WAMI awards offbeat, as usual

The Journal Sentinel staff

If you're looking for that elusive combination of Good Clean Fun and Stupid Human Tricks, look no further than the Wisconsin Area Music Industry awards.

Monday's three-hour shindig at the Auditorium had all the elements of past WAMI gigs, and more. There was big hair, black clothes, good music, bad taste and, thanks to some country line hoofers, dancing in the aisles.

There was trendy gender confusion. Radio gab king Mark Belling kissed fellow presenter Victor DeLorenzo full on the lips, and the house band struck up a perky chorus of "Isn't She Lovely" as musician Willy Porter accepted his umpteenth million honor of the night.

Blues guitarist and double WAMI winner Greg Koch, who probably thought he'd heard it all, discovered myriad new ways to butcher his name (he prefers "chalk"). And really, who can forget the flush of excitement as the WAMI Board gave its President's Award to . . . itself?

But perhaps the best summary of the night came from Problem Child vocalist Darrell Radke as he accepted his band's award for Best Heavy Metal Group:

"We're missing `Melrose Place' for this, you know."

Well, maybe. Then again, this annual gathering of state's musical movers and shakers is at least as incestuous as the Fox sitcom, and occasionally as outrageous.

Even O.J. was there in spirit. Expatriate comic Will Durst, flown in from San Francisco to be the evening's emcee, announced two new suspects in the televised trial: flesh-eating bacteria and Tonya Harding.

The most awards four out of seven nominations went to Porter, 30, a touring machine and relentlessly humble dude. The Mequon singer-songwriter is being wooed by at least three major labels, but he was all aw- shucks appreciation Monday as he thanked the "cats" in his "groovin' " band while accepting honors for Male Vocalist, Songwriter, Artist and Album of the Year, for "Dog Eared Dream."

"It's really an honor, very cool," Porter said after the show.

Not everyone thinks so. Based on WAMI's early years of in- fighting and favoritism, some in the local music community scoff that WAMI organizers have just as much trouble counting ballots as they do anniversaries (Monday's show was billed as the 10th annual event, and it was, in terms of consecutive years, although the first was held in 1980). But for other area musicians, the state's largest music awards show is still a big deal.

"We're really excited about being nominated and decided to do it up right," said Full Throttle guitarist Bobby Johnson, 24.

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