Subject: Willamette Week's Best New Band Poll!



Dear Esteemed Member of the Portland Music Community,



Congratulations! You have been selected by our diligent team of local music scientists to take part in Willamette Week's Best New Band Poll 2008, where the Portland music community looks back over the last year and deigns one band, solo artist or DJ the greatest new talent in town.



Last year's winner was the Shaky Hands, who—as this year's winner soon will—appeared on the cover of Willamette Week's Best New Band issue. The Shaky Hands went on to play to a packed house at Berbati's as part of WW's Best New Band Showcase before conquering the world. Well, not quite. But they're certainly on their way. With all the great talent that's constantly popping up here in our fair city, it's hard to say who will become Portland's Best New Band 2008, but we would like you to help us figure that out.



Participation is easy. All you need to do is send us a list of the top 5 acts you've discovered this year—again you can vote for any music-making entity, be it a band, a solo performer, a DJ or an emcee. You can rank them one through five, or give no rankings, if you're the indecisive sort. If you can't think of five new acts that have made an impact on you in the last year, just send us however many you like, whether it's four, three, or just one. It could also be two.



When all the ballots have been collected, we will assign points for each band you voted for based on how you ranked them (No. 1 = 5 pts., No. 2 = 4 pts., No. 3 = 3 pts., etc.). If you don't rank your votes by numbering each band, the points will be divided and distributed equally. We will then add up the points from all the ballots and come up with a top 10, which will be published in an upcoming issue of Willamette Week. The number one band will appear on the cover of the paper and will headline WW's free Best New Band showcase.



You can vote for any band you like, as long as it is not a band you play in (you can vote for bands you work with—as long as you're voting as a FAN and not a profiteer). But we ask that you refrain from voting for any of the following bands that have already appeared on a Best New Band top 10 list from either 2004, 2005, 2006 or 2007:



Alan Singley and Pants Machine

Blitzen Trapper

Climber

Clorox Girls

Copy

Derby

DJ Beyonda

Dolorean

The Kingdom

Lifesavas

Lion Fever

Menomena

The Minds

The Nice Boys

Norfolk & Western

Paint By Numbers

Please Step Out of the Vehicle

Point Juncture, WA

The Ready

Siren's Echo

The Snuggle Ups

Swan Island

Talkdemonic

The Thermals

Tractor Operator

Viva Voce

Wet Confetti

White Rainbow

The Shaky Hands

Horse Feathers

Alela Diane

Laura Gibson

New Bloods

Dat'r

LKN

Dragging An Ox Through Water

Hey Lover

Pure Country Gold



Please email your list to bestnewband@wweek.com (please do not reply sender; the best new band email is conveniently located last on the list of emails above), along with your full name and role in the music community, by Friday, March 28, 2008—IF YOU DO NOT INCLUDE YOUR NAME AND TITLE IN YOUR REPLY EMAIL YOUR VOTES WILL NOT BE COUNTED. Your votes will be published online, but if you would like your votes to remain anonymous, we can do that too. Just let us know. Also, if you received this email at more than one email address (as many of you may have), please only respond once, with one set of votes.



Thanks so much!



Amy McCullough

Music Editor

Willamette Week