Michael Jackson fans flock to Grammy Museum exhibit
The display is a new version of the one the L.A. institution had shown since February.
Jeanne LaCroix of Woodland Hills gazed with a wistful smile at the images unspooling across two giant screens inside downtown L.A.'s Grammy Museum: a teenage Michael Jackson surrounded by his brothers as they announced the name of a winner at the 1974 Grammy Awards ceremony.
When the montage shifted to the moment 10 years later when he strode onstage in a knockout blue sequined jacket with blinding gold epaulets to collect the producer of the year trophy he shared with Quincy Jones for their work on "Thriller," LaCroix's head snapped around to the glass display case immediately behind her.
"Do they have that jacket in there?" she said to her 13-year-old daughter, Brianna.
No, but there were four other equally dazzling specimens from Jackson's spectacular wardrobe: the turquoise jacket decorated with Swarovski crystal from the Jacksons' 1984 Victory tour; a midnight blue and gold number he wore to the unveiling of his star on Hollywood Boulevard's Walk of Fame; the blood red jacket with sparkling gold piping he chose for an American Music Awards show; and the red, white, blue and gold model he put on for the United We Stand concert after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Positioned amid the glitz-heavy jackets and two sequined gloves circa 1988 -- both right-hand only -- was a simple white Hugo Boss suit. LaCroix and other visitors to the museum Wednesday were momentarily puzzled at the uncharacteristically plain outfit until they recognized it as the one Jackson wore on the cover of the "Thriller" album.
"It's amazing to see these," said a wide-eyed Michelle Wallace, on vacation in L.A. from Waverly, Iowa, with her husband, Scott, and teenage daughters Bailee and Courtney. Michelle wore a black T-shirt with Jackson's image and the words "In Loving Memory -- Michael Jackson."
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Grammy Museum taps Eleni Mandell, Billy Bob Thornton for April events
Downtown's 4-month-old Grammy Museum is doing its part to get guests hip to Eleni Mandell's recent album, "Artificial Fire." The local chanteuse will bring her jazz-stoked pop songs to the institution April 14, engaging in a Q&A with museum chief curator Ken Viste before the performance. Tickets are $15 and come bundled, Prince-style, with a CD (2007's live effort "Voxhall and WUK").
Mandell, long a local favorite, will perform in the museum's pristine 200-seat theater, which recently has played host to the likes of Tom Morello, Nas and Annie Lennox, among others. "Artificial Fire" sees Mandell exploring the pop songbook with a deft, vintage flair. "I got tired of the weepy, dark songs," she recently told The Times.
Tom Morello at the Grammy Museum: Political activism, music biz lessons and what about another Rage album?
Prior to Tuesday evening, when Tom Morello was last seen on stage in Los Angeles, he was spearheading a benefit for various homeless advocacy groups at the Fonda Theater in Hollywood, performing with the likes of Wayne Krame and Slash. The one-on-one setting Tuesday night at the Grammy Museum in downtown Los Angeles was a bit more grown-up than a rock 'n' roll show, but the Rage Against the Machine member stayed on point, and even brought a little unpredictably to the recently opened nonprofit institution.
The Grammy Museum launched with a politics-in-music exhibit titled "Songs of Conscience, Sounds of Freedom," and the discussion, led by the museum's executive director, Robert Santelli, neatly tied in with the theme. With a nod to one of the artist's at the centerpiece of the exhibit, the night closed with Morello, who rose to prominence as one of the alt-rock era's most adventurous guitarists, leading the 200-seat theater through a determined take on Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land." Disregarding the nervous glances from the small security staff, the suburban Illinois-raised artist instructed the audience stand and jump through the final verse.
Before the rousing finale, however, Santelli led an engagingly thoughtful discussion through Morello's career, focusing largely on the influence of politics and activism. Everything from schoolyard racism to the music business to Morello's thoughts on President Obama were touched on. As Morello pointed out, there's more than one similarity between the artist and our nation's 44th president. In addition to ties to the Chicago area, both were born to a Kenyan father and white mother, and each did time at Harvard in the '80s.
How will changes in Grammy eligibility affect the awards? Neil Portnow answers our questions.
Changes are coming to the 2010 Grammy Awards.
As reported Thursday, the Recording Academy has shifted the Grammy telecast up one week, moving it to the last Sunday in January from the first Sunday in February. With this move, the Recording Academy also altered the eligibility period, upping it from the last day of September to the last day in August.
The changes will have repercussions on nominated albums. Pop & Hiss has noted some artists who would have been affected -- releases from Metallica, Kings of Leon and Jazmine Sullivan would not have been up for Grammy consideration in 2009 had the rules been in place last year. Additionally, the album of the year-nominated "Year of the Gentleman" from Ne-Yo would have had to wait until 2010.
With 110 categories, and countless submissions for each, the Recording Academy has the annual chore of confirming eligibility and ensuring that each is submitted to the proper category. But will the move affect the relevancy of the Grammys moving forward, as albums released in early September will now have to wait a full year to be recognized?
Pop & Hiss chatted with Recording Academy head Neil Portnow about the moves, and how it will affect the awards. Portnow also touched on other topics as the Grammys look to the future -- the Recording Academy's shifts into the digital arena and the potential return of a live nomination special on CBS.
So why does moving the broadcast up seven days require a full four-week shortening of the eligibility period?
When you look at the calendar, and all the elements -- the holidays, the times you don’t actually have to work on certain things, the fact that our entries have grown every year -- it just worked out this way in terms of having the proper amount of time to vet and go through and to get all the processes done that require our intention and manpower.
Will it ever be possible for the Grammys to operate on a standard calendar year, like the Oscars? This seems to move further away from that.
You could. There’s nothing that says that’s impossible. Part of the difficulty in switching is a) you have certain habits and expectations from both the membership and the industry, and b) you have the issue of where you place the broadcast, and where you are on schedule with the network you’re in business with. That would be a fairly radical piece of business for us to do. We’d have to change our fiscal year, from an accounting standpoint, to get into a calendar year situation. It’s not as simple as making a determination and moving.
Everything is interlocked. When you do something like that, that would mean that we would change every single element of everything that we do -- our membership dues, our trustees meeting, our elections, etc. That’s not to say that it can’t be done and would never be done, but it is to say in order to do that, we would have to have a bit of a process to get to that point. We would have to make sure we were taking care of the other business of the academy that builds off of when we have our telecast.
Grammys change eligibility period. Awards to feel even more dated?

The Recording Academy has changed the eligibility period for it Grammy Awards, shortening the window by one month. In conjunction with the change, the annual awards gala has been moved up one week to the end of January. The 2010 Grammy Awards will air live for the East Coast on CBS, and once again be held at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.
A Recording Academy press release states that the eligibility period was shifted to “accommodate an earlier date.” This year, the 51st Grammy Award were held on Feb. 8. Moving the date of the telecast up a week, therefore, has resulted in a four-week difference in what albums will be considered.
Such a move will have a noticeable effect on the telecast. The music industry tends to release some of its biggest albums during the holiday season, and in 2008, a number of major artists released albums too late to be represented on the Grammy telecast. Last year, Grammy eligibility ended on Sept. 30, and releases from such artists as Taylor Swift, Kanye West, Beyoncé, Fall Out Boy, the Fireman, Brad Paisley, Britney Spears and Q-Tip, among many others, were not eligible for the 2009 Grammys.
Tom Morello to talk, perform at Grammy Museum
Local rock activist Tom Morello has a March 31 date with the Grammy Museum. The Rage Against the Machine guitarist will appear at the institution's 200-seat, second-floor theater for an interview and a brief acoustic performance. Tickets go on sale Monday for members of the downtown Los Angeles museum. Tickets for nonmembers will go on sale Thursday (March 5).
Morello is the latest artist to sign on for the museum's "an evening with" program. The Grammy Museum's executive director, Robert Santelli, will conduct the interview with Morello, which will be followed by a question-and-answer session with fans and a short acoustic performance. Artists who have previously appeared on the Grammy Museum stage include Annie Lennox, Brian Wilson and Charlie Haden.
Morello, who also performs folk rock under the Nightwatchman moniker, ties in nicely with the museum's first major exhibit, the politically focused "Songs of Conscience, Sounds of Freedom." Morello is reported to be working on an album with Boots Riley, leader of Bay Area hip-hop act the Coup. The two performed together in Los Angeles toward the end of 2008.
And for those still in need of Saturday night plans, the Nightwatchman will perform tonight at 514 S. Spring St. in downtown Los Angeles as part of a benefit for International Women's Day. Doors open at 8 p.m., and it's $20.
Tom Morello at the Grammy Museum, 800 W. Olympic Blvd., Tuesday, March 31, 8 p.m. Tickets are $17.95 for museum members and $19.95 for the general public; they go on sale for members on Monday. Members can purchase their tickets by calling the museum box office at (213) 765-6803. For more information, call (213) 765-6800 or visit www.grammymuseum.org.
-- Todd Martens
Photo: Sean Ricigliano /Associated Press