Incoming

The Annual 93XRT Listener Poll will go the webcast route tomorrow night (January 21), starting at 6:00 pm CST. Just as they’ve done at numerous live celebrations over the years, long-time air personalities Lin Brehmer, Marty Lennartz, Terri Hemmert, Richard Milne, Ryan Arnold, and Frank E. Lee will present awards in various music categories. We’ll also learn listeners’ choices for the best TV programs, movies, and other forms of entertainment in 2020.

Tributosaurus, one of Chicago’s best-loved and most versatile tribute bands, will perform throughout the event. I’ve been lucky to get tickets to previous 93XRT Listener Polls (they were free but you had to act fast), and I’m thinking even a virtual version will still be fun. As XRT noted on Facebook, Tito’s Handmade Vodka donated $10,000 ($1 for ever vote cast) to the Greater Chicago Food Depository as part of the voting process.

The National Museum of African American Music officially opens in Nashville, TN on January 30, but a special opening ceremony was shown live on Facebook this past Monday to coincide with Martin Luther King’s Birthday. The event was featured on CBS This Morning as well as in the New York Times. In the article, writer Margaret Renkl noted The NMAAM “is a 56,000-square-foot tribute to the makers of the first music that was truly American.”

NMAAM visitors will find exhibits honoring B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, and numerous other African American performers across multiple genres. Admission is currently limited due to COVID-19, but hopefully, 2021 will see a full-scale return to museums. The National Museum of African American Music recently announced its partnership with Sony Music Group to create the Sony Music Scholars Black Music Certification and Scholarship Program.

Be sure to bring some champagne that tastes just like cherry cola. The Kinks’ official Instagram and Facebook sites offered an extremely brief video teaser today stating a new film titled The Moneygoround will be coming “very soon to a screen near you.” The band recently released a 50th Anniversary edition of its Lola Vs. Powerman and the Moneygoround album, which featured the hit single “Lola.” The Moneygoround flick is said to have an original story written by Ray Davies.