Nominations Announced for Niagara Music Awards 2009
The day after nominations were announced, Niagara Music Awards co-ordinator Morgan Whelan was met with a scathing message at work Monday. She took it as a good sign. It means people care.
"I got a (rude) email this morning," she said with a laugh. " (This band) was nominated last year and didn't get nominated this year, so they put all over Facebook that it was a fixed event and that it's a money scam."
Dozens of Niagara artists were feeling a bit different Sunday night, as nominees were announced after a special "judging party" in downtown Niagara Falls.
Niagara Falls rockers The Black Flies and Attic Noise led the way with three nominations each for the April 14 gala, being held at the Niagara Centre for the Performing Arts.
Black Flies bassist Jay Forhan, who spent a decade in his previous Niagara band, Marbleweed, says it's always a great feeling when original music gets recognized. His band is up for Rock Group of the Year, Music Video of the Year (You Were Miles) and Album of the Year (Road Ahead).
"It makes you feel you're doing something right," he says. "There's more bands than anyone probably realized doing original music."
St. Catharines singer Tina Calzonetti shares the sentiment. A back-up singer with Pink Floyd Niagara (who are also up for two awards), she started "jamming" with some musical siblings one day and realized she had an album's worth of her own songs. She's nominated for Music Video of the Year (Run) and Original Song of the Year (Life).
"I think I'm up for a battle here!," she says. "I didn't realize how many talented and amazing musicians -- in all aspects of music -- that there are in our area. It's great to have something like this brought to our area. It's time we started recognizing the talent here."
Whelan says there were 203 submissions for 23 categories this year, with several fresh faces in the mix. "We got a lot more new bands as well as the ones that were involved last year."
The show will feature 15 live performances -- all winners from last year's show, including The Street Pharmacy, The Guv'Nor Generals, MDM and Angela Siracusa. As for her disgruntled non-nominee, Whelan says there's always next year. "Doing the judging the way we did Sunday night ... there's no politics in this event," she says. "It's not fixed in any way."
The day after nominations were announced, Niagara Music Awards co-ordinator Morgan Whelan was met with a scathing message at work Monday. She took it as a good sign. It means people care.
"I got a (rude) email this morning," she said with a laugh. " (This band) was nominated last year and didn't get nominated this year, so they put all over Facebook that it was a fixed event and that it's a money scam."
Dozens of Niagara artists were feeling a bit different Sunday night, as nominees were announced after a special "judging party" in downtown Niagara Falls.
Niagara Falls rockers The Black Flies and Attic Noise led the way with three nominations each for the April 14 gala, being held at the Niagara Centre for the Performing Arts.
Black Flies bassist Jay Forhan, who spent a decade in his previous Niagara band, Marbleweed, says it's always a great feeling when original music gets recognized. His band is up for Rock Group of the Year, Music Video of the Year (You Were Miles) and Album of the Year (Road Ahead).
"It makes you feel you're doing something right," he says. "There's more bands than anyone probably realized doing original music."
St. Catharines singer Tina Calzonetti shares the sentiment. A back-up singer with Pink Floyd Niagara (who are also up for two awards), she started "jamming" with some musical siblings one day and realized she had an album's worth of her own songs. She's nominated for Music Video of the Year (Run) and Original Song of the Year (Life).
"I think I'm up for a battle here!," she says. "I didn't realize how many talented and amazing musicians -- in all aspects of music -- that there are in our area. It's great to have something like this brought to our area. It's time we started recognizing the talent here."
Whelan says there were 203 submissions for 23 categories this year, with several fresh faces in the mix. "We got a lot more new bands as well as the ones that were involved last year."
The show will feature 15 live performances -- all winners from last year's show, including The Street Pharmacy, The Guv'Nor Generals, MDM and Angela Siracusa. As for her disgruntled non-nominee, Whelan says there's always next year. "Doing the judging the way we did Sunday night ... there's no politics in this event," she says. "It's not fixed in any way."