Thursday, January 21 is our annual Best of The Beat Music Awards at Generations Hall. Every yer, I hear a fair amount of complaining because someone who “deserved” to be nominated, wasn’t. And of course, every year, we hear complaints about why one band or musician or CD won when another one didn’t.

Well, OffBeat just filters the information we get from the music community on the nominations.

We don’t use Facebook (or the bitching thereon) to compile the nominations. We ask the music community to submit their choices for who and what should be nominated. We compile the top five or so, and then put those on the ballot.

If you think someone should have been nominated, then you need to participate in the process—make yourself known outside of your Facebook rants—and let us know why someone deserves to be recognized.

Once the nominations are out, well, that’s another story. If you’re nominated and you don’t promote yourself in every way possible, on social media, at shows, etc., then perhaps you don’t deserve to win.

The second part of the voting process is open to the public, and it gives every band and musician a great opportunity to promote themselves to fans and to the general public.

We’ve noticed in the past that many times a musician will be nominated or will win if they’ve been written about, or even advertised in OffBeat. It’s the power of the media I guess. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, says an old cliché. But it’s true.

In any case, the Best of The Beat is fun every year, never a boring awards show, and a great party for people who love local music to convene, cheer on the musicians and show them some love in the process. You can also eat like a king, and listen to some great music to boot. You are still able to purchase tickets online. After that, they have to be purchased at the door at Generations Hall, 310 Andrew Higgins.

I hope you can make it; I guarantee you’ll love it. See you there?