It's Always Sunny in LA: #43: The Grammy Museum

You can't walk far in downtown's LA Live Plaza without seeing the huge grammy plaques inlaid in the sidewalk.

I figured they were the musical take on the Hollywood walk of fame, but only when I actually read the plaque did I realize that it was advertising the new Grammy Museum, tucked on the north-east corner of the LA Live complex.

Even though I work in the film industry (and LOVE to participate in our office Oscar prediction pools), I have always loved the Grammies the most of all the awards shows. I was never as interested in the winners as much as I was in the performances, the fashion, and the outrageous stage crashers... soy bomb, anyone?

We headed to downtown, found parking on the street (!!!) and paid the $12 admission fee. The museum is 4 floors, and they tell you to start on the top floor, which is dedicated to exploring and learning about all genres of music. As you could imagine, dedicating a single floor of a museum to all genres of music must have been a very overwhelming undertaking. However, they did a really good job. The majority of the exhibits were interactive, where you could read about a type of music and hear a clip of that genre through headphones. There were several stations with 5-minute videos on genres like classical, pop, gospel, and folk. The highlight was the station in the center of the room, which used touch technology to explore how all the different genres are connected. For instance, my station started on Rock n Roll. I read a paragraph about rock n roll, heard a few clips from famous artists (Elvis and Roy Orbison), and then had the option to select several other related genres - country, rockabilly or progressive rock. I selected country, then honkeytonk, then folk, then cowboy, then roots, then blues, then jazz, then freestyle jazz, then classical, etc etc etc. I stood at the station for at least 30 minutes, absolutely enthralled with all the visual and audio information.

For as much information as I was faced with on that single floor of the museum, it wasn't overwhelming. It was easy to absorb, and we headed down to the third floor with our heads spinning with musical knowledge.

The third floor is dedicated to the Grammies in general. There was a gallery of all the different Grammy trophies through the years, famous outfits worn at the Grammies -like JLo's green dress, Katy Perry's fruit outfit, etc (see below), and a small theater playing a loop of the best Grammy performances. It was fantastic! And definitely got me pumped for this year's Grammies.

There was another room dedicated to Michael Jackson, with videos of his several Grammy acceptance speeches and performances, and a row of all his fabulous, glittery military jackets. Up close, they were breathtaking. So fancy and fit for only a performer like MJ.

The 2nd floor, and a main reason why I wanted to go to the museum, is for the changing exhibits. Now through the end of March, the museum is featuring George Harrison: Living in the Material World. It featured artifacts from every phase of his career - handwritten lyrics, guitars, sitars, photos galore, and clothing. The most interesting thing I learned from that exhibit (since I already do know a lot about George) was how TINY he was. His suits were no taller than me, and the pants were the size of twigs! It's hard to imagine that such a larger-than-life person really was so small in "real" life.

Overall, the Grammy museum was a great experience. As a lover of music, I very much enjoyed seeing all the "greats" from over the years being recognized. Learning how all the different genres of music connect was fascinating, and I wouldn't mind going back just to explore the top floor again. Most of the time, interactive museums are exhausting, but this one was done really well, and the interaction was essential to the experience. I highly recommend spending about three hours and checking out this museum!