I planned to write about our fun experience going to the 54th Grammy Awards on Sunday but the minute the show ended we were all felled by illness. Kendall and Charlie weren’t at the Staples Center that night but I decided to blame the terrifying Nicki Minaj and her satanic number for Charlie’s double ear infection and Kendall’s weird case of extreme vertigo. Did that bizarre creature pass some spell through me to my loved ones? Hmm, I was physically closer to Cyndi Lauper and Kathy Griffin, maybe they were responsible.
We found out early on that Wilco’s category, Best Rock Album, was not going to be part of the televised extravaganza but would be doled out in the pre-show at the neighboring convention center. Isn’t that weird? I mean, it’s not like they were nominated for Best Foreign Polka Band, their category sounded pretty major to me. Turns out the Grammys is more of a concert than an awards show. Out of 78 categories, only 8 awards are given out during the three and half hours of TV time. Whatever.
We arrived at the Red Carpet about a half hour before Wilco’s category was announced. The boys slooooowly made their way down the gauntlet which included everyone from CNN India to these two little YouTube girls, Sophie Grace and Rosie, that Leah seemed to know. Before each band hit the endless media outlets, frantic publicists rushed forward to tell the often clueless reporters who the hell they were about to interview. We were kept just behind the ropes of the Red Carpet area and there were several times when I was tempted (but restrained myself...until now) to make allusions to the lines at Auschwitz as burly Grammy guards ordered us to go to the left while pointing the celebrities to the right. Gulp.
Here’s a photo taken of Wilco at the end of the gauntlet. Insanely, several outlets I saw labeled brilliant drummer Glenn Kotche in this photo as Glenn Close and Pat Sansone as Patti Sansone. Hello? Is there anyone reviewing copy at news outlets anymore? The scary thing is that I checked those sites two days later and am happy to report that Wilco’s percussionist is still Oscar nominee Glenn Close. I only hope he wins his Best Actress Oscar later this month! Before we even made our way into the arena, we heard that the Foo Fighters won Best Rock Album. Or as they are known by my disgruntled nephews, the Poo Fighters. It was the second time Wilco lost out to them. Oh well.
Because Sue and Jeff were sitting way up front with the nominees, Leah and I sat with Spencer and Sammy. Everyone looked fantastic. Leah was such a fashion plate she could have passed for one of the Best New Artist nominees. It was hard not to ogle all the crazy people at the Grammys. I had to look up most of the performers I saw on the Red Carpet when I got home to discover who I was looking at. It was easy to spot the record company execs but much of the rest of the crowd was a mystery to me. All you could see everywhere were sequins, feathers, dangerously high heels, tattoos, and boobs, boobs, boobs. Spencer and Sammy were in heaven.
Here are Leah and Sammy in a position emulated by thousands of Staple Center attendees all night long. Because I know next to nothing about much of the current music scene, I had to constantly ask my young charges who the performers were—at least the performers under 50! What follows are just a few of my own personal highlights, not in any way to be confused with an exhaustive or intelligent “review” of the proceedings. For a hipper take, check out my nephew Spencer’s recounting of the event.
Believe it or not, I had never even heard of Adele, the charming British minx who dominated the night. Well, I recognized her hit song when I heard it, but I hadn’t been following her career. Killer pipes but it’s still a mystery to me why some talented singers become SUCH a sensation (how many Grammys did she win on Sunday—30?) while most remain in relative obscurity. I liked her a lot, though, and she became the first in a long list I gave Leah of CD she owns that I want to download.
I also loved Bruno Mars and his retro 60s look and sound. Who knew? Great production number. The sets at the Grammys were insane—constantly changing and quite complex. I have to hand it to the people that put this night together, it is one well produced show. I haven’t watched it on TV but it looked fantastic in person.
When I got home I read about all the Chris Brown Twitter arguments. Some people thought he shouldn’t have been invited because of his abuse of Rihanna a few years back. I don’t know enough about that to comment (I assume he’s gone through some kind of treatment or rehab?), but dare I say that if she’s okay with him being present, shouldn’t we be? I’m not defending Brown’s actions, God knows, but I’m also not blaming him for the lunatics online who announced via Twitter that they would love to be abused by him. Oy. I actually interviewed him last month on the set of his latest film (“Planet B-Boy”) and found him to be quite nice but I barely knew who he was (except for an amazing dancer—wait till you see that film!). Sometimes my cluelessness is a gift.
And speaking of Rihanna, her song with Coldplay was mostly memorable to me for how they got the audience involved. When we all filed into Staples Center, they handed us these colored bracelets that said “Coldplay” on them. I thought it was just some off-putting promotional move and was shocked when at a specific moment during the number, all of the thousands of bracelets suddenly turned on and started blinking. They all went off at the same moment and then back on, in time with the music. It was a stunning effect even though I wondered if they were also engaging in group mind control!
Certainly one of the major highlights of the evening was seeing the legendary Paul McCartney perform. He was there with his new (um…young) girlfriend and he’s had a bit of work done but oh, how great he was both singing his new “My Valentine” and in the amazing “Abbey Road” finale with Bruce Springsteen, Joe Walsh, and others. Wow. I was so happy Leah, Spencer, and Sammy got to witness that.
There were several points during the show that reduced me to tears. The Beach Boys reunion, Jennifer Hudson’s brief but extremely heartfelt musical eulogy to Whitney Houston, Bonnie Raitt and Alicia Keys honoring the late Etta James, but the Glen Campbell tribute made me sob like a baby. As we all know, Campbell is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and this is undoubtedly the last time he’ll be able to perform at such an event and take in the accolades that were coming his way (with musical help by The Band Perry and Blake Shelton). I grew up with those songs and I remember every episode of “The Glen Campbell Show.” I was moved to read later that several of his family members are supporting him on his farewell tour—his son Cal on drums, his brother Shannon on guitar, and sister Ashley on keyboards, banjo, and violin. Whoever was responsible for including this number in the Grammys this year deserves a lot of praise.
Another highlight was getting to see 85-year-old Tony Bennett in the flesh and sounding as great as ever. I loved his rendition of “It Had to Be You” with Carrie Underwood who was damn lucky to have been chosen as his partner for that song. He is not only a great singer, he is a fantastic person by all accounts. And such a rare example of the lack of ageism in the extremely ageist music industry. Again, all I could think of is one day Leah, Spencer, and Sammy will be telling their children that they saw the great Tony Bennett live even if they didn’t realize the full weight of that the other night.
All in all, a fabulous, memorable night. Everyone kept pointing out that in all the times that Wilco has been nominated for a Grammy, they lost when they showed up, and won when they didn't. After seeing Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters perform not once but three times on the show, we had to laugh when some Grammy official asked Jeff toward the end of the show if he was a “seat filler.” Um…no, you idiot, he is a nominee! Not that any of it really matters. When you consider who votes for these things and how it all works, it’s a miracle that Wilco ever gets nominated at all. It’s really not their thing and it's not sour grapes to say that this and all awards shows are ultimately pretty meaningless. And yet I selfishly worry that Jeff won’t bother to show up the next time he's up for an award. What about ME? Will I have to produce a CD of my blog and hope to get nominated for Best Spoken Word Recording?
We went to the Wilco label party afterwards and then home to watch Nicki Minaj’s curse take effect on me and my entire family. The next day MTV published this Instagram Photo Diary of pix taken by Wilco members John Stirrat and Mikael Jorgensen. Check it out if you want to see how smokin’ hot everybody looked that night.
The best news came over breakfast the next morning before my sister and her gang left for Chicago. As Spencer reported in his blog, some of the band members went to a Warner Bros. party (their old label) at the Chateau Marmont after the Wilco bash and Paul McCartney told John that he had stayed up late a few nights before watching Wilco’s concert on “Austin City Limits” and loved it. If that isn’t better than winning the damn Grammy, I don’t know what is!
Thanks for the report. I was thinking of you all on Sun. and am glad you had a great time despite the illness!
Posted by: Pam G | February 15, 2012 at 04:21 AM
Sounds like you had a very exciting time in spite of the gaffs....And speaking of gaffs, I believe that is Paul McCartney's wife who was with him---at least she was supposed to be....And the pairing with Tony Bennett is because of his new CD, I believe, where he does amazingly fabulous duets with a lot of different 'artists', of "standards" that we know and love---it is a glorious production in every way....There was a WONDERFUL showing of it on PBS a few weeks ago--available on DVD I believe...!
How horrible that you all were struck down by illness....Hoping all of you are "well" by now, my dear, particularly Kendall with Vertigo---not a fun thing to have.
I don't understand The Grammy's. As you said, it is really not an Award Show but a l-o-n-g varied concert, most of which is music I do not understand either. I'm old.
The death of Whitney Houston is a tragic loss. This woman had a voice that was A Gift From God! So sad that she is gone too soon. But her music will live on---the miracle of electronics!
Posted by: OldOldLady Of The Hills | February 15, 2012 at 05:31 AM
What a delicious report of the goings on at the Grammys. Thanks for taking us there, and hope everyone is better.
Posted by: Frances | February 15, 2012 at 06:33 AM
Yes, Paul's wife is MOT even. And as Naomi above said, that was her.
Posted by: Pearl | February 15, 2012 at 08:52 AM
macca knows talent ...
Posted by: wrenchwear | February 15, 2012 at 05:08 PM
As always, I love your blog! My only disappointment was not getting to see Sue all dolled up! I love the photo of Jeff and his darling boys! I would love to have seen a photo of Jeff and Sue too!
Posted by: robin | February 15, 2012 at 06:04 PM
I always love reading your reports! I don't think they have a clue what to do with Wilco. Every time they get nominated in a different category: Alternative, Americana, and now Rock.
Is Spencer taller than Jeff already?
Posted by: Mike Cohen | February 15, 2012 at 10:40 PM
Robin, my sister was a knockout on Grammy night but she forbade me to post any pictures of her. Maybe the public outcry will force her to relent. Yeah, Mike, Spencer is already taller than Jeff, I think. Yikes.
Naomi, I should have been up to speed on Paul McCartney's new wife, Nancy Shevell! And a member of the tribe yet! I just read that Sir Paul attended Yom Kippur services with Nancy last October. Oy! I forgot to mention the moment during the Glen Campbell tribute that moved me more than anything. Seeing Paul McCartney on his feet in the first row, enthusiastically singing along with every Glen Campbell song. That guy is so generous.
Posted by: Danny | February 15, 2012 at 11:17 PM
I watched the Grammy Awards for the first time just so I don't end up like you, not knowing who Adele was. If there is one good thing about this MSN movie gig you have, is that you are being forced to see movies that didn't come out when Louis B. Mayer was still running the studio. By the way -- I hope this wasn't a joke - but I heard that some kids on Twitter didn't know anything about that old guy singing, um -- Paul McCartney.
Posted by: Neil | February 16, 2012 at 07:44 PM
I'm kind of glad I turned in before the Glen Campbell thing. His songs are so lodged in my deep dark childhood unconcious, I can start bawling just hearing Southern Nights. I'll have to watch a clip of the tribute when I'm good & prepared for it. I think the term "delicious" totally fits your synopsis - Thanks!
Posted by: KWild | February 16, 2012 at 08:05 PM