I'm A Loser, Baby

On June 24th, I went to the LA Weekly Awards. This is not a big deal, as the awards are kind of a joke and the ceremony epitomizes all that is gross in the music industry. So, of course, I wanted to be a part of it.

Kidding! Kidding... kinda. 50 Foot Wave was playing, and since Kristin Hersh is one of my musical heroes, I would endure any sort of ickiness in order to see her perform. I also had friends among the list of nominees and wanted to see The Like, an up and coming young band (and I mean young... they are all still jailbait).

The line up included those bands I already mentioned, along with Patrick Park - a wonderful singer songwriter, the metal blast of Abloom (which deservedly cleared the room; ugh), host Kennedy - a glam indie rocker who usually winds up naked by the end of the night (and this was no exception - my retinas have been permanently scarred), and the ultra cool Suicide Girls. I think they have a philosophy of "all kinds of girls can strip for you - fat, skinny, pierced, tattoed" etc... but they actually just sort of writhed around between stage events and bored me to tears. (Take me to Cheetah's any ole time for the same thing; I'll gladly throw some cash on the stage for the ladies.)

The main reason why the LA Weekly music awards are a joke is because nobody gets to vote for anything. Some of the writers for the Weekly come up with a list of artists, print it for all to see, and then those same people make the decision on who should "win." There is no actual community participation in the process, at least, not that I've been able to find. This means that generally, the people you expect to win, do win, and as a result, one will spend the entire time at the outdoor bar drinking and smoking and maybe catching some of the show being projected onto the wall behind them. And most of the "winners" aren't even there to pick up their awards anyway.

I still saw some interesting people milling about... Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo was there (they got a lifetime achievement award) and I felt like I was running into him all night long. Shannyn Sossamon was also actually into watching the bands more than schmoozing. Ummm, I can't remember who else was wandering about.

My special moment of the night involved the Twilight Singers and 50 Foot Wave, both nominees (and still winners in my book) for the evening. I've sort of accidentally gotten to know both bands over the years.

After briefly chatting with Greg Dulli (and almost stealing his cherry lollipop - although Greg would never let me get away with that)and Bobby MacIntyre, we wandered inside and I finally met Sully (the bass player who took over from my friend Scott Ford on the last leg of the TS tour but also recorded on the album). Sully, guitarist Jon Skibic and I were talking when former Throwing Muse/ current 50 Foot Waver Bernard Georges approached to say hi. Sully is a huge fan of Kristin's work, and since she was out in the motorhome with her boys till their performance, Sully didn't mind meeting a fellow bass player, especially of a band he loved. Jon, a Berklee school of music grad, had been heavy in the Boston music scene and had met Bernard once before. Then 50 Foot Wave drummer Rob Ahlers approached and expressed his appreciation for the Twilight Singers, and the mutual lovefest was in full swing.

I was only too happy to be the bridge for these talented folks - how nice to know that two bands I adore respect each other as well.

And this is why I didn't totally hate the LA Weekly Music Awards. Well, that and all the booze.