Going to the Grammys, Part 1

A: I was curious about the same thing. Prices weren’t listed on the tickets so I went to Ticketmaster to try and buy tickets, but no tickets were available. They were either sold out or they weren’t available period. People were scalping tickets as we walked towards the entrance of the Staples Center. The gentleman in front of us asked how much, but the scalper replied back with, “well first I need tickets to sell.” The guy asked him how much he would buy them for, but the scalper wouldn’t answer. I’m guessing about $1,000 a ticket, but there was no way I was selling our tickets!

Q: How did you get your tickets?

A: We got our tickets because our ad agency bought air time during the show. We had a drawing at work, three sets of tickets were up for grabs and my name was one of the lucky three drawn. I know this will sound really cheesy, but I was in total shock after I won and had the tickets in my hand.  Attending the Grammys and the Oscars has always been on my bucket-list, although I never thought those were items I would be able to cross off that list.  I immediately sent Tyler a text letting him know that we had plans for Sunday….that we were headed to the Grammys! Then I sent text messages to our families and a handful of girlfriends. I was afraid to post anything on Facebook until we got there, b/c I didn’t want to jinx myself. You know, tell the world and then end up in a car accident on the way there. I’m morbid I know, but this was the Grammys, I couldn’t take any chances.

Note:  A quick internet search seemed to indicate that commoners can’t just buy tickets.  http://www.ehow.com/how_5984812_do-tickets-grammy-awards_.html

Q: Seriously, who’d you have to kill to get the tickets?

A: You know the saying, “it’s now what you know but who you know”…..I think that statement is very true about getting tickets to the Grammys. Although you could stand in line for hours and hope to be chosen as a seat filler or to placed in the orchestra pit by the stage (more on that later)

Q: How did it work?  Did you arrive in a limo?  When did you arrive?  Did you walk the red carpet? Lots of security?

A: We arrived at the Staples Center around 3:15 in a 2014 Fusion Titanium Hybrid, getting almost 41 mpg (which is great considering my driving habits) (what? a little plug for Ford can’t hurt ;). We did have a pass for a limo, meaning that if we had a limo, the driver had access to drop us off. For a split second I thought about seeing how much it would cost to hire a limo, but the pass expired at 3:00 (probably because the celebs started arriving around 3:30) and it just seemed silly. I saw the entrance to the red carpet and started heading that way, but was kindly informed that I would need to enter via the ‘back’ entrance. We entered the building where there was lots of security. We went through metal detectors and they checked my purse thoroughly. I saw the dreaded sign “no cameras or cell phones”, so I “hid” my phone in the side zipper of my purse, but I don’t think it mattered. There was no way they were going to have thousands of people check their phones.

Q: Was there food? Like at the golden globes? Could you buy popcorn and junior mints?

A: By the time we arrived at the back entrance and made it through security it was about 3:30. The doors closed at 4:45, which meant that my crazy OCD self thought we needed to be in our seats by 4:30 at the latest. So we had an hour to kill and thought we would get a drink. The scene outside of the arena was odd. I started people watching to see what everyone was eating, you know to get an idea of our food options. Here you have hundreds of people, beautiful people all dolled up and what were they eating? Wetzel Pretzels! I mean we all know I love a good pretzel, but really? There were women in floor length ballgowns standing around cocktail tables eating pretzels and drinking soda. So to answer your question, yes I guess it was similar to the globes were you can buy popcorn and junior mints, which makes sense because we were at a basketball arena. We walked around a bit and did some people watching. I saw a woman wearing a white sweat suit, with bride written on the back of her hoodie, she had her hair done up and was wearing a tiara. It seemed a bit out of place, but little did I know it was a foreshadow of a performance that would take place later in the show.  We settled on a bottle of water, (very exciting I know).  I was hungry, but too anxious to eat, plus no food was allowed inside the arena. By this time it was nearing the 4:00 hour, so we used the restroom and decided to head to our seats.

Q: What did you wear?

A: After winning the tickets, “What was I going to wear” kept going through the back of my mind.  One of my co-workers and I decided I should stick with a black cocktail dress that I wore to our holiday party, but dress it up with fun shoes and a statement necklace. However in the back of my head I knew if I found a great dress, I would splurge and buy it. I mean come on, it was the Grammys! Tyler had agreed to go shopping with me on Saturday morning. I found a long sleeved, black sequined, short cocktail dress (similar style to the mermaid dress) for only $40! A statement necklace and shoes would have cost more than that, so I went for it! I added emerald green earrings for a pop of color. In case you were wondering, Tyler went with a classic look, black suit, white shirt, black tie.

Q: Did you have good seats?

A: They were great seats! We were in the “platinum section”, we were on the right hand side of the main stage, two rows up, and directly across from the second stage (where Pink started her performance). Ford had seats 1-6, Tyler and I were on the very end. We had great views of the stage. I could have been up in the nose bleed section and would have been happy, these seats were unreal.