Las Vegas, December 6, 2005 – It’s nice to step back once in a while to appreciate true artistic genius, and where better to do that than in that summit of cultural achievement, Las Vegas? The Billboard Music Awards sifts through the pop music silt to reward artistic merit: namely, those recording artists with the highest sales figures and radio play during the year. The Billboard awards are especially meaningful in 2005, with the big payola scandals rocking the music business.

So there we were in the hallowed MGM Grand, where countless luminaries have gambled, er,gamboled. Perhaps the most breathtaking moment in the press room was when winner Mariah Carey, clutching armfuls of awards, got caught up in the moment and didn’t demand that her people adjust the lighting. The unspoiled girl inside came out, and Mariah went with the existing harsh lighting. Our mascara was running.

Kanye West was almost as humble, merely telling the crowd, “I’m the greatest”. And while everyone is calling Mariah’s huge hit record a “comeback”, the bigger mystery was veteran rocker Gwen Stefani’s “New Artist of the Year” award. Somehow, after almost twenty years with her band No Doubt, Gwen has been reborn.

If the background music during the show sounded upbeat, that’s probably because DJ AM, gleefully free of fiancée Nicole Richie, was spinning with abandon.