At a Raucous Show, LA Weekly Music Honors Go to Beck, Gray

Gamely hosted by an alternately amused and confused rapper Ice-T, the LA Weekly Music Awards started late, ran long and at times descended into chaos at the Henry Fonda Theatre on Thursday--all this in wild contrast to last year’s smooth proceedings.

Underscoring the different expectations local artists have for their audiences, the nearly three-hour show even briefly erupted in a dramatic convergence of cross-purposes during the Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs’ incendiary performance.

“Live rock ‘n’ roll ain’t so nice and pretty!” bellowed Cheetahs frontman Frank Meyer, who took his guitar into the auditorium, clambered over the seats, tossed his shoes at the stage, spit water and flung the water bottle into the crowd, then mocked the offended.

Meyer was being true to punk tradition, but perhaps more restraint was in order. He clearly unsettled some of the attendees, prompting saxophonist Big Jay McNeely (a pop-rock Lifetime Achievement winner, along with Dick Dale, Hadda Brooks and Arthur Lee) to decry the display. Still, it was the evening’s most energized moment.

The show capped a week of events surrounding L.A. Music 2000, sponsored by SpinRecords.com and promoted by the alternative news weekly. The winners, determined by the paper’s music writers, ranged from non-attending stars Beck (best pop-rock songwriter-composer) and Macy Gray (best new artist) to veterans Poncho Sanchez (best salsa/Latin artist) and Billy Higgins (who tied with Charlie Haden for jazz eminence award) to relative unknowns OO Soul (best dance music artist) and Azalia Snail, who tied with Brad Laner for best new genre/uncategorizable, even though she’s only been living in L.A. since September.

Also performing were nine other acts, including Ice-T (who rapped a new song, “Money, Power and Women”), best country artist winner Dave Alvin and best punk/hardcore band winner Betty Blowtorch.

Other winners were the BellRays, Rage Against the Machine, Eels, Jurassic 5, Wadada Leo Smith, Ben Harper, Banyan, Ozomatli, Cut Chemist, Jason Bentley, the L.A. Philharmonic New Music Ensemble, and Garth Trinidad’s KCRW-FM radio show, “Chocolate City.”