Tag: the GRAMMYs (page 1 of 1)

An image of UCLA Basketball players, Lauren Betts and Londynn Jones with a logo reading "Black Excellence" overlay
February 3, 2025 / 0 Comments

Los Angeles Soul

On the second day of Black History Month, Doechii said this as she accepted the GRAMMY award for Rap Album of the Year:

“Anything is possible. Don’t allow anybody to project any stereotypes on you that tell you that you can’t be here, that you’re too dark, or that you’re not smart enough, or that you’re too dramatic, or you’re too loud. You are exactly who you need to be right where you are, and I am a testimony.”

I imagine the black women who make up more than half of the 2024-25 UCLA Bruins Women’s Basketball Team understand this already. Earlier in the day at Pauley Pavillion, the theme was Black Excellence, and it was on display on the court and in the stands. Lauren Betts, the tallest player on the floor, had the most assists, while the smallest, Londynn Jones, had the biggest impact. They both happen to be young black women in incredibly different packages. UCLA fought through a sluggish first half and Minnesota’s pack-the-paint defense to continue their undefeated streak and reign as the number-one team in the country. Meanwhile, Black students were the focus of the in-arena entertainment. Ari Waller hosted as Melanin & Medicine, the National Society of Black Engineers, the Nigerian Students Association, Afro-Latinx Connection,  the Bruinettes, and the members of the Divine Nine made their presence known. 

UCLA women’s basketball home games don’t usually feel particularly black-coded. They don’t have the South LA patina that USC Trojans’ games bring. What UCLA brings to the table is public school charm, enthusiasm, and earnestness. A Bruins athletic event is a student-run affair with current students most in mind. With that comes the centering of their beliefs, hopes, dreams, and the values the school is trying to deliver to them during their time on campus. That includes making room, space, and time for all those who attend and their incredibly varied backgrounds. 

So on this Sunday, a little bit of that Black Los Angeles Soul was in Westwood, and when Lift Every Voice and Sing played before a performance of The Star Spangled Banner, it hit different. American history is filled with violent and despicable acts of regression, and we are in one of those periods now. This time, however, is particularly callous and brazen. Federal agencies are prevented from celebrating or acknowledging identity-based holidays or events, like Black History Month. At the same time, the Trump Administration attempts to roll back years of progress for all Americans.

They not like us.

And, as Alicia Keys would state even later in the awards ceremony at Crypto.com Arena, “DEI isn’t a threat; it’s a gift.”

February 6, 2015 / 0 Comments

That Evening with Norman Lear

“Took a whole lot of tryin’ just to get up that hill.” – Janet Du’Bois, Movin’ On Up

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1

Kenya Barris, creator of Black-ish, and Baratunde Thurston, author of How to Be Black and probably the internet’s favorite negro, were on stage with Touré and the incomparable Norman Lear when Kenya asked a question. “How do you do this?” The this being putting out a comedic show that’s about something while Lear, during the height of his run, had six top shows on the air, all doing exactly that. It takes a while to get there but Touré eventually gets back to this question. Norman, with the cheer, clarity, humanity, and thoughtfulness he had shown all night, immediately responded (and I’m paraphrasing), “Oh, there was stress but I think there’s a kind of joyful stress…You work incredibly hard but at the end there’s great joy. You’ve made something that you can be proud of. You’ve made something that matters.”


It’s been a little over a week since I had the pleasure of being in the audience for the Television Academy’s An Evening with Norman Lear (thanks, Catherine!) and that’s the part that’s stuck with me. Well, that and Marla Gibbs still being the best thing in the room whenever and wherever she appears.


My mantra for 2015 is to make good shit. Every day. And this, while I doubt I will ever make work as compelling as Lear’s incredible run of TV series and movies that matter, is what has been motivating me this year. What am I doing on a daily basis that helps me tell the kinds of stories I want to tell? Can I highlight people and ideas and issues that matter? Can I entertain you while I do it? This is the work I like. This is my desired contribution to the people’s history of this planet.

The GRAMMYs are this weekend. I’m grateful that much of my 2015 so far has been spent in trying to tell interesting and entertaining stories about what it takes to put on the series of events that make up GRAMMY week and why they matter. The stories are for a small audience, at least for now, but I got to interview amazing people that are leading teams doing the hard behind-the-scenes work of putting on these epic concerts and ceremonies. I got to talk to the president of the Academy about Bob Dylan and Jimmy Carter and how MusiCares helps musicians. I got to talk to the people who do the surprisingly hard work of setting up the red carpet for this kind of event. I got to talk to the executive chef behind the food that people will eat in the suites and parties happening at STAPLES Center. I even got to interview my mom about GRAMMY fashion and LA style.


We turned these conversations into stories. Entertaining ones, I hope. And there was hard work and stress but also, joy. Joy in the making. Joy in the delivering. Joy in the complications and negotiations and consternation. It might not have looked like it at the time. At the time, there was sweat and furrowed brows and even cross words on occasion but at the end of those hard days, I was smiling.

More days like this. More days like Norman’s.

And more evening conversations that remind you what life and your role in it can be.

Those are the good times.