It's always entertaining to watch the Grand Band Slam process unfold. First, readers nominate their favorite bands—lots and lots of readers. That stage offers an in-depth look at the farthest corners of the Valley's enormous population of musicians, especially as we peruse the bands who got just two or three votes. Those bands are often very new, and sometimes they surface again the next year with many more votes.

After the nominations are in, the top nominees go onto the ballot and voting begins. The list of winners this year contains its share of Valley diehards—The Big Bad Bollocks, Orange Crush, Tony Vacca and World Rhythms—but some interesting newer bands have arrived on the list as well, performers like God the Robot, and Ella Longpre.

We have a new category this year: best street musician. It's often harder to know just who you've heard on the street, but those who entertain downtown strollers ply a trade that's just as hard if not harder than that of club-bound musicians. We're pleased to offer our first winner in that category this year: Bennie the Bucket Man.

You can check out many of these bands at the Grand Band Slam performance, which happens Oct. 10 at Maximum Capacity in Chicopee. The music starts in the early afternoon and goes well into the night. The diversity of music at the Grand Band Slam is always staggering, and there's really nowhere else you can hear such a broad sampling of the many sounds of the Valley.