Kevin Burke and Julian Ring on the red carpet at the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards
Watch Kevin's red carpet interviews here!
The 54th annual GRAMMY Awards was one of the biggest nights in music for so many reasons. First of all, everyone from the soul singers of yesteryear to today’s electronic artists mourned the death of Whitney Houston. “She had a gift and she gave it so generously” said Esperanza Spalding. The red carpet was full of people commenting on Whitney’s death. She was universally respected as the voice of her generation.
Despite the GRAMMYs taking place during such a dark hour, a new star is on the rise. Adele blew the crowd away with her stunning first performance back since her throat surgery. Nearly everyone I talked to on the red carpet was very excited to see Adele’s performance. At the end of the night, she won all 6 GRAMMYs she was nominated for. Before and after the awards, many referred to this as “the year of Adele”.
My experiences on the carpet were amazing. Talking to artists such as Wiz Khalifa, Amber Rose, Skrillex, Wilco and many more including the great Steve Martin was a fantastic experience. Working with Cambio was also amazing and extremely exciting.
The GRAMMY after party was also a ton of fun. I got to see something I will absolutely never forget. The jazz legend Chick Corea came up on stage unexpectedly and jammed with the GRAMMY Camp - Jazz Session on piano. After seeing their set, I attended a concert by One Republic in the larger room of the after party. Needless to say, it was absolutely amazing being just feet away from such a fantastic band.
All in all, the GRAMMY awards was one of the most inspiring nights of my life. Seeing some of my favorite bands such as Foo Fighters and Coldplay rock the stage at the Staples center in Los Angeles, seeing how the voice of one inspirational woman affected so many and watching it all happen right in front of me and not through a television was so amazing. This was an absolutely amazing first GRAMMY Awards and I surely hope it isn’t my last.
Julian Ring is an alumnus of GRAMMY Camp and a music journalist living in the Bay Area. He also served on the GRAMMY eTeam. Julian has written for GRAMMY.com, The Wall Street Journal, and The Oakland Tribune. Kevin Burke is an alumnus of GRAMMY Camp NY and the guitarist for Long Island-based pop-punk band, No Good News. He studies guitar, audio engineering, and music theory at Long Island High School for the Arts and attends Garden City High School part time. You can listen to his music at http://nogoodnews.bandcamp.com/
Julian and Kevin are GRAMMY Camp music journalism students who were selected to cover GRAMMY Week 2012 as part of the GRAMMY Camp – Jazz Session media team. To find out more about GRAMMY Camp and to apply for this summer, click here. Deadline is March 31, 2012.
