BMA show revels in diversity
By Linda Laban

Perhaps the coolest thing about the 18th annual Boston Music Awards Wednesday night at Avalon was watching Boston Pops maestro Keith Lockhart sitting in the balcony and head-banging to rock bands Dear Leader and Apollo Sunshine. That was when he wasn't buddying up with Chris Kirkpatrick of N'Sync.

There was more star power on hand. Aerosmith's Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer presented the Hall of Fame award to veteran power-pop band The Neighborhoods.

The 'Hoods also performed, along with Meika Pauley, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Joe Pernice and the night's Lifetime Achievement Award winner, veteran blues singer Weepin' Willie Robinson, who was backed by an all-star band that included bluesman James Montgomery and guitarists Mike Welch and Johnny A.

As the Red Sox struggled at Fenway Park across the street, the Dropkick Murphys, authors of the Sox anthem ``Tessie,'' won the night's top honor, Act of the Year, and took home a second trophy for Outstanding Pop/Rock Band.

In what was presumably the Boston Music Awards' first parent-child victory, roots-rocker Jake Brennan was named best Local Male Vocalist and his father, Dennis, and his band won the Roots/Americana category. The Brennan family honors seemed to fit the unstated theme of the night: solidarity in the Boston music community, as new artists were welcomed and veterans rewarded for staying the course.

-- Boston Herald