By: David de Young
 Losers at the MMA Awards - Dan Israel, Dan Haugen and Martin Devaney all failed to win at the 2003 MMA's (Photo by David de Young - click for full size) |
Related links: http://www.minnesotamusicacademy.org Star Trib article on last year’s awards: http://www.startribune.com/stories/1371/3242173.html |
I forget which local musician said Wednesday night that the point of the MMA Awards is not whether you win or lose, but to get drunk. It could have been any number of them. Or maybe I was the one who said it. Does it matter?
Along with musicians, fans, journalists, MMA volunteers and several hundred of Kurt Jorgenson’s closest friends, I spent my Wednesday evening at O’Gara’s Garage in St. Paul taking in the glam and glitz (and at times shock and awe) of the 23rd annual “Minnies.” The Minnesota Vikings cheerleaders were on hand in sequined gowns serving as trophy holders, local music celebrities like St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly paraded past the clear plastic podium, and as images of Leep 27 winning “best pop artist” for the third year in a row were projected on the big screen TV’s in O’Gara’s main room, attendees who concentrated really hard while sucking on their whiskey drinks and beers could almost pretend that these were Minnesota’s Grammy awards.
I arrived around 7:15 p.m., just late enough to miss most of the V.I.P. hour in O’Gara’s front room to honor the nominees and their guests. Each nominee received two drink tickets good for a choice of wine. (That choice would be red or white from fresh bottles of Corbet Canyon, which since O’Gara’s was out of wine glasses was fittingly served in a plastic cup.)
Nominees had been told in an email that we’d get an idea of when our category would be called when we checked in. Check in was a little confusing, different tables depending on what you were, “Presenter,” “MMA member” or “Nominee.” I stood dumbly at the wrong table for a while before finally being told, oh nominees check in over there. The award schedule was not proffered to us, but a little later I was able to go back and request to look at a copy of “the script” that was on the nominee table. I was able to share this info with a few presenters who also didn’t know when they needed to be backstage to hand out their awards either.
The awards started promptly at 7:30. While Martin Devaney was entertaining crowds on the “acoustic stage” in the V.I.P. room, the first of the evening’s 53 awards, the award for “Acoustic/Folk Artist” was being announced in the other room. Good thing Devaney--who was a nominee in that category--didn’t win, as he never would have made it to the main stage in time to accept. (That award, by the way went to Katie McMahon.)
Dave Campbell and Greg Burke presented the award for R&B Artist (photo by David de Young - Click for full size)
As the awards were running ahead of schedule, Cities 97’s Greg Burke asked me to join him as co-presenter in place of his scheduled co-presenter who had not yet arrived. Show organizers, however, said such deviations from the script were not permitted and Burke was asked to pick a substitute again from among people already listed in the script. This was for the best as KQ Homegrown’s Dave Campbell, who is much funnier than I am, was to share the stage with Burke. The two radio personalities presented the award for best R&B artist during which Campbell made his acceptance speech for an absent Prince. (It’s a good thing Har Mar Superstar didn’t win in the R&B category as he’s had such a stellar year with his first major label release and worldwide tour that he’s still not back in the country!)
Martin Devaney (who lost in all the categories for which he was nominated) accepted the award for Heiruspecs, who won for Hip Hop Recording of the Year. “Because they’re on the road,” and “because we live with them,” Devaney and his roommate said as they took the stage to accept on their behalf. This was a step up for Devaney who apparently last year tried but failed to accept for an absent Paul Westerberg. As Devaney and his roommate left the stage Wednesday night, the presenter was heard to remark, “We have no idea who those people were.”
Several presenters could have used a pronunciation coach Wednesday. According to Chris Riemenschneider in the Star Trib, Mayor Randy Kelly called the Suburbs “The Suppers.” I’m not sure how many ways I heard violinst Peter Ostroushko’s name pronounced, but there were two or three pronunciations that had extra or missing [sic.] syllababbles. Dave Campbell knew how to pronounce Big Ditch Road, but in keeping with his entertainer of the night status, “Dig Bitch Road” kind of stuck after a slip of the tongue. Big Ditch Road’s Darin Wald was on hand near the bar as Big Ditch Road lost not once, not twice, but three times Wednesday night, though only two of those losses were to Kurt Jorgenson. (The third loss was to the Working Stiffs, a group headed up by Jorgenson's horn player Steve Clark, in the New Group/Artist of the Year category.)
Sherwin Linton performs a moving tribute to friend Johnny Cash at the MMA Awards (click for full size version)
To be fair, the musical acts scheduled for the evening were as enjoyable and varied as they were well-chosen. Highlights for me were Big John Dickerson when a good chunk of the audience near the front of the room got up and danced. And Sherwin Linton’s tribute to Johnny Cash was both fitting and thoroughly enjoyable. (Look for a full review of one of Linton’s shows in coming months here on howwastheshow. Check his website for dates.) It was also good to see an uplifting Flamenco performance by La Cordobesa. And damn, if the Soviettes (who won for Punk Artist of the Year) didn't rock the house.
In other award areas, local music discussion board Musicscene.org took home the New Media/Website again this year, as is apparently traditional for the site founded in 1996. Musicscene is probably without a doubt the best-known local music website, but I had thought newer media sites like http://www.mnvibe.com and http://www.dunation.com would have given them stiffer competition. In a discussion thread about the MMA’s at Musicscene, "Chris" Shawn Lee posed a question about so many repeat winners from 2002 including their own site saying, “was there that little that happened in a year?” At least voters paid enough attention to the ballot to make sure lostcausemag.com didn't win as that site is basically as defunct as its print media version. Former Lost Cause editor Mark Baumgarten apparently came out with an endorsement of howwastheshow.com in a guest appearance by phone on KQ's Homegrown program Sunday night, to no avail, however, as howwastheshow was definitely among Wednesday's losers.
"Still losing after all these years," Dan Israel, Dan Haugen, and Dan,
er David de Young make "L" for Losers sign. (Photo by Dan, er Dave Wolf)
The awards concluded with a couple more wins for Kurt Jorgenson who took home Song of the Year, and Artist of the Year in addition to the Americana Artist, Americana Recording, and Male Vocalist awards he’d already won. (His horn player Steve Clarke and Singer Maya Marshall also won in their respective categories. For an eerie foreshadowing of the actual winners, see KJB’s get out the vote page at http://www.kurtjorgensen.com/mma.htm.)
As the 23rd annual MMA Awards came to a close, it was a close call, but I did manage to get out the door just as headline act G.B. Leighton started playing.
Befuddled, amused or confused by this year’s MMA results? Help combat the tyranny of the minority and join the MMA so you can participate in next year’s nomination and voting process. See http://www.minnesotamusicacademy.org for details.
Location Info:
O'Gara's
Artist Info: Big John Dickerson, Martin Devaney, Sherwin Linton, The Soviettes
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