Riordan Savors Return of Grammy Ceremonies to L.A.

Stressing the economic and image benefits of the Grammys to Los Angeles, Mayor Richard Riordan on Wednesday welcomed the award program back to the city and vowed to help keep it here.

“The entertainment industry . . . is the most important business we have,” the mayor said following a press conference at City Hall to announce that the Grammys will return to Los Angeles on March 1 for only the second time in the last five years.

” . . . People (in L.A.) were taking it (the Grammys) for granted for all these years and then you lose it and you realize maybe you should have been loving it,” Riordan said.

Next spring’s ceremony--the 37th annual Grammy program--will be held at the Shrine Auditorium and telecast live on CBS-TV.

Riordan was joined at the press conference by Michael Greene, president of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, and Richard Palmese, president of MCA Records and co-chair of the local Grammy host committee.

Until recently, Los Angeles practically owned the Grammy event. Through 1990, the show had been held here 28 times, compared to only four in New York.

But aggressive campaigns by New York city officials and business leaders tipped the scale Eastward. Not only did New York see the event as prestige for the city, but officials also estimated that hosting the show has meant as much as $40 million a year in revenues.

L.A.’s Grammy efforts, in contrast, have been criticized by music industry leaders as lackluster, with few business people outside the music world involved. After losing the show to New York in 1991 and 1992, then-Mayor Tom Bradley and several record executives stepped up the effort and won back the show last year.

But New York regained it this year and apparently hoped to stake a permanent claim to the ceremonies.

Greene said Wednesday that Riordan has impressed the industry by showing a commitment to the Grammys and to related educational programs.

But what about the future? Should we expect the yearly Grammy tug-of-war to continue between the two cities?

Greene refused to speculate, saying that the decision is made on an annual basis and that the academy must consider its New York constituency.

Riordan appears ready for the competition. He feels the L.A. business community is “waking up” to the importance of such events, though only music industry figures were represented at the press conference. Palmese said, however, that a co-chair of the host committee drawn from the business world would be announced soon.

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One businessman, Sheldon I. Ausman, chairman emeritus of the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau, was on hand in an unofficial advisory capacity and noted that events such as the Grammy show can help revive the city’s image, battered by riots, earthquakes and crime reports.

Riordan’s interest in the Grammys isn’t apparently all business. After the press conference he chatted with Greene, enthusiastically discussing an old album teaming jazz pianist Bill Evans and singer Tony Bennett.

He also grinned as he showed off a letter from Grammy telecast producer Pierre Cossette jokingly offering Riordan a chance to sing a number to his New York mayoral counterpart on the telecast--”I Get Along Without You,” with backing by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and U2’s Bono.