We learned plenty at Wednesday night’s Grammys on the Hill event at the Liaison Capitol Hill, which always attracts a medley of musical types and Washingtonians. We learned that John Mayer isn’t always his bad boy self. We learned Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., has actually heard of John Mayer. And we learned that for Luke Russert, hockey trumps an emcee gig, anytime.
Mayer was being honored by the Recording Academy for his work with young musicians and the troops. “Very rarely am I on teleprompter, but tonight’s not the night for crazy make-em-ups,” Mayer said taking the stage. He then, of course, insisted that he didn’t deserve the award. “I’ll still accept it, because I love awards, you can do whatever you want the night you win an award.” But ended up giving a very thoughtful speech. “Americans have put ribbons on their cars and outside their homes to show support for the troops, I consider those ribbons to be IOUs and I think now is the time to make good on them,” Mayer said.
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Rep. Berman, an honoree, should have been given the best-use-of-John-Mayer-lyrics award. “I have to admit that I don’t know all the lyrics to John’s songs, but it does seem appropriate that he is being recognized on Capitol Hill, since many of his song titles seem to capture the way things feel in Congress these days,” Berman began. “Songs like, ‘Waiting on the World to Change,’ ‘Every Day I have the Blues,’ ‘Heartbreak Warfare,’ and…there’s one that describes the way the House feels about the Senate: ‘Your Body is a Wonderland.'”
Russert, the emcee, started his night by complimenting the audience for showing up. “Your being here shows that you care about music so much, that you’re willing to miss a certain event that’s going on right now, which is the Capitals versus Bruins in game seven,” he said. “I checked the score when I got out here and it’s still zero-zero.” Several minutes later he interrupted a video tribute to the evening’s winners to blurt out the Caps had scored a goal.
Finally, the evening ended with Mayer jamming out on the guitar with his idol, Buddy Guy.
