I wasn't sure what to expect when arriving to the event at the Crystal Ballroom with fellow NW Noise Boy Jason Gears and Jeremy, high school friend and former lead singer of L.A. metal bands Ruin and Ragged. There were certainly a lot of lavishly dressed individuals and lots of 'red carpet' interviews as I waited to get my tickets. Surely last year's negative press had not turned off everyone to the idea of the show. In fact, everyone seemed to be having a really good time.
The evening opened with the March Fourth Marching Band, arriving on stage with colorful costumes, baton twirling, and guys on stilts, an impressive opening for any show. Tea For Julie played "And Winter Comes" from their album The Sense In Tying Knots, one of my favorite indie albums of 2008. Good friend Debra Arlyn, winner of last year's PMA for "Best Female Artist," played twice. Floater, who I hadn't seen live in years, rocked the crowd. And deserving winner of the Pioneer Award, Mel Brown, was joined on stage by Ben Darwish for a jazzy number (I just received a copy of Ben Darwish's new album in the mail and I'm looking forward to checking it out).Host Chloe Houser from PDX TV could do just about anything and look good doing it, while co-host Auggie Smith played awkward comedian presenter perfectly (not sure if that was intentional or not, however, Auggie did have a couple of funny bits). Plenty of local celebrities made appearances as presenters during the evening, including KATU's Dave Anderson falling off of the stage, Kelsey Grammer-style.
And now, to the bad of the evening...
First, the voting process was incredibly ill-advised. Individuals were allowed to vote up to 5 times per IP address for their favorite nominees in a variety of categories. It seems to me that this would skew the results towards fans of bands that had nothing better to do with their days then vote multiple times. I regularly use 3 different IP addresses myself, giving me 15 votes without even trying. Nevermind me being able to use my roommates' computers, another office computer, the computer at the library, going into a Starbucks and logging in there. If I wanted to, I very easily could pick all the winners myself with just my votes. Doesn't seem like the best way to do things. And I don't want to specifically attack any particular band here, but some of the night's winners simply do not represent the best of Portland.
Second, some of the awards seem very unnecessary. After KINK won the PMA for "Best Radio Station," my friend Jeremy leaned over and said to me "I'm pretty sure a radio station just won an award for playing music." And I'm not really sure how a PMA for "Best Performance By A National Touring Act" is supposed to represent the best of PDX. As much as I love the winner, Ben Harper, does this award really mean anything to him? Or Portland?
Finally, there's the evening's organizer, Craig Marquardo. I haven't met the guy, so I'm not going to attack him or his alleged shady past. However, his need to address the negative press he receives while on stage for an event that is supposed to celebrate local music was very uncomfortable. This simply was not the venue to express his frustration. It was awkward and inappropriate. Should Mr. Marquardo choose to do this ceremony again next year, I sincerely hope that he makes his defense using another venue, leaving the award show as an evening to honor Portland music.
If you didn't make it to the show (and a lot of you didn't because there were a lot of empty seats), you can check out the event at Comcast OnDemand starting February 16th. I encourage those of you who have the time to watch to do so with an open mind and make your own opinion.
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