The Granada Theater marquis tells it like it is. (Hal Samples)

OK, folks, let's put a bow on this sucker. if you wanna see even more photos of our DOMA showcase and awards show, go here, where Hal Samples has gone ahead and uploaded like a million bajillion photos from the events.

And, if you're one of the people who has been pestering us about the backdropped photos Hal took at his booth at the Granada during the ceremony, well, they start on page 17 of the 27 (!) page-long thumbnail gallery. --Pete Freedman

Thanks to the guys at Gutterth, who apparently filmed the whole Best Instrumentalists set at last week's DOMA Ceremony, you can now relive that pretty awesome showcase of talent--at no cost!

Also, thanks to the folks at the Granada, you can also catch individual song performances from the most of the other performers from throughout the night: Doug Burr, Sarah Jaffe, The Whiskey Folk Ramblers, THe BAcksliders and Record Hop (no word on Lil Wil or any of The Cannabinoids' sets, though). So, check those out, too.

But first, the full set of the Best Instrumentalists' pretty genius re-interpretations--all five of 'em--after the jump. --Pete Freedman

More

Over on our home page, we've got two slideshows of photos by the great Hal Samples from last night's Dallas Observer Music Awards ceremony at the Best Venue-winning Granada Theater. Part I contains 20 color images, while Part II has a dozen black and white shots.

I'll echo music editor Pete Freedman's sentiments about last night. I thought it was by far the best of the three DOMAs I've attended so far. The only letdown of the night for me was that scheduled presenter Greg Williams, to the surprise of nobody, was a no-show. But the great performances more than made up for it. I especially enjoyed The Whiskey Folk Ramblers and Lil' Wil sets. Wil, as you'll see in Part I, used a couple of secret weapons to steal the show during "My Dougie." I got tired just watching the older boy's amazing, hyperkinetic rendition of the Dougie; I'd have been hard-pressed to do it even half as well as the other back-up dancer, a toddler. The Cannabinoids' awesome live remixes between sets and presentations did a great job of preventing any downtime. I'm already looking forward to next year. --Jesse Hughey

I, for one, had a grand ol' time. How couldn't you have? The performances were amazing: Doug Burr and Sarah Jaffe stunned; The Whiskey Folk Ramblers riled; Lil Wil repped hard; the Best Instrumentalists killed; THe BAcksliders rocked; Record Hop deafened; and The Cannabanoids, they kept thing fresh all freakin' night long.

And the winners? Plenty worthy, folks. Full winners list after the jump, yo.

(Oh, and keep an eye out on this space; we'll be in full-on recovery mode and not posting too much, but, at the very least, we should have some pictues up by the end of the day. So keep an eye out.)--Pete Freedman

More

Sorry things have been slow over here all week. We've been kinda busy--you know, putting together a little awards show thingy.

Kicks of at 8 p.m. at the Granada tonight, and, uh-huh, it's free to attend. Show up, preferably en masse, then, oh, just enjoy it.

Me? I'll be running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Say hi if you see me running by. I'll try to respond--best I can at jogging speed.

A quick announcement, though: Dove Hunter had to back out of tonight's show (for the same reason the band had to bow out of Saturday's showcase). Sick members. Oh well--and feel better guys.

Filling in for Dove Hunter tonight: THe BAcksliders, who, if you saw them perform on Saturday night at Sugar Shack, you know brings it just fine, thanks.

So...see you tonight? Yessir. --Pete Freedman

So, we've told you about a bunch of shows this weekend. There are some great ones tonight (the Hieroglyphics show at the Granada, the London Nights party at minc ), Saturday (Portugal. The Man and Facing New York at House of Blues) and Sunday (Republic Tigers at Hailey's, Todd Rundgren at HOB). There are also some other worthwhile ones, like:

- The Breakfast Show, Nathan Singleton and RTB2 at The Double Wide tonight
- The Pegasus News Showcase at Club Dada tonight
- Less Than Jake at HOB tonight
- Jack Ingram and Martina McBride at Superpages.com Center tonight
- Beauxregard, Rivercrest Yacht Club and MC Router (in her last show ever under this moniker) at Lola's in Fort Worth tonight
- The Animal House 2 Show at The Double Wide on Saturday with Sydney Confirm, The Kul and Prince William
- Marked Men, Wax Museums, Birthday Suits and Bad Sports at Rubber Gloves in Denton on Saturday
- The Rock 'n' Roll For A Cure show at Lola's on Saturday with Burning Hotels, Telegraph Canyon, The Lifters, Red Herrings and more.
- The Joshua Radin and Vanessa Carlton show at HOB on Saturday
- The Drams at The Granada on Sunday

But, obviously--as we've been mentioning it pretty much ad nauseum lately--the big show this week (for us--and for you, if you care as much about local music as you should) is our DOMA Showcase on Lowest Greenville.

Oh, like this is a surprise? C'mon, you know it's a sweet deal. For a five-spot, you'll get into five venues (Gezellig, Stout, Billiard Bar, Sugar Shack and The Cavern) and you'll have the opportunity to see up to 30 of our Dallas Observer Music Awards nominees playing their asses off in a last-ditched effort to earn your votes ('cause voting ends on Saturday night) before our ceremony on Tuesday. It all kicks off at 7 p.m. and it goes pretty much until the bars close.

So we'll see you there? Yeah, we know we will. --Pete Freedman

100 Damned Guns ain't playing tomorrow. Sorry. (Vishal Malhotra)

Some bad news, gang: Due to a personal matter that just came up with one of 100 Damned Guns' members, the band will not be playing our showcase tomorrow.

As a result, there will be no 7 p.m. set at Sugar Shack, and the festivities there will begin at 8 p.m. with THe BAcksliders.

We apologize about the last-minute switch.

But, since we're on the subject of DOMA stuff, I might as well take this time to remind you that voting ends tomorrow. So, you better get to it, if you haven't participated yet. --Pete Freedman

So, by now, you should know all about Saturday night's DOMA showcase lineup. And you should also know that, ahem, despite what a certain free daily pick-up around town wrote in its paper today, wristbands (available at the doors to all five venues) will only run you $5.

You can still buy your tickets here, though, where $10 gets you a wristband and your choice of either a compilation CD or a T-shirt.

At the showcase on Saturday, both the compilation CD and T-shirt will run $10 each at the merch tables scattered throughout the venues (remember, a portion of the proceeds from these sales will benefit the Carter Albrecht Music Foundation). You also have the option of buying both for a combined $15.

Compilation CD track-listing after the jump. --Pete Freedman

More

Someone asked about this earlier today...so, sure, why the hell not? Let's announce the lineup for our Tuesday, July 22, awards show ceremony at the Granada Theater right now!

Well, OK, how about after the jump? Yeah? Cool.

LET'S DO THIS!

More

This isn't our awards show; that's happening three days later at the Granada Theater.

This is just a chance for you to check out as many of these talented local acts as you can. The night stretches from 7 p.m. until almost 2 a.m., with new performances kicking off at the five participating stages at the top of every hour.

You can find info on the tickets here, and, maybe I'm biased, but it seems like a pretty reasonable deal to me. If you buy your $10 pass in advance, you get a wristband that gets you access to all five of the participating venues, as well as your choice of a T-shirt or our 16-track compilation CD.

Full showcase lineup after the jump. --Pete Freedman

More

Best Country/Roots Act
Eleven Hundred Springs
100 Damned Guns
Doug Burr
Tejas Brothers
The King Bucks
Quebe Sisters Band

Burr's up for six other awards; Eleven Hundred Springs is up for two more; Tejas Brothers are also nominated for Best New Act; The King Bucks are up for Best Cover/Tribute Act, too, and member Joe Butcher is up for Best Instrumentalist; and the Quebe Sisters Band is perhaps the most true-to-its-roots act in this competition. So, yeah, this one's a tough pick. Then again, this is Texas, so no surprise there...

More

Best Label
Idol Records
Kirtland Records
Good Records
Gutterth Records
TXMF Records

An interesting competition, as one seems on here just because of name recognition and the others all had productive years...

More

Best Record Store
CD World
Recycled Books
Strawberry Fields
Bill's Records
Good Records

The good news: No Best Buys, Walmarts, iTunes or Amazons here, thank God. The bad news: Each is a worthy candidate to take home the top prize, albeit for different reasons.

More

With our DOMA ballot online and ripe for your votin', we figured we'd give you some help: a daily breakdown of each category's nominees.

Best Cover/Tribute Act
- Hard Night's Day
- The King Bucks
- Holy Diver
- Black and Blue
- Boys Named Sue

Like the Best Song nominees we broke down yesterday, the winner for this category's gonna be more telling of the kind of music local listeners are into more than anything else. Each act can certainly play--one even on kids instruments--but the votes are likely to be determined by whether you're a Stones fan, a Beatles fan, an old-school country fan or a classic rock fan. Let's check 'em out.

More

With our DOMA ballot online and ripe for your votin', we figured we'd give you some help: a daily breakdown of each category's nominees.

Best Song
- "Slow Southern Home" by Doug Burr
- "Julianne" by The Crash That Took Me
- "Parking Lot Nights" by Ghosthustler
- "Maths" by Record Hop
- "The Sparrow Spooked The Crow" by Dove Hunter

Now, this is a competition. But, perhaps more than anything else, it's a litmus test of our readers' and DOMA voters' tastes because, really, every one of these songs is stellar in its own right. So, the question is, area music fans: Are you more into roots rock, hard rock, electronic dance music, grandiose pop rock or folk rock?

Note: Because of some technical difficulties (read: the fact that not everyone in the world uses Firefox, event though they should), this post will be spread out over a six-post span. Really sorry 'bout that. --Pete Freedman

The opening--and perhaps crowning--jewel on Burr's Best Album-nominated On Promenade, "Slow Southern Home" is all about setting the scene for Burr's storytelling. And, yeah, it works. To the point where you think you're sitting on your front porch when you listen.

Check it out after the jump. --Pete Freedman

More

No other song on The Crash That Took Me's Best Album-nominated disc, Orchestrated Kaleidescopes, better exemplifies the sound of this collective of music scene vets than "Julianne." That sound? Big. Beautiful, too.

Check it out after the jump. --Pete Freedman

More

Ghosthustler's "Parking Lot Nights" is the song that launched a thousand blog posts and, in turn, morphed this little, now-disbanded Denton-based trio into something of an overnight sensation. So there's that. This, too: The video for "Parking Lot Nights" isn't just good--it's great.

Listen to the song after the jump. --Pete Freedman