The 2016 Asbury Music Awards

Scott Stamper of The Saint (Top Music Venue, Small), one of the organizers and behind the scenes faces of the Asbury Music Awards

Thanks and Congrats!

OK. I'm not sure how detailed I can be in this post. I was half working / half hanging around with friends last night, but here are a few notes.

Host and Top Comedian, Taylor Allen

Corrina, Corrina kicked things off. It was cool to see them play, which I haven't in quite some time, and then take home the "Top Young Band" award again. I had to tell them, though, that when they turn 40 next year, they'll no longer be eligible. Sad.

Corrina, Corrina

There were several other memorable performances. The Vansaders (Top Punk Band) played without a pause during their set and managed to fit 7 or 8 songs into the 20 minute slot. Seaside Caves, who I don't get to see enough, blew me away. Again. Paul Ritchie of gods expressed a little nervousness about their set early in the evening, but the band won over the crowd quickly and also took home several awards (don't forget to check them out this Sunday at The Saint when Little Dickman Records and CoolDad Music bring you The Blind Shake, gods, and Psychiatric Metaphors for just $5!). The sound and production were on point all night, and every set -- Waiting On Mongo, Frank Lombardi, Colossal Street Jam, Shady Street Show Band, Daughter Vision, Cranston Dean Band, Predator Dub Assassins, whoever I'm forgetting -- looked and sounded amazing.

The Vansaders

Shady Street Show Band

gods

Daughter Vision

Our good buddy, Gentleman Jim Norton, won for Top Production / Lighting for his work over at House of Independents and kept his remarks very short in the interest of keeping the show running on time. Always working.

Jeff Crespi took home the Top Photographer award for the fourth year running. He made another heartfelt speech about how meaningful it's been for him to be accepted as an active participant in the Asbury Park music community. I can identify.

Christine Feola of House of Independents and Dark City Entertainment gave a sort of "State of the Scene" address, concluding with "There are a LOT of fucking bands in this town." And that is one of the truly amazing things about Asbury Park and its surrounding areas. There are literally 100s of bands in all genres -- some, admittedly, that get more recognition from "the scene" than others -- working, creating, and playing.

Christine Feola

That's something special about our area. It's easy to get jaded and take it for granted. But, in how many other places outside the big cities of this country can you say, "I feel like seeing some music" on a Monday or Wednesday night and just be able to do it?

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners and to everyone who made and supported music in 2016.

Finally, I'd like to say thank you to Asbury Park, The Asbury Music Awards, and everyone who voted for the three awards that CoolDad Music took home last night: Top Website, Top Publication, and Top Journalist for me. I've said this before, but I do appreciate every second that anyone chooses to spend on this site. I don't do it for awards or recognition, but I'd be remiss if I didn't say that it was a nice shot in the arm for those times when I wonder what the hell I'm doing. Thank you again for all of the support and for all of the inspiration.

I'm assuming that Asbury Music Awards will post a complete list of winners shortly. You can check the CoolDad Music Flickr galleries for the pictures I took when I remembered to take pictures.

Thanks, Asbury Park!

Asbury Music Awards

I wanted to write a quick note expressing my gratitude for the outpouring of support I received last night for CoolDad Music. Not only did CoolDad Music receive awards for Top Website, Top Journalist, and Top News Publication; but also, several of you came up to me personally to tell me that you like what I'm doing here. That means more to me than I could ever say in any acceptance speech.

I'm not a musician, but I think I can identify a bit with the feeling of working on something day and night for no other reason than a love of doing it. While awards are a wonderful form of validation, the fact that you can make even a small amount of time in your life to do something that you love is a reward in itself. I would like to extend my congratulations to all of the winners, nominees, and even those who weren't nominated. Each one of you is making time to do something that feeds your soul; and, in doing so, you're feeding the souls of others. That is a wonderful thing, and you don't need an award to tell you that.

I'm telling you. In the way that people came up to me last night and told me that what I do here means something to them, I'm telling you that what you do means something to me. If I didn't have the opportunity to go out and watch you all play, I honestly don't know what I'd be doing with myself.

Thank you to all of you. Thank you to the Asbury Music Awards. Thank you to the musicians whose work I need in the same way I need food, water, and sleep. Thank you to the other photographers who I learn from every day, whether by looking at your work or nerding out with you at a show. Thank you to the other writers who constantly set me on the path to finding new music. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this site -- Allyson Dwyer, Henry Lipput, Scotch LaRock, countless guests and bands who have contributed reviews and year-end lists, and photographers who have shared their work here. Thank you to all of the venues for providing a space for great music and for rarely giving me a hard time about bringing my camera. Thank you to everyone who has worked with me on fun extracurricular stuff like putting on shows and making videos. Thank you to my family for putting up with my obsession. Of course, thank you to anyone I may have forgotten.

And thank you to everyone who spends any time at all on CoolDad Music. I'm going to keep it up here as long as I can.

I'll have some photos of last night's festivities a little bit later.

Happy 2016!

Photo Highlights of the 2014 Asbury Music Awards

Not gonna lie. This may be my favorite shot in a while. Hot Blood / Fog.

Another Great Year in Asbury Music

Just some highlights of what I managed to see at this year's 22nd Annual Asbury Music Awards. I don't think I did too bad considering that I arrived late and spent much of the evening enjoying sarsaparillas with friends.

This is just a selection of shots. The rest, as always, are up at Flickr. Once again, congratulations to all of the winners and nominees. Congratulations to Glen Burtnik on his engagement.

I'll see you at a show.

Watch Hot Blood Play a Song from Overcome, Part I at the 22nd Annual Asbury Music Awards

"Rust"

On Thursday night, The Stone Pony played host to the 22nd Annual Asbury Music Awards. CoolDad Music received nominations in two categories; and, though we didn't take home any little microphone thingies, it was amazingly humbling and gratifying to hear the cheers as the site's name was read from the list of nominees and to see so many of our friends take home awards.

Deal Casino and Brick + Mortar had a big night. Some familiar faces around here like The Battery Electric, Speak Into My Good Eye, Corrina, Corrina, and Dentist took home awards. Glen Burtnik got engaged onstage. There was a moving tribute to Steve Tambone, member of many local bands (most recently, the drummer for River City Extension), who passed away last week.

I'll have pictures and maybe a longer recap a little later.

Another of our friends, Hot Blood, received the award for Top Punk Band. They've got a new EP called Overcome, Part I on the way. I managed to record their performance of new song, "Rust," which will be on that record. If you'd like to see them play it live, you can catch them tonight at The Brighton Bar when they play with The Dickies, Night Birds, Sex Zombies, F-Bombers, and KNIF. Hot Blood are on first, so get there early.

Watch the video from last night below, and check out the full list of Asbury Music Award recipients here.

2014 Asbury Music Awards Nominations

We're Nominated This Year

On Friday afternoon, we got this year's list of nominees for the 22nd annual Asbury Music Awards. There are something like 40 categories covering everything from music to music journalism to sound engineering to "Best Thing To Happen In 2014."

Several of our friends here -- Dentist, the Little Dickman roster of bands, Speak Into My Good Eye, Gentleman Jim Norton, all the venues, and many more -- received nominations. CoolDad Music received two nominations for which I am beyond grateful: "Top Website / Facebook In Support of Live Original Music" and -- curiously, but no less appreciated -- "Top Radio / Internet Station In Support of Live Original Music." I'm taking the second nomination as a sign that I need to get the CoolDad Music podcast off the ground in 2015.

As is always the case with these things, there were some oversights in the nominations. I just want to say that every, single person who contributes to the music scene in and around Asbury Park -- nominated or not -- really and truly makes my life better every day. Please know that without the hard work of EVERYONE involved in playing, putting on, writing about, recording, photographing, promoting music in this area, your CoolDad would be a much less happy boy. I'm sure that's true of every one of the music lovers in our area.

This year's awards ceremony takes place at The Stone Pony on Thursday, December 18th. Taylor Allen hosts, and the show features performances by:

Eastbourne
Hot Blood
Negative Sky
The Battery Electric
Lords of Mercy
Deal Casino
Matt Wade
Francis Lombardi
Bobby Mahoney & The 7th Son
Sofia Nicole

Coincidentally, December 18th is also CoolDaughter #2's 8th birthday. I'll see you all at the show after cake.

Thank you once again to the Asbury Music Awards for the nominations. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who has ever visited CoolDad Music and spent even a second of your valuable time with us.

Congratulations and thanks for a fantastic year to everyone who makes our local music community what it is. Keep it up. I need you. I couldn't live without you.

Holiday Classic Edition

Big Meet Weekend Friday

Great night at the Asbury Music Awards last night. Congratulations to all of the winners (pdf). It was a lot of fun catching up and celebrating with so many of the people I've seen or written about in 2013. I got to present, along with Speak Into My Good Eye's Chris Rotolo, the Top Indie Rock Band award to Brick + Mortar; and Chris and SIMGE won the awards for Top Journalist and Top Website, respectively.

Now, it's back to dad mode as CoolDaughter #1 has a three-day swim meet up at Rutgers starting this afternoon. It's a fast one, so she's got her work cut out for her.

And CoolMom comes home tomorrow!

Rock on.

Asbury Music Awards

Congratulations Are In Order

Late Tuesday night, the Asbury Music Awards released their 2013 slate of nominees. The awards show takes place on December 12th at The Stone Pony. It was a great year for music in these parts, and the nominations reflect that.

Little Dickman Records -- a local Asbury Park label that launched in 2013 -- and its roster of bands received several nominations. More than just a label, though, Little Dickman is a tireless promoter of music in the area, and it's nice to see them recognized.

Countless bands whose music I've reviewed and enjoyed or whom I've seen week after week playing at places like The Berkeley, Langosta Lounge, The Brighton Bar, The Stone Pony, The Saint, Asbury Lanes, or The Wonder Bar received well-deserved nominations. So did all of the venues that offer them a place to play.

In a strange twist, great FoCDM, Jim Norton, was not nominated for "Most Outlandish Stage Performance By A Middle-Aged Man Wearing A Dress, Eating Dog Food, and Using a Gas-Powered Leaf Blower Indoors." Instead, he made the list in the more mundane "Top Live Sound Engineer" category along with several other deserving nominees.

I'll admit, though, that the most special nomination for me was Speak Into My Good Eye's for "Top Website in Support of Live, Original Music." When Chris Rotolo contacted me at the end of last year to ask if I'd be interested in contributing to the site, I couldn't have been more flattered. I still haven't met every contributor personally; but as the year went on, the ones I did meet -- Chris, Mike, Allyson, Tara, Drew -- became not just colleagues, but friends. Chris and Mike Mehalick let me do, pretty much, whatever I wanted. They sought my input on things and actually listened.

Those kids over at Speak Into My Good Eye have worked hard -- writing about local acts and events and bringing touring acts like The So So Glos, Diarrhea Planet, The Men, and Purling Hiss to Asbury Park -- to let the world know that Asbury Park is still a pretty bright star in the musical universe. It's been an honor and a ton of fun to help them do that.

Congratulations and good luck to all of the nominees this year, and I look forward to celebrating with you all on December 12th.

The 20th Annual Asbury Music Awards

The 20th Annual Asbury Music Awards at The Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ, December 13th, 2012

This is one of those times when my usual approach of not taking any notes and just sitting and taking it all in really isn't going to work.  So much happened at the Asbury Music Awards last night that I couldn't possibly discuss it all in a single review.  The night did have a unifying theme, though:  Asbury Park has a thriving music scene, and everyone that's a part of it -- bands, venues, journalists, websites, fans -- needs to stick together and to support one another if they want to nurture good music in Asbury Park.

Originally scheduled for November 8th, the awards were moved to last night as a result of Sandy.  WBJB's Jeff Raspe was the evening's host, and awards were given throughout the evening in between performances by some of the area's most popular acts.  Colton Kayser, nominated for "Top Male Acoustic Act," led off the performances with an excellent solo, acoustic set and set the tone for the evening.  Other performances that stood out for me were those by The Sandy Mack Blues Band (who won "Top Blues Band"), The Amboys, and Toms River indie rockers Elevator Art, whose "Tent City" won for "Song of the Year."

Elevator Art were one of the bands I had gone to check out, and I wasn't disappointed.  They did an energetic set during which they employed a washboard, a saucepan, and a plastic water jug for percussion.  They played conga drums set up off the stage on the floor and incorporated some prog rocky flute.  If I can, I'll try catching them again when they headline the "Revolution in Just Listening Habitat for Humanity Benefit" in Keyport on January 5th.

Awards-wise, it was a big night for bands Brick+Mortar ("Top Bassist," "Top Drummer," "Top Indie Rock Act") and River City Extension ("Top Americana," "Top Live Performance," "Top Local Release"), Quincy Mumford ("Top Male Vocalist," "Top Pop Band"), and website Speak Into My Good Eye ("Top Music Website," "Top Journalist" for Chris Rotolo).  I had a brief fanboy moment as I was leaving when I approached a somewhat startled Joe Michelini of River City Extension to tell him how much I loved his record this year.  He'd just accepted the award for "Top Americana," but he was extremely humble and gracious.

There were over 30 awards in total ranging from those already mentioned to "Top Multi-Instrumentalist, Other Instruments" and "Top Local Club DJ"; but, while the list of nominees was long and diverse, I was struck by the absence of any real electronica or hip-hop on the current Asbury scene.  Asbury Park is still very much a rock and roll town.  Based on last night, though, I'm convinced that the city would welcome acts in all genres.

"How many of you haven't been to an Asbury Music Awards before?" asked Jeff Raspe at one point in the evening.  Several hands went up.  "We've been doing this for 20 years!  Where have you been?"  Last night was my first time, and I couldn't believe I'd missed it all of these years.  It won't be my last.