It’s frustrating being an entertainer in a small town. You put in long hours rehearsing set lists, and spend huge amounts of money on instruments and equipment. On the day of the gig, you load up all your gear, show up at the venue, set everything up and play your heart out. After that last chord rings out, you’re the one who gets to tear everything down, load it all up and take it back home. The pay, compared to the amount of time and effort, isn’t that great. Sometimes you get free drinks, most times not. The only thing that makes it really worthwhile is the feeling you get when someone from the audience comes up and tells you how cool it was that you played their favorite song . . . and some times that’s enough. So you persevere, because it’s what you do and you love doing it.

The Kansas Rock and Roll Group wants to give credit where credit is due and call attention to those weekend rockers, the unsung heroes of the local music scene, who do what they do week after week, just to entertain us. The group has announced it will be staging the Kansas Rock and Roll Group Local Music Awards, what could possibly be the first awards show honoring the best of Topeka’s music scene.

The Local Music Awards will take place at McB’s Sunday evening, August 8,  and promises to be a night “of camaraderie and brotherhood for all hard working musicians,” proclaims Chuckie Pain, organizer of the event and head of the Kansas Rock and Roll Group.

The evening’s activities will begin at 7 p.m., when it’s time to “get nailed,” as Topeka band, Sixteen Penny, presents a tasty assortment of original, ear-scorching rock and roll music.

Awards will be distributed after the band’s performance, with former V100 DJ Joey Baggz hosting the ceremonies. Categories include: Best original rock and blues bands, best classic, hard rock and blues cover bands, best live performance and best overall band.

Some of the nominated bands for the awards:

Gratitude for our city’s hard working bands and artists is long overdue, and if you’re a musician who feels unrecognized, take heart. On any given night when you’re up on stage putting your heart into it and giving it all you’ve got, remember, there’s an audience out there that loves what you’re doing. Whether you get a trophy or not, you make a difference in the lives you touch just by keeping the music going.

Robin Crèmer,  one of the new “kids” on the seveneightfive block, loves writing about music as much he does listening to it. Combining his Rain Man like retention of rock music history minutiae and his self diagnosed condition of MADD (Musical Attention Deficit Disorder), Robin writes almost authoritatively on just about every genre of music known to man. With his patented “write what the voices in my head tell me to” approach, Robin’s biggest goal is to be the next Cameron Crowe.

If you want Robin to check out your band’s original music, email him: bluesfan_69@yahoo.com

[ July 2010 | Robin Cremer | photos courtesy bands' Facebook fan pages ]