What a Grammy actually means to me.

By Jorge Arévalo Mateus



Exactly one year ago my wife Mimi and I were cruising around Los Angeles trying to find the NARAS offices so we could pickup our VIP tickets to the 50th Grammy Awards. Having received a nomination for producing The Live Wire, a rare live performance of Woody Guthrie from 1949, it was exciting to be in one of my least favorite American cities for such an auspicious occasion, although I especially looked forward to spending some time with my niece in Venice Beach.

Got the tix!

While it was gratifying to get congratulatory notes and emails from friends and professional colleagues far and wide—for those who did not acknowledge the achievement, all I can say, Brooklyn style, is “See me, Hi Hater; See ya’ Bye Hater!”—it was especially rewarding to see a project I sheparded from inception to completion receive mainstream recognition with the music industry’s top honor. More importantly however, the winning historical recording garnered wider public and media attention, becoming the most successful production in the history of Woody Guthrie Publications, the small, independent company run by Woody Guthrie’s daughter, my dear friend Nora. Since then, Guthrie has re-entered America’s consciousness big time, as evidenced by Springsteen and Seeger’s performance at Obama’s inauguration concert.

So what does winning a Grammy actually mean to me? Although I’ve long regarded award ceremonies as generally cheesy affairs, when you’re at the Staples Center, sitting in the nominees section, surrounded by music biz royalty, including artists and producers I’ve long admired, like Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, Jerry Lee Lewis, John Fogerty, Butch Vig, Daft Punk, Tina Turner, and on and on, it is quite the surreal experience, one that can only be compared to a rather bizarre dream.



Daft Punk perform at the 50th Grammys

Perhaps my friend Hillel’s comments provide a good perspective:

“Yeah, the Grammys are a funny thing. We all agree that they are really flawed, and that the awards are usually given on some basis other than musical merit...but the award still means something, even if only that you (or someone in your camp) is an industry player. I'm sure that being at the ceremony was a fascinating experience.”

Well, maybe there is some bias evident, but in that moment when your name is announced, the validation comes more from knowing you did the best work you could do for the project than from the spectacle of the staged “production.”





So as the golden award sits now on my piano, it means both a lot and nothing.

Still, I look forward to the next one! Maybe an Oscar for a traditional film score?