Facing his ninth Grammy weekend as president of the Recording Academy, Neil Portnow had no regrets over any artists left on the sidelines of Sunday night’s stacked lineup.
“We’re approached by everyone from A-to-Z (to perform on the show), but at the end of the day, we only have three and a half hours and physics prevails,” Portnow told TheWrap at the Grammy Style Studio. “Not everyone is happy, but at the end of the day we have a phenomenal show,” he added on Thursday, amidst the Academy’s sprawling fashion showroom set up in a tower 51 stories above Figueroa.
After the Barbra Steisand tribute at MusicCares downtown, leading female music executives gathered at Ciroc Vodka’s “Women of Music” celebration in Hollywood.
Nicole Scherzinger hosted and Natasha Bedingfield performed (both pictured center) at the event that honored top women executives.
Above left, Kathy Willard ( Live Nation), Amanda Marks (Universal), Natasha Bedingfield, Nicole Scherzinger, Alison Smith (BMI), Shelley Fariello (OK! Magazine), Camille Hackney (Atlantic), and Constance Schwartz (Introspect Entertainment) at the “Women of Music” event at The Colony. (Photo by: OK! Magazine.)
OK! Magazine co-hosted the club bash.
After Sunday’s show, Keri Hilson and The Roots performed for Stevie Wonder and the rest of the music industry onsite at the official Grammy after-party, before parties spanned out across Hollywood and West Hollywood.
The late entrant was a past-Bieber’s-bedtime bash thrown by the teen icon's manager, Scooter Braun in Beverly Hills.
The party that started at 11 p.m. and went till sunrise and was sponsored by Nivea for Men, the same brand that ushered Oscar host James Franco in to a much-publicized blonde wig at Sundance.
Much like how the Weinsteins gathered “The Kings Speech” faithful at the Chateau last Monday before transplanting everyone to London for the BAFTAs, producers David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman, along with Hilary Swank and Sean Penn circled their starpower for “The Fighter” and director David O. Russell at Hoberman’s Mandeville Canyon estate on Thursday night.
Other attendees included Sarah Silverman and Eva Mendes, above left.
(Photo by Jeff Vespa.)
Who was in the Fighter’s corner? John Travolta, Drew Barrymore, the “just reopened for business” Arnold Schwarzenegger (who lives a few gates further up the road), Sarah Silverman, and Dewar’s Signature, who sponsored the hush-hush get together.
Below right, Travolta and Barrymore. (Photo by Jeff Vespa.)
Swank spent most of the night with partner/agent John Campisi after arriving with her co-host Penn.
True to form, Penn dodged the inside camera (even though it was the Wireimage founder Jeff Vespa working the yard himself), and found a quiet corner for smokes with Eva Mendes. The Governator ran in to his “Terminator” producer Gale Anne Hurd, who has a new hit on her hands with AMC’s “The Walking Dead”.
While hosting the annual “An Unforgettable Evening” at the Beverly Wilshire earlier on Thursday, Conan O’Brien had no fear for Keith Olbermann, a fellow traveler on the road from NBC to basic cable. O’Brien laughed at the TheWrap's request for Olbermann career advice, remarking, “Keith will be fine.”
The $1.5 million fundraiser for the EIF’s Women’s Cancer Research fund awarded Oscar nominee Annette Bening and honored Martin Short’s late wife, Nancy.
When Rihanna went down sick hours before the dinner, Cee Lo stepped in to perform a modified version of his ubiquitous hit, redirecting the “F-U” to cancer. Rita Wilson, Kate Capshaw, and Steven Spielberg co-chaired the 14th annual evening.
On Friday, “Reno 911’s ” Ben Garant (left) and Thomas Lennon (right) invaded their creative ancestor’s Hollywood Walk of Fame party. As “COPS” creator and executive producer John Langley (center) celebrated his new star on the sidewalk, Lennon asked the crowd at Les Deux to raise their glass for a police-oriented toast: “Raise your hands … where I can see them.”
(Left, Reno “911” raids “COPS” boss Langley’s party. (Photo by Michael Kovac.)