Tag: The Grammys

On The Red Carpet With Stef

stef on red carpetAt its heart Los Angeles is built on entertainment. This is ground zero for TV, movies and music. It all gets concentrated this time of year. In LA, this is award season.

We’ve already had the Golden Globe and SAG Awards. The Oscars are still to come. Tonight, it’s the Grammys.

Awards are big business, as are the shows that flank the awards. Think NFL pre and post-game shows. The depth of coverage is crazy. Tonight it’s four hours live before the Grammys and another hour after, all on E!.

That’s where you’ll find our child. Stef has been working for E! during awards season. She’s on the Red Carpet again tonight.

Like coverage of any live event, these shows include set-up packages for context and depth (and to fill time between the star sightings). Stef’s been involved in those as well.

Until now she’d had been involved in reality. This is Stef’s first time working live shows. Live TV was my crack cocaine. Hopefully, she’s feeling that same excitement.

The hours are very long, but she’s in the middle of events everyone talks about with the world’s biggest celebs. It’s a pretty cool job and we’re happy for our child.

Of course this does oblige us to watch five hours of E! today.

Watching The Grammys

For me the highlight was Kanye West’s electronic suit. The still photo attached doesn’t do it justice. The little lights raced up his chest. His glasses glowed as if they were pulled from the surface of the Sun.

kanye_suit.jpgI sat with Helaine tonight as she watched the Grammys.

These phrases, uttered by me, put my night in context: “Who is she?” “I don’t know that song.” “Never heard of him.”

Helaine, answering one query, said, “They don’t play him on NPR.”

Touché mon petit!

Yes, Tina Turner was on… and dancing. Just as big a deal, maybe bigger, was Keely Smith, still hitting the notes and staying on key with Kid Rock on the classic “Old Black Magic” (sans Louis Prima and Sam Butera and the Witnesses)&#185.

Ringo Starr looks great. So does Cher. Andy Williams looked old and pasty. Stevie Wonder looks heavy.

How many hits did Ann Marie Calhoun’s website get tonight? More than last night… or last year?

For me the highlight was Kanye West’s electronic suit. The still photo attached doesn’t do it justice. The little lights raced up his chest. His glasses glowed as if they were pulled from the surface of the Sun.

He would not have been able to bring his outift had he flown commercially, passing through TSA screening!

&#185 – Of course, Youtube has a classic, 50 year old Louis Prima/Keely Smith video. It’s easy to forget how talented she was. God bless the Internet and poor copyright enforcement.