2012 Big Easy Music Awards

Marie Lovejoy, Big Easy Awards executive director, with Female Entertainer of the Year Meschiya Lake

The 24th annual Big Easy Music Awards ceremonies were held last night at Harrah's Casino amid much revelry and glitz and down home New Orleans flavor. Executive producer Margo Dubos and executive director Marie Lovejoy put together a showcase of some of New Orleans's biggest show business names and the music community came together to honor one another with a very diverse and talented line-up of stars.

Drummer Johnny Vidacovich ("Astral Project") took to the stage as the master of ceremonies for the evening as Honorary Music Chairman, arriving in a cloud of smoke and a drum set that afforded him the opportunity to emulate different styles of play. Later, he called his wife Debbie to the stage to "sing" the rules for eligibility to the tune of "Basin Street Blues" while he tapped out a beat with his drumsticks.

Top recognitions went to the Rebirth Brass Band, recent recipients of a Grammy Award for their Basin Street Records release "Rebirth of New Orleans." The Rebirth Brass Band won for the award as 2012 Entertainer of the Year, presented by their former member Kermit Ruffins as well as the Best Album of 2011 and the award for Best Contemporary Brass Band of 2011.

Jazz performer Meschiya Lake, also a presenter and last year's Female Entertainer of the Year recipient, repeated that award for 2011.

Trombone Shorty, absent from the ceremonies, won the Male Entertainer of the Year Award for 2011. New Orleans Jazz Fest executive director Quint Davis and jazz educator and performer Germaine Bazzle accepted the award on his behalf.

Irma Thomas presented the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award to Walter "Wolfman" Washington, a former member of her band. Earlier, Washington was surprised by Mac Rabennack - Dr. John - who won the award for Best Rhythm and Blues 2011 and insisted on presenting it to him as a token of his appreciation.

The 2012 Ambasadors of New Orleans Award was presented to the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, who also picked up the award for Best Traditional Jazz of 2011.

Performances by Irma Thomas and the Professionals, Los Po-Boy-Citos with Blac Sol, the Stooges Brass Band, Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue and Big History were interspersed between awards. The final jam session in honor of Washington had Washington on guitar, Ivan Neville and Dr. John on keyboards, George Porter Jr. on electric bass and Vidacovich on drums.

Special recognition awards went to Dithyrambalia for "The Music Box," a performing space on Piety Street dedicated to musicians and to the Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco-Free Living, who were given the 2012 Business Recognition Award by Margo and Clancy Dubos on behalf of The Foundation for Entertainment Development and Education, which funds the Big Easy Entertainment Awards for Theater, Music and Classical Arts.

The 2012 WWOZ Guardian of the Groove Awards were presented to volunteer Eric Ward and on-air personality Gene "Jivin' Gene" Mark for their longtime dedication to the radio station.

A special video tribute to the late executive director Gloria Powers was also seen by audience members, who remembered her dedication to making the awards shows bigger and better for the more than two decades she served. Powers died February 7 and a memorial service was held in her honor on February 17, her birthday.

Other awards presented were:
Best Gospel Choir 2011 - Tyrone Foster and the Arc Singers
Best Gospel Grop/Individual 2o11 - Trin-I-Tee 5:7
Best World 2011 - Debauche
Best Latin 2011 - Los Po-Boy-Citos
Best Mixed Bag 2011 - The New Orleans Bingo! Show
Best Roots Rock 2011 - Honey Island Swamp Band
Best Cajun 2011 - Lost Bayou Ramblers
Best Zydeco 2011 - Nathan Williams and the Zydeco Cha-Chas
Best Funk 2011 - Galactic
Best Blues 2011 - Tab Benoit
Best Traditional Brass Band - The Storyville Stompers
Best Rock 2011 - GIVERS
Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal 2011 - Haarp
Best Contemporary Jazz 2011 - Helen Gillet
Best Rap/Hip Hop 2011 - Big Freedia
Best DJ/Electronica 2011 - Mannie Fresh
Best Country/Folk 2011 - Hurray for the Riff Raff
Best Emerging 2011 - Brass-A-Holics "Gogo Brass Funk" Band

Big Easy Music Awards

In many ways the New Orleans recovery scene looks bleak. The progress being made in the Ninth Ward can be measured not by blocks, but by the erection of single houses. Lakeview looks a lot better today, but imagine that one or two houses stand on a single block, while the rest is empty space, sandlots and grass growing where beautiful houses and mansions once stood. The bulldozers and wrecking cranes have had their final say on a conservative 60% of the housing there. While FEMA trailers are for the most part gone from the scene, the homes that were so severely damaged that their tenants have permanently relocated cry out for lack of attention and upkeep in areas like Broadmoor and Mid City. But if the physical progress can be measured at a crawl, the mental return from survival mode to exuberant cheerleaders can best be seen in the arts scene. Last night while President Bush dined at Commander's Palace, the New Orleans arts community feasted on two major events. At Le Chat Noir a packed house enjoyed the Storer Boone Awards that are nominated, voted on and passed out annually by the theatre community. I was not in attendance there as I headed over to Harrah's Theatre for the 20th annual Big Easy Music Awards. The music community honored its own last night with a celebration involving live performances and mixed media. In the end 29 awards were passed out to a widely divergent set of musicians, singers, and promoters of various things having to do with musical New Orleans. Top award recipients included Al "Carnival Time" Johnson, who received the 2008 Music Heritage Award. Johnson still spends much of his time away from the city living in Houston, the city to which he evacuated just prior to Hurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans. WWOZ passed out several honors to volunteers who had helped their radio station survive the terrible times following Hurricane Katrina. Station manager David Freedman was on hand to reveal that Rolling Stone Magazine had tabbed the quirky radio station with worldwide web listernership in addition to local devotees as the Number Two Radio Station in the country. (Only subscribers and you know about this information because the magazine has yet to hit newsstands.) Jazz saxophonist Donald Harrison, Jr. received the 2008 Big Easy Ambassador of Music Award, while his former partner, trumpeter Terence Blanchard, got the nod as the 2008 Entertainer of the Year, largely based on his Grammy Award winning "A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina). Rhythm and blues pianist Eddie Bo received the 2008 Lifetime Achievement in Music Award from local legend Allen Toussaint and Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu. The droll Harry Shearer served as master of ceremonies and much of his banter reflected on his dissatisfaction with the Bush administration's response to the Hurricane Katrina relief on a local level. Newcomer Troy Andrews and veteran performer Irma Thomas received top male and female performer honors for 2007. But it was the live performances that captured the indomitable spirit of New Orleans and Louisiana. For me one of the best was the Big Easy Awards Funky All Star Band directed by Donald Harrison, Jr. and featuring Shamarr Allen, Troy Andrews, "Big" Sam Williams, Matt Perrine, Stanton Moore and Jon Cleary (who won the Best Rhythm and Blues Artist for 2007 as well) that really made me feel that I had arrived back home. There's simply no other way to describe the feeling I had as they churned out "Hey Pocky Way," a Mardi Gras Indian funk classic first popularized by the Meters. The evening ended with Lafayette native hip hopper Cupid singing his popular "Cupid Shuffle" and the entire hall standing up and moving to the directions from the singer ("to the right, to the right, to the right, to the right; to the left, to the left, to the left, to the left; now kick, now kick, now kick, now kick; now walk it by yourself, walk it by yourself.") It was a great night for New Orleans music and an even better night for the city to once again feel proud of all that it has achieved since the storm. My hats off to Awards organizer Gloria Powers and Margo and Clancy Dubos of Gambit Magazine who have sponsored this incredible local awards ceremony for the past two decades!

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