COURSEY: A Valentine's card to the anti-pop star

<p>Dear Adele,</p><p>Will you be my Valentine?</p><p>I know that may seem like a strange question, given that we've never met. Not to mention the fact that you're 23 and I'm, well, old enough to be your father.</p><p>But, after seeing you Sunday night on “60 Minutes” and the Grammy Awards show, I have to admit to finding myself a little sweet on you.</p><p>Who would have thought I'd fall for a pop star? I know — there was that thing I had for Bonnie Raitt after seeing her in a Boulder beer bar when I was 17. But that's faded, for the most part (though I do admit there was a spark watching her play slide guitar and sing Etta James's “A Sunday Kind of Love” on the Grammys the other night).</p><p>Still, this isn't like me. Britney, Rihanna, Christina, Katy, Taylor and their ilk leave me cold. Gaga leaves me confused. Madonna, who's closer to my age, never caught my attention.</p><p>I thought you were just another one of the pack when I heard your songs played over and over and over again on the radio last summer. Sure, you have a great voice, and the songs are catchy, but they didn't do much for me. I imagined you as another skinny girl with a big voice doing videos with a dance troupe, a smoke machine and pyrotechnics. That's the current template, right?</p><p>But when I saw you interviewed by Anderson Cooper, I found out that you come from a different mold. Or, as he put it, “You're kind of the anti-pop star.”</p><p>First, there's your look. Your whole person is in proportion to the size of your voice. Big hips, big eyelashes, big hair, big laugh. And you revel in that. Or, as you told Cooper, “I don't want to be some skinny-mini with my tits out.”</p><p>Yeah, there's that attitude, too. Who knows what you're like when the camera's not rolling, but when it is, it finds you engaging and endearing. With your Cockney accent and salty language, you come across as grounded, feisty, smart, open, vulnerable and — perhaps most importantly — appreciative of the magic that has touched your life.</p><p>That would bring us to the six Grammys you won on Sunday, including song of the year, record of the year and album of the year. Apparently I'm not the only one who appreciates you.</p><p>As it turned out, you were just what the Grammys needed, considering the headlines about Whitney Houston's death on Saturday and Chris Brown's return to the show after beating up his girlfriend Rihanna before the Grammy ceremony in 2009. Your story of a working-class girl's success, your comeback after throat surgery this fall, your self-effacing interview and your drop-dead performance made everyone feel good.</p><p>Including this old guy who doesn't give a rip about pop stars.</p><p>So, thanks. And happy Valentine's Day. </p><p><i>Chris Coursey's blog offers a community commentary and forum, from issues of the day to the ingredients of life in Sonoma County. </i></p>