2003 Austin Music Video Awards
Monday 1.12.04

The first annual Austin Music Video Awards show was a big success. The brain-child of Austin Music Network head honcho Louis J. Meyers was a sold-out, standing room only affair that was stylishly presented to the Austin music community by the station’s staff. The event was emceed by AMN Program Director Matt Torres and “In House” host, Naomi Baumgard. Intern Amber Craddock and Sales and Marketing Exec. Patricia Moran served as hostesses, presenting award plaques and escorting winners on and off the Alamo stage.

Nods to Abe Normal for his glitch-free presentation of one-minute clips of each of the 55 videos that were nominated for awards. Winners in each category were as follows:

Sexy Finger Champs, “Go, Robots, Go!” – Best Comedic Video
Toby Keith f/ Willie Nelson, “Beer For My Horses” – Best Country Video
The Swells, “Through and Through” – Best Experimental Video and People’s Choice
Del Castillo, “Suenos Madrigales” – Best Latin Video
…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, “All Saint’s Day” – Best Live Video
Los Lonely Boys, “Heaven” – Best Rock Video
Kevin McKinney, “Laugh” – Best Singer/Songwriter Video
Dirty Wormz, “Here We Go” – Best Urban Video

2003 Hall of Fame Video Award winners were Asleep At The Wheel, Big Boys, Daniel Johnston, The Resentments f/ John “Mambo” Treanor, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Townes Van Zandt.

Hats off to the entire crew at AMN.

–Tammy Moore

The Yuppie Pricks Meet Office Space
Thursday 1.22.04

Ah, the Alamo Drafthouse.

Note to all—go there to watch movies or Mr. Sinus theatre, but don’t plan on mixing it up with music. The crowd won’t get it. Throw in the Yuppie Pricks, and that’s just asking for trouble. If I had a dollar for every person I saw in the audience scratching their heads or squirming in their seats, I’d be as rich as Trevor Middleton. The majority of the crowd wasn’t receptive to or amused with the Yuppie Pricks. They just didn’t get it. All they wanted was to watch a fucking movie that they could easily rent at Blockbuster. The audience couldn’t accept this opulent, ornate gift of excess that Trevor, Deuce and Preston extended with manicured hands—an opportunity to rock with the Yuppie Pricks.

Granted, that’s probably what the band wanted, because it allowed them to be even more obnoxious and insulting to the patrons. That was quite entertaining in and of itself. Call me masochistic, but I liked being insulted by three handsome, well-dressed corporate types. Usually I don’t dig gimmick bands, but their gimmick works. It works because they really are laughing at us, not with us.

They’re the type of pricks that would make fun of a mentally retarded door greeter at Wal-Mart. That’s if they ever actually did set foot inside a low-income conglomerate such as Wal-Mart, but that’s highly unlikely. My only wish was to have seen them on Red River instead of a fucking movie theatre where the Yahoos outnumbered the rockers. The conventional crowd’s lack of interaction left an unpalatable aftertaste on the roof of my mouth that I couldn’t shake no matter how many shots I had through the course of the evening.

I have a feeling that Trevor and the group were a bit reserved in the execution of their songs and overall interaction with the crowd. I’ve heard the stories and seen photos from previous Yuppie Pricks shows, and I’m pretty sure this was an atypical, sterile venue for them. You can’t force-feed this type of musical affluence to an impoverished commoner. It just ain’t gonna happen.

The highpoint of the evening was hearing some asshole yell out something to the effect of, “Get off the stage, and start the movie!” To which Deuce crassly replied, “Why don’t you fucking come up here and make me?” The Yuppie Pricks were Crunk with a capital C.

–Marianna M.