Tickets and Budget

So, tickets are available to nominees NOW (if you're a nominee and don;t have ticket info, contact me asap at sdmusiclab@gmail.com or call/text 859-420-2007).

We're about 1/10th of our way on the journey to fully funding this project.

If you'd like to make a donation as an individual or a business, please punch the link (businesses can donate any amount and there are advertising options for promo & tax purposes).

http://www.gofundme.com/k10jsg

Thanx!

A Post from the Past

This came out on the FB page prior to the release of the nominees. Posting here now for additional clarity.

VOTING: There has been some concern voiced by several of you (including Ben Lacy's thread) that this could end up being a simple popularity contest. There's nothing wrong with popularity contests, but that's not what we're after. So, we've taken several precautions against that.

1) I've tried my best to gear this towards a celebration of the music community, not as contest. Not so much "so and so is better than so and so", but "we'd like to take this year's opportunity to honor so and so".

2) The nominations process took place by announcing it here and elsewhere. It was open to the general public, but by far the biggest "demographic", as it were, who participated in voting were music professionals of one stripe or other. That is, musicians, music retailers, music stores, recording engineers, and others in the industry were the primary voters. NOT just the band with the most mobile fan-base.

3) The final voting is about to take place. Who will be voting? The nominees ONLY. Why? This is the last filter against the aforementioned "mobile fanbase" coming in and stealing the day.

Again, this also leaves ME (and others behind the scenes, like the wonderful Heather Parrish) out of the decision process, so there are no worries of biases or ignorance of the entire community seeping in.

Soooo....coming up: We announce the nominees THIS WEEK!!!

CLARITY

CLARITY: Just wanted to clear a few things up, since its popped up several times (mostly in private messages, but I wanted to respond publicly).

I am the creator of the awards AND the producer of the event. As such...

1) I am NOT eligible for any awards.

2) I do NOT vote during the nominations process.

3) I do NOT vote during the final voting process.

I'm just struggling to put this together into a show and a sustainable program for the purposes listed (above right, under "about"). YOU (musicians, fans, retailers, venues, studios, etc.) choose the nominees and will ultimately be the reason this idea succeeds.

If it fails, well...that's on me. But I have faith that the intelligence of all 670+ of you FAR exceeds any blunders I am certain to make. And have already made.

Pat yourselves on the back. YOU are the real driving force. I'm mostly just organizing data...I'm really just along for the ride.

Thanx for letting me hang with y'all.

You rock!

"And the Nominees Are....."

best in industry:

best live music venue

Cosmic Charlie's

Natasha's

Willie's

Austin City

best music store (instruments)

Willcutt

Guitar Center

Doo Wop

Willis

best music company (CD & music sales, labels, agents, arts orgs, etc)

CD Central 

Pops Resale

Long Island Recording

best recording studio/engineer/producer

Sneak Attack/Jason Groves

Elephant Rooms/Erik Nystrom

Media Brain/Matt Ballenger

best music educator (Jay Flippin Music Educator Award)

Paulie Felice

Kevin Holm-Hudson

JD Wright

Ben Davis

best live sound tech

Phil Osborne

Matthew Florez

James Rutledge

best DJ (radio)

Dead Air Dennis -WKQQ

Joe Conkwright - WUKY

Deirdre Ransdell - WLXX

best instrument repair/builders/customization

Willcutt

RS Guitarworks

Blackrider

Currier's Music

best artist in style categories:

Americana/Folk

Maggie Lander

Michael Johnathon
Carla Gover

Blues

Tee Dee Young

Bryan Himes

D Jay Rice

Classical

Jay Flippin

Dieter Hennings

Lexington Philharmonic

Country/Bluegrass

Corey Kenton

Avery Crabtree

Scott Said & Backroads

Funk/R&B/Reggae

G-Funk

Kung Fu Grip

Dublove Reggae Band

Soul Funkin Dangerous

Hip-Hop/Rap

Hybrid the Rapper

Re-education Camp

Drix (Jordan Driskell)

Jazz/Latin/Big Band/World

Big Maracas

DOJO (DiMartino Osland Jazz Orchestra)

Soljam (Palmer Tolly, Robert Trott, Jeana Pillion, Paul Osbourne)

Pop

Rhyan Sprague

Sydney Cubit

Kung Fu Grip

Albert Oberst

Rock

All the Little Pieces

Grimsley Rose

Zen Highway

Floraburn

Singer-songwriter

Albert Oberst

Sydney Cubit

Rhyan Sprague

Maggie Lander

Cover Band/Variety Act

See Alice

Lexington Lab Band

Twiggenburys

Radio 80

Song of the Year

"Footsteps" - Albert Oberst

"Know My Name" - Grimsley Rose

"Black Horse" - Avery Crabtree & Josh Brock

best artist in performance categories:

Vocalist (female - any style)

Rhyan Sprague

Sydney Cubit

Mandy Reichert

Julia Knight

Vocalist (male - any style)

Avery Crabtree

Albert Obesrst

Vincent Grino

Drummer/percussionist

Vincent Grino

Chad Gravitt

Tony Hammons

Guitarist

Ben Lacy

Todd Stricklin

Keith Flora

Bassist

Sam Skaggs

Jason Groves

Cody Jones

James Weeks (Richard Twiggenbury)

Keyboardist

Kevin Holm-Hudson

Palmer Tolly

Lucas Hippe

Wind/Brass

Miles Osland

Adaryll Jordan

Skeets Pennington

Chase Clark

Strings (non guitar/bass)

Maggie Lander

Ben Solee

Katie Penn-Williams

Paul Reich

Yoonie Choi

"special" categories:

Community Service 

Woodsongs All Volunteer Crew

Best of the Bluegrass Festival

Kay Foley - photographer

Lifetime Achievement (vote for 4)

Michael Johnathon

Jay Flippin
Bill Monroe

Loretta Lynn
McLain Family Band

Everly Brothers
Russ Farmer (KET)

Ricky Skaggs