Week it was and what a week it was, it was.

It was a truly surreal week. Recently I headed out to LA for the Grammy Awards, with great hopes for all of our nominees, including Ricky Skaggs, Cherryholmes, and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss. It was truly an amazing night, congratulations to all our winners and incredible kudos to Robert & Alison for pulling off a clean sweep, winning five out of their five nominations, adding to last year's single win for a total of six for 'Raising Sand' including of course Album of The Year. 

Just after returning there was no rest to be had, as Paul Simon was headlining the reopening of the newly restored (and spectacular) Beacon Theatre that Friday night, putting on an amazing show highlighted by an impressive assortment of guests ranging from the Capeman Singers to Luciana Souza to a surprise encore with "Old Friend" Art Garfunkel, not to mention a celebrity-packed audience ranging from Paul McCartney to Michael Bloomberg. And I'm pretty sure I spotted the Jonas Brothers leaning against the wall, standing, for the entire 2+ hour set.

Anyways, though I'd just a lowly camera phone to work with, here's a quick travelogue of the week that was:

Los Angeles at sunset. I'm still a die hard NYC'er but I must admit, there's something to this California thing you can't ignore. 

The inexplicable giant fruit, discovered on rehearsal day wandering through the loading docks. These things were like 20 feet across. A quick peek revealed gaffers tape market "Katy Perry #1" and "Katy Perry #2" on the sides, as the viewing audience discovered two nights later. 

Though these flowers were very pretty and smelled nice (yes they were real), all I could think about was someone tediously sitting there with some kind of stencil meticulously adding the logo to each one of what must have been hundreds of these things in every dressing room. 

Finally, the big day arrives. The red carpet, before all the insanity begins in earnest. 

The view from the side of the stage as Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, and T Bone Burnett finish their great performance and get ready for what turns out to be a win for Album Of The Year.

The picturesque ramp at LAX International as I bid goodbye to the West Coast for the trip back to NYC. Did I mentioned it rained about half the time? I thought there were laws about that in Los Angeles.

And just four days later, it's showtime again, as the crowd gathers to see the newly restored Beacon Theatre and enjoy a performance with Paul Simon and his band and guests.

Jimmy Fallon arrives to great fanfare for his upcoming late night host debut, on the red carpet.


And lastly, one of the more impressive cakes I've ever seen. The centerpiece of the backstage celebration party. Despite the presence of a large knife (upper right) for the entire event nobody had the guts to be the first one to take a slice. 

I wonder what it tasted like.