I am in such a great mood, I can't describe it.

 

Balloting for the 2005 Chicago Music Awards started and I noticed a friend of mine from college, Joan Hammel, is nominated for the Pop Entertainer of the Year. She is up against some pretty tough names including R. Kelly and Kanye West.

 

Other news: I found out that her album has been included on the Nominations Ballot for the Grammy Awards for 2006 in four different categories. Only the top five are announced in December as the finalists. I have no delusions about her beating out Celine Dion, Cheryl Crowe, Gloria Estefan, Barbara Streisand, etc. but I am very happy to see her on the list when something like 15,000 albums came out last year.

 

It is amazing to be that an independent artist in pop could compete. Joan is truly a unique individual, one of the outstanding people I have met in my life. She was the feature editor of my college paper when I was managing editor.

 

The link for voting is here http://martinsinterculture.com/sub3.htm

 

I'm voting for Local H in every CMA category, since Muchacha, Land Of The El Caminos and Naked Raygun are no more.

Maybe I'll alternate my votes between The H, Rise Against and The Bomb ( Jeff from Raygun's new band ).

...I'm not actually going to vote....that would be participation, and I prefer to sit on the sidelines and criticize.....obviously....