Whitney Houston's death this weekend reminded me of a Houston show I saw at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City in 1998. It was pretty disastrous, and hard to look away from, as I recall. Here's the review, which ran in the Inquirer on November 18, 1998, in its entirety. It natters on for a while about her then-new album, My Love Is Your Love, but gets to the part about the troubled diva falling apart on stage towards the bottom.

Get out the broom: Adele swept the Grammys last night. All thanks to the inspiration from "a rubbish relationship," the British singer had her way with the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, taking all six categories she was nominated in, including the three big kahunas of album, record and song of the year.  For a while there, the Foo Fighters looked like contenders, but Adele brushed them aside. Her producer,  Paul Epworth, also won producer of the year.

In her mid-1980s to mid-1990s heyday, Whitney Houston, who died on Saturday in Los Angeles at age 48, was a Billboard chart-topping force, and her successes from that era qualify her as one of the most commercially successful female solo artists of all time, if not the most successful.

On Billboard's list of the Top Ten albums by women that have spent the longest time atop the charts, Houston has three of them, which is more than anybody else. Number one is 1992's The Bodyguard, which held the top spot for 20 weeks, number four is her 1986 debut Whitney Houston, for 14 weeks, and number 8 is 1987's Whitney, at 11 weeks. (That top spot is under threat by Adele's 21, which has been the biggest seller 19 times so far, and currently holds that position.)

On Thursday night, two days before she died in a Los Angeles hotel room, Whitney Houston joined her friend Kelly Price on stage for what turned out to be her final performance. In a low rasp, the daughter of singer Cissy Houston (and god-daughter of Aretha Franklin) sang a verse of the gospel standard "Yes, Jesus Love Me." Watch a video clip captured by a fan below, and click here to see a video from earlier in the day Thursday, with Houston dropping in on Brandy, Monica and Clive Davis interview for the E! channel.

Pop-soul singer and one-time record breaking hitmaker Whitney Houston died on Saturday night in Los Angeles on the eve of the Grammy awards.

We know about President Obama and his Al Green falsetto. Now comes news that POTUS is a closet country fan and REO Speedwagon enthusiast. On Thursday, the Obama campaign Tweeted the official Obama 2012 Campaign Playlist, and put a link up to listen to the songs on the music streaming service Spotify.

The 28 song playlist, which runs from nuevo soul man Raphael Saadiq's "Keep Marchin'," to nuevo soul woman Ledisi's "Raise Up," is below. Before slamming him for the list's many failings of mushy mediocrity, it should be noted the playlist description on Spotify is described as featuring "picks by the campaign staff - including a few of President Obama's favorites."

The campaign staff, or somebody, is apparently very fond of Jennifer Nettles and pop-country band Sugarland, who, along with Hootie-gone-country vocalist Darius Rucker, are the only registered voters only have two cuts on the mix. For anyone parsing the playlist for a preview of what the 2012 campaign will hold, the Spotify lists seems to point to an Obamian spin on the Nixonian Southern strategy: the Dems apparently plan to win over white working class voters below the Mason Dixon Line by spinning them some Montgomery Gentry, Zac Brown Band and Dierks Bentley. 

I get the demographic idea, but c'mon POTUS, show some better taste: How about some gun totin' Texas country from Miranda Lambert or rough-hewn Southern soul-rock from the Alabama Shakes or Jason Isbell? Get hip, for goodness sake.

The mostly black-and-white video for Bruce Springsteen's new single "We Take Care Of Our Own," from the forthcoming Wrecking Ball, was released today. The leather-jacketed Boss really wants you to be clear about the lyrics, apparently, because they're included in the clip. Springsteen and the E Street Band will be on the Grammy telecast on Sunday.

The National Constitution Center's exhibit From Asbury Park to the Promised Land: The Life and Music of Bruce Springsteen, opens next week. On Thursday morning, I did a walk through of the exhibit, which originated at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, as they were unpacking the guitars and hanging the pictures on the wall. 

Twitter king Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson today shared an eight-minute clip of Justin Verson of Bon Iver performing "Perth" from Bon Iver with The Roots during a recent visit to The Late Night with Jimmy Fallon studios in New York. Watch it below. Bon Iver is up for four Grammys on Sunday night, including record and song of the year for "Holocene," and best new artist.