Locals Rule at Statewide Bammies
Third Eye Blind, Metallica, Bonnie Raitt, Dr. Dre among winners
San Francisco Chronicle
March 15, 1999
By James Sullivan, Chronicle Staff Critic
Handsome devil Chris Isaak wore a dazzling suit of mirrors. Way-out guitarist Buckethead wore a Kentucky Fried Chicken tub.
That's the beauty of the Bammies. BAM magazine's annual awards show, now in its 22nd year, mixes the Left Coast's million-dollar acts with its five- dollar ones. Newly expanded as the California Music Awards, but still called the Bammies, the rock 'n' roll gala took place Saturday at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.
For the second year of statewide balloting, San Francisco's Third Eye Blind dominated, taking home awards for outstanding group, outstanding single (``Jumper'') and Stephan Jenkins' night- capping artist of the year honor.
Another Bammie fixture, the hard rock band Metallica, won two trophies. Bonnie Raitt was honored with a public service award, and Los Angeles rappers Dr. Dre and Ice Cube shared the Bill Graham lifetime achievement award.
From formal-wear industry figures to frazzled rock lifers, Saturday's show attracted music fans of all shapes and sizes. Throughout the night, autograph- seeking urchins descended on the main- floor banquet tables, hoping for disposable-camera glimpses of Jenkins, the members of Rancid, or Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello.
Joan Baez presented Raitt with the 1999 Arthur M. Sohcot award for public service. Baez sang a skyscraping snippet of ``Do Right Woman --Do Right Man'' and cited Raitt's work on behalf of environmental issues, destitute R&B artists and a woman's right to choose. ``I figure with Bonnie that means a woman's right to choose just about anything,'' she said.
While the presenters included plenty of women, from the youthful punk group the Donnas to ``Melrose Place's'' Kelly Rutherford, testosterone ruled the night's live entertainment.
The Long Beach Dub All-Stars played bloated punky reggae; Beastie Boys associate Mix Master Mike, introduced as ``the Jimi Hendrix of the turntable,'' showed off his bewildering DJ maneuvers; Grant Lee Phillips sang a lovely solo version of his band's hit ``Truly, Truly'' while wearing a goofy leopard-skin bomber hat.
Primus did its spastic power-trio act, with guest guitarist Buckethead offering an added ``attraction,'' a robotic majorette routine. High-rolling rapper E-40 surrounded himself with an entourage of microphone sidekicks.
Some of pop's biggest female names were not present to accept their awards. Outstanding R&B album winner Brandy delivered her acceptance speech by video from the set of her TV show ``Moesha.''
Alanis Morissette, who won for outstanding female vocalist, extended her thanks in a bizarre clip, while a group of guys -- one with a freakishly long tongue -- made faces behind her.
Courtney Love, whose group Hole won outstanding album for ``Celebrity Skin,'' appeared impossibly demure in -- her own acceptance video. ``This record has a lot to do with this great state we live in and were born in,'' she said, smiling primly.
To the Bammies' credit, most of the winners actually made it to the podium: Rancid, Cake, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, saxophonist Dave Ellis.
Accepting the lifetime achievement award on behalf of co-winner Ice Cube, Dr. Dre joked, ``I didn't know you could get an award like this at the age of 18.'' (Actually, he's 34.)
As usual, the night-closing jam was a peculiar mishmash. Grateful Dead fans may not have another chance to see Bob Weir searching for musical space between two hip- hop turntablists. Centered on the members of the Long Beach Dub All-Stars -- successor to the late Bradley Nowell's Sublime -- the jam segued from the Dead's ``Scarlet Begonias'' to Sublime's ``Summertime.'' For a brief moment it wavered near inspiration, then disintegrated.
That's the Bammies in a nutshell: a pileup of California talent old and new, colliding off each other with bemused expressions.
CALIFORNIA MUSIC AWARDS WINNERS
OUTSTANDING ALBUM: ``Celebrity Skin,'' Hole
OUTSTANDING SINGLE: ``Jumper,'' Third Eye Blind
OUTSTANDING DEBUT ALBUM: ``Eve 6,'' Eve 6
OUTSTANDING ROCK/POP ALBUM: ``Prolonging the Magic,'' Cake
OUTSTANDING HARD ROCK ALBUM: ``Re-Load,'' Metallica
OUTSTANDING PUNK/SKA ALBUM: ``Life Won't Wait,'' Rancid
OUTSTANDING HIP-HOP/RAP ALBUM: ``Cypress Hill IV,'' Cypress Hill
OUTSTANDING R&B ALBUM: ``Never S-A-Y Never,'' Brandy
OUTSTANDING SWING ALBUM: ``Big Bad Voodoo Daddy,'' Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
OUTSTANDING ELECTRONIC ALBUM: ``Actual Sounds and Voices,'' Meat Beat Manifesto
OUTSTANDING GROUP: Third Eye Blind
OUTSTANDING BLUES ALBUM: ``Best of Friends,'' John Lee Hooker
OUTSTANDING JAZZ ALBUM: ``In the Long Run,'' Dave Ellis
OUTSTANDING FEMALE VOCALIST: Alanis Morissette
OUTSTANDING MALE VOCALIST: Chris Isaak
OUTSTANDING GUITARIST: Tom Morello, Rage Against the Machine
OUTSTANDING BASSIST: Les Claypool, Primus
OUTSTANDING DRUMMER: Lars Ulrich, Metallica
OUTSTANDING ARTIST OF THE YEAR: Stephan Jenkins, Third Eye Blind
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