Marcelo’s Rockola: Live At The Las Vegas 2009 Latin Grammy Awards Pt 1
6 November 2009, 9:16 AM. By Nacomprende
Latin Grammy 'diamond' ticket + afterparty voucher
Last time I came to Las Vegas was ten years ago and it was for my cousin’s quinceañera. This time around it’s for the 10th anniversary of the Latin Grammys which are currently being held at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. I’m primarily here for the following reasons; 1) I was hired to play at the Remezcla Grammy pre-party 2) To accompany my newly Grammy nominated friend Juan Son. The picture above features actual Nominee tickets in case you ever wondered what those look like. And no, we didn’t pay $600 bucks for them. Thanks to Juan’s nomination we got in free, but if you bring a guest, that’s the amount the Academy expects you to fork over. Or, as a fan, you can also sit in the non-diamond area (the prestige of our seating location is based on the value of precious rocks) and pay something like $400 or $300. Oh and diamond ticket holders get a limo voucher, you know, in case you wanna bling out or whatever.
I was only interested in two of the many official Grammy things; The Juan Gabriel gala tribute ceremony, and the after parties. The actual Grammys are very boring. You’re not allowed to leave your seat while filming is in process! I’ll post my full impressions about THAT experience once I go and mingle with Winsin & Yandel, or whoever sits next to us. For now, I’ll describe my experience at the Juanga gala and the afterparty.
Ok, so I’m a HUGE Juanga fan. I’ve met him before and as expected, he was personable and hilarious. The academy selected a bunch of random artists to sing to him, and the other 500 or so attendees, as Juanga sat up front. The opening guest was none other than Latino music marionette Enrique Iglesias. He basically set the tone for everything else that followed; mediocre generic Latino pop stars who talked Juanga up while he gracefully glanced over and smiled. Here’s a quick kinda blurry video, I didn’t have the best seat:
In case you didn’t recognize the other two performers, they were Luis Fonsi and Shaila Dulcal, daughter of famed Juan Gabriel muse Rocio Durcal. I really hate the children of famous singers who try to keep up their progenitors’ legacies. It almost never works out. Point being, listen to Shaila’s strained voice. Yes, you too Alexander Acha, I saw your ass getting chased down the mall inside the Mandalay Bay. It don’t mean anything. People just listen to you because you’re Emmanuel’s son and, oddly, you sing exactly like him. [Cut tangent, back to story.] On our way in, we saw everybody from Maria Celeste to Cu Cu Diamante trolling around the red carpet. We were actually allowed to walk the carpet because of Juan’s handy nomination, but we waited too long so the staff had to shuffle us into the ceremony. On our way in, we bumped into fellow rock n rollers ‘El Vampiro’ (Jaguares, lead guitar) and Meme (Cafe Tacuba, keys/programming). We made small talk and extended our invitations to them for the after party.
Juan Son, El Vampiro, & Meme @ Latin Grammy Juan Gabriel Gala
The first person I saw when I walked in was Paul Rodriguez. Yes, A Million To Juan’sPaul Rodriguez. WTF? I’m not really sure why he was there. He doesn’t sing and he wasn’t involved in the ceremony. Shit, I didn’t even know he was still alive. I asked if I could take a picture and he hesitantly said, “Yes.”
Paul Rodriguez @ Latin Grammy Juan Gabriel Gala
We only hung out at the gala for about an hour since I had to be at the after party by 11pm. After the performances, we picked up our gift bags (which were mostly filled with shampoo and perfume samples) before heading into the Beauty Bar, located on the old Las Vegas strip. On our way out, we saw Raul De Molina standing outside. In person he pretty much looks like The Penguin in Batman 2.
The after party was being put on by our fellow friends from NYRemezcla. It featured performances by Juan Son, Natalia Lafourcade, Camilo Lara (IMS), Chocquibtown, Dj Wakatela (Calle 13), and yours truly. Oh and it was hosted by musical legend Gustavo Santoalalla. Everybody from the pop/rock genre was pretty much there, including ex-RBD Dulce Maria who gladly took pictures with all her fans while she danced around.
Pedro Damian & Dulce Maria @ Remezcla Afterparty
The party finally ended around 6am. THANK GOD. I was extremely tired and ready to sleep for days. Did I sleep for days? No, I slept for 5 hours and with a headache, stinking like smoke, and wanting to die. We got up, got dressed, tried to get non-buffet food and failed miserably. We ate at a food court in some mall where we consequently bumped into Jacqueline Bracamontes. It would of been a great way to start our day by seeing William Levy eat a hot dog on a stick, but he wasn’t around.
Well more about the ceremony in my next report. I’ll leave you with this slot machine that was next to the elevator in our hotel:
*UPDATE: Check out Remeclaz’s full gallery.
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You are SO right about the children of legacies. I went to a Vicente Fernandez concert in Dallas and the opening act was Shaila Durcal. I thought Shaila looked beautiful and poised on stage, but she struggled through every song.
It may just be that I am such a fan of Rocio and Juanga - two true performers. Or maybe I was just so anxious to hear Chente. But It was more than disappointing to hear Shaila sing her mother’s classic songs in such a bad way.
Yes. Basically you have to be a really good singer in order to pull of rancheras and that, Shaila is not. Rocio’s voice was quite powerful, but Shaila definitely falls flat.
Onother one is Pepe Aguilar. I mean, I don’t love his fathers music either, but Pepe, I think, has a terrible voice. I think the only two that have somewhat made it are Alejandra Guzman and Alejandro Fernandez. Enrique too but his music is just terribly shitty.
Eh…
This is super awesome. I can’t wait until the second part of Marcelo’s Latin Grammys adventure! And I didn’t even know Emmanuel had a son who’s in the industry. Embarassingly enough, I used to love Emmanuel back in the day. Sigh.
Oh you didn’t get it wrong, Emmanuel IS great. His best songs were written by Manuel Alejandro who’s seriously one of the most amazing songwriters. But Alex is just terrible, a watered down version of his dad.
shaila is beautiful, that’s it nothing else. why put up a pic of P. rodriguez wtf.
alexander acha sucks he thinks he’s all that. which he is not. same ol same ol, if you know what i mean
i turned it off after wisin y yandel…i shouldve stuck around for juan gabriels performance though. :(
Hey, its great reading this………… cant wait to read the second part and please tryto include somewhere who was the band who won the Axe thing.. its just i know one of the bands and just wondering if maybe it was them who won….?????? hmmmm well thanks for listening… “)
Buena ya quiero leer la segunda parte. Cuando salió juanga me toco en la 4ta fila casi nos caía de su “vino”. Primera vez q me toco verlo WOW. Un saludo y q regreses pronto
Marcelo, you are simply the best. Grammy’s are always oh so boring. The only thing I looked forward to was Juanga, and the fact that Juan Son, Kinky, Zoé, and a few others were nominated. Didn’t really matter because on TV they didn’t show the categories these individuals were nominated for. Solo enseñaron babosadas como siempre. Ehh, at least you guys looked great. Can’t wait to read Part Deux.
<3 Joe
Alexander Acha won because his record label manager at Warner Music mexico is Alejandro Abaroa, brother of Latin Grammy president Gabriel Abaroa. Interestingly, 16 of the artists presenting or performing are featured in Mr Gabriel Abaroa’s private business
Wireless Latin Entertainment ( download of music ringtones).
Ay Marcelo youre so funny, you crack me up,I wanna meet you so bad! aja <3
Thanks guys, second part is about to come up. Hella chisme up in it!
wow este geneal !
leere la parte 2
hehe
juan son (L)
Finally somebody said it, THE LATIN GRAMMYS ARE BORING! Thanks Marcelo. <3
Kids, check out the second part here:
http://guanabee.com/2009/11/latin-grammy-resena-critica-fotos-video/
Marcelo you are amazing the chronicles of latin grammys are so cool
i don’t understan why not juanson won the latin grammy
thats sucks!
xoxo