The 2001 Klammie Awards turned Saturday, March 14th into a night of serious extremes.

Ranging from some very classy acceptance speeches and positive displays of comraderie, to some very immature acts by two very different bands, from some very clean cut well dressed ladies and gentlemen to a couple of bands showing up in full performance costume, the Klammie Ceremony was one very interesting night to say the least.

The Ceremony kicked off with local KC comedian Steve Krammer doing about 10 minutes of his standup routine. Mr. Krammer is riding a big wave as he in negotiations to become a new cast member next fall for "Saturday Night Live" after being on the WB comedy show "Hype" for the last two seasons.

DJ Roland accepts his Klammie for Best Electronica.

His routine seemed a bit improvised at times, but he got through it alright and was a pretty good ice-breaker to get the ball rolling.

A potentially major glitch in the evening's procession became obvious when we found out the Bryan Busby had been forced to cancel his plans to act as host and MC due to illness just hours before the Ceremony, and that 99.7 KY radio personality Doug Medlock would be taking his place.

Medlock did a good job on such short notice, and with a few gentle (if not exactly tactful) verbal cues and comments from the disembodied voice of Shawn Edwards from somewhere backstage kept things rolling pretty smoothly.

As the evening progressed, and the sentiment of the evening really sank in, one thing that started to become very clear to me.

The Klammies do a good job at bringing together a diverse batch of musicians and music lovers, and that this year more than ever, did a good job at covering most aspects of the local scene.

You couldn't turn your head without a visual cross-section of the local music collective. To our left, a gentleman like jazz singer David Basse looking very dapper in a slick, dark suit. To our right, Screamin' Mickey C. from Cretin 66 with his very long hair, ripped blue jeans and t-shirt, and a vest sporting a patch proudingly displaying his band's logo. Down front a little ways, we see classic country band, The Wilders, all dressed very classy in their western cut shirts, bolo ties, boots and big cowboy hats. Towards the center of the room, we see black metal band, Desencion, in full stage costume complete with corpse-paint and spiked appendages. And finally, as if that wasn't enough shock value for you, we spotted Big Jeter, whose various members where wearing some truly circus-worthy outfits.

But costuming wasn't the only way to put your musical affiliations and tastes on display. There were also some truly impressive displays of comraderie and respect, as well as some truly unfortunate displays of poor sportsmanship.

The family of KC blues legend, Sonny Kenner, did a great job at accepting the Best Blues Klammie, which from now on shall be known as the Sonny Kenner Blues Award in his honor.

The Kenner family accepts the Sonny Kenner Blues Award for Sonny Kenner.

Mrs. Kenner was clearly honored and proud - glad to see that everyone remembered and honored her husband's work after his untimely passing last February. One of the more comical moments of the night had to be when Kenner's youngest son "reminded" the crowd that you could still buy all of his fathers CD's.

"Definitely Sonny Kenner's son," was a comment overheard from someone in the acceptance party.

But by far, the most dignified and gracious speech of the evening was given by Steve Tulipana from Season To Risk, who won the best metal/hardcore Klammie.

"While we are not much of a metal or a hardcore band, we appreciate the honor," Tulipana said.

"I would like to point out that there are some gentlemen sitting out here in the middle of the room that call themselves Decension, and they are the most metal motherfuckers here. Have no fear guys, because you will be here next year."

Season To Risk gives props to Decension in their acceptance for Best Metal/Hardcore Band

Tulipana also gave thanks to Anne Winters, the owner of KC record store Recycled Sounds for reminding everyone that music is not about competition. Indeed she is very correct... and for the most part, the 2001 Klammies was definitely an example of the positive side the local music scene can show.

It's to bad the same could not be said for the comically dressed Big Jeter and hip-hop nominees DVS Mindz. In a moment that brought back memories of the Source hip-hop awards, DVS Mindz provided one of the nights most classless moves. Within seconds of hearing that they lost to Tech 9Nine for another year, the group tossed their chairs high in the air, which made for a thunderous crashing sound as they stormed out of the theater.

As for Big Jeter, they acted just about as classless when they heard that they had lost the Best New Band award to Jade Raven. The seemingly merry band of clowns stormed the stage in a move reminiscent of Ol' Dirty Bastard at the Grammy Awards two years ago.

Jade Raven accepts the Klammie for Best New Band

They proceeded to dance about the stage to the music that was playing over the PA as Jade Raven came to the stage to accept their award. Not only did this make them look stupid and incredibly unprofessional, but it almost succeeded in stealing Jade Raven's thunder.

On that same note, one of the Decension crew showed their support of the Jade Raven win, coming down front to throw up a quick hail to the Best New Band - once again proving that the overall sentiment at the 2001 Klammies was one of comraderie and support for the common celebration of local music.

It was also nice to see the awards portion of the evening end with two victories for The Get Up Kids. It is about time this band got some reginition from the Kansas City-Lawrence scene, since over the last few years they have brought more attention to KC on a national level than we have seen in along time.

The Get Up Kids accept the 2001 Klammie for Best Pop/Rock Band.

I think Jim Septic, summed it up best in his acceptance speach when he said "Our band is very proud to be from Kansas City," which quickly put everything into perspective.

Despite the politics and regrettable antics throughout the evening, nights like Saturday, April 14th make me proud to be a part of the local music scene that has so much more going for it than the few "bad apples" could ever hope to spoil.

See you next year at the Klammies. 2002 looks like it's going to be one hell of a year.

Jason Meier