Photo by Matt Fricovsky. Click here for more.
To say I was thrilled to be on stage once again co-hosting the Hoboken Music Awards would be a severe understatement. Dozens and dozens of new music, new bands, new inspirations poured into the HMA’s inbox. This may have made the task of sorting thru the nominees more complicated, but it also allowed me to discover a plethora of amazing new music.
I’ve been fairly outspoken over the years about both the vibrant cache of great talent in Hoboken as well as the increasing difficulty for that talent to find places to play. Never was that more clear than this year. Even the day of our big party saw three (count ’em … three) separate events thru the day at Maxwell’s.
However, I’m not going to harp on the lack of places to play right now. Instead I’m putting a positive twist on it to say that there are way more musicians who want to play Hoboken than the city can handle. And each year HMA founder (and host of the long-running Peoples Open Mic in Hoboken) Dave Entwistle and I do this, we find more.
We’ve also proven that — despite what many bar owners and cover-band promoters would have you think — there are still plenty of people who love and want to hear original music. We know this because each year we sell out whatever venue hosts the event.
The HMAs are like water; pour us into any venue and we’ll fill it.
By the time our first band was done with their set, the back room of Maxwell’s was already at capacity. This was fantastic for our egos but, since we didn’t have pre-sale tickets for the event, it did kinda sucked for those who could not get in. We tried the best we could to keep the crowd shifting enough to let as many people thru the doors as possible. We apologize to anyone who got locked out. We’re already working on ways to avoid this next year.
It was an amazing night of music with performances by:
- Motorboat
- Stephie Coplan & The Pedestrians
- The Micks
- The Fave
- The 65′s
- Cecilia Celeste
- Plus DJ Mike C
Of course, there were the awards. The Hobeys. Not so much a measure of who was better than who (or is it whom). More so this was our way of honoring those who continue to make the Hoboken music scene thrive. And the amount of nominees to choose from in 2011 was quite literally mind boggling.
Still, decisions had to be made and, thanks to our judges (and the Hoboken music-buying public), a proper list of honorees came to be. But first, allow me to introduce you to this year’s esteemed troupe of judges. Without them, none of this would be possible:
- Lindsay Klein from WDHA
- Tris McCall from The Star Ledger
- Brian Phillips from WRXP
- Dan McLoughlin from Garden Street Music
- Steve Shelley from Sonic Youth
And finally, after the laborious task of listening to great music and tallying votes, here are the 2012 Hoboken Music Awards Honorees:
- Outstanding Female Solo: Karyn Kuhl
- Outstanding Male Solo: Khaled Dajani
- Outstanding Band: Stuyvesant
- Outstanding EP: “Waking Lights” by Waking Lights
- Outstanding Album: “American Anthems Vol 2″ by The Milwaukees
- Outstanding Video: “Folk Song #2″ by The Nico Blues
- Outstanding Scene Contributor: Lea Noelle Simone (The Pier Sessions)
- Peoples Choice: Stephie Coplan & The Padestrians
Now, I need to talk about that last award. For me, Peoples Choice says the most about why we do this. With over 2,100 unique votes cast, it is absolute and blatant proof that people in Hoboken are still very passionate about real, original music.
During the final 24 hours, the top vote getters were in a heated battle. The winners, Stephie Coplan & The Pedestrians received an astounding 400 new votes in the last day alone.
With each year getting bigger and better, I’m psyched already for next year. 2012 promises to be huge with more events than ever and a pumped up website.
Stay tuned for all the juicy details.
