BETHLEHEM, Pa. — For the first time in nearly six years, the Lehigh Valley area's popular music scene will be honored in a gala event in December, organizers have announced.
The Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Regional Music Awards, a new organization that began its work more than two years ago, will hold its inaugural presentation Sunday, Dec. 7, at Emmaus Theatre.
The organization will present about 30 awards in a ceremony that will include professional production with presenters and crystal trophies.
“We’re going to make it look like the real thing.”Allentown Bethlehem Easton Regional Music Awards founder Sam Younes
There also will be perhaps a half-dozen performers from varied genres, officials said.
"We are going to put on a professional show, big production, nothing chintzy,” said awards founder Sam Younes, a former longtime area music promoter.
“We’re going to make it look like the real thing.”
It will be the first local music awards show since Lehigh Valley Music Awards went on hiatus amid the coronavirus pandemic after its 2020 show.
The LVMAs for 20 years honored regional musicians with an annual awards show, its last seven years at Musikfest Cafe at the ArtsQuest Center in Bethlehem.
But its Facebook page has not been updated since December 2020 and its website is gone.
Younes said in announcing the formation of the ABERMAs that "doing nothing is no longer an option."
'Elevate local artists'
ABERMA President Holly Hutchison, an artist advocate with 35 years in the music and entertainment industry, said the awards show "aims to showcase the extraordinary musical talents of our region."
"Our mission is to elevate local artists, celebrate their achievements and foster a vibrant music community for years to come,” Hutchison said.
She said the logistics of the awards process are being ironed out by officials that includes her, Younes, area music promoter Joseph Amabile and longtime LVMA President Gloria Domina.
In general, the awards process, as with the LVMAs, will involve both music industry professionals and fans, Younes said, with a September timeline for nominations and voting to follow.
“We’re looking at the old LVMA template," he said. "I really like that timeline for a lot of reasons. … It worked so well for the LVMA time period.”
The awards will cover artists in Lehigh and Northampton counties, but also eastern Berks, northern Bucks and southern Carbon counties and parts of Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.
“That’s where we come up with our name as the regional music awards," Younes said.
Categories will include Artist of the Year, Album of the Year,
Song of The Year and Video of The Year, as well a genre-specific awards.
They could include rock, Americana, punk/hardcore, heavy metal, hard rock, reggae, blues, jazz, folk, country and bluegrass, Younes said.
“We’re actually in the midst of deciding those as a team, kind of homing in on defining that,” Hutchison said.
'Key word is inclusion'
For example, Younes said organizers are looking at including an instrumental category because he’s found a lot of such music in the Valley and there’s a new piano bar — 1812 Piano Lounge — opening in Allentown.
“So we’re gonna see more stuff in terms of that,” Younes said.
There also could be individual song categories added outside of Song of the Year, Younes said.
“We’re just trying to get the creativity juices flowing."Allentown Bethlehem Easton Regional Music Awards founder Sam Younes
“We even decided to include an alternative rock song category, just based on so many bands," he said.
"It’s clearly the biggest genre in the Lehigh Valley. And it’s been like this for 50 years. I just think it needs to be highlighted a little bit more."
An important inclusion, Younes said, will be cover band — groups that play songs by top artists rather than original music.
"The key word is ‘inclusion,’" Younes said. "We didn’t want anybody to feel excluded from what we were doing. And everybody starts out as a cover band.
“So we’re going to have categories specifically for those acts."
Just because a band is nominated for the Cover category doesn't mean it also can't win Song of the Year if it releases original music, Younes said.
“We’re just trying to get the creativity juices flowing,” he said.
Awards for Best Venue also will be given to an original music establishment and one geared to the cover bands, he said.
"We didn’t want anyone to feel excluded, he said.
The cover categories will be decided by fans only, he said.
Younes said ABERMA officials still are working out the actual voting process.
“We’re going to still include fan voting — it will help whittle down some of the choices," he said.
'Fresh new perspective'
The ABERMAs also are "tinkering with the idea of an advisory board — specific people who will help oversee each category" nominations.
“We want to have people involved in the process," he said. "So right now have about five people committed to helping with certain categories.
“It’s a work in progress, so to say.”
Younes stressed that, over the two years since the idea of the new awards was announced, the ABERMAs have done a lot of research of music released in the Lehigh Valley and combing through data.
"It is something that has been missing from our music scene over the past few years."Allentown Bethlehem Easton Regional Music Awards' Gloria Domina
Both Younes and Hutchison said Domina provided significant direction for the new awards.
“She is our biggest asset," Younes said. "She’s giving us the advice we desperately need from a professional point of view.”
Said Hutchison, “Her guidance and wisdom is invaluable, of course.”
Of her participation in the new awards, Domina said in a statement, "The Lehigh Valley Music Industry needs and deserves to be recognized for its outstanding contributions to Music.
"It is something that has been missing from our music scene over the past few years.
"I feel as though not only will ABERMA fill that void, but they will do it with professionalism and with a fresh new perspective and feedback from the community."
'Let's grow'
Younes said ABERMA chose Emmaus Theatre after a long process of deciding what was needed for the awards' first ceremony.
Theater owner Robert Audibert said, "it’s quite an honor to be chosen as the hub for such an important event in the Lehigh Valley, especially to the music scene.
"People are taking notice to us.”
“We’re trying to keep it very concise and cozy and intimate, and kind of an introduction of things to come."Allentown Bethlehem Easton Regional Music Awards President Holly Hutchinson
Audibert, an Allentown native, said he's been involved in music much of his life, and he and a couple of friends once ran a small hip-hop label record label based in Philadelphia.
“I’ve been involved in shows and people with bands, helping out put on shows since I was a teenager," he said.
He and a partner took over Emmaus Theatre 11 years ago and "in the past five years we definitely transformed from just a movie theater to an entertainment hub."
"We do standup comedy almost every weekend. We do play movies on a daily basis, but then we sprinkle in music here and there, we do burlesque, magic shows, all kinds of stuff," he said.
“So this is another way to kind of broaden what we’ve been doing and to give back to the art community."
Younes said ABERMA now is working to secure sponsors for the show.
Younes said ABERMA is looking to get tickets on sale soon.
"We're going to try to keep it affordable," he said.
Younes said the theater's capacity is 441, but "we’re not going to fill the whole place."
"We’re going to limit public ticket sales to 250, and then with all the sponsors and volunteers, it’s going to end up around 325-330," he said.
“I wanted to make sure we left enough breathing space for people that they wouldn’t become uncomfortable cramped."
Hutchison, the awards president, said that will be emblematic of what ABERMA hopes for its future.
“We’re trying to keep it very concise and cozy and intimate, and kind of an introduction of things to come," she said. "Let’s grow."
