[FM] WAMA and The Kennedys - response to Tom Neff's complaint

[Pmkennedy@aol.com]

We're really not sure what Tom's complaint is - is WAMA giving out too many 
awards, or just too many to us, or Chapin, or other imperialist Wammy-hogging 
devils?  To set the record straight, WAMA doesn't have a "man behind the 
curtain" who gives out the awards to his best buds.  The members of WAMA 
decide who takes home the honors through a normal award show process of 
nomination and voting.   

Some of the biggest winners of recent years (Ruthie and the Wranglers, Bill 
Kirchen, Al Petteway, Eric Brace) are folks who came into the spotlight after 
years of hard work and no awards, and now they win regularly because they got 
recognized, and they continue to work hard--"working hard" in music means not 
having a "day job", and putting in 16 hour days, 7 days a week, handling the 
travelling and office parts of this insecure and somewhat grueling 
career--few people are willing to make the sacfifices that go along with 
being a musician, and the ones that do deserve to win a Wammie award, if the 
members vote for them. 

By the way, Tom, despite his impressive knowledge of wammie statistics, 
failed to mention the 1997 awards, where we didn't take home a single WAMMIE. 
 We were proud, that year, to sit in the audience and applaud the friends and 
colleagues we had voted for. 

Oh well, there are always people who complain when something really positive 
happens in the music scene. Why? Dunno--it would take a couple of advanced 
Psychology degrees to figure that one out.  Anyway, in the spirit of fun and 
support that typify the wammies, we'll present Tom with a new, ad hoc 
award--most curmudgeonly congratulator!

As always, Peace,
Pete & Maura
The Kennedys

In a message dated 2/9/00 12:02:33 PM, Tom Neff" <tneff@grassyhill.org> 
writes: 
<<Having said this, WAMA gave out (by my count) a total of 109 awards this
year.  And this is just for acts in the DC area, mind you, not nationally,
not really even regionally, just an extended metro market.

...

Are the Wammies trapped in award inflation or what?  It seems to me that if
you have lived and performed professionally in the DC area for more than 5
years, and you don't have at least ONE Wammie to show for it, you should
probably quit the business!  And that if you live there and actually sell
some records, like Mary-Chapin Carpenter or the Kennedys, you'd better rent
mini-storage for your award plaques.
>>