Besides the (dead) weather, the surest sign around here that summer is almost upon us is that - as of right this very minute - the 2010 Houston Press Music Awards nomination ballot is online and waiting for your suggestions in as many of the 43 categories as you'd care to offer them before the balloting closes May 28.

In order to complete the ballot, you will have to give us your name and email address, but you do not have provide your phone number or sign up for our weekly newsletter or email/SMS blasts unless you want to; just click the checked boxes to deselect them. Bear in mind you can only vote once, so choose wisely.

This year, after considering our readers' suggestions, the Rocks Off brain trust decided to add Best Progressive Rock and Best Latin Hip-Hop, eliminate Best DJ Night in favor of Best Club DJ, and amend Best World Music to Best Reggae/Dub.

Before you go getting all up in arms, bear in mind that Best World Music has been the de facto Best Reggae category for years, and that music that falls under the traditional "World Music" parameters can also slide neatly into Best Latin (Traditional or Contemporary), Best Folk and Best Experimental/Instrumental - which is where we'd suggest last year's lone non-reggae World Music nominee, Space City Gamelan, belongs.

We also added Best Producer, which covers the musical midwives behind both electronic tracks and traditional albums, and a pair of categories to honor local favorites in new and old media, Best Twitter Personality (Music) and Best Radio Personality.

That's enough talk, though. Hop to it. The ballot is here.