Seen & heard at 2011 Grammy Awards

Portland, Ore., native Esperanza Spalding caused an upset at this year’s show when she beat out boy wonder Justin Bieber for best new artist. When asked about the win backstage, the jazz singer said, “I know we like people to lose and win and all that stuff. But when this is all over, we’re colleagues again. I mean he’s sold more records than me so did he beat me? No, I didn’t beat him. He is unquestionably talented and will have so many more records for his fans to sink their teeth into. Besides, he has great hair, I have great hair.”

-- Gerrick Kennedy  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The Muse performance of “The Resistance” didn’t end when the show went to commercial. The choreographed security guards tasked with keeping fake fans from rushing the stage kept up the charade. The anarchists continued to run through the audience with their mouths covered in red cloth while the fake security chased them through the crowd and out the exits at the back of the auditorium.

-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Muse performs at the Grammys.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

“Glee’s” Mark Salling had the tween girls swooning as he walked the concourse with a male friend. He stopped to pose for pictures with a pair of giggling junior high school girls before breezing past a concerned security guard and up the escalator to Premiere seating. That soon resulted in a bad-boy Puckerman moment -- apparently Salling had the wrong ticket for that area, and Ministry eyes last saw him detained by another security guard just minutes before the show started.

-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Mark Salling at the Grammy Awards.  (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

Train was up against some stiff competition this year in the best pop performance by a duo or group with vocals category. Their catchy tune “Hey, Soul Sister” was even covered by their competitors on “Glee,” something the band isn’t ashamed of.

“Back in the beginning, I remember doing TV stuff as [being] uncool for a legitimate artist. Then it got to the point where I think Sting broke the record with that Jaguar commercial where I don’t think the song [‘Desert Rose’] would have broke without it,” frontman Patrick Monahan said. “For ‘Marry Me,’ we’re looking for a diamond commercial ... so if anybody knows of one.”

-- Gerrick Kennedy

Photo: Train members Jimmy Stafford, Patrick Monohan and Scott Underwood at the Grammys.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Nominee Katy Perry made it a family affair Sunday night with her husband, Russell Brand, and grandmother Ann by her side on the red carpet. Katy, sporting sparkles and angel wings, gushed to E!’s Ryan Seacrest that all three were wearing Armani and joked to her grandmother that Ryan was Justin Bieber. Before continuing down the carpet, she added that even if she didn’t win a Grammy, she’d still go home with her “Grammy.” Now that’s one sweet granddaughter.

-- Emily Christianson  (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

After thanking her friends, family and business associates, Lady Gaga closed with a special thank you to Whitney Houston. Huh? She explained, “I wanted to thank Whitney because, when I wrote ‘Born This Way,’ I imagined she was singing it -- because I wasn’t secure enough in myself to imagine I was a superstar. So, Whitney, I imagined you were singing ‘Born This Way’ when I wrote it.”

— Emily Christianson  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

It was an “American Idol” reunion on the Grammys red carpet when the show’s host Ryan Seacrest interviewed Adam Lambert for E! News. Ryan pried the best male pop vocal nominee for details on his latest album, and Lambert admitted, “I don’t have any idea what it is going to sound like yet ... it might be a little less campy [than ‘For Your Entertainment’]. Less rhinestones, more leather.”

-- Emily Christianson

Photo: Adam Lambert at the Grammy Awards.  (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

“Glee” gal Naya Rivera admitted to a starstruck moment on the Grammy Awards red carpet Sunday. “I saw Nicki Minaj -- died just a little bit!” said the actress, nominated with the rest of the “Glee” cast for pop performance by a group or duo with vocals.

-- Christie D’Zurilla

Photo: Naya Rivera at the Grammy Awards.  (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

Ryan Bingham played it cool after his “The Weary Kind” win for top song written for motion picture, television or other visual media. The “Crazy Heart” award, shared with co-writer T Bone Burnett (who was absent from the ceremony), is yet another trophy the pair collected for the track.

Backstage, the singer-songwriter cracked a wide grin when asked if life has changed for him post awards season.

“Business-wise, yes,” he said backstage. “Our music has been exposed to people who wouldn’t have heard it before this film. We’ve been able to play [bigger] shows ... but day to day I still put my pants on one leg at a time.”

-- Gerrick D. Kennedy

Photo: Ryan Bingham at the Grammy Awards.  (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

Robby Krieger is still a little bitter about Oliver Stone‘s 1991 biopic on his band, the Doors. But the guitarist was more than enthusiastic about “When You’re Strange,” the 2009 documentary about the Los Angeles group, which was awarded top long-form music video at the Grammy Awards on Sunday afternoon during the pre-telecast show.

“I think [the film] lends some realism to how people view Jim,” Krieger said, who was also nominated for his solo disc “Singularity.” “There have been Oliver Stone movies, and books that really give the wrong idea of Jim. This film really gives a look at who he is.”

Photo: Guitarist Robby Krieger at the Grammys pre-telecast ceremony.

-- Gerrick D. Kennedy  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Leave it to Lady Gaga to make an arrival at the 2011 Grammy Awards, creating a stir on the red carpet before anyone even saw her face: The pop star arrived Sunday afternoon in a massive egg toted on the shoulders of nubile men and women clad in gold.

“Lady Gaga is in creative embryonic stage and won’t be born until her performance this evening,” supermodel nurse Anne V told E! News, chatting about what Gaga was up to in her egg-shaped “womb.”

-- Yvonne Villareal and Christie D’Zurilla

Photo: Lady Gaga’s egg and her entourage.  (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)