2008 Houston Press Music Awards Showcase

Young Mammals (9 p.m.)
Nominated in: Best Indie Rock
www.myspace.com/youngmammals

Their name may be different, but Young Mammals (formerly the Dimes) is working harder than ever to keep its music ahead of the curve. Creating a buzz is hardly new for the quartet, who took Best New Act, Best Indie Rock and Best Local Song (for "Delilah") at last year's awards. Though the impending departure of drummer Iram Guerrero will (temporarily) leave the band down one talented musician, Young Mammals has been working on new material it hopes to release in the near future. — B.B.Z.

Flying Fish Sailors (4 p.m.)
Nominated in: Best Traditional Folk
www.flyingfishsailors.com

Not many bands can create a set list that includes traditional folk sea chanties, Irish jigs, pub singalongs and English ballads with similar original material that touches on cannibalism, dollar stores, pandemics and the Loch Ness Monster. But the Flying Fish Sailors have managed to mingle instrumental skill and offbeat humor superbly for more than 20 years. If the multi-instrumentalist/singing ensemble doesn't bring an immediate smile to your face, you've got to be one cold fish. — B.R.

Yoko Mono (5 p.m.)
Nominated in: Best Rock en Español, Best Bassist (Rozz Zamorano)
www.myspace.com/yokomonomusic

One-half of the schism that resulted when the leaders of beloved Houston rockers en español Chango Jackson decided to go their separate ways, Yoko Mono is ex-CJ guitarist/vocalist's Moises Alanis's faction, the half that wanted to pursue a less traditional course and hopes to have a debut LP out later this year. Until then, there's always MySpace: YM's casual insertion of Billy Idol's "Eyes Without a Face" into "Momentos" is Gilberto-Gil genius, and "Godsilla," its funky, fizzy reworking of Blue Öyster Cult's "Go Go Godzilla," is an infectious delight. — C.G.

Fat Tony (6 p.m.)
Nominated in: Best Underground Hip-Hop
www.myspace.com/fattonyrap

Can't ever go wrong with The Simpsons, right? Drawing his name from the portly mobster voiced by Joe Mantegna and first seen in the "Bart the Murderer" episode, Houston MC Fat Tony combines a limber flow, horn-heavy samples and a relentlessly optimistic outlook to provide local hip-hop fans an alternative to all that syrup. (Think, basically, Kanye without all the ego.) As Tony says on his Love Live EP — which he gave away as a free download earlier this year — "positivity and energy is gettin' me by." Before all is said and done, they may get him a lot further than that. — C.G.

The Wiggins (7 p.m.)
Nominated in: Best Experimental
www.myspace.com/thewigginsrox

An artist equally indebted to NYC drone-punk duo Suicide and (early) Elvis is a little hard to wrap the ol' noodle around, but in the Wiggins' case, it ain't far off. The alter ego of one Jon Read — there have been other Wiggins in the past, and may be again — the Wiggins are outré enough to be written up in Punk Planet and palatable enough to land a song on a 2007 episode of CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Read's latest bit of recorded curiosity is the "Feed the Ghost" 7", released earlier this summer on Houston's Dull Knife Records. — C.G.

Molly & the Ringwalds (8 p.m.)
Nominated in: Best Cover Band
www.myspace.com/theringwalds

These bitchin' babes and gnarly dudes have taken Best Cover Band the past five years in a row, but what makes the Ringwalds (there is no true Molly) a perennial fave is the breadth of its material — the band does everyone from Prince and Ozzy Osbourne to Michael Jackson and the Vapors. And given that Carrie and Dekan Ringwald just returned from vacation in the Land of the Rising Sun, surely they busted out "Turning Japanese," right? "We handed out a lot of Ringwalds business cards," Dekan says. "We're trying to take over Velvet Revolver's slot since they were denied entertainment visas." Uh, Deke, that band isn't even together anymore — guess that's what happens when your head is stuck in the '80s. — B.R.

Bring Back the Guns (9 p.m.)
Nominated in: Best Guitarist (Erik Bogle)
www.myspace.com/bringbacktheguns

Erik Bogle, Matt Brownlie, Thomas Clemmons and Ryan Hull have been plying their spastic indie-rock for Houston audiences and the occasional tour for quite a while now. In fact, notes the band, it turned "fucking ten years old last February." Over half that decade was spent in the Herculean struggle to get first full-length Dry Futures released, efforts that finally saw fruition last year and proved well worth the wait. Since then, BBTG has been kicking back a bit, spending less time at favorite haunts like Poison Girl. "We're getting old now, so often it's the good old fashioned backyard BBQ," they claim.— Nicholas L. Hall

Sugar Bayou (4 p.m.)
Nominated in: Best Traditional Folk
www.sugarbayouband.com

Sugar Bayou's "eclectic acoustic Americana" tagline is no joke: The six-year-old sextet's pedigree includes onetime players in Cow Jazz, the Lone Star Bluegrass Band, Duck Soup, Denim and several others. Ever mindful of their surroundings, the Mucky Duck mainstay's 2007 CD The Dance Hall Incident includes Celtic, Cajun, a side trip to "Galveston" and the sad realization that people around here always seem to be "Leavin' for Austin." — C.G.