After my work is done I'm going to start an awards show that gives awards to other awards shows for the things they do well. It'll be great to recognize the way that positive reinforcement and publicity can help spur creativity, innovation and growth in almost any field.
One awards show I'll have a hard time recognizing might be the Washington Area Music Awards. What could I recognize about their 2012 ballot? Maybe I could give them an award for Most Bourgeois? Most Noise-Free? Most Generic?
How else do you honor an awards show dedicated to music in Washington D.C. that doesn't mention punk? In last fifty years, DC has been on the national music map for two things: hardcore punk rock, which developed its straight edge movement in DC and gogo, which was invented entirely in DC.
Yes, it's great that the ballot has two categories devoted to a capella music, and that these categories gave Sweet Honey in the Rock their due. Yes, it's marvellous that there are still three categories devoted to big band jazz, in case Duke Ellington should rise from the grave, but for some reason I can't help wondering if nominee "Natty Beaux" isn't even from D.C. at all...
It's good that there are four different awards given to bluegrass musicians in the area because, as much as no one here listens to or plays bluegrass music, people really don't listen to or play bluegrass anywhere else. This is cultural preservation at work. And that's great, even if the culture comes from Appalachia.
But while we're at it, let's preserve the culture for which DC is internationally known and respected. Let's recognize that there's more to the local rock scene is not actually divided into "modern rock," "pop rock," and "roots rock." The last time I saw any of those LA-generic terms in a local concert review was... well... never.
The reason we need a local awards show isn't to show how everything in DC is just like everything in LA, only not half as plentiful, popular, organized or publicized. The reason for a local awards show should be to show what's unique about a location.
Thankfully, although I had to scroll down almost the entire ballot to find it, there is a GOGO section, with awards for the best talker, group and instrumentalist in the genre. The fact that the ballot goes to the trouble of saying "talker" instead of "vocalist" is an example of exactly how an awards show should go about understanding the mess it seeks to categorize.
I'm happy to see some old friends and acquaintances nominated for awards--and am certainly excited to vote for Lucky Dub, Justin Trawick, Flo Anito, Niki Barr, Bio Ritmo, Edie Sedgwick, and Gabin Assouramou--but I'm also perplexed because, while these are all terrific musicians who contribute to the multicultural patchwork of the D.C. scene, none of them really sums up what D.C. music means to people in and outside of D.C.
For that you need to recognize not just Go Go, but also Hardcore. Bad Brains put this town on the map. Fugazi put this town on the map. There's still a scene today, all over town, and that's recognized with Dischord Records' nomination as Washington Area Record Company of the year.
But who am I telling? You know all of this stuff, Wammies. It's all in your history of the DC Music scene. In fact, in the late nineties, you even gave out awards in a lumped together category called "hardcore/punk/underground." Yes, that's fifteen years after the rest of the world started to associate DC with, as you correctly put it, harDCore, but still, better late then never.
But since then, Wammies, what's happened to you? Your rock awards are so vague and arbitrary that they don't seem to mean anything. They certainly don't rock.
Once you put together a few hardcore categories (Best Band; Best Singer, Intelligible; Best Singer, Unintelligible), it might be time to add a few nods to the avant garde scene and then, if you're feeling really brave, you might even update some of the other rock categories. Interview some rock bands. Talk to some club owners. I would bet that there are more "post-punk" bands and "indie" bands in DC right now than self-described "pop rock" bands in the entire country. I know the word "pop" is short for popular, but among rock musicians it's rather short on popularity.
Still, everybody wants an award. Nobody's going to say no to a Wammie just because it says "pop rock." If I were to one day win a wammie in "pop rock," I would do my best to feel proud and be happy I had it, and not spend the rest of my life envying Ian Svenonious for winning a real one. But seriously, by that same inconsiderate logic, Wammies, you should be proud of all the awards I've offered you above. Please comment to let me know where I can send the certificates.
