eviewing Saturday’s Madison Area Music Awards ceremony at the would be like reviewing a concert, a charity event, and a few long stories told
by your embarrassing dad all at once. Plus, it would sort of reinforce the feeling of, well, “playing awards ceremony” the way kids play house. So instead of trying to recap the whole event, I’d like to simply share a few of my notes from the evening. (Winners are listed here.) -At the end of the day, the MAMAs accomplished their stated goal as a charity that provides kids with musical instruments, and the nonprofit’s board unveiled a proclamation from Governor Jim Doyle that thanked MAMAs founder Rick Tvedt for his efforts. -According to a piece in last week’s Isthmus, I was supposed to be “entertained” by MAMAs host John Urban. -Constructive Suggestion No. 1: How about a program that includes some more info on the nominated artists – won Artist Of The Year, Country/Bluegrass Song (in a tie with The Rowdy Prairie Dogs), Folk/Americana Song, Pop Performer, Pop Song, and Rock Song. I don’t wish to trash Lucas Cates’ music (it’s decent if over-produced and not especially original pop, plus his dad, accepted the awards because Cates was on tour, looked like he could eat me with a side of lumberjack chips), but where was the line between sweeping and hogging
-There was a little reel of nominees that ran before each award. Before the announcement for the Unique Album award, everyone was treated to a reel that included a dignified recitation of fellow nominees, including (Subliminal Boner). I was glad that bands like this (it’s a bunch of guys who pretend to be German and sing these bathroom-humor pop songs) could crash the awards for a few amusing, stuffiness-breaking seconds.