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Hooray Dimes.

Who is Tony Vega? I gotta hear this dude. If he's better tha Jon Welch (Million Year Dance), we need to take him straight to Hollywood because he's clearly the next American Idol winner.

Congrats to all of the winners!

So is the award for best music venue like the same deal the Press had with Cactus since Warehouse host the awards the automatically win? Seems lame!

meridian was the host of the party last year. they didn't win.....i believe the warehouse did.

Yeah, Joe, we held lots of Music Awards Ceremonies at Cactus. That was the reason it always won.

watch out, lomax is saucy!

You've got to be kidding with some of these winners.

The awards are rigged!!!!

Typical b.s.
Most of those artists are very good but some of them are borderline jokes. Definitely makes you wonder if it's rigged or not.

Okay, you conspiracy theorists enlighten me... Which are the "joke" artists? Which did we conspire to award? Who should have won instead of them?

John,

Don't try to lie your way out of it. This clearly has Illuminati ties. The awards happening on August First - the date4associated with Octavian entering Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic. One should also note that the Egyptians also had a cash bar much like a certain bar at a certain awards ceremony. Coincidence? I think not. Clearly part one of many step to secure control of all nations for your evil over lord...

perhaps I have said too much!

I think Warehouse Live deserved to win, no matter how fishy it might seem. I saw LPD there on the small stage last year, and I don't think I've enjoyed a club so much since The Abyss closed down (though Meridian is a close second, VNV Nation was awesome there.)

And speaking as a non-winner, I don't think that the awards are rigged. I thought Golden Axe deserved best metal over Chrome 44, and I like The Blaggards slightly more than D.R.U.M., but they're all great bands. Of course I wish I'd won, but The Dimes are good kids. There's always next year.

The entire event rocked... The showcase, the awards ceremony and the tacos! Congratulations Dimes, John Evans, Million Year Dance and especially The Flamin' Hellcats.

Winners or not, the Showcase is still the best event of the year... Lets not bog the H-Press down with whining and scare away the last true music event this town has.

True. Wish downtown was like that all the time...

Actually, Ramon, you're way off.

It was the Trilateral Commission that dictated that the JonBenet be dubbed the Best Hardcore band in Houston, Texas. They gave the suits that own this paper their marching orders in Davos, Switzerland earlier this year.

Henry Kissinger called me personally to stress the importance of ensuring that Venue get named as the Best Latin Venue. (He was vaguely threatening, and after seeing what him and Nixon did to Chile, Hanoi and Cambodia, I complied.)

And everybody knows the Dimes are affiliated with the Gambino crime family...

Okay... my question is...

How long has it been since John Evans was "C&W"?

There were several great real Country band in that category and someone who the Houston Press even describes as "Buddy Holly meets AC/DC" wins?

That isn't right. I won't necessarily call it fishy... but it definitely isn't right.

Million Year Dance Best Album of The Year!!! That's the big joke!!! They released an EP like 3 years ago and nothing since!!!

Make a new song and now you owe it to us to make an album this year!

"Million Year Dance Best Album of The Year!!! That's the big joke!!! They released an EP like 3 years ago and nothing since!!!"

Well, we were nominated for best song of 2007 for a track that appeared on a 2005 release.

I was blown away by the Million Year Dance performance last night. Without a doubt the best vocals I've heard in a long time. Kudos on the album of the year win.

Veronica, of course you're right. But Fake Country is so ingrained now that it has to be recognized and passed off as *Real* Country, under the heading "C&W." What is needed is at least one separate category, the same way Rock has been subdivided into many recognized styles and genres.
Remember the line from Malcolm In The Middle, answering the question "What kind of music do you have?" "Honey, we play BOTH kinds, Country AND Western."

A big hats off to John Lomax and those sparring with him here. So cool.

No but Cactus was a "sponsor" of the awards. Cactus as a music store was mediocre at best, Way overpriced and never had what I was looking for. And as far as Warehouse Live it seems good shows there are few and far between, best venue for rock shows should have been Rudyards. Good shows there 6 nights a week!

What happened to the Best Bluegrass Band Award? Has that been discontinued?

And Cactus got about 50 votes this year, even though it has been closed since last March. Whatever *your* opinion of Cactus, lots of people loved it.

Rudz is a great club, but if you think more people are gonna vote for it than a 800-capacity venue you're just wrong. And say what you will about Warehouse Live's booking, but it is a great club. What's more, lots of people like those shows, evidently, as the place is still open.

And yes, it won the year that the Meridian hosted our awards, much to the anger of Meridian management.

Yes, Best Bluegrass has been eliminated. Only one band had a chance to win every year.

Paul Moratto, if you really think that line came from Malcom in the Middle and not from another movie, let's say The Blues Brothers for instance, then perhaps you should reconsider the whole blogging thing.

What happened to Collective Hallucination. They were obviously the sure win

I was wondering why there isn't an electronica category/ There are some great bands in Houston like Asmodeus X and Ardour of Angels that have no place to go.

-Jef

There was an awards show?

LiI Joe Washington for 'Best Blues' ???

I was saddened but hardly shocked that he got the nod this year; I was, however, sickened by the crowd's enthusiastic reaction to this man's pathetic, incoherent blabbering when accepting his award.

Rather than seeing him as the poster-boy of what's best about the Houston blues scene, Lil Joe seemed to be the latest darling of a 'step 'n fetch it' mentality.

The very few discernible words of Lil Joe's 'thank-you' speech included: "I pass my hat, cause I ain't got no money", to which my friend responded, "yeah, because you smoke so much crack". After being helped offstage, Lil Joe then panhandled the crowd.

Yeah, yeah, drugs and art have always had great interplay, but this guy is just sad; and the suburban white boys-turned 'rebellious/fun rockers' encouraging him along his path of disgraceful destruction just remind me of corporate dudes who slum it to gain a little cache cool.

Yeah, but aside from all that, Richard, he just happens to be one of the two or three best blues guitarists in town. I defy you to listen to his official records on the Dialtone label, as opposed to his bootlegs, and tell me different.

Why is it sad for him to win? Because he does drugs? Shit, if that's the case you should have been bawling like a baby all night. I am fairly certain he was not the only winner with excessive habits.

I know that many some people regard Little Joe as a laughingstock, and others see him as an embarrassment. That's too bad, in both cases. Sure, Joe has brought a lot of that on himself. But the fact remains, the dude can flat-out play.

And in the end, would you have preferred it if some "suburban white boys" had triumphed in the blues category?

Drug use is no big deal, unless it's debilitating, and I'll accept your point that maybe it's not in Joe's case and he can still play like hell. (Not sure his trajectory is upward though).

On the other hand, I know of few musicians who can match Joe's panhandling and habit of crashing other gigs, begging to get up on stage, and then using it as a platform to pass his hat. Thinking that's cool is what keeps me bawling, I guess.

Fair enough. I'll confess that in the grand balance of things, Joe has probably annoyed me slightly more than thrilled me over the years.

I wish we could get some people together to get him some teeth. I think that is the only way possible that he could reform. He is very sensitive about his mouth -- he tries not to smile, and it makes him hard to understand when he talks. Years ago, some people took up a collection and bought Mance Lipscomb some dentures and it did wonders for the way he felt about himself.

I agree with DAC, this is definitely one of Houston's greatest music events - actually, I personally believe it is the very best. Maybe we could do this more often?? Maybe like 2 or 4 times per year instead of just once? You know, not to *overdo* it, but to prevent us from having to wait so long for it. :) Hmm ...

So the HP Awards came and they went, (again), will you guys ever have the awards show on a weekend? Just wondering. I couldn't stay all night. I have kids. Although I did see a lot of cute ones running around. I met Ant Boogie of Collective Hallucination and his son Prince. Those two are adorable. I think CH should have won by the way. That is truly the hardest working original soul/funk/R&B band in Houston. So many times the media has ignored them, but they keep doing what they do. Those Rolling Stone looking dudes that won in that category aren't funk and they definately aren't r&b..I tell you there should be another category for old farts like them.

And who was the girl that beat Cl'Che and all the other rappers in that category? A new chick. Come on, how could she beat The Legendary K.O.

I've gone to the HP Award show every year for the past 5 years and I, (personally), think a lot of it is a who's John Lomax's favorite artist show. Not to sound harsh, but Oh My...

How come bands/artist like Zipperneck weren't nominated in punk? Have you all seen their show? Why wasn't K'monte' nominated for best urban/funk band? Why wasn't there more performances by "urban"- - IE Black artist on the awards show this year? John do you have soul my friend?

Looking back at the ballots, there were many urban acts who could have been asked to perform. I could be wrong, did you all ask them to perform?

Anyway, after finally meeting Ant Boogie of CH and talking to him and seeing/hearing the passion in his heart for his band and music I'm going to catch as many of their shows as I can and hopefully next year the powers that be will notice, (note), what true funk/SOUL/r&b is...I voted for them this time and I will definately vote for them next year.

Hoo boy, a bunch of the wrongest BS out there, all in one big fat post.

"And who was the girl that beat Cl'Che and all the other rappers in that category? A new chick. Come on, how could she beat The Legendary K.O."

Easy. She got more votes. The fact that you don't know her name speaks volumes.

"I've gone to the HP Award show every year for the past 5 years and I, (personally), think a lot of it is a who's John Lomax's favorite artist show. Not to sound harsh, but Oh My..."

Name which of this year's winners you think are my little pet bands. Most of my favorite artists weren't even on the ballot this year. That's because I don't decide who gets on the ballot.

"How come bands/artist like Zipperneck weren't nominated in punk?"

They weren't nominated.

"Have you all seen their show?"

Yes, I wrote a story about them a year or two ago and put Mel Hell on the cover of the paper.

"Why wasn't K'monte' nominated for best urban/funk band?"

Their fans did not vote for them.

"Why wasn't there more performances by "urban"- - IE Black artist on the awards show this year? John do you have soul my friend?"

I don't book the bands. That is handled by the advertising side of the paper. If it was up to me this would be a predominantly hip-hop oriented showcase.

"Looking back at the ballots, there were many urban acts who could have been asked to perform. I could be wrong, did you all ask them to perform?"

Again, I don't select which acts are asked to perform.

I thought the awards were fine. PDB has been playing for over 16 years now, and we won back in 1998 for best metal band. We don't even play metal. It took 8 years to even be nominated again. In 2006 we won and in 2007 we won again for best punk band. Did that get us any more gigs. No! Did we get any record deals? No. We have done what we have always been doing, and that is booking our own gigs and recording and producing our own albums. Just because your favorite band didn't win, or didn't get nominated, doesn't make them any better or worse. If you like them, support them. That's really what matters. We bands love our fans and without them we would not be. Support your local music and just have fun.

I thought the awards were fine. PDB has been playing for over 16 years now, and we won back in 1998 for best metal band. We don't even play metal. It took 8 years to even be nominated again. In 2006 we won and in 2007 we won again for best punk band. Did that get us any more gigs. No! Did we get any record deals? No. We have done what we have always been doing, and that is booking our own gigs and recording and producing our own albums. Just because your favorite band didn't win, or didn't get nominated, doesn't make them any better or worse. If you like them, support them. That's really what matters. We bands love our fans and without them we would not be. Support your local music and just have fun.

For those of you who think I manipulate the results in an effort to impose my will on the populace or whatever, I will say this:

There are only three results (not including the venue awards) on the entire list of winners that I agree with.

If I was fiddling with the outcomes, why didn't Sideshow Tramps beat Katie Stuckey? If you knew anything about my writing, you'd see that I spilled infinitely more ink about those guys (who used to be called Medicine Show) than I did about Stuckey, whom I'd never even heard of until she got nominated.

I am also a big fan of Scattered Pages, who were shut out.

Aaron Loesch won nothing, and I think that is a travesty. And I could go on and on and on...But that's the way it goes.

John Lomax,

Just like last year when you awarded Penny Royal in the wrong catagory, John Evans gets an award for country? Are you serious? Let's stop pretending that you don't actually hand pick these acts for the awards.

-Bruce

"PDB Stevo says:

Just because your favorite band didn't win, or didn't get nominated, doesn't make them any better or worse. If you like them, support them. That's really what matters. We bands love our fans and without them we would not be. Support your local music and just have fun."

Couldn't have been put any better. There are a lot of great local bands who didn't/don't get nominated (Listen!Listen, Blades, Motion Turns it On), but that doesn't mean I'm not going to go out and support them whenever I can.

There's a lot of untapped talent in this city. I just wish the awards would broaden to include other 'smaller' bands... but then again, you can only do so much.

Why do so many of you have a problem with John Evans being country? I talked to him about it and it surprises him that there's this backlash. Dude's got a gig or two coming up at Blanco's. People voted him on the ballot as country, and then voted him the winner, fair and square.

Yeah, I know his last album wasn't country, it was pop-rock. When I saw him at the showcase, his band was playing pure-D country.

Hi all, someone just hipped me to this blog today and I read every post this past hour or so and I wanted to just throw my ten cents in..BTW this is Ant Boogie of Collective Hallucination.

First I'd like to give a big, huge two thumbs up The Houston Press for keeping the vibe of the Houston music scene alive and popping here in the HTX..

I am truly humbled,honored and flattered that my band has been nominated not once, but twice in the HPAwards, we were also asked to perform at one of the coolest venues around, (the RocBar), which was a blast although we were scheduled a little too early for a Sunday considered most of our fan base, like the band, are church people--LOL..

I appreciate the two people who posted here on this blog about us as well. I for one, nor does my band feel any ill will towards the Houston Press, (although each time we release a cd and try to get an interview it doesn't happen) HINT HINT LOL..I have seen times where artist with no music out there have gotten nice write ups in the paper, but we haven't and it's the decision of the paper and it's editors who they want to write about and who they don't.

However back to the awards. I've gone to the award shows for many years before my band was even nominated and I just like to feel the energy in the room. The good positive energy. To me, it's not about winning or losing, it's about the music. I was glad to see Devin, my good friend, win. He recorded most of his latest cd at my studio!!!!

CH has ganered fans from Florida to Arkansas and we're heading to Colorado and California next year to do some shows. So please don't feel bad or mad for us, we're still out here on our hustle making things pop. After all we are the hardest working original SOUL band in Houston.

Houston Press Rocks and I will always be grateful for the nominations even if we don't win..

And btw John, if you read this-we've met on a number of occasions and we've talked a couple of times and I don't feel like it's a John Lomax show--LOL--Although that is an interesting theory.... Anyway keep rocking and come check us out in October. We're doing a benefit concert for abused women and children. I'd love it if you'd come say a few words about the subject or show.

It's an open invite. I'll come back and visit this blog in a few days..

And to all-Please let's keep as many positive vibes flowing as we can here and elsewhere. Houston in big enough for all of us to be happy...

In the words of Sly Stone-"Everybody Is A Star"...

Holla

Peace Love and Music
Ant Boogie
Collective Hallucination

www.collectivehallucination.com