Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Tickets and Budget

So, tickets are available to nominees NOW (if you're a nominee and don;t have ticket info, contact me asap at sdmusiclab@gmail.com or call/text 859-420-2007).

We're about 1/10th of our way on the journey to fully funding this project.

If you'd like to make a donation as an individual or a business, please punch the link (businesses can donate any amount and there are advertising options for promo & tax purposes).

http://www.gofundme.com/k10jsg

Thanx!

Sunday, January 11, 2015

A Post from the Past

This came out on the FB page prior to the release of the nominees. Posting here now for additional clarity.

VOTING: There has been some concern voiced by several of you (including Ben Lacy's thread) that this could end up being a simple popularity contest. There's nothing wrong with popularity contests, but that's not what we're after. So, we've taken several precautions against that.
1) I've tried my best to gear this towards a celebration of the music community, not as contest. Not so much "so and so is better than so and so", but "we'd like to take this year's opportunity to honor so and so".
2) The nominations process took place by announcing it here and elsewhere. It was open to the general public, but by far the biggest "demographic", as it were, who participated in voting were music professionals of one stripe or other. That is, musicians, music retailers, music stores, recording engineers, and others in the industry were the primary voters. NOT just the band with the most mobile fan-base.
3) The final voting is about to take place. Who will be voting? The nominees ONLY. Why? This is the last filter against the aforementioned "mobile fanbase" coming in and stealing the day.
Again, this also leaves ME (and others behind the scenes, like the wonderful Heather Parrish) out of the decision process, so there are no worries of biases or ignorance of the entire community seeping in.
Soooo....coming up: We announce the nominees THIS WEEK!!!

CLARITY

CLARITY: Just wanted to clear a few things up, since its popped up several times (mostly in private messages, but I wanted to respond publicly).
I am the creator of the awards AND the producer of the event. As such...
1) I am NOT eligible for any awards.
2) I do NOT vote during the nominations process.
3) I do NOT vote during the final voting process.
I'm just struggling to put this together into a show and a sustainable program for the purposes listed (above right, under "about"). YOU (musicians, fans, retailers, venues, studios, etc.) choose the nominees and will ultimately be the reason this idea succeeds.
If it fails, well...that's on me. But I have faith that the intelligence of all 670+ of you FAR exceeds any blunders I am certain to make. And have already made.
Pat yourselves on the back. YOU are the real driving force. I'm mostly just organizing data...I'm really just along for the ride.
Thanx for letting me hang with y'all.
You rock!

Saturday, January 10, 2015

"And the Nominees Are....."

best in industry:
best live music venue
Cosmic Charlie's
Natasha's
Willie's
Austin City

best music store (instruments)
Willcutt
Guitar Center
Doo Wop
Willis

best music company (CD & music sales, labels, agents, arts orgs, etc)
CD Central 
Pops Resale
Long Island Recording

best recording studio/engineer/producer
Sneak Attack/Jason Groves
Elephant Rooms/Erik Nystrom
Media Brain/Matt Ballenger

best music educator (Jay Flippin Music Educator Award)
Paulie Felice
Kevin Holm-Hudson
JD Wright
Ben Davis

best live sound tech
Phil Osborne
Matthew Florez
James Rutledge

best DJ (radio)
Dead Air Dennis -WKQQ
Joe Conkwright - WUKY
Deirdre Ransdell - WLXX

best instrument repair/builders/customization
Willcutt
RS Guitarworks
Blackrider
Currier's Music

best artist in style categories:
Americana/Folk
Maggie Lander
Michael Johnathon
Carla Gover

Blues
Tee Dee Young
Bryan Himes
D Jay Rice

Classical
Jay Flippin
Dieter Hennings
Lexington Philharmonic

Country/Bluegrass
Corey Kenton
Avery Crabtree
Scott Said & Backroads

Funk/R&B/Reggae
G-Funk
Kung Fu Grip
Dublove Reggae Band
Soul Funkin Dangerous

Hip-Hop/Rap
Hybrid the Rapper
Re-education Camp
Drix (Jordan Driskell)

Jazz/Latin/Big Band/World
Big Maracas
DOJO (DiMartino Osland Jazz Orchestra)
Soljam (Palmer Tolly, Robert Trott, Jeana Pillion, Paul Osbourne)

Pop
Rhyan Sprague
Sydney Cubit
Kung Fu Grip
Albert Oberst

Rock
All the Little Pieces
Grimsley Rose
Zen Highway
Floraburn

Singer-songwriter
Albert Oberst
Sydney Cubit
Rhyan Sprague
Maggie Lander

Cover Band/Variety Act
See Alice
Lexington Lab Band
Twiggenburys
Radio 80

Song of the Year
"Footsteps" - Albert Oberst
"Know My Name" - Grimsley Rose
"Black Horse" - Avery Crabtree & Josh Brock

best artist in performance categories:
Vocalist (female - any style)
Rhyan Sprague
Sydney Cubit
Mandy Reichert
Julia Knight

Vocalist (male - any style)
Avery Crabtree
Albert Obesrst
Vincent Grino

Drummer/percussionist
Vincent Grino
Chad Gravitt
Tony Hammons

Guitarist
Ben Lacy
Todd Stricklin
Keith Flora

Bassist
Sam Skaggs
Jason Groves
Cody Jones
James Weeks (Richard Twiggenbury)

Keyboardist
Kevin Holm-Hudson
Palmer Tolly
Lucas Hippe

Wind/Brass
Miles Osland
Adaryll Jordan
Skeets Pennington
Chase Clark

Strings (non guitar/bass)
Maggie Lander
Ben Solee
Katie Penn-Williams
Paul Reich
Yoonie Choi

"special" categories:
Community Service 
Woodsongs All Volunteer Crew
Best of the Bluegrass Festival
Kay Foley - photographer

Lifetime Achievement (vote for 4)
Michael Johnathon
Jay Flippin
Bill Monroe
Loretta Lynn
McLain Family Band
Everly Brothers
Russ Farmer (KET)
Ricky Skaggs