Stardar Report: 5th Annual Portland Music Awards

Monday, 23 January 2012 11:55 | Written by Byron

Chloe Houser, Silas Weir Mitchell, Miss Oregon USA, Tommy Tutone, Beth Willis and Ian Karmel

OH, WHAT A NIGHT: "Red carpet arrivals with Daniel Baldwin." That's what I signed up for. Or, at least, that's what I thought I was scheduled to do. And I did do the "red carpet" but with "Nikki" from Live 95.5, not with Mr. Baldwin. Seems the actor couldn't get a baby sitter. And that was just one of many "surprises" I encountered at one of the most infamous annual events to hit Portland, Oregon.

I am talking about The Portland Music Awards. Over the years, I've heard A LOT about this annual event honoring the local music scene. Truth is, not much of it very good. But, the lure of celeb-interaction that didn't involve publicists and handlers was way too enticing and almost too good to be true. And it was—except for one guy.

That would be Silas Weir Mitchell. He plays the big, bad wolf, Eddie Monroe, on Grimm. And backstage, prior to the show Silas was a sweetheart, if just a wee bit nervous about being on stage. He's just like his character on tv: funny, charming, quirky—and quick. We talked about food. He loves food, especially Italian food. And he loves the Portland food scene.

That's also when I found out that Silas was a last minute addition to the night, after another Grimm actor, David Giuntoli, was whisked back to Los Angeles by the network. Stepping in at the last minute, Silas was supposed to "host" the PMAs with PDX TV's Chloe Houser as well as give out a few awards. But, the actor, who said he had an early call time to the Grimm set the following day, was only able to make it for the beginning of the big bash. Well, at least it was cool that he was around for that part.

Another big surprise was one of the scheduled bands had to drop out at the last minute due to "family emergencies." I don't even want to get into the messy gossip I heard on that one.

But there were some good surprises too. Like getting to host a live radio show on Freedom 970 AM with KUPL's B-Dub (who's station won Best Radio Station). Or that I had a chance to hand a couple of awards with Tommy Tutone to a really cute guy, Rob Wynia, from Floater (Best Live Act) and the incredibly talented singer/songwriter Beth Willis (Best Female Artist). And, oh yeah, I had a chance to hang out with some cowboys and real rockstars from bands like Heart (the Fisher Brothers are really cool). I also got to see my boys: Tony DeMicoli (he won for Pioneer) and Terry Currier (his Music Millennium won for best record store).

It was a weird night. But it was also fun. And it definitely lived up to its reputation (did I tell you that Courtney Love was originally scheduled to host the night but had to drop out due to "health" issues?).

Tags: