Katonah, NY. (Top40 Charts/ Blakjak
Music Records) - New York's award winning rock/blues/jazz group Reverend Zen is moving into 2009 as recipients of the 2008 Golden Wave Artist of the Year Award in Denver.
The Golden Wave Award is bestowed annually by The Colorado Wave and Indie Music Wave, two entertainment industry pioneers of syndicated, indie music radio shows. Carmen Allgood, producer and host of The Colorado Wave and Indie Music Wave remarks, "Our Golden Wave Award represents recognition for achievement and excellence in music. With all their accomplishments Reverend Zen certainly lives up to that billing. In addition to Reverend Zen being our 2008 artist of the year, the band's Angels, Blues & the Crying Moon is one of the best indie albums of the decade. Simply put, Reverend Zen rocks our world."
Ms. Allgood's The Colorado Wave and worldwide spin off Indie Music Wave have consistently been rated among radio's top indie music shows for more than ten years. Broadcast weekly on upwards of two hundred affiliate stations, the shows are heard on terrestrial and streaming stations, on demand podcast sites including iTunes, Nokia's mobile phone network and on the CBS - AOL platform broadcasting 365 days a year. Among terrestrial stations carrying The Colorado Wave and Indie Music Wave is KENO 103.9FM Aspen, KYCY 1550AM San Francisco, KVSF 101.5FM Santa Fe, WDYN 100.1FM Rochester, NY, BBC and Pacifica Network affiliate KEIF 104.7FM Enid, Oklahoma and KOOL 97.7FM in New Zealand. In Los Angeles Indie Music Wave is heard on New Music Weekly's 2008 Internet Station of the Year I Radio LA, where Ms. Allgood also co-hosts the station's Indie Traffic Jam show with On the Horizon show Music Director John Anderson and I Radio LA Program Director Mark Maverick.
Reverend Zen's Golden Wave Award marks the end of another global award winning year for the band. After receiving five Finalist Awards from ABC Radio Networks Fame Games Effigy Awards, the group's "The Boston Shakedown" was named 2007/08 Blues-Rock Song of the Year in Costa del Sol, Spain. The period also saw the band's "Dangerous Times" named a Finalist in France's 2008 100% Song Contest in Paris, with "The Boston Shakedown" and "Bad Attitude" named Semi Finalists. Those honors were followed with four Semi Finalist Awards from the BBC sponsored 2008 UK Song Contest in London for "Dangerous Times","Bad Attitude" and "Her Love", as "Bad Attitude" was named a Semi Finalist in 2008's Australia Song Contest in Sydney. The year also brought Reverend Zen Best Song Nominations from 2008's Toronto Exclusive Magazine Awards for "Bad Attitude" and 2008's Los Angeles Music Awards for "Her Love", as bandleader-songwriter Jack Evans received a prestigious 2008/09 ASCAP Plus Award in New York.
In 2007, after receiving four Best Song Nominations from Hollywood's Los Angeles Music Awards for "Bad Attitude", "Dangerous Times", "The Boston Shakedown" and "Don't Try to Tell Me", "Bad Attitude" was named Blues Song of the Year, with genre stretching Reverend Zen named L.A. Music Award's 2007 Blues Artist of the Year. The period also saw the group's "Magdalena" and "Bad Attitude" receive Finalist Awards from 2007's Unisong International Song Contest in Los Angeles, as Mr. Evans received his first ASCAP Plus Award - Jazz & Popular Music Division. The band concluded the year being named 2007 Artist of the Year by WCH Radio in St. Louis.
The preceding year saw Reverend Zen's "Dangerous Times" named a Finalist in the 2006 VH1 Song of the Year Contest in Houston, with the group receiving five Runner Up Awards for "Magdalena", "Bad Attitude", "The Boston Shakedown", "Don't Try to Tell Me" and "Fingerprints". The band ended the year taking home RGW Radio's 2006 Bronze Artist Award in Norfolk, U.K. Additionally, Reverend Zen has received songwriting and performance honors from the Billboard World Song Contest in New York, the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest in Washington,D.C. and the U.K.'s Singer-Songwriter Awards in London. To date Mr. Evans and Reverend Zen has received forty-five music industry awards from around the world.
All of Reverend Zen's award winning songs can be heard on their debut cd Angels, Blues and the Crying Moon. The album features a stellar group of musicians who've performed with John Mayer, Eric Clapton, Annie Lennox, David Sanborn, Sheryl Crow, Bruce Springsteen, Celine Dion, B.B. King, Shawn Colvin, Donald Fagen, John Scofield, Madonna, Stevie Wonder, Paul Schaeffer, Elvis Costello, Aretha Franklin and Sting. Since its release the band has received air play and coverage in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Australia and Japan. Reverend Zen is also a Featured Artist on the compilation releases "Fresh Produce 4" from MVY Radio in Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Cape Cod and Newport, RI, "Music for Coffee Beings I" from RPW Records in British Columbia, Canada, "Songwriters & Storytellers" from the San Francisco Bay area's Indie Artist Alliance, "Rock Out Loud" from Tomasian Entertainment in Jersey City, NJ, BMB's "State of Independence" in Boston and "Just Talents" from Research Music in Miami, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and Berlin, Germany.
For more on Reverend Zen and The Colorado Wave visit: www.reverendzenmusic.com; www.myspace.com/reverendzenmusic; www.thecoloradowave.com; www.myspace.com/thecoloradowave
Reverend Zen Named Artist of the Year Nominees by ABC Radio Networks Fame Games Effigy Awards in Spain
New York's Reverend Zen continues to receive music industry accolades, with the band now nominated for 2008/09 Blues-Rock Artist of the Year by ABC Radio Networks Fames Games Effigy Awards in Spain.
The second annual Effigy Awards are part of Meer Music International's show Fame Games originating from Southern Spain. Fame Games broadcasts on one of Europe's largest networks, Onda Cero Radio 101.6FM and 94.6FM from the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca cities of Malaga and Marabella. Since their initial show in April 2006 Fame Games radio and internet broadcasts have grown a listener base of more than two million, with more than three hundred and fifty thousand monthly listeners, to become the number one internet show in the music industry. The show's English language broadcasts go out to an audience primarily in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.
In 2008 the Fame Games audience grew exponentially when the show began broadcasting in the United States on the ABC Radio Network. ABC remarks, "Fame Games is the first truly inventive radio show in years. It's performance competition discovers the best new independent music from around the world." Among the ABC affiliates carrying Fame Games is WFNX 101.7FM Boston, KGHP 89.9FM Seattle, KWMT 92.9FM Tucson, KFFG 97.7FM San Jose, WZEW 92.1FM Mobile, KKMG 98.9FM Colorado Springs and WRVE 99.5FM Albany.
This marks the second consecutive year that Reverend Zen has been honored by Fame Games Effigy Awards. Last year, after receiving five Finalist Awards, the group's "The Boston Shakedown" was named the Effigy Awards' 2007/08 Blues-Rock Song of the Year. Paul Sedowski, CEO of Mere Music and his fellow Fame Game panelists remark, "Reverend Zen has gone and rocked our station totally and put big smiles on our faces. They sound like a killer band that's tight, full of energy and swing, highly accomplished and credible. In all the time we've been airing Fame Games very few band's come close to this one on technical merit with their songs. Their great musicianship and musical taste make it a pleasure to listen to this music. The group is one of our all-time favorites. Reverend Zen is an extremely credible band whose professionalism and class are apparent from the very first moment. Its musicians like these that deserve all the success."
Reverend Zen's Effigy Award nomination highlights an international award winning period for the rock/blues/jazz group. The past year alone brought the band 2008's Golden Wave Artist of the Year Award in Denver and Best Song nominations from 2008's Los Angeles Music Awards in Hollywood and 2008's Toronto Exclusive Magazine Awards for "Her Love" and "Bad Attitude". European honors followed with a 2008 Finalist Award in France's 100% Song Contest in Paris for "Dangerous Times" and three Semi Finalist Awards from the BBC sponsored UK Song Contest in London. Reverend Zen added to those with a Semi Finalist Award from 2008's Australia Song Contest in Sydney, along with a prestigious 2008 ASCAP Plus Award for Reverend Zen bandleader-composer Jack Evans.
The preceding year saw genre stretching Reverend Zen named 2007 Blues Artist of the Year by the Los Angeles Music Awards in Hollywood, with "Bad Attitude" named L.A. Music Awards 2007 Blues Song of the Year. West Coast competitions also brought the band two Finalist Awards from 2007's Unisong International Song Contest in Los Angeles for "Magdalena" and "Bad Attitude", as Mr. Evans received his first ASCAP Plus Award - Jazz & Popular Music Division in New York. The group concluded the year being named 2007 Artist of the Year by WCH Radio in St. Louis.
In 2006 the group received five Runners Up Awards from the VH1 Song of the Year Contest in Houston, with "Dangerous Times" named a 2006 VH1 Contest Finalist. The year also saw Reverend Zen take home RGW Radio's 2006 Bronze Artist Award in Norfolk, U.K. Additionally the band has received multiple songwriting and performance honors from the 2006 Billboard Song Contest in New York, the 2006 Mid Atlantic Song Contest in Washington, D.C. and 2007's Singer-Songwriter Awards in London. To date Mr. Evans and Reverend Zen has received forty-six music industry awards from around the world.
The 2008/09 Effigy Awards will be broadcast on Jan. 15th and 16th 2009 on ABC Radio affiliates around the United States. The event's internet broadcasts can be heard globally at Meer Music.com, with the award show podcasts available at iTunes. All of Reverend Zen's award winning songs can be heard on their debut cd Angels, Blues & the Crying Moon. The album features a stellar group of musicians who've performed with John Mayer, Eric Clapton, Annie Lennox, David Sanborn, Sting, Sheryl Crow, Bruce Springsteen, David Sanborn, Celine Dion, B.B. King, Donald Fagen, Shawn Colvin, John Scofield, Stevie Wonder, Madonna, Paul Schaeffer, Elvis Costello and Aretha Franklin. Since its release the band has received air play and coverage in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Australia and Japan.
For more on Reverend Zen and ABC Radio Networks - Meer Music's Fame Game Effigy Awards visit: www.reverendzenmusic.com; www.myspace/reverendzenmusic; www.abcradionetworks.com; www.meermusic.com
