The ceremony is usually an excuse to have a little extra fun at the end of the year. Last year, in honor of the DOMAs' 27th anniversary, the theme was "the 27 Club." (Trust us, for a party themed around the age of dead music icons, it was fun). The year before that was "prom." But 2016 has been a bit of a drag, so this year's DOMAs are taking a deliberately uplifting approach: "Unity Through Music."
What does that mean exactly for the ceremony? For starters, the bands who perform at The Bomb Factory next Tuesday will be playing songs that speak to a climate of political unrest — many songs drawn from the hippie era of the '60s. The bands and their cover songs will be:
Charley Crockett playing "Subterranean Homesick Blues" by Bob Dylan
Dezi 5 playing "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye
Sam Lao playing "Freedom" by Beyoncé
Loafers playing "Kids in America" by Kim Wilde
Sudie playing "What the World Needs Now" by Burt Bacharach
The Texas Gentlemen playing "Revolution" by the Beatles
Kirk Thurmond & the Millennials playing "You Haven't Done Nothing" by Stevie Wonder
At the end of the night, the bands will come together to play one last song as a group ensemble. As for what song that will be, well, we'll just keep that one under wraps for now. You'll have to attend the ceremony to find out.
The ceremony, by the way, is free to attend and will take care of the important business of crowning this year's DOMA winners. Helping out with that will be a series of presenters:
Bucks Burnett — longtime figure in Dallas' music retail industry
Frank Campagna — artist, owner of Kettle Art Gallery
Alejandro Escovedo — acclaimed singer-songwriter
Jeffrey Liles — artistic director of the Kessler Theater
Caroline North – music and culture editor of the Dallas Observer
Dalton Rapattoni — American Idol finalist
Jenna Skyy — drag queen, former Miss Gay USofA
Before all that, voting for this year's nominees will be open at 2016musicawardspoll.dallasobserver.com until this Friday at 11:59 p.m. You can find out more about some of this year's leading contenders by reading this week's Dallas Observer cover story, featuring profiles of Sam Lao, Charley Crockett, Sealion, Loafers and Dezi 5.
After casting your votes, make your way to the showcase, which features more than 50 bands at nine venues in Deep Ellum, this Saturday night. Tickets for the showcase go for an eminently reasonable $15 for general admission, which gets you into each venue the whole night through. You can also spring for the VIP treatment for $40, which also gets you perks like free food, comped drinks and a T-shirt. For more info and to purchase your tickets, visit dallasobservermusicawards.com.