The Recording Academy’s 21st Annual GRAMMYs on the Hill Awards has returned once again to the halls of the Hamilton Live in Washington DC.  For 2023, not only did the Academy has advocated some new issues this year but will be awarding the Creator Award to multi-Grammy winner Pharrell.

Among the numerous figures who descended on to the Hamilton included SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher, country-soul singer and Potomac MD’s own Maggie Rose, singer JP Saxe and Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason, Jr. I had the chance to speak with some of the artists in attendance.

When I asked Recording Academy’s CEO Harvey Mason, Jr. about the goals for 2023, he said “we have many. We would like to see the RAP Act pass, to make sure we are protecting songwriters and make sure that their music and lyrics are not used against them in a court of law. We like to pass the HITS Act to make it equitable and fair in tax incentives for music people. We like to talk about ticketing, to make sure that we are looking out for our creators and artists as well as the consumers and fans of music”.

One of the highlights this evening was seeing musician and host of this year’s festivities Maggie Rose singing her glorious hit anthem, “What Are We Fighting For”. During the song, she invited the members of Congress in the venue to join her onstage and sing along. During the carpet, I asked the local singer why was it important to continue to advocate for music especially for artists like her. “Well because music belongs to all of us and we want to make this environment for music creators and anyone whose involved in it more hospitable. It’s also such a unifying force. Music brings crowds of people together who may or may not agree on and we’re asking people on each side of the aisle to come together and to compromise to benefit that very thing” Maggie said.

Then it was show time and when Pharrell came on stage to be recognized for this year’s Creator award, he felt that he didn’t deserve it but once he thought about it he stated ““It’s a beautiful gesture to shine a light on work that comes from the creators. Songs change people’s lives; songs get someone through the day and give them something to sing about.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) were also recognize honorees for their bipartisan work on the Save Our Stages Act.  The act serves as a vital component in the live music recovery from COVID-19-related shutdowns and efforts to help 272 young musicians, faculty and staff from the Afghanistan National Institute of Music escape Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and reach Qatar in 2021.

I had the honor of talking with Dr. Ahmad Naser Sarmast, the creator of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music. Last month, the ANIM helped celebrated International Women’s Day with an orchestral and choral performance of the women’s battle cry “Shoulder to Shoulder”. He shared the story with us by saying, “Afghanistan is a country where women don’t have the right to work within the community. They have been excluded from all walks of life. They are not allowed to partake in social, political and cultural life of the country. It was our responsibility as musicians to amplify the women’s misery and to serve outside of Afghanistan as the voice of Afghan women.”

I followed up by asking Dr. Sarmast why music is important to one’s life. Dr. Sarmast says “I have always considered music as a human right but I have also considered music a powerful force which can enormously assist a human being in many ways to the betterment of disadvantaged kids. The last fourteen years, through music and music education weekly, indicated and proved that we change the life of the most disadvantaged communities.”

Towards the end of the evening Grammy legend Nile Rodgers shared the tale of working with Pharrell and Daft Punk on their biggest hit that unbeknownst to them that he was fighting cancer during the process. Rodgers declared that “We talk about the power of music? That song, ‘Get Lucky,’ has made me feel like one of the luckiest people in the world because I am cancer free right now.” After that, the party got down to the funky guitar licks of Rodgers, the smashing vocals of Tank Ball from Tank & the Bangas and called everyone to the stage to groove out to “Get Lucky” to close out the night.

2023 Grammys on the Hill was an amazing event as always for the March month. We wonder who will be honored for 2024, only time will tell but until then – as Barry White once said “Let the Music Play On”

To see the full interviews of this year’s Grammys on the Hill, click HERE

In the meantime, here’s one of the full interviews!

About The Author

Dean Rogers

Editor-in-Chief/Entertainment Reporter

I knew early on that I wanted to take my place among the stars. One day, my mother saw me reading The Washington Post at a very young age. Who would have known that it would be the building blocks of my journey? Since that day, I dedicated my life to learn all that is learnable. I read everything from encyclopedias, to books, to dictionaries, to magazines. I’m also an avid consumer of television, with my favorite genre being game shows. If you’ve seen me on Who Wants to be a Millionaire or Wheel of Fortune, then you know that this interest has served me well!

My unique style of reporting began back in junior high school, when I started to chronicle the events that shaped my life. Whether it was the annual family vacation or the local science fiction convention, I shot numerous pictures and recorded my thoughts so I could truly appreciate the history. During my senior year at Friendly High, I wrote what was to be my first masterpiece, “Advanced Space Academy – A One Week Journey.” I sent the eleven-page article back to the U.S. Space Camp staff. The article was highly praised for being “one of the best written articles in the history of U.S. Space Camp.” From then on, I knew what I wanted to do for rest of my life — to be a reporter.

Since then, I have trained in Broadcast Journalism at Bowie State University (2008) in Bowie, MD earning a B.S. in Communications. I gained experience in news production and editing through field experiences with Bowie Community Media Corporation, Prince George’s Community Television, and Bowie State University Television. I also wrote scripts for a variety of quiz shows for over five years.

As a lifelong movie buff, I now see close to 100 films every year. I took this love of movies to the next step when I became a co-host for Eclipse Magazine TV in the fall of 2005. While at EMTV, I interviewed celebrities, worked red carpets, and attended a wide variety of movie screenings. In January 2009, I took a leap of faith and started my own entertainment news magazine, The Rogers Revue. Shortly afterward, my life-long journey of studying the silver screen and writing about what I learned finally earned me a place in the Washington Area Film Critics Association.

All of this has led me here, giving you the latest entertainment news for the DMV and the entire nation, and I am truly excited for whatever will come next.

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