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Looking Back at Attending The GRAMMYS for A Decade (So Many Great Memories)

My view of the Dolly Parton tribute at The GRAMMYs tonight

I just returned from Staples Center here in Los Angeles where artists, fans and the music industry at large celebrated the 61st GRAMMY Awards. The annual event hosted by The Recording Academy and CBS truly is Music's Biggest Night. For over 6 decades now, The GRAMMY Awards celebrates the finest in music for a mainstream audience. Tonight's show was particularly special with its emphasis on diversity - in representation and musical performances. Once again, the show's producers came up with some fitting and gutsy pairings that will be memorable beyond tonight.

Tonight also has a special meaning to me. It's the tenth year that I'm attending the GRAMMYs. For the first few years, I covered the GRAMMYS backstage for The Recording Academy while blogging and live-tweeting the proceedings. I will never forget when I received the call from The Recording Academy with an invite to take part in covering the show for them. It was an incredible experience to have so much access and get a peek behind the scenes. I covered the GRAMMY telecast, the pre-telecast (where a lot of the awards are being handed out) and I spent time in the press room during the show to ask nominees, presenters and winners questions along with many mainstream outlets. It was an incredible learning experience and I will forever be grateful to the social media team at The Recording Academy for their trust and the opportunity. I freelanced for them for 5 years covering the GRAMMYs thru 2014. 

There are so many great moments I can remember from the last decade. Lady Gaga's performance with Elton John opening the 2010 telecast definitely stands out. Another pairing to remember was the teaming of Madonna with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis in 2014. I also loved Bruno Mars' performance of "Nothin' On You" and "Grenade" alongside Janelle Monáe and B.o.B. in 2011. A personal highlight for me was a video series I made for The GRAMMYs in 2015 with artists like Ed Sheeran and Robyn. What I treasure most about a decade of GRAMMYs is spending time in the press room and having the opportunity to be around the artists that just had won. To share the excitement and career-defining achievement with them is such a humbling and gratifying experience.

Discovering the History of the American West

I’ve been diving into the history of the American West to better understand its past, culture and people - specifically the history of Native American tribes. Hostiles is a film that provides an honest glimpse at the dark history of the American West. Written and directed by Scott Cooper, it’s a beautifully pictured film that chronicles the journey of army captain Joe Blocker (Christian Bale) in 1892 on a journey from New Mexico to escort the ailing Cheyenne chief Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi) to his native land in Great Bear Wilderness, Montana. Along the way, the relationship between the two rivals grows from deep distrust into a genuine bond of compassion and respect. The brutal journey northwards is a fitting metaphor to illustrate the effort it can take to foster understanding and reconciliation.

Watch Hostiles on Netflix now.

Rare Invader Exhibit in Downtown Los Angeles

I ventured out to Los Angeles downtown arts district to see the new Over The Influence Gallery. The space is currently hosting a rare Invader exhibit. Invader is a french street artist who plasters fun, playful and unique 8-bit mosaics on buildings in cities all over the world. I’ve been obsessed with finding invader mosaics in cities i go to. Tthere’s an app where you log all the ones you find and score points. I’ve found them in Amsterdam, London, Los Angeles, Hong kong, Tokyo and Daejon, Korea. This exhibit is a greatest hits of some of Invader’s finest work and is a reminder that art can be fun.

Taking A Left-Turn: Driving from Arizona to West Texas

Heading east on the Interstate 10 in Arizona (Photo by me)

In recent years, I’ve taken advantage of the long, end-of-year holiday break to head out of the country to far-away spots in Asia. It felt freeing to pick a place remote and be completely immersed in a foreign culture to get a break from the L.A. hustle.

For the most recent break, however, I opted to stay in America and find a travel challenge closer to home. I’ve lived in the U.S. for 20 years now and I’ve come to the realization that there are so many places in America that I haven’t seen yet. I have traveled to all major cities but I haven’t wandered off the beaten path and seen parts of this country that make it so unique.

Following a trip to Phoenix back in November, I decided I wanted to go back there to explore. I picked to head to Sedona for a couple of days to explore its many trails and vistas. From there, I planned to roadtrip all the way down to West Texas to Marfa – an outpost of artists, writers and other bohemians. I’ve read about Marfa over the years and I figured it would be the perfect place to check out and see a part of America that’s off the grid and pretty much a perfect place to get a break from Los Angeles.

My West Texas Adventures: Blue Origin

Note: I have been missing blogging so much. There are so many ideas and observations I want to share. I intended on archiving this blog and just let it be. Meanwhile, I've tried Medium, Tumblr and, yes, even Wordpress as a potential new home to share my writing. But there is so much to proud of here. I started this TypePad blog in 2002 and this is where I belong. The blog design is terribly out of date and nobody may even check this URL anymore, but the point really is to get that craving to write out of my system once a while. It may not be about music, but I will likely be about my travel, books, interests and causes I care about. Anyways, this is the place where I will put pen to paper and share my random musings with you.

I love rockets. I love space. I love to think that some time in the near future humanity will launch a manned mission to mars. Wow. Just amazing to think we're in reach of making that happen.

During the winter break I ventured out on a road trip to West Texas. Super random, but I wanted to feel off the grid and away from the bubble, and West Texas gave me what I had hoped for. While en route I made a left turn on Interstate 10 at Van Horn, TX coming from Texas Route 54 to head to El Paso. Little did I know that just slightly north of Van Horn, space exploration firm Blue Origin has its launch facility. Slightly bummed I didn’t drive by there to see if any rockets were getting prepared for lift off.

I’ve been reading Lawrence Wright’s excellent God Save Texas, which provides a great overview of the history of Texas and what makes the state so unique (here’s a clue: it’s “rugged individualism”). Wright notes in his book that Jeff Bezos quietly purchased huge amounts of lands in West Texas to accommodate Blue Origin’s launch installation but also build an area that can grown into a hub for space tourism. Because, yes, that’s Bezos’ plan.

Blue Origin has quietly made a lot of progress in its mission and is scheduled to send the first tourists into suborbital space by the end of this year. That’s wild. Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket concept is smart. It features a reuseable rocket (that lands vertically following lift-off) with a passenger capsule on top that boasts extra large windows for optimal space viewing. The capsule will be disconnected from the launch rocket and after a quick whirl in space will fall back to earth and land with a parachute.

Blue Origin is planning a launch of the New Sherpard (as pictured above) early 2019 and if the timing works, I may head back to Texas to see it. I have never seen a rocket go up into space and it’s a bucket list item that’s in reach. It feels like we’re on the cusp of commercial space flights becoming real and that is very, very exciting.

(Image courtesy of Blue Origin.)