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LA Weekly Music Awards : June, 2003
On June 26 at the Henry Fonda Theater in Hollywood, LA Weekly celebrated its 2003 Music Awards in a fast-paced, performance-oriented, casual ceremony. Loyal fans of Los Angeles's local music scene lined up hours in advance to get a prime spot on the floor to watch the event. The show kicked off with a great performance from hip hop artist Kool Keith, who showed off some impressive freestyling along with his talented ensemble. Awards for several categories were presented next (see the complete list of winners below), followed by a performance by Best New Artist nominee Minibar. Although Minibar is one of the best local acts around right now, this set definitely did not do them justice. They played four of their best songs, but unfortunately the crowd really wasn't able to get a good sense of their quality due to the poor sound quality. Following Minibar's performance, other miscellaneous awards were presented, including Lifetime Achievement Award winners Hal Blaine, Sparks, and Los Lobos as well as the Jazz Eminence Award which was presented to Teddy Edwards and Ernie Andrews.
The 88 followed, with their catchy and unique Weezer-like quality that sounds like 1960s-pop-meets-today's-punk. With nine musicians on stage, plus another four women for one of their songs, they have the look and feel of a big party on stage. Unfortunately, the crowd's vibe didn't match. Whether it was the jumbled sound or the audience's mood, something seemed a little off. Following more award presentations, the show's hosts, Aceyalone, Busdriver, and Abstract Rude woke the crowd up a bit with their contagious rhythms. Elliott Smith, a highlight of the show, played five solo acoustic songs. He performed one track from Figure 8, and four new songs from his upcoming new album. After the final awards were presented, OTEP took the stage with their dark, heavy and often disturbingly emotional sound to end the show with a bang.
In short, LAWMA was a tribute to the thriving LA local music scene. Although the show could have been a bit tighter and more organized, and the sound quality much improved, it was nonetheless strong evidence of the importance of LA's inherent musical talents.
Winner's List:
- Best New Artist: Moving Units
- Best Rock Band: The Warlocks
- Best Hard Rock/Metal Band: Queens of the Stone Age
- Best Pop/Rock Band: The 88
- Best Punk/Hardcore Band: 400 Blows
- Best Rap/Hip-Hop Artist: Jurassic 5
- Best Jazz Artist: Charlie Haden
- Best Country Artist: I See Hawks in L.A.
- Best Contemporary Blues/R&B Artist: Cody ChesnuTT
- Best Salsa/Latin Artist: Cumbeley
- Best Instrumental Band: Insect Surfers
- Best New Genre/Uncategorizable: gwendolyn
- Jazz Eminence Award: (TIE) Teddy Edwards, Anita O'Day
- Best World Music/Recombinant Artist: Adam Rudolph's Go: Organic Orchestra
- Best Electronic Dance Artist: Dntel
- Best DJ Mixmeister: Cut Chemist
- Best DJ Selector: DJ Haul
- Best Radio Show: Rev. Dan's Music for Nimrods (KXLU)
- Best Rock/Pop Songwriter/Composer: (TIE) Eleni Mandell, Elliott Smith
- Outstanding Classical Ensemble/Artist: California E.A.R. Unit
Article by: Jenn Cassie
Submitted: July, 2003
Email: jennc@thelamusicscene.com
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