Another OEAA’S In the Books
Rock Paper Dynamite
Another OEAA’s In the Books
By MarQ Manner
The Omaha Entertainment & Arts Awards handed out 53 awards in performing arts, music, and visual arts this past Sunday at the Hilton in North Downtown. The awards show was attended by close to 500 artists, ac- tors, musicians, patrons, and fans. I am the Music Nominating Co-Chair for the OEAA’s. In the music categories we gave away 16 awards to celebrate accomplishments in live and recorded music over the past year in the Omaha and Lincoln area’s. The final award recipients are done through a process that involves public nominees, small academy final nominees, and a full academy of music professionals, sound persons, fans, venue operators, music writers, and music store employees casting ballots. These are sent to the accounting firm of Hancock & Dana to be tabulated prior to the event.
The awards show this year ran pretty smoothly. We of course had a few technical glitches at the beginning, but were lucky enough to have hosts Andrew Ek and Katie F-S who can cover pretty much anything on the fly with their wit and personalities. Music performances from Rock Paper Dynamite, Tara Vaughan, and Somasphere featuring Galvanized Tron were all well done and well received. Rock Paper Dynamite even went a little rebellious and played two songs when they were only allotted one. The whole show had a bit more loose feel and while those involved wanted to keep things running as tight as can be, there was a lot of room for people to be who they are.
The big award recipient of the night was Omaha hip-hop artist Galvanized Tron who took home not only Best Hip-Hop, but also Artist of the Year. He is the first hip-hop art- ists to take the Artist of the Year trophy home in the OEAA’s six-year existence. One of Omaha’s most well known musicians Bright Eyes received the award for Best Album with their 2011 album the People’s Key.
Best Ethnic went to ska band the Bishops, while best cover band went to the McGuigin Brothers project Yesterday & Today which is a tribute to the Beatles. Best Singer-Song- writer/Adult Alternative went to All Young Girls Are Machine Guns and best indie went to the recently signed Conduits. Icky Blos- soms won in best Electronic Dance Music/ DJ and Rock Paper Dynamite won as Best Rock. Best Blues and Best Country Ameri- cana/Country went to past year recipients of OEA Awrds Kris Lager Band and Matt Cox respectively. Lincoln artists Jazzocracy won Best Jazz, and also from Lincoln, Lucas Kellison & the Assembled Soul won for Best Soul/R&B/Gospel.
The Best New Artist went to Snake Island! who showed attendees at the Slowdown after party just why they were deserving of that award. The Best New Artist award was one of the strongest categories in my opinion and one that bodes well for the future of the Omaha music scene. Another very strong category was Best Hard Rock which was taken home by Broken Crown. In a new category this year Progressive/Experimental/Funk, Satchel Grande became the inau- gural recipients. It was nice to see a successful year for the Omaha Entertainment & Arts Awards from the Summer and Fall music showcases to the OEAA Visual Art Nominee Showcase at Hot Shops to the award show itself it keeps running smoother every year and the support has stayed strong. We start the process again very quickly as a new board is elected and we start planning the Summer Showcase in Benson. Bands are free to throw their rings in the hat at anytime by emailing me at marq_manner@yahoo.com.
MarQ Manner has been involved with music in Omaha his entire adult life – from managing and booking bands to a 15-year run as manager at Homer’s Records to writing a local music col- umn for the past 11 years. Currently, Marq is the Music Nominating Chair for the Omaha Arts & Entertainment Awards.