash," which featured his music and his name, but not him in the flesh.
Though physically absent, Mars' music and his magic were part of this week’s Broadway musical drama, wherein a mythical Bruno Mars Broadway show, complete with a performance of his “Grenade” hit, was bandied about.
Or maybe Mars might just skip episodic television and go for the gusto, mounting his own musical on The Great White Way. Might make him the billionaire he aspires to be.
What you think?

Whitney Houston will be remembered and saluted, in private funeral services in New Jersey on Saturday (Feb. 18).
She may be gone, but her music lives on forever — receiving posthumous sales boost akin to the Michael Jackson passing. In death, she has new life on the sales charts, online downloads and, yes, airplay on radio.
Assuredly, she is one of the best-selling singers with a legendary roster of hit music.
So what are your favorite Whitney Houston songs?

These are mine:

1 – “I Will Always Love You” (1992). Her signature song, featured in “The Bodyguard,” her biggest film starring Kevin Costner.
2 – “Greatest Love of All” (1986). A cover of the original George Benson chartbuster, but nonetheless an iconic tune for Houston.
3 — “One Moment in Time” (1988). This surely is a punctuation mark in her career — a tune recorded for the 1988 Olympics, celebrating special moments in time. The lyrics — and her performance —bring on chicken-skin chills. Sample lyrics:
I want one moment in time
When I'm more than I thought I could be
When all of my dreams are a heartbeat away
And the answers are all up to me
Give me one moment in time
When I'm racing with destiny
Then in that one moment of time
I will feel
I will feel eternity...
4 — “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” (1987). This one earned her a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
5 — “Where Do Broken Hearts Go?” (1988). A rockaballad for heartaches and heartbreaks — and a healer at that.
6 — “How Will I Know” (1985). A solid R&B number with broad appeal — in dance, pop, adult contemporary genres.
7 — “All the Man That I Need” (1990). Another cover (by Linda Clifford and Sister Sledge) that ultimately got the Houston hypnosis — with a surging gospel flavor before a grand finish, as demonstrated by the YouTube live performance.
8 — “So Emotional” (1987). This was Houston’s sixth consecutive No. 1 winner, composed by the duo who were responsible for Madonna’s “Like a Virgin.”
9 — “Saving All My Love for You” (1985). This was her first Grammy win (Best Female Pop Vocal), despite being a cover of an earlier minor hit sung by Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. of the Fifth Dimension.
10 — “Didn’t We Almost Have It All?” (1987)". It didn’t win, but was a nominee for Song of the Year in 1988.

Have any titles to add to the list?

And for a compilation of different strokes of Houston’s No. 1 biggie, “I Will Always Love You,” Google “vulture.com glee vs. YouTube” — and see some stunning renderings, by a Taiwanese boy, a young girl, Meredes from “Glee,” a saxophonist and, er, a bizarre but entertaining upbeat render by a woman from the Balkans.
They will always love her...

NBC has found its voice for Monday nights — despite dips in the overnight Nielsen ratings — beating CBS in numbers. And it's got to do with music.
The Peacock network’s “The Voice” drew 16.1 million viewers in its two-hour frame (7 to 9 p.m. here, 8 to 10 p.m. on the Mainland), logging a 5.9 adult 18-49 rating, which was down from last week. Its new show “Smash,” at 9 p.m., pulled 8.09 million viewers and a 2.8 adult 18-49 rating, but dropping 26 per cent from its premiere last week.
This was good enough for NBC to bypass the parade of comedy sitcoms on CBS from 7 to 9 p.m., with the Eye network hitting a season low for Mondays (13.433 million viewers for NBC, 10.319 for CBS).
Who's singing all the way to bank?
In spite of a problematic script, with several bumps in execution, CBS’ Island-filmed “Hawaii Five-0” at 9 p.m. held its own with 9.53 million viewers and a 2.6 adult 18-49 rating, compared to NBC’s “Smash,” which had 8.09 million viewers but a better 2.8 adult 18-49 rating, and ABC’s “Castle,” which earned 8.88 million viewers and a 2.0 adult 18-49 rating. “Five-0” was down a tenth from last week, but “Smash” had a major 26 per cent fallout, compared to last week. “Castle,” on the other hand, was up a skosh from a week ago.
Thus, the jury still is out on the 9 p.m. Monday schedule — clearly, “Smash” with its second episode mixing musical drama and show biz dreams, has become a modest player, eroding some of the viewership of the competing procedural dramas. So it’s still a free-for-all for now.
Back to this week’s “Five-0” episode, entitled “I Helu Pu,” or “The Reckoning.
I reckon good intentions got in the way in writing and execution of this mishmash.
Like the bloodied body found at the end of a laundry chute, this episode was one of the messiest yet — repeated flashbacks that disrupted the storytelling flow, action that put McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin) in peril (a car hits him while he’s in pursuit of a perp, giving him gashes on his face that required bandages, which appear and disappear, because of the see-sawing flashback mode, outdated cold war themes about Russian invasions that seemed more James Bondian than McGarrettian.
Further, loyalties and trust were tested, along with common sense, so Lori Weston’s out from her Homeland Security post to aid the governor. (OK, stop the cheering, gang, but admittedly, it’s about time)
How viewers stuck this one out is somewhat baffling. But locals are bound to be loyal, perhaps waiting for that hail-mary pass.
With Lori (Lauren German) deciding to resign and move on, even terminating her adoration for McG, there’s closure to this snail-paced story arc that has plagued the pacing of the show for months. Even minimalizing the productivity of the four-member “Five-0” 'ohana in the process.
There were some bothersome bloopers: How can Kalakaua (Grace Park) merely don scrubs and steal a blood sample from a hospital? Crimefighters breaking the law?
And why were there numerous technical blips in the soundtrack, with a frequent “silent” pause that often dropped a word in dialogue? On whose watch are these things happening?
As Governor Denning, Richard T. Jones finally gets ample screen time ... but the imposing character is demonstrating more menacing maneuvers than aloha or likeability. His way or no way. Remember, the state’s chief executive officer previously took a bullet — and not via an election.
On the Go Local barometer, it was a nice touch to toss in Jake Shimabukuro as a silent auction attraction at the gala that had the cast decked out in formal wear; and season tickets to the University of Hawaii Warrior football games was a nice boost for the team, however premature. Is this the new Norm? Chow Time well before the fall kickoff?
What’s your take?

Did you watch the Grammys Sunday night?
Clearly, it was exactly what it was repositioned to be: an annual salute to the music industry’s best, coupled with an eleventh hour tribute to the incomparable, if not incomprehensible, Whitney Houston, who died the day before the awards cast.
With Britain’s Adele winning the lioness’ share of trophies, the obvious emerged: she is the darling now and for the immediate future.
I mean, don’t you wish she would cross the pond and come share her vocal prowess in Honolulu?
As far as the audience was concerned, she could have read the phone book ... and emerge a winner. Her vocal of her iconic “Rolling in the Deep,” the first public warbling after months of a challenging throat problem, she was immediately a jewel.
So with Houston’s passing, there was an unofficial turning-over-the-scepter aura as Adele emerged as the belle of the Grammy throne by sign-off. She was a terrific, hypnotic trouper — who made her lyrics spring to life. And her beaucoup trips to the podium, to say thanks and all that usual ritual, were charming, demonstrating her earnest joy and appreciation. Someone like her doesn’t come down the path too often.
Neither does a Jennifer Hudson, who easily is becoming the most versatile and dependable (and slimmed-down) non-winner of “American Idol.” She was tapped to focus on the Houston memorial, and while no one can equate Houston’s emotion and endurance in reaching the high-high notes on “I Will Always Love You,” Hudson did a damn good job in a darned difficult situation, putting her own imprint on a classic that, simply, will never be outdone. It’s Houston’s hit, then and still, but Hudson managed to make that nervous moment work. Don’t think anyone else in the music biz could have stepped in so late and step out so luminously. Well, maybe Dolly Parton, who wrote the song, could have been lassoed. But as charismatic as Parton might be, on her own terms, Hudson’s presence sort of suggested a sisterhood in motion— one song dynamo singing a fond farewell to another.
The Grammys was also an evening of reincarnation, not all good.
Who’d ever thought a Beatle would be so accessible and adorable ... and engaging the home and live audience with his sentimental pre-Valentine’s balladry, then going high-energy rocker later with “The End” with David Grohl and Bruce Springsteen. Yesterday and today blended with oozing charm, yea yea yea. Everyone loved him!
And then there were three Beach Boys, trying to get those good vibrations going again. OK, it wasn’t as energetic or harmonic as yesterday, but to get Brian Wilson to sit at the keyboard and try to have fun, fun, fun again – with Mike Love, Al Jardine and Bruce Johnson, at that — we got a Grammy Event. Even with the peculiar and awkward patchwork of Maroon Five and Foster the People, who were along for the ride.
Further, with Glen Campdell diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, the “Rhinestone Cowboy” was magnificent, not just collecting a Lifetime Achievement Award, but showing he still has a lot of achievement in his boots, with Blake Shelton introducing him in song and in back-up... gentle on anybody’s mind.
It was great to see The Boss in action, too, but Bruce Springsteen’s early segment was at best, fresh and now.
To remember Etta James, Bonnie Raitt and Alicia Keys demonstrated love and aloha for the blues queen, but face it — the remembrance quotient was higher and brighter for Houston.
Not so cohesive or coherent: that bizarre Tony Bennett and Carrie Underwood duet. Something got lost in the process, since there was more discomfort than delight in the blending of the generations.
Best performance of the night? Hometown loyalty aside, Bruno Mars strutted with the sound and style of a superstar, but he was outshadowed by Taylor Swift, with her down-home and stylistically chic “Mean.” A splendidly-staged, superbly performed, Grammy-winning turn by Swift, who now is the Queen of Mean. In a good way.
Again, wouldn’t you like to see her live and in the flesh in our town?
As for the flow and flavor of the event, there was far too many moving visuals, during segments by everyone – Chris Brown, Rihanna, Kathy Perry, Nicki Minaj. Dizzying and distracting.
And what say you, about LL Cool J, the evening’s host? He has roots in the music biz, but folks know him now as a star of CBS’ “NCIS: Los Angeles.” So he had the creds to host, though at times, he was a bit procedural, like he was analyzing a case on his TV show.