 Hollywood, CA USA (New Music Weekly Awards) - The place to be this week was Hollywood for the 2005 New Music Weekly Awards. Recording artists, radio stations, and top industry executives were all on hand for a spectacular evening. Even the weather in Southern California was picture perfect and helped to add a perfect background to an evening filled with great music and some rather surprised winners. NMW's own syndicated radio host Buck McCoy was accompanied by co-hosts Corey Clark (American Idol), Lauren Woodland (Young & the Restless) who set the pace for an event that found radio, music and programmers in full force. American Idol finalist Carmen Rasmusen was one of the first featured performers and debuted her single "Spend That Money" that got everybody pumped up. Young 14 year-old violinist/vocalist Antonio Pontarelli brought the house down with a performance that showcased just why this young genius is the talk of the music industry. Hilljack was also on hand for a live performance of their "This Could Get Good" single. They were as good as expected and really added that extra touch of strong Nashville Country "crossover". Billy Gilman got a standing ovation after his performance of "Everything & More". This young man is so talented, and has such a great attitude that one can only marvel about what the future holds for him. Billy also had plenty of his own fans on hand and made many more before the evening was over. The presenters were "star-studded" from the start with Bolo Dartanian and Lori Chestnut from the Amazing Race (CBS) and ending with Alex M from the popular MTV show Laguna Beach . Jason Rennebu and Flynn, daughter of Jane Semour, got some of the bigger laughs of the evening.. Jon Fritz, Frances Kramer and the band TGK also provided some excellent presenter services, as did recording artists Oli Trevena and Shani. Chris Goodman and Jon Huertas the stars of the film "Hot Tamale" presented and introduced a film clip along with their director/writers, Michael Damian and Janeen Best. New Music Weekly also paid tribute to Three Dog Night lead vocalist Chuck Negron who picked up the annual Newman Award for a lifetime achievement. He also led a celebrity filled stage at the end of the evening with a rendition of his No 1 classic hit, "Joy To The World". The big winners of the evening with several awards was recording artist Scott Grimes (television show E.R. on NBC) "AC/Hot AC Single of the Year" and AC/Hot AC Male Artist of the Year. Gwen Stefani was also a home run winner taking home both"AC/Hot AC and Top40 Female Artist of the Year" awards. Doug Stone came back to win "County Artist of the Year", Carmen Rasmusen "New Country Artist of the Year" and Billy Gilman "Country Single of the Year" all came back as top winners which also included There were also a number of radio, music and programming awards that found some of the very best, making their way to the podium. A list of all the winners will be found in this week's issue.
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