Spinning Around Town to Record-Setting Parties

Los Angeles put on its dancing shoes this week as music industry folk mixed with friends in film at parties around town celebrating the 41st annual Grammy Awards. From music hang-out Domenick’s restaurant, where RCA frolicked, to the shuttered Jimmy’s in Beverly Hills, which reopened for one night because it’s Sony Music Chairman Tommy Mottola’s favorite restaurant, music makers rocked long after Hollywood’s usual bedtime.

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The crown jewel of Grammy week was Arista Records President Clive Davis’ hot-ticket party at the Beverly Hills Hotel the evening before Wednesday’s awards ceremony.

“This is the epitome of what the music business has in terms of glamour,” said Def Jam’s Russell Simmons.

As revelers amassed for cocktails, the avuncular Davis squired his wilting diva, Whitney Houston, past a platoon of hot lights and cameras and explained why Arista’s pre-party tradition has endured for more than 20 years.

“We’re here to celebrate music,” he said, “and each year the music speaks for itself.”

The music spoke loudly and clearly in a post-dinner performance starring some of Arista’s biggest names--Houston, Sarah McLachlan, Monica, OutKast, Deborah Cox, Faith Evans, Naughty by Nature and legend Carlos Santana, a newcomer to the label who jammed with Wyclef Jean.

Add co-hosts Sean “Puffy” Combs and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds and a black-tie guest list with heavyweights like Ahmet Ertegun, Tony Bennett, Jerry Seinfeld and Cissy Houston, and no wonder Arista is the only music industry party Dick Clark attends all year.

“This is a real treat because I have so many friends here,” Clark said. “My whole life flashes before my eyes because it’s today, it’s yesterday and everything in between.”

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Nancy and Ken Berry, EMI Recorded Music deputy president, welcomed a largely executive crowd to Paramour, a onetime Catholic home for wayward girls in Los Feliz that was lavishly transformed into an upper-crust Bedouin campground by party planner Phillip Weingarten.

On a porch not far from a buffet groaning with chili and shepherd’s pie, Bonnie Raitt, who was escorted by her father John Raitt, was a little press shy after a trying 45-minute trip down the press gauntlet at the Grammys. And nominated band Everclear celebrated its first time at bat after losing the best rock instrumental performance Grammy to Pat Metheny.

“I guess Pat Metheny outrocked us,” said Everclear’s Art Alexakis. “But it was fun just to be invited. Nice to come to parties. Free food from the label. I think we helped pay for a little free food over the last couple of years.”

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If a good party is validated by the amount of security, then the Sony party at Jimmy’s restaurant wins top billing. While the fire marshals called a capacity crowd by a mere 10 p.m., a few early arriving A-list guests managed to squeeze in, including Celine Dion, Will Smith, Tony Bennett, Gloria Estefan and a sea of industry types in little black dresses and tuxedos.

The movers and shakers were outnumbered only by the army of guards and publicists running around to protect them. But even the overly uptight staff couldn’t stop one unidentified party crasher whose dismissal erupted in a fist fight in front of Aerosmith’s limo.

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The Dixie Chicks and Meredith Brooks made a quick getaway from the Sony party and were later spotted enjoying the lively crowd at the BMG bash at the Hollywood Palladium. The concert hall was transformed into a 1940s-style ball complete with high-energy swing music from big band, Blue Plate Special. The dance floor filled with those wanting to cut a mean jitterbug. Full bars were located throughout the venue, and the food spread was awe-inspiring with stations--decorated with lobster and creme puff towers--offering every kind of taste treat imaginable. Unlike the Sony party, security at BMG was loose and the crowd was hip, young, beautiful. The party raged well past 2 a.m. And get this, people actually said hello when they passed by. Hey, who says the biz ain’t friendly? Guess it depends on who’s running the door.