Grinders in St. Louis don’t have to make it to be honored and appreciated for their contributions to the world of entertainment. All they have to do is get a nod from local fans, who have up until 5 p.m. Friday, January 16 to cast open votes for 2nd Annual Traffic Music Awards.
Voters can go to www.space.com/thetrafficman or www.myspace.com/the tonyjtrafficmusicawards. Those electronically-declined may get a chance to vote on paper ballots during upcoming, surprise pit stops reps will make at area clubs and events.
Open votes will be tallied over the weekend and slot winners will be announced Monday, thus starting closed voting until Friday, Feb. 27.
The awards gala goes down at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 1 at the Roberts Orpheum, where last year’s show was an instant must-attend with its diverse audience of entertainers, politicians and businesspeople.
This year’s categories are:
1) R & B Artist/Group 2) Collaboration 3) Educator 4) Song Writer 5) Street Song 6) Producer 7) Poet 8) Business 9) TV Personality 10) Group 11) Club Song 12) Comic 13) Publication 14) Promoter 15) DJ 16) Alternative/Rock Artist/Group 17) Radio Song 18) Politician
19) Female Artist 20) Legend 21) Male Artist 22) Humanitarian 23) Film/Videographer 24) Radio Personality 25) Label 26) Song.
The local awards show is the brainchild of 104.1’s Tony J, who’s popular Traaaffica! report spawned the TMAs, which kicked off last year. Sixteen people were honored last year and 26 will walk away with bragging rights this year as Tony J has added 10 additional categories.
He said the show is still based on entertainment, but wanted to take it a step further.
“There are some awesome people in St. Louis n teachers are trying to teach these rap-crazed kids who can’t even count money or read contracts,” Tony J said.
Other notable additions are best business, politician and publication.
“A lot of so-called newspapers pop up and then they realize how hard it is to stay in business and it’s hard when the clock is your overseer, because deadlines are hard to beat,” Tony J said, adding that, “You can shoot parties, but putting it all together is a whole different thing.”
Tony J calls his show St. Louis’ own Grammy and American Music Awards dressed up like the Emmys and Oscars with the energy of the BET and MTV Awards, but swagger of St. Louis.
“We spent a lot of time coming up with the one right event and when it happened and it went well and there hasn’t been any down time,” Tony J said.
As for the talent here in the Lou, he said, “We have a lot of talent, but everyone needs to find out what they are good at and do that so we can have a complete cycle of craft to make it all happen.”
Fashion and beauty get their do
LiquidAssets, a local special events promotions company, is picking up where Tony J left off as they present Notice Me: The First Ever Model Appreciation Celebration & Awards Ceremony.
That night belongs to models and other industry professionals, such as makeup artists, hair stylists, photographers, boutiques and fashion designers.
Notice Me begins at 9 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 8 at the Golf House in Forest Park. Phil and Chelsea Dawn who run the gala said that honoring the local beauty industry is long overdue.
“Models work hard and lot of times don’t get paid and no one recognizes them and it’s hard to get on a national level because we’re not near New York or LA,” said Chelsea Dawn, a full-time model, and one of the few in St. Louis making a living solely off modeling.
She most recently appeared in WWE, a national wrestling magazine.
For online voting or tickets go to www.liquidassets-events.com. For more info, visit chelseadawn@chelseadawn.com.
