It was a night of firsts for The Recording Academy. Last night's event marked the first time a Twitter dress (twitdress) was worn. Taylor Swift became the youngest artist to win the Album of the Year award. Beyonce was awarded a record-breaking six Grammys. And last night's telecast on CBS had a 35% increase over last year's, with almost 26 million viewers. It was also the first year the GRAMMY pre-telecast was shown in its entirety via the web.

But in an age of embedded product placement, Apple's iPad became an instant hit (at least as exciting as Lady Gaga's outfits) as Stephen Colbert pulled one out while announcing the winner of Song of the Year. Contrary to Colbert's tease of Jay-Z, I can assure you iPads were not included in the gift bags. At least as the brand Apple named its device a few days ago.

After the show, the attendees had more than a few after party options around Los Angeles. The official GRAMMY Celebration by The Recording Academy was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center right next to Staples. This year's theme was modeled after a three-ring circus, no doubt very interpretive of the entertainment industry.

Ne-Yo, later joined by Jaime Foxx, entertained the invited guests at the main stage. In one of the adjoining rooms, MasterCard sponsored Jazz Lounge was among the winners of proper sponsor integration.

Overall it was a fun day and night for me as it always is. Obviously it was a ton of work but very successful and self-gratifying. Everyone seemed more organized than ever before this year. And it showed in all aspects of what went on behind-the-scenes.

The Internet is already buzzing with more than enough articles, videos, and photos of yesterday's event; the show, and the artists. Instead, I posted a tiny glimpse of the not so usual side of what I came across during my time there (Flickr link). In the meantime, what did you think of Apple's attempt to promote the iPad to the 'cool' crowd?