32 talented high school students from across the United States were selected for positions in the 2014 GRAMMY Camp® - Jazz Session. Their selection launched them into the spotlight surrounding the 56th Annual Grammy Awards®, and provided them with unparalleled opportunities to perform in front of some of music's biggest names. The students, representing 30 cities and 12 states, traveled to Los Angeles for a week long musical adventure under the direction of Justin DiCioccio of the Manhattan School of Music, Dr. Ron McCurdy of the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music and associate choral director Susanna Wegner of Kansas City, MO. Watch it here 

Statistics compiled by Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, and Twitter say The Recording Academy® earned the biggest social media event of the 2013 - 2014 season with interactions of 34 million (15.2 million Tweets alone)! Be sure to visit studioexpresso YouTube Channel
for our exclusive behind the scene shorts on the red carpet and beyond... reported by Claris Sayadian-Dodge.  

The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to The Beatles

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr performed with some of music's biggest names on Monday night during the taping of a TV special marking the 50th anniversary of the British Invasion. CBS will air the special, "The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to The Beatles," on February 9 - 50 years to the day McCartney, Starr and the late John Lennon and George Harrison debuted on the Ed Sullivan show.

Drummer Kenny Aronoff anchored some of the performances at Los Angeles Convention Center and credited music director Don Was who assembled artists to include: Katy Perry, John Mayer, Eurythmics, Dave Grohl, Imagine Dragons, Keith Urban, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Maroon 5, Stevie Wonder,  Joe Walsh, Pharrell Williams, Brad Paisley, Jeff Lynne, and Peter Frampton.  

 

 

Grammy Wins & Events

Since 1993, the only Grammy Awards show to top this year's 28 million viewership was 2012, when an audience of 40 million tuned in to see tributes to Whitney Houston, who had died the day before. 
 
This year was a big night for EDM and new artists.  Lorde (Ella Yelich-O'Connor) the 17-year-old well-composed new comer (sporting a January Rolling Stone cover) lived her queen-b fantasy to become the youngest artist to win in a general category besides best new artist when "Royals" was named song of the year. She thanked fellow nominees Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake, Sara Bareilles and Katy Perry for being inspirational vocal artists. She credited her producer Joel Little for supporting her and helping to develop her songwriting skill. Hey, the finger painting worked for us! This girl can sing and has style. Good Lorde, she deserves big congrats!

Earlier in January, we met up with the show's producer, Ken Ehrlich at the Grammy Museum who explained CBS strategically moved the show from February to avoid both the Super Bowl on Fox and the Winter Olympics on NBC. The move paid off even though the Grammys competed against the Pro Bowl on NBC. Music folks planned their calendars carefully to attend select Grammy events that ran into NAMM (Jan 22-25) in Anaheim and Sundance film festival (Jan 22-Feb 1) in Utah, all taking place in the same week.
The show must go on and it did. 

A Salute to Carole King
2014 MusiCares Person of the Year
  

Lady Gaga sang the words "I love you" to Carole King in a solo performance of You've Got a Friend at the 2014 MusicCares Person of the Year gala evening on Friday night.  King was honored as the 2014 MusiCares Person of the Year  celebrating her extraordinary creative accomplishments as well as her significant charitable work. King admitted that as a songwriter her dream always was, and still is, "to hear great singers perform my songs." And on Friday she heard a number of highly talented, very successful singers perform her songs.
Performances were  multi-GRAMMY®-winning artists Zac Brown, Stuart Duncan, Jakob Dylan, Amy Grant, Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, Jason Mraz, Jennifer Nettles, Pink, LeAnn Rimes, Tom Scott, James Taylor, Steven Tyler,and will.i.am;multi-GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY-winning artist Gloria Estefan;multi-Latin GRAMMY-winning artists Jesse & Joy; GRAMMY-winning artists Miranda Lambert, Miguel, and Train; women from20 Feet From Stardom: Merry Clayton, GRAMMY winner Lisa Fischer, Judith Hill, and Darlene Love; current GRAMMY nominees Mindi Abair, Sara Bareilles, and Kacey Musgraves; and artists Louise Goffin, Martina McBride, Leah McFall, Raining Jane, and Trombone Shorty. Multi-GRAMMY-winner and honoree Carole King  also performed with Jimmy Kimmel hosting.Proceeds from the annual Person of the Year tribute - now in its 24th year - provide essential support for MusiCares, which ensures that music people have a place to turn in times of financial, medical, and personal need. The star-studded tribute concert was sponsored byAcura/ELS Studio. Acura MDX is the MusiCares "Vehicle of the Year." 
 
The MusiCares Foundation offers programs and services to members of the music community including emergency financial assistance for basic living expenses such as rent, utilities and car payments; medical expenses including doctor, dentist and hospital bills; psychotherapy; and treatment for HIV/AIDS, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, hepatitis C, and other critical illnesses. MusiCares offers nationwide educational workshops covering a variety of subjects, including financial, legal, medical, and substance abuse issues, and programs in collaboration with healthcare professionals that provide services such as flu shots, hearing tests, and medical/dental screenings. The MusiCares MAP Fund® allows access to addiction recovery treatment and sober living resources for members of the music community. 
T
oll-free help line: 800.687.4227 (West Coast), 877.626.2748 (Central) and 877.303.6962 (Northeast). Not sure which regional office to contact? Click here for a map of regional offices across the United States. Committed to providing prompt, confidential support.


A Song is Born - Legacy Awards

Protecting our cultural legacy for future generations is a cornerstone of the Grammy Foundation mission.
Established in 1989, the Foundation recognizes and celebrates the innovation, perseverance and genius evidenced in the stories and music of the pioneers who have woven a rich and colorful cultural fabric.
The Grammy Foundation Legacy Concert highlights its year-round activities in support of that mission, from preservation grants to its Living Histories archive. The Concert also draws the attention of a wider audience to those efforts, and to the imperiled condition of many of the most historically significant recordings.  On January 23, The GRAMMY Foundation® hosted "A Song Is Born," at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre for its 16th Annual GRAMMY Foundation Legacy Concert (formerly the Music Preservation Project). The concert featured  live musical performances and archival footage.
 

Performers include GRAMMY® winners Steve Cropper, Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt (photographed above),  Jimmy Webb, Paul Williams and Dcurrent GRAMMY nominees Gavin DeGraw, Boney James, and Ryan Shaw; GRAMMY-nominated songwriters Jeff Barry, Skylar Grey, John Rzeznik, Allen Shamblin, Valerie Simpson, and JD Souther; and GRAMMY Camp® alumni Maybe April.

Raitt beautifully sang her hit "I Can't Make You Love Me" with composers Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin introducing the song (from her Luck of the Draw album). The idea for the song came to Reid while reading an article about a man arrested for getting drunk and shooting at his girlfriend's car. The judge asked him if he had learned anything, to which he replied, "I learned, Your Honor, that you can't make a woman love you if she don't." Reid and Shamblin were both country music songwriters, who according to some accounts originally wrote the song as a fast, bluegrass number. Upon slowing down the tempo considerably, they realized the song gained considerable power. It then made its way to Raitt.
The evening's musical director was Darrell Brown, songwriter/producer and Grammy Foundation Board member.  

Presented by Seagate, the evening explored the history and evolution of songwriting and celeb

rate the various and invaluable contributions of key players behind the music and their impact on the American cultural landscape. 
visit studioexpresso YouTube chl to hear select interviews.   

 

Back in December I received a personal fundraising note from Ms Raitt for one of her favorite organization: Environment Working Group (EWG). I had heard of their good work with National Drinking Water Database, the Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce and the Skin Deep Cosmetics Database. "I just love how EWG's guides empower us with information to make smarter, greener choices. Of course, EWG doesn't stop there. It's also fighting for clean energy, better policy for toxic chemicals, and a safer food supply - and that's why I'm so passionate about offering my support," said Bonnie Raitt. 

 

 

First Grammy Educator Award 

Kent Knappenberger won the educator award , in recognition of the significant role of teachers in shaping their students' musical experiences.
The Grammy Foundation and The Recording Academy partnered to present the first Music Educator Award.  

Knappenberger hails from Westfield Academy and Central School in Westfield, N.Y. 
According to Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy® the response to this category has exceeded their expectation.
30,000 initial nominations were submitted from all 50 states. The nine finalists received a $1,000 honorarium, and the schools of all 10 finalists also received matching grants. Knappenberger, who receive a $10,000 honorarium, was flown to Los Angeles to accept the award at the Special Merit Awards Ceremony  on Jan. 25, and attended the 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards ceremony with his family.  

The nomination process opens Feb. 10 at www.grammymusicteacher.com and the deadline for submissions is April 15. Go music teachers!  

 

   

16th Annual Entertainment Law Initiative®  (ELI)

The Grant Program with cash funding provided by The Recording Academy®

 

Ron Wilcox (third from right), ELI executive chair with finalists at Beverly Hilton Luncheon

On January 24, law student winners presented papers at annual ELI luncheon During Grammy® week and received cash scholarship.
Presenters introduced their paper with a short video clip.  Licensing was a hot topic.   

$5,000 was awarded to the author of the winning paper
Matt Borden from Ohio State University Moritz College of Law for 
 

"The Day The Music Died: Digital Inheritance And The Music Industry." 

Four Runner-ups each were awarded $1,500 

Mihajlo Babovic of William Mitchell College of Law               
for "Last Call At The Oasis: Modifying The Non-interactive Webcast Royalty System To Support Sustainability"
 
Sam Guthrie of University of Virginia School of Law              
for "Lyrical Restraint: Lyrics Sites And Copyright Infringement"
 
Eric Lauritsen of Duke University School of Law                    
for "Richard Cheese, Seu Jorge, And The Scope Of Permissible Changes Under Section 115 Licenses"
 
James Richardson of UCLA School of Law                              
for "Create A Compulsory License Scheme For On-Demand Digital Media Platforms"
All ELI finalists received airfare, hotel accommodations and a ticket to the 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards® held at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014, and broadcast live at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the CBS Television Network, as well as invitations to other GRAMMY® Week activities.


YouTube's Head of Content and Business Operations Robert Kyncl (who filled in for Google's exec) delivered the keynote address.
Kyncl who comes from Netflex, is leveraging his strategy on the fact that half US households with TVs will have access to WiFi by 2016. At YouTube he is creating hundreds of professionally produced niche channels. This may not be great news for cable. Let devices like tablet, TV, or mobile fight over the so called "war for the living room." The Internet is providing new programming options for TV like cable did for major networks.   YouTube is simply leveraging today's online open system by providing a platform for masses to become content creators. They're working on adding more channels to your TV and becoming distributors of special content. From a consumer's perspective channel personalization is good news. And it is music to advertisers' ears since it's projected to increase viewing time. YouTube is following parent company Google's ad model. Like Google, YouTube also plans to put more effort in organizing its content and therefore create a better value for creators and consumers alike.  Increased mobile consumption is credited for helping new viewing trends.

l-r: Ron Wilcox, ELI executive chair; Honoree Don Passman, Keynote Robert Kyncl and Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy® and the GRAMMY Foundation

Renowned attorney Don Passman, a partner in the law firm of Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown Inc. was the recipient of the 2014 Service Award. The honor is awarded to an attorney who has demonstrated a commitment to advancing and supporting the music community through service.  We met up with Mr Passman who offered advice for folks in music and informed us that his book "All You Need to Know About Music Business" is now in its 8th edition! You can hear Passman's advice to new artist in an interview with studioexrpesso here

MusiCares Teen Contest Winner

Teen musician Brittaney Brannock is the winner of the fourth annual GRAMMY Foundation® and MusiCares® Teens Make Music Contest for her creative interpretation of the consequences and impact of drug and alcohol use. "If I had a million dollars I would spend it all on guitars, oh and coffee."

We like her already!
The contest asked young musicians, ages 14-18, to compose or create an original song and/or music video that explored, encouraged and celebrated a healthy lifestyle or accurately depicted a story about drug abuse. All winners   attended the 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards® Backstage Experience, a special backstage tour that takes place while artists rehearse for the live GRAMMY Awards.

Grammy Behind The Scene: Rehearsals

Production patch bay, Daneli trucks, More Props...

These Grammy fun facts were compiled by Doug Mountain who escorted us into the bowels of the show behind and below the stage. Imagine this...It takes a  crew of 50 independent engineers to record 21 acts with almost three hours of content with 326 microphones. They install and operate 3million Megawatts of power lighting that includes: 800 computer controlled lights, 200 fixed lights 100 strobe lights, 10 smoke machines, 3 lighting programmers, 400 meters of Versatub to light up the 20,000 seat arena at the Staple center. Did you know the flying walls weigh 5 tons each (480 points, 70 fall protection points

140 tons hanging)?   
 

  

Additionally the venue sports 10 video screens  and 3 additional projectors for effects. Add to this 26 channels of video playback (8 channels of playback for production alone) and 10 animators working around the clock. Generated content produces 1000 video clips loaded - just 800 for played back!

On the grounds outside the hall, there are 2 audio trucks, 192 channels are mixed in each truck.  Security manages 12300 invited guests. What about the after party? Well, only  6000 attend.  No worries there are 3400 parking spaces!

Watch short interviews with Doug Mountain who has been working behind the scenes at the Grammy for several years and manages the audio logistics that get bigger each year. This year the two pro tools stations were upgraded among other things.
Visit studioexpresso YouTube Chl for 2014 Grammy behind the scene interviews and tour

RIP Pete Seeger
May 3, 1919 - January 27, 2014

Musician, singer, songwriter, author, folklorist, labor activist, environmentalist, and peace advocate.  facebook

Listen to  What Did You Learn In School?

photo by: www.naomirichard.com  

John Rzeznik granted studioexpresso a brief interview on the red carpet before his performance at the Legacy Awards: "A Song Is Born"  at Ebell, Los Angeles.  

After more than two decades as a band, with nine albums, a catalog of songs that have become ingrained in the pop consciousness and countless concerts for millions of fans, the Goo Goo Dolls are feeling particularly good about their new album: Magnetic.  

"I approached it a lot differently this time," John Rzeznik says. "Rather than writing a whole bunch of songs and then going into the studio and recording them and seeing if it worked, as we'd done before, I would write a song, make a demo, then Robby and Mike came in and we played it. Wound up being much quicker. And I did some co-writing with Gregg Wattenberg and John Shanks, tried to let go of the outcome."

Inspiration came from many sources.

"A lot of it got cut in a recording studio that sits 12 floors above Times Square, full of windows," he says. "You're at the cultural epicenter of Western civilization. It was unbelievably stimulating. In a lot of ways this is a real New York record."

Still, lot of what is news is customized to fit your world. News on demand.
Information and technology are moving at the speed of light.  

News, like pop music, has a short shelf life.  We've already heard of the prototype flying car.  Google's Moto group came out with ideas like tattoo security sensors, and vitamin authentication pills. Old news before reaching us!

Google's recent blockbuster $2.9 billion sale of Motorola Mobility to Lenovo won't include the Advanced Technology and Projects creators of ARA, the modular, customizable smartphone hardware. I know, you've heard that too!  

A few highly credited mixers I spoke with this month have moved into the post-production space and say that music has more value when accompanied with picture (film, TV, games).  I hope this won't make LISTENING a lost art. 
Still what we value most (sometimes in short supply) are: 
Trust, love, quality (food, music....), family and friends and TIME.

Music Lives & Moves...until next month,

Claris Sayadian-Dodge, Founder I Editor studioexpresso

  

  

  

  

  

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Claris Sayadian-Dodge with 29th TEC Awards Hall of Fame Inductee  Hal Blaine  

29th Tec Awards Hall of Famers

Legendary session musician Hal Blaine of the Wrecking Crew played drums on more than 5,000 records, TV jingles and film scores. Career highlights include hits for Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys and dozens more.

Audio engineer and sound researcher John Meyer was also honored. He co-founded and is CEO of Berkeley's Meyer Sound Laboratories, Inc., bringing developments to the design and manufacture of the loudspeaker. Meyer was recognized for his cutting-edge contributions to sound reinforcement in the performing arts.

Les Paul Award For Todd Rungren 

Legendary musician,  record producer, and electronic music revolutionary Todd Rundgren was honored with the prestigious Les Paul Award on Friday, January 24, 2014 at the 29th Annual Technical Excellence & Creativity Award held during the NAMM Convention in Anaheim, California.

Past recipients of the Les Paul Award include Pete Townshend, Bruce Springsteen, Steve Miller, Steve Vai, Lindsay Buckingham, and others

"Sometimes being a musician has little to do with viability and everything to do with survivability.....My idols, I have come to realize, are players like Tony Bennett and B.B. King. They still have an audience and they can do it forever, and to me that's what being a musician truly is- somebody that does it for their entire life pretty much on their own terms."

--Todd Rungren    

Neil Young Honored by P&E

Neil Young is still rockin' in the
free world. The legendary 68-year-old musician was celebrated by the producers and
engineers wing of the Recording
Academy during Grammy Week at the Village Studios. 
Young lamented the rise of digital recording. He also used his acceptance speech  to plug his upcoming high-fidelity audio service, Pono, which translates to "righteousness" in Hawaiian.  

"As a person, you're one of the most amazing people I've ever met in my life," Dave Matthews said after performing the trio of tunes. 

 

Happy New Year!

Friday, Jan. 31 is the first day of the year of the horse according to the lunar calendar

The Chinese zodiac is based on a cycle of 12 years, each celebrating a different animal.

To fend off bad luck, you can try taking a long overseas trip, throw a big party or wear red - from outwear to underwear - which may account for the rise in the sales of red lingerie, Reuters reported yesterday from Singapore!













"...That (60s) was radical revolutionary music in reaction to the rules of 1950s bebop.
That first Jazz Messengers album is as radical a departure as what Wayne [Shorter] and Herbie [Hancock] were doing with Speak No Evil and Maiden Voyage. Repeating things that happened 40 years ago is not the idea. It's taking the aesthetic behind that and moving it forward but we still have to be the best jazz label we can be."

--Don Was

President of Blue Note & MD at The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to The Beatles

T BONE BURNETT AND ELECTROMAGNETIC RECORDINGS

T Bone Burnett has signed an agreement with Capitol Music Group (CMG) to bring his newly formed Electromagnetic Recordings imprint to the company, according to CEO Steve Barnett.

With Electromagnetic Recordings, T Bone will draw upon his decades of experience to create and develop music and transmedia releases that will be marketed and distributed through CMG.  Burnett will also sign artists directly to Electromagnetic Recordings, and team with CMG label executives and staff to develop and market these artists and their releases.  He will also serve as a producer and A&R resource for the CMG labels, and as a liaison for the company to the music, film and television communities.

"T Bone is quite simply one of our culture's most important creative figures.  He is an influential curator and tastemaker, and his projects are consistently of stellar quality and integrity," says Barnett.     

Among the initial projects slated for Burnett and/or Electromagnetic Recordings as part of the new agreement with CMG are:

 

• The Basement Tapes...Continued:  Bob Dylan's music publishing company recently discovered lyrics Dylan wrote in 1967 for informal sessions with members of The Band that later became known as The Basement Tapes.  Dylan has entrusted Burnett with these lyrics, and early next year - nearly 47 years since the legendary original sessions - Burnett will assemble a select group of contemporary recording artists in the famed Capitol Studios to complete the songs and record them as a band.  Fans will experience this historic creative collaboration through an album release, as well as a documentary film and book of photography by award-winning filmmaker and photographer Sam Jones (The Wilco documentary, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, and his interview show, Off Camera with Sam Jones).  Burnett's association with Bob Dylan began in 1975 when he became a guitarist on Dylan's famed Rolling Thunder Revue tour.
• Gregg Allman - Burnett will return to the studio with Allman in December to record the follow-up to Low Country Blues, the 2011 Burnett-produced album which  debuted in the top ten of  Billboard's Top 200 chart and became one of Allman's best-selling and most critically acclaimed releases.
• Mini Mansions - Signed to Electromagnetic Recordings and Capitol Records by Burnett and Capitol President Dan McCarroll, this Los Angeles based trio will complete its debut album this year with Burnett serving as Executive Producer, as well as hands-on producer on several tracks.
• Jerry Lee Lewis - Burnett is working with "The Killer," on an album that will be released next summer in conjunction with the HarperCollins publication of Lewis's memoir (as told to Pulitzer-Prize winning author Rick Bragg).
• Striking Matches - Newly signed to CMG's Nashville imprint, I.R.S. Nashville, the duo known as Striking Matches first appeared on Burnett's radar when he utilized several of their songs in the first season of the Nashville television series (Burnett was that show's Executive Music Producer).  Burnett will Executive Produce the duo's debut album, which they'll soon begin recording.
• Cowboy Jack Clement - Legendary musician, songwriter and producer, Cowboy Jack Clement, recorded a final album of his songs in Nashville with producer Dave Ferguson in the final months of his life.   Clement is joined on the album by a veritable who's-who of the Nashville artist community, including Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris and John Prine.  Mixing and completion of the album is being overseen by Ferguson and Burnett, who will serve as its Executive Producer.  The album will also be the first release on CMG's Nashville imprint, I.R.S. Nashville.

Tweet to your fans right before walking on stage!     

Visit studioexpresso YouTube Chl to hear select interviews  from the Red Carpet: Don Passman, Paul Williams, Jeff Barry....and check out the technical side of things with Doug Mountain, Hugh Healy...      

Rehearsals at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards