Nothing feels better than finding yourself in a crowded room of people who share the exact same passion. The Austin Music Awards and Austin Music Industry Awards are two annual events that serve to honor the accomplishments of both sides of the music industry, but the main purpose is to get everyone under the same roof to share in the rock and roll spirit for at least one night a year. People and businesses like photographers, sound techs, and equipment rental companies, who are usually relegated to the dark alleyways of music industry, finally get some time in the sun at the Industry Awards. While exceptional bands who stand out amongst the thousands of Austin bands get recognized for their various categories. Special guests, local celebrities, and tenured folk heroes all coalesce into a crowd at the AMAs that is no different than an Austin Grammys ceremony. While the Industry Awards are much more scaled down than the AMAs, it makes up for its production deificit with charm and humor. Emcee, Kevin Curtin, was an absolute riot, introducing presenters with gusto, and bombing on as many jokes as he hit. The house band, the former Berkshire Hounds, is led by Jim Campo who curates each intro song to the winner in a comedic way. Businesses like Antones, Mohawk, and South Austin Music accepted their awards in large groups while Michael Corcoran, Trish Connelly, and Katrina Barber and won their singular awards in style. The highlight of the night was Craig Stewart accepting his Music Industry Hall of Fame award with his partner King Coffey. Here is a full list of the winners: https://www.austinchronicle.com/austin-music-awards/year:2017/category:industry-awards/
The AMAs are a much more formal affair than the Industry awards and take place at ACL Live. A variety of artists all took home awards like Trouble in the Streets, Jimmy LaFave, Shinyribs, and many more. Mayor Adler was present to lend his political capital to the Live Music Capital of the World. Individual musicians received awards for their musical technical prowess, while bands like A Giant Dog had more fun with it – i.e. a friend of AGD came out in drag and pretended to be front woman, Sabrina Ellis, by making out with other band members. The best part of the AMAs, as most attendees will tell you, are the performances which run the gamut as far as different genres represented. Yet the main highlight came with Fiona Apple seemingly appearing out of nowhere to perform for the Austin crowd. Here are a list of the AMA winners: http://ama2018.com/2017-winners/
While some might scorn awards ceremonies for the glad-handing and ego-stroking involved, the AMAs and Industry awards feel like community above all else. As institutions that continue to evolve, both awards shows are a necessary glue that serves an annual holiday to keep the extended family of Austin music people cohesive and strong.
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Fiona Apple http://slackerlee.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/DSC_1063-1.jpg
http://slackerlee.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/DSC_1055-1.jpg Andy Langer at the AMA
http://slackerlee.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/DSC_0945-1.jpg Michael Corcoran
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