Inaugural FPH Sammy Awards

Written by Peter Cortez

Sept 29 — Free Press Houston is a great organization that puts together some unique Houston events and they have truly become a legitimate cultural bastion of Houston.

So it was pretty cool when we learned that FPH was behind the Sammy Awards, which was a ‘Best Of’ event that featured only Houstonian nominees.  Categories included Best of Houston music, art, culture and food.  Winners of the Sammy Award were democratically voted by the public via web poll.  The event wasn’t just an awards show, however; there were performances by Houston artists such as Bun B (who was also the Event Host), Paul Wall, Annika Chambers,  BLSHS, and more.

There was complimentary alcohol (included in ticket) from local breweries such as 8th Wonder, Karbach, and Saint Arnold.  Also, there was a bar tending competition that featured various bartenders from different bars throughout Houston.  Every attendee got a chance to try each cocktail and vote on their favorite drink.  Everyone that attended the Sammy Awards left with something free.

The free giveaways included concert tickets, festival passes, posters, t-shirts, and gift certificates.  Overall the show was fun and eventful; but in lieu of good live performances and delicious, creative cocktails, this show definitely had it’s flaws (and the great thing about that is that that leaves room for improvements).

For starters, the overall organization of the event seemed very poor due to the fact that more than half of the seats were never occupied at once. It was kind of a sad sight: a sea of empty white chairs, with just the first  dozen rows or so filled up.  Attendees, instead, seemed to flock towards the free supply of alcohol all night and never really paid attention to the awards that were given.  Also,  there were so many categories (almost 60+)  that any sense of prestige or value was taken away from the award itself (I mean, there’s seriously a category called “Best Ass”. C’mon, now!)

Perhaps it would have been better to condense certain categories in order to make the award more exclusive and therefore more prestigious (we’re not saying these things need to be plated in gold or anything, but the old maxim that “scarcity adds value” could be implemented here).

A vast majority of the nominees and winners weren’t even present to accept their award (although, in all honesty, it probably would have been a waste of their time since over half of the “audience” was out drinking free cocktails). A quick solution to that problem would be to have the drinks and bartending competition  after the awards are all given out. Just a suggestion…

Overall, the concept of the Sammys was excellent: it was all for Houston and by Houston.  Everyone had a great time but hopefully next year it will be much improved and organized.

Here’s a full list of Sammy winners (courtesy of Free Press Houston)

FOOD/ BOOZE

BEST NEW…	Tiger Den
BEST DESSERT	Shipley’s
BEST MOM & POP	Lankford Grocery
BEST RESTROOM	Boheme
BEST BURGER	Bernie’s Burger Bus
BEST TACO	Tacos A Go-Go
BEST SUSHI	Uchi
BEST PIZZA	Star Pizza
BEST STEAK NIGHT	MKT Bar
BEST SANDWICH	Eatsie Boys
BEST PHO	Van Loc
BEST RAMEN	Jenni’s Noodle House
BEST VEGETARIAN	Radical Eats
BEST HUMMUS	Phoenicia
BEST MAC & CHEESE	Jus’ Mac
BEST CURRY	Red Lion
BEST COFFEE	Black Hole
BEST BAHN-MI	Les Givral’s
HALL OF GAME FOOD	Ninfa’s on Navigation
BEST FOOD WRITER	Allison Cook
BARTENDER	Lindsay Burleson of Poison Girl
MEAN BARTENDER	Travis Tobey of Fitzgerald’s
NEW LOCAL BEER	Karbach- Love Street
BEST BREWERY	Saint Arnold
HALL OF GAME BOOZE	West Alabama Ice House
BEST NEW BAR	Little Dipper

MUSIC

BEST NEW ARTIST	The New Mercies
RECORD OF THE YEAR	The Tontons- Make-Out King & Other Stories of Love
LIVE SHOW	The Suffers
BEST AMERICANA	Buxton
DJ	Fistful of Soul
HALL OF GAME	Little Joe Washington
BEST JAZZ	Free Radicals
BEST HIP HOP	Fat Tony
BEST COUNTRY	Robert Ellis
BEST METAL	Venemous Maximus
BEST BLUES	Little Joe Washington
BEST INDIE ROCK	The Tontons
BEST PUNK	The Secret Prostitutes
BEST EXPERIMENTAL	B L A C K I E
BAND THAT JUMPS	American Fangs
BEST SOUND PERSON	Ryan Chavez

ART

CURATOR	Juan Pablo from El Rincon Social
AEROSOL	GONZO247
STREET ART	Eyesore
NEW GALLERY	The Brandon
BEST POSTER ARTIST	Shelby Hohl
PHOTOGRAPHER	Ben DeSoto
HALL OF GAME	Jermaine Rogers

CULTURE

TATTOO SHOP	713 Tattoo
BEST COMEDIAN	Ashton Womack
BEST MAYOR	Annise Parker
NON PROFIT	OKRA Charity Saloon
ECCENTRIC PERSON	Juan Carlos
BLOG	Swamplot
BEST ASS	Omar Afra (Runner up: Mills-McCoin)