Attention Readers: Music Award Nominees Should Be From, You Know, Houston

When our Rocks Off blog got back from lunch today, a colleague had put a completed Houston Press Music Awards nomination ballot in his mailbox with an attached Post-It note that said "Best Ballot Ever." Rocks Off read it over, and it was both hilarious and heartbreaking. The young gentleman from Midtown may well have meant it as a joke- - which is all well and good, but you can still only vote once -- but we nevertheless feel obliged to point out that nominations for Ciara as Best R&B/Funk/Soul, Sean Paul for Best Zydeco and "Jon Van Jovi" for Best Indie-Rock will not be counted.

These are the Houston Press Music Awards after all, people, so if the person you're nominating hails from somewhere besides the 713, 281, 832 and maybe 409 and 979 area codes (we'll think about it), we're going to disqualify them. In our sample ballot here, that means our friend's nominations for Paul Wall (Local Musician of the Year) and Beyonce (Best Female Vocals) will count, but the ones for Van Halen (Best Rock), Kenny G (Best Jazz) and Boston (Best Roots-Rock/Americana) won't, however much he (or we) believe them to be true.

One more thing. Prospective nominees should also be alive, unless they've passed away within the past 12 months. As much as we still love DJ Screw, we'd much rather give Best DJ to someone who continues to draw breath.

Nomination ballots are due Monday, May 18 at 9 a.m. The online ballot is here.