Neil Akers, “For Lovin’ Me”

While I can’t claim it as a longtime love, this track by the Conway-based singer-songwriter at least deserves to be this week’s current crush.

The CCU grad’s heartfelt lyrics serve as a great thank you to the lover who puts up with all the things that come with caring for the song’s rock-loving drifter protagonist, while the guitars and vocals carry a distinctly old-school vibe that reminds me of an old Jimi Hendrix song.

Check out this and about half a dozen other Americana-tinged offerings by Akers at myspace.com/neilakers or catch some video of Akers jamming at youtube.com/neilakersguitar.

You gotta love awards shows with all the glitz and glamour, the showmanship and the celebrities hamming it up.

And the awards … wait. Where did all the awards go?

It’s no secret that the Grammys show is no longer really about giving out gold gramophones as much as it’s a showcase for larger-than-life performances and once-in-a-lifetime collaborations.

In theory, I don’t have a problem with this. It keeps viewers engaged and gives gossip bloggers something to talk about Monday morning. Sure, it produces its own share of hits (Lady Gaga and Elton John) and misses (Beyonce desecrating Alanis Morisette’s “You Oughtta Know”), but in general this genre-bending mashup of top talent is a must-see TV for music fans.

The problem comes, however, when the Recording Industry Association of American spends 5 minutes to trot out its fearless leader Neil Portnoy who blabs on about how artists need compensation for their product — basically saying digital music is killing, not expanding the industry. Not only is this message misguided and a bit shortsighted, but it also takes up precious time in which they could be giving out more awards.

I’m not talking about some of these bottom-tier awards given out at the pre-Grammy ceremony, things like Best Album Notes, Best Historical Album or Best Recording Packaging. I’m talking about awards the RIAA should be giving out, ones that represent the real future of music and honor digital downloads instead of dismissing them as a detriment to the business of music.

Here’s some ideas:

Digital Download of the Year

Of course, the Black Eyed Peas DID actually win a Grammy for their hit song “Boom Boom Pow” (Best Short Form Music Video), but not one that represents just how dominant this dance anthem was on the charts this year. It’s 12-week run atop the Billboard Hot 100 was only eclipsed by the band’s other huge hit “I Gotta Feeling” which was No. 1 for 14 weeks in 2009.

Coming in as the year’s most downloaded single with more than 4.25 million units sold, it became the fastest-selling digital track ever, topping the 4-million mark in just 23 weeks, beating out Flo Rida’s “Low” and rightfully earning its spot among Grammy-winning tracks.

Ringtone of the Year

This much-maligned form of cellular self expression has become a scapegoat for what’s wrong with music these days. But no awards list would be complete without at least a mention of these tiny tunes which account for billions of dollars in sales each year.

According to the Nielsen RingScan, “Kiss Me Through The Phone” by Soulja Boy was the top downloaded ringtone of 2009, but I’m convinced that a Grammy winner deserves this award away as well. I know my sample size is a bit small and unscientific, but a few months back I experienced my wife’s boss, her co-worker, the co-worker’s sister-in-law and some college girl at a bar all using Best Rap Song winner “Run This Town” by Jay-Z feat, Rihanna and Kanye West as their ringtone in the same night. Like I said, it’s more of a hunch than anything but when I see a song that can bridge age barriers to function as a personal theme song for so many, I think it deserves some notice.

Best Grammy Cover

Sure, Beyonce deserves some credit for making her power ballad “Halo” a Grammy winning Record of the Year, but it may be that the best version of this track has yet to be heard.

Shortly after Sunday night’s ceremony, former Grammy nominee Diplo (nominated in 2009 for producing on M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes”) posted a shot at the diva on Twitter, claiming his group Major Lazer had recorded a better version of the song featuring dancehall legend Elephant Man.

While it’s hard to call a winner in this battle - it likely comes down to whether you prefer Reggae over R&B - the Major Lazer version is definitely worth a listen, as Elephant Man’s cagey Jamaican growl gives the song a decidedly different feel. Check out the freely available song at http://tinyurl.com/majorhalo.

Best leak

Most in the recording industry would say leaks are a bad thing. There are endless examples of song leaks which impact album sales, such as those which forced Jay-Z to push up the release of his chart-topping “Blueprint 3” album.

However, this year, there was one specific leak that had success without breaking any copyright laws. The album titled “Internet Leaks” was an EP by novelty song master Wierd Al Yankovic.

This collection of singles from the past two years and a new track entitled “Ringtone” — about the perils of having an annoying ringtone — was released digitally in August and ended up nominated for Best Comedy Album at the Grammys. Yankovic didn’t bring home the gold Sunday, losing out to S.C. native Stephen Colbert’s “Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!”, but he should have been recognized for his ability to make his past digital releases chart like a real album.

Best YouTube Spoof

The creators of this ubiquitous video site will surely tell you something different, but I believe spoofing popular music videos is more or less the main objective of 90 percent of YouTube users. That said, there are almost too many nominees for this award to count. I’m taking the easy way out and agree with the infamous Kanye West in choosing the winner here, by saying “Beyonce had one of the best videos of ALL TIME!”

The number of views on a single spoof of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” video are staggering enough — more than 12 million views to watch cute little Arianna do the video’s dance moves. But when you consider the sheer number of consequent spoofs, including entries from Barack Obama (impersonator), Jonas Brothers frontman Joe Jonas, and the Detroit Pistons mascot, no other meme compares to mimicking the Grammy winner.

The coldest days of the year may have passed us by, but there’s a good chance we still have quite a bit of undesirable weather coming before spring brings us the beach-worthy temps and sunny skies we’ve come to love.

And although this edition of Kicks is all about getting out and enjoying the winter, I’m willing to bet there’s a good portion of our readers who – like myself – would rather ride out the rest of this chilly, rainy season indoors enjoying some great tunes.

Whether that means holing up in a local venue for a live show or just staying home and discovering some new music, there’s plenty of good stuff to be heard. Here’s 10 great ways to get your music fix this winter:

Live shows

1. Villanova (Feb. 10 at Hot Fish Club, March 12 Beaver Bar)

Mark my words, you need to catch this Columbia-based rock band playing local bars, because sooner or later these guys are going to be playing packed arenas.

Their sound is an amazingly catchy mix of substance and style that is relentlessly hard hitting and soulfully melodic.

They put together an amazing debut called “Make Noise” in 2007 (available on iTunes) that I haven’t been able to stop listening to since discovering it last summer, and tracks such as “Memory” have gained plenty of airplay on S.C. radio stations.

Although not yet signed to a major deal, the band spent the fall recording with producer Rick Beato (Shinedown, Creed, Trey Anastasio) in New York and is currently working on finishing a new album for release this spring.

2. Alice in Chains with Middle Class Rut (Feb. 27 at House of Blues)

After regrouping from the loss of their lead singer Layne Staley in 2002, alternative stalwarts Alice in Chains are back to making new music and will stop in North Myrtle Beach to promote their 2009 album, “Black Gives Way to Blue.”

Fronted by new singer William Duvall, the band still carries the same hard rock/acoustic sound they made famous in the ’90s and will surely mix in classic hits such as “Would?” “Rooster” and “Man in the Box” among their new material.

3. Marley Gras (Feb. 6, The Boathouse)

This fourth annual show is the perfect way for fans to pay tribute to musical legend Bob Marley on what would have been his 65th birthday.

Featuring music by Mystic Vibrations, this will be a mellow evening of classics such as “Is This Love,” “Jamming” and “Buffalo Soldier,” not to mention it’ll help hold over fans of The Boathouse’s outdoor concert series until summer.

4. The Ultimate Elvis Tribute Contest (March 20, Legends in Concert)

You likely don’t need me to tell you whether or not you will love this show.

But even as just a casual fan of The King, there’s something oddly intriguing to me about watching a dozen or so grown men run around trying to act like a dead rock star. It’s kind of like “American Idol” with jumpsuits.

5. Kiss Kiss, The Venetia Fair and From the Heart (Feb. 12 at Drink!)

Featuring a couple of up-and-coming East Coast bands and an appearance from Myrtle Beach native Nick Allen (From the Heart), this show is a must-see for those looking for something different.

New York-based indie rockers Kiss Kiss lead the way with a standout live show that features their experimental yet accessible tunes with an electric violinist and multiple synthesizers. They gained a good deal of buzz on the indie scene with their 2007 debut “Reality vs. The Optimist” and have continued to record and tour the country the past few years, releasing “The Meek Shall Inherit What’s Left” last year.

In addition, The Venetia Fair is a three-ring circus of theatrical rock – which rivals that of My Chemical Romance or Panic at the Disco – with an over-the-top vocals and crashing piano riffs. But don’t take my word for it, check them out yourself by downloading their full-length album “The Circus” online (www.purevolume.com/thevenetiafair).

Online music

6. Internet radio apps:

Listening to streaming music online is nothing new for most folks. Internet radio sites like Pandora (www.pandora.com) and Last.fm (www.last.fm) have become popular over the past few years, providing millions of users with personalized stations based on their likes and dislikes.

The breakthrough, however, is that these once-struggling streaming services now offer “apps” that can be downloaded to mobile devices. These little programs, combined with the explosion of smart phones, MP3 players and other always-online devices, mean more and more people are gaining access to an ever-expanding library of on demand tunes from their pocket.

This instant gratification may sound unnecessary to some, but trust me, it’s an amazing feeling to be able to instantly look up that bad ’80s song that’s been stuck in your head all day.

7. Amazon MP3 (www.amazon.com/mp3)

Apple’s iTunes may grab all the headlines, but its America’s biggest online retailer, Amazon.com, that offers the best deals in online music. The usability and “wow factor” of buying on Amazon may not stack up against iTunes, but these days it’s hard to argue against lower prices, especially when it comes to feeding disposable desires like your music collection.

Amazon has grown its selection to more than 10 million tunes and routinely goes out of its way to give you a reason to check there first, offering downloads of newly released albums for $7.99 – as opposed to most of iTunes’ new releases at $9.99. In addition, it offers lots of well-known albums at $5 each, a daily MP3 deal that serves up current albums as low as $2.99 and still offers some tracks at 79 cents each.

8. “United State of Pop 2009” (DJearworm.com)

Want to bone up on this year’s biggest songs, but don’t have time to listen to all those albums before Sunday’s Grammy Awards? That’s OK: Mashup master DJ Earworm has got you covered with the latest in his series of year-end wrap ups.

This downloadable track combines the 25 top songs of the past year, according to Billboard, and mixes them down into one five-minute blast of pure pop goodness. From Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga to Taylor Swift and Kings of Leon, this high-energy MP3 and accompanying video are something you have to hear to believe.

9. The MB Underground podcast (http://mbunderground.podbean.com)

Not to be confused with The Myrtle Beach Underground Web site, this show is a couple of local song spinners, Paul Inman and Matt Sellers, talking about music and more from Sellers’ currently under-construction facility, Stone Clover Studios. Although releases of the show have been a bit sporadic, the content is top-notch. With segments that range from informational – rundowns of upcoming shows and interviews with local artists – to ridiculous – “Hey, I know a guy!” jokes and Ye Olde Guitar tips – the show is definitely worth a listen.

10. Indaba Music (www.indabamusic.com)

While this may not be for everyone, anyone who likes to dabble in making music will love the idea behind Indaba. The site is a social networking site, stripped down of all the cuteness and silly games of Facebook and MySpace, where musicians can get together and collaborate. You can use online mixing tools to take others’ creations and combine them with your own ideas or simply interact with like-minded individuals from all over. Even if you’re just looking to make connections locally, there are a fair number of folks from the area using the service.

I love music. Especially new music.

There’s a liberating feeling about hearing something new, especially when that something could be a potentially mind-blowing song from a band that wasn’t even on your radar – or anyone elses for that matter.

Any true music fan will tell you, there’s something special about discovering a band no one has ever heard of. Following a band through muffled recordings and tiny pub shows to chart-topping hits and packed arenas gives you a sort of ownership and a feeling of being part of something great that can rarely be experienced elsewhere.

Who knows? That song you’ve just downloaded onto your MP3 player could be the next head-bobbing, emotion-inducing, awe-inspiring track that is soon to become the soundtrack to your life, something that will pick you up on a bad day or help you let loose after a long week, something that can connect you with a complete stranger with just a few notes and something that can bring back vivid memories of a time you had almost forgotten.

Any way you cut it, discovering new music can be a life-altering experience. Luckily we live in a time where finding free, new music is easier than ever.

Starting with the file sharing sites of the late 1990s and early 2000s, a community has built up around the notion that sharing music online is not just for bootleggers and song stealers. It is also an amazing form of promotion for those simply trying to get their music heard.

And now, as we kick off a new decade, the success of digital distribution platforms such as Myspace and the iTunes music store has expanded the world of freely available music to the point where nearly everyone with an instrument and an internet connection is online sharing and/or selling their music.

So with this spirit of discovery in mind, Kicks! has decided to begin featuring a sampling of freely available songs in a digital music column called Streaming Sounds.

To kick off this weekly feature, I set out using only my browser to find out as much as I could about the local music scene, and what I found was a diverse group of tracks that proves you don’t have to leave the sandy shores of the Grand Strand to hear some great new tunes.

Check out links to all the bands after the jump.

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