Among the myriad other disruptions that massive snowstorms are causing on the East Coast, a Black History Month concert at the White House delineating the role music played in the civil-rights movement has been hastily bumped up a day, to Tuesday. It originally was scheduled for Wednesday.

“They’re expecting another 20 inches of snow, and the federal government probably will be shut down tomorrow,” the Grammy Museum's executive director, Robert Santelli, said Tuesday morning from Washington, D.C., where he was caught up fast-forwarding plans both for the concert with Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Smokey Robinson, John Legend, Jennifer Hudson and numerous others, as well as an educational program that First Lady Michelle Obama was hosting for about 100 high school students from around the country.

“If we didn’t do it today, it probably would have been canceled,” said Santelli. A planned broadcast of the  concert Thursday on PBS stations is still in place, he said, as well as a live stream of the educational program for the benefit of students around the country starting at noon Pacific time. The telecast is being handled by veteran Grammy Awards show producer Ken Ehrlich, and the concert also will be streamed live Tuesday night on PBS' website.

Because of the schedule change, Santelli said a portion of the program will be recorded and made available at a future date for those who weren’t able to watch it live.

The Grammy Museum has landed an impressive roster of artists for its series of question-and-answer and performance sessions in the year since it opened at the L.A. Live complex downtown. Among the participants: Brian Wilson, Smokey Robinson, Annie Lennox, Dwight Yoakam, Herb Alpert, Harry Connick Jr. and Clive Davis, Rage Against the Machine / The Nightwatchman’s Tom Morello and Dave Matthews.

But even in such rarefied company, a former Beatle commands special attention, which helped explain the star-dotted turnout for Tuesday night’s drop-in by Ringo Starr. In the house: guitarist Joe Walsh (an official member of the family since his 2008 marriage to Marjorie Bach, the sister of Starr’s wife, Barbara Bach), George Harrison’s singer-songwriter-guitarist son, Dhani Harrison, E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg, rocker Edgar Winter and Roy Orbison’s widow, Barbara.

“The tickets sold out in eight minutes -- that’s a new record for the museum,” executive director Robert Santelli said during his introduction for Starr, who came as part of promotional efforts for his just-released album, “Y Not.”

Santelli quizzed Starr about serving on the new album as producer for the first time. Looking snappy and trim in a black suit jacket over an Elvis Presley T-shirt he’d just picked up in the museum’s store, dark glasses, black jeans and running shoes, Starr said he had to overcome some trepidation about taking over the production role, but relished realizing that the time had come when “I’ll tell the guitarist what to do.”

He addressed the presence of Paul McCartney on two of the new tracks: singing harmony on the single “Walk With You” and playing bass on “Peace Dream,” a song that invokes the name and longtime peace message of John Lennon. “He understands my drumming,” Starr deadpanned, “because we used to play together.”

Ringo Starr will promote his upcoming album "Y Not" with a Jan. 19 performance and interview at downtown's Grammy Museum. But don't get too excited --  the event is sold out. An advance members-only sale lasted all of 15 minutes, according to a spokeswoman for the institution.

Ringo will appear at the museum's 200-seat theater, and will be interviewed by the museum's executive director, Robert Santelli, before performing a handful of songs from his Hip-O Records album, which will be in stores Tuesday. Joining Ringo at the museum will be Ben Harper and his band, the Relentless 7, which will back Starr during the performances. 

All Grammy Museum interviews and performances are archived and available for viewing at the facility, which is located across from Staples Center at downtown's L.A. Live complex. Clips from the concert will also make their way to the Grammy Museum website, promises the spokeswoman.

The year-old Grammy Museum counts about 2,000 members among its stable, and will open a new exhibit, "Elvis at 21: Photographs by Alfred Wertheimer," on Friday. An opening interview with Wertheimer set for Friday evening at the museum is also sold out. The Los Angeles Times will post online today a story on the exhibit and select photos from the display. 

-- Todd Martens

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Downtown's Grammy Museum grows up

Photo: Associated Press

The Grammy Museum faced a number of challenges when it opened to the public last December. Set in downtown's L.A. Live complex, the institution was up and running in advance of many of the development's restaurants, hotels and movie theaters. Foot traffic, at least from those not attending basketball or hockey games at Staples Center next door, would be at a minimum.

Then there was the recession. The museum, which carried a price tag of around $34 million, executive director Robert Santelli told the Times last year, was forced to make staff cuts soon after its grand opening. (AEG, developer of L.A. Live, has committed to financially support the museum for 10 years.)

"We did cut down a bit, and that’s to be expected in the first year, even without an economic dilemma that we face," Santelli said last week."You really don’t know until you're open for six months in terms of what you need or don’t need in terms of manpower."

All told, in its first year of operation the museum hosted approximately 85,000 guests. A substantial number, no doubt, but one that still wouldn't fill a U2 gig at the Rose Bowl.Yet the museum has had no shortage of A-list visitors. Among its 60 or so public programs, the Grammy Museum has hosted events that featured the likes of Brian Wilson, Annie Lennox, Clive Davis, Dave Matthews and Tom Morello, among others.

The word "museum" may not even be the most apt descriptor for the complex. The Grammy Museum uses the annual awards as a jumping-off point, allowing visitors to digitally explore genres, regions and the recording studio. It takes a hands-on approach to education, giving the guests the opportunity to record vocals, mix a track and learn the basics of traditional rock 'n' roll instrumentation.

After establishing a foothold in the first year, Santelli has ambitious plans for the four-story, heavily interactive museum in 2010. The timing seems to be right. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel & JW Marriott Hotel is on track to open in early 2010 at L.A. Live, and the 14-screen Regal Cinemas opened in the fall. Among Santelli's hopes for 2010 are the launch of a Grammy Museum travel program, which would visit four music destinations per year.

Additionally, on Jan. 8 the museum will open "Elvis at 21: Photographs by Alfred Wertheimer," pairing the intimate looks at the star with rare footage and collectibles. It's a joint production with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, and Santelli intends to start the Grammy Museum's continuing education program with the exhibit. 

Santelli, who served as an executive at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and the Experience Music Project in Seattle, comes from the academic world, having taught at Monmouth University and Rutgers. His course on Presley, said Santelli, should start in January. "It’s free to members and the community, so people will be able to come to this four- or five-part program," he said. "The intention is to keep this very accessible to the general public and our managers."

The Presley display will be one of three or four temporary exhibits the museum hopes to host in 2010, taking over the second-floor space vacated by the yearlong "Songs of Conscience, Sounds of Freedom" installation. The museum will continue to expand its Latin Grammy floorspace, and it became a national tourist destination thanks to its ever-expanding "Michael Jackson: A Musical Legacy" exhibit.

Santelli reflects on the Grammy Museum at 1, and shares some of the institution's 2010 plans. 

This Sunday marks the first of a planned series of tribute concert / fundraisers at the Grammy Museum for the still-homeless jazz venue, and the bakery's fans are bound to recognize some familiar faces. Guitar great and UCLA faculty member Kenny Burrell leads the way along with Hubert Laws, Alan Bergman, the Alan Broadbent Trio, Tierney Sutton, Bill Henderson and Mike Melvoin.

"Curb Your Enthusiasm's" Jeff Garlin hosts this evening, which should add some levity to what will probably be a slightly bittersweet affair given that there's no word yet on the bakery's permanent home, but fingers crossed all around. If you close your eyes while Garlin speaks you'll almost be able to hear the determined captain from "Wall-E" introducing one of the players onto the old Culver City stage, an illusion buoyed by the fact you can even hit downtown's own BottleRock after the show. Everybody wins!

-- Chris Barton

Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets are $40; $35 for members, and available at the museum box office. For more information, call the Jazz Bakery at (310) 271-9039.

Photo of the Jazz Bakery's old lobby by Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times

The display is a new version of the one the L.A. institution had shown since February.

Jeanne LaCroix of Woodland Hills gazed with a wistful smile at the images unspooling across two giant screens inside downtown L.A.'s Grammy Museum: a teenage Michael Jackson surrounded by his brothers as they announced the name of a winner at the 1974 Grammy Awards ceremony.

When the montage shifted to the moment 10 years later when he strode onstage in a knockout blue sequined jacket with blinding gold epaulets to collect the producer of the year trophy he shared with Quincy Jones for their work on "Thriller," LaCroix's head snapped around to the glass display case immediately behind her.

"Do they have that jacket in there?" she said to her 13-year-old daughter, Brianna.

No, but there were four other equally dazzling specimens from Jackson's spectacular wardrobe: the turquoise jacket decorated with Swarovski crystal from the Jacksons' 1984 Victory tour; a midnight blue and gold number he wore to the unveiling of his star on Hollywood Boulevard's Walk of Fame; the blood red jacket with sparkling gold piping he chose for an American Music Awards show; and the red, white, blue and gold model he put on for the United We Stand concert after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Positioned amid the glitz-heavy jackets and two sequined gloves circa 1988 -- both right-hand only -- was a simple white Hugo Boss suit. LaCroix and other visitors to the museum Wednesday were momentarily puzzled at the uncharacteristically plain outfit until they recognized it as the one Jackson wore on the cover of the "Thriller" album.

"It's amazing to see these," said a wide-eyed Michelle Wallace, on vacation in L.A. from Waverly, Iowa, with her husband, Scott, and teenage daughters Bailee and Courtney. Michelle wore a black T-shirt with Jackson's image and the words "In Loving Memory -- Michael Jackson."

Juan Fernando Fonseca is pop powerhouse in his native Colombia. He leads a modern Latin band outfitted with electric guitars and a synthesizer. And his songs, about love, are pop confections with catchy hooks and infectious melodies — sometimes dipped in jazz and R&B. He became a pop phenomenon in his home country with his self-titled debut album in 2002. By 2006, he won a Latin Grammy for his hit song “Te Mando Flores” off his second album, “Corazon.”

Today, he wraps up a 12-city U.S. tour — which sold out nine dates — to promote his latest album, “Gratitud.”

And earlier this week, he performed at the Grammy Museum in front of roughly 200 people. The music seduced many out of their seats to dance, demonstrating why Fonseca is the first Latin artist to perform at the museum.

The 30-year-old singer-songwriter, known by his surname Fonseca, follows the trail blazed by the international success of his countryman Carlos Vives, who merged rock guitar and drums with vallenato, the fast-paced, pump-push style on the button accordion that surfaced in Colombia’s Caribbean north coast.

“There is nothing like vallenato,” Fonseca said in an interview prior to his museum performance. “It moves you. It goes through your body and makes you feel. That’s what makes music so great. When you can feel it and connect with it.”

Fonseca's profound connection with music is what led him to participate in the Canta Conmigo (Sing With Me) program last year. The musical project, co-organized by the Presidential Council for Reintegration, aims to rehabilitate former paramilitaries and guerrillas and help them reintegrate into Colombian society. Auditions were held in more than 30 cities, seeking former rebels who have a musical background. Twelve were selected to be trained as professional musicians, leading to making an album and performing a concert in April. It’s a project that Fonseca said he hoped to expand to include Colombian army soldiers.

Mandy Moore is a grown-up. The lanky girl with long blond hair singing coyly while doing eight-count steps in a parking lot about how she’s addicted to her skateboarder crush like  “Candy” is gone. She’s been replaced with a gal in skinny jeans and a cropped tuxedo jacket who likes having her tousled brunette mane in her face when she sings.

On Thursday, Moore performed a handful of folksy, retro-pop songs off her new album -- including “Pocket Philosopher” and “I Could Break Your Heart Any Day of the Week" -- before a sold-out crowd at The Grammy Museum in downtown Los Angeles.

But actually, the name's Amanda Leigh … just don’t call her that. Though her given name serves as the title of her sixth studio album -- released in late May as a follow-up to 2007’s “Wild Hope” -- it wasn’t an attempt to update her identity.

“Amanda Leigh is my given name, my legal name,” said the 25-year-old singer in a pre-performance interview with Robert Santelli, executive director of the museum. “But other than that, I really have no connection to it. I’ve been Mandy my entire life. It wasn’t one of those sort of really heady artistic decisions like, ‘I want to be taken seriously. I want this music to reflect the real me.’ I understand when artists do that, of course; this wasn’t the case. It was a bit more flippant, actually, than that. Mike Viola [co-writer and producer of the album] called me Amanda Leigh in the studio a lot and, for some reason, it stuck in my head and it was really synonymous with the time.”