Friday Nerdy Music Links: West Coast Edition!

Greetings from L.A., music nerds! GRAMMY Week is in full swing, and I’m already regretting my shoe choice… the Staples Center/L.A. Convention Center complex covers a wide area!

Did you know that you can see some of what I’m seeing from the comfort of your own computer? GRAMMY Live kicks off today at 2 p.m. Pacific Time. I’m particularly excited that it will stream the awards-show-before-the-awards-show on Sunday afternoon before the television broadcast. “Pre-tel,” as we cool kids call it, is where most of the awards are actually given out, including, or course, the Classical field!

Last night I saw some amazing performances at One Night Only, a benefit for the GRAMMY Foundation’s Music Preservation Project, including a classical curtain-raiser by the Colburn Orchestra with Yehuda Gilad I tweeted so much I actually hit a Twitter limit for a little while during the performance! The GRAMMY Community Blogger for Gospel got some great photos — check out his Tumblr.

This morning I’m attending The 2nd Annual Greening Summit: The Sound Of Social Change , learning about ways that the week’s events are being made more sustainable and eco-friendly. Coming up in the afternoon is the Social Media Rock Stars Summit: How Musicians Monetize Through Social, Mobile & Gaming. Hmm, maybe someone should invent a social media classical music game… Chords With Friends? No wait — Violas With Friends! Speaking of which…

Image by Ain't Baroque

This week’s Viola Joke is a visual:

Jenn at Ain’t Baroque comments: “I wonder if he knows he overpaid?”

The Week in Funny Music Pictures! Here’s one that our GRAMMY Jazz Blogger might appreciate, via The Violin Channel:

Here’s a controversial one, but not for the reason you might think:

As this comment thread demonstrates, music theory can give religion a run for its money as a topic for hot debate! Is that a true suspended chord on a G root, or is it an F major chord with a G in the bass? Kind of like the story of the allegory of the Blind men and the elephant, it depends on how you approach it!