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1. MSNBC and Rodale Fete Jeff Corwin's New Book and Documentary at the Occidental

2. National Geographic Debuts Exhibit With Chinese Dragon, Tented Lounge

3. 8 New Venues for Washington Holiday Parties That Won't Break the Bank

4. P.C.M.A. Honors Wardman Park, Fairmont at First Nighttime Annual Meeting

5. Obama's First State Dinner Calls on Marcus Samuelsson, Jennifer Hudson

6. How Do You Make Staffers Feel Appreciated—at Little or No Cost?

7. Poll Results: Informal Nights Out Make Most Appropriate 2009 Holiday Parties

8. New Moon Premiere Beckons 10,000 People and 2 Live Wolves

9. Art Basel Preview: New Convention Center Layout, Giant Beach Structure for Audi

10. MoMA Gets Suitably Whimsical and Macabre for Tim Burton Tribute

FROM NEW YORK

Sustainable Label Opens SoHo Pop-Up With Community Center Sensibility

Clinique and Teen Vogue Bring Young Women to Beauty Tour, Send Them Online

Masked Raconteurs Tell Tales at Moth Ball, and I Have a Blast

Gap, Banana Republic, American Eagle Open Stores With Musical Performances

MoMA Gets Suitably Whimsical and Macabre for Tim Burton Tribute

3 New Hotel Restaurants for Business Entertaining, Private Groups

Nintendo Launches New Mario Game With Look Back at Franchise History

Scripted Models Play Up Key Notes at Victoria's Secret Fragrance Preview

Ad Age Looks to Boost Conference Interaction With Beer Tasting, Lounge Seating

More Photos From Louis Vuitton's Garden-Style Launch: Life-Sized Trees, Mounds of Mums

FROM LOS ANGELES

American Music Awards Begin With Redesigned Arrivals, End With Downsized After-Party

Bouchon: Thomas Keller in Beverly Hills, With Indoor/Outdoor Dining, Private Room

Us Weekly Takes to Voyeur With Scantily Clad Models, Burlesque Feel

6 New Venues for Los Angeles Holiday Parties

New Moon Premiere Beckons 10,000 People and 2 Live Wolves

$4 Million MOCA Gala Breaks Fund-Raising Records

Chrysalis Benefit Cuts Ticket Prices in Half, Draws Same Crowd

MOCA Gala Spawning Arty Online Auction—Including Gehry's Hat for Gaga—Through November 30

Wende Museum Closes Wilshire for Cold War Anniversary Celebration

3 Ideas for Stylish, Eco-Friendly Events

News Archive for Grammys

FROM THE EDITORS 06.16.09 11:01 AM

The 2009 BizBash L.A. Event Style Award Winners

Ellen DeGeneres's 50th Birthday Party
Photo: Courtesy of Warner Brothers Special Events

FROM LOS ANGELES On Friday, we posted a list of winners of BizBash's 2009 Event Style Awards, which were announced on Thursday at a ceremony following our annual expo at the L.A. Mart. Here's more on the winning work.

Best Corporate Event Concept (Over $50,000)
Ellen DeGeneres's 50th Birthday Party
Submitted by Warner Brothers Special Events
To celebrate the TV host’s birthday and her move from NBC to Warner Brothers Studios, Telepictures Productions hosted a celebration that doubled as a segment for the comedian’s show. Organizers designed a vintage carnival and incorporated her favorite things, including dancing and games, as well as some celebrity guests. MORE >>

Warner Brothers, Emirates Airlines, The Simpsons, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Stanford Cancer Center, Marriott International, Essilor, Autry Museum, Recording Academy, Grammys, Target, Converse, MTV Movie Awards, Chevy, Netflix, Film Independent, Spirit Awards, Event Style Awards

EVENT REPORT 05.26.09 3:46 PM

U.S. Dream Academy Hosts Booze-Free Gala With Smaller Budget

ABC News weekend anchor Cynne Simpson at the U.S. Dream Academy gala
Photo: Tony Brown/Imijination Photography for BizBash

Despite receiving a $3.8 million three-year commitment from Oprah Winfrey last year, the U.S. Dream Academy, which provides after-school programs for children of incarcerated parents, saw its budget for the “Power of a Dream Gala” drop from $220,000 to $200,000 this year. Another challenge: The guest list grew to 500 from last year’s 450. U.S. Dream Academy director of development Angela Bonitto was thus forced to stretch her dollars for the eighth annual gala, held at the Ritz-Carlton on Thursday.

The top budgetary priority: An event planner who could make sure the gala ran smoothly and that donors had a chance to meet the nonprofit’s leadership. “Last year was very hectic,” said Bonitto, who enlisted Kyle Hutchinson of Hutchinson Design Group for this year’s gala. “It’s important for donors to be able make connections to your organization. They need to understand your mission.” Bonitto also spent money on top-notch audiovisual vendors. “Audiovisual is very important. You’ve got to have the right people if things go wrong,” she said. MORE >>

U.S. Dream Academy, Oprah Winfrey, Grammys

NEWS 03.13.09 11:55 AM

In The News: Obama Meets With Event Industry Leaders, Grammys Move Up a Week

Event and Travel Officials Get Audience With President: A delegation led by the U.S. Travel Association met with President Barack Obama this week to discuss the travel and event industry's role in boosting the economy. At the meeting, attendees pushed for the need to welcome international visitors with the proposed Travel Promotion Act and addressed concerns about the recent decline in meetings and events. [U.S. Travel Association]

Grammys Plan Move: The Recording Academy announced yesterday that next year's Grammy awards will happen a week earlier than usual, falling on January 31. The 2010 broadcast will air on CBS from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. To accommodate the move, the eligibility window for the awards has moved up an entire month, making any record released after August 31 of this year ineligible for nomination until the 2011 awards. [LAT] MORE >>

Barack Obama, Desirée Rogers, White House, New York Fashion Week, U.S. Travel Association, Grammys, Recording Academy

EVENT REPORT 02.09.09 1:13 PM

Recording Academy's Grammy After-Party for 6,000 Channels Woodstock Era

The Recording Academy's "Grammy Celebration"
Photo: Line 8 Photography

FROM LOS ANGELES Throwing a dinner party for 6,000 guests is no small feat. Doing it in a raw venue that requires compete transformation within a scant four-hour load-in window adds to the challenge. Those were the circumstances surrounding the Recording Academy's official Grammy awards after-party, which last night took over the same Los Angeles Convention Center space that only hours earlier hosted the pre-telecast awards ceremony.

Recording Academy vice president of production and process management Branden Chapman once again tapped Mary Micucci of Along Came Mary to produce the party, which immediately followed the award broadcast at the Staples Center next door. The theme of the event—an homage to the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock festival—seemed like a natural fit for Micucci, who started her business out of the back of a Volkswagen bus more than 30 years ago. "It's really magical in there," Micucci said. "The era itself was so amazing." MORE >>

Recording Academy, Grammys, Award Season

NEWS 02.09.09 1:03 PM

What the Press Said About the Grammys: Quantity Over Quality

The Grammys returned last night with another attempt to battle flagging record sales and lack of interest in the show. An abundance of both well-received and odd performances, the apparent dearth of actual awards, and backstage drama are all dominating today's media rundown of music's biggest night.

The New York Times seemed surprised by the show's raucous tone, noting that the 45 percent decline in album sales in the last decade might be expected to put the Grammys in a more plaintive state, but "the biggest annual televised event in music and crucial promotion for the record companies struck a celebratory tone."

Yet that celebration wasn't so much for the winners. The record number of performances dominated the night, and The Los Angeles Times went as far as to say that "trophy winners were shoved aside to make room for more and more music." The Washington Post called the move "a cross between an all-star hootenanny and a desperate Hail Mary." MORE >>

Grammys

EVENT REPORT 02.09.09 12:54 PM

Performance-Packed Grammy Awards Adapt to Last-Minute Shuffle

The Grammys' stage
Photo: John Shearer/WireImage

FROM LOS ANGELES Minutes before the Grammy awards went on the air last night, an announcer told the assembled crowd at the Staples Center that this year's awards would feature more performances than ever before: two dozen. The production-heavy spectacle did indeed feature a packed slate of performers, but absent were two scheduled ones—Rihanna and Chris Brown—who had reportedly been involved in a domestic scuffle after leaving the Recording Academy's party with Clive Davis on Saturday night. Brown turned himself in to the Los Angeles Police Department on Sunday, making for uncommonly scandalous red-carpet fodder. Arrivals began at noon on Chick Hearn Court in front of Staples, by way of a massive tent housing a 420-foot-long carpet designed and produced by Bounce Event Marketing.

Although the Recording Academy only issued one-line statements indicating that neither performer would appear, Reuters reported (and the Recording Academy's pre-published program seems to corroborate) that it was the duet of "Let's Stay Together" sung by Justin Timberlake and Al Green (and featuring Keith Urban and Boyz II Men) that was the last-minute swap on the lineup—and one that caused significant backstage scrambling on the part of show producers. No mention of the change was made for the TV audience during the CBS broadcast, produced by John Cossette Productions, although CNN reported that the apparently pre-taped introduction to the show still listed Brown and Rihanna as performers. MORE >>

Grammys, Recording Academy, Award Season, Rihanna, Chris Brown, M.I.A., Neil Diamond

EVENT REPORT 02.09.09 12:46 PM

Grammy Weekend Standouts Include a Big-Name Host, a Can't-Miss Charity Concert, and a Place to Actually Chill Out

Neil Diamond at MusiCares
Photo: Brian Baker

FROM LOS ANGELES Grammy weekend: so many events, so many miles of gridlocked, rain-slicked freeways separating them. But some parties still had no problem drawing huge throngs of eager guests. The Recording Academy's pre-Grammy gala honoring Clive Davis, the MusiCares gala dinner honoring Neil Diamond, and the industry-favorite Friends and Family party offered some notably attractive lures—respectively, a big-name host, a benefit concert, and a bona fide environment in which to relax—that helped them stand out from the crowd. (Admittedly, it was an easier task in a year that record labels, already ailing, scaled back their individual party offerings in the tough economy.) MORE >>

Grammys, Recording Academy, Award Season, Clive Davis, MusiCares, Neil Diamond, Red Bull, Belvedere Vodka

NEWS 02.05.09 5:30 PM

Despite a Few No-Shows, Robust Slate of Grammy Events to Blanket L.A.

Will.i.am kicking off the "Worlds on Fire" exhibition
Photo: Kevin Parry

FROM LOS ANGELES Despite some notable high-profile absences, there are still plenty of contenders for guests' time on the Grammy week calendar this year—including some newcomers to the scene.

On Monday, Will.i.am and Gen Art kicked off the week with the opening night of the "Worlds on Fire" artist exhibition downtown. Portraits honored 2009 nominees such as Al Green, Beck, Beyoncé, Bruce Springsteen, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lil’ Wayne, Madonna, M.I.A, Nas, Nine Inch Nails, Paul McCartney, and Radiohead. Jacob’s Creek supplied beverages, and guests browsed a silent auction. Proceeds benefited the Black Eyed Peas’ Peapod Foundation and other local charities for L.A. youth. The exhibit runs through Sunday at the Pacific Electric Lofts. MORE >>

Grammys, Recording Academy, Award Season, Gift Suites, Gen Art, In Touch Weekly, Asics, Jacob's Creek, Rhino, Peapod Foundation, Nu-Soul Magazine, Lite Brite, Universal Motown Republic Group, Island Def Jam, Los Angeles Magazine, L.A. Works, MTV Games, Rock Band

NEWS 02.03.09 3:59 PM

Ax Falls on Sony BMG, In Style Grammy Parties While Warner Music Scales Back

Warner Music's 2008 Grammy party
Photo: Alen Lin for BizBash

FROM LOS ANGELES The tough economy is cutting a swath through some of Grammy weekend's biggest parties. Sony BMG's event, which last year brought the likes of Aretha Franklin and Clive Davis to its Beverly Hills Hotel location, is off this year, according to its former publicity firm PMK/HBH.

In Style magazine, which in 2008 hosted a pre-Grammys fashion show at Boulevard3 with the Recording Academy, will not host that event this year. Last year, Time Inc.'s Cyd Wilson suggested that the event might have legs as an annual program.

And Warner Music Group, which typically hosts one of the larger parties in town on Grammy night, will scale back the bash this year, instead hosting a smaller screening and dinner, according to the company's New York-based vice president of corporate communications, Susan Mazo, who did not immediately provide further detail. Last year's eco-conscious party at Vibiana attempted to generate zero landfill waste. —Alesandra Dubin

Warner Music Group, Grammys, Award Season, Going Green, In Style Magazine, Sony BMG, Recording Academy

NEWS 01.16.09 1:53 PM

Grammy Preview: Press Peek Reveals Woodstock-Inspired Look, Entertainment for Recording Academy After-Party

Chef Wolfgang Puck and '60s-inspired entertainers at the Grammy party preview
Photo: BizBash

FROM LOS ANGELES With the Grammys still weeks away—the show takes to the Staples Center on February 8—the Recording Academy hosted a press preview yesterday at the Annex at Hollywood & Highland to reveal some of the plans for the organization's official after-party at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The massive bash for 5,000 to 6,000 will get a '60s music theme, inspired by the 40th anniversary of Woodstock.

"I came up with the inspiration while we were installing last year's party," said Grammys vice president of production and process management Branden Chapman, recalling that event's milestone 50th anniversary challenge. "Last year it was very formal—appropriate for our 50th—but we realized immediately we wanted to do something completely different, a complete departure." MORE >>

Grammys, Recording Academy, Award Season

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