Backbeat: Grammy Nominations After-Party; Word On Ludacris' Next Album

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Toasting the June-announced 10-year pact that keeps the Grammy Awards on CBS through 2021 are, from left, Recording Academy president/CEO Neil Portnow and CBS Corporation president/CEO Leslie Moonves. (Photo: Recording Academy/WireImage/Maury Phillips)

After the last nomination was announced during the fourth annual Grammy Nominations Concert Live!! telecast (Nov. 30), the celebrating started in earnest. First up was a post-telecast concert at Nokia Theatre at L.A. Live by best new artist nominee The Band Perry. That was followed by an after-party presented by Hyundai next door at Club Nokia for invited guests of the Recording Academy. Among those seen maneuvering between food stations, the bar and hors d'oeuvres-bearing servers in the dimly lit venue were Disturbing Tha Peace principals Chaka Zulu and Jeff Dixon (who said a new Ludacris album is expected in March), Concord chief creative officer and exec. VP John Burk, Universal Pictures president of film music and publishing Mike Knobloch and Recording Academy VP of creative services David Konjoyan. Not surprisingly, conversation centered around the just-announced nominations and the show's hottest performances, with frequent mentions of the Jason Aldean/Ludacris and Lady Gaga/Sugarland pairings. Speaking of all things Gaga, during the after-party, the chanteuse was concurrently rocking the house inside the Grammy Museum's Clive Davis Theater in a special, intimate performance -- tickets priced at $1000 and $500 -- benefiting the museum's Education Initiative.

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Relaxing in one of Club Nokia's curtained rooms are, from left, Leiber & Stoller executive assistant Marilyn Levy, legendary songwriter Mike Stoller and singer/pianist Corky Hale. With fellow songwriter Valerie Simpson and Usher, Stoller paid tribute to his late partner Jerry Leiber and Simpson's late partner/husband Nick Ashford during the telecast. Among Stoller's current projects is the release of the original cast recording of "The People in the Picture," with book and lyrics by Iris Rainer Dart and music by Stoller and Artie Butler. (Photo: Recording Academy/WireImage/Maury Phillips)

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Nominations concert host and performer LL Cool hangs out with hip-hop legend Grandmaster Flash whose recording with the Furious Five, "The Message," is being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. (Photo: Recording Academy/WireImage/Maury Phillips)

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Among the partygoers are, from left, Recording Academy chairman George Flanigen, Pop Productions Inc. founder/producer John Poppo and Recording Academy chief marketing officer Evan Greene. (Photo: Recording Academy/WireImage/Maury Phillips)