NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) – The GRAMMY Awards wrapped up last Sunday. 

A Norfolk native has returned from his trip to Los Angeles – where he was invited to speak on the Live Out Loud: Creating Your Space in Live Music panel.

The live show producer is happy to be back home!

“I would say the music industry found me, said Antonio Dowe, the co-founder of RNB Block Party during the panel discussion. “10 years later I’m still working with the same people that I couldn’t afford to pay!”

Dowe tells 10 On Your Side, “The GRAMMYS were great, and it was an amazing experience. One of the best experiences of my life. Everything that I thought it was going to be!”

After a decade of working in the music industry, Dowe said “the RNB Block parties changed my career.”

“What the RNB Block Party has done is shown a sense of community. It shows a sense of what people actually care about…is good energy,” said Dowe.

“R&B music is the cookout. It’s the music at the family reunion. The music your parents clean the house to. When you talk about representation, a lot of times we don’t get good media. Too many times we get negative media. To be able to showcase over and over again that black people and all races… can get together over and over again and not have any issues [and] get home safely.”

Dowe spent the week in L.A. with his family visiting the GRAMMY museum and other sites.

“I felt every minute of it. I made sure I felt the environment I was in. I made sure I dressed well. Everything your Grandma tells you to do,” he said. “I made sure I did all of that and I made sure I enjoyed it.”

He is looking forward to working with his team on yet another RNB Block party on Feb. 17.

“It’s nothing like being on the Scope Plaza,” said Dowe.  

Tickets are on sale now for the RNB Block Party inside of the Scope Arena.