[Dixielandjazz] Music awards of our own

[tcashwigg at aol.com]

Well Bill:  me thinks you have been over at herr Gunter's sippin on the 
single malt, a nice idea but not likely to happen since you would need 
to charge more than $5.00 admission to be able to afford the trophies 
and certificates ( atta Boys) for the almost wons etc.

And at the wages most OKOM musicians admit or not to working for, they 
could not afford to show up for the ceremonies either, so we would have 
a group of well meaning Jazz Society board members accepting all the 
trophies on behalf of the out of town honorees.

Not that that is a bad thing from an economical sense, you see if you 
know they ain't gonna show up to get a six dollar trophy or a 
certificate for being alive then you don't really need to manufacture 
more than two or three trophies and you can just keep recycling them 
all night or is on a Sunday afternoon :)).   And the same guys would of 
course get them every year since it is usually the same guys playing 
every festival, even though we hear rumors that there are waiting lists 
for some festivals of at least 500 bands and then two years later the 
list is up to 1000 bands on that list.  Hummmm   where are all these 
groups coming from, they sure as Hell ain't working the Dixieland 
circuit.

I have been there and done that in the Blues World, this year's awards 
show drew 500 people, 250 of whom were on the guest list and family 
members of the local honorees for such things as Blues club of the year 
to a joint you would not go to even in the daylight hours :))
And the band of the year that played there that nobody has ever heard 
of because they won't go there.   etc. etc.

Awards shows are hype to pat each other on the back for but hey I'll 
help :

We could call the trophies the Loui's if you want and the event the  
"DAMMIES"  :))   I can get Geritol and Exlax for sponsors

Tom Wiggins

-----Original Message-----
From: sharp-b at clearwire.net
To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Sent: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 10:41 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Music awards of our own

    Take a look at this list of awards - -then read my comments 
afterwards: 
 V Where is the music going? Nowhere near OKOM.(Our Kind Of Music) 
  > Here's the list of performers who won at the Austin Music Awards > 
(http://www.austin360.com/calendar/content/events/stories/2007/03/> 
15awardwinners.html). Note that the winner under Jazz was Blaze > 
(who/whatever that is) and that the closest any group came to OKOM is > 
under Novelty, with the White Ghost Shivers > 
(http://www.whiteghostshivers.com/ ) winning (actually, somewhat of an 
> achievement even in that category). 
  > As a friend of mine explained, all of these bands and categories > 
carry the invisible label of "guitar-based". Thus the answer is > 
clear: play an electric guitar (and maybe also for good measure, an > 
electric bass) in your OKOM band, even to get noticed by anyone in > 
this crowd. Y'all also need to let your hair (if you have any left) > 
grow, or maybe comb your eyebrows up over your bald head . . . 
 > 
 > Band of the Year: Asleep at the Wheel 
 > Musician of the Year: Patrice Pike 
 > Best New Band: Band of Heathens 
 > Rock: Patrice Pike 
 > Punk: Riverboat Gamblers 
 > Metal: Powderburn 
 > Industrial/Goth: Lucid Dementia 
 > DJ: DJ Mel 
 > Indie: the Octopus Project 
 > Jazz: Blaze 
 > Blues: Gary Clark Jr. 
 > Hip Hop: Overlord 
 > Instrumental: the Octopus Project 
 > Experimental: the Octopus Project 
 > Country: Asleep at the Wheel 
 > Bluegrass: South Austin Jug Band 
 > Roots Rock: Mother Truckers 
 > Folk: the Hudsons 
 > Latin Traditional: Del Castillo 
 > Latin Contemporary: Grupo Fantasma 
 > World Music: Tea Merchants 
 > Cover Band: Skyrocket 
 > Kid Band: Sara Jarosz 
 > Novelty: White Ghost Shivers 
 > None of the Above: Brobdingnagian Bards 
 > 
  And now my take on this whole Awards thing, and I've thought this for 
years - - -An Hypothesis: Perhaps this is one of the reasons that we 
have trouble surviving. WE HAVE NO AWARDS SHOW ! there is no reason 
that we couldn't have one, if even on a small scale. We could pick a 
major festival, such as Sacramento , and make it a site for own own set 
of awards, picking bands and musicians from all over the country 
   ( perhaps world) to honor, and MAKE A BIG DEAL OF IT - -Also, perhaps 
contact a television studio,( PBS?), or convince someone making a 
documentary to record the proceedings and air the results. What would 
we call our awards statue? the "Louie" ? 
 
  WE could make it a real dress-up-walk-the-red carpet-affair, with the 
press and everything. 
 
  Sit back, close your eyes and just imagine this announcement . . . ." 
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to this, an annual awards ceremony where 
we honor those responsible for keeping early instrumental and 
traditional music alive . . .Ladies and Gentlemen - - - The OKOM AWARDS 
!" ( . . .followed by uproarious cheering, applauding, and the flashing 
of cameras). 
 
  O.K. those of you with an imagination . . . start making it happen. 
Major Festival organizers (or anyone with a voice in these kinds of 
things), - --Are you listening? Make it happen at your festival before 
someone else with gumption decides to because, all prejudice aside, 
this is a terrific idea . . .. or so I've been told. 
 
  Hey - -at least start with a plan - -start small and build! What could 
we do, staring today? 
 
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