A Very Indie Grammy Weekend

By Alan Wayne: Founder and Co-Owner of Indie Star Radio

I had the privilege of representing Indie Star Radio at some events over Grammy Weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. I love Las Vegas, and when you combine great music with the lights of Vegas, Magic is bound to happen! Here's what went down on the Indie side of the biggest weekend in music.

SIM JAM

(www.sistersinmusic.org)

SIM Jam featured a wide variety of artists, several I was familiar with through my work with Indie Star Radio. I was fortunate enough to accompany Annemarie Picerno to the event, and spend time with her friend now mine, KC LaCourse, a country poet with a love of photography. The show itself, though plagued with sound problems, was nonetheless a showcase of many eclectic talents. Notable standouts included Annemarie(of course), with her honest relatable lyrics, lovable stage persona, and a voice that has gotten her much well deserved praise. Suzanne Grzanna was electrifying with her sultry vocals and killer sax work. Mariel Morgan brought her unique style to the event, channeling 1920's era Hollywood glam and providing her trademark vocal stylings to an upbeat collection of music, which provided quite the refreshing juxtaposition of audio and visual elements. Kendra Meucke (Kendra and the Bunnies) provided a genre clashing mix of styles, even giving the fans a taste of her new pop inspired material, proving there is more to Kendra than meets the eye. The standout performance of the evening belonged to Damian Wyldes, who stood the house up, then brought it down with a style combining elements of folk, country, gypsy rock and jazz to a resounding result. Overall, the event was a lot of fun; a good night full of good music and support for women in music.

The Soiree Las Vegas

(www.thesoiree.la)

With all of the pomp, circumstance and posh of a Hollywood event, The Soiree L.A. moved their annual pre Grammy party to The RockHouse inside the Palazzo. Once again, I arrived with Annemarie Picerno, who was working the red carpet doing interviews. Everyone was dressed to the nines, networking and having a great time. I couldn't much comment on the performances of the evening because, frankly, there was already so much going on the music served as a soundtrack to me. I did catch a couple of performances, but for the most part I just observed the sea of humanity and did a bit of schmoozing as one tends to do at these events. This was my first taste of music industry glam, at least as a guest, and I must say I was both impressed and underwhelmed at the same time. I personally do not get star struck at events like these because of my experience behind the scenes at various events, which might be to my detriment at times. What impressed me was the professionalism of everyone working the event, from the wait staff to the various assistants, security, and door staff who were friendly, accommodating, and well suited for such an event. One highlight for me was getting to sneak on to the red carpet and chat not only with Annemarie, but the incredibly talented and awesome April Brucker, who though she had no idea who I was, treated me like Indie Star Radio was the most amazing thing so April, if you read this, thank you. Also thanks to KC and Carol for keeping me company when the mob had me questioning my attendance. In short, it was what it was supposed to be.

To sum it up, this was a very successful trip. I got to spend time with some of the artists from Indie Star Radio, got some new people interested in our platform, and made some memories. Maybe next year, I can write about the Grammys themselves. Here is to hope!