The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences gives the Grammys the tagline “Music’s Biggest Night.” And to be a guest at the academy’s colossal after-party at the Los Angeles Convention Center, you’d have no trouble believing it was true. Immediately following the telecast, guests headed straight from the Staples Center to the convention center—in the same space occupied only hours earlier by more than 3,000 people watching the pre-telecast—where the academy’s Branden Chapman, along with Rex Supa and producer Along Came Mary, put together the official after-party for more than 5,000.
What inspired the party’s cool “Asian underground” theme? “I had seen the video for Janet Jackson’s ‘If’ when I was working out on the elliptical at the gym,” Chapman said. Contrasted against last year’s elegant “Midsummer Night’s Dream” theme, this year’s party had an edgier, clubbier look, with elevated, light-up platforms above bars where dancers twirled, bright Versatubes surrounding plush seating areas, and wooden screens shielding tall trees lit from above in bright colors. With its eight million cubic feet that allows nearly limitless transformation potential, “the Convention Center has been phenomenal for us,” said Along Came Mary’s Erick Weiss, who also worked on the event back when it was held at the relatively cramped Biltmore.
The room changed every hour, from a romantic, Zen palette in ambers and greens to a nighttime-in-the-city look with intense colors and a laser-light show 15 feet overhead to a fully red look. “The eclectic mixing of techno Asian styles inspired the creation of some very unique, oversized ceiling structures that descend toward the floor,” said Mark Yumkas of design firm Angel City, describing decor pieces used as multisided projection surfaces or as individual pod lounges.
After a three-and-a-half-hour telecast with no food served (we tried to get a bite at the concession stands just before the show started, only to see the window closed in our faces), guests came to the party hungry, and Along Came Mary delivered enough food to appease the crowd. The vast international spread included grilled skirt steak and cold miso-poached salmon at Asian stations, chicken tagine and couscous at Moroccan stations, and chicken kebabs and vegetable curry at Indian stations. The Cuban stations, with their pulled pork, sweet potato puree, and corn bread, drew the longest lines by far. And Along Came Mary’s signature warm brownie pudding was, hands-down, the dessert hit.
Adding more splash to the hair-product-filled gift bags, the Recording Academy partnered with gifting company Distinctive Assets and Hilton Hotels to create an area where guests had a chance to take home big-ticket prizes. Guests picked up golden hotel keys at the entrance, which they swiped for a chance to win prizes from the likes of Crabtree & Evelyn, Gibson, Hilton Whistler, JVC, Logitech, Netflix, Philips, and Verizon—a sponsor with a big presence at its own lounge in front of the main party space.
An adjacent room housed a “Salute to Industry Icons” executive cocktail party and opened up as a viewing room for guests to see a recording of the ceremony from just hours earlier. And a civilized jazz lounge in the concourse foyer felt like an opium den, with carpets, candles, canopied beds for lounging, and hanging lanterns.
One of the big stories of the evening was the lineup of performers in the main space—about 100 in all. Chaka Khan and Kool & the Gang headlined the party, aerialists dangled from the ceiling, and interpretive dancers from Strange & Elegant took the stage in stiff tutus. Dancers in multiple areas of the room, including the main stage and the elevated platforms, moved in synchrony. “We want to keep rotating the musical offerings because of how many genres are represented within our membership,” Chapman explained.
At the end of the long night, local nonprofit food distribution service Angel Harvest picked up unserved food and delivered it to area soup kitchens, food pantries, and shelters in Los Angeles. It’s a wrap for this year’s event, but no one on the production crew is planning on much time off: Next year will be the 50th annual Grammys, and the planners told us their gears are already turning.
—Alesandra Dubin
Posted 02.12.07
