Arts DEVO

Chico and Me & Music in Every Soul

It had to end. Though it has been an exhausting couple of months of wearing dual Energy Domes—that of arts editor and CAMMIES dude—I thoroughly enjoyed being so immersed in the music scene during the Chico Area Music Awards season of 2010. The rewards were immeasurable for me as a music fan and as a journalist who covers local music.

I won’t rehash all the props and thank-yous (other than to say we forgot to say “Thanks!” to A.S. Presents for being our Chico State street team, and to Butte College’s Media Arts crew for filming the CAMMIES Fest). I do have some revelations about the local scene that I’ll pontificate on after I let ’em stew for another week, but for now I’ll just wrap up with one personal note: Without question, the most gratifying part about the whole CAMMIES process—even more than any of the music—was getting to hang out with all the different musicians. Shooting the shit and just being around musicians for hours on end was pure heaven, and the experience brought to mind one of my favorite quotes from an interview with filmmaker David Lynch: “… and I’m with musicians, who are the greatest people in the world—the greatest people. They sleep late, they’re like children, and they have this unbelievable thing that they don’t talk about. They just do it. It’s a thing that brings all different kinds of people together.”

2010 CAMMIES Award Winners

Readers’ Choice

Folk/Acoustic Act
MaMuse

Country/Americana Act
Crazygrass

Jazz Act
The Charlie Robinson Trio

Blues Act
Big Mo & The Full Moon Band

Hip-hop Act
Eye-Que & Live Assist

Funk/Jam Act
Jeff Pershing Band

World/Celtic/Reggae Act
Boss 501

Rock/Pop Act
The Yule Logs

Hard Rock/Metal Act
Armed for Apocalypse

Punk Act
Brass Hysteria!

Indie/Experimental Act
The Shimmies

Electronic Act
MANIC ONE

Critics’ Choice

Best Horn Player
Jeff Daub

Best Drummer
Jesse Shreibman

Best Male Vocalist
Kyle Williams

Best DJ
MANIC ONE

Best Guitarist
Adam Scarborough

Best Keyboardist
Dr. Yes!

Best Bassist
Chris Henderson

Best Songwriter
Garrett Gray

Best Local Album
Surrogate, Popular Mechanics

Best New Band
Eye-Que & Live Assist

Best Local Act
MaMuse

Local Badass
Peter Berkow

Best Female Vocalist
The Railflowers
(Hannah, Beth & Ellen Knight)

Hogan/West/LaPado Lifetime Achievement
Greg D’Augelli

DEVOtions

• Musician Swap Meet: On Saturday, May 22, the nice folks at The Music Connection are opening their parking lot for local musicians to come down and hawk their used noise-making gear. Bring down the classical guitar you never touch or that 40-year-old ring modulator in your closet and sell it for cash money. Call 898-0110 for more details.

• Chico state grads: Excelsior!