Voting for OffBeat’s Best of the Beat is now open here. Cast your vote and buy a ticket starting Saturday for our awards night at the House of Blues Friday, January 22, 2010. This year, we’ll present performances by Galactic, Anders Osborne, Bonerama with the Mekons’ Jon Langford, MyNameIsJohnMichael, Shamarr Allen, Al “Carnival Time” Johnson, the Panorama Jazz Band, Honey Island Swamp Band, Nova Nola with Steve and Sasha Masakowski, and a DJ set from E.F. Cuttin. As usual, some of New Orleans’ finest restaurants will feed us at dinner time, so plan on being there to see how this all comes out.

Many thanks to this year’s sponsors of the Best of the Beat Awards: Abita Beer, Capital One Bank, Harrah’s Casino, WWL 4 TV New Orleans, Louisiana Entertainment, and the Loyola University Music Industry Studies Program.