My Grammy week 2009

My Grammy week typically consists of 3 big days; fri, sat and sunday. Every year on the friday before the Grammy’s (which are on sunday), The Grammy and recording academy host a HUGE event called Musicares Person of the year. This year, the Honoree was Neil Diamond. Unfortunately the list of talent that was scheduled to perform and attend the event was definitely sub par, in comparison to previous years.

This years list included Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, the Jonas Bros, Jennifer Hudson, Chris Cornell, Kid Rock, and a few others who aren’t really worth mentioning. My focus was primarily the guest of honor; Neil Diamond. I should mention when I say “my focus”, I mean to obtain signatures, photos are just secondary fun at this point, since I already have photos with just about EVERY single celebrity.

That afternoon I was able to obtain an ALL ACCESS/TALENT badge for the event. In addition I was able to secure the guest list for the evening, and the seating chart. This was key to me having a very efficient and productive evening. After going through the guest list, I noticed some surprises such as Barry Bonds (why he’d be there i have no idea) Burt Bacharach and Hal david, and a few others that interested me. The night was as successful as it could have been. I had Neil Diamond sign 3 guitars for me backstage. At the end of the night as Diamond was being escorted to his car from backstage I tried once more to get him on an old album that had the Leonard Cohen song “suzanne” on it. Other people were then trying to approach him , but I had a line ready for him as he was rapidly approaching;

“Mr.Diamond, I recently got engaged to a girl named Suzanne, would you please sign this album with her song?” and he quickly came right for me and said “Yes, I’ll do that” and signed the album and then was mobbed by several people who he completely blew off as he left the building.

In addition to Neil Diamond’s signature the other highlight was getting Barry Bonds (who is a renowned difficult signature to acquire in person) to beautifully sign an official San Francisco Giants batting helmet at his table during the event. Since I had the All Access badge and had the seating chart, I knew exactly where Barry was in the gigantic star filled room. Even though all this was working in my favor, Bonds still gave me a hard time and I could see he was confused as to how I had this batting helmet with me ? After some banter, Bonds took my gold paint pen and signed the helmet beautifully.

After this I went backstage again and I was hanging out near the Foo Fighters dressing room, as I had another agenda other than autographs. I knew Dave Grohl from Foo Fighters was going to be performing at the Grammy’s with Paul McCartney, I was hoping I could eavesdrop a tip about rehearsals for the two. I just walked up to one of the Foo Fighters managers and started up a conversation and said “Wow, you guys must be really excited about working with Paul?” and the manager replied “Ya, I can’t wait till tomorrow, I feel like I’m going through a time warp, its gonna be surreal.” As soon as I heard the word “TOMORROW”, I was sure to follow up that remark with a “Oh, are you guys doing your rehearsals tomorrow?” and since I looked the part and was in the right place with the right credential, my legitimacy or credibility never came into question and the Manager of the Foo Fighters confirmed the GOLDEN TIP of the weekend for me. Yes! in fact Saturday morning Paul McCartney would be rehearsing in the Valley with Dave Grohl at a private rehearsal session, before there official Grammy rehearsal at the Staples center (where the grammy’s are held.) So, after having a very productive evening, my diligent reconnaissance work led to more work on Saturday that I would not have had otherwise.

My Saturday began with a very early morning airport run to get both B.B King and Buddy Guy as they arrived for their Grammy tribute to Bo Diddley. I had my guitars and myself at the airport ready for both BB and Buddy’s arrival. They were both very accommodating and it was a nice start to the morning. I was able to convince Buddy to walk over to BB with me to take a picture with the 2 Blues Legends in the same photo, a rare opportunity seized!

From there it was straight to the Valley for the McCartney rehearsal. I should preface this next mission by telling you that Paul McCartney is the one of the most lucrative and coveted signatures in my business. Paul is also a very difficult person to even find and can be more difficult when you do find him (due to his security detail and safety concerns.) I was very anxious and determined to get both signatures and hoped an opportunity to take a picture with him would present itself, however Sir Paul is almost impossible to get a picture with unless you have been cleared by his (thorough) security team and are in an intimate setting with him where he feels comfortable and feels safe cause he or his team know who you are.

After Paul arrived in his own car ( a 90′s corvette convertible) with his new girlfriend, he just waved at us and drove right passed us to the closest parking spot next to the studio. I had made sure that I wasn’t seen by Sir Paul as he arrived and just had my employees out there hoping to stop him. The reason I didn’t want to be seen was I was planning on going into the studio somehow to get up to Sir Paul in person and take a picture with him. I made my way into the studio past Paul’s security team, it was if they knew who I was and had mistaken me for one of the Foo Fighters? or just someone who looked like they belonged? As soon as I walked into the room I was shocked how small the studio was , and how few people were in there. “I saw him standing there” alone at the catering table pouring himself some tea, Paul walked towards me and I extended my hand and introduced myself. I made my introduction as Sly Stone’s assistant. I wasn’t surprised when Paul was immediately intrigued by my mentioning Sly.

Paul and I spoke alone in the rehearsal studio for about 5 minutes. He asked how Sly is doing these days and how I’ve been involved in his life. Paul was very genuine and took a real interest in Sly, he told me to send his best to Sly and hoped to see him later that evening at Clive Davis’ big pre Grammy Party. I mentioned that it’s tough for Sly to attend those things, but we were gonna try to make it. I then quickly asked Paul if he would mind taking a picture with me, and he was very cool about it and asked his personal assistant to take the picture and then asked to see the what it looked like after we took it. I then casually strolled outside and left the parking area to see my employes outside the studio lot. I told them it should be ending and Paul would soon be driving out , and hopefully he’d take the time to sign for them. So, within 20 minutes of me exiting the studio, Sir Paul came driving out and stopped to sign for my delegated employees.

My day then continued with more Grammy rehearsals down at the Staples center. I had obtained the entire rehearsal schedule for the Grammy’s the night before, and Saturday night was Paul McCartney’s official rehearsal followed by U2. In order to even get on the grounds for where the artists get dropped off and picked up , you need a special talent parking pass, which I had obtained. Sometimes the things you need are in the easiest places and just staring right at you. Now I was able to get my car right in the area of the limos and have all of my staff in there cars as well. When Paul arrived for his rehearsal he took my pen and signed for me and then was rushed by people from all over and he was able to only sign one more for someone else and then was escorted in. The security was trying to kick everybody out and they did manage to get rid of everyone with the exception of me and my staff as we had legitimate passes for our vehicles and took cover in our cars. We waited for Paul to come out and U2 to arrive, first it was Bono who we were able to get signatures from without any problems and then 1 more round with Paul as he left. This was turning out to far exceed my goals, as Paul is never this accessible nor is he this consistently accommodating. However, I believe Paul was in a great mood as he has a new Woman in his life and it was Grammy weekend. Once Paul left, we left and I began calling Sly to discuss if he REALLY was gonna go to Clive’s party. He had mentioned that Clive had asked him to come , and Sly seemed like he actually wanted to go? I was shocked that he was serious about going, but I knew when he asked me to get a limo for us, he was serious. So, I made some calls and had a stretch arranged for us within an hour. I got dressed and went to Sly’s to meet the limo and we were on our way to the Beverly Hilton to the Clive Davis’ party.

Sly was dressed up in a full Scottish Kilt outfit, he looked ridiculous (in a fun way) as he always does, but thats Sly, always different and always funky. When we got there I had to quickly escort him in past people like “me” and the hordes of Photographers kept behind velvet ropes. It was extremely entertaining for me to be Sly’s aide for this particular special occasion, as several stars were gawking in amazement at his presence.

People in the industry are very aware of Sly’s legacy and his genius, and they seem to be in shock when they see him in person. I can relate to that as I still get that feeling everyday I see him. When I walked him to our table, it was like the president walking in, people were grabbing at his hand and everyone from Randy Jackson to Prince were paying respect to Sly as he floated by them. Shortly after we sat down, Clive Davis stood up on stage and officially welcomed everyone to the party. He then went into a speech about 3 living legends in “Our presence tonight” First he introduced Sir Paul McCartney, who got a very big ovation, then he introduced Prince whose ovation was also quite big, but then last he introduced Sly, and for the first time, the ENTIRE ballroom stood on their feet and gave an enormous ovation filled with shrieks and whistles, it was twice as loud as McCartney and Prince’s ovation, and Sly just threw his hands up in the air and had a HUGE smile on his face. I could see it was along time since Sly had felt this kind of love from his peers. I had goosebumps all over. When Sly wanted to get some air on the balcony, we were approached by many guests who wanted to talk to him and take a picture with him. You just never know who is a fan of Sly, as his music has transcended many generations. As we stood on the balcony I saw Barry Manilow and his aide approach me, he asked if I was with Sly and I said yes and introduced myself, he began telling me what a HUGE fan of Sly’s he is and would love to meet him, if I could make the introduction. I told Barry of course and introduced him to Sly, who is always smiling and is nice to everyone. He seemed to really enjoy what Barry had to say and then Barry turns to me and asks if I would mind taking a picture of he and Sly on his personal digital camera. I said its up to Sly, and of course they took a picture . I thought that was just hilarious, here’s Barry Manilow a Huge star in his own right and he’s like some little giddy kid who is acting like “me.” Barry’s assistant even handed me his card and said if there’s anything I need to not hesitate to call. We stayed and watched Whitney Houston perform for the first time in years to promote her comeback with Clive, she looked great but didn’t have the big vocals she once had, regardless it was cool to see from 10 feet away, with people like Prince and Rhianna and many others dancing right next to me. In fact, Miley Cyrus and Taylor swift were sitting next to me at this point. That was my Saturday , and all that was left was the actual Awards and after parties.

This year the word was that the parties would be scaled back due the economic recession. Unfortunately Paul and all the other big stars did not go to any parties. I went to the EMI Capitol party but it was a very weak party. My Grammy week got a bit of an extension when Sly and George Clinton , the 2 legends of Funk got together for a surprise show in Silverlake. I drove Sly there in my car which was unusual for us , as typically I always drove Sly in one of his vehicles. Sly took the stage with George and started singing some Sly and the family Stone Classics, and Sly told me to stand on the stage to his right, next to George and basically I was singing with them and pumping up the crowd during “I wanna take you Higher” it was surreal and a ton of fun. This great night with two great legends wrapped up what was an incredible Grammy week.

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