Award categories are:

Song of the Year

Singer/Songwriter of the Year

Rockers of the Year (Indie, Alternative)

Roots Award (Includes Country, Bluegrass, Folk and Blues)

Metal/Hardcore Award

Cover Band of the Year

Best Live DJ

Engineer/Producer of the Year (includes studio and club sound engineers)

Holland's connections to the music business will result in a number of out-of-town figures coming to serve on a panel, including Ron Burman of Road Runner Records, Ashely Capps of A.C. Entertainment, Jonathan Palmer of Columbia Records and Greg Sill of Evolution Music Partners.

Nominations can be made through the LMA website beginning Friday, July 19. The address is http://www.louisvillemusicawards.com/nominate/

Tickets for the September 23 event will cost $10 and go on sale Friday, July 19 at the Headliners Box Office or online at www.headlinerslouisville.com or www.louisvillemusicawards.com.

Having been involved in at least two other efforts to stage some form of Louisville music awards, it is clear that Holland's money and connections will drive this effort along much further than efforts in the past have achieved. Whether this effort will avoid the usual petty jealousies and hostilities associated with picking winners (and losers), particularly the question of the method to be used, remains to be seen. Such pettiness has sunk many noble attempts at honoring and assisting Louisville musicians in the past. It can be a quagmire. We wish the best of Holland, Swain and all others involved.

• For people of a certain age, mention of the Plaster Casters usually is followed either by a salacious grin or a disapproving shake of the head. Cynthia Plastercaster was the groupie who created the many plaster casts made of rock musicians erect penises (including Jimi Hendrix); she was the subject and star of a 2001 documentary about her "art." Now, you can catch her at event at Land Of Tomorrow, 233 W. Broadway, on August 1, at 7 p.m. The $25 gets you a spot in a Q&A session with Cynthia as well as the chance to see her collection of plaster casts for only the third time in the last forty years.

• Michael Nelson at Stereogum, in a recent piece on American black metal, said this about Anagnorsis: "One of my very favorite black metal albums of 2013 is Beyond All Light, from Louisville's Anagnorisis." He goes on to rave about the record, then previews "This Cursed Blood" from the disc.

• Louisville's "Prince" Phillip Mitchell was a fixture on the Louisville music scene from the Seventies well into the Nineties, with a reputation that including writing great tunes and singing fabulously, with always arriving late to gigs. He built himself a fine career writing songs for other artists, from Mel & Tim's "Starting All Over Again," a 1972 Top 20 Pop/Top 5 R&B hit, to John Edwards' "Cold Hearted Woman" on Aware Records to First Lady of Motown Mary Wells ' "If You Can't Give Her Love (Give Her Up)," at Reprise.

Now he and his songs might receive a bit of well-deserved attention, particularly in Louisville, as his songs are the subject of a new 20-song release on Ace/Kent, Something New to Do: The Phillip Mitchell Songbook (CDKEND 394), which joins a number of his earlier tunes with later ones on versions from Mitchell's to the original tracks for others.

The Phillip Mitchell Songbook is described as "an expertly-compiled trawl through the vaults, and a must-have for deep soul connoisseurs and newbies alike." The record is available at Amazon.com

• A couple of Louisville acts have landed Daytrotter Sessions. Daytrotter is a website for the recording studio Horseshack , which hosts recording sessions with many popular and, typically, up-and-coming indie music acts. The sessions have been compared to Britain's legendary Peel Sessions. The Fervor' s Daytrotter session, titled "Baked In By The Hot Sun's Fever Dreams." is available at www.daytrotter.com/#%21/concert/the-fervor/20054925-3738478 while Wax Fang's Daytrotter Session, titled "Musings On Dying Or Not Dying," is up at http://www.daytrotter.com/#%21/concert/wax-fang/20030572-3737849

• The 4th Annual Cropped Out Festival schedule has been announced. The event will happen September 27-28 at American Turners on River Road, with a closing party at the Workhouse Ballroom on Lexington Road on September 29. The line-up thus far is: Asm A Tik, Bill Orcutt / Chris Corsano, Blues Control, Cave, Connections, Cop City Chill Pillars, Endless Boogie, Hair Police, Human Eye, Jaye Jayle, Juanita, Kal Marks, Lambchop, Mayo Thompson & The Corky's Debt Band, Montag, Neighbor, New England Patriots, Quailbones, Rinehart, Running, Salad Influence, Shit And Shine, Skimask, Spelling Bee, Spray Paint, Steve Gunn, The Endtables, Thee Open Sex, Today's Hits, Tom Blacklung & The Smokestacks, Tweens, Watery Love, White Reaper, Wolf Eyes

Advance tickets are $35 for both days at American Turners.