And The Winners Are …

By DAVE HAMILL
Big Shout Magazine, February 1991

After last year’s inaugural Music Poll Awards Bash at the Chestnut Cabaret, we asked ourselves, “What are we gonna do for an encore?”

The night of Tuesday, January 22 emphatically answered that question.

An event even bigger and better than last year’s highly successful affair, the 1990 Street Beat/Big Shout Music Poll Awards featured an all-star line-up of musical performers, celebrity presenters and members of the tri-state area’s music community, gathered together at the Chestnut to honor those local artists chosen by Big Shout readers as the year’s best.

This was the culmination of a three-month process that began in the November issue of Big Shout with a nomination ballot, designed to narrow the field of local musicians into a final ballot’s worth of candidates in Nationally-Signed, Independently-Signed and Unsigned categories. Results were feverishly compiled in time for that ballot to appear in the December and January issues. Since then, envelopes of all shapes and sized bearing that familiar “Music Poll 1990” moniker have poured steadily into our office. Neither rain nor sleet nor gloom of night staid our local mail courier from his appointed rounds, although on more than one occasion he seemed to be favoring his lower back.

In all, almost 1,700 ballots were received by the January 15 deadline including an astounding 270 in a single day. Several bands in the Unsigned category seemed particularly intent on winning the categories in which they were nominated, as the number of similarly addressed envelopes and identically filled-out ballots affirmed. Although this practice clearly violated the spirit of the awards, only those ballots that could be undeniably attributed to ballot stuffing were disqualified.

While we were busy counting votes, WMMR’s Cyndy Drue and Buzz Barkley were equally busy organizing the affair that would honor the winners — booking the bands, securing the necessary presenters and ordering the already-legendary Spiked Heel Awards. The Spiked Heel is a reference to Street Beat, the weekly local music show hosted by Cyndy which, according to Buzz, is “a spiked heel in the face of the industry.”

Once again, the Chestnut Cabaret was selected as host site, with the Flamin’ Caucasians serving as the house band, Tom Toones, the unforgettable lead vocalist of South Jersey rockers Gypsy Rose, agreed to reprise his comic-relief role as co-Master of Ceremonies, along with Cyndy and Buzz. Among the impressive list of local celebrities penciled in to present awards were Tommy Conwell, Kenn Kweder, Jade Starling, and various members of the Hooters, Dead Milkmen, and the Daves. Invitations were sent, members of the media were contacted, and the Big Shout staff hurriedly prepared a program to be presented to all attendees.

All of which led to the Big Day at the Cabaret.

The evening began with an hour-long private reception for nominees in all 21 categories; then the doors were opened to the public. After a brief welcome by the emcees, the stage was turned over to Baby Flamehead, who performed an engagingly loose, good-humored cover of Poison’s “Unskinny Bop.” This set the tone for the remainder of the night: kick back, get crazy and have a good time.

And so we did. First off were Kweder and WMMR nighttime D.J. Michael Tearson, who presented the awards for Best Album in the major-label and independent-label categories. Then came Mr. International himself, Pierre Robert, who presented the Best Instrumentalists in those same two categories. Tommy Conwell and Grover Washington III followed with the awards for Best LP/EP and Best Miscellaneous Instrument (unsigned), and then the curtain rose on Delaware’s Beat Clinic who performed the song that was later named “best” in the unsigned division: “Blood Makes the Grass Grow.”

Things shifted into a somewhat wackier gear shortly thereafter with the arrival of the Dead Milkmen’s Rodney Anonymous Mellencamp and Dave Blood for the presentation for Best Live Performance and Best Song (unsigned). Their brief but memorable appearance would have made Slash of Guns ‘N Roses proud. Then came WMMR’s Lyn Kratz and the Hooters’ John Lilley to bestow the honor of Best Male and Female Vocalist upon the Outriders’ Chris Arms and the Daves’ Bekka Eaton, respectively.

After an elegant performance by WMMR Ready for Vinyl winners Junior League, Big Shout editors Gregg Kirk and Dave Hamill presented the Best Vocalists in the major and independent-label categories. The Hooters’ David Uosikkinen and Fran Smith appropriately bestowed the honors of Best Drummer and Best Bassist (unsigned), then Tom Toones introduced last year’s winner of Best Unsigned LP/EP, Flight of Mavis.

Mavis’ driving performance was followed by more award presentations: in another highly appropriate selection, Pretty Poison’s Jade Starling announced the winner of Best Look; the Hooter’s Rob Hyman and Eric Bazilian doled out the Best Keyboardist and Best Guitarist (unsigned); and the Daves’ Bekka Eaton and Ronny Crawford announced the major and independent-label Best Bands.

This month’s Big Shout Showcase band, Public Service, was the evening’s final live performer — or so we thought. Their high-energy blend of ska and funk set the stage for the final two awards: Best New Group and Best Band in the unsigned category. Cyndy and Buzz were the presenters; Mystery Machine and Dark Blonde were the recipients. At that point, there seemed nothing left to do but say the requisite thank-yous and see-you-next-years and head for the door.

But wait! Just as the Cabaret patrons began filing toward the exit, Tom Toones bounded back onstage, followed closely by Bazilian, Uosikkinen, and Scott Bricklin. Faster than you could say “spontaneous jam,” the foursome were making a joyful rock noise, much to the delight of those still in attendance. They were followed by several songs later by a second conglomeration of musicians, this one a hybrid of Junior League and the Daves members. It was a perfect finish to a night of camaraderie, good vibes and friendly competition — an all-too rare occurrence around these parts.

We were proud to be a part of it, and we’re already looking forward to doing it again next year. We hope you are, too.

On behalf of WMMR’s Street Beat and everyone who worked so hard to make this year’s Music Poll a success, we would like to congratulate not only the award recipients but each of our 1990 nominees. You’re all winners in our book.