Offbeat Magazine Music Business Awards
OFFBEAT BEST OF THE BEAT MUSIC BUSINESS AWARDS RECOGNIZES VETERAN PRODUCER SCOTT BILLINGTON AND MORE..
2011 WINNERS
OFFBEAT BEST OF THE BEAT MUSIC BUSINESS AWARDS
Best Club: Tipitina's
Best Neighborhood Bar featuring Music: Mimi's in the Marigny
Best Club Owner/Manager: Miss Sophie Lee from Three Muses
Best Radio Station: WWOZ
Best Recording Studio: Piety Street Studios
Best Record Label: Basin Street Records
Best Producer: Anders Osborne
Best Studio Sound Engineer: Chris George from the Living Room
Best Record Store: Louisiana Music Factory
Best Instruments Store: New Orleans Music Exchange
Bourbon Street Award: The Royal Sonesta
Best Booking Agency: White Oak Productions
Best Manager: Howie Kaplan (Rebirth Brass Band, the Revivalists)
Best Music Attorney: Ashlye Keaton
Best Music Photographer: Kim Welsh
Best Concert Promoter: Winter Circle Productions
Best Large Festival: The Voodoo Experience
Best Festival Outside New Orleans: Voice of the Wetlands Festival
Best Neighborhood Festival: Chaz Fest
Musicians Resource Festival: New Orleans Musicians' Clinic
Best Use of Music or Musicians in Advertising: The Law Offices of W.A. "Chip" Forstall, Jr.
Music Business of the Year: Mayfield Productions
Lifetime Achievement in Music: George Porter, Jr.
Lifetime Achievement in Music Business: Scott Billington
The Best of the Beat is sponsored by Bud Light, Capital One Bank, Fox8 WVUE, Glazers of Louisiana, Generations Hall, the Joy Theater, Bernard Productions and the Hotel Monteleone, which is offering special rates to out-of-town attendees. The Best of the Beat also includes food from many of New Orleans' top restaurants including Green Goddess, Martinique Bistro, Midway Pizza, Acme Oyster House, Breaux Mart, Custom Catering, CG's Café, Cowbell, Crepe A La Carte, Galvez Restaurant, Hubig's Pies, Jack Dempsey's, Jagerhaus, Martin Wine Cellar, Mulate's, Oceana Grill, Old Coffee Pot, PJ's, Praline Connection, Southern Candymakers, Tee-Eva's, The Gumbo Shop and Whole Foods Market and more.
*Previously published by Offbeat Magazine and released on January 26, 2011
I attended this event last night and had an amazing time.
ReplyDeleteHere's what Offbeat Magazine has to say in their article published 1/26/2012.
Last night, in an invitation-only event at the Joy Theater, OffBeat roasted George Porter, Jr. and saluted Rounder Records' Scott Billington at its Best of the Beat Business Awards. Porter is this year's Lifetime Achievement in Music honoree, and he was roasted by Cyril Neville, John Gros, Papa Mali, Billy Iuso and the Howlin' Wolf owner Howie Kaplan, and saluted by his daughter, Katrina Porter-Dean and her daughter Ciera. In one of the night's funniest moments, Porter's bandmate in the Meters, Leo Nocentelli, admitted by videotape that when he gave a teenaged Porter guitar advice by phone in the '60s, "I was making it up." The evening also included a 17-minute special video on the "Life and Times of George Porter, Jr." created by WVUE Fox 8.
Billington was recognized for three decades of recording Louisiana's R&B, funk, Cajun and zydeco music for Rounder Records. He has recorded albums with Irma Thomas, Johnny Adams, Nathan and the Zydeco Cha-Chas, Beau Jocque and James Booker to name a few, and he remains involved with New Orleans music today, having recently recorded new albums with the Soul Rebels and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
Leaders in New Orleans' music industry gathered to recognize achievement in business last year, and David Freedman, station manager of WWOZ, called for members of the community to pull together for the betterment of the musicians when he accepted the award for Best Radio Station. It was a thought OffBeat Publisher Jan Ramsey echoed throughout the night as she hosted the event, and numerous winners joined the sentiment as well, including Barry Smith when he won Best Music Store for the Louisiana Music Factory. All the winners are shown below.
Ramsey welcomed the 300+ crowd and urged the music businesses to work together to create a "voice" for the music community that can lobby for their interests, similar to what's done with local political associations as the Louisiana Restaurant Association and the Greater New Orleans Hotel & Lodging Association. "The reason why these groups are so powerful in this community is that they speak and react with a united voice, which we in the music community lack," she said. "The music industry is important to New Orleans' economy, and should be recognized with a powerful message on what we do for New Orleans' culture and tourist economy."
Friday night, OffBeat will honor achievement in music with its Best of the Beat Awards at Generations Hall. George Porter, Jr. and his Runnin' Pardners will perform, along with the Soul Rebels, Glen David Andrews, GIVERS, Big Freedia, the Lost Bayou Ramblers and Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses. The reader-voted awards will be presented by Jan Ramsey and WVUE's Liz Reyes and Rob Masson. Note: Article was published by Offbeat Magazine.