O.C. Music Awards Nurture the Grass-Roots

It’s not going to cure the post-Oscar blues for limo companies, couture designers or jewelry makers, but the first Orange County Music Awards today should provide a bit of recognition and community spirit for the area’s grass-roots musicians.

“We decided not to go with any big production numbers,” quipped organizer Martin Brown, publisher of Live magazine and a journalist who has been writing about the county’s music scene for more than two decades.

Brown doesn’t mind that the awards will be handed out in the 600-seat Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana instead of in a spanking-new $94-million home like the Oscars’ Kodak Theatre.

That’s because Brown’s goal has nothing to do with glitz or glamour.

“Orange County is a rich source of all different kinds of music, but everyone’s off doing their own thing,” said Brown, whose partner in putting the awards together is Allison Badger, producer of “Sound Affects,” a music show airing since the beginning of the year on Orange County PBS-affiliate KOCE-TV Channel 50. “There’s a jazz scene, a hip-hop scene, a very vibrant blues scene and all the great pop-rock bands we have, but there’s not the sense of community, of people working together toward a common goal of exposure for musicians in this area.”

The acts that have gotten national and international exposure and even a few Grammy nominations over the last decade aren’t the ones vying for Orange County Music Award trophies. The 60 contenders in 12 performance categories, running from jazz and punk-pop to indie roots and world music, are, for the most part, musicians who still play clubs and coffeehouses regularly. Two categories will recognize best song and best out-of-county artist.

Nominations come from a 20-member panel of print, radio and television entertainment reporters, talent bookers from local clubs, and promoters, who screened more than 100 CD bio-photo submissions. All the categories and nominees are listed on the event’s Web site, www.orangecountymusicawards.com.

“The only thing I don’t think we did a good job tapping into is the county’s hip-hop scene, which is so far underground they just don’t want to emerge,” Brown said. “We got just one submission from a hip-hop artist. I told him we couldn’t have a category unless we had more submissions, and he contacted a bunch of other people he knew, but we couldn’t make any progress with that.” Consequently, rap was folded with blues and R&B; into a single category.

The big surprise for Brown in a region celebrated for its punk scene was the low number of punk bands that expressed interest. “It may just be the punk attitude that awards shows are stupid,” he said.The irony wasn’t lost on Brown that the event he’s been working to put on for the last three years ended up becoming a reality just a few days after the VH1 News special, “Orange County: American Hip Factory,” celebrated the county’s punk-alternative music scene.

Net proceeds from today’s awards show will benefit Big Brothers--Big Sisters of Orange County. Brown said a debate among the event’s organizers on whether to try to raise as much money for the charity as possible or make the show, itself, the best they could resulted in spending more money on the event. “This is a first step, and it won’t be a perfect evening,” he said. “But we want to be sure to be able to do it again next year to get other things going, like symposiums where musicians can come in contact with the people who can actually impact their careers.”

As with other music awards, announcements of winners will be interspersed among live performances by several of the nominees, from alternative rock bands Nice and Scarlet Crush to South American-steeped band Alturas and singer-songwriters Jay Buchanan and Kerry Getz.

Surf-music pioneer Dick Dale will be one of the few celebrity presenters. “We didn’t want to go the route of inviting C-list Hollywood celebrities from daytime soaps that nobody watches,” Brown said. “So we have presenters like [former Doll Hut owner] Linda Jemison and [Chain Reaction owner] Tim Hill.” Dale will hand out a lifetime achievement award, the recipient of which Brown said is “a closely guarded secret.” Badger added that KOCE will give a bit of television exposure to the winners Monday at 7 p.m. on its nightly local news program, “Real Orange.”

If that gives participants a little taste of show-biz, that’s OK with Brown.

“The other thing we’re attempting is to show bands that they have to pay attention to the business side as well as to the musical side,” he said. “This sorts out the bands that are serious about what they’re doing as opposed to the ones who just want to party.”

The Orange County Music Awards will take place tonight at the Galaxy Concert Theatre, 3503 S. Harbor Blvd., Santa Ana. 7:30 p.m. $15. (714) 957-0600.