February 24, 2014. A Monday. Go Texan Day, Houston's unofficial start of rodeo season, was still four days away. Stories in that week's Time magazine included "Mexico's New Mission," "Biden Unplugged" and a look at brand-new Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon. Songs popular at the time were Katy Perry's "Dark Horse," Pitbull & Kesha's oh-so-subtle duet "Timber" and a certain earworm Weird Al would soon parody as "Tacky." Closer to home, Houston's Tontons and Wild Moccasins were both celebrating new albums that had been months if not years in the making. Any of that ring a bell?
And...February 24 is also the day Rocks Off asked our readers to tell us their choices for Houston's best music photographer. In June, we announced our ten finalists from a pool of more than 30 candidates, as chosen by a panel of three people with exacting knowledge of both music and photography. The array of candidates that have made it this far is impressive, to say the least. We encourage you to explore their portfolios under the links below. But what we finally wanted to know was -- with respect/apologies to Jerry Seinfeld -- who are these people?
Then summer came, and went, and fall came (sort of), and it took awhile, but all ten finalists were kind enough to introduce themselves via the profiles we have been sharing with you for the past three weeks. We've enjoyed every bit of it, but -- we think you'll agree -- we've also dragged this out about as long as we possibly can. Almost six months later, it's time to bring this full circle and ask you fine readers to choose the winners. It won't be easy, we know that much. But we hope it's a lot of fine.
So one more time, here are links to all ten finalists' profiles. Study them, enjoy them, share them with your friends. Below the links is the ballot. Voting is now open and continues through 11 p.m. this Sunday, October 19, and is limited to one vote per computer or mobile device.
HOUSTON'S 10 BEST MUSIC PHOTOGRAPHERS
The winner will be announced next week, but hardly out of the clear blue sky. We'll let you know when it's getting close. Thanks again to all ten finalists, and good luck to them all!
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