GRAMMY AWARDS and Me

Over the river, and through the woods ...
... to the GRAMMY AWARDS we go!

When I was a kid, I often fantasized about being famous and winning awards. I do not mean the spelling bee, either! I was certain one-day I'd have an Oscar, a Tony Award, or an Emmy Award. As I got a little older, PERHAPS I even fantasized about winning a Pulitzer or Nobel Prize! Yet I never even remotely imagined I would be nominated for a GRAMMY AWARD. Well, fate showed me.

But wait, there's a little back-story to fill in …

As some of you know, I have loved L. Frank Baum's Oz books since I was in the Second Grade. I've worked in and love musical theatre, and I have a passion for old recordings, really old recordings from the early 1900s. All of these various interests coalesced in the late 1990s when I started doing research on the long-forgotten 1903 Broadway musical version of The Wizard of Oz.

The Wizard of Oz is one of the best-loved fairy tales and one of the best-loved films of all time. Yet few people know that the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman attained fame in a hit Broadway musical in 1903. The show was legendary for its success and its impact on American culture. It made Oz, Dorothy Gale, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Woodman household names.

The show opened on Broadway at the Majestic Theater in New York on January 21, 1903. The show toured, came back to New York, toured, and returned to New York again many times until finally disbanding around 1911. Stock and amateur companies continued to present it into the 1930s when it was overshadowed by the classic MGM film of The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland which featured a new score.

To cut a long story short, I began a project to collect all of the old recordings I could find from the show: 78s, wax cylinders, piano rolls, music-box discs, as well as photos, newspaper clippings, etc. In 2003 (a hundred years after the show originally opened!) I produced a 2 CD set of said recordings with two picture-filled booklets.

Me and my 1906 Edison Home Phonograph.

I was very proud of my work on the project. A theater friend of mine in New York said, "You must make sure this CD is submitted to the GRAMMY Awards." I thought, "Yah, right…" But then another friend in New York said the same thing. And then my boyfriend started in on me! So I finally broke down and made sure the CD was submitted for consideration.

A month or so goes by, the GRAMMY nominations come out, and lo and behold:

Nominated for "Best Historical Album"
Vintage Recordings from the 1903 Broadway Musical
THE WIZARD OF OZ
Producer: David Maxine

I don't remember literally "pinching myself" but it was definitely one of those moments. So what happens when you're nominated for a GRAMMY Award? Well, you start getting mail from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, friends start congratulating you. And eventually you get to go to the GRAMMY Awards!

So I bought a tux. My BF rented a tux. And off we went. The night before the Awards were handed out there was a "Nominees" reception where we were given delightful things to eat and drink. They also presented the nominees with their GRAMMY Medallions! All of the nominees get them! It is a brass medal on a blue silk ribbon. It's very spiffy. They also take our "Official" GRAMMY portrait.

My CD and my GRAMMY Medallion!

The bulk of the awards are given out in a "pre-telecast" ceremony. There are about 125 GRAMMYs given each year; and only about a dozen are presented on the air. My boyfriend's parents came down for the awards, too. Mom-in-Law was kind of excited to see several members of Chanticleer a few seats away.

Well, my category finally came up and alas my GRAMMY went to "Martin Scorsese's THE BLUES" which I suspected it would. After my loss at the pre-show we headed over to the Staples Center in Los Angeles to attend the telecast part of the GRAMMYs. After the telecast we went to the big GRAMMY part at the Beverly-Wilshire Hotel, ate lots, drank lots, picked up our "goody-bags" and it was over.

Me in my Tux at the GRAMMY telecast.

I really do wish I'd won. I REALLY want one of those little phonograph-shaped awards! Maybe next time. And in closing I offer a shameless bit of self-promotion. Should you be interested in purchasing the CD set, it is available from Amazon.com or directly from the Hungry Tiger Press website.

Click here to take a look at the CD
and listen to sound clips!

Thanks for reading,
David

---

Ever wonder who actually votes on these award shows? Well, one of them is now me! As a nominee, I was offered membership in the Academy. Now I get to vote for the GRAMMYs each winter!

When you talk about this blog late, and you will, be kind.

Copyright 2006, 2007 by D. H. Maxine.

Stupid Boys

Is that a Pink Lambert or are you just glad to see me?



For those of you who aren't into really old recordings - the Lambert Company was a record producer in the very early 1900s (approximately 1902-1903.) Their records were cylinder-shaped - not the more familiar flat discs. And many of their records were a vivid fuscia color--a color that I have previously described to friends as dog-dick pink. They are VERY phallic, and VERY rare, usually fetching several hundred dollars each. I thought of this blog title a long time ago - and it would make a great T-shirt slogan; but NO ONE would get it! And that's one of my problems these days.

What do you do when almost all of your interests are so off-beat from the world around you that you barely fit in? I collect old books; old records; love opera; and old movies. In previous decades this would have screamed fag! Fag! FAG! I'm not sure what it screams now because most of my gay friends are into rock, sports, and their Playstation or X-Box. Granted, everyone still loves sucking-dick, but really, weren't we supposed to be the smart and artsy types?

Almost everyone I know is apolitical (which means you don't care much about politics.) I thought perhaps I'd better define it - though I hope that wasn't necessary. I grew up in a fairly leftist household and am used to talking extensively about the world we live in and what's wrong with it. Nobody much wants to do that anymore. Sure we all complain about Bush, but where is the passion to save the world? It was there in the '60s and '70s when I was growing up; but it seems to have vanished. Talk about the Big Chill.

I'm generally very forgiving of other's belief-systems. I know a couple Log-Cabin Republicans; I know some Radical Faeries; I know lots of atheists (including myself); as well as agnostics, Jews, Buddhists, and Church of England members. If you are a right-wing fundamentalist chances are you don't hang out with me. But otherwise I feel I'm extremely flexible (I can even suck my own dick - with effort) Sorry, I had to work that in.

But back on point. What's happening to the Gay community? Are we just gonna become HETS that suck each others dicks? Do we just want the right to get married so we can be normal = average = dull?

I do believe that homosexuality is genetic. But if that is so, since we do not (generally) reproduce, there has to be another way we are contributing to society/civilization which keeps the "little-faggot" DNA in the gene pool. I've always believed our contribution was that we were the spiritual, creative, intellectual, artistic, soul of humanity. Of course "breeders" sometimes fill this function - but it used to be filled by the shamans, priests, poets, gurus, actors, artists, authors, and architects that liked to suck dick. What's gonna happen when the queer contribution to civilization amounts to gym equipment, popularizing PA piercings, and playing video-games?

What a world, what a world! Who would have thought some hot little boys like you could destroy our beautiful wickedness!

David
(Listening to Lucrezia Borgia)

When you talk about this blog later, and you will - be kind.

Copyright 2006 D. H. Maxine.
All rights reserved.