The sun melted away to indigo blue as night came on last Friday, June 9, during the second annual North Bay Music Awards (NORBAYs). On the giant main stage, the background scrim glowed in the coming dusk, revealing the white spires of the backstage tents and the symmetrical tops of the Monterey pines lining the adjacent hillside.

Amid the Velvet Teen's set, lead singer Judah Nagler lurched gracefully forward over his mic stand, swept up in the song that bassist Josh Staples and drummer Casey Dietz had helped him to build in huge, percussive circles from the speakers and the computer and the instruments and their own voices. In one move, Nagler flipped the mic up, caught it raggedly, leaned intently forward and continued to sing. It was one of those raw, authentic and thrilling live music moments, but one was born to doubt.

Standing on the lawn, Santiago bassist Kyle Lindauer took in the scene, having performed with his band earlier that afternoon. The song ended, and I tapped Lindauer's shoulder. "Hey," I asked. "That thing with Judah and the microphone--was that just rock or was that pure emotion?"

Lindauer looked quizzical for a moment. As if answering the very old or the very slow or the very misfortunate, he spoke kindly. "They are," he said, "exactly the same thing."

Indeed.

Pure emotion saturated the afternoon as it swam into evening with NORBAY concertgoers heralded by live outdoor performances not only from the Velvet Teen and Santiago but also by the sinuous Trailer Park Rangers, the snap-hot rhythms of Luna Angel and the glorious Eric Lindell--not to forget Eugene, Djiin and the Lemon Lime Lights as well as tweensters DDK, jammers Plum Crazy, the very loud, very good Coma Lilies, porch-punk faves Stiff Dead Cat and Latin award winner David Correa and Cascada. Inside the Grace Pavilion after the lights went down, a glorious time was had by all with the Hot Buttered Rum String Band, Maria Muldaur and, of course, Bob Weir and RatDog.

Awards were indeed awarded. Thanks to all who participated by voting, performing, volunteering and attending! Here is the list of the artists who were nominated; winner's names are italicized. See you there next year!

Blues
Norton Buffalo
Maria Muldaur
Roy Rogers
Charlie Musselwhite
Volker Strifler

Classical
Cotati Philharmonic
Marin Symphony
Mill Valley Philharmonic
Napa Valley Symphony
Santa Rosa Symphony

Country/Americana
Hot Buttered Rum String Band
Laughing Gravy
Poor Man's Whiskey
Stiff Dead Cat
Trailer Park Rangers

Dance/DJ
Rob Cervantes
Zack Darling
DJ Amen
Dragonfly Gianni

Folk/Acoustic
John Courage
Joni Davis
Nina Gerber
Audrey Auld Mezera
Solid Air

Hip-Hop
DJ Shadow
Furious Minds
Truth Live
Zealous
Wisdom

Jazz
Dave MacNab Jazz Lab
Mel Graves
Julian Lage
Stephanie Ozer
Ian Scherer

Latin
David Correa and Cascada
Groupo Atlantis
Los Ritmicos
Mariachi Jalisco de Miguel Orozco

New Age/Spiritual
Suzanne Ciani
Steve Gordon
Steve Halpern
Kitaro
Jai Uttal

Alt/Punk/Hardcore
Derge
New Trust
Polar Bears
Toast Machine
the Velvet Teen

R&B/Funk
Levi Lloyd & 501 Blues Band
Poyntlyss Systars
Pride & Joy
Vinyl
Michael Narada Walden

Rock/Metal
American Drag
Eugene
New Monsoon
Tea Leaf Green
Eric Lindell

World/Reggae/Celtic
Luna Angel
Gator Beat
Greenhouse
Groundation
Hamsa Lila

North Bay Legends
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
David Grisman
Ali Akbar Khan
Phil Lesh
Bonnie Raitt

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