NARAS OBLIVIOUS TO THE OBVIOUS by John Santos The epic and historical blunder committed last April by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences was etched into the archives last week by the conspicuous absence of the 31 categories they pulled from Grammy consideration, and the musically vacuous telecast they promoted (at $800,000 per 30 second commercial) as the best that American music has to offer. We hope that sooner than later, NARAS will understand that pretending to not know what all the …

 From Danny Schechter the Newsdissector http://reportergary.com/2012/02/the-grammys-lack-of-inclusion/ Impremedia http://www.impremedia.com/apps/pbcs.dll/search?Category=SEARCH EFE http://www.listindiario.com/entretenimiento/2012/2/7/220840/Artistas-latinos-se-manifestaran-contra-los-Grammy-por-excluir-su-musica NPR http://www.npr.org/programs/tell-me-more/ Billboard http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/legal-and-management/grammy-protestors-drop-off-23-000-signatures-1006148352.story Another …

Article from SFGATE http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/01/27/entertainment/e084722S71.DTL January 27, 2012 Neil Portnow President and CEO National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Via: neil@grammy.com. Dear Mr Portnow: The Rainbow Push Coalition, one of our nation’s leading civil rights organizations, has been advised by some of its members and supporters in the entertainment community, including recording artists, that the National Academy of Recording Arts And Sciences …

Greetings, I am writing to ask you for your support of our musicians and those who work on the forefront of LIVE MUSIC to take a few minutes and write the following San Francisco Board of Supervisors asking them to pass the resolution - click here to read that SF Arts Commissioners Dr. John Calloway presented and was unanimously approved by the full commission on November 16, 2011. The City of San Francisco is in a place that can set precedence by supporting integrity and respect for cultural expression …

Posted by John Santos in the Latin Jazz Yahoo Group November 3, 2011 - with aprroval of Mr. Santos I repost. Thanks to all who sent B-day wishes thru the LJ forum and privately - that's much appreciated. And thank you Gary for mentioning the relevance of the Occupy Wallstreet/Occupy Oakland/ Occupy Your Heart movement that is sweeping our nation. The arts are crucial to the movement which is a huge reason why there is a war on the arts among the agenda items of the powers that be. They are quite aware …