THIS IS THE PART WHERE YOU LEARN I'M COMPLETELY FULL OF CRAP

I’m watching the Britt Awards on television and the show features a performance by Gorillaz.

Gorillaz is perhaps the coolest band that has ever existed, although, by the strictest definition, the band doesn’t actually exist. Instead, Gorillaz bill themselves as a “virtual band” and is a collaboration featuring the guy who started the Brit-pop band Blur, and the guy who drew the “Tank Girl” comic strip. Band members are animated characters that include a 10 year old Japanese girl, a giant drummer who appears to be based on rap mogul Suge Knight, and a very evil bassist. That alone would make them very cool. But they’ve also managed to put out a pair of excellent albums that have been in heavy rotation on my iPod for some time. Very, very cool, indeed.

So, like I said, I’m watching the Britt Awards (it’s the British version of the Grammy’s) and had already seen performances by Coldplay, and Kaiser Chiefs and Some Pasty British Guy I’ve Never Heard Of (he won a lot of prizes that night). Then they get to Gorillaz. In 4 minutes, they show more creativity and imagination than all the rest of the acts combined. The band members are projected on this giant screen behind the stage and glower over the audience as the music starts.

I’m obsessed with this performance and watch it again and again (thank you, TiVo!) With the new 3D animations they have, the band it looking more real than ever. They’ve created a parallel world that I really want to be a part of. I want to live in a world where these four people really are a rock and roll band. It seems so close. If I only concentrate a little harder, perhaps this world will somehow spring into existence.

At the Britt Awards, the band didn’t really play, they just towered over the children’s choir who was singing the award-nominated song…

What? Children’s choir? Avid readers of this blog may recall I wrote this just last week

“I know you’re supposed to love your children unconditionally, but if either of these twins ever say, “Dad, why are you playing that song by Gorillaz when we could listen to that much better version sung by a children’s choir?” ?” I can’t rule out foster care as an option for that child.”

When I wrote that, I failed to recall one important fact: one of the best songs on the new Gorillaz album is sung by a children’s choir. What’s more, the performance by the children’s choir at the Britt Awards, augmented by a 20 piece string section and former Pharcyde rapper Bootie Brown, has me transfixed. Simply put, it’s one of the most creatively exhilarating live performances I’ve seen in years.

And it features a children’s choir. And I like it.

Pardon me now while my brain explodes.