Let me begin by saying that it is a trip to see Gor in Los Angeles. He arrived Saturday night, bought an outfit Sunday morning and was off to the Armenian Music Awards show immediately after. He's been shmoozing and talking on his cell phone... ah a star is born. It's good to see him.
So let's begin from the top. We started the day dressed up to go to Raffi's kebab. mmmmmmm it's so good. No kebab in the world like it.The anticipation grew. So we headed over to the Alex theater just in time. The weather was perfect, it was a classy event and everyone was dolled up.... then again, this is LA. So Raffi, Gor and Aaron (Gor's banjo player/former peace corps volunteer) sat with the stars in the orchestra section. Alishan, Natasha (Raffi's lady), Sara (Aaron's lady) and I sat waaaayy up in seats that were certainly not what they promised. We couldn't even see the stage. But how are we even going to argue, it's the seats we assigned and all the others were filled. So I started flipping through the program to see the nominations... Best Alternative Folk Album... that's nice, Gor is selected. Best Newcomer... Gor again, this is great. Best Lithurgical... Hover, fantastic..... Best Album Cover, Gor again? I thought Raffi was kidding when he said I might have a nomination, but there it is. I called Raffi on the floor and he informed me that I needed to come down to accept the award if it wins... I said 'fat chance' it's going to win, I'll just hang back... okay, good luck. The show was interesting, but a bit slow in the beginning. It picked up in the second half. So going through the nominations, sadly Gor did not win his categories... but I will say he had tough competition. He definitely deserved it, but I guess we'll wait for next year. Same with Hover, it did not win. Okay, so best album cover... after all that, I decided to hang back a bit anyway... I probably wasn't going to get it, why bother going all the way downstairs? "And the winner is.... Yeraz - Gor Mkhitarian" Huh? I didn't go, I saw Raffi and Gor going and kinda preferred it to be that way. The man flew all the way over from Armenia for this, let him accept the award. But what a rush.
At intermission, we met and I took a look at the award... I don't even know how I'm going to carry this back to DC. I can imagine the security issues they'll have with this one. It is heavy. We drank and celebrated... afterall it was the team that won. It put us all on a Pomegranate Music high for the night.
The rest of the show was a bit more up beat. There were more dance routines, comedy acts and interesting moments. Datevig Hovannisian was one of my favorite.. going from a traditional Armenian song right into a blues number. What a voice. Serj Tankian came out and presented the award for Peace and Unity Awareness to Arto Tuncboyaciyan. I hope that's the right spelling. I thought is was a necessary award. He is such an amazing musician. Then he played. Beautiful.
And then the after hours party. It was held at Tangiers. Oh, I drank... and danced. I met Miss Armenia (stunning beauty), and a couple of the presentors. I also met the organizer of the whole event, Peter. What a standup guy. So down to earth. After that, I don't remember much. I woke up on Alishan's couch which is a good sign, but with a not-so-good feeling in my head and stomach... oh what a miserable hangover. I'll go see all my relatives tonight, hopefully Shoosig soon, I'm about to call you, party a bit more tonight and then I'm back off to DC. Home sweet home.
So let's begin from the top. We started the day dressed up to go to Raffi's kebab. mmmmmmm it's so good. No kebab in the world like it.The anticipation grew. So we headed over to the Alex theater just in time. The weather was perfect, it was a classy event and everyone was dolled up.... then again, this is LA. So Raffi, Gor and Aaron (Gor's banjo player/former peace corps volunteer) sat with the stars in the orchestra section. Alishan, Natasha (Raffi's lady), Sara (Aaron's lady) and I sat waaaayy up in seats that were certainly not what they promised. We couldn't even see the stage. But how are we even going to argue, it's the seats we assigned and all the others were filled. So I started flipping through the program to see the nominations... Best Alternative Folk Album... that's nice, Gor is selected. Best Newcomer... Gor again, this is great. Best Lithurgical... Hover, fantastic..... Best Album Cover, Gor again? I thought Raffi was kidding when he said I might have a nomination, but there it is. I called Raffi on the floor and he informed me that I needed to come down to accept the award if it wins... I said 'fat chance' it's going to win, I'll just hang back... okay, good luck. The show was interesting, but a bit slow in the beginning. It picked up in the second half. So going through the nominations, sadly Gor did not win his categories... but I will say he had tough competition. He definitely deserved it, but I guess we'll wait for next year. Same with Hover, it did not win. Okay, so best album cover... after all that, I decided to hang back a bit anyway... I probably wasn't going to get it, why bother going all the way downstairs? "And the winner is.... Yeraz - Gor Mkhitarian" Huh? I didn't go, I saw Raffi and Gor going and kinda preferred it to be that way. The man flew all the way over from Armenia for this, let him accept the award. But what a rush.
At intermission, we met and I took a look at the award... I don't even know how I'm going to carry this back to DC. I can imagine the security issues they'll have with this one. It is heavy. We drank and celebrated... afterall it was the team that won. It put us all on a Pomegranate Music high for the night.
The rest of the show was a bit more up beat. There were more dance routines, comedy acts and interesting moments. Datevig Hovannisian was one of my favorite.. going from a traditional Armenian song right into a blues number. What a voice. Serj Tankian came out and presented the award for Peace and Unity Awareness to Arto Tuncboyaciyan. I hope that's the right spelling. I thought is was a necessary award. He is such an amazing musician. Then he played. Beautiful.
And then the after hours party. It was held at Tangiers. Oh, I drank... and danced. I met Miss Armenia (stunning beauty), and a couple of the presentors. I also met the organizer of the whole event, Peter. What a standup guy. So down to earth. After that, I don't remember much. I woke up on Alishan's couch which is a good sign, but with a not-so-good feeling in my head and stomach... oh what a miserable hangover. I'll go see all my relatives tonight, hopefully Shoosig soon, I'm about to call you, party a bit more tonight and then I'm back off to DC. Home sweet home.
posted by Arsineh at 11:27 PM
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