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Last night David and I made our way to the Gibson Amphitheater in Universal City to see Janelle Monáe and Bruno Mars on their Hooligans in Wondaland Tour and we had a BLAST! To be honest, the only reason we went to the show was to see Janelle … and we had no intention of staying for Bruno … but my curiousity got the better of me so we stayed to see the start of his show. David and I were so impressed, we stayed to see the whole show and loved it entirely!

Last night I attended my 7th show of Prince‘s 21 Night Stand concert residency here in LA (not counting the 2 intimate shows I saw at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA last Wednesday) and I can only tell you that the shows keep getting better and better and BETTER! One of my fave new musicians, Janelle Monáe, opened for Prince last night and as if that wasn’t enough to make the night extra special … Detroit’s own legendary Stevie Wonder came out to perform with Prince and the New Power Generation to celebrate his birthday! Last night was truly a Wonderful night ;D

Earlier today we learned that the relatively unknown artists Esperanza Spalding (Best New Artist) and Arcade Fire (Album of the Year) took home two of the biggest awards at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards last night … but right now, we get to check out some photos from some of the other Grammy attendees and winners from last night’s show. The big winner of the night was Country act Lady Antebellum. They walked away with two of the most prestigious Grammy Awards of the year — Record of the Year and Song of the Year — and won 5 of their 6 nominations. BUT, there were other winners as well. It was a big night for music here in LA last night.

Music mogul Clive Davis hosted his annual Pre-Grammy Gala at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, CA and — as usual — managed to attract a who’s who of celebs both in the audience and on stage as musical performers. This year’s event was thrown in honor of David Geffen and among the performers who took the stage was Cher, Janelle Monae, Jennifer Hudson, Whitney Houston and more!

Last night celebs of varying size and stature made their way to the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, CA to attend the 2010 BET Awards which are handed out annually since 2001 by Black Entertainment Television in order to celebrate African Americans and other minorities in music, acting, sports, and other fields of entertainment over the past year. In addition to the usual music, acting and sporting awards that were handed out, a loving tribute was paid to Prince who is this year’s recipient of the BET Lifetime Achievement Award. Here are a few photos from the show last night and some deets about what went down:

The BET Awards on Sunday were hosted by a Queen and honored a Prince, but it was a fallen star, Chris Brown, who surprised fans with a tearful tribute to the late King of Pop. Alicia Keys, Trey Songz, Nicki Minaj and current albums chart champ Drake were among the big winners at cable television network BET’s annual salute to R&B and hip-hop stars, while Diddy, Kanye West, Eminem and El DeBarge wowed the audience with their performances … The night’s top honor, BET’s viewers choice award, went to Rihanna and Young Jeezy for their song, “Hard.” Keys, who also performed a Prince song, took home two trophies for R&B female singer and best collaboration for smash hit, “Empire State of Mind,” sung with Jay-Z. Trey Songz, whose hits include “Can’t Help but Wait,” was named best R&B male singer. “I want to let you all know that anybody can be anything, all it takes is dedication and a lot of hard work,” Songz said. Canadian rapper Drake was named best male hip-hop artist, and Minaj took home the trophy for best female hip-hop singer. Beyonce and Lady Gaga earned video of the year honors for their collaboration “Video Phone,” but were not on hand to accept their trophy … Two days after the one-year anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death, Jermaine Jackson took the stage for the tribute to his brother and said, “everyone worldwide for the love shown us (his family) over the last year.” He then quoted what his sister, Janet Jackson, had said at last year’s BET Awards: “Michael’s a legend to you, but to me, he’s my brother.” He pointed upward and said, “Love you, Michael.” Among other highlights, former “Diff’rent Strokes” TV star Todd Bridges introduced a section on stars who had died in the past year, including his one-time co-star Gary Coleman. And John Legend was given a humanitarian award.

Overall the show was pretty entertaining but I could not for the life of me stomach Chris Brown and his ridiculous antics on stage. I do not for one second believe his sincerity at all. It really bothers me that so many people are willing to forgive and forget his crimes already … I do not. IMHO, it is an affront to have someone like Brown, convicted of and barely punished for brutally assaulting a woman he claimed to love, pay tribute to the memory of the late Michael Jackson. But … I refuse to give that loser any more attention than he deserves. The rest of the show was pretty good. I was most impressed by the tribute to Prince as this year’s recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award. After the jump, check out some photos of Prince at last night’s BET Awards and check out video from the show’s tribute to his stellar career …

So my first day here at South by Southwest was pretty damn fun, I must say. While the festival is a bit overwhelming, I think I’m getting the hang of how things work around here. It does help that everyone in attendance (that I’ve run into thus far) has been really cool, really friendly. The people of Austin have been amazing but the imports have been really cool, too. I got to see 4 performances last night — Janelle Monáe, Ladyhawke, Alaska in Winter and Young Love — here are a few photos:

Janelle was a nice surprise. I had heard her music before but never got to see her perform live — she’s amazing. She’s like James Brown and Outkast all packaged into a tiny little woman. Her whole stage persona was really fun and her show was really spectacular. Ladyhawke doesn’t have much stage presence but her music is really phenomenal. Altho she looks like James Hetfield from Metallica circa 1985 and dresses like Debbie Gibson circa 1988 her musical talent cannot be denied. I love all of her songs, I’m really glad my friend Tony introduced me to her music. Alaska in Winter was another surprise … he’s a one man band that brings the Fischerspooner sound into the hipster realm. I liked his whole performance, it was very inventive and fun. Young Love, as always, was a blast. I wanted to dance and YL did not disappoint. I’m really glad he’s got new music out cuz I really love his debut album a lot.

After the shows, I made my way out to the Red Bull Tower Party on the outskirts of Austin and chilled with my good friend Rachel and her friends. That party went until 5am but I had to leave by 2. Ugh. There is so much to do but I really have to pace myself or I’ll die ;)

Along the way, I got to meet some awesome Pink readers … I have to say hey to Denise, Alice, Keri, Gabby, Katie (who’s in Detroit and can’t be here but I heart her anyway) as well as Roberto and Jocelyn (who I met at the SESAC showcase at Volume) — who I got to take a pic with:

There is so much to do … I’m just trying to take as much in as I can and still function :) Tonight is Tori Amos and I’m so excited. I’m planning on seeing The Von Bondies and Peter Murphy before Tori so it should be a fun night. I hear there is a Chick-Fil-A around here somewhere … I’m planning to grab some food there before I get back to the fun. Expect Tweets from me all night long … Woot!