random thoughts on the 2017 grammy awards

It's time for my annual tradition of watching cool musical performances with some awards sprinkled in between. This year, for the first time in eons, LL Cool J is NOT hosting. This year, that "honor" goes to The Late, Late Show's James Cordon of "Carpool Karaoke" fame... let's see how well he can control this wild bunch..

• Yay Adele is singing first! Can she just sing the whole time?
• Okay the weird picture-in-picture thing going on on the screen behind her is super-annoying. Maybe they shouldn't have put the screen *right* behind her...
• James Cordon's opening intro/dance disaster was less than funny.
• His rapped monologue was good though.
• J-Lo is getting political.. now you know we're in deep sh*t.
• So John Travolta has finally admitted to not being able to read the teleprompter. (Two years too late.) Next, can he finally admit that's not his real hair?
• The psychedelic scrolling background stolen from Real Player (or was it the Windows Music player?) behind Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood is hurting my eyes.
• Twenty One Pilots missed the pantless LA Metro ride day by a month or so...
• Jetsetter and one-man band Ed Sheeran.... from SNL to the Grammy stage in 16 hours (+ a 3-hour time change). I keep meaning to actually buy his music. He's awesome.
• And David Bowie wins Best Rock Song for "Blackstar." #sniff
• Since when do singer's moms get to do Grammy intros? I guess when they are Beyonce's mom...
• So is this pregnancy going to be Bey's next concept album?
• Um... how can these professional musicians (roped into a live Carpool Karaoke) NOT know the words to "Sweet Caroline"? Shame on you John Legend... for that, the two songs you're performing at the Oscars this year should lose. (Props to J-Lo for at least getting into the performance aspect.)
• Bruno Mars looks like he's going to the Olympics.
• And OMG.. I swear that triangle thing behind/above him is leftover from the NHL All-Star Game! #staplescenterhand-me-downs
• If anyone can follow Beyonce, it's Katy Perry! Love the #resist armband! And The U.S. Constitution graphic. The fence makes more sense now. (Yes, it takes me a while...)
• I'm really loving Gary Clark Jr. lately.... makes me wish I'd shown up earlier to the Foos concert he opened for on the Sonic Highways tour.
• Adele performing the George Michael tribute. #love
• Adele's luck with earpieces on Grammy live shows. #hate
• Seen just now on the EW Twitter: "Only Adele could make the Grammy's start over." Yep. #queen
• "I'm sorry. I can't mess this up for him." #sniff #love
• She slayed. Beautiful.
• Lady Gaga with Metallica. Not as odd as you'd think...
• What is odd is James Hetfield's microphone not working. Someone's not getting hired as a sound tech again next year. 
• Note: Demi Lovato was not alive when Stayin' Alive came out. Neither was Tori Kelly. Lady Antebellum was... well most of them.
• How sad is it that they keep cutting to Barry Gibb.. the sole remaining Gibb. #sniff
• Andra Day apparently thinks kimonos were big in the '70s. She wasn't alive then either.
• Yay! Adele's "Hello" wins Song of the Year. #love
• Cutting off her co-writer Greg Kurstin to intro a Tribe Called Quest #hate
• The Prince tribute from The Time isn't nearly as sad as the George Michael tribute was... 
• And now "Let's Go Crazy" -- my fave Prince song. Bruno has the look down. But he still reminds me more of Michael Jackson.
• Bruno also has the guitar playing down. Wow!
• Yay Adele's "Hello" wins Record of the Year! And yay Adele for calling the producers out for cutting Greg off last time!
• Yay Adele's "25" wins Album of the Year! I love that album... shows her true beauty, heart and sass. #love

worth the wait

So last December, I spent two hours of my life in a virtual "waiting room" on the AXS Ticketing website waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting to get let into the "room" to purchase tickets to one of six nights Adele was going to perform at Staples Center this month. 

As an LA Kings season ticket holder, and someone who as spent more money than I care to admit at Staples Center since it opened in 1999, I was more than slightly annoyed by this "waiting room" process put in place by the owners of the Kings, Staples Center and the craptastic AXS Ticket purchase site in an attempt to beat online ticket purchasing bots. 

An hour in, I actually started to hate them even more than I already hate Ticketmaster (which is a LOT). But I finally, miraculously got out of the waiting room and my max of four allowed seats popped up... in Section 314, row 8. I haven't sat in the 300 level of Staples Center since 2001. For those that haven't been to Staples Center, that's the top section of Staples Center, about 20 rows and three levels of luxury suites above my excellent Kings seats. Yes, I am a Staples Center snob. I was NOT pleased. And I now really hated AXS' ticket system more than I hated Ticketmaster (have I mentioned that is a LOT?). 

But I bought the tickets anyway, and tried for another hour to get better seats on another night. No luck. Lots of people complained on social media they couldn't get tickets at all... in addition to also proclaiming their hatred for the AXS "waiting room." So I buried my rage and downloaded my tickets and waited eight months for the concert to happen... hoping that Adele wouldn't blow out her vocal chords again and have to cancel the tour like she did on her last tour.

Well, August 10th finally arrived and here was my view from section 314... 

... and while I was very, very far away from the stage, it didn't end up mattering because Adele sounded AMAZING (of course) and the concert was AMAZING and I had a great time with my parents (who I took for their Mother's and Father's Day gifts) and my Adele fanatic-friend Daryl.

A lot of these vocal divas camp in front of a microphone and just sing. And Adele freely admitted she doesn't dance (while telling a story about why she's not performing at the next Super Bowl). But what she lacked in dance moves, she made up for with storytime... she had a story about almost every song she sang... some funny, some serious. (Fun Fact of the Night: The producers of Skyfall convinced her to do the theme song by asking her how old she was at the time. [Reminder: Her albums to date are all named after her age at the time she wrote them.] Her answer: 23. Their response: This is the 23rd Bond movie. Deal done!) 

Her fun personality won the night. She called three young girls up on stage to take a selfie with her early on after she noticed them trying to get photos of themselves with her on stage in the background, and also posing for three different photos for their three different moms' cameras. She was super-chatty (even apologizing for being so chatty) throughout the whole show. She smiled and waved to fans in between belting out lyrics. And it all just made everyone who already loved her love her more. 

This is the stage in the back of the floor that Adele first appeared on, rising up through the center at the beginning of the concert (singing "Hello..") and was lowered down below at the end of the regular set. She was smuggled under this mini stage and out from under this mini stage in a large rolling equipment case. I saw it roll in and 2 minutes later the show started, and I saw it roll out when she finished singing "Set Fire to the Rain."

The woman sitting in front of me thought I was crazy and the case wasn't big enough. Then I reminded her we were sitting four stories above said equipment case and of course it looked small from where we were. She realized I was right. (Duh.)

This is from the acoustic part of the show.. Adele performed "A Million Years Ago," "Don't You Remember" and "Make You Feel My Love" with just 2-3 musicians on strings and her amazing voice.  Beautiful.

And here are some of the videos I took to remember the amazing-ness. Enjoy! (Thank goodness for giant video screens... even if her head is half cut off because we were so far above the top of the stage  ;)

The Finale..

Here was the set list:

• Hello
• Hometown Glory
• One and Only
• Rumour Has It
• Water Under the Bridge
• Skyfall
• Million Years Ago
• Don't You Remember
• Make You Feel My Love
• Send My Love (to Your New Lover)
• Sweetest Devotion
• Chasing Pavements
• Someone Like You
• Set Fire to the Rain

Encore:

• When We Were Young
• Rolling in the Deep

luuuuuuuc the statuuuuuuue

If you know me, you know I love hockey. You also probably know that I love the LA Kings. And the reason I first went to a Kings game (circa 1988) and fell in love with hockey was a cute French Canadian named Luc Robitaille (who I'd seen playing at a celebrity softball game at USC that I originally went to in order to drool over long-haired rocker boys from '80s hair bands... but I digress.)

Turns out, that cute Luc Robitaille was also a pretty good hockey player. Like the top-scoring-left-wing-in-NHL-history kind of good. 

And over the years -- after I learned about hockey from listening to Bob Miller call games on TV, and eventually became a season ticket holder -- I watched him score his 500th goal on January 7, 1999 at the Great Western Forum. I watched him leave the team (for the second time) to win the Stanley Cup (for the first time) with the Detroit Red Wings in 2002. And once he returned home to LA, I was there for his final home game on April 15, 2006, chanting "Luuuuuuuuuuc" as he skated a final lap around Staples Center ice before he retired from the NHL. 

In January 2007, I sat through quite possibly the longest jersey retirement ceremony ever as his #20 was raised to the rafters of Staples Center. And on June 11, 2012, I cried as I watched him raise the Stanley Cup over his head as a King when the Kings won it for the first time, with Luc serving as President of Business Operations for the team. 

So I was, of course, standing outside Staples Center in Star Plaza on March 7, 2015, when Luuuuuuc was immortalized in bronze, as only the second LA hockey player to be honored with a statue outside the arena. His statue is in the front of the plaza, and unlike most of the others (Wayne Gretzky, Jerry West, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Chick Hearn, Oscar de La Hoya) his statue is in color, with him wearing a white classic Kings jersey, his stick raised over his head and a smile on his face in a celebratory goal-scoring pose. 

Wayne Gretzky showed up to speak in his honor. Mario Lemieux, his Pittsburgh Penguin teammate, also came to the ceremony. Quite possibly the two greatest hockey players ever, were there to honor Luc. That's how respected he his. His Kings teammate and current front-office co-worker Rob Blake spoke. So did Lakers great Jerry West. And Kings fans showed up an hour before game time to watch it all happen. 

Here are some photos :)

Stacia and Luc Robitaille walk the red carpet to the ceremony

 

The Great One

         

Bob Miller's back, Luc's side and the statue under wraps

Rob Blake and Wayne Gretzky in the front row 

The statue is unveiled

View from the front, with (l-r) Mario Lemieux, Luc, Rob Blake, Jerry West, AEG President
Dan Beckerman, Jesse Robitaille, Wayne Gretzky

rob blake's #4 rises to the rafters

Saturday night (January 17, 2015) the LA Kings retired the second of my two, all-time favorite players' numbers.

Rob Blake's #4 will now forever hang in the rafters next to Luc Robitaille's #20, in addition to some other guys you may have heard of named Dave Taylor (#18), Rogie Vachon (#30), Marcel Dionne (#16) and Wayne Gretzky (#99).

Rob's jersey retirement ceremony included 30-ish of Rob's ex-teammates standing by to honor him, with Luc, Kings GM/Rob's current boss Dean Lombardi, current Kings Captain Dustin Brown, and Rob's defensive partner Mattias Norstrom (who flew in from Sweden) speaking about him and his accomplishments both on and off the ice.

People mentioned his records as a defensemen (that Drew Doughty will probably break). They noted he's the only King's defensemen to win the Norris Trophy (Drew will do that eventually too). And they spoke of his Hall of Fame induction last November. But that's all public knowledge.

Dustin Brown, who was beginning his career as Rob's was ending, spoke of how Rob set an example for the younger players like him and Anze Kopitar of how to carry oneself as an NHL player and how to be a leader.

And Luc spoke of how Rob, even when he no longer played for the Kings, paid for Kings season tickets for a family who's three children had muscular dystrophy. The family had attended one game as guests of the Kings, and afterwards while visiting the team in the locker room, the dad told Rob that the game that night was the happiest he'd ever seen his kids. Rob called up the front office the next morning and bought them season tickets that year, and continued to do so every year until, sadly, the kids had all passed away. But that dad -- Luc noted -- was in the crowd Saturday night to see Rob's number go up in the rafters.

That story, my friends, is why I love hockey and hockey players. They are just good guys. And in Rob's case, a good farm boy from Simcoe, Ontario, who made it to the big time, worked hard, developed a booming hipcheck when a shoulder injury made it too painful for him to check the normal way, broke a lot of records, won a Stanley Cup (with the Avs), and stayed humble.

Here's Rob's speech that demonstrates a little of that, and how he feels about his teammates:

The view from Section 205: 

#4 rises to the rafters

Close-up of #4 before being moved over next to #20

imagine a u2 concert without the edge...

If you are a U2 fan (which I am) this seems unimaginable. I can't see Bono ever hiring a session musician to "fill in" for The Edge in concert... or Adam or Larry for that matter. Probably because U2 is a BAND with all four members signed to the record contract, not just Bono and his rock god ego.

But if you are a Bon Jovi fan (which I also am) and you have tickets for the current leg of their North American tour, then this is what you are being subjected to: A Bon Jovi concert without Richie Sambora. See, Jon Bon Jovi (and his rock god ego) is the only member of Bon Jovi signed to a record contract. The other three members -- Richie, David Bryan and Tico Torres -- are his employees. It's been this way since 1984, which I've always found odd. However, now I also find it sad because this apparently means anyone but Jon is replaceable.

This also angers me because last Friday night at Staples Center I had probably the third best seats I've ever had for the who-knows-how-many Bon Jovi concerts I've been to since April 1989: 5th row on Richie's side of the stage. But Richie wasn't there. (See photo at right of Jon, that could've/should've been of Richie.)

And as I sat through almost three hours of Bon Jovi (or as I now refer to this incarnation, "75% of Bon Jovi") all I could think was, "This isn't right." "This isn't the same without Richie." and "If I'd wanted to see a Jon Bon Jovi solo concert, I would've gone to Vegas a month ago and seen him at the Hard Rock for half this ticket price."

You see, without Richie there, there is no one for Jon to perform with. He has a band playing music for him to sing to, but it's just Jon out there running around the stage. Normally it's Jon AND Richie -- the (their quote, not mine) "two brothers from another mother" -- running around together, playing to the two sides of the arena.

But on Friday, it was just Jon at center stage, with Dave and Tico behind him, glued to their respective instrument set ups. Then there was poor Hugh McDonald (who hasn't been an official band member for going on 20 years now) on bass and Bobby Bandiera (who has been playing rhythm guitar at Bon Jovi's live shows since 2005), both relegated to specific spots on the riser next to Tico and Dave. The only musician not in a delegated area of the riser behind Jon was Phil X, the Richie Sambora fill-in, who, while an excellent guitar player, is not Richie Sambora. And -- probably smartly given the situation he's been placed in -- stayed pretty much glued in place too, in front of Tico's drums.

Now, I'm not saying it wasn't a good concert. It was. It just wasn't the Bon Jovi concert I've come to love attending over the last 24 years since I first saw them live at The Forum on The Jersey Syndicate tour, three days before Jon and Dorothea eloped to Vegas. (Yes, I remember that fact. It was very traumatizing to my teen-self at the time :P)

As he always does, Jon worked his 51-year-old ass off Friday at Staples. He even looked close to bursting a blood vessel in his neck while trying to hit the high notes on Always during the second encore. But Richie's presence was noticeably absent, especially on songs I love like Born to Be My Baby, Livin' on a Prayer, and -- of course -- Wanted Dead or Alive, where his backing vocals are engrained in my brain as essential parts of the songs. 

The only song I didn't miss him on was "Bed of Roses," because that's the song Jon came out on the catwalk for and ended up standing right in front of me to sing. It was awesome. Don't believe me? Click play below. I had awesome seats. (And yes, that is my video on YouTube.)

 

But once that song was over, and Jon started singing "I'll Be There For You" my sadness returned --  Richie normally sings that song in concert to give Jon a vocal break. (And he actually sings it better than Jon these days. Witness Richie's solo concert at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood last November. Yeah, I had a good spot for that one too ;)



Whatever "personal issues" are keeping Richie from performing with the band -- rumors range from him falling off the wagon (which I don't really believe), to Richie being ticked at Jon for telling him to stop promoting his solo album now that the new Bon Jovi album is out (which seems more likely to me) --  need to get worked out... and quickly.

Jon told the first audience to miss Richie in Calgary that he had two choices upon learning three hours before showtime that Richie wasn't going to be there (which makes the "Richie's ticked at Jon" theory more plausible): postpone the show or play with a fill-in guitarist. He chose to play. 

As a fan of the BAND, I kinda wish he had chosen to postpone.

That puts more pressure on whoever is having "issues" to get said issues resolved as quickly as possible. (Of course that assumes the issues are actually one of the two rumored issues above and not something else that's entirely out of anyone's control, which is also totally possible.) It also doesn't punish fans who believe Bon Jovi is more than Jon and his rock god-self. I know it's obviously much harder to replace a singer/frontman, but U2 postponed their tour for a year when Bono had his back injury. Just sayin'... 

Okay, I'm done venting... for now.

PS: Here's the setlist from the 75% of Bon Jovi concert at Staples Center on April 19th. Note: They only played three songs off the new album. Just sayin'...

1. That's What the Water Made Me (What About Now)
2. You Give Love a Bad Name (Slippery When Wet)
3. Born to Be My Baby (New Jersey)
4. Raise Your Hands (Slippery When Wet)
5. Lost Highway (Lost Highway)
6. Whole Lot Of Leavin’ (Lost Highway)
7. It’s My Life (Crush)
8. Because We Can (What About Now)
9. What About Now (What About Now)
10. Work For The Working Man (The Circle)
11. We Got It Going On (Lost Highway)
12. Keep The Faith (Keep The Faith)
13. (You Want to ) Make A Memory (Lost Highway)
14. Bed Of Roses (Keep The Faith)
15. I’ll Be There For You (New Jersey)
16. Have A Nice Day (Have A Nice Day)
17. We Weren’t Born To Follow (The Circle)
18. Who Says You Can’t Go Home (Have A Nice Day)
19. I'll Sleep When I’m Dead w/ Start Me Up (Keep The Faith/cover)
20. Bad Medicine (New Jersey)


Encore #1


21. Dry County (Keep The Faith)
22. Wanted Dead or Alive (Slippery When Wet)
23. Livin’ on a Prayer (Slippery When Wet)
24. Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night (Crossroads)


Encore #2


25. Always (Crossroads)
26. Treat Her Right (cover)

hooray for hockey?...!...?..!

So I woke up yesterday and, per my normal routine, grabbed my phone and started scrolling through my Twitter feed (which is where I get most of my news) to see what happened in the world overnight.

About 15 tweets in, I had to pinch myself to make sure I was really awake, because CNN, ABC7, and my fave local hockey writers @helenenothelen and @reallisa from the LA Times, plus players like Dustin Brown were all tweeting and retweeting that after 100+ days, an agreement had finally been reached between the NHL and the NHL Players Association to end the evil lockout and get back on the ice.

I kind of couldn't believe it. 

I'd given up hope about a month ago. And -- out of ticked-off frustration -- created an awesome excel spreadsheet calculating not only the amount I was going to be refunded in cancelled LA Kings games this season, but also the 5% interest I was earning on that refund by allowing the Kings to hold on to my cash for future purchases of playoff tickets or next season's tickets (vs sending it back to me so it could sit in my bank account earning maybe 0.1% interest if I'm lucky :P). I figured out it would be at least Summer 2014 before they got another not-already-paid-to-them cent out of me! 

I was angry at the greedy owners, getting close to angry with the players I love (although not really) and hated Commissioner Gary Bettman even more than I already did (thanks to two previous lockouts during his "reign" and the fact that he's just a squirrely, annoying little man). 

Then, as I scrolled my feed, I saw a tweet from the LA Kings twitter feed: "First order of business: raise banner."

And suddenly, all my joy from last June came flooding back. My team won the holy grail of hockey on June 11th after 45 years of trying. And they, plus all us long-suffering LA Kings fans, have been waiting since then to claim real estate in the Staples Center rafters with a banner that reads: 2012 Stanley Cup CHAMPIONS!

I'm not saying all is forgiven...  there was serious damage done to the sport and it remains to be seen if anyone actually "won" anything from all this "negotiating." Lots of fans are ticked off and planning to boycott games. 

But I've missed hockey. 

And I want to see that banner go up on the wall. 

And I've got a brand new Dustin Brown jersey that I bought in the early morning hours of June 12th that hasn't been to a game at Staples Center yet. :)

So I am keeping my schedule free from next Thursday night onward, waiting for the NHL's shortened-season schedule to be released. And I will be in Section 205 when that banner is raised. 

I guess I love hockey too much to hold a grudge. Sorry Angry Fans :P

scenes from game 4

We're not going to talk about the actual hockey game today cuz I'm still pissed off at:

1. the ref for calling a penalty on Justin Williams for goalie interference in the 1st period when Mike Smith the Goon... I mean the Goalie... no I actually do mean the Goon, was actually interfering with Williams. 
2. Shane Doan, aka The Other Goon, for scoring on the power play that followed, and then scoring another goal that no one in Staples Center even saw. (Thanks a LOT for paying attention Toronto. Sheesh!) 
3. the Kings for being half asleep today. HOWEVER, as today's hockey buddy Diana pointed out, it's better they lose a game now rather than later. They are 11-2 in the Playoffs, and are still up 3-1 in this series. This is not the end of the world and may actually be a good thing... It may have been just the kick in the butts they need to remember not to believe all the hype that is surrounding them now. They still need to focus and play their game, one game at a time.

Anyhoo... due to a Bike Tour running through LA today, everyone showed up at the game early to avoid gridlock. Here are some scenes from Staples Center, before the game:

Here's the finish line of the AMGEN Tour of California Bike Tour... right next to Staples Center on Figueroa.












This was the scene on Chick Hearn Drive between Staples and LA Live. Yes, that's a Bike Valet area. 

The Great One's statue decked out in current Kings garb

  

Then the most exciting part of the day (since the game sucked) was randomly running into former LA King Tony Granato on the concourse! 

Tony was one of my fave players (along with Luuuuuc and Blakey, who were also at the game, but not randomly hanging out with the masses) back in the good old days (aka the last time the Kings made it this far in the playoffs). 

If you don't believe me, here's a photo of us back in said day (literally like 20 years ago... eek!) taken at an autograph signing in Manhattan Beach. I think we've both aged well ;)

scenes from game 3

Thursday, May 17, 2012 -- Scenes from Section 206

The Key 3

He even stops shots in warmups

Hand, don't fail me now!

Poised and waiting

The Starting Lineup

Rob Scuderi

Drew Doughty

Anze Kopitar

Dustin Brown

 

Justin Williams

Jonathan Quick

60 minutes of play later, LA Kings Win 2-1 on goals from Kopitar and King, to lead the Western Conference Finals 3-0. 

They need just 5 more wins for greatness. 

(Knock on wood. No jinxes. No whammies)