Your 2011 Houston Press Music Awards Winners

• Read through the comments Jef, and crew.  What a bunch of freakin winers.  I hope you had cheese for them at the awards show or at the office if they stop by!  Our artist didn't win, although she won a number a couple of local contests and had 2 of her songs VOTED in the TOP 40 of their INDE songs for 2011 out of thousands of songs.  Have some class people, and get back to making great music!

• If anyone cared about the Houston Press, it wouldn't be free... case closed...

• also, Vivian Pikkles drummer and Something Fierce bassist are the same person. It's kinda like the twilight zone.

• Cool story, bro!

• i get it, john.  accusations, butthurt, crying.  various teenager internet slang. feel free to keep responding to get your last word in, but you aren't changing the fact that these hpm awards are the equivalent of your "top 5 best & worst songs about 9/11" and "worst hairpieces in rock & roll" articles.  not respectable, meaningful, valuable or important.

• it's ok. it kind of makes it physically impossible for me to see us. <3

• Mm-hmm, that's right, make accusations and then cry about it when those accusations are answered. You got what you wanted, now back to 4chan with you, troll.

• haha.  you couldn't care less what i think, yet you've written a series of responses that would show otherwise.  get mad about it, freelancer. "illegal"…  lol.  take yourself and your award contest serious much?

• I've just been told, April, that you are the singer of said Vivian Pickles. So I guess you have seen them. Egg on my face.

• Have you in all honesty seen the ballistics or Vivian pickles? The ballistics are no fuckin joke. Further more dead to the world is kick ass too. All the punk bands are good, in their own way, and I think our community of punks are being duped into a high school drama by these fat cat paper writers! ( that was a joke, by the way, about the writers). I for one don't give a fuck who wins....but I do care about the affect it has on us humans. Turning strangers into mortal enemies...drop that shit and play your fuckin music! By the way I was called out last night for not supporting bands at live shows...its true, I dont go to live shows often. I rarely drink and I can't stand the horrible sound at most venues, why would I like to go and be harrased by drunks and assaulted by feedback all night. But I will make an effort. Cheers to the brothers and sisters of punk! Now go get drunk and leave me be! Bunny of Skeleton Dick

• I got bitched out twice last night because my band Skeleton Dick won 2 years in a row. How's that for a music scene? Bands hating on bands. Skeleton Dick just wants to have fun!! That's what music is supposed to be about...stirring up emotions. We are just silly people in S.D. and that silliness is what makes us fun to watch...or so I'm told. I'm gonna stay personal on this post because these are my views, not necessarily those of Skeleton Dick. We have given our over 5000 stickers and 200 cds for free...not to win awards but to raise awareness of our existence. That combined with our silly names is probably what lead us to win. The general public probably votes for us because of our name...I can tell you its not because they've seen us play or read about us in the press. After 4 years of doing our thing, the Houston press has written one article about us in paper form (a brief description for the 2009 awards) and one online article about our name. I'm not bitchin about it, just using it to point out the fact that people like to vote for us because of our name. Hell, I voted for the ballistics! They're fuckin awesome! So the way I know its not rigged is that if it was, we would have never won! There are a lot of great people in this scene that I've meet from my days doing sound at fitzgeralds and recording...but the amount of absolute shit bands give eachother for winning this award is more harmful than good. At least when you lose you have 3 other bands to console with, if you win your a carcass and the vultures are comin quick. Bunny from Skeleton Dick

• Heinous Anus.

• The Houston Press is an alt weekly, and I am a freelancer. That means I get to talk to you however I want. You're the one who started slinging baseless accusations, don't cry about it now that somebody is calling you on your bullshit. I couldn't care less what you think of the HPMAs. Meaningless popularity contest? Fine, that's your opinion and it doesn't bother me. You think artists shouldn't be in it for the acclaim alone? Hey, I happen to agree. Making accusations that the Press is doing something ILLEGAL, when your only evidence is basically "WAAAAAAAH! *sob, simper, whine*" does piss me off, however. Go ahead, keep playing the victim. You brought it on yourself.

• apparently, reading comprehension skills were not required for you to be a writer here. i think it's cute that you wrote this reply and then went so far as to also "tweet" it on your internet messenger service.  your calling me an asshole has totally one-upped me!  no one will ever doubt the legitimacy of houston press music awards again! silliness.

• PROFESSIONALISM.  i think it's hilarious when you guys get pissed and start arguing and insulting your readers.  i'm but a lowly commenter…  i'd expect better of you, especially considering your staunch defense of the houston press's integrity. "butthurt."since i need to clarify this for you:  yes, i am being critical of the houston press music awards.  not people's choices.you guys say there's no funny business, other people say there is.  you obviously didn't read any of my other comments that the whole thing is ridiculous and artists shouldn't be concerning themselves with winning awards in the first place.  especially an awards show where willie nelson is competing against taco bell for best experimental / noise band. look at it this way — i'm being critical, but at least i give enough of a shit to pay attention.  if the hpm awards continue business as usual, pretty soon you won't have to worry about anyone paying attention.  maybe that will make you guys feel better.

• agreed

• Great point about the symphony, opera etc.! And LMAO about Rockin' Robin. Hell yeah to the max.

• IT'S A CONSPIRACY, MAAAAAAAN! A "9/11 Was an Inside Job" rally somewhere is missing a real winner.

• You're not being critical of the people's choices, you're accusing the Houston Press of outright fraud. Baselessly accusing, might I add. All because you're butthurt over something or other, who even cares. Good God Almighty get a grip on yourself.

• So your only proof of fraud is "the things I like never win," correct? Waaaaaah. Welcome to voting, asshole.

• Diluting the public vote would be a good idea. Not sure how that would work though. I definitely think allowing people to vote multiple times is ridiculous and defeats the whole "democratic" argument. I also think out-of-towners should not be allowed to vote -- Grandma in Seattle shouldn't be voting for best drummer everyday. I've been nominated many times, I've won many times, I (personally) never asked anyone to vote for me. But at the same time I don't really need the validation of an award. If someone does, they probably make shitty music regardless of how many votes or awards they get. This is an enormous city with a lot of musicians. Many, many of whom get overlooked by these awards (Houston Symphony, Opera, touring pro's, etc.) because they are not in this scene. These awards are not the end all be all of music. HP has not magically condensed the nebulous and subjective realm of harmonic sound. So just chillout everyone. Have some fun, drink a beer, listen to this band, listen to that band, vote if you want, don't vote... I dont really care. If you don't care for the awards then don't go to the showcase, don't pick up that issue of HP. Sure GC sucks, but they have every color strat imaginable and I bet they have 10 cases of your brand of strings in stock ready to be sold at the same price as on the internet, and they let you play their Neil Pert drumset as loud as you want even if youre not a drummer. Try that at Rockin Robin without getting a lecture about how the salesman is late for a Blues Jam.

• HP music writers have a better handle than the public. Personally, I liked it when we used to have the public winner, then "critic's pick". I thought that was probably the most balanced way of getting past Guitar Center type winners and nonentities who pack the ballot box.

• Yes, how can you have D.R.U.M. & Los Skarnales in the same category????????

• My friend said that you can nominate yourself...that's how easy it is.

• you got me, john.  expressing an opinion in the comment section of an internet blog about some music awards show has exposed my vulnerability that i have no life.  if only i had used my real name…  although nobody would know who the fuck i am, at least my opinion would then somehow be magically validated. the requisite arrival of the Internet Grammar Squad and other commenters leaving "stop bitching" / "stop being insulting" posts won't change the fact that this is a rigged popularity contest, the ballot items themselves are silly, the degree to which people want to take this showcase seriously is silly, and artists that are concerned with winning awards probably need to reexamine their reasons for being an artist in the first place.

• I don't know why anyone is bitching. The alternative to the people voting is the staff at HP picking the winner, and how much better would that be? There would probably be 5 times more complaining.

• Your defenses of the results seem kind of hollow. I can hear the cringe in your words when you have to defend results that declare Guitar Center or HoB as Best Ofs. But these are YOUR awards, if you don't like the way they turn out year after year, why don't you do something to change that? Why not have it be like the yearly Best of Houstons, where you have an editorial pick and a popular choice category? Then we can all quietly ignore that the Buzz won best radio, just like when McDonald's wins best fries. You guys are an independent, alternative newspaper, which you like to emphasize when it's convenient, and just like the independent, alternative culture/scene in Houston needs to support organizations like yours in order to thrive, you need to do the same for the culture here. 

• The joke is that 99% of the people voting don't seem to get out much and look at the real depth and quality that surrounds us here. Example: The Beans are a nice young band that may amout to something. But to have their bassist and drummer nominated for Best of is absurd. Ever heard of Little Joe Frenchwood, Larry Lownote Johnson, Wayne Turner, William Hollis, Pete Seelin (Pete was actually nominated as suprising as it may seem), Sparetime Murray, Pee Wee Stephens, Milton Hopkins? There are several hundred players in this town that no one who frequents Fitz and Rudz and Mangos have ever even heard of, much less actually bothered to go hear and learn about. And these are battle-hardened veterans of national touring bands. William Hollis toured with half the great Chicago and Detroit soul and blues bands before moving to Houston in the 70s, he's never been nominated while nonentitities like Jennifer Grassman get considered as best keyboardist. I've personally never been in favor of this being a "public vote." And a pox on those artists who campaign like this was a student council election. You know who you are. That guy from Otenki Best Drummer? Nick Gaitan, Best Bassist? Sigh....

• Ghest you really dont have a life do you! get off the soap box and insults hell at least if your going to throw insults around use your real name!  Houston Press again ty for what you do for music in Houston!  even though the bands i voted for didnt win.. i respect those that did! and far as 94.5 the buzz although i didnt want to see them win i can see how they did! i seen there djs go out of the way to help promote local music with buzz show case and other shows! plus they have thousands of listeners to there station to where internet radio has a hand full compare to that!! if you need help counting votes next year ill be happy to throw my name out there!

• Flutterqueen, no one pays much attention to a fool who doesn't know the difference is waist and waste. Ridiculous.

• Flutterqueen, news flash: You are an idiot.

• while i'm "growing up", you'll realize you are defending the integrity of a "best french fry" internet survey. man…  you houston press people sure don't seem to eat your own dog food.  these hpm awards are by and for the people, but GOD FORBID any one of those people be critical of it.

• forgot to add. first, ktru didn't die because thousands wanted npr.  ktru died because rice wanted it dead for years and colluded with uofh to pull off its underhanded agenda.  the public had little to do with it. second, i also personally think that house of blues is a great place to see certain shows — aside for the famously and fucking idiotically overpriced cans of low-end beer.  that alone makes it nearly intolerable for any reasonable person to want to go there. third, if this isn't treated as a "better than" contest, then wouldn't categories have titles like "most popular guitarist" instead of "best guitarist"?

• If you don't like the winners, perhaps you should put some real effort into voting for *your* favorites next year and encouraging all of your friends to do the same. The same thing happens every year with the Best of Houston awards's Readers Choice category: Best French Fries always goes to McDonald's, as an example. Do you think we're pleased at having to list McDonald's as our Reader's Choice winner for best French fries in the whole damn city? Of course not. But until our readers vote -- en masse -- for a better place, that's what you get. It's how a democracy works, and -- unfortunately -- a democracy also means that not everyone is happy with the outcome. Grow up.

• right.  treat your audience like babies and hope they won't puke up the pablum your feeding. this isn't an austin organic-versus-processed-foods / who-is-more-intellectually-satiated internet competition — it's someone pointing out the inherent silliness of these ridiculous awards. maybe you guys could make an effort to make sure the voting audience expands past 15-year-old mall rats, parents of unknown bands and corporate shills.

• The reason the Buzz and Guitar Center and House of Blues win every year (they don't, by the way) is the same reason that in the Best of Houston issue, McDonald's is voted by readers as having the best french fries every year: The mass public actually likes these things and there are more of them than you. There is no need to "massage" votes. When a vote is open to the general public, they vote for things that are simply more popular. This is not a "better than" contest. This is a "more popular than" contest. Want to complain, blame Houstonians. As uncomfortable is it for many to hear, the general public just doesn't care that much about music, so they vote for things they know and paint with the broadest stroke possible. To re-use the food analogy, foodies may think the latest local, farmers market-supplied bistro is the best restaurant in town, but it is a near certainty that the Cheesecake Factory in the Woodlands will be around longer and make exponentially more money. The Buzz gets tens of thousands of more listeners than KPFT. KTRU died because thousands of more people wanted NPR. The House of Blues gets better shows and attracts more people than the Continental Club or Rudyard's. Sucks, right? But that is reality. Read any online contest by a local media outlet or blog and you get the same exact thing. The contest wasn't rigged. The numbers weren't massaged. This is just the world you and I live in, like it or not. It's always been that way. It will likely always be that way. If you think that sucks, get out there and do something to change it. Otherwise, let it go.

• ...then i'm glad we were able to compromise on a more pleasant sounding phrase to describe what happens.

• yes, i nominated and voted despite the fact that nominations rarely seem to matter, categorization is a mess, winners are mostly predictable and each year the amount of real votable material dwindles down even less.  not that i matter or am representative of anything, but i think i was able to vote on two categories.  that isn't fun. best dj night?  best scenester?  best fun outfit?  is there so little going on in houston music that this is what we're left with to consider for awards? eventually hpm awards won't need human intervention at all.  house of blues, guitar center, the buzz, bun b and zz top will be automatically nominated for and win every category and nobody will need to pay any attention at all.

• one - only one of these folks bitching is even close to being literate enough to have a valid point. besos! 

• waste*

• Just curious Ghest — did you vote?

• "i don't understand how anyone can not know at this point that they're rigged and the voting is manufactured." Yep, hung up on semantics.

• maybe you guys are getting hung up on the semantics.  maybe rigged is too strong of a word…  how about the nominees and votes are "gently massaged." to reiterate, these awards aren't a wholly accurate representation of quality or appreciation in houston music.  it's all just silly fun. looking forward to the 2012 nominations for best scenester and hope to see heights walmart and sherlocks pub duke it out for best live venue.

• Dear those who are claiming the HPMAs are rigged, As someone who spent many hours counting paper ballots before this whole "Internet" thing took off, I'm telling you, you are wrong. You may not agree with the winners, you may not like the "popularity contest" aspect, but in terms of things being rigged, your suspicions are false. Feel free to call me a liar, if that's your thing. Sincerely, Blake Whitaker, editorial assistant, Houston press blake.whitaker at houstonpress dot com

• True that.

• having said that, i do agree with you that, of actual voters, there are people who vote for what they know. more power to them.

• yes, craig, i understand that you are capable of a copy-and-paste defense of your employer's legitimacy.  unfortunately, this could go back and forth all day and it still won't change reality or the fact that it really doesn't matter either way.  not many people take hpm awards too seriously, nor should they.

• You realize that it was fans who nominated and voted for the winners in this, right?(copy, paste) When those three things win, that's not the paper's problem, that means that there is a silent majority. One that legitimately enjoys those things, or has no other experience with something else, or dare say, "better", to vote for.

• You realize that it was fans who nominated and voted for the winners in this, right?

• hpm awards really are pretty silly.  i don't understand how anyone can not know at this point that they're rigged and the voting is manufactured. house of blues best venue, the buzz best radio and guitar center best music store…  might as well give an award to cheesecake factory and target while they're at it. congrats to the sincere winners and all that, but it's kind of a hollow victory.

• I'm just going out on a limb here, but I'm pretty sure if it were rigged Something Fierce would have won by default of being legitimately the best band. It's the spam your friends and harass them into voting for you everyday aspect that's the problem.

• Common everybody at least they said they liked how 94.5 The Buzz won and got booed, then posted a picture of the one band the Buzz plays looking to go with the crowd in typical 94.5 band style....Here Ill help you   94.5 The Buzz is Thelastplaceyoulook for good music.

• Who ever fills the pockets of the houston press wins. There is no such thing as a popular vote. HPMA is a big fat marketing joke. Jokes on the voters! What a waist of time.

• Why bother with this ish HPMA is rigged, every year...it's a joke anymore. Your winners are pre-selected and your voting system, yeah right. It's just pointless and cruel. A complete lack of respect for other peoples time. HPMA get real or go away please. You bore me.

• Same crap, different year

• There is a silent majority apparently.

• I have brought up the idea of a Houston Music Hall Of Fame, like a lifetime achievement deal.

• How do we find out how many votes each nominee received?  I'm curious how wide the margin is that separates the "Best" from the "rest" of the players.

• The Buzz? When will people learn?

• Best Radio Station - 94.5 The Buzz SMFH. Come on, Houston.

• That was a very touching video shown that John did with his brother Chris Gray. I teared up.

• The Houston Press always adds the disclaimer to the voting ballot that they can also use their own discretion as a factor when determining the winners of categories. Any plans to limit the number of times one person or group can win a particular award? Thinking of the "miscellaneous instruments" category...

• Congrats to all of the Houston Music Press Awards winner for 2011!!!

• Congrats to Robert Ellis!

• I think House of Blues won because Steel Panther plays there. And I will always go see Steel Panther. I think Skeleton Dick should play with Steel Panther next time they come to town.

• HOUSTON PRESS GREAT JOB LAST NIGHT! SOME OF THE CHOICES I DID NOT AGREE WITH BUT YOU LEFT IT TO THE FANS WHICH WAS THE WAY TO DO IT! ILL BE AROUND FOR NEXTS YEARS AS WELL SINCERELY JOHN JANATSCH aka DJ THE1 with ampzradio.com

• I voted for Craigslist. I don't know how this happened.

• Guitar Center? How embarrassing.

• HoB won best live venue because of ME. And you can take that to the bank, since no other venue has ME.

• You realize that it was fans who nominated and voted for the winners in this, right?

• HOUSTON PRESS                                                                                                         you do'nt know nothing about music dude

• How in the hell did House of Blues win best venue?  I thought that was a joke. But for real...$25 average ticket price, $7 cans of Lone Star and hiking 3 stories to get to the box office and deal with frustrating staff should get 0 votes for best live music venue.  

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