Shrine Lively With Grammy Action

The cavernous Shrine Auditorium bustled with activity this morning as producers tuned up musicians, performers, presenters and stage crews for the recording industry’s 32nd annual Grammy Awards show.

Stars such as Bette Midler and Michael Bolton started rehearsing songs Tuesday they will perform tonight during the three-hour CBS-TV broadcast of the presentations, while show workers and executives were fitted for tuxedos.

Midler’s recording of “Wind Beneath My Wings” from the movie “Beaches” drew a nomination for best female pop vocal and song of the year.

Bolton is up for best male pop vocal for “How Am I Supposed To Live Without You,” against the stiff competition of Prince, Richard Marx, Billy Joel and the late Roy Orbison.

The show required 150 tuxedos for band members, camera operators and production executives, among others. Lower-ranking workers got a “basic” tuxedo; VIPs had a choice of single- and double-breasted Pierre Cardin tuxedos, said outfitter Frankie Windom of Frankie’s Formal Attire.

“We’ll probably be working into the late, late night,” Windom said Tuesday.

The catering company Ambrosia, for two years the caterer to the Academy Awards’ Governors Ball, prepared to serve 1,500 meals from eight menus for everyone from technical service workers to celebrities, starting at 8 a.m.

The celebrity menu featured upscale, healthy and easy-to-eat food, including organic vegetable crudites, chicken pecan skewers and homemade potato chips and fruit platters, said Ambrosia owner Carl Bendix.

The Grammys, so called because the trophy is shaped like an old-fashioned gramophone, are presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences.

This year there were 388 nominees in 77 categories. Sixty-one awards will be presented in a non-televised ceremony from 2:30 to 4 p.m. today. Sixteen trophies will be awarded during the broadcast portion.

Tape-delayed on the West Coast, the broadcast goes live to the East beginning at 5 p.m. (PST). Comedian and television star Garry Shandling was to be the host, and more than a dozen nominated artists are scheduled to perform.

Paul McCartney and jazz artist Miles Davis will each receive the Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Awards.

More Grammy stories, F1.