The 2025 GRAMMY Awards are scheduled for Sunday February 2, 2025. The annual event is always a star-studded show that musicians, bands and music businesses look forward to as a confirmation of the hard work that goes into making and producing recorded music. But this year it may be a bit different. Everyone knows about the devastating fires in the Los Angeles area. According to news reports, roughly 88,000 people remain under evacuation orders Wednesday with another 84,800 under evacuation warnings due to wildfires in Los Angeles County. Strong winds were expected (and low humidity) for large areas in Los Angeles and Ventura counties whihc coud exacerbate the spread. The fires have burned a combined 38,600 acres in Los Angeles County alone. Containment of those fires grew slightly Monday, as firefighters took advantage of lighter winds to clear wider containment lines. (for perspective, the greater New Orleans area in acreage is about 116,000). There are thousands who are homeless, and many of them are musicians and artists, as well as music business professionals. The GRAMMYs usually include not only the official ceremonies at the Staples Center to announce the winners, and the TV show, but many events and parties that are presented by industry businesses such as record labels, technology, creatives and much more. Many of those events have been cancelled in respnse to the fire’s current—and potentially future—devastation. Reid Wick. Photo by Erika Goldring for the Recording Academy. According to Reid Wick, who has served as the Associate Director for Membership and Industry Relations for the Recording Academy (producers of the GRAMMYs) at their Memphis Chapter for the last 20 years, the “entire telecast is having to be revamped to make it more of a fundraiser, with a ‘telethon’ kind of vibe.” (Wick has just recently been promoted to a similar job with the Recording Academy—but on a national level—where he will still do music advocacy and membership, but will be working more on a national level in fast-growing markets like Denver, Asheville, NC, and more). Revamping a show as complicated and with such high-end production as the GRAMMY Awards is truly an intimidating job for an internationally-broadcast event that’s only about two weeks away. “There’s a real similarity to what happened to New Orleans during the Katrina but, of course, a lot of those people are wealthy people who lost their homes, and have the wherewithal to rebuild, or they have other homes; whereas in New Orleans, we don’t have that level of money, and the entire city and many more people were affected,” said Wick. Wick said that he thinks the GRAMMY Awards are going to be changed to stress the importance of helping those affected by the fires financially, and the healing that music can provide to the many musicians and music industry professionals who have lost everything to the fires. “Music is a healing force,” he said. So, the 2025 GRAMMYs are on, but apparently will be revamped and reoriented towards fundraising for the people who have lost their homes and jobs as a result of the fires. Let’s throw out some good vibes for Louisiana musicians who are nominated and deserve to win!   The post Will The 2025 GRAMMY Awards Go On? appeared first on OffBeat Magazine.