02/02/2026
I greatly appreciate the wonderful comments from everyone thanking me. However, I am just a small part of the production as Cleveland Music Awards is bigger than me. I did not do this alone. I am thankful to God for giving me strength and the people he has put in front of me that helped make yesterday happen. Thank you to great people like Lisa LoConti and Chris Zitterbart at the iconic Agora for working out the Agora along with free parking. Thank you to Rachel and the wonderful production staff at the Agora. Thank you to Sam, our stage manager, for putting up with my changes. Thank you to Jay, Fuzzy, and Augusta for jumping in and knocking out last-minute items and running the projector. Huge thanks to Kaylee at No Cover for spending days on the slideshow and nights packing all envelopes, gift bags, etc. Thank you to Nancy for working the table up front with gift bags. So grateful for Jacci and Jenn, the dynamic duo, for running backstage, organizing awards, presenters, and sponsor announcements. Thank you to our wonderful sponsors, Crown Royal and 107.3 FM. Thank you to Brady Marks, morning show host, for co-hosting with my good friend and amazing host, MC Brainz, who did an incredible job keeping people entertained, enjoying themselves, and warming their spirits, even though we found out the HVAC went down. Thank you to all our wonderful community sponsors. Thank you to the photographers John Benson and Thomas Apathy, muddy monroe and Moe for video production and the rest of the media for your coverage, including the No Cover crew, Chech and Stone, for red carpet interviews, and Garet, Ivan, and Jaquia for graphics. Thank you to Liz for running social media and constantly posting. Thank you to all the wonderful performers for their amazing talent. Thank you to all the nominated bands and congratulations to the winners. Thank you to Kenny for getting the No Cover office ready in time for the Spotify listening party. Thank you to all that purchased tickets and VIPs. A special thank you to my loving wife, Carmen, for putting up with my late nights, working on the No Cover app for voting, the new No Cover office, and being constantly on the phone to get yesterday's event produced. Definitely had some hiccups with ticketing, the HVAC going down at the Agora, and a mix-up on the food truck. Thank you to all that have reached out to offer their professional services to make the event even better, as the vision is now clear after four years of building it from humble beginnings at Welcome to the Farm. It is so great to see the Cleveland music community come together and unite, with no politics, no hate, just a day of love of music, networking, and celebrating our music community. Remember, separation is an illusion. Without unity, there is no community.
