Each week, usually on Wednesdays - the music awards has thrown everything off this week - Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band that isn't awful? Email their particulars to introducingliston@gmail.com.

One guy stood above the rest, though. This week, we're totally digging singer-songwriter and near-med student Andrew Karnavas. On our patented Indie Music Rating System we rated Andrew two and three-quarter cardigan sweaters out of four.

We actually spotted Karnavas at a Bar Boheme open-mic a few weeks ago, singing about whales or some nonsense like that. We got back in contact with him earlier this week and he was kind enough to answer the following questions:

HP: So, what's the backstory? How'd you get started? How long have you been performing?

AK: I bought my first acoustic guitar when I was 13, with birthday money and played a little here and there growing up. I was focused on soccer and school until my freshman year in college, when I heard Neil Young's albums Harvest and Everybody Knows This is Nowhere.

In 2005 I studied in Milan my junior year [of college] and met an Italian woman whose fiancé ran a little digital recording studio out of his house. At that point I had written six songs, and I got to record them (guitar/vocals, no click tracks) in five hours for 40 Euro and a homemade lasagna lunch on a Sunday.

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Fans of Boondocks' monthly psychedlic/garage freak-out Reverberations, listen up: Now you can get your trippy fix of acid-tested songs on a weekly basis, and from a live band to boot. Since the beginning of the month, longtime local drummer Steve Candelari's new band Psilli Psybin has been playing songs like Pink Floyd's "Lucifer Sam," Jimi Hendrix's "Are You Experienced," Pretty Things' "S.S. Sorrow" and the Small Faces "Itchycoo Park" Thursdays at the Big Top.

It's not exactly all the songs I want to do, but we haven't learned them all yet," Candelari, also the drummer for Led Zeppelin tribute band Von Hindenburg, says. "We do 'You're Gonna Miss Me,' but I want to learn some more [Thirteenth Floor] Elevators."

Preceding Psilli Psybin's 11 p.m. performance, Candelari's friend Mike Perkins has been screening vintage bad cinema to help set the mood; tonight's selection is the 1959 stinker Teenagers from Outer Space (tagline: "Teenage hoodlums from another world on a murderous rampage!").

Mike is a bad film connoisseur - it's not that he doesn't like good films, he just really likes bad ones," Candelari says. They can't be films that were meanto to be bad, it had to be someone trying to make a good film that was just bad at it." - Chris Gray

Leon Mitchison, “Street Scene”

Most Houstonians and (many others around the globe) have heard of the legendary Kashmere Stage Band. If not, get your Google on, but few realize how these young high-schoolers got their start playing music.

Enter one Leon Mitchison. The Fifth Ward native was the music teacher at Isaac Elementary School, where he taught young, impressionable kids how to hold trumpets and hit drums; Isaac was zoned so it eventually fed these soon-to-be musical prodigies into Kashmere.

Mitchison remained close with some of his former students, drafting bassist Gerald Calhoun, guitarist Earl Spiller and an animal of a drummer named Craig Green for his group, the Eastex Freeway Band. “Street Scene” is exactly that, a political song about the hardships of the streets, particularly those of Fifth Ward.

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Boy, that went by fast. The lights are on, nobody's home (except for us stragglers and bloggers) and everyone has departed to their various after-awards destinations. Me, I'm going to Boondocks. The last awards set was my distinct pleasure to present, and mostly consisted of me calling out UGK (which, I might add, I announced all the letters in their proper order... and got to shake hands with Bun several times): Best Local Song, Best Local Album, Local Musicians of the Year. It's why Bun and Mrs. B were the only choice for the photo below:

But there was also John Evans (middle) for Best Songwriter and the Tontons (above), who are trying to start some sort of inter-band basketball league despite already getting their butts kicked by the Riff Tiffs, for Best New Act. It was a fun night, to be sure, and we have to give it up for the Warehouse Live staff, who was extremely patient and understanding of our little enclave, and the Press people who made it happen: Publisher Stuart Folb, Promotions Director Allisen Picos, former Marketing Director Tracy Grossbard and current Marketing Director Lori Alexander, who, as you can see, is almost as glad as I am that this is over.

And, then, even though they took our table away, one more for for the road... see y'all around the block!

Well, here it is. Congrats to nominees and winners alike. - Chris Gray

Best Local Album: UGK, Underground Kingz

Best Local Song: UGK feat. OutKast, “Int’l Player’s Anthem (I Choose You)”

Local Musician(s) of the Year: UGK

Best Mainstream Hip-Hop: UGK

Best Songwriter: John Evans

Tontons/photo by Jim Bricker

Best New Act: Tontons

Best Male Vocalist: Felipe Galvan (Los Skarnales)

Best Female Vocalist: Katie Stuckey

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To absolutely no one's surprise, Karina Nistal just won Latin Contemporary. It's only a stepping stone to bigger and better things. "I'm practicing for my Grammy speech," she said. "I want to give a shout-out to Katie Stuckey - girl, I should have won your category too." She really ought to record a country record, come to think of it. It's about the only genre she doesn't own at the moment.

More winners: Boondocks for Best New Club. "They're in the bathroom," somebody shouts. Our hosts Warehouse Live win for Best Live Music Club, and I'm sorry, but anyone who was here for Rilo Kiley, Cafe Tacuba or Snoop Dogg last year would be hard-pressed to disagree.

I am so happy right now: one of my favorite Houston performers, Kam, just crashed our little "VIP" area. I'll let her take it from here:

I'm so happy that Chris let his bouncer go on break so that I could come bullshit for a little bit.The awards have pretty much been an absolute mingle fest, but just an FYI to the Houston Press: Free booze triumphs over free food 90 percent of the time(just a suggestion for next years award show).

Congrats to everyone that won and I hope to see you guys this Friday at Fitzgerald's for "Leave Your Genre at the Door": 13 bands, 10 bucks! Chris Gray just went on stage to present the award for "Best bearded indie band member"... I'm going to get off of this computer now before I break something...oh Bun B just won the award for best beard along with everything else. UGK for life!

We're on a break right now, waiting for Arthur Yoria, and some more awards, but the John Evans Band (above) was all shook up a minute ago. Now it's Arthur Yoria's turn (below). I hear a little Coldplay in there, and a lot of harmonica.

Beetle just took Tribute Band, so we'll hang for a couple more. Johnny Bravo just called his mom onstage too. Black Math Experiment for Best Unclassifiable. That's one of my favorite things about the awards - they recognize that sometimes (often, even) music can't be penned in by an adjective or two. Black Math, meanwhile, is still totally in love with Bun B.

We're slightly behind due to some wireless interference, so let's get to it. Tontons (above) showed a serious Portishead bent during their performance, even though they weren't all that happy with it. "That sounded terrible," sighed guitarist Tom Nguyen. "Did you hear all that feedback?" To hear them tell it, Mighty Orq hogged all the sound-check time. (I thought it sounded just fine.)

Even though the presenter mispronounced the duo's name as "UKG," Bun B was all class accepting the Mainstream Hip-Hop Award. "UGK for life," he said. "R.I.P. Pimp C."

"I'm proud to be part of the Houston music scene," he continued. "We gonna take that title from Austin - Houston's gonna be the live music capital." Until then, Bun has found some unlikely new friends in Black Math Experiment, during whose performance (below) he nodded his head like he was back in the studio recording a new solo banger.

Congratulations to Fondue Monks (Best Soul/Funk/R&B), DJ Red (Best DJ) and Flamin' Hellcats (Best Roots Rock). Flying Fish Sailors took Traditional Folk, and here come Los Skarnales again for Best Rock en Espanol (my new favorite category). A little earlier, I caught up with Skarnales' Felipe Galvan (seen below with his family) to explain his previous "we're not punk rock" comment.

"There's a lot of bands that play punk rock, but they don't have the balls and don't have the attitude [we do]," he said. Fair enough. This just in: D.R.U.M. just won best world music. Anybody surprised? Apparently the singer's mom is not well, so thoughts and prayers out to her.

Brett is here with that report from the food table:

A local music awards ceremony with a free buffet and a bunch of starving artist types makes this place look like a punk soup kitchen. With a line that wrapped around, spanning wall to wall, locals were gonna get their free grub on.

I caught Born Liars and Sideshow Tramps guitarist Scott McNeil and his wife Shannon coming off the food line with not one, not two but three plates of free goodness. Seeing how bands that don't suck typically have catering backstage before shows, I trust the two and their opinion on the matter. According to Shannon the quesadillas received a paltry 5.5 on a 10 point scale, a serious low rating for Texas. However, the coronary-inducing Philly cheesesteak egg rolls and spinach dip are pure goodness.

Buxton (above) is rocking out right now, powered by some chiming guitar and that one and only chaka-chaka-chaka "train beat." These people right here (below) are loving it. They're about to give out some awards. Almost forgot about that part of the evening. Channel 39 anchor Mia Gradney is about to present Best Punk, and couldn't bring herself to say "Poor Dumb Bastards." (Los Skarnales won... surprise.) Tonight's best metal winners, Golden Axe, are M.I.A.

Skarnales' Felipe Galvan: "We don't play punk rock, but the attitude is punk rock. We grew up listening to the Clash and Ramones... they still sound badass on our iPod right now."

She just pronounced Spain Colored Orange "ornj." Love it. I also pronouce it that way. Spain Colored Ornj is your Best Indie Rock winner of 2008, Houston. "You're a lot better looking than Alan Hemberger, I tell you that much," one of them told Ms. Gradney. Hard to argue there. Skyblue72 just won Best Alternative Rock as well.

Bunch of other awards: Country to Katie Stuckey, Blues to (no-show) Little Joe Washington, Cover Band to Molly & the Ringwalds - marking their 5th anniversary Friday at the Continental - Experimental to Studemont Project. Tontons are performing in a bit, but for now it's Dwight Yoakam and Houston's own "Bad Mama Jama," Carl Carlton. Just as fine as he can be...

Orq is closing out with that song from his new CD To the Bone about the woman who "puts the 'ho' in 'Houston'" (hey, we don't judge), and Brett is off bringing back a "report" from the food table in the back of the room. Meanwhile, we got the lowdown on some recent activity at Music World Entertainment (the house that "Say My Name" built) from MWE's Logan Bosemer (above).

Above the fold is Compadre Records' (that's Music World's country label, y'all) ambitious project of Johnny Cash remixes, called, strangely enough, Johnny Cash Remixed (below). Each track features Cash's classics as interpreted by some of today's hippest beatmakers - Troublemaker, Count de Money, Mocean Worker, Alabama 3. The lead track is Snoop Dogg's cloudy envisioning of "I Walk the Line."

In other Music World news, Solange Knowles' new pop-soul album is due on Geffen next month, and Michelle Williams is presently riding high atop the dance charts with "We Break the Dawn." Bosemer herself is headed to Nashville soon "for personal reasons," but we suspect she'll be back.

Brett is back from the food table with the "story of the century." He's sure not back with any food.

Buxton: Justin Terrell (of the sweet white shoes), Jason Willis, Chris Wise

Orq is playing Prince's "Kiss" at the moment. Brett and I just stepped out for a smoke, where we ran into three-fourths of La Porte folk-rock upstarts and multiple nominees Buxton. After a recent run of bad luck, Buxton hopes its luck improves tonight, when they'll perform at Warehouse Live for the first time.

After the group's recent set at Hollywood Black's CD release show at Walter's, Jason Willis' mandolin went kaput when the brace inside broke. Then, after opening for El Paso's Sleepercar at the Mink, Willis was on his way home when his tire blew out south of Loop 610 and he pulled into an abandoned gas station. Waiting on roadside assistance, he was approached by a couple of guys who offered to help, but wound up stealing his keyboard and jumping into a nearby van.

"The worst thing is, I gave them $2 before they jumped me," he said. While we were chatting, someone in the sizable John Evans Band entourage pulled up in this cherry white Galaxie 500.

Chris Gray and Brett Koshkin coming to you live from, well, Warehouse Live, where the Mighty Orq (above) is warming the slowly-arriving crowd with some bluesy guitar pyrotechnics. (Here's's Cactus Music's Quinn Bishop watching attentively.)

We've got the mobile command center set up at stage right (and even our own velvet rope to keep out the riff-raff). It's also next to WHL's ten-foot speaker cabinet, so we'll have no problems hearing the acceptance speeches. Sara Winter of WHL and the Messina Group just stopped by on her way to Snoop Dogg at Sam Houston Race Park. More in a bit.

Tonight's HPMA ceremony should be wrapping up around 10 p.m., so don't forget to check here for a complete winner's list (provided you're near a computer, that is). That'll be just in time to head over to Boondocks for indie-folk duo Papermoons' - whose recent debut LP New Tales is a shoo-in for a 2009 Best Local Album nomination, at this early, early date anyway - last show as a Houston band. One member is moving to Austin (sigh), the other back to his native Ohio; they promise the hiatus is not permanent and they'll be back. We can only hope. New Tales is available at www.teamsciencerecords.com. Elaine Greer opens. - Chris Gray

Currently leading the pack for Texas Rock Album of the Year, and not that far off the pace of Rock Album of the Year, period, is Alejandro Escovedo's glam-tastic Real Animal. Produced by David Bowie and T.Rex audio enabler Tony Visconti, Animal is effectively the former Nun and True Believer's musical autobiography, and he's lived one hell of a life.

Escovedo, who tore up the Continental Club earlier this spring, will return to Houston in a much more intimate environment August 22 at the Bend Studio Concert Series at Nia Moves in the Heights. It's not quite Iggy Pop at the Mink, but it's pretty close. Tickets are $35, and on sale now. As you may have heard, one of Escovedo's fans invited him onstage to duet on Animal's "Always a Friend" during a recent Houston stopover. - Chris Gray