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The LA wildfires started right after the Golden Globes in early January, and caused the rest of the award season calendar to scramble to reschedule. Many wondered if events should just be canceled, but it’s not that simple, as many Angelenos make their living at these industry events. So the aim was to thread the needle in giving people time to recover and resettle, without completely eliminating a crucial part of the local economy. Instead of postponing their February 2 telecast, the Grammys decided early on that they would pare back the number of parties leading up to the show, and make the actual broadcast a celebration of first responders, as well as a fundraiser. Now the numbers have been tallied and the results are in: the Grammys raised more than $24 million for wildfire disaster relief. I’d call that award-worthy.
The Recording Academy, which dramatically retooled the run-up to the Grammys amid the Los Angeles-area wildfires and transformed Sunday’s ceremony into a tribute to victims and firefighters, has raised more than $24 million from those efforts, Variety reported. The Trevor Noah-hosted telecast alone raised $9 million.
While there was debate over whether the Grammys would even happen amid the fires, which killed 29 people and destroyed more than 15,000 homes, the Recording Academy decided to have the ceremony go on as scheduled. However, the organization did scale back Grammy Week, limiting it to the MusiCares Persons of the Year Charity Gala honoring the Grateful Dead on Jan. 31, the Special Merit Awards Ceremony and Grammy nominees reception on Feb. 1, Clive Davis and the Recording Academy’s pre-Grammy fundraising event on Feb. 1, and the Grammys main event on Feb. 2.
Throughout Grammy night, Noah prompted both attendees and viewers to donate to the MusiCares fire relief portal (which is still accepting donations at musicares.org/firerelief). The ceremony featured segments and video packages highlighting the residents, students, and business owners who lost everything in the fires. The California rock band Dawes were among those whose homes burned down. Still, they nevertheless took part in raising money for others by performing Randy Newman’s classic song “I Love L.A.” with accompaniment from musicians St. Vincent, Sheryl Crow, Brad Paisley, Brittany Howard, and John Legend; Dawes subsequently released “I Love L.A.” as a charity single with proceeds going to MusiCares fire relief.
The ceremony also included an emotional performance by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, who sang “California Dreamin’” together before winning a Grammy for their duet “Die With a Smile.” The show ended with special guest presenters: members of the Los Angeles Fire Department, including Fire Chief Anthony Marrone, who said, “I am confident we will recover and rebuild together. Because we are L.A. strong!” before giving the Album of the Year prize to Beyonce for Cowboy Carter, her first win in the category on her fifth try.
The fact that they say “the organization did scale back Grammy week, limiting it to…” and then go on to list three big events, just goes to show you how much goes on during the frivolous-sounding “awards season.” Each party amounts to hundreds of jobs, and I applaud the Recording Academy for finding a way to make it work. And really, all along the Southern California community has been showing up for each other in countless remarkable and kind ways. $24 million from the Grammys can do a world of good, and as the article says, MusiCares is still accepting donations. Which is good, because it’s no time to be depending on the federal government for effectual help. Did you see what noted hydraulic engineer Trump did this week? He ordered two Northern California dams to be opened with very little lead time. The water was supposed to be kept in store for farmers to use when it’s dry in the summer and fall. Now, it’s raining, and the areas are at risk of flooding. But of course the kicker is: Trump unleashed these waters that, with the existing infrastructure, have no possible way of ever reaching LA (short of people carrying buckets down, a thought I’ll entertain solely because we are in Aquarius right now). He’s such a f–king dumbass.
Good to see events like the Grammies stepping in when the 🟠 one is refusing to do his job.
“Did you see what noted hydraulic engineer Trump did this week?”
Just had a look at our press over here, and it didn’t get reported, and if sites like the Guardian wrote about it, I must have missed it.
Our papers concentrated on Gaz-a-Lago, and the corruption, imperialism and colonialism displayed by President Mump.
Two of the three events they didn’t cancel were fundraisers, which are annual events. Yes, all award shows are frivolous but they also raise untold millions in funds for scholarships, arts preservation, and retirement assistance.
I was relieved when the Grammys went ahead and am glad they managed to keep some of the parties. So many people rely on awards season. And thrilled they raised a lot of money!
As for the dams, which I had not heard about so thank you so much for mentioning — I’m thinking it’s not so much being a dumbass (although he absolutely is) or being confused about how big CA is (although they hate CA and logic), but if the stores were for farmers in the dry summer/fall? Yeah, wanting all of CA to suffer all year long seems like a goal for them. Floods now are just a bonus.
That’s quite an accomplishment, and I hope it really helps people in need.