Watching any award show except the Oscars has become tedious. Especially music award telecasts. Too much shrieking from the audience. Too many drunken or unprepared "presenters." (Tip: there are cue cards, genius. You have to be able to read 'em. Wear contacts, glasses, or binoculars. Lay off the martinis. Do your job.)

So I hardly give the Academy of Country Music awards a second thought. But I scanned the list of nominees, just to be sure George Strait made the cut. (He did, so there really is a god.)

And then I saw, way at the bottom, the following categories:

Nightclub of the Year

Casino of the Year

Excuse me? Casino of the Year? Isn't that a place that does its best to separate oxygen-bottle-toting people from their money? What does a casino have to do with advancing the art of country music? Who wrote a song called, "I Left my Chips in Your Heart?"

Strictly my opinion: nightclubs and bars are entitled to awards from the hospitality, restaurant, and loan shark industries. No whiskey mill or gambling joint deserves an award from a country music association -- at least, not an association that still refers to women musicians as "cuties" on its website.

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You know you're getting, ah, mature when the performers

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We had to travel to Verona, NY to see Anne Murray, one of my favorite singers.

They have a casino at Turning Stone. It's easy to find. Just look for the people attached to their own oxygen tanks as they crank away at the video slot machines.

I don't get gambling. Not one bit. You're paying someone to take your money away. And, in this particular case, you're doing it in a smoky, noisy electronic arcade that makes Chuck E. Cheese seem like a monastery. Look around, and it quickly becomes evident that many customers around you shouldn't be placing bets when there's rent to be paid.

So, you're not seeing any photos of the casino floor. There are a couple of TV shows that will give you all those scenes.

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I went looking for the aesthetic side of Turning Stone. So you're seeing high-priced Southwestern art and so on.

Oh, and Anne Murray did a wonderful show. But you know you're getting a little old when your favorite singer brings her grown-up daughter onstage for a couple of numbers -- and she's very good,

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