NO MUSIC, NO FREEDOM

The Recording Academy held its annual Grammys on the Hill Awards in Washington on 4/26. Pharrell Williams, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.) were honored for their dedication to artists' rights, which includes supporting the Restoring Artistic Protection (RAP) Act. The first of its kind at the federal level, the bill would limit the admissibility as evidence of an artist’s creative expression against them in court.

Other special guests included Grammy-nominated artist Tobe Nwigwe, who performed a song he wrote to honor Williams. Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr., New Orleans Jazz Hall of Fame trumpeter Leroy Jones, Nile Rodgers, singer-songwriter Maggie Rose, Senator Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Chair of the Recording Academy Board of Trustees Tammy Hurt, Grammy winner Renée Fleming, Recording Academy acting Chief Advocacy & Public Policy Officer Todd Dupler, Grammy nominees DOMi & JD BECK, the Afghanistan National Institute of Music's Dr. Ahmed Naser Sarmast, Grammy Museum President/CEO Michael Sticka and Tank and the Bangas singer Tarriona “Tank” Ball were among the many other attendees.

Meanwhile, the GOP is burning the candle at both ends trying to figure out how to ban dancing.