Can Lil Wayne Overcome His Spotty Live Track Record?

Lil Wayne is scheduled to bring his "I Am Music" tour to Toyota Center Thursday, but be warned before you drop nearly $50 on a ticket. While the New Orleans native born Dwayne Carter Jr. has in many ways had the best year of his career, he has repeatedly wasted fans' time when it comes to taking the stage.

Wayne's heavily leaked album, Tha Carter III, went on to be 2008's top seller and is approaching triple-platinum status after only six months. His second child, a healthy baby boy, was born in October.

Earlier this month, he earned eight Grammy nominations, more than any other artist. And his 26th birthday was marked by a gift of a million dollars snuggled into a Louis Vuitton briefcase by mentor and de facto father, Brian "Baby" Williams.

The accolades have obviously gone to Wayne's head, because aside from his surprise turn playing guitar onstage with Kid Rock at this year's Country Music Awards — which turned out later to be air guitar — he puts little stock in performing live.

Time is often an issue for Weezy; this year, he showed up as much as three hours late for gigs in Newark and Seattle. Sometimes the law gets in the way of his punctuality, as when he was arrested in Arizona in January after his tour bus was pulled over and found to contain large amounts of Ecstasy, marijuana and cocaine.

Run-ins with cops are a regular occurrence at this point, too: Last year Wayne stepped off a New York stage and into a weapons charge, and in October he was collared in Idaho on a fugitive warrant in Georgia that was later dropped.

It isn't always Wayne's fault when the show doesn't go on. At his first London appearance in March, audience members chucked bottles at the stage, cutting his set short. Last month, it was rumored that he postponed his second consecutive concert in Rochester, New York, after dissatisfaction with the venue's sound quality — the rare legitimate excuse.

The "I Am Music" tour is an arena venture with higher financial stakes than the nightclub shows he tends to do, so Lil Wayne has a lot more to lose. Who knows whether that's enough incentive to reinforce the importance of showing up?

After all, dude already has a big Vuitton bag of dough at his disposal.

NEWS FEED

Yuss! There's still a couple of days left to vote in mad sticky local music blog The Skyline Network's (www.theskyline.net) 2008 Sammy Awards, a sort of winter-solstice counterpart to the Press's Music Awards. Skyline honcho adr and crew have narrowed down the nominees in 21 cheeky categories honoring only the best in H-town noise. Up for Favorite Act to See Live are Balaclavas, B L A C K I E, Indian Jewelry, Tontons and Wild Moccasins, while Favorite Full Length Recording is down to Buxton's A Family Light, Indian Jewelry's Free Gold, Paper­moons' New Tales, Paris Falls' Volume II and the Mathletes' Fuck You and Your Cool. Other categories include Favorite Local Festival, Favorite WTFers, Most Unfortunate Breakup and Favorite Happy Hour Bar. Voting is open through Friday, and winners will be announced Saturday night at everyone's new favorite Heights hang — not just hipsters, it turns out — Big Star Bar, 1005 W. 19th.

LOCAL MOTION

Vinal Edge Records
13171 Veterans Memorial Blvd.
281-537-2575

1. Indian Jewelry/Future Blondes split 12"

2. Gore, Hart Gore/Mean Man's Dream CD/LP reissues

3. Stereolab, Chemical Chords CD/LP

4. Bohren & Der Club of Gore, Dolores CD

5. Land of Talk, Some Are Lakes CD/LP

6. Anathallo, Canopy Glow CD/LP

7. Current 93, Nature Unveiled/Dogs Blood Rising LP reissues

8. Flaming Lips, Christmas on Mars CD/LP/DVD

9. White Hills/Acid Mothers Temple, Hawkwind tribute split 7"

10. Cat Power, "Dark End of the Street" 2X10"

AIRWAVES

Blues in Hi-Fi
KTRU (91.7 FM), 7-9 p.m. Wednesdays
Selections from DJ ClintB's December 10 playlist

1. Ann-Margret & Al Hirt, "Baby, It's Cold Outside"

2. Fabulous Thunderbirds, "C-Boy's Blues"

3. Big Maceo, "Wintertime Blues"

4. James Cotton, "Love Me or Leave Me"

5. Johnnie Taylor, "You Can't Win With a Losing Hand"

6. Albert Collins, "Frosty"

7. Aretha Franklin, "Today I Sing the Blues"

8. Barbara Lynn, "Give Me a Break"

9. Louis Armstrong, "Christmas in New Orleans"

10. Freddie King, "Christmas Tears"

(lists compiled by Chris Gray)