Wammies™ 2000 Nominations

The Members Decide
15th Annual Wammies Nomination Ballot

It’s time for current WAMA voting members to submit nominations for the 15th Annual Washington Area Music Awards (The Wammies™). The 2000 Nomination Ballot is included in this newsletter. Take time to read the Wammies Nomination & Voting Rules. Current WAMA Voting Members may click here to download and fill-out a printable copy of the ballot. After you fill-out the ballot, print and mail it to WAMA. The ballot must be received by Friday September 8, 2000. Do not return by email, all entry fields would be lost.

Your Nominations Count - Send In Your Ballot

As with any voting process, the more people who participate, the more representive the results. Your nominations are very important. Sometimes only a few votes can make the difference of an artist being added to the final ballot.

For many, the Nomination Ballot can be daunting. If you are looking for hints and suggestions, you can use previous nominations as a guide. They can be found on the WAMA website at http://www.wamadc.com/the_wammies.html. Another place to look would be some of the recent past issues of WAMA News at http://www.wamadc.com/wama_news.html. Even if you are only familiar with a handful of artists in just a few categories, send in your ballot - it counts.

Self-Nominations

While it’s true you can self-nominate, it takes many nominations to have your name placed on the final ballot. One nomination or a few nominations is not enough to qualify for the final ballot. Many people who nominate themselves receive only one or two nominations and therefore do not qualify for the ballot. Those nominations could be spent more wisely.

Do you have a realistic chance to be a nominee? If not, nominate the artist(s) you believe have made the most significant career gains. Your nomination could possibly be the deciding vote for another nominee. That will go a long way toward maintaining the integrity of the voting process. WAMA strongly encourages you to nominate more than yourself - it’s the WAMA way.

New Nomination Rules

After much ongoing discussion (see articles on pages 6 and 13), The WAMA Board of Directors has adopted two new Wammies Nomination Rules:
It should be the intention of the nominating committee to confine artist nominations to a single category of music and to use its discretion to eliminate the nomination of the same artist in multiple categories. Irish/Celtic category should be a sub category of Folk, along with Folk Contemporary and Folk Traditional,so that artists can only be nominated in one of the three categories.

Welcome New Board Members

Newly elected to the WAMA Board of Directors are Laura Jordan, Esq. and Shelley Brown.

Laura Jordan's law practice includes arts, entertainment and sports law, corporate counseling, civil litigation, and criminal defense. Ms. Jordan is the host of "Legally Speaking with Laura Jordan," a radio talk show focusing on legal issues of interest to the community.

Shelley Brown is the Sales and Marketing Director for Strathmore Hall Arts Center. She previously was the Festival Manager at The John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Board members Stacey Williams and Edward Peterson became Vice Presidents of WAMA.

Local Notes

• The Potomac River Jazz Club has been awarded a $4,000 arts-in-education grant by Target stores. This grant allows the continuation of the club’s youth education program, the Federal Focus Jazz Band.
• A new blues venue has opened in town, Smokeless Blues Room, at 617 Eye Street, NW, will feature local and regional blues artists in a (as the name states) smoke-free environment.

• SEV has signed a multi-record deal with Farmclub/Interscope Records.
• Bill Parsons has joined the artist roster at the Auburn Moon Agency, the #1 booking agency in the college market. In other Parsons news, his CD Special Delivery received a 1999 Crossroads Magazine Music Award in the Contemporary Folk Recording category. A track off the CD, Easy Affection, will be appearing on the soundtrack of the upcoming film Waterfront.
• Roger Henderson’s song A Penny To My Name (retitled from Gas Station Mountain Home) was included on the latest Eva Cassidy CD Time After Time.
• Country singer/songwriter Pamelody, whose collaboration with Rick Lutyk helped produce the CD Music Box, currently has the #1 song in Europe with Where Do I Stand (according to the European Country Music Association).
• Altavoz Distribution has been added to the WindowsMedia.com site. Jazz is now online with Altavoz Dance and Alternative music streams to follow. Washington artists are featured on the site, like the Nicki Gonzalez Band and Sin Miedo.
• Mary Sue Twohy is now running an open mic night at St. Elmo’s Coffeehouse in Alexandria, VA the third Thursday of every month.
• Ripsaw Records announces that it has licensed Alley Cat, a song written and performed by Virginia-based Billy Hancock, to Run Wild Records for inclusion on Run Wild’s Friday Nite Rumble, Volume 5 CD, a 10-song rockabilly compilation album.
• Spencer Jamieson, formerly of Sol 3 recording artists Some Odd Reason has taken over the vacant bassist position for DC area rock band and Albright Green. Spencer was recruited out of “semi-retirement” after a six-month hiatus from the music scene, and is ready to add his high energy stage presence and musical ability to the already high octane AG live show. Spencer replaces Todd Essex, who departed in January for Ottawa, Canada.

New Releases

• QuinTango has released a second CD, Secret Places. Recorded at Gizmo Studios and mastered by Bill Wolf, it is a collection of classic and contemporary tangos. Produced by QuinTango members Joan Singer and Bruce Steeg. Available at local stores, e-stores, and www.quintango.com.
• Singer/songwriter and acoustic rocker Debra Guy has released her debut album, That’s Miss Passive-Aggressive to You. For more information, go to http://mason.gmu.edu/~dguy, or email debraguy@hotmail.com.
• Al Petteway & Amy White have released Racing Hearts on their own Fairewood Studios label. Al & Amy also just finished recording their second duo CD of acoustic instrumental guitar duets for the West Coast label, Solid Air Records. Gratitude was recorded by Al & Amy at Fairewood Studios, mixed by Jim Robeson at Bias Recording Co. and mastered by Bill Wolf, at Wolf Productions. Check out Al & Amy’s site for their latest news and performance schedule: www.fairewood.com
• Richard Walton celebrates the release of his new CD Hear And Now. This project took well over two years and includes over 60 minutes of new music (with two hidden bonus tracks). Guests on the CD include: Tom Alonso, Rick Witkowski, Bob Margolis, Mitchell Shaivitz, Eugene Jubilee, Deena Gift, Brian Jarboe, Steve Swan, Randy Smith, John Dayton, Tracey Tiernan, John Grant and Tim Tamassia.
• The new Brother MANIAC EP Open Up The Door will be available September 5th and the Open up The Door hip-hop college tour will get underway in September. For shows and appearance dates visit www.brothermaniac.com or email at brother_maniac@hotmail.com.
• Inger Brinck will release a benefit CD in September that includes tracks by Ani DiFranco, Indigo Girls, Me’Shell Ndegeocello, and many others. Visit her website at www.octavesbeyondsilence.com
• Women ’N Rock, Inc. released their third compilation CD on Women ’N Rock Wreckards entilted for HER featuring 19 bands from Coast to Coast. All of the bands on the CD represent a wide variety of genres from folk, gaelic, funk, hardcore, contemporary, punk, pop and metal. For more information on Women ‘N Rock contact Women ‘N Rock by e-mail at WomenNRok@aol.com or checkout the web site at www.womennrock.com.
• Janine Wilson’s debut recording, The Blue Album recorded predominantly in Austin, Texas. Janine recruited the talents of Don McCalister to record and to co-produce, as well as to perform, on the disc. Mixing and additional recording were done with Marco Delmar at Recording Arts in Fairfax, Virginia. Joining Janine and Don are Jesse “Guitar” Taylor of Joe Ely fame on lead guitar, Charlie Larkey (Carole King and The Fugs) on bass, Ernie Durawa (Texas Tornadoes, Delbert McClinton, Willie Nelson) on drums, Floyd Domino (George Strait, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard) on keys, and former DC guitarist “gone South,” Max Evans (The Thangs and The Ugly Americans). Rounding out this lineup is San Antonio’s West Side Horns, featuring Al Gomez and Rocky Morales. Additional tracks were provided by DC’s own Chris Watling on saxophones and John Jensen on trombone as well as Marco Delmar on organ and rhythm guitar. Visit www.janinewilsonband.com.
• Glassoline is busy working at Recording Arts Studio on the follow-up to their 1998 self-titled CD. The as-yet unnamed CD is being produced and engineered by Bev Stanton and Marco Delmar. CD introduces new members Jessi Winsler on vocals and Sean Fisher on guitar.
• Chris Keup, has just finished work on an EP by Rebecca Lord (MTV’s The Real World). Chris co-wrote songs with Rebecca and co-produced the album with John Alagia. The band included Mario Sacasa, Stewart Meyers, Brian Jones, and Josh “Knuckles” Harvey.
• Singer/songwriter Cletus Kennelly’s debut CD Thread, produced by Marco Delmar and Pete Kennedy, was released in May. The CD consists of 12 all-original songs. Guest musicians include Pete Kennedy (guitars), Maura Kennedy (vocals), Lea (vocals, bass), Tamir Eid (drums), Marco Delmar (guitars, keys), Morgan Rowe (congas), Richard ‘Dahl (vocals), Steve Hansgen (bass), and Arthur Loves Plastic (drum loop). Songs from Thread can be heard on the web site at www.cletuskennelly.com .
• Pam Steinfeld is currently at work on her first CD with producer Marco Delmar of Recording Arts in Fairfax. The projected CD release date is October 31, 2000.
• The Drummstick released his CD at the State Theatre August 5th. Drummstick is also the State’s full-time front-of-house engineer.
• Vyktoria Pratt Keating has a new CD called Something About Driving. Recorded during her 1999 U.S. and U.K. tour opening for Jethro Tull, the CD also includes tracks featuring Tull members Ian Anderson, Andrew Giddings and Doane Perry performing on Keating’s songs. For more information, visit the website at www.vyktoria.com or write Diaphanous Records, P.O. Box 2324, Sedona AZ 86339.
• Cravin’ Dogs has released its first full-length CD, Roots Rock Paper Scissors. For more information, call the Dogline at 703-242-DOGS or visit the website at www.cravindogs.com.
• Steven Cutts has released his new solo CD All Alone…But Hardly On My Own. Produced by Jim Robeson at Bias Recording, the CD includes musicians Cathy Fink, Marcy Marxer, Robbie Magruder, Paul Bell, John Lewis, and more.
• Scooter Scudieri has released his debut CD, Ancient Rituals. For more information, visit the website at www.scudieri.com.
• Heavymerge has released a compilation interactive CD of 7 songs. The CD is available at www.mp3.com. For more information, visit the website at www.mp3.com/heavymerge.
• New on Adelphi/Genes Records are the Lenny Breau Trio’s self-titled CD and Little Brother Montgomery’s No Special Rider.
• Roanoke artist Bill Hudson has released his new CD, Liberty Street. Hudson also appears as an extra in the new Mel Gibson movie, The Patriot.
• Jennifer Cutting’s song, Forgiveness, has been released. Featuring the lead vocals of Maddy Prior (Steeleye Span) along with guitarist John Jennings and drummer Dave Mattacks, Cutting (who plays piano and Hammond B-3 organ on the tune) coordinated the recording session in the United Kingdom. The song was awarded First Prize at the prestigious Merle Watson Memorial Song Contest, and is available as a CD single from SunSign or as an mp3 file from Riffage.com. For ordering information, visit the website at www.kinesiscd.com/jennifercutting.
• Dandelion Wine, purveyors of New Age/World Music, has released their new CD, Book Of Mirrors.
• The Second Coming’s debut recording with Jazz Plus Recording, Brothers, All Are We, features the songwriting of Phenius PD Vincent Buyck, Sr., a neurosurgeon as well as an accomplished musician and composer.
• After six blues/rock albums, guitarist Tom Principato has released an instrumental CD, Not One Word..., with tango, flamenco, jazz, and other influences. For more information, visit www.tomprincipato.com.
• Tony De’s Naked & Smiling CD is available through or call 301-725-3715.
• DKGB & The Kremlin Crew have released a world music CD, Higher Calling. For more information visit www.geocities.com/theropics/shores/2677.
• The Larry Brown Trio has released a jazz CD Dryden Street Sessions. Recorded at National Public Radio studios and released by Lush Life Records. For more information, visit www.larrybrownjazz.com.
• Bayou Seco’s latest CD, Little Pleasures of Life, Zerx 27, features diatonic accordions, fretless banjos, 5-string fiddles, harmonica, and mandolins. For more information email bayouseco@aol.com.
• June Star’s latest CD, Songs from an Engineer’s Daughter, was produced by Andrews Grimm and Buce Falkinburg and recorded and mixed at Phase.
• Jimi Bari has released a debut CD, ooh love. Assisted with background vocals by Mike Bennett, the CD was recorded and mixed at Cue, Lion And Fox, and Omega Studios; mastered at Digital Domain by Bob Katz and at Lion And Fox Recording Studio by Rob Buhrman. For more information contact Jim Bari at 301-431-0843 or 301-523-1298.
• DCjazz has released a sampler CD featuring Bill Harris, Pam Bricker, Wayne Wilentz, Jim West, Dan La Maestra, Victor Dvoskin, Sunny Sumter, Chris Bacas, Tommy Cecil, Louis Scherr, and the Unified Jazz Ensemble. CD is free with a $3 charge for shipping and handling. For more information visit www.dejazz.com/unifiedjazz.
• Herb Tyson’s second CD, At the Heart of It All, blends the styles of country, folk, pop and blues. For more information visit www.herbtyson.com or email tyson@toward.com.