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* Ann McWilliams,
Sister Luna & the Diamond Stars. Numaworks Records .
Rocking a little harder suits Ann McWilliams fine on her second solo album.
McWilliams, former co-vocalist in Plaid Descent and one of the most active and visible members of the city's music scene, makes a significant leap forward from 1999's Lush .
Sister Luna & the Diamond Stars is a smooth constituency-builder, packed with uplifting anthems of resilience. With meatier arrangements than anything in McWilliams' past, the album commands attention across all 10 tracks.
Highlights include The Road (McWilliams sounds great when unfurling a winner's attitude) and ambitious mood piece If It Happens Again (suggestive of the Cowboy Junkies at their perkiest).

Indianapolis Demo Review Panel & Contest: On Aug. 8, the Chicago Chapter, in partnership with ASCAP, Musictech College, and the Midwest Music Summit, presented a demo review panel and contest for residents of Indiana at the Patio in Indianapolis. Over 120 demo tracks were submitted by unsigned artists, and pre-screened by our panel of experts. The night included a short panel discussion on marketing and promotion, announcement and playback of the top 10 tracks, and a question-and-answer session. At the end of the program, a winner and two runners-up were announced.

Panelists Include: Ali Buttars (A&R, Warner Bros.), Allan Cole (director of midwest urban promotions, J Records), Rusty Crawford (audio operator and music director, Fox 59 "Morning Show"), Will Healy (director of retail operations, Aware Records/AwareStore.com), Eric Klee Johnson (producer and co-owner, the Pop Machine), Marc Johnson (producer and co-owner, the Pop Machine), Paul Mahern (producer and engineer, Mahern Audio [John Mellencamp, Neil Young, Willie Nelson]),
Ann McWilliams (singer/songwriter and
City of Music founder), Shawn Murphy (Midwest representative, ASCAP), and Matt Schwegman (entertainment manager, talent buyer, and promoter, the Vogue/the Patio).
Winner:
Paging Raymond, “Wake Up Caroline”
Runners-Up:
Zyanya, “Sera”

Demo Review Panelists and Contest participants: Will Healy, Ann McWilliams, Greg Ziesemer, Tim Wilsbach (Paging Raymond), Zyanya Lopez-Cordova, and Tera Siwicki. Kneeling: Marc Johnson, Eric Johnson, Shawn Murphy and Matt Schwegman.