The Telecast

One of the great things about being the date of a nominee is that the seats do not stink.  Somehow John found out that the Platinum Seating that we were in sell for $1,000 a pop.  Now, we weren’t on the floor with the Super Talent, but they were right before our eyes milling around moving toward their seats… Jennifer Lopez and Mark Anthony, Katy Perry and Russell Brand, Cindi Lauper, Esperanza Spalding….We were sitting directly across from the alternate stage where the presenters were talking  on camera while the main stage was being configured for the next extravaganza of a performance.


A lot of the technical nominees were in our section.  A few rows behind us was 2011 Grammy winner Toumani Diabate.  I said hello to him and congratulated him as we passed him and commented about how he’d been in the studio with John a while back with Taj Mahal.  The person who was sitting with him asked me if Taj Mahal was at the Grammy’s.  As if I would know!

Missing the Red Carpet Walk

They announced at the beginning of the pre-telecast that if you win, the nominee will be herded out the back to the Red Carpet walk, and the accompanying posse is welcome to join him/her.  In hindsight, that should have been a clue that if John wanted to walk it or even see it, we should have left the ceremony early to catch the excitement.  The other clue came in loud and clear when Kathryn got a text from Kathy Best, who is the publicist for 2011 Grammy Award winner Miranda Lambert and Martina McBride, both of whom were performing shortly.  Martina McBride was part of the all star woman, power group that opened the televised awards.  Kathryn texted that we were staying to the end of the pre-telecast awards.  The publicist texted back, "BAD PLAN." We had no idea what that meant. We now think she was telling us we were missing it all.  But, we knew some of the people up for awards at the pre-telecast as well as the work of others and wanted to see these killer performances at the pre-Telecast. In hindsight, the pre-telecast featured the best performances of the entire day, musically speaking, I thought: Trombone Shorty, a duet between Bobby McFerrin and the 2011 Best New Artist Esperanza Spalding, and a super group including Cindy Lauper, Mavis Staples, and Buddy Guy.  So we stayed too long. 

Following the performances, we decided to grab a salad at Lawry’s Carvery. By the time we got it together, we were walking to the Red Carpet area and realized how late it was, which was confirmed for us when a security guard said the Red Carpet was closed.  So, we hurried to find our seats.  We were all a bit bummed about the Red Carpet, except maybe John who had announced earlier that he wouldn’t mind missing that part at all because he really wanted to see all the music he could.  After all, this day was a once in a lifetime musical opportunity.  Well, yeah, but Red Carpet? After much thought, I think that if you don’t win a Grammy at the pre-telecast and you aren’t Lady Gaga coming down the carpet in an egg, they really don’t want you on the Red Carpet. So maybe it worked out as the music gods would have it.

And the Winner Is…

Not John.

We go to the pre-telecast awards ceremony where there are 98 awards to be presented.  The pre-telecast starts at 1:00.  You have to be in your seats at 4:45 for the night telecast or miss the opening remarks. You know, the three-hour time difference.   If you are not seated in time, then you must wait until the next commercial break, about 15 minutes, certainly missing the opening performance.

John’s category is number 7 in the program listing.  The categories are going quickly because they run a tight schedule to finish before the televised show.  In fact, I notice that as the one person is accepting the Grammy, the overhead slide changes to the next category.  So, I prepare for this to snap a photo of John’s “name in lights.” I am snapping the picture as they announce that NOT JOHN has won the Grammy for Best Engineered Recording Non-classical.  We joke that it takes four engineers to make John Mayer’s record sound good… and therefore four engineers to beat John! Actually, one of the four winners, Michael Brauer, is also a former client of our host, Greg Spotts. So, if somebody else has to win, we are glad it is him. The whole thing goes by so fast that I don’t have time to be disappointed, yet… or at least to realize that I am disappointed.  Really though, by the time you see all those names on the screen, you notice the company of the nominees is quite an accomplished group. Just being in the group of nominees is quite a validation.  And, the road to winning is reportedly quite a process of smoozing that John just doesn’t do.  The industry buzz was that Battle Studies was the favorite, so he never really expected to walk away with the trophy. And, we were having so much fun, it was hard to notice that he didn’t win. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure that if you actually win, there is a whole other level of fun to be had! But, John not winning, didn’t slow us down a bit.

Outside the Staples Center in LA awaiting the Pretelecast Awards

Pretelecast Awards Stage

Screen showing nominees!

Platinum seating tix! They sell for $1,000 a pop!

A Mischievous Moment

The next day was The Grammy Awards Ceremony.  Knowing that it would take the men about 30 minutes to get dressed, including downtime, I came up with the idea to send the men to breakfast.  It was a self-serving idea. I wanted to spend a ridiculous amount of time on my hair to see if I could get it to do a ringlet thing. Who doesn’t try something completely new on a big day, right? Greg’s wife, Moj, spent about an hour, painstakingly, curling my hair.  She had commented the day before that the person who does Fergie’s hair lives in their building, and, that she’d be glad to call her to fix my hair.  Moj even went so far as to offer it up as her treat. This conversation comes up because Kathryn has been going around and around about whether or not she want someone to do her hair. She knew of a person to call to do it and had been giving it serious thought.  I couldn’t stop myself from calling her to lead her to believe that Fergie’s stylist was doing my hair.  On that morning of the Grammy’s, I call Kathryn and mention that I am having my hair done.  She falls hook, line, and sinker. She is ready to come over to have hers done, too! Finally, I tell her that I am yanking her chain, it is just Moj.

Reconnecting with the Past

The first night we had dinner at Sushi Roku with John’s posse, Greg, and also Scott Stuckey and his lovely wife, Christina.   Scott was a big part of the Athens music scene a dozen years ago and was one of Vic Chesnutt’s closest friends and contemporaries. He and John have been friends a long time and even used to go water skiing together long ago. Scott moved back to DC at some point to be with his children.  A couple of years ago, and after his children graduated high school, he and his wife took the opportunity to change things up and relocate to the Hollywood Hills. Scott produced the first Brute CD called Nine High a Pallet.  He said he caught a lot of flack from both the Chesnutt and Panic fans who both complained that he had monkeyed with their respective sounds. I guess some people missed the point that it was supposed to be something different, thus the name Brute.

Settling In

The six of us flew into LAX and went to Enterprise to get two vehicles because we were staying in two locations. John and I were staying in Santa Monica with his former manager, Greg Spotts, who now works for the city of LA.  The others were staying in Santa Monica at the Georgian Hotel upon recommendation from actor Kyle Chandler, Kathryn’s long time friend.  We were all so busy before we left town with minor details like jobs and coordinating children that we failed on the reconnaissance work.  Greg had asked for a few courtesy pieces of information like what date and time are you arriving and departing, and all he got was a sketchy reference to the early afternoon on Saturday and late afternoon on Tuesday because I was dashing off to work and couldn’t remember the details.  I asked Greg how close his condo was to the Georgian and he said, “Not far.”  Well I never got back to get the definition of “not far” or provide better information about our comings and goings.  We rented two cars, and it turned out to be about three blocks between the two accommodations.  Just a five to 10 minutes stroll down the beach.  On the upside, it was nice to be able to walk to meet for dinner.

At the Grammys!

Me and my Grammy nominee.

Mike and Kathryn -- Our neighbors and close friends.

Two more close friends, Kevin and Rachel