Premios BillBoard de la Musica Latina
May. 8th, 2003 11:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aruanDressed stylishly chic in an elegant bell-sleeved black top, tan suede skirt and strappy shoes, I lost the war with my blowdryer and ended up with a totally cute, new hairstyle which requires a total of a dollop of Bedhead's Manipulator and air-drying, then braved the wilds of in-construction I-95 to fulfill my duty as a chosen Seatfiller.
Got a little lost en route, which made me panic since we were supposed to be there at five sharp, but I still made it right on time *and* found the chic discount clothing district of downtown Miami. Surprisingly unghetto, refreshingly stylish.
And now I'm back, bringing you an event full of schmoozing, upbeat entertainment, and grand enjoyment for having understood about three words all evening. Or, as they like to call it:
The BillBoard Latin Music Conference & Awards
5:00 pm to 12:32 am
Miami Arena
Downtown Miami, FL
It was like going to seven or eight concerts all in one night, *plus* you get to be on television and actually schmooze with the performers! The whole evening was absolutely grand. The Arena was selling arepas and a decent facsimile of Colin Farrell was manning the Heineken booth, while I had a complimentary floor seat for being a female in the 16-45 demographic.
First of all, let me just bask in the abundance of good-looking men in that room, and even more with good hair! Blissed, man, I really was. Of course I recognized next to nobody, and especially not the new-looking kid everyone was stopping to talk to and shake hands with. He turned out to be Juanes, dressed probably the most comfortably of anyone in his classy suede and jeans, quick to blush about all the praise.
There was a whole lotta talent in that arena though.
There was also a whole lotta packaging, too.
I mean, even before my deep immersion into the popular culture of the music industry, I knew musical acts were groomed for purposes of demographic appeal. But wow. Like, wow. I could practically cook you up the next solo male heartthrob just from sitting through those four and a half hours of taping, it's that formulaic.
What *really* creeped me out though was all the makeup. Finally got to see one of those life-sized Barbie dolls, who ended up being one of the presenters. Up there in the stage, on the JumboTron screen, she looked perfectly fine - up close, I was actually cringing away from her. Worse than stage makeup! Completely caked and obscenely exaggerrated. It really does make me wonder sometimes how many of the famous, purportedly beautiful people, we'd actually recognize out on the street.
Hee. The opening act of boys (a ragtag bunch of the street rap-pop flavor called Los Kumbia Kings) were seated in the row right behind me, foundation and eyeliner still intact. I've never actually seen non-character makeup on a boy up close, but I managed to stifle my giggles.
Speaking of which, they were quite the catty bunch! While the entire show was in Spanish (to be aired on Telemundo) they spoke in English, and apparently Oscar de la Hoya (sitting at the end of my row) gets all the good women but doesn't deserve to, that bastard. It's good to see we're all human after all.
The other cool thing about the evening came right after the announcer said we were cutting to commercial. As soon as the cameras were off, everyone jumped out of their seats and dashed all around the Arena floor to talk to each other, celebrity and autograph seekers alike. It's so cute to watch famous people fawn all over each other, and being in the middle of it was just fun. Then they would all scurry after the two and a half minutes were up, having exchanged the necessary phone numbers and taken the pictures on their own little disposable cameras. *g*
Note to self - I am close to sallow pale in shade. Must see about a tan before next Latin event.
Have no idea what the name of the next performer was [Ed. Note: Pilar Montenegro]. But she had a charming group of rainbow rhinestone-studded, leather chaps-wearing, cowboy hat-sportin' backup dancers. They totally stole whatever show she was hoping we'd notice.
Ricky Martin got an important tribute-footage-meriting award, and he performed! Dude, the man walks this seriously ambiguous line between pretty and handsome. He also comes off as deceptively straight in his performance - however, put an award in his hand and he becomes the perkiest gay boy evah.
Other notable guests included Jon Secada, Lupillo Rivera, Alexandre Pires, Gilberto Santa Rosa, and...
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giddyupnow! Luis Fonsi is such the darling! Nutty, adorable goober all the way.
Thalia's performance was definitely the highlight of our evening. The girl can sing, yo, and she pulls off both the punk and the princess looks and does both well, which left me impressed if a bit confused.
Chayanne put in a caliente (I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Awful pun but it's one of, like, five words of Spanish I actually know) final performance involving ripping open a button-down shirt, disappearing/reappearing with fog effects, a motorcycle, and pretty snazzy singing besides to bring our evening to a rousing, crowd-pleasing conclusion.
One thing though: If I never again have to hear the word 'corazon' sung in heartfelt tones, it'll be too soon.
I probably enjoyed that a lot more than most would've given the circumstances, but I've seen so many awards shows on TV - watching the crew work to build/break sets between speeches and award presentations, what the celebs do onstage when the camera isn't on them, all the little pre-show details and scurrying cameramen and various filming techniques depending on the perfomance were all really interesting to see actually happening on the scene instead of just the finished product.
My feet hurt surprisingly little for my having stood for two and a half hours in three-inch heels. Go figure that. :) Good times.
Got a little lost en route, which made me panic since we were supposed to be there at five sharp, but I still made it right on time *and* found the chic discount clothing district of downtown Miami. Surprisingly unghetto, refreshingly stylish.
And now I'm back, bringing you an event full of schmoozing, upbeat entertainment, and grand enjoyment for having understood about three words all evening. Or, as they like to call it:
5:00 pm to 12:32 am
Miami Arena
Downtown Miami, FL
It was like going to seven or eight concerts all in one night, *plus* you get to be on television and actually schmooze with the performers! The whole evening was absolutely grand. The Arena was selling arepas and a decent facsimile of Colin Farrell was manning the Heineken booth, while I had a complimentary floor seat for being a female in the 16-45 demographic.
First of all, let me just bask in the abundance of good-looking men in that room, and even more with good hair! Blissed, man, I really was. Of course I recognized next to nobody, and especially not the new-looking kid everyone was stopping to talk to and shake hands with. He turned out to be Juanes, dressed probably the most comfortably of anyone in his classy suede and jeans, quick to blush about all the praise.
There was a whole lotta talent in that arena though.
There was also a whole lotta packaging, too.
I mean, even before my deep immersion into the popular culture of the music industry, I knew musical acts were groomed for purposes of demographic appeal. But wow. Like, wow. I could practically cook you up the next solo male heartthrob just from sitting through those four and a half hours of taping, it's that formulaic.
What *really* creeped me out though was all the makeup. Finally got to see one of those life-sized Barbie dolls, who ended up being one of the presenters. Up there in the stage, on the JumboTron screen, she looked perfectly fine - up close, I was actually cringing away from her. Worse than stage makeup! Completely caked and obscenely exaggerrated. It really does make me wonder sometimes how many of the famous, purportedly beautiful people, we'd actually recognize out on the street.
Hee. The opening act of boys (a ragtag bunch of the street rap-pop flavor called Los Kumbia Kings) were seated in the row right behind me, foundation and eyeliner still intact. I've never actually seen non-character makeup on a boy up close, but I managed to stifle my giggles.
Speaking of which, they were quite the catty bunch! While the entire show was in Spanish (to be aired on Telemundo) they spoke in English, and apparently Oscar de la Hoya (sitting at the end of my row) gets all the good women but doesn't deserve to, that bastard. It's good to see we're all human after all.
The other cool thing about the evening came right after the announcer said we were cutting to commercial. As soon as the cameras were off, everyone jumped out of their seats and dashed all around the Arena floor to talk to each other, celebrity and autograph seekers alike. It's so cute to watch famous people fawn all over each other, and being in the middle of it was just fun. Then they would all scurry after the two and a half minutes were up, having exchanged the necessary phone numbers and taken the pictures on their own little disposable cameras. *g*
Note to self - I am close to sallow pale in shade. Must see about a tan before next Latin event.
Have no idea what the name of the next performer was [Ed. Note: Pilar Montenegro]. But she had a charming group of rainbow rhinestone-studded, leather chaps-wearing, cowboy hat-sportin' backup dancers. They totally stole whatever show she was hoping we'd notice.
Ricky Martin got an important tribute-footage-meriting award, and he performed! Dude, the man walks this seriously ambiguous line between pretty and handsome. He also comes off as deceptively straight in his performance - however, put an award in his hand and he becomes the perkiest gay boy evah.
Other notable guests included Jon Secada, Lupillo Rivera, Alexandre Pires, Gilberto Santa Rosa, and...
giddyupnow! Luis Fonsi is such the darling! Nutty, adorable goober all the way.Thalia's performance was definitely the highlight of our evening. The girl can sing, yo, and she pulls off both the punk and the princess looks and does both well, which left me impressed if a bit confused.
Chayanne put in a caliente (I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Awful pun but it's one of, like, five words of Spanish I actually know) final performance involving ripping open a button-down shirt, disappearing/reappearing with fog effects, a motorcycle, and pretty snazzy singing besides to bring our evening to a rousing, crowd-pleasing conclusion.
One thing though: If I never again have to hear the word 'corazon' sung in heartfelt tones, it'll be too soon.
I probably enjoyed that a lot more than most would've given the circumstances, but I've seen so many awards shows on TV - watching the crew work to build/break sets between speeches and award presentations, what the celebs do onstage when the camera isn't on them, all the little pre-show details and scurrying cameramen and various filming techniques depending on the perfomance were all really interesting to see actually happening on the scene instead of just the finished product.
My feet hurt surprisingly little for my having stood for two and a half hours in three-inch heels. Go figure that. :) Good times.
