While watching the CMAs (I watch religiously every year), I got to thinking about Ada and how much, with the help of HMA, the live music scene - music and arts in general, really - has changed over the last year or so. Everything is so Austin/Nashville now, which is wonderful! But I've been thinking that now may be the time to up the ante.
As a musician, it's probably safe to say that, like me, you dream of being at one of these annual awards shows - CMAs, Grammy's, MTV Music Awards, and so on - and hearing your name being called, wondering what it feels like to be recognized for your hard work by not only fans, but mostly by your musical peers, who are in the crowd cheering you on. What would it be like to get up on that stage and be able to thank every person who has helped you in your musical endeavours, who inspired you, and what you strive to do in the future year to come. These award shows are very important in the music industry. They were created to celebrate each other, and not just your own success, which is something you can never have to little of - love, respect, and praise for your musical peers.
That being said, I motion that we start having an annual musical awards show for Ada musicians. I would love to put together a board or council, and help make this a reality. Here's how I think we should do it (All of these things would be better determined by the council once they are up and running.):
What it would consist of:
1. A Counsel and Counsel Voting - on everything - where the event will be held, who will host, who will present, who make up the award categories, and what categories there will be, as well as any other deciding factor - the council will determine it together and vote.
2. Members - A member would be recognized as someone who has - within the association year (from the day after the awards show, to the next years awards show) has performed at least 5 live shows somewhere in Ada. The shows that count would be: live music at a venue, a competition of some kind (Colgate country showdown, Ada Idol, Blake Shelton Showdown, Ada's Got Talent, etc), a music festival, whether it be Ada Fest, Happyland Music Festival, or something like the 1901 Fest to even smaller festivals held by ECU, ect), performances at the McSwain Theater, and any other live music that is accessible to the public.
Members, along with the council, will vote on who wins what awards. The would also get to walk the red carpet (because YES there will be a red carpet and photo stop spots, just like the big awards shows. This is half the fun! So musicians could really get a chance to get all dressed up in their best formal wear!), and also get two seats in the reserved section for members. Only members can vote, and surely we can find some other awesome perks for being a member. Membership would be free.
3. A host/hostess - If you have never seen an awards show and what role the host plays - or what happens in general- check out the CMA awards on Youtube.com. Just google Country Music Association or CMA awards full show. I'm not sure if this year's is on google yet, but I know last year's is. We could even switch up the host/s every year to keep things fresh, or vote to keep the same host. There has to be someone witty enough who can bring this event to life for us! *Joey*Hint hint*
4. Presenters - They would be members, council, venue owners, or anyone associated with music, or live music in Ada. They will be the ones to talk up the nominees, and reveal the winner of the category. This would be a great way to include our wonderful venues as sort of a thank you for having us!
5. Awards/Nominees/Winners/Categories - of course they wouldn't be exactly the same as the big shows, because we aren't on the radio, and we also want to appreciate each other at this event, so I would suggest categories like - Most live performances 2015, Most collaborations, Best cover version, and such. Categories like these would hopefully light a fire and get us out and about more, and give us a little friendly competition during the year, and will also make artists that may not be on the live scene yet want to jump in head first.
We could also still have these categories - female vocalist of the year, male vocalist of the year, vocal group or duo of the year, best new artist of the year, and (the big one) Entertainer of the Year. And we can find some awesome awards somewhere to hand out and let our winners give a thank you speech!
We could also still have these categories - female vocalist of the year, male vocalist of the year, vocal group or duo of the year, best new artist of the year, and (the big one) Entertainer of the Year. And we can find some awesome awards somewhere to hand out and let our winners give a thank you speech!
6. Performances! - You can't have an awards show without them! And this would a wonderful way to incorporate every genre of live music we have out there. We could start with acoustic sets and end with a couple full bands, each musician/artist doing one song each. Who performs would be voted on by the council. Also, this also leads to some sweet collabs.
Places this could take place: any theater-like setting with a stage. The McSwain would be a great place to eventually have it, but we could probably get the ECU Theater. I would love to hear suggestions!
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So, I know this seems like a lot, but really, it's just one day for most everyone involved except the council. All you would have to do, really, is put on your best dress, stroll the red carpet, take lots of pictures with your musician friends, get awarded, hear awesome music, and possibly go to a sweet after party somewhere! Sounds pretty legit to me. And what would this do for us as musicians, or even for the community? I'm glad you asked.
How this would affect Ada and Adans:
1. One united front - musicians everywhere seems to always be in competition, stepping all over each other, grabbing at the venues wanting the best shows for the best pay. And don't get me wrong, as a musician, I would love to have a show every Friday and Saturday night that pays $400 a gig. However, we often forget about building each other up, instead of breaking each other down. This could be an epic opportunity to unite and show each other how much we appreciate each other's talent and music, whether we are in the same genre or not. It also shows the community that we aren't just a bunch of selfish you know whats. Because we aren't, and we shouldn't be perceived that way. I would much rather have something like this than a battle of the bands. I want us to root for each other, and be happy with each other's success. It would be a night of much needed positivity, especially in today's world.
2. If we need funds to do this, we can raise them by charging non-members at the door. Once we have what we need, we can donate the rest to charity. Everyone wins.
3. New artists/musicians who may not be on the live music scene yet will DIE to become a member so that they may be nominated as well and partake. That means they will have to push themselves to GET OUT THERE and PERFORM. And new members ultimately means new fans as well. Once again, everyone wins.
4. Hopefully this would become something that all of Ada talks about. Maybe eventually we could have a radio road crew attend, have media coverage, and maybe have the newspaper run a story like they did when Joey and I did Moore Love. If we get to name our Nominees, that just more publicity for you. We may even be able to get more venues, get better well known by name/band name around town, get more fans, and the list goes on.
5. Once again, Venue recognition - Our venues are more important than we are, believe it or not. Without them, we would never have shows, never be seen. We should be able to publically recognize them at least once a year... don't you think? We could add a special section of the awards show to do just this, as well as recognize all the charities that our local bands have helped out by donating their time and musical talents. This get's out venues more well known, as well as they charities that desperately need more public recognition.
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There's so much we can do with this, and there's so much fun to be had. Maybe we can even get HMA to play a big part in this, since they are the ones that have really raised the bar for live music in Ada.
One thing I will say though regarding HMA:
One thing I will say though regarding HMA:
I don't want to have this in place of or at the same time as Happyland Music Festival. I don't want to take away from what it is and what it's meant to be. This usually takes place in the summer, and is more laid back and... well, you know if you have been. :) I would like the awards show to take place around September or October, and would like it to be formal or red carpet ready. Why?
We NEVER get to dress up! So, please, let me know your thoughts about this and if it's something that you, as a live performer in Ada, can get down with. Leave me some comments or feel free to email me at thetessahouse@gmail.com.
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| Because this dress. That's why. |
Hope to hear from you all soon!
-T
