UMG'S GRAMMY FEST: THE FAB
AND THE FETCHING

UMG's post-Grammy confab at L.A.'s Ace Hotel was an exercise in extreme glam, glitz and gladhanding, with a coterie of superstars, industry heavies and luminaries from sports, fashion and other fields in attendance (American Airlines and Citi were the sponsors; guests groaned audibly as they hoisted their goodie bags). Host Lucian Grainge was all smiles as he posed with his fetching flock.

Grainge congratulates Album of the Year winner Taylor Swift and Big Machine head Scott Borchetta; the latter's "Music Has Value" jacket further increased in value over the course of the evening.

Trophy magnet The Weeknd and Grainge wonder aloud if the wars of preceding centuries might've turned out differently had both sides been able to use confetti cannons.

Republic ruler Monte Lipman and newly upped prexy Charlie Walk squire artists Zendaya and Ariana Grande. Later, everyone wondered why President Walk couldn't simply appoint a Supreme Court justice without all this fuss.

Capitol's Michelle Jubelirer and UMPG ruler Jody Gerson pause just before a marathon karaoke session of their entire jointly held catalog.

Grainge says howdy to UMG Nashville overlord Mike Dungan and EMI Nashville artist Kacey Musgraves, who is currently composing a powerful song cycle about trying to get from her hotel to Nobu during the L.A. Marathon.

Republic President Charlie Walk and Island artist Mike Posner explain to our own Todd Hensley that the pill referenced in latter's breakout single "I Took a Pill in Ibiza" is not, as Hensley put it, "one of them blue wiener pills," and also that Ibiza is not in Mississippi. Later, Hensley tried to fish for bluefin in the punchbowl.

During this collegial confab, Grainge recalls his short-lived, Shep Gordon-managed supergroup with Alice Cooper, the Santa Monica Cricketers. UMe's Bruce Resnikoff quickly licensed their back catalog and Les Moonves pitched the biopic.