#LAStrong: GRAMMYS Nailed It for Community Spirit

Plus discover new artists and the thrill of the win!

In This Issue

• Global Reunion’s Artist Discovery

• Premiere Ceremony: The Thrill of a Win!

• Major Moments from The Main Event

#LAStrong: GRAMMYS Nailed It for Community Spirit

It was difficult to envision how the 67th GRAMMY Awards would celebrate achievements in music while mourning the devastation that wildfires wreaked upon the City of Angels.

Yet, the Recording Academy nailed it with community spirit. This article covers the key takeaways from the ceremonies and the artists I discovered over the weekend.

The next newsletter will include a movie montage of photos we took and cover a trip to the GRAMMY Museum with photos from the current exhibits for premium subscribers. Not a premium subscriber? No problem, upgrade here to a monthly or annual paid subscription.

Global Reunion’s Artist Discovery

L.A. is widely known for its ability to be soul crushing for artists who flock there in pursuit of their music or acting career dreams. Queen Kwong’s song “Sad Man” comes to mind for a musical and visual interpretation of someone who is beat down by this cut-throat town.

Yet, that is NOT the vibe I felt over this weekend. From the hotel staff to drivers to artists and media reps, everyone seemed to be in this together with a positive spirit.

On Saturday, Lurleen and I grabbed a ride to The Continental Club on West 4th Street on Saturday for the Global Reunion @ LA event. It was a beehive of music industry professionals hosted by Lonnie Park (GRAMMY winner, producer, composer) and Ricky Kej (GRAMMY winner, composer, environmentalist).

This private gathering is not like other industries’ networking events that are hushed and swathed in neutral-hued business attire. These out-loud creatives, who hail from around the world even if some now reside in L.A., wear their diverse backgrounds and personal branding with pride. From saris to shredded denim to sparkling cocktail dresses and gold teeth, we saw it all. People seemed genuinely interested in who you are and why you were there. Almost everyone I met ended conversations with a hug.

Perhaps the wildfires cultivated a sense of tenderness in simple human connection. Until you learned more, you had to assume the person you spoke with suffered from the fires to one degree or another. Locals who were not directly affected often hosted friends and family who evacuated or lost everything. (Listen to my chat with Radhika Vekaria.) Concern on my part that my hotel room should have gone to wildfire victims was put to rest when my reservation was lost and the hotel easily booked me into another room. Read tomorrow’s newsletter for more on my personal experiences and photos from the trip.

Some of the artists we had the honor of meeting at the Global Reunion include:

Amelia Blake and Dan Garner from Louisiana. This married couple broke the ice with a cool card trick and the conversation flowed. They appear as folk duo The Flying Teacups and Amelia’s song “One More Kiss” was inspired by her husband’s romantic courtship.

Dressed like a million bucks, Billboard charting rapper and RIAA Gold Artist Willy Northpole from Arizona drew me in with his bright smile and easy laugh. Willy melted my heart when he said he supports nonprofits that help single moms. (More men like him, PLEASE!) And yes, HM is all about uplifting women in music, and so is Willy with this “Goosebumps Rap” featuring female rapper Whitney Peyton and Bag of Tricks Cat.

L.A. resident by way of Russia, Olya Sonica met up with me at the bar where we both ordered champagne. When I asked what she does, she smiled and said “I play rock music!” Hot damn, this singer/songwriter/musician hooked me right out of the gate. She released the single “Let Me In” from her debut album Alchemy three months ago. Keep your eyes on this woman’s career.

Publicist Kaytee Long Becker introduced us to Emer Kinsella, an Irish composer who blends ambient electronics with her introspective string writing (perfect film soundtrack ear candy). I’m rooting for a GRAMMY nom for her in the next year or two. Here is her song “Catalyst” that released a year ago.

Lastly, it was lovely meeting musician Ty Moss and his wife Carole. Ty was cowriter on The Emperors "Karate" (1966) Carlos Santana's "Everybody's Everything" (1972).

Premiere Ceremony: The Thrill of A Win!

Held at the Peacock Theater across the way from the Crypto.com Arena and red carpet event, the Premiere ceremony is where 84 of the Academy’s award winners are announced. It would be delightful if the Academy hosted the televised ceremony here because there is not an obstructed seat in the building designed for live performances instead of sports. But its size would never accommodate the crowd that fills the arena’s 20,000 capacity.

Here is the full list of 94 GRAMMY winners and nominees from CBS.

It’s first come, first serve at the theater. Walking up the ramp and entering the main room was quite dramatic with sea blue spotlights shining brightly. Justin Tranter hosted in an oversized pantsuit with metallic high heels. The man can throw a high kick that The Rockettes would applaud. His jokes were funny and just edgy enough to make record label executives squirm uncomfortably in their seats.

Justin and other guest presenters like folk/roots artist Rhiannon Giddens spent much of the night accepting awards on behalf of people who were not there. It shocked me how many winners were absent.

Then there was the couple sitting next to us. They looked intensely engaged and mentioned that they had been nominated before but had not won. When Best Historical Album winner ““Centennial” was called out, they let out a triumphant gasp and, teary-eyed, grabbed each other and ran down the aisle! They were Meagan Hennessey and Richard Martin, the compilation producers. Lurleen and I were so excited for them, we started yelling and clapping like their biggest fans. It didn’t matter that they were complete strangers. We witnessed first-time GRAMMY winners experience the biggest recognition of their hard work and talent! It was exhilarating. We could not have been happier for them. Their acceptance pic is in tomorrow’s video.

Our favorite for New Age, Best Ambient or Chant Album category made a good showing. We rooted for Radhika Vekaria, but the winners were Wouter Kellerman, Éru Matsumoto and Chandrika Tandon for their album Triveni.

During a hydration break, I met folk-rock-soul artist and United Nations activist Aliza Hava from Oregon. She’s heading to SXSW in Austin this Spring, and we immediately connected. So of course we’re connecting her with local musicians so she feels welcomed during the chaos of SX. Because that’s how we help lift up women on the road. Here is the video for her latest single “Into The Light.”

Main Takeaways From The Main Event

Beyoncé. Queen Bey finally got her Album of The Year win for Cowboy Carter as voted by 13,000 voting members. Even her category competition was visibly excited for the country pop crossover who has waited years for this award. In her speech, she emphasized that the country genre is for everyone no matter where you come from (I read heritage or race on that line). BTW, it was super special to see LAFD Captain Sheila Kelleher announce the winner.

#LAStrong. The producers did a great job of integrating fundraising into the programming. MusiCares is the Recording Academy’s program helping musicians in crisis. Donations from attendees and viewers will go directly to helping those affected by the L.A. wildfires. Video clips of the fires were hard to watch, but watching neighbors and strangers help each other and wildlife proves once again that Americans are at their best when they are working together.

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when the LAFD entered the stage and the chief gave a brief speech to a standing ovation. These are the true heroes, along with all the first responders who came from near and far. In 3.5 hours, they raised $7MM. You can donate right here.

Chappell Roan was fantastically practical. Watch her acceptance speech for the Best New Artist Award. A woman in drag queen makeup and a pointy princess cap schooled record labels on the need to provide a livable wage and health insurance to their artists. “Labels, we got you, but do you got us?”

Alicia Keys had the quote of the night. During her acceptance speech for the Global Impact Award, she made a lot of strong points (video below). Alicia gave shoutouts to female music producers. And the women who run the nonprofit She Is The Music that champions equality, inclusivity and opportunity for women in music. Her best quote was eloquent and powerful.

“This is not the time to shut down the diversity of voices. We’ve seen on this stage talented, hard-working people from different backgrounds with different points of view and it changes the game. DEI is not a threat, it’s a gift.”

“DEI is not a threat, it’s a gift.”

Let’s all say that together. “DEI is not a threat, it is a gift.”

Never stop being YOU, embracing your unique super powers, and showing kindness to others who seem different than you. Community spirit wasn’t just a theme at the awards ceremony, it is a theme for people who love L.A. and work together to rebuild.

Know that you are always welcome in our band of dreamers, rule breakers, and rockstars. You are appreciated and make a difference. Thank you for supporting Herizon Music.

It’s a WRAP!

Thea 🎶

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