Alyssa Fields
Audio By Carbonatix
Last night, the Dallas music scene converged under one disco ball at the third annual Dallas Entertainment Awards (DEA). The show, produced by local musician Dezi 5, brought together hundreds of artists and entertainers, many of whom took home one of 110 golden statues shaped somewhat like Reunion Tower.
The awards show, which aims to fill a hole left by the former Dallas Observer Music Awards, brought together drag queens, venue owners, bartenders and anyone who has ever been out past 11 p.m. in Dallas.
“I’ve always been in love with awards,” Dezi said. “… When the Dallas Observer was doing it, it was something that I looked forward to every year.”
Dezi says the best part of the DEAs is the one-night unification of a normally fragmented city music scene.
“After the pandemic let up, and the masks were coming off, and things were transpiring back to normal-ish, I noticed that our music scene wasn’t as tightly knit as it was around 2016,” he said. “All of us were tightly knit.”
But the artist and organizer says the DEAs have started to bring the scene back together. The winning artists corroborated that idea.
“My favorite part about the Dallas Entertainment Awards is that we all get a chance to be together, and we all get a chance to support each other, and we all get a chance to congratulate each other on each other’s successes and wins,” said Leah Lane, lead singer of Rosegarden Funeral Party, who won Best Rock Vocalist. “Supporting your community, all it does is make everything better.”
Winners are determined by community vote, so the artists deserving of flowers are also the ones giving them.
“I love the fact that all of this is community-judged,” said Dezi 5. “There’s no set of people that are judging this. This is all based on what the community has brought to the table.”
The Big D Show
The big winner of the night was cureforparanoia, who won Best Hip Hop Lyricist, Song of the Year for “No Brainer” and Artist of the Year. Another big winner was burgeoning pop artist Remy Reilly, who took home Best Songwriter, Best Pop Act and Best Pop Song. Fort Worth-based indie rock band The Plum Boys won Breakout Artist.
Acceptance speeches were sparse and not nearly as political as the recent Grammy Awards. But the night was not without strong statements.
“I can’t wait to sit on it bitch,” said Best Drag Artist, Venus Vogue, in her acceptance speech. “Fuck ICE.”
The night ended with an after-party at Double Wide, which those who had to type this story in the morning did not attend. But if the DEAs were any indication, it was a grand time.
“It’s such an honor and a privilege and a humbling to be supported by this amazingly talented community,” said rock frontwoman Lane. “It gives me the inspiration and the encouragement to propel myself forward.”
