Ah, the Daysies. Our annual readers’ choice awards are, by and large, a pretty fun exercise in local democracy, a survey of the best of Vermont that culminates in a big summer party on the scenic Burlington waterfront. What could possibly piss people off about that?
Well, let me tell you: a lot, homies. The Daysies seem to ruffle feathers in the music community every year. Sometimes people are peeved that their favorite artist didn’t win or that a particular band wasn’t even nominated. This year, as the write-in nomination round wrapped up on Sunday, it’s the categories themselves that have generated a bit of online ire.
For those who didn’t notice, some categories from previous years have been retired. In particular, we cut ones for specific genres of music — rock, jazz, hip-hop, etc. In their stead, we used the broader category of best band and preserved other categories such as best instrumentalist, best vocalist and so on.
Why? As I’ve made clear many times in the past, I’m not the dude who calls the Daysies shots. But when the top brass approached me about doing away with some of the music categories, I had no qualms.
The logic was simple: The categories on the chopping block weren’t getting robust voter engagement. And thus each year some folks in the music scene would grumble that the results didn’t represent it well. Even local musician and DJ Craig Mitchell, a perennial Daysies winner, often beseeched his fans to vote for other DJs … only to win anyway.
That’s not to say Mitchell isn’t deserving of recognition — he certainly is, and there’s still a DJ category this year that he may just run away with again. The problem is that the average Seven Days reader generally only knows the biggest names in local music and couldn’t parse who should win in nine very specific music genres. And local musicians who are in the know tend to be shy about campaigning for votes or “too cool” to vote themselves. You can see our catch-22.
Streamlining the music categories was our attempt to simplify things for readers. Because at the end of the day, you, the reader, decides who gets nominated and who wins. A strong push from fans can turn anything around. But that requires participation. To quote the great Black Sheep, “The choice is yours.”
For years, I’ve threatened to do my own version of the Daysies music awards. And there’s precedent for such an endeavor: Former music editor and current culture coeditor Dan Bolles once went this route himself and called it the Dandelions. Maybe this is the year I take a stab at rating the scene. I’ll dub it, uh, the Chrisanthemums? Or maybe the Farnsworthlesses, because yeah, there will definitely be no prizes involved. It might actually hurt your brand!
OK, I’m warming up to this. Stay tuned for my undemocratic, completely arbitrary awards. And vote in Round 2 of the Daysies from June 2 to 15 on this website.
In other news, the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival announced on April 30 — International Jazz Day, no less — the “Around Town” programming for its 43rd iteration. The Flynn has partnered with a collection of local venues and businesses, as well as Burlington City Arts, to showcase the local jazz scene during the fest, which runs from June 3 to 7.
Well over 30 local acts, including Soule Monde, theDan Ryan Express, Janéa Hudson, EVNGwear, Birdcode, Connor Young & the Restless Trio, and theAlex Stewart Band, are set to perform at nightclubs and restaurants all over town.
“It’s critical that we continue to support and showcase all of the great local places and players during the festival,” said Matt Rogers, the Flynn’s director of programming. “There are so many magical nooks to discover, whether in the South End at Venetian Soda Lounge and Zero Gravity, up in the New North End at Upper Pass Brewing, or at a Sun Ra film screening at Main Street Landing.”
To see the full schedule, check out flynnvt.org.
This article appears in May 6 • 2026.
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