CEA Nominees Announced

On Sept. 22, the 2006 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards’ music nominees were announced during CityBeat‘s “StartingPoint” party at the MidPoint Music Festival. As Heartless Bastards’ frontwoman Erika Wennerstrom played a riveting solo acoustic set at J-Hall (the venue formerly known as Jefferson Hall), nominees were projected on the wall as local musicians gathered around to see if they made the cut.

This year, the categories feature more nominees than ever (at least six in each). Heartless Bastards and IsWhat?!, who each released critically-acclaimed, nationally-distributed albums in the past year, garnered the most nominations, with four nods each (both are nominated in the “Album of the Year,” “Artist of the Year” and “Best Musical Ambassador to the City” categories). Along with the usual (deserved) perennial nominees, this year featured a good number of new faces. The Earlytimers (in the Bluegrass category), Liquid Fire and Catalog Cowboys (Country), Ellery (Folk/Americana, Album and Artist of the Year), Totems (World), Crybaby (Rock), Buffalo Killers (Rock, New Artist), Ellison (Rock, Artist and Album of the Year), American Hardcore and Banderas (Hard Rock/Metal), 1000 Arms (Alternative/Indie), Suffocate Faster, Kill City, Viva La Foxx and Team Stray (Punk/Hardcore), II Juicy (Blues and New Artist), Lo-Fi and Marking Twain (R&B/Funk), The Jazz Circle (Jazz) and K-Drama and Tanya Morgan (Hip Hop) are just some of the artists up for their first awards this year.

The Critical Achievement Awards (the three categories not voted on by the public but rather the CEA nominating committee) went as follows: For “New Artist of the Year,” Buffalo Killers, Mike Fair and the Adventure Seekers, Get Sweaty, The High & Low, Wake the Bear, II Juicy, 1000 Arms and MercuroChrome scored noms. CDs up for “Album of the Year” honors are IsWhat?!’s The Life We Chose, Heartless Bastards’ All This Time, The Hiders‘ Valentine, The Minor Leagues‘ The Pestilence is Coming, Wussy‘s Funeral Dress, Staggering Statistics‘ All this and more, The Turnbull AC’s’ self-titled debut, Ellery’s Lying Awake and Ellison’s Say Goodnight, Sleep Alone. “Artist of Year” nominees are IsWhat?!, Wussy, Heartless Bastards, Staggering Statistics, Ellison, The Turnbull AC’s, The Hiders and Ellery.

To see the full list of nominees and to vote, go to citybeat.com/cea or check for a hard-copy ballot every week in CityBeat (this week, it’s on page 43).

Be sure to check CityBeat‘s blog (citybeat.wordpress.com) for bi-weekly category spotlights, where we’ll tell you about the nominees. And be sure to save the ceremony date now! This year, along with the usual array of dazzling live performances, the awards will be given out at the Taft Theatre on Sunday, Nov. 19.

More Locals Notes
· By Thursday, local music fans should be fully recovered from last week’s MidPoint festival (see citybeat.wordpress.com for our take). Just in time for … another festival! And it looks like another good one. “Live at the Brothel” takes place Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the East End Cafe, featuring an impressive collection of local and national Indie and Rock acts. The fest (which takes its name from the club’s seedy origins in the 1800s, when it opened as a “stag hotel”) starts Thursday with Junior Revolution, Sayonara Tiger, The Hawk (Louisville), AutoVaughn (Nashville) and The Sundresses. Friday, catch Catfish Haven (see Sound Advice, page 44), Spindle, Crazy Ivan, Spellbox and Small Arms Fire (Indy). Saturday closes the event out in fine style, with 500 Miles to Memphis, The Stapletons, The Seedy Seeds, Peter Adams, High Society, Your Black Star and The Scourge of the Sea (both from Lexington). Music starts at 8 p.m. and tickets are $10 (for one night), $17 (for a two-day pass) or $20 (for a three-day pass). (myspace.com/liveatthebrothel)

· Diehard KISS fans likely already know about the big “KISS Expo” Sunday at the Holiday Inn in Eastgate (cincinnatikissexpo.com). If you’re going (or just up for a night of KISS covers), head across the street afterwards for an after-party/KISS tribute at Rhino’s, presented by local Pop/Rock band, The Myths. American Hardcore, Wrecked, Another Tragedy, Crooked Rook and Moped Mafia will be playing their fave songs by Simmons, Stanley and Co., as well as some of their own originals. The show starts at 9 p.m. Pre-show tickets (and more details) are available at myspace.com/themythskissafterparty.

This article appears in Sep 27 – Oct 3, 2006.