| EVENT REPORT 02.23.06 2:19 PM |
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| Recording Academy Hosts Massive Grammy Blowout |
| The official after-party took over 140,000 square feet with an eclectic mix of entertainers, large-scale installations, and 600 staffers serving 5,500 guests. |
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| The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences' official Grammy after-party can hardly be called an intimate affair with its 5,500 music industry guests—and it's the massive scale of the eye-popping spectacle that generates all the buzz. "This is the largest and most complex post-awards show event that we know of," said Branden Chapman, the academy's vice president of production and process management. "Expectations are quite high in terms of design, cuisine, and entertainment." The post-telecast bash was held in the 140,000-square-foot (the size of three football fields) west hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center, a short walk from the CBS telecast at the adjacent Staples Center. |
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PHOTO GALLERY |
 | | The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences' Grammy after-party was a massive affair with its 5,500 music industry guests in a 140,000 space at the Los Angeles Convention Center. |
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 | | A cube-shaped chandelier served as a projection surface for changing seasonal imagery and magnified views of the stage. |
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 | | A 30- by 60-foot cherry blossom tree woven with creeping vines filled the center of the space. |
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 | | Entertainment included stiltwalkers in vinelike costumes. |
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Event producer and caterer Along Came Mary Productions, headed up by Mary Micucci and Erick Weiss, has worked on the party since 1998, and this year put together a vast menu that included 7,500 pounds of meat, fish, and chicken; 1,000 pounds of potatoes; 7,000 onion rings; and 15,000 mini desserts—all presented by 600 servers. Buffet stations were arranged by theme. An American station offered roasted sirloin, horseradish whipped potatoes, onion rings, and chopped salad; a Miami-theme station had jerk chicken, baby back riblettes, ceviche shooters, and cornbread-yam pudding; an Asian station featured salmon, potstickers, shrimp, and spring rolls; and there were Italian and French stations as well. Dessert offerings included miniature turtle bars, banana cream pies, crispy rice pudding, and cookies.
Along Came Mary worked with event designer Angel City Designs to come up with a complex decor concept that evoked the four seasons and began loading in a week before the party. A 30- by 60-foot cherry blossom tree woven with creeping vines filled the center of the space; beneath it, a stage supported a performance by String Theory, a group that performs using an installation that pulls 60-foot-long harp strings from the ceiling to produce sound. Floating candles, flowers, and a working fountain enlivened a 20- by 20-foot reflecting pool. A dramatic cube-shaped chandelier suspended above it served as a projection surface for changing seasonal imagery, as well as magnified views of the stage.
Four large cabanas elevated over the main space adorned with 14-foot cherry trees provided seating on contemporary furniture within sheer fabric-enclosed walls and under metal trellis canopies interwoven with cherry blossoms. Inside, faux snow fell continuously throughout the evening.
Headline entertainment included country Grammy nominees Big & Rich; Earth, Wind, & Fire; and Dave Koz. Other eclectic performers included ladies in tattered wedding dresses with fog pouring from the ripped seams, aerialists performing on strips of chiffon, dancers dressed in costumes with hooves and pig ears, and performers on stilts in vinelike costumes—all of whom contributed to a twisted Midsummer Night's Dream look dreamed up by the production team.
—Alesandra Dubin
Photos: Line 8 Photography (chandelier, truss); Rick Diamond (stiltwalker); Courtesy of the Recording Academy (atmosphere)
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