Yes, I know the GRAMMYs are soo last week but I took the time to watch through each and every performance which I haven’t done in I don’t know how long…

I watched the first hour and a half on Sunday, another half hour on Thursday and then the last hour today.

For the first time in years I enjoyed each and every performance (whether my kind of music or not). 

Now, to be completely honest… 

There were some irritating performances…

Top honor there goes to Taylor Swift who I’ve never been able to enjoy. 

And some odd performances...

As much as I looove Miguel his performance with Wiz had really funky time structure and  it seemed to be focused on showing off Miguels amazing falsetto vocal range than anything else. 

And why was Frank Ocean soo flat? Nervous or not, that kind of persistent flat tone is unacceptable on the GRAMMY stage. 

Some truly great performances…

Justin Timberlake. Need I say more? He left the GRAMMYs and then delivered an equally amazing performance at the Palladium with Timbo and Jay. And let’s not forget the amazing integrated marketing communication campaign put together to push his new album.

Timberlake —> media build up using the time tested art of delayed satisfaction —>microsite—>media delivery channels (VEVO, FB, Twitter, iTunes)—> product partnerships (Target, BudLight)

And how did that Bud Light Platinum creative Director thing come about anyway?

Well…something like Jay-Z co-owns multicultural focused ad agency Translation NY with Steve Stoute and BLP is already a client of Translation. Jay is then able to use his relationships in business (his ad agency and clients) and music (Justin Timberlake) to bring about unique opportunities. At least that’s how I imagine it went down.

But I digress.

Some established artists I’m embarrassed to say I have yet to listen to…

The Black Keys

Carrie Underwood

And some newbies I need to give good listen…

Ed Sheeran

Alabama Shakes

The overall production quality, professionalism, and truly stellar performances mae for one of the best GRAMMY Awards to date. 

Also ending with one of the sickest, hardest-working drummers in the biz - Travis Barker - never hurts. (Yes, I realize the artist was actually LL Cool J but I couldn’t understand any of the words so I zoned in on Barker’s amazing drumming).

As a 1st generation GRAMMY Camper, a frequenter of GRAMMYs in the Schools, and a product of amazing music teachers in a broken education system…

Thank You for producing a show that gives music and the artists that create it the respect that they are due.

I’m in Denver. I’m also blogging from an iPad (still getting used to only having an iPad instead of my I packed like a true Angelino…two ‘SC hoodies; a pair of TOMS, KEEP Bentens and lace-up school girl heels; and layers galore. But then I jacked it up by forgetting my scarves and not having time to grab a new pair of sunglasses (broke my favorite pair and my attempts with super-glue were of no avail). So really half-Angelino, half-TobiLikesToPackTheNightBefore.

Came into Denver yesterday and already getting a much needed change of scenery (oh hello gorgeous fall) and an exploration into the creative crevices of my mind.

Sounds deep and cool and stuff but really all that means is that I’m couch crashing with an oldwinery but that got pushed back so we’re just ideating foor her business and ideating on my current projects as well.

It’s basically a USC meetup of awesome creative minds (I’m inserting my name in that pool…) and I’m so excited to jump in and see where I can help. I’m learning a lot about wine manufacturing, predegree and modern misconceptions. You’ve heard that wine gets better with age right? Well that’s only true for about 5% of the wines out there. Generally, a wine’s prime drinking window is between one and two years after bottleling. What? Yeah.

All-in-all, I’m just realy excited to be in Denver chopping it up with my old buddy. It’s like we didn’t skip a beat but at the same time so much has changed in our lives…we’re both at this weird/intersting place where we don’t care who isn’t on board with our dreams and ideas…we just look for ways to get them done on our own. Truth be told, I’m soo freaking proud of all that she has accomplished in the two years since we’ve been in limited conctact and she’s an inspiration to me to not sit on my ideas but to look for ways to start on my own and then just ask for help when you get stuck.

Mark my words…this girl is going to set the world on fire.

In other news, we’re going to check out the new experimental pop-up Starbucks up in Thornton (about 15 minutes north of Denver) that I talked about two weeks ago.

It’s day three of my six day vaycay and I’ve got a new fire I’m to smash some projects before 2012 rounds out.

Go out there and GETTER DONE folks!!

Oy!! So many creative ideas but not enough technical skills to get it done! It’s funny how I make fun of my mom for not being able to navigate places on her Android phone or troubleshoot with Google apps. But as a Millennial there is almost a new level of tech savinesss and with that, tech challenges. I feel like, as a Millennial, you have to know your around the usual you throw on a resume: MAC & PC Proficient, Microsoft Suite…blah blah blah. 

But now, being able to navigate your way around basic HTML and Photoshop is basically expected. Now don’t get me wrong…I know my way around Photoshop. InDesign is like a foreign country and -outside of Acrobat- I don’t even know what the rest of CS5. Thank God for tech geeks: designers, programmers, and the like.

I think it’s essential for anyone for everyone to have the basic technical skills to tell a compelling story because whatever you do; wherever you do it you’re always selling/telling/imparting some story and if you can do that in a creative way then it can make your job a whole lot easier. Editing photos, putting together a simple website, designing presentation templates…all essential in today’s marketplace.

Here’s the current list of tech stuff I’m struggling to get my head around

Produced video shorts

Website for two non-profits

Website for myself/how to make tumblr theme your website

Putting web links in my adobe pdf resume

My new car radio

1 & 2 will take me some time and help from some fine friends who are beasts in the creative arena.

Perks of being at home and having a brother studying to transfer into computer programming? Lynda.com subscription. Using it! That should take care of 3 & 4. 

#5 is a pain in the butt. I just wish it weren’t so flippin hot -*ahem* LA it is now mid-October, get it together- so I could sit and my car for an hour and fiddle with my radio thingamagig that does all this cool stuff that I don’t know of …yet.

So hopefully I’ll smash through the second half of the list above by the end of the week…just in time for my Colorado vs. USC tailgate.