<div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3578/3796612183_2621fb04b2_o.png" /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Yesterday I kicked off <a href="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/2009/08/want-tix-to-absolute-best-of-tulsa.html">a fight for two tickets (a $30 value) to tonight's Absolute Best of Tulsa Music Awards</a>, hosted at <a href="http://cainsballroom.com/">Cain's Ballroom</a> by those bafty crastards at <a href="http://urbantulsa.com/">Urban Tulsa Weekly</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>I asked contestants to tell me the five bands up for Best Band of the Year. Everyone answered correctly, but the names of these five stellar bands bear repeating:</div><div><br /></div><b>Callupsie</b><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; ">Web site: <a href="http://www.callupsie.com/">http://www.callupsie.com/</a></span></b><div>About (from the Callupsie Web site): Callupsie is an indie rock band from Tulsa, OK. The group was formed in July of 2005. Callupsie is a band that plays shows in and out of their hometown week in and week out. They are close friends that have based their band and ideas upon a strict work ethic and a mutual respect for each other and those who work with them. The are inspired by the friends who have supported them as well as other musicians past and present. Callupsie mixes genres, lyrics, rhythms, and energy into their own sound that's as original as the name they go by. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Dead Sea Choir</b></div><div>Web site: <a href="http://www.deadseachoir.com/">http://www.deadseachoir.com/</a><br />About: Sonically, it's something akin to Mozart, Aphex Twin, Radiohead and Philip Glass battling each other in space. A complex mix of organic and synthetic percussive elements providing the backbone for crooning vocals, sweeping piano arpeggios, atmospheric guitar and electronic girth.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><b>Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey</b></div><div>Web site: <a href="http://jfjo.com/">http://jfjo.com/</a></div><div>About (from the JFJO Web site): JFJO is pianist Brian Haas, drummer Josh Raymer, upright bassist Matt Hayes, and guitarist Chris Combs. To say that JFJO's music transcends boundaries and expands minds is an understatement. Since 1994, JFJO has brought their impressionistic and improvisational vision from the Midwest's Bible-Belt to many of the world's finest music festivals and clubs. Music listeners are blown away by JFJO's instrumental creativity, musical risk, and near telepathy on stage. In the past 18 months, JFJO has travelled to Europe four times and have played at major jazz festivals all over the world.</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>My Solstice</b></div><div>Web site: <a href="http://www.mysolsticeband.com/">http://www.mysolsticeband.com/</a></div><div>About (from the Dfest 2009 Web site): An idea in the minds of two guys looking for their own personal "solstice" in life, has grown to become what Tulsa World calls, "a full on indie rock experience", along with many other media publications across the midwest shouting praises of their own. Always staying open minded and socially conscious in all aspects of writing, My Solstice seems to create music that anyone can relate to.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Vandevander</b></div><div>Web site: <a href="http://www.myspace.com/vandevandermusic">http://www.myspace.com/vandevandermusic</a></div><div>About (from the band's Web site on Myspace): The initial Vandevander release, The Great State of Emotion, is the first of a trilogy of EPs that will tie together to relate the cycle of emotional upheaval, inner turmoil and redemption. Raw Emotion. For anyone who has experienced heartbreak, betrayal or a painful breakup, the effect is similar to ripping your heart out and showing it to you, like the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark </div><div><br /></div><div>The lucky TDT reader, selected from <a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7770348106932064769&amp;postID=27898861766981738&amp;isPopup=true">the comments on the contest post that were actual entries and that slid in under the deadline</a>, who has won the free-of-charge chance to see which of these bands take home the biggest prize of the evening is: </div><div><br /><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 160px; height: 186px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tZVufRlMtzM/Sn2slcyjQBI/AAAAAAAABeI/aNchbRd5LjE/s400/Picture+23.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5367636090278854674" /><b><br /></b></div><b><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Xylo, from the blog </span><a href="http://livinglikemusic.blogspot.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Electrocore: Living Like Music</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">! Congrats. </span><a href="mailto:%20tashadoestulsa@gmail.com"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">E-mail me</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> to collect your prize. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Thanks to all for playing. Tickets to the ABoT MAs are still available for a mere $15, a small price to pay for admittance to one of the rockin'-est parties of the year, at </span><a href="http://cainsballroom.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Cain's Ballroom</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">, Ida Red on Brookside and Starship Records at 13th and Lewis. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">See you all there. I'll be the one standing by <a href="http://twitter.com/hwall">Urban Tulsa arts writer Holly Wall</a>, doling out</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://twitter.com/tashadoestulsa"> some seriously tasty tweets</a> from the red carpet. </span></div></b></div>