L.A. Weekly Music Awards Reflect City’s Rock Diversity

X, Firehose and House of Freaks were among the big winners Wednesday night at the second annual L. A. Weekly Rock Music Awards ceremony at the Wiltern Theatre--but the real story of the evening was the diversity of the local scene.

The live performances at the 2 1/2-hour show stretched from the hard-edged street chronicles of rapper Ice-T and neo-mainstream rockers Concrete Blonde to the tender, yet clear-eyed shadings of a solo acoustic set by X’s John Doe to the winking self-parodic hard-rock of Redd Kross.

At the same time, the evening stressed that the local scene--much like Los Angeles itself--is a community without a center. On one hand, local music seems particularly vibrant on many fronts--punk, country, folk, funk. But at the same time, the different factions tend to be separated from each other, giving the impression that, as Gertrude Stein said of Oakland, there’s no there there.

But Wednesday, X seemed very much the cornerstone of L. A. rock.

Though the veteran quartet’s early ‘80s status as the most acclaimed band in the city was claimed recently by Los Lobos, X emerged as the big favorite in the awards competition, which is based on a poll of Weekly readers.

X was named best band and its “See How We Are” album was voted the best major-label release of 1987, while bassist Doe won in both the singer/songwriter and male performer categories and singer Exene Cervenka shared the female performer award with Concrete Blonde’s Johnette Napolitano.

Why X instead of some newer and hot properties like combustible-metal rocker Jane’s Addiction, arty alternative rockers Firehose (which won the best independent album award for its “Ragin’ Full-on” or the warm, roots-oriented Los Lobos?

“X really captures the Los Angeles frame of mind” said an elated, though somewhat surprised Doe backstage after accepting the male performer award. “It’s like there’s something beautiful right there over the mountains, but you have to cut through all the smog to get there.”

For all the diversity on the local scene, it’s mostly a diversity of white musicians. Ice-T was the sole black performer on stage Wednesday and three elements of black music were shoved into a single category: rap-soul-funk.

Ice-T was nominated in the category, but lost to the white punk-funkers Red Hot Chili Peppers.

He said backstage that it has been hard to cultivate any kind of interaction between the rap and rock scenes in Los Angeles, but that he is still proud to be considered an Angeleno artist.

“We represent L.A. on the rap scene,” he said, noting that people outside of Los Angeles seem to have more appreciation for L.A. acts than local fans do. “I spend all my time campaigning (around the country) for L.A.. People here get spoiled. They see so many good acts out here. If you do too many shows people back out: ‘I know Ice T. He lives up the street from me.’ ”

The music community’s lack of focus and laissez-faire attitude was also mirrored in the casual nature of the show itself. Host Peter Zaremba, leader of the New York band the Fleshtones, was faced with repeatedly having to stall or improvise as presenters and winners missed their cues.

When best country artist award winner Dave Alvin and the Allnighters performed with Rosie Flores, Allnighters bassist Gil T. didn’t even reach the stage until the second verse of the first song.

But that informality seemed appropriate for this locals-only affair. Grammy and Oscar show producers note: gaffes notwithstanding, the event still finished 35 minutes ahead of its scheduled three-hour running time.