Hell Drivers Set Fire to the 2010 Detroit Music Awards
By Ryan Mathews

When a town isn’t smart enough to honor its own musicians the only choice is to honor each other, and that’s exactly what Detroit’s musical community did on April 16 at the 19^th Annual Detroit Music Awards (DMA) held at The Fillmore.

Detroit never institutionalized its music. There is no Beale Street, no Music Row, no French Quarter jammed with restaurants, bars and music memorabilia stores. Hitsville U.S.A. – Motown’s original home – shuts down at 6 p.m. on the days its open, its famous Studio A now a tour stop before you hit the gift shop. In 2006 Hitsville’s successor, The Motown Center, was knocked down so out-of-towners could park more conveniently for the Super Bowl XL weekend.

Pick your genre and your generation – from the Grande, the Twenty Grand, The Chess Mate, the Wisdom Tooth and the Hideout, to the Latin Quarter, the Raven Gallery, the Living End, the Eastown and the Poison Apple – one by one Detroit’s great musical venues have been abandoned and forgotten, repurposed, or sit waiting for a wrecking ball or an arsonist to put them out of their misery. Fortunately, Detroit’s musicians have proved more durable than many of the stages they’ve electrified.

But for all that, the city has shaped their music, and their music, in turn, has helped define the city. That relationship was a constant theme at this year’s DMA. “The best music in the world is from Detroit,” DMA President Howard Hertz told the crowd.

“I’m a real Detroiter,” Carolyn Striho proudly announced picking up her third DMA of the night. Striho was part of the “Ladies Night Sweep” of the awards. Among them, Striho and fellow musicians Jill Jack, Liz Larin and Lola Morales scooped up an impressive 11 DMAs. Striho had been nominated for 12 awards, Jack and Tracy Kash Thomas each received 7 award nominations and Larin was nominated in 6 categories.

Nominations aside, the night clearly belonged to The Rockets, winners of one of three DMA Distinguished Service Awards. Calling The Rockets “America’s answer to the Rolling Stones,” WCSX Operations Manager and DJ Doug Podell said of Jim McCarty and Johnny “Bee” Badanjek. “They’re born and bred and bleed Detroit music.”

Not all The Rockets made it across the finish line. Podell paid tribute to late Rockets’ front man Dave Gilbert whose demons silenced what may have been one of rock ’n roll’s greatest baritone voices in 2001.

Accepting the award with McCarty for the legendary band he co-founded in 1972, Badanjek said he and his bandmates were just a small part of a much larger musical movement. “Together,” he told the audience, “we bring the music of The Motor City to people all over the world.”

The whole world wasn’t on hand to hear it, but Badanjek and McCarty – Detroit’s very own certifiable Guitar God and Johnny “Bee’s” musical partner for over four decades in a series of iconic bands from the Detroit Wheels to The Rockets and beyond – brought the best of Motor City rock ’n roll to the DMAs when their current band, Hell Drivers, took the stage to play a mini-set of Rockets’ tunes.

Hell Drivers owned the stage and the night from the time they received the evening’s first “standing O” as they kicked off “Desire.” McCarty effortlessly produced fatter and fatter chords while Badanjek, all black, bereted, eyes safely hidden by the trademark shades, stretched over his kit liked some born-again jazzbo beating the cool out of his drums to temper the heat of McCarty’s guitar.

That pattern continued, amped up a bit, for “Turn Up The Radio.” McCarty’s forceful melody lines merging with Badanjek’s steady, insistent beat underscored by a shade of controlled menace. But it was McCarty’s opening solo on “Oh Well” that defined the performance and the night, invoking a time when rock ’n roll was still dangerous and full of mystery and magic and could steal your soul.

Measure after measure the solo built – the crowd drawn closer and closer to the stage, the deal-making and gossip silenced by the compelling voice of McCarty’s guitar – a voice that couldn’t – and wouldn’t – be either ignored or denied.

Soon Hell Drivers’ front man Jim Edwards was spitting out Peter Green’s lyrics.  “But don't ask me what I think of you I might not give the answer that you want me to,” not the crisp pop song version, but a thinly-veiled threat reinforced by Johnny “Bee’s” driving beat. Hell Drivers’ bass player Marvin Conrad turbo-charged the bottom groove Badanjek had built and keyboardist Danny Taylor shaded in the melody.

Along with The Rockets, Distinguished Service Awards were presented to Thunder Audio, the globally renowned audio production company, and the Sun Messengers, 30-year veterans of the Detroit music scene.

It wasn’t all rock ’n roll of course. 

There were solid to inspired performances in a variety of genres, beginning with rapper Ro Spit and singer Monica Blair and moving on to country singer-songwriter Julianne; the jazzy soul of the James Jamerson Jr. Band; the eco funk of Muruga Booker & The Rainbow Forest Band; the pounding rock rap of Critical Bill – another clear crowd favorite whose “get them out of their chairs and on their feet” factor rivaled The Rockets; and capped by the longest set of the night offered up by the Sun Messengers.

There were even awards for the aging gods of Detroit’s musical pantheon – veteran rockers Iggy Pop (Outstanding National Major Label Recording) and Bob Seger (Outstanding Anthology/Compilation Reissue) and Detroit blues legend Jonny Bassett (Outstanding Blues Artist/Group and Outstanding Blues/R&B Instrumentalists).

A complete list of winners can be found at: http://www.detroitmusicawards.com/winners.html.

Rockets’ frontman Dave Gilbert wasn’t the only ghost invoked at the awards. It was impossible to listen to James Jamerson Jr.’s band doing “What’s Going On” without sensing the spirits of his father – arguably the best musician and certainly the best bass player Detroit has ever produced – and Marvin Gaye, one of The Motor City’s most soulful voices.

Eventually, like ghosts themselves, the crowd began to evaporate into the night about halfway through the Sun Messengers closing set. Some went on to the official after-party at The Park Bar. Some had partied enough already. Some just disappeared onto the street like musical Alices, popping head-over-heels into Wonderlands of their own creation.

But – don’t worry – they’ll all be back next year for the 20^th DMA.

Detroit may not honor its music but that’s never stopped its musicians from finding each other and carrying on.

 Critical Bill rocked the house then walked away with the DMA for Metal/Hard Rock Group



















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LINER NOTES: Photo Credits BeardedHag/Kirby Lee