el Don NewsAwards night honors County’s best musicians:
Boogaloo Assassins were short-changed during their performance Saturday at the OC Music Awards at the Grove in Anaheim because of faulty microphones and poor speaker quality.
But the below-average production couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the night. Thrice won two of the night’s top awards, Best Rock and The Orange County Impact Award, for their work with Invisible Children. Eight bands, from established local acts to up-and-coming artists, also performed.
Rodney Bingenheimer of “Rodney on the ROQ” on KROQ received the Lifetime Achievement award.
Bingenheimer played songs from then-emerging bands including Blondie, The Ramones, Social Distortion, Duran Duran and Van Halen.
Other major awards went to Jeramiah Red for Best New Artist and Best Blues, while Fusion Beat came up from behind Avenged Sevenfold and Young the Giant to take the People’s Choice award.
When the award for Best Surf was being presented, a video for Best Youth was played instead. Railroad to Alaska’s speakers failed while performing.
Energy and laughter filled the red carpet after the show as musicians talked shop and kidded with each other. Railroad to Alaska spent the night making faces at photographers and giving speeches such as thanking Popchip for the free food.
The show was plagued with missed cues, poor sound quality and video malfunctions. When the award for Best Surf was being presented, a video for Best youth was played and performances suffered from sound going in and out. Railroad to Alaska was victim to speakers failing during their performance.
