What’s your favorite nation? Sammies nomination!
SN&R’s Sound Advice music column goes prime time to champion the 2010 Sacramento Area Music Award nominees
Dear music scene: Please quit MySpace immediately and move on with your social-networking lives.
I’m serious. I was shocked to discover that MySpace even still exists. And that nearly every Sacramento band or musician’s MySpace page looks so wack it apparently was designed by the same colorblind deejay who learned his Web skills from Highlights magazine.
Please, it’s so much easier to share music on Facebook, or sites such as Bandcamp and SoundCloud. So unless Tom really is your uncle, it’s time to hit delete.
Here’s why: This year, we decided to let SN&R’s readers bear the burden of selecting the 2010 Sacramento Area Music Award nominees. All SN&R had to do was tally up the votes, plug bands into appropriate genres and call it a day. It should have been so dang easy.
But every rosy idea has a thorny hiccup. And who knew voters would end up nominating thousands of musicians for this year’s Sammies, which meant verifying artists’ names and viability on your awful MySpace pages. For hours. Even days.
I tried to pawn this off on interns, but they’d conveniently all disappeared to get someone coffee. What a thankless task, this Sammies 2010 ordeal.
All right, so I’m just fishing for sympathy.
It was 100 percent worth it.
Yeah, award shows such as the Grammys tend to celebrate all that’s rotten in the world of arts and entertainment. And sure, undoubtedly people will not agree with this year’s Sammies nominees. I can already sense the nasty e-mails coming my way and hear the gang outside my apartment brandishing pitchforks and torches (note to haters: I’ve moved).
So this year, I propose a different attitude: Use this list of Sammies nominees as a starter kit. Visit the artists’ websites and listen to the tunes. Then, go a bit deeper. Buy an album or even hit up a gig.
The Sacto music scene is pretty divided as it is. So let’s make the Sammies—and MySpace—the two banners under which local musicians can unite and move forward.
This year’s Sammies nominees include gnarly thrash-playing kids, indie rockers, jazz fiends and blues hounds from Midtown. As you travel outward to the suburbs, screamo and electro-prog rockers with pointed haircuts who play a new noise at venues such as The Boardwalk or Club Retro join the mix. Even metal types who jam at off-the-grid spots such as On the Y and punk and hardcore regulars at places like Fire Escape Bar and Grill in Citrus Heights are represented.
The Sacto scene is as all over the map, as is this year’s Sammies nominees.
Consider the 10 artists up for Outstanding Album/Release: two indie darlings, two local-scene veteran rockers, a pack of suburban screamo kids, a folk crooner, a chamber-pop troupe and three very different local rappers.
Even bands in the same genre have little in common. Of the seven Outstanding Country/Americana nominees, I’m sure half have never worn cowboy boots.
The differences continue. The Outstanding Deejay nominees are as likely to spin house as they are hip-hop. And don’t even begin to explore the minutiae of a new category such as Outstanding Indie/Electro/Progressive, an increasingly popular yet obscure genre of bands who a play a fresh mix of glam-inspired alternative dance rock.
Hell, even the teenagers are Balkanized: This year’s Outstanding Teen Band nominees includes a girl pop duo, four Davis kids who sound like Pavement, bluesy rockers, a pre-high-school punk trio and a foursome thrash outfit who writes songs with titles like “I Bitchslap Zombies.”
They say Sacto is one of the most diverse cities in the nation, and this too holds true with its music scene. In the end, some 215 artists or bands are nominated in 31 different categories. This means that potentially 1,000 individual musicians are up for a 2010 award.
It could have been easy, but it never is.
How Sammies democracy works: Instead of staying home this past Friday night and finishing this explanation of how and why SN&R ended up with these 2010 Sammies nominees, I went out to a bunch of shows, lost my bike and ended the night trying to break into an underground music venue to get it back.
I’ll get to the details, but for now let’s just say I blame Random Abiladeze for everything.
Abiladeze is a great local rapper—he’s nominated for Outstanding Emcee this year and won the award in 2009—but if he didn’t send a text reminding me of last Friday night’s show with Zuhg (also Sammies nominated) at Harlow’s, I would have never gone out and gotten into so much trouble.
That’s the problem: I usually receive a bunch of text messages from local musicians or promoters pimping gigs, and try to at least make an appearance. I want to see people perform. And support the scene. There’s no TiVo or reruns. It’s a one-time deal, and you don’t want to miss out on something great—such as that Sufjan Stevens gig at Old Ironsides a few years back. (I’ll never forgive myself.)
Anyway, since we’re being honest, let’s also be 100 percent transparent about this year’s Sammies nomination process.
SN&R’s call for nominees began on July 15 and ended August 12. People were allowed to nominate whomever they wanted, which resulted in thousands of bands and artists’ names in the hat.
My job was to take the top vote getters and place them in genre categories. I do not specialize in pigeonholing, and in many cases I had no clue what bands belonged where. This lead to consulting local music-scene stakeholders: musicians, promoters, venue owners, audio engineers, photographers, groupies, guitar techs, bartenders, coke dealers, waiters, etc.
In the end, some great local artists didn’t make the cut. But the resulting list is still the largest, most inclusive set of Sammies nominees in SN&R’s 19 years of handing out music awards.
And there are some new categories, the most obvious and popular being Outstanding Cover Band. Ten groups have been recognized—among them, zombies who play Black Sabbath tunes, suburbanites who bow at the throne of Steely Dan, and four cover bands that call the Bay Area home but rep Sacto so hard we felt they deserved to be acknowledged.
This year’s two biggest awards are SN&R’s Hall of Fame and the Readers’ Choice nominees. The HOF recognizes local artists who’ve stood the test of time, put out lasting tunes and also gigged aplenty, both locally and abroad. Hip-hop troupe the CUF and punk rockers the Secretions fit this bill, for sure, but I was shocked to discover that local legends 7Seconds—who still tour, including a jaunt to Europe this summer and a forthcoming appearance at Los Angeles’ FYF Fest this September—was not already a HOF member. Consider their inclusion past due and about damn time.
Of course, all the Sammies nominees are equally deserving. The coveted Sammie award doth not discriminate.
Even that text messager Random Abiladeze is worthy. And last Friday’s jam with Zuhg bore unexpected fruit: It was the first time I’d seen a rapper perform a rendition of “Lonely Blues.”
As for my brush with trespassing: After the Harlow’s gig, I lost track of time at a local dive bar listening to a punk-rock dude describe how he ended up being held at gunpoint by New York City cops with members of Agnostic Front. By this time, I’d forgotten my bike at a nearby math-rock show, which is how I ended up with barbed-wire cuts on my arm trying to get it back.
But all ends well in the local music scene: The venue’s promoter drove the bike to my front door early Saturday morning in the back of his Volvo station wagon.
Next year, SN&R will add a “Badass Local Underground Music Promoter” category, for sure, and this dude is going to take the cake.
The fine print: This year, unlike some in the past, SN&R readers will vote on the nominees and determine the eventual Sacramento Area Music Award winners. Voting begins September 2 at www.sammies.com.
Winners will be announced at the 19th annual Sammies Awards and Festival on Saturday, October 9, from 6 to 10 p.m., which will be a block-party celebration on R Street between 14th and 15th streets, including afterparties at the Shady Lady Saloon and R15. Visit www.sammies.com for more information. Direct hate mail (or praise) to <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">{ document.write(String.fromCharCode(60,97,32,104,114,101,102,61,34,109,97,105,108,116,111,58,109,117,115,105,99,64,110,101,119,115,114,101,118,105,101,119,46,99,111,109,34,62,109,117,115,105,99,64,110,101,119,115,114,101,118,105,101,119,46,99,111,109,60,47,97,62)) } </script>. Please don’t try to MySpace me, because I don’t have an account.
Nick Miller
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2010 nominees
Critics’ Picks
SN&R Sammies 2010 Hall of Fame inductees
7Seconds, www.7seconds.com
The CUF, www.myspace.com/numberrthis
The Secretions, www.myspace.com/secretions
Album/Release
Bag of Kittens by Allyson Seconds, produced by Anton Barbeau
The Bridge by DLRN, produced by Jon Reyes
Devil May Care by Mike Farrell, produced by Dana Gumbiner and Farrell
Doom Bird by Doom Bird, produced by Robert Cheek
Full Course Meal by Blee, produced by Chase Moore and J-Intell
Matriarch by Ellie Fortune, produced by Andy Morin
Mind Candy Re-Wrapped by Mean Doe Green, produced by Jack Paper
People People by Musical Charis, produced by John Baccigaluppi
Plan B by A Lot Like Birds, produced by A Lot Like Birds
Songs for the Ravens by Sea of Bees, produced by John Baccigaluppi
Readers’ PicksReaders’ Choice
Arden Park Roots, www.myspace.com/aproots
Autumn Sky, www.myspace.com/
autumnskymyspace
DJ CrookOne, www.myspace.com/crookdocdawho
DLRN, www.dlrnmusic.com
The New Humans, www.myspace.com/
thenewhumansmusic
The Nickel Slots, www.thenickelslotsmusic.com
Prieta, www.myspace.com/prietaslays
Mahtie Bush, http://mahtiebush.blogspot.com
Sea of Bees, www.seaofbees.com
Sister Crayon, www.sistercrayon.net
Blues
Aaron King, www.myspace.com/aaronkingtheimperials
The Hucklebucks, www.thehucklebucks.com
Lee Bootz and the Southside Shuffle, www.myspace.com/southsideshuffle
Rick Estrin & the Nightcats, www.rickestrin.com
The Soothers, www.soothersblues.com
Cover Band
The Cheeseballs, www.cheeseballs.com
Children of the Grave, www.myspace.com/childrenofthegrave666
Departure, www.myspace.com/departureband
Hip Service, www.hipservice.com
The Indestructibles, www.indestructibleband.com
Pop Fiction, www.popfictionlive.com
Renegade, www.myspace.com/styxtribute
Steelin’ Dan, www.steelindan.com
Tainted Love, www.taintedlove.com
Wonderbread 5, www.wonderbread5.com
Country/Americana
Dry County Drinkers, www.myspace.com/drycountydrinkers
The Golden Cadillacs, www.myspace.com/thegoldencadillacs
Light Rail, www.myspace.com/lightrailmusic
Mae McCoy and the Neon Stars, www.myspace.com/maemccoyandtheneonstars
The Nickel Slots, www.thenickelslotsmusic.com
Not an Airplane, www.notanairplane.com
Whiskey Dawn, www.whiskeydawn.com
Dance Night
Fuck Fridays at TownHouse Lounge with DJ Shaun Slaughter, www.facebook.com/shaunslaughter
Hump at The Press Club with DJ Whores, www.facebook.com/djwh0res
Play at The Park Ultra Lounge with Peeti IV, www.facebook.com/thedjpeetiv
Risqué at Club 21 with Mike Diamond, DJ Sex &Weight, Must.Not.Die and My Cousin Vinny; www.risquenites.com
Wednesdays at Mix Downtown with DJ Gabe Xavier, www.myspace.com/gabexavier
Deejay
DJ CrookOne, www.myspace.com/crookdocdawho
DJ Filth, http://tribeoflevi916.com
DJ Larry Rodriguez
DJ Kool Kuts, http://twitter.com/djkoolkuts
DJ Nocturnal, www.myspace.com/djnocturnal916
DJ Oasis, www.djoasis.com
DJ Rock Bottom, www.myspace.com/dj_rock_bottom
DJ Roger Carpio, www.myspace.com/recordclubsacto
DJ Rated R, www.myspace.com/djratedr916
DJ Whores, www.facebook.com/djwh0res
Electronic
Ryan Lindow, http://soundcloud.com/ryanlindow
Dusty Rogers, www.myspace.com/dustyrogersmusic
Kiro, www.myspace.com/kiro111
Lifeliner+, www.myspace.com/lifelinermusic
Melee Beats, www.meleebeats.com
Psylence, http://soundcloud.com/psylence
Raleigh Moncrief, www.myspace.com/raleighmoncrief
Resynthesize, www.myspace.com/resynthesize1
Tha Fruitbat, www.myspace.com/thafruitbat
Undecided, www.undecidedonline.com
Emcee
5th Ave, www.dlrnmusic.com
A.R.A.B., www.myspace.com/alwaysriseabove
Blee
Bueno, www.myspace.com/bueno
C-Plus, www.myspace.com/cplusmusic
Dezit Eaze, www.myspace.com/deziteaze
Illecism, www.myspace.com/illecism
Izreal, www.izreal.net
Mahtie Bush, http://mahtiebush.blogspot.com
Mean Doe Green, http://twitter.com/meandoegreen
Mr. Lingo, http://mrlingo.bandcamp.com
Poor, www.myspace.com/holdenclaufield
Random Abiladeze, www.randomab.com
Ruby Ibarra, http://rubyibarra.tumblr.com
TAIS, www.taismusic.com
Experimental
The Buk Buk Bigups, www.myspace.com/thebukbukbigups
G. Green, www.myspace.com/ggreenz
Ganglians, www.myspace.com/ganglian
Pregnant, www.danielispregnant.com
Tera Melos, www.teramelosmusic.com
Folk
Blvd Park, www.blvdpark.info
Dead Western, www.myspace.com/soundsofloveandspace
Ellie Fortune, www.elliefortune.com
Kate Gaffney, www.kategaffney.com
Lasher Keen, www.lasherkeen.net
Funk/Soul/R&B
Dane Drewis Band, www.danedrewis.com
Darryl Moore, www.myspace.com/darrylmooremusic1
Fish Cat Fish, www.myspace.com/fishcatfishmusic
The Nibblers, www.myspace.com/thenibblersfunk
The Tender Cinders
Hardcore
Boundaries, www.myspace.com/boundariesmusic
Havenside, www.myspace.com/havenside
Hoods, www.myspace.com/sactohoods
Pressure Point, www.pressurepointoi.com
Take Pride, www.myspace.com/takepride916
Hard Rock/Alternative
Single Second, www.myspace.com/asinglesecondsacca
Dogfood, www.myspace.com/dogfood
Eightfourseven, www.eightfourseven.com
The Ruin, www.myspace.com/wearetheruin
Track fighter, www.myspace.com/trackfighter
Hip-hop/Rap
Aquifer, www.myspace.com/aquifermusic
DLRN, www.dlrnmusic.com
Live Manikins, http://livemanikins.blogspot.com
Tribe of Levi, www.tribeoflevi916.com
Who Cares, www.myspace.com/whocaresmusic
Hip-hop Producer
Chase Moore, www.myspace.com/twicewise
Goldfingaz, www.myspace.com/fireworksrecords
Hippie Sabotage, www.hippiesabotage.com
J-Intell, www.myspace.com/j-intell
Jae Synth, www.myspace.com/jsynth
Jack Paper, www.myspace.com/jackpaper
Jon Reyes, www.myspace.com/jonmakesbeats
Lee Bannon, www.myspace.com/leebannon
Nicatyne, www.nicatyne.com
Npire Da Great, www.myspace.com/npiredagreat
Styles 1001, www.myspace.com/ltstyles1001gtproducer
Indie
The Babs Johnson Gang, www.myspace.com/thebabsjohnsongang
Charles Albright, www.myspace.com/talkaboutcharles
Chllngr, http://soundcloud.com/chllngr
Doom Bird, www.myspace.com/doombird
The Dreaded Diamond, www.myspace.com/thedreadeddiamond
Exquisite Corps, www.myspace.com/exquisitecorps
The Kelps, www.myspace.com/thekelps
Knock Knock, www.myspace.com/knockknocktheband
Lite Brite, www.litebriteband.com
Sister Crayon, www.sistercrayon.net
Indie/Electro/Progressive
Green Audio, www.myspace.com/seegreenaudio
K Será, www.myspace.com/ksera
The New Humans, www.myspace.com/thenewhumansmusic
The Speed of Sound in Seawater, www.myspace.com/thespeedofsoundinseawater
This Luxury, www.myspace.com/toughluxury
Industrial/Rock
Chaos and Terror, www.myspace.com/cat
Death Valley High, www.deathvalleyhigh.com
Kill the Precedent, www.myspace.com/killtheprecedentktp
Savi0r, www.myspace.com/savi0r
Jazz
Jahari Sai, www.myspace.com/jaharitrio
Ross Hammond, www.rosshammond.com
Harley White Jr., www.myspace.com/harleywhite
Tony Passarell, www.myspace.com/421224638
Joe Berry, www.myspace.com/joemarcelberry
Latin
Atapaz, www.myspace.com/atapaz1
Dinorah Curkendall, http://dinorahentertainment.shutterfly.com
Los Blazing Hangovers
Luvtaxi, www.luvtaxi.biz
Sol Peligro, www.myspace.com/solpeligro
Metal
Dismal Lapse, www.myspace.com/dismallapse
DropSeven, www.myspace.com/dropsevenmusic
KnifeThruHead, www.knifethruhead.com
Master Leather Daddy
Times of Desperation, www.myspace.com/timesofdesperation
Pop
Color the Sound, www.colorthesound.com
Method Echo, www.methodecho.com
Pets, www.petstheband.com
The Reel, www.facebook.com/WeAreTheReel
Witzend, www.myspace.com/witzendrock
Punk
Another Damn Disappointment, www.myspace.com/anotherdamndisappointment
Bastards of Young, www.myspace.com/youngbastards
Blame Betty, www.blamebetty.com
Boats!, http://boats-punk.blogspot.com
Bygones, http://bygones.bandcamp.com
Final Summation, www.myspace.com/finalsummation
Our Hometown Disaster, www.myspace.com/ourhometowndisaster
The Pizzas, www.myspace.com/lovethepizzas
The Walking Dead, www.myspace.com/walkingdeadtaz
Whiskey and Stitches, www.myspace.com/whiskeyandstitches
Reggae/Jam/Roots
Arden Park Roots, www.myspace.com/aproots
The Kinetics, www.myspace.com/thekineticsrocksteady
SouLifted, www.myspace.com/souliftedmusic
Storytellers, www.myspace.com/storytellers
Zuhg, www.myspace.com/zuhg
Favorite 2010 Reunion
Far, www.thebandfar.com
Kai Kln, www.myspace.com/kaikln
Oleander, www.oleander.net
Phallucy, www.myspace.com/phallucypalace
Pocket for Corduroy, www.myspace.com/pocketforcorduroyrip
Rock
Chelsea Wolfe, www.chelseawolfe.net
Goodness Gracious Me, www.myspace.com/ggmband
Diciembre Gris, www.facebook.com/dgris
The Inversions, www.myspace.com/theinversions
Lonely Kings, www.myspace.com/lonelykings
Mondo Deco, www.myspace.com/mondodeco
Phantom Jets, www.myspace.com/phantomjets
Prieta, www.myspace.com/prietaslays
Stenographers, www.myspace.com/stenographers
Walking Spanish, www.myspace.com/walkingspanish
Screamo/Post-hardcore
A Lot Like Birds, www.myspace.com/alotlikebirds
Aloversplea, www.myspace.com/aloversplea
Carcerys Vale, www.myspace.com/carcerysvale
Dead City Sunday, www.myspace.com/deadcitysunday
Journal, www.myspace.com/journalmusic
Ten After Two, www.myspace.com/tenaftertwo
Singer-songwriter
Aaron Ross, www.myspace.com/aaronmanuelross
Allyson Seconds, www.myspace.com/bagokittens
Appetite, www.myspace.com/chiefbriggum
Autumn Sky, www.myspace.com/autumnskymyspace
Be Brave Bold Robot, www.myspace.com/bebraveboldrobot
Justin Farren, www.justinfarren.com
Kepi Ghoulie, www.myspace.com/kepighoulie
Kevin Seconds, www.kevinseconds.com
Ricky Berger, www.myspace.com/rickyberger
Sea of Bees, www.seaofbees.com
Teen Band
A Fist Full of Freaks, www.myspace.com/fff916
Dog Party, www.myspace.com/dogpartylive
Hotwire, www.myspace.com/hotwiredavis
One Eyed Rhyno, www.myspace.com/oneeyedrhynorocks
Simpl3 Jack, www.simpl3jack.com
Turntablist
DJ Mike Colossal, www.myspace.com/djcolossal
DJ Phase, www.myspace.com/reverseheaven
DJ Mr. Vibe, www.myspace.com/djmrvibe
DJ Rated R, www.myspace.com/djratedr916
DJ Luke ScratchRocker, www.myspace.com/djbeatcleaver