Arts & Entertainment >>

• Best Free Entertainment
  Cinco de Mayo on Federal Boulevard
  Too bad Mexico has already laid claim to Cinco de Mayo on its calendar, because that country doesn't do anything to celebrate the alleged holiday — whereas here in the Mile High, May 5 is a party worthy of celebration. One weekend a year, generations of Denver's Latinos head toward Federal... More >>
• Best Romper Room
  Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver
  When the Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver opened this past fall, it was immediately celebrated far and wide for its plucky backstory, sleek design and striking exhibits. But few people mentioned the superb room on the top floor filled with little else but massive beanbag chairs. We're not sure... More >>
• Best Theater Trend
  Beverages!
  You're allowed to bring tea, coffee, beer or wine into the new Black Box Theater at the Arvada Center, and such venues as Miners Alley, the Bug and Curious Theatre also allow sipping during performances. This is a trend we applaud — although inebriated audiences can be a nuisance, and no... More >>
• Best Barista
  Heidi Bickelhaudt
  Every coffee snob has his favorite barista; it's sort of like rooting for your hometown football team. But how do you determine who's actually the best of the best? The answer was the first-ever Mountain Regional Barista Competition, held in March in Thornton — though the results were a... More >>
• Best Dive Bar
  Brown Barrel
  Save for the jukebox and TVs, the Brown Barrel looks like it hasn't changed since the '60s. Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? It's easy to walk past this joint; the exterior is about as nondescript as a plainclothes policeman at a dad convention. And it's even easier to miss at night,... More >>
• Best New Bar
  Continental Club
  Every once in a while, a bar opens that just feels like home — if your home had cheap drinks (we're talking dollar PBRs all the time) and a damn fine jukebox stocked with everything from old-school punk to classic country to jazz and everything in between. The Continental Club is a simple,... More >>
• Best New Bar From a Musician
  Crown Hill Taphouse
  Tyson Murray knows a few things about bars — and music. The Railbenders bassist was one of the original owners of Bender's Tavern, and last summer he took over the former Wheat Ridge Bar & Grill, turning it into a damn cool spot. While the Taphouse may be only a fraction of the size of... More >>
• Best Band-Friendly Bar (2 Comments)
  3 Kings Tavern
  A tub of ice-cold beer and a respectable payout at night's end is all that most local bands can hope for, and yet few music venues provide such simple pleasures for the men and women who toil on stage for our enjoyment. But ever since Jeff Campbell, Martin Killorin and Jim Norris — the... More >>
• Best New Club (1 Comment)
  Below
  Nearly two years after opening the basement-level Slim 7, Bill Ward expanded his subterranean empire to the other side of Larimer Square, taking over the 6,000-square-foot space that formerly housed the Champion Brewing Company and transforming it into two clubs, Pie Hole and Below. They're... More >>
• Best Jazz Club
  Dazzle
  Once again, the folks at Dazzle have shown they know what it takes to make a stellar club: first-rate music seven nights a week, great food (including the habit-forming $5 happy-hour menu) and two vibrant listening rooms. For more than a decade now, Dazzle has brought in a constant stream of... More >>
• Best Rock Club (1 Comment)
  hi-dive
  There's a reason this club keeps winning the Best Rock Club award, and it has nothing to do with its amenities. While the staff is welcoming and the drinks reasonably priced, the space itself isn't impressive. In fact, the sightlines outside of the main area kind of suck, and the stage is so... More >>
• Best Club Makeover
  Toad Tavern
  After taking over the Toad Tavern this past August, one of Brice Hancock's top priorities was to build a new stage. Today the tiny spot in the corner that couldn't fit more than four people is no more; bands now perform on a better-situated platform that can easily accommodate at least a... More >>
• Best Intro to Spanking (7 Comments)
  Friday Munch 'n' Mixers
  The Enclave
  So you're curious about whips and paddles, but you're a little gun-shy? Think you want to be bound and gagged, but worried about pulling a muscle? If so, get your kinky self down to the Friday Munch 'n' Mixers at the Enclave, one of Denver's private bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism... More >>
• Best Club Revitalization
  Lion's Lair
  A Denver institution, the Lion's Lair has always been a great place to see a show, whether you're seeking the city's best ear-splitting punk, metal and hardcore or taking in rare performances from iconic musicians like Graham Parker or Garland Jeffreys. Still, the place was due for an update, so... More >>
• Best New Venue
  The Falcon
  When he bought the nearby Sport Bowl Lanes & Billiards, Gothic Theatre owner Steve Schalk wanted to turn the spot into a live music/bowling center with a sci-fi theme, and even thought about having the Millennium Falcon crashing into the front of the place. While he didn't end up going quite... More >>
• Best All-Ages Venue (1 Comment)
  Marquis Theater
  The thought of sending naive teenagers into the heart of the Ballpark neighborhood can be daunting for parents. But thanks to Soda Jerk Presents' Mike Barsch and Ben Davis, such apprehension is unfounded when it comes to the Marquis Theater. Although all ages are welcome, the longtime promoters,... More >>
• Best Intimate Performance Space
  The Meadowlark
  Although it's a basement space, the Meadowlark features soft, tasteful lighting and a well-appointed interior that makes you forget you're belowground. The room is well-suited to singer-songwriters and acoustic acts who thrive in small places, where they can better connect with the audience. And... More >>
• Best House Concerts
  Highlands House Concert Series
  Taking in a show at Dwight Mark's charming home in Highland is more like attending a friend's dinner party than seeing a concert at a formal venue. Prior to the performance, folks nosh on light hors d'oeuvre and chat, then eventually make their way to the living room for intimate, one-of-a-kind... More >>
• Best Non-Conventional Venue
  Brooks Center Arts
  Since it opened in the lower level of a large church complex, Brooks Center Arts has become a haven for some of the town's less volume-driven acts looking for a place other than a bar to share their music. The venue, organized primarily by filmmaker/songwriter Laura Goldhamer, is like someone's... More >>
• Best Reason to Go to Boulder for a Show — Still (1 Comment)
  Fox Theatre
  It may seem redundant to continue heaping praise on the Fox Theatre year after year. After all, the venue hasn't undergone any major renovations in recent memory. But it doesn't need to, because the Fox is still the best place along the Front Range to see a show. The sound is flawless, the... More >>
• Best Reason to Go to the Springs for a Show
  Piano Warehouse
  The Piano Warehouse, which is located in Colorado Springs's arts district, hosts semi-regular, all-ages shows whose cover donations go directly to the bands. While a lot of those shows are punk rock, the venue welcomes performances from a full range of underground musicians. And it's truly a... More >>
• Best Club Comeback
  Sutra
  Just over a year ago, Paul Piciocchi and Charles Trujillo opened the sleek and sexy Sutra Room in the short-lived Donkey Den space, then added Left on Lincoln in the front. After trying to operate separate clubs that catered to different crowds, they decided to join the two spaces, in the... More >>
• Best Club Expansion (2 Comments)
  Hiccups III
  The first two Hiccups sports bars are known for hot bartenders and waitresses wearing ass-less chaps with their panties. But when Hiccups III took over this former Brewski's location, the owners stepped things up, making this third spot the biggest and possibly the baddest of the bunch, with a... More >>
• Best Bondage Till Dawn
  Masters & Servants After-Hours Party
  The Sanctuary
  Kinky folks are like vampires. No, they don't drink blood (most of them don't, anyway), but like those winged fiends, they do their best work at night. No wonder some of the hottest BDSM action around (suspension, floggers and electrical toys, oh my) goes down at the Masters & Servants... More >>
• Best Jazz Jam
  Chapultepec Too
  Anyone who's tried to play jazz knows that learning scales and modes is just part of the battle. To really understand the language of jazz, you have to perform with other people. At El Chapultepec Too, an outpost of the classic LoDo club, the Wednesday-night jazz-jam sessions serve as a proving... More >>
• Best Blues Jam
  The Hornbuckle Jam
  Bushwacker's Saloon
  Michael Hornbuckle is a hell of a guitar player — though that's not too surprising, given that he's the son of the late, great Bobby Hornbuckle, a local legend and a killer blues ax-slinger. Every Sunday at Bushwacker's Saloon, Michael kicks off the blues jams, sometimes with his badass... More >>
• Best Club Happy Hour (1 Comment)
  Larimer Lounge
  Lately, happy hours at the Larimer Lounge have gotten happier. In addition to daily happy hours from 4 to 8 p.m. with $1 PBRs and Miller High Lifes, $2 wells and $3 you-call-its, the club has reinstated its late-night happy hours: Sunday through Thursday, midnight until close, you can grab $2... More >>
• Best Club Night
  Night of the Living Shred
  Bender's Tavern
  One of the fliers for Night of the Living Shred shows a picture of two naked chicks with skateboards. But while you'll probably see some skateboard videos Thursday nights at Bender's Tavern, naked chicks not so much. Still, the young rocker boys and girls do sometimes let their hair down in more... More >>
• Best Hip-Hop Night (1 Comment)
  The Solution
  Funky Buddha Lounge
  DJs Low Key and Sounds Supreme (aka Justin Green and Nate Watters) originally started their weekly underground hip-hop parties in the basement of Shelter, with the goal of creating a night they'd want to attend themselves, one they could take pride in. Well, it looks like the duo has succeeded.... More >>
• Best Funk Night
  1st School of FunkJazz@Jack's
  Skip Reeves isn't called the "Funktogolist" for nothing. Dude knows his funk, which becomes obvious when you listen to his Saturday-night show on KUVO, "A Funk Above the Rest." He's working overtime spreading the funk gospel, and in his quest to make Denver one city under a groove, he's been... More >>
• Best Unorthodox DJ Night/Jam Session
  JINXED!Rockbar
  There's no shortage of half-assed DJ nights or unlistenable open jams in the area, but by combining the two and being somewhat selective about who participates, JINXED! manages to create a truly exceptional experience. Hosted by Eric Halborg — frontman for the Swayback and multi-talented... More >>
• Best Place to Have a Panic Attack
  Widespread Wednesdays Moon Time Bar & Grill
  The Urban Dictionary defines a Spreadhead as "one who is a Widespread Panic fan, on an extreme level. Often characterized by smoking copious amounts of pot, eating caps, and dropping the occasional hit, and traveling through 3 states to attend a WSP concert." In other words, the type of folks... More >>
• Best Jukebox
  Continental Club
  Creating the ideal jukebox is like making the ideal mix tape for someone: Part of the process is picking songs you like, and the rest is finding tunes the other person will dig. The Continental Club's jukebox includes a collection of mix CDs, which run the gamut from punk to garage, surf, jazz,... More >>
• Best Concert
  The Swell Season
  Ogden Theatre
  November 13, 2007
  When Frames singer Glen Hansard and new talent Markéta Irglová agreed to co-star in director John Carney's Once, neither expected much. So imagine their surprise when the joy-filled film became an unlikely hit that not only brought them together as a couple, but ultimately earned... More >>
• Best Opportunity to Dress Like a Schoolgirl
  School Girls Gone Bad
  La Bohème Gentlemen's Cabaret
  The slutty schoolgirl has got to be the most overworked, cliched sexual fantasy of all time — not to mention the most overused Halloween costume ever. Still, there's a reason the archetype endures, perhaps because it's just so much fun to don the lowest-cut crisp white shirt you can find,... More >>
• Best Local Concert
  Eric Bachmann, Ian Cooke, Elin & Frieda
  hi-dive
  January 12, 2008
  It's impossible to think of a show in the past year that made us happier to be Denverites. Slowly but surely, Ian Cooke has become one of the most vital artists in this region, and he proved it this night; with his honeydew voice and looped cello, he made songs that seemed to come out of the... More >>
• Best Double Bill
  LCD Soundsystem and Arcade Fire
  Red Rocks Amphitheatre
  September 17, 2007
  There's certainly no shortage of shows where it's perfectly acceptable to show up fashionably late, just in time to catch the headliners. But anyone who did this in September, when the LCD Soundsystem and Arcade Fire tour stopped by Red Rocks, really blew it, since both of these acts are worthy... More >>
• Best Unwitting Double Bills
  3 Kings Tavern and hi-dive
  Thanks to consistently engaging bookings at both of these clubs, we've found ourselves on countless weekends bouncing back and forth between the two joints. If Denver has a quintessential rock block, this section of Broadway is it. While the individual programming can be vastly different and the... More >>
• Best Low-Key Show From a Kiwi Rock Legend
  David Kilgour
  hi-dive
  November 3, 2007
  In the late '70s, David Kilgour started the Clean with his brother and a friend. That band went on to influence not only New Zealand's underground music scene, but musicians around the world who saw that music could be raw, imaginative and fun all at once. The Clean never became a household name... More >>
• Best Secret Show
  3OH!3
  Oriental Theater
  January 9, 2008
  Due to a restrictive agreement for a show they'd played a few nights before, the members of 3OH!3 were unable to promote their performance at a Sims Snowboard-sponsored event at the Oriental in January. While this was a shame for the duo's rabid fans as well as the Oriental's owners —... More >>
• Best Unexpected Swan Song
  Bright Channel
  Red Rocks
  August 6, 2007
  When the Fray prepared for a sold-out three-night run at Red Rocks in August, its members asked their favorite bands, including Bright Channel, to play for them. The gig ended up being Bright Channel's final public performance, and while much of the crowd didn't seem to understand why this... More >>
• Best Farewell Show (1 Comment)
  Planes Mistaken for Stars
  Marquis Theater
  February 16, 2008
  While we all knew it was coming, few of us had actually braced for the inevitable crash when Planes Mistaken for Stars finally went down. And as we watched one of Denver's truly great bands disintegrate in midair, it was difficult to shake the feeling of utter helplessness. Whoever said that all... More >>
• Best Blast From the Past
  Christie Front Drive, Crestfallen and the Volts Reunion
  Denverfest 3
  Marquis Theater
  September 1, 2007
  Reunion shows are generally intended as a celebration of days gone by for those who were there the first time around, a moment for grizzled old-timers to reflect on how good it was back in the day. But in some rare instances, these shows also serve as a primer for the new breed, showing them... More >>
• Best Show to Rip the Still-Beating Heart Right Out of Your Chest
  Vaux
  Bluebird Theater
  July 28, 2007
  Vaux billed its final show as a funeral and encouraged everyone to wear black. That turned out to be an apt suggestion, given how many fans at the Bluebird felt that night. As expected, Vaux didn't go gently into that good night. Quentin Smith and company played like it was their last night on... More >>
• Best New Band
  Widowers
  The current lineup of Widowers looks an awful lot like the now-in-limbo Constellations, with two-thirds of the same people, but Mike Marchant's tight songwriting — with just the right blend of pop smarts and psychedelic swirls — and Cory Brown's melodic drumming signal that this... More >>
• Best Place to Watch Girls Shakin' What Their Mamas Gave 'Em
  Pink Elephant Room
  Although burlesque is just now taking off across the country, women have been taking it off — artfully, theatrically, legally — in Denver for more than a decade. And now they have a great place to do so. The Pink Elephant Room features not only the most red-hot burlesque in the city,... More >>
• Best Bet to Break Out Nationally
  Flobots
  If radio programmers, bloggers and hip-hop heads across the country react as favorably to Flobots as the folks here at home, this insurgent seven-piece hip-hop band could soon find itself the focus of nationwide buzz. There's certainly a lot to love about the outfit, which earned its local... More >>
• Best Live Band
  d.biddle
  D.biddle is basically the brainchild of frontman Duncan Barlow, a member of the semi-legendary hardcore band Endpoint in the '90s and thus no stranger to musical catharsis. When he started performing with this band, he focused on quieter but no less intense songwriting. The result has always... More >>
• Best Bar Band (2 Comments)
  The Informants
  Plenty of musicians take umbrage if their group is called a bar band. Still, the finest acts with this label don't need open taps or drink specials to work their magic; their playing is intoxicating enough. Witness the Informants, which boasts killer brass, a driving rhythm section, a lead... More >>
• Best Metal Band — Still (2 Comments)
  Cephalic Carnage
  No one will confuse Cephalic Carnage with a new act: Guitarist Zac Joe and his squad of aural assassins have been grinding out visceral riffage for more than fifteen years. Still, they remain as impressive as ever, and show it on every note of Xenosapien, their latest CD for Relapse Records.... More >>
• Best On-Again, Off-Again Band
  Drag the River
  Does Drag the River still exist — and if so, in what form? That's a difficult question to answer. The band allegedly broke up in 2007, only to reunite in order to promote You Can't Live This Way, a first-rate CD issued by the Suburban Home imprint. Afterward, the players drifted back into... More >>
• Best Hip-Hop Crew (5 Comments)
  Boostwell
  Headed by production maestro SP Double, the Boostwell crew boasts plenty of talent. Whether it's the banging beats of SP or Flawless, the one-two punch of On Point, the lyrical mastery of ManDaMyth or the rapid-fire flows of Catch Lungs and Purpose, the consistent quality of this crew's musical... More >>
• Best Hip-Hop DJ (5 Comments)
  Cysko Rokwel
  Over the past few years, DJ Cysko Rokwel has become one of Colorado's elite DJs: He has a weekly residency at Boulder's Round Midnight, spins on Radio 1190's hip-hop-centric Basementalism show every week, and backs up local artists A.V.I.U.S., Es-Nine and The 6th Grade on records and at live... More >>
• Best MC (6 Comments)
  Spoke in Wordz
  Spoke's debut album, Wordplay, showcases the MC's relentless scattershot rhyme flow. His style is like the second coming of Big Pun, his proclivity for complex rhyme schemes has listeners rewinding just to see if they missed anything — and he does all that in Spanish, too. Spoke's live... More >>
• Best Hip-Hop Label (15 Comments)
  Jewell Tyme Music
  Jewell Tyme Music launched in the heart of east Denver in 2002, headed by rappers 800 the Jewell and F.O.E. But it wasn't until last year that the imprint caught the attention of the rest of the city with the Joe Thunder/Selector Sam mix tape Drama Kings, starring F.O.E. and B Blacc and... More >>
• Best Hip-Hop Teamwork
  Dojo
  Because hip-hop is such a highly combustible medium, few collectives stay intact over the long haul. Yet Analog Suspect and Selecta Roswell, the artists behind Dojo, have been making compelling music together for years; their ability to work in harmony with a range of collaborators, including... More >>
• Best Pirates (3 Comments)
  Rogues of Colorado
  Avast, me hearties! If one day a year — September 19's Talk Like a Pirate Day — is not enough time for channeling your inner pirate, then perhaps you belong with the Rogues of Colorado. These rascally representatives of our landlocked state can be found at the Colorado Renaissance... More >>
• Best Band to Fall in Love To/With
  Paper Bird
  With three beautiful and golden-throated females singing sun-dappled melodies and gorgeous, nostalgic harmonies, and three rugged, musically gifted men providing accompaniment on banjo, guitar and trombone, Paper Bird offers plenty of crush material. But even if none of the aesthetically... More >>
• Best Short-Lived Band
  Games for May
  When former Insider Spider members Nathaniel Barsness and Greg Schoonmaker (also ex-Mannequin Makeout) joined with Diana Sperstad (formerly of As Seen on TV) and Suzi Bromfield (previously with Supply Boy and Catatonic Lydia), they wrote some of the most feisty, beautiful pop songs ever to grace... More >>
• Best Band Name
  Abracastabya
  Anyone who knows anything about perfumes knows that a horrible but incredibly powerful smell is mixed in with more refreshing and pleasant aromatics. Abracastabya is a bit like that: Its name sounds like it should go with a screamo or post-hardcore act, but its music is much more experimental... More >>
• Best Band With the Worst Name
  We Are! We Are!
  Putting punctuation, especially exclamation points, in a band name is always a bad idea. Right, Panic! at the Disco? (Uh, make that Panic at the Disco.) And no matter how you say We Are! We Are!, you end up sounding like a stuttering idiot who can't conjugate properly. Since this act is actually... More >>
• Best Singer-Songwriter
  Joe Sampson
  www.myspace.com/adogpaloma
  While we don't know who your favorite singer-songwriter is, we're willing to wager a bet that his or her favorite singer-songwriter is Joe Sampson. Whether Sampson is playing with A Dog Paloma, sitting in with the Wheel or Bad Weather California, or just strumming and singing his pastoral folk... More >>
• Best Back-to-Nature Songwriter
  John Common
  Performers are often said to boast natural talent when their artistry is neither heavy-handed nor overly self-conscious — and in that sense, John Common has plenty of natural talent. But a more literal interpretation also applies to his latest recording, Why Birds Fly. Throughout tunes... More >>
• Best Purveyor of Artsy Rock
  Denver Art Rock Collectivewww.myspace.com/denverartrockcollective
  The term "art rock" conjures up so many negative connotations that most groups influenced by the style tend to prefer the word "progressive." But the Denver Art Rock Collective, also known as D.A.R.C., is devoted to resurrecting the label, as well as the movement's often loopy spirit of... More >>
• Best Purveyor of Electro-Pop (1 Comment)
  Jen Pumo
  Adding electronics to traditional songs isn't exactly new. Decades after the form's pioneers began experimenting with Moogs and other doodads, however, many musicians still find it difficult to use this technology in an expressive way. Not so Pumo, whose most recent disc, All Over the Moon,... More >>
• Best World-Music Artist
  Wu Fei
  Trained since the age of six in the art of classical Chinese guzheng music (the guzheng is a plucked zither with an ancient history), this virtuoso Beijinger now living in Boulder works with one foot firmly planted in tradition. The other foot has walked off into a brave new world of... More >>
• Best Frontman
  Chris Adolf
  Chris Adolf, leader of Bad Weather California, has that ineffable "it" factor that sets him apart. When he's on stage, it's almost impossible to look away, and when he's really on, his performance is both epic and breathtaking. Adolf could easily turn that kind of power to evil as the leader of... More >>
• Best High Culture for the Cool Crowd
  Telling Stories
  Sure, you say you like classical music and great literature, but that's usually just to impress the hottie at the bar. When was the last time you actually attended a classical-music show or literary reading? Yeah, we thought so. Fortunately, there's still hope for us lowbrow slobs, thanks to... More >>
• Best Frontwoman
  Julie Davis
  www.myspace.com/belakaroli
  The voice and singing style of Bela Karoli frontwoman Julie Davis is a perfect match for the group's smoky, sultry, future-lounge sound. Her vocals are seductive, touched with a hint of danger, and wrap sensuously around the exotic, jazz-tinged music, subtly casting Davis as a classic femme... More >>
• Best Moonlighter (3 Comments)
  Carrie Beeder
  Carrie Beeder's violin magic has been a mainstay of the Denver music scene since 1994, when she began playing with performance-art weirdos Gladhand. Lately, however, she's become almost ubiquitous, performing with Bela Karoli, the Wheel, Joseph Pope III, Hearts of Palm, Astrophagus, Born in the... More >>
• Best Assault With a Deadly Rhythm
  Red Orange Yellow
  www.myspace.com/redorangeyellow
  When Devon Shirley left his post as drummer for the Photo Atlas, he could hardly wait to resurrect this project. Watching the baby-faced, monkey-limbed percussionist perform with guitarist Holland Rock-Garden of Machine Gun Blues and keyboardists Nick Martin and Kyle Gray, it's easy to see why.... More >>
• Best One-Man Avant-Pop Act
  Dugout Canoe
  The one-man band is not a new thing. Not even in Denver. Reverend Dead Eye was once, and is again, a one-man band providing percussion, guitar, harmonica, guitar and vocals. Rather than inspired gospel blues, however, Dugout Canoe produces a rougher, much more experimental indie pop that defies... More >>
• Best One-Man Grunge Covers Show
  Littles Paia
  Rhinoceropolis
  June 22, 2007
  Littles Paia is known for his always-fascinating blend of folk and psychedelia — so it came as a surprise when he announced that at his show last summer at Rhinoceropolis, he would cover Nevermind in its entirety. Turns out Littles Paia (actually Adam Baumgartner, also of Bad Weather... More >>
• Best Soundmen (1 Comment)
  Devon Rogers and Xandy Whitesel
  hi-dive
  Recently, a gal at the hi-dive noticed us watching a show off to the side and came over to offer us some unsolicited advice. "Listen," she said, "if you want to really enjoy the show, you need to stand over here." And she nodded toward the rear of the club, insisting that's where the sound is... More >>
• Best Engineer/Producer
  Andrew Vastola
  www.rockyrecorders.com
  While working at Rocky Mountain Recorders, Andrew Vastola has been up to his elbows in some of Denver's best records. As engineer, producer or mastering pro, the studio wunderkind put his magic hands on some of our favorite discs by the Photo Atlas, Born in the Flood, Laylights, Hearts of Palm,... More >>
• Best Recording
  Ian Cooke
  The Fall I Fell
  Next to death, unrequited love is perhaps the cruelest of life's inventions. Few things are as euphoric as the rush of endorphins you feel the first time someone truly steals the breath from your lungs — or as soul-crushing as later realizing that the one you love doesn't love you. On The... More >>
• Best Instrumental Rock Record
  Get Three Coffins Ready
  Get Three Coffins Ready
  The finest instrumental rock outfits cut to the chase. No extraneous instrumentation is required, and no microphones, either: just hard grooves, galloping rhythms and a burglar's fondness for getting in and out quickly. Guitarists Adam Hester and Gil Romero, bassist Jeff Anton and drummer Rikki... More >>
• Best Record Label (5 Comments)
  Rope Swing Cities
  Since its launch a little over two years ago, the quirky, eclectic Rope Swing Cities has issued nearly thirty releases in a variety of genres, ranging from the spacey electronic abstractions of Loafeye and the intricate mind-fuck programming of Ten to Tracer's IDM soundscapes and the emotional... More >>
• Best Poetry Exchange
  PotLatch Poetry
  As Robert Frost once said, "To be a poet is a condition, not a profession." Poetry is traditionally underfunded, leaving poets poor as church mice yet still determined in their ongoing quest to emote in chiseled language. In everyday prose, that means they're a forgotten bunch, often with only... More >>
• Best Video
  "Electroshock"
  3OH!3
  If any group was made for video, it's 3OH!3. And on "Electroshock," the so-normal-they're-bizarre tandem of Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte prove it again with a gag-and-gore-filled trip to an operating room, set to a track funky enough to break hips. The results are as danceable as they are... More >>
• Best Depiction of What It's Like to Be a Struggling Musician
  Everyone But You
  After completing El Diablo, his fourth album, Eric Shiveley sold his home in Denver and moved to the San Luis Valley to build a house and recording studio. And just hours before he was slated to break ground in November 2005, he purchased a cheap camcorder at Wal-Mart and began shooting Everyone... More >>
• Best Reason to Stop Smoking and Start Exercising
  Monolith Music Festival
  Monolith was a killer last year. But to truly enjoy it, you had to be in good — if not great — shape, because more than half the stages were located at the top of the stairs that ring Red Rocks. Sure, we could have just plopped down and enjoyed the offerings on the main stage, but... More >>
• Best One-Off That Deserves to Become a Permanent Fixture
  Stand By Your Band
  What if members of Born in the Flood joined forces with musicians from Hot IQs and other local bands to interpret the classic soundtrack from Chariots of Fire? The result would be incredible. We know, because we've seen it happen. The premise of Stand By Your Band — randomly mixing up... More >>
• Best Tastemaking DJ Duo (14 Comments)
  Tyler Jacobson and Michael Trundle
  We recently heard a local tastemaker heap effusive praise on Michael Trundle: "He's the first one in this town who played Shitdisco." While that may not mean much to non-Shitdisco fans, Trundle and his longtime Denver 3 associate Tyler Jacobson have indeed been turning the masses on to the... More >>
• Best Forward-Thinking DJ/Promoter (2 Comments)
  Peter Black
  "I don't follow trends. Trends follow me." While we'd be hard-pressed to pinpoint the exact origin of that declaration, if might as well have come from Peter Black (aka DJ Aztec, aka Pete Gurule). For well over a decade, this shapeshifting DJ and promoter has been exposing us to styles ranging... More >>
• Best Hip-Hop DJ Hustlers
  DJ Bedz and DJ Quote the Beatmaker
  Aesthetically, DJ Bedz and DJ Quote have different styles — but their hustle is nearly identical. Both have worked tirelessly over the past few years to gain national notoriety for themselves and the city, with striking parallels in their individual trajectories. They both got their start... More >>
• Best Dance-Music DJ
  DJ Ivy
  DJ Ivy is an electronic chameleon behind the decks. Regardless of what he's spinning — house, breaks, down-tempo and damn near everything else — his sets are always tasty masterpieces of dance-floor delight. He handles it all, from smooth and sexy funk to tripped-out space journeys... More >>
• Best New Production/Promotion Company (3 Comments)
  Uddermadness
  The name may be ridiculous, but Uddermadness is deadly serious about bringing innovative, exciting dance-music talent to Denver. Founded less than two years ago, Uddermadness quickly built a reputation as promoters with an ear for what's hot and a knack for booking artists for their first... More >>
• Best Metal/Hardcore Advocate
  Uncle Nasty
  Metal and hardcore are big draws in Denver, thanks in part to Uncle Nasty. You know this, of course, if you've ever tuned your dial to KBPI between the hours of midnight and 2 a.m. for Metalix, the long-running underground, metal-centric specialty show he founded. Six days a week, the best... More >>
• Best Literary Blog
  www.newwest.net/books/
  There are plenty of literary bloggers in Colorado, but most tend to divert their attention toward the coasts as the default harbingers of lit life. Not so at the New West website, which has a thread devoted to books and writers in the Rocky Mountain region. Boulder-based writer Jenny Shank... More >>
• Best Music Evangelist
  Jonathan Bitz
  www.myspace.com/denversyntax
  Jonathan Bitz has an unbridled passion for local music. The mastermind behind Syntax, the well-regarded literary-arts publication, his love for the scene has resulted in much-needed exposure for such vital Denver artists as Ian Cooke, Bela Karoli, Gregory Alan Isakov and Rachael Pollard. Last... More >>
• Best Scene Enthusiast (2 Comments)
  John Baxter
  www.myspace.com/howsadiamtoday
  The title "promoter" can be a loaded one, conjuring the image of some sleazy opportunist trying to milk coin off another's god-given ability. But if you're a musician on the local periphery, you can do no better than having John Baxter in your corner. Eschewing the limelight and any sort of... More >>
• Best Local Music Exporter
  Carmen Allgood
  For nearly two decades, Carmen Allgood has been an ardent supporter of local music. The original host of Mountain Homegrown, she's also sat on the board of the Colorado Music Association. And through her nationally syndicated weekly radio show, The Colorado Wave, currently carried on over a... More >>
• Best Graciousness From a Big Deal Band (1 Comment)
  The Fray
  A multi-platinum band in an era when such a thing essentially no longer exists, the Fray has earned the right for its members to be pretentious jerkwads if they choose. Thing is, they're anything but. During their sold-out three-night stand at Red Rocks, the guys used all local support —... More >>
• Best Kick in the Balls of the Music Scene (2 Comments)
  "Denver Music and Other Anomalies"
  FM Magazine
  Every scene needs a Zachary Vora. In the second issue of FM (Fucking Mountains), Vora took the Denver music scene and all its sacred cows to task, essentially asserting that while some acts are a big deal here, the rest of the country could give two shits — and so we should stop being so... More >>
• Best Online Advertising
  Swallow Hill Sounds
  Buying tickets for Swallow Hill shows has become downright fun since the folk- and acoustic-music haven instigated this selective web-radio option in February. Featuring aural previews of premium cuts by upcoming musical acts, it gives the discerning concert-goer a chance to test the milk before... More >>
• Best Place for a Kid to Be a Rock Star
  Paul Green School of Rock
  Chris Soucy ain't Jack Black. But as head man at a new local franchise of the alternative music school made famous by the movie, he does aim to instill youngsters with the collaborative rock-band ethic. Geared toward young musicians ages seven to eighteen, the school's program includes private... More >>
• Best Way for Drummers to Get Their Groove On (1 Comment)
  Po' Boy Drums
  Driven by a desire to offer top-notch drum kits at an affordable price, Tony Chadwick founded Po' Boy Drums, a Littleton company that offers drums manufactured in the same plants as the better-known and more established brands. The prices may be lower, but Chadwick doesn't take shorcuts; the... More >>
• Best American Idol Knockoff
  Rock Idol
  British Bulldog
  What's much more fun than watching American Idol every week? Trying to become the British Bulldog's Rock Idol. Competitors had to choose songs from such categories as "'90s" and "female vocalists." With the Bulldog's buy-one-get-one-free drafts and well drinks, there were plenty of people in the... More >>
• Best Karaoke Effects
  Cosmic YouTube Karaoke
  Electric Cowboy
  Everyone knows why karaoke is always a good time: It's fun to make a fool of yourself (and your friends) in front of an audience. But there comes a time in every karaoke fanatic's "career" when he truly tries to nail "Total Eclipse of the Heart" or seriously channel Elvis. These moments have to... More >>
• Best Children's Book by a Local Author
  The Long Gone Lonesome History of Country Music
  Bret Bertholf
  Bret Bertholf performs classic honky-tonk as the frontman for Halden Wofford and the Hi-Beams — and he definitely knows his stuff. The Long Gone Lonesome History of Country Music, which Bertholf wrote and illustrated, is a flat-out wonderful look at the country genre in all its tacky,... More >>
• Best Free Monthly Downloads
  Oskar Blues Downlow'd Music Club
  You have to love the way the folks at the Oskar Blues brew castle wear their roots-rock affinity on their sleeves. After all, what goes better with a cold Old Chub than a dirty-good, salt-of-the-earth blues band? Maybe a honky-tonk or alt-country combo puttin' down a riff in a room that would be... More >>
• Best Suggestion for the Cricket on the Hill Space (2 Comments)
  Reopen Cricket on the Hill
  When the music community was hit by the news that Cricket on the Hill would be closing, shock waves spread through the scene. For countless locals, the Cricket will be remembered as the place they got their start, earned their keep, made their name or found the family they never had. The storied... More >>
• Best Spot for Free Shots and a Rose for the Ladies
  P.S. Lounge
  With places proliferating where you can grab a decent drink at a decent price, the P.S. Lounge stands out because of its sweet extras. At some point during every evening here, each lady in your party will receive a single, sweet-smelling rose. But the free benefits extend to men, too. Every... More >>
• Best Manga Comic by a Local Author
  Fool's Gold
  Amy Reeder Hadley
  Amy Reeder Hadley's Fool's Gold manga comic follows Penny, a typical high-school girl with typical high-school problems: namely, boys who are jerks. Penny starts a secret club to deal with her dilemma; she and other club members identify unworthy boys as "pyrites" (the club is disguised as a... More >>
• Best Book About Animals by a Local Author
  Animals Matter
  Marc Bekoff
  Mice are empathetic, feeling each other's emotions. Rats are kind to one another. And whales possess spindle cells, the same cells that help humans and apes process emotions. These are all facts gleaned from the latest findings that Marc Bekoff — professor emeritus of ecology and... More >>
• Best GLBT Anthology (4 Comments)
  Focus on the Fabulous: Colorado GLBT Voices
  Colorado was a red state in the last presidential election. And it's also home to that other Focus organization — which means that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Coloradans find themselves living elbow-to-elbow with one of the most conservative groups (and, arguably, some of the... More >>
• Best Way to Watch a Bad Movie
  Mile High Sci Fi
  Starz FilmCenter
  There's no better way to enjoy a cheesy, cliched sci-fi "classic" than getting drunk with a few smart-ass friends and piling on the snarky comments and vulgar innuendo as it plays. That's why we're lucky to have Mile High Sci Fi, a group of hilarious local comedians who've picked up the torch of... More >>
• Best Film Festival
  ArgusFest
  Last spring, Jason Bosch e-mailed a visual missive to friends and supporters. "ArgusFest R.I.P.?" it queried over the photo of a distraught towheaded boy who embodied Bosch's own inner feelings about his grassroots human-rights film series. The message was not just a plea for attention —... More >>
• Best Undiscovered Film Festival
  Independence Film Festival
  It's not hard to "Get High on Film," as the Independence Film Festival motto suggests, when the whole thing takes place up in the clouds at various venues in Buena Vista, Leadville and Salida. Last year's inaugural cinema bash kicked off with a ceremony featuring filmmaker John Landis on the... More >>
• Best Performance by a Coloradan in a Film
  John Elway
  Resurrecting the Champ
  Sure, Amy Adams was a sweet princess in Enchanted — but nothing says Colorado like John Elway. Fortunately, this state's biggest celebrity didn't have to say much in Resurrecting the Champ, the Josh Hartnett/Samuel Jackson vehicle that came out last summer. The script was loosely based on... More >>
• Best Performance by Colorado in a Film
  Blades of Glory
  While New Mexico keeps raking in the movie business, Hollywood continues to snub Colorado. But at least the Pepsi Center could get ready for its close-up when the Democratic National Convention hits town come August in Blades of Glory, the Will Ferrell/Jon Heder figure-skating extravaganza.... More >>
• Best Movie Theater — Programming
  Starz FilmCenter
  Programmed under the auspices of the Denver Film Society, Starz is not only a great place to see the latest in foreign and independent films, but it's also home to nearly a dozen ongoing series that cover all the cinematic bases. There's Cinema Q for the gay-centric crowd, DocNight for those who... More >>
• Best Movie Theater — Food
  Neighborhood Flix Cinema & Cafe
  Neighborhood Flix Cinema & Cafe is such a welcome addition to the Lowenstein Theater complex, we can only wonder how we lived so long without it. Other places have mixed food and film, but never first-run movies with first-rate food. Neighborhood Flix combines a bar/bistro (with an initial... More >>
• Best Free Drinks for Smarties
  Geeks Who Drink
  Sure, you know who was president during the Spanish-American War. But how about the language — other than English — featured in the Pixies song "Debaser"? If you can answer that one, you just might have what it takes to win a bonus round at one of the many Geeks Who Drinks pub... More >>
• Best Movie Theater — Drink
  Aurora Movie Tavern
  Movie theaters that offer food and drink service are becoming almost commonplace. But that's food and drink service in the lobby. The Aurora Movie Tavern is one of the Tavern chain's "premier" locations, which means that there's full waitstaff service in the theater itself. Press the call button... More >>
• Best Movie Theater — Comfort
  Landmark Theatre Greenwood Village
  Landmark's latest theater not only offers the same great first-run and art films you'll see at the Mayan, Chez Artiste and Esquire, but it has a lounge complete with a bar. And then there's the snack deal: free popcorn and fountain drinks for the cost of admission. Granted, the tickets are a few... More >>
• Best Western Film Exhibit
  Reel West: Cliché and Character at the Saturday Matinee
  Buffalo Bill Museum
  The earliest movies were Westerns, probably because there's something so archetypal and striking about the idea of a wild frontier with no boundaries — legal, spiritual or physical. It was the same anything-can-happen spirit that brought people to Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, which is... More >>
• Best New Public Art (1 Comment)
  "Mustang," by Luis Jimenez
  Denver International Airport
  Even though it's been widely ridiculed — and hated — it's hard to deny the power of Luis Jimenez's "Mustang" on the approach to Jeppesen Terminal at DIA. The 32-foot-high outdoor piece is a perfect example of the artist's sensibility, bridging the gap between the high art of classic... More >>
• Best New Public Art — Suburbs
  "Ghost Trolley," by Lawrence Argent
  Aurora
  Old downtown Aurora has seen better days, and the city's leaders have attempted to turn that fact around in any number of ways, one of which is the installation of public art in the area. Among the several commissions completed in the last year or so is "Ghost Trolley," by Lawrence Argent, which... More >>
• Best New Public Art — South
  "Continuum," by William Burgess
  Colorado Springs
  Like many cities, Colorado Springs has a vacated railyard next to its downtown. Since it's small and in Monument Creek's floodplain, however, the city decided to turn it into America the Beautiful Park instead of developing it and to anchor the park with the stunning modernist sculpture... More >>
• Best Gallery Show — Solo
  William Stockman
  Nothing Is Hiding
  Singer Gallery
  William Stockman was on everyone's list of the most significant contemporary artists in Denver right up until he split around five years ago. He returned not long after, but quit making art while he made a living. In 2006 he went back into the studio, and it must have been just like riding a... More >>
• Best Gallery Show — Group
  Current
  Robischon Gallery
  Last spring, Robischon Gallery put together a beautiful and coherent exhibit that highlighted a range of contemporary abstraction while showcasing the work of more than a dozen artists, each with a personal aesthetic vision. To create this dazzling show, the gallery started off with a series of... More >>
• Best Museum Exhibit
  Color as Field
  Denver Art Museum
  Artists today want to tell stories, but a generation ago there was a group of artists who simply wanted to make beautiful paintings, and they were the subject of Color as Field, a magnificent exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. The traveling show was guest-curated by Karen Wilkin, for the American... More >>
• Best Conceptual Show
  Muniz Remastered
  Museo de las Américas
  Brazilian-born New York artist Vik Muniz is chiefly known for his funny photographs, but he isn't really a photographer. He's a conceptual artist who uses cameras to preserve his ephemeral re-creations of works like "The Last Supper." For that da Vinci sendup, Muniz used expertly applied... More >>
• Best Place to Get Your Geek On
  Cafe Scientifique
  It's no big secret that the Front Range is one of the nerdiest places around: We boast one of the highest concentrations of science and research labs in the country. And what do all of those research geeks do when they aren't watching the latest Heroes episode? They flock to the Wynkoop's... More >>
• Best Political Show
  Weather Report
  Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art
  Sometimes shows that take on political topics have the character of earnest class projects in a high-school corridor, but that was hardly the case with Weather Report: Art and Climate Change, a mammoth show organized by curator and art theorist Lucy Lippard. It not only filled the Boulder Museum... More >>
• Best Installation Show
  David Altmejd
  Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver
  Among the seven Star Power shows that inaugurated the new Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver last fall, David Altmejd is one of the few that are still open. A young Canadian artist, Altmejd covered the walls of the Family of Natasha Congdon Large Works Gallery with sheets of mirror, then created... More >>
• Best Teaser
  Clyfford Still Unveiled
  Denver Art Museum
  Abstract-expressionist giant Clyfford Still was an anti-social egomaniac. When he died, his estate retained more than 90 percent of his lifelong output. This created an opportunity for Denver to build a museum specifically to house it all. The Still Museum won't open until 2010, so its director,... More >>
• Best Contemporary Asian Art Show
  Face East
  Robischon Gallery
  In January, Robischon Gallery co-directors Jim Robischon and Jennifer Doran put on a full-blown salute to contemporary Chinese art in Face East, an authoritative group show. The two typically go all out for their exhibits, which in this case meant traveling to China to pick pieces right out of... More >>
• Best Art History Lesson
  Marecak Diptych
  Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art
  Twenty years ago, Colorado art from the 1950s and '60s was more often seen in thrift shops than in galleries or museums. But times have changed, and in the past ten years, many people, especially curators, scholars and collectors, have become interested in artwork from this period. Hugh Grant of... More >>
• Best Research Project
  Eight Painters & Sculptors
  Victoria H. Myhren Gallery
  Victoria H. Myhren Gallery director Dan Jacobs organized a history-gathering project based on eight past members of the University of Denver's art faculty, including some of Denver's best-known artists. The lucky eight were Vance Kirkland, Arnold Rönnebeck, Louise Rönnebeck, John... More >>
• Best Loving Sendoff
  Tribute to Antonette Rosato
  CU Art Museum
  CU Art Museum director Lisa Tamiris Becker is committed to showcasing the accomplishments of the university's distinguished art faculty. Last year, after the death of teacher and feminist conceptual artist Antonette Rosato, Becker had Rosato's students mount one of her last pieces, a poignant... More >>
• Best Change of Pace
  Homare Ikeda
  Sandy Carson Gallery
  Denver painter Homare Ikeda, who was born and raised in Japan, made his reputation with densely composed nature-based abstractions so methodically produced that it sometimes took years to complete one. But after receiving a fellowship to work at Omaha's Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Ikeda... More >>
• Best Riff on Flower Paintings
  Position and Drift
  William Havu Gallery
  In their purest form, abstract paintings are about paint, but some artists base their abstractions on representational imagery. That's what Boulder painter Amy Metier did in Position and Drift at the William Havu Gallery, using gardens and flower bushes as the basis for her vividly colored... More >>
• Best Riff on Animal Sculptures
  Walk in the Park
  Plus Gallery
  Animals are a well-established topic for sculptors, and many examples can be seen around town in the form of metal or marble horses, stags, lions and eagles. Last fall, California artist Michael Whiting brought his own menagerie to the Plus Gallery for Walk in the Park, which featured... More >>
• Best PowerPoint Presentations for Hipsters
  Pecha Kucha Night
  Twenty slides, twenty seconds each: That's the challenge issued to creative types in this international phenomenon, wherein invited presenters may expound upon their private worlds, credos, outlooks or whatever in a visual quickie with strict restraints. Denver is a new spot on the Pecha Kucha... More >>
• Best Show About Letters
  A Retrospective: 20 Years of Roland Bernier
  Walker Fine Art
  Instead of using shapes to define his artwork, contemporary conceptual artist Roland Bernier uses letters that form words. These letters are made of laser-cut mirrors, sawn plywood or printed vinyl. For a twenty-year retrospective — representing the second half of his forty-plus-year... More >>
• Best Show About Numbers
  Quasi-Symmetries
  Rule Gallery
  Denver painter Clark Richert is a perennial favorite with young artists, both the many students he's influenced as an art professor at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design and others who have taken his lessons through osmosis. Richert is interested in advanced math, which he uses to... More >>
• Best Western Painting Show — Solo (1 Comment)
  Don Coen
  William Havu Gallery
  Artfully blending contemporary concepts with Western images is a popular pursuit for many Colorado artists, though few have been doing it longer or more successfully than Boulder artist Don Coen. The magnificent Don Coen took over the entire first floor of the Havu gallery and featured the... More >>
• Best Western Painting Show — Group
  Masterpieces of Colorado Landscape
  Foothills Art Center and the Denver Public Library
  Freelance curator Rose Fredrick came up with the idea of putting classic nineteenth- and twentieth-century Colorado landscapes together with contemporary ones, and the result was Masterpieces of Colorado Landscape, a traveling show that stopped at Foothills Art Center in Golden last spring and... More >>
• Best Design Show — Solo (1 Comment)
  Eames 100: This Is the Trick
  Emmanuel Gallery
  The late Charles Eames and his second wife, Ray, created furniture classics in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, seemingly hand over fist. Many, like their plywood-and-leather lounge chair and ottoman, are still being made. Eames's granddaughter, Carla Hartman, who lives in Denver, has collected his... More >>
• Best Design Show — Group
  Substance: Diverse Practices From the Periphery
  Metro State Center for Visual Art
  Luxury goods usually dominate design exhibitions, but there are also design items meant to solve social problems. This is what Metro professor Lisa Abendroth gathered together to pull off the thoughtful Substance: Diverse Practices From the Periphery at the Center for Visual Art. The show was... More >>
• Best Photography Show — Solo
  Collier SchorrJens F.Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver
  New York photographer Collier Schorr gets pretty out there in Jens F., a large solo that is still on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver. It was originally part of Star Power, a series of exhibits on view when the building opened last fall. Using photos, montages, collages and even... More >>
• Best Photography Show — Duet
  Kevin O'Connell and Richard Van Pelt
  O'Sullivan Art Gallery
  Willy Sutton from Regis University put together two impressive exhibits in the O'Sullivan Art Gallery that looked like a singular presentation. Sutton paired Denver's Kevin O'Connell and Boulder's Richard Van Pelt, both landscape photographers. O'Connell, who is best known for his luxuriously... More >>
• Best Photography Show — Group
  Collections/Selections I
  Edge Gallery
  The Colorado Photographic Arts Center no longer has its own gallery, but it still holds some 500 old photos. Last spring, Edge Gallery brought a choice group of them out of storage for the handsome Collections/Selections I. It was a rare guest slot at this artist co-op, which usually features... More >>
• Best Graphics Acquisition
  Psychedelic rock posters
  Denver Art Museum
  Over the years, Boulder collector David Tippit has gathered up nearly 900 psychedelic rock posters dating back to the 1960s and '70s. In February he announced his intention to donate them to the Denver Art Museum's Department of Architecture, Design and Graphics. Included in the collection are... More >>
• Best Place to Get All Touchy-Feely With a Needle and Thread
  TACtile Textile Arts Center
  Long before the current DIY movement was even DIYing around on its hands and knees, TACtile director Dianne Denholm was ahead of her time as the owner of the D'Lea's fabric store. But she had a dream, which is now slowly coming to fruition, of creating a kind of collective, in which fiber... More >>
• Best Ceramics Show — Solo
  Kim Dickey
  Cold Pastoral
  Rule Gallery
  Boulder artist and University of Colorado professor Kim Dickey converted the Rule Gallery into a conceptual garden for Cold Pastoral last summer. Photos she took of gardens in France filled most of the walls, while the back wall of the gallery was covered with mirrors, giving the illusion of... More >>
• Best Ceramics Show — Group
  Masters in Clay
  Sandra Phillips Gallery
  Despite the limitation of having just a small storefront for her modest gallery, Sandra Phillips has been noticed in the competitive Santa Fe arts district, and she's done it by showcasing noteworthy Colorado artists, especially those working in ceramics. The culmination of her ongoing clay... More >>
• Best Wizard-in-Residence
  Lonnie Hanzon
  Museum of Outdoor Arts
  Part of Lonnie Hanzon's charm is in the way the visual designer seems to reappear like a flesh-and-blood Dumbledore — here and there, from time to time, fully wound — holding court over a magical world of his own invention. He's created spectacular Parade of Lights floats,... More >>
• Best Art Gallery Near the Denver Art Museum
  Denver Public Library
  The hoopla over the new DAM complex shouldn't drown out the props due to the downtown library as a vibrant art source all its own. Quite apart from the permanent offerings in and around the DPL that have survived the endless construction next door — Daniel Lipski's little horse on a big... More >>
• Best Arts Community Builder (2 Comments)
  Kim Harrell
  East End Applied Arts
  Talented silversmith, gallery owner with an eye for good design, community arts organizer, Aurora politician: Kim Harrell is a walking work of art. As the Aurora Art in Public Places Commission Chair, she helped bring work by local artists to the suburb's depressed downtown and East Colfax... More >>
• Best Coming Attraction
  El Centro Su Teatro
  Though it's spent many years ensconced in the former Elyria Elementary School building north of I-70, the heart and soul of the Chicano cultural and theater collective El Centro Su Teatro never left the old barrio. El Centro has always meant to return to that neighborhood, so we applaud the... More >>
• Best Actor in a Drama
  Chris Reid
  Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
  Aurora Fox Arts Center
  Everyone's bigger than life in Tennessee Williams's melodrama about familial battles in the hot, lurid South, and everyone talks nonstop, but Brick is required to say very little for a long, long time. Chris Reid made the character complex and multi-dimensional, so that his extended silences... More >>
• Best Sympathetic Portrayal of a Pederast
  Paul Borrillo
  How I Learned to Drive
  Curious Theatre Company
  Uncle Peck is a monster who's sexually abused his niece for years. Yet in an understated performance, Paul Borrillo managed to make him ordinary and likable, even vulnerable. In one charming scene, Uncle Peck was teaching a small boy how to fish — "reel and jerk...reel and rest" —... More >>
• Best Performance in a One-Man Play
  Erik Tieze
  Thom Paine: based on nothing
  Modern Muse Theatre Company
  Thom Paine: based on nothing is a very odd play, a sort of bubble held together by a skin of words, and at its center is a single performer who keeps inventing and reinventing himself, creating varying personae out of phrases, cliches, story fragments and bits of stage business. How do you play... More >>
• Best Performance in a One-Woman Play
  Julie Rada
  My Name Is Rachel Corrie
  Countdown to Zero
  Rachel Corrie, a young American who went to Gaza to witness the plight of those who live there, was killed by an Israeli tank while attempting to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home. My Name Is Rachel Corrie is pieced together from her e-mails and journal entries. At one point she... More >>
• Best Do-It-Yourself First Friday Event
  Mini-Shops
  EvB Studio Collection
  Anyone can look at art on First Friday. But it takes a dreamer like sculptor and multi-media artist Marie Ev.B Gibbons to understand that some people might prefer to make art, which is why on every First Friday, passersby and art lookie-loos can create their very own miniature ceramic... More >>
• Best Actress in a Drama
  Karen LaMoureaux
  Squall
  Modern Muse Theatre Company
  Cordelia is utterly demented, way out in la-la land most of the time. But there's one marvelous moment in Squall when she's forced into something approaching sanity. It happens when the supposedly sane woman she's been stalking seems to flip into madness, and in a sudden reversal, Cordelia tries... More >>
• Best Actor in a Light Comedy
  Vincent C. Robinson
  Soul Survivor
  Shadow Theatre Company
  In Soul Survivor, Vincent C. Robinson clearly had a great time portraying the Devil as he attempted to win the soul of a quiet, rational man already quite happy with his life. He swaggered, teased and seduced the audience, uttered tee-hees of laughter that were both sinister and self-mocking,... More >>
• Best Actor in a Wry Comedy
  Jim Hunt
  The Gin Game
  Paragon Theatre Company
  Jim Hunt has turned in some fine performances over the years, but in The Gin Game, his portrayal of an angry, agitated, aging man was his best yet — deep and committed, with every thought and emotion given its due. In the Paragon Theatre production, it was fascinating just watching the... More >>
• Best Actor in a Black-Hearted Comedy
  Gene Gillette
  The Lieutenant of Inishmore
  Curious Theatre Company
  Gene Gillette held the stage with complete authority in The Lieutenant of Inishmore, a crazed, cathartic bloodbath of a play dominated by scenes of torture, murder and dismemberment. As the psychotic Padraic, unhinged by the death of his cat, he was dopey, sentimental and terrifying, and you... More >>
• Best Actress in a Comedy
  Patty Mintz Figel
  My Old Lady
  Miners Alley Playhouse
  The old lady of My Old Lady comes with the dignified Paris apartment the protagonist has inherited and has to share with her until she dies. Now in her nineties — and with no intention of going anytime soon — the woman has led a life of culture and adventure, was for many decades the... More >>
• Best Shakespeare Production
  A Midsummer Night's Dream
  Colorado Shakespeare Festival
  Within the magical A Midsummer Night's Dream, realities dissolve and two pairs of lovers are bamboozled by fairies into losing track of their original alliances and switching partners again and again. The interrelated themes are that love is crazy and lovers blind, that we all live in a world of... More >>
• Best Shakespearean Leading Lady (1 Comment)
  Sarah Fallon
  A Midsummer Night's Dream
  Colorado Shakespeare Festival
  Sarah Fallon has a lovely voice and she knows how to speak Shakespeare, giving the poetry its due without ever sounding phony. At the Colorado Shakespeare Festival last summer, she brought real humor to the role of the jilted Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream — broad but never over the top. More >>
• Best Supporting Actor in a Drama
  Richard Thieriot
  Julius Caesar
  Colorado Shakespeare Festival
  When the young Marlon Brando undertook the role of Marc Antony, he appeared on screen oiled and muscular, a glorious young god. Richard Thieriot, on the other hand, sauntered on in shorts, looking like any yuppie Boulderite out for a run. But after a while, you realized what he was up to —... More >>
• Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy
  Sean Tarrant
  All's Well That Ends Well
  Colorado Shakespeare Festival
  Sean Tarrant's gifts are many: He's tall, lithe and athletic; he has a good voice and a magnetic presence; his work is informed by a discriminating intelligence. And when he's on stage, it's hard to watch anyone else. As Paroles in All's Well That Ends Well, Tarrant showed that even a... More >>
• Best Supporting Actress in a Drama
  Laura Norman
  A Body of Water
  Modern Muse Theatre Company
  A man and a woman have just woken up, and they don't know who they are. A young woman enters, and she tells them cruel things — that they're suspected of murder, that they're not, that they're actually married, but unhappily so. She identifies herself as their lawyer, then later as their... More >>
• Best First Friday Outgrowth (13 Comments)
  Babes Around Denver
  Before BAD was officially BAD, Dede Frain founded the social network that would grow into Babes Around Denver on the strength of a little First Friday gathering in 2002 that quickly outgrew one venue after another. She began to organize other lesbian networking and singles events, started a... More >>
• Best Actor in a Musical
  Brandon Dill
  Little Shop of Horrors
  Boulder's Dinner Theatre
  Seymour is a nerdy soul who's faced with a Faustian bargain when he finds and tends a man-eating plant that offers him money, prestige and the love of Seymour's beautiful co-worker, Audrey — but only if Seymour keeps feeding it flesh. It's a ridiculous premise that fuels a goofy show, but... More >>
• Best Actress in a Musical
  Gina Schuh-Turner
  John and Jen
  Nonesuch Theater
  As Jen, the sister in the two-person musical John and Jen, Gina Schuh-Turner turned in a wonderfully committed performance. She not only acted well and sang beautifully, but she brought a particular subtlety to the stage — at times heart-meltingly tender, at others hilariously funny. And... More >>
• Best Supporting Actor in a Musical
  Milton Craig Nealy
  La Cage Aux Folles
  Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities
  Jacob is the intensely effeminate butler — or, as he prefers, maid — of the gay couple at the center of the frothy, splashy La Cage Aux Folles. The role is a guaranteed laugh-getter, and Milton Craig Nealy played it to the hilt, with infectious style, humor and enjoyment. More >>
• Best Supporting Actress in a Musical
  Kathleen M. Brady
  A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
  Denver Center Theatre Company
  Is there anything Kathleen M. Brady can't do? We've seen her in classical and modern plays, in comedy and tragedy. This year we found out that she can sing, and sing she did in A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum, rich-toned and full-throated. Brady played the role of the shrew Domina... More >>
• Best Performance in a Musical Number
  Alicia Dunfee
  Midlife! The Crisis Musical
  Boulder's Dinner Theatre
  Here's the setup: a man and woman are seated at a bus stop after a pleasant first date, and she suddenly reveals that she'd really like to have a baby before her biological clock runs out. As the woman, Alicia Dunfee began sweetly but became more and more aggressive as she attempted to coax,... More >>
• Best Musical — Local
  Ragtime
  Boulder's Dinner Theatre
  With Ragtime, it felt as if Boulder's Dinner Theatre had opened the doors and let in a great whoosh of invigorating air. This is one hell of a musical to stage, one based on an important book that marries a meaningful plot with a smart, perceptive script and terrific songs. To create a cast,... More >>
• Best Musical — Touring
  The Light in the Piazza
  Denver Center Attractions
  Luscious and lyrical, a feast for the eyes, ears and mind, The Light in the Piazza reminded you of just how romantic a musical can be. Every performance was a gem. Katie Rose Clarke was a luminous Clara; David Burnham, too, sang like an angel. And at any point, if you happened to get bored... More >>
• Best Theater Production
  Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
  Paragon Theatre Company
  The play was an old chestnut, but thanks to impeccable casting and insightful direction, Paragon Theatre Company breathed new life into Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? You couldn't help admiring Martha Harmon Pardee's vitality and sheer, pull-out-the-stops courage as Martha; she came across as... More >>
• Best Season for a Director (1 Comment)
  Warren Sherrill
  Paragon Theatre Company
  Neither The Gin Game nor Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? are particularly timely, though the latter is an American classic and welcome viewing any time. But at Paragon, Warren Sherrill's productions of these two plays made them contemporary. The Gin Game featured Jim Hunt as a man... More >>
• Best Theater Season
  Curious Theatre Company
  Although there were some disappointments at Curious Theatre early in the season, How I Learned to Drive — a reprise of the first-ever Curious production ten years ago — was a hit, and the company continued to roar forward with two of the most exciting productions on a Denver stage... More >>
• Best Friday Night Pre-Party
  Untitled
  Denver Art Museum
  Who would have thought that the coolest Friday-night party around would be at a stodgy art museum? But sure enough, on the last Friday of every month, the Denver Art Museum turns itself into a lively all-ages club, complete with local DJs or bands, a cash bar and a host of kooky activities... More >>
• Best Grace Under Pressure
  Trina Magness
  Macbeth and Red Herring
  To some extent, actors are at the mercy of the productions in which they appear. An exciting show can make an okay actor look terrific; an excellent actor can seem weak if trapped by circumstances. So far this season, Trina Magness has emerged with honor from two productions that simply didn't... More >>
• Best Original Script
  Ellen K. Graham
  How We May Know Him
  Paragon Theatre Company
  How We May Know Him is a brain-tease of a play that acts on your cerebral cortex, not your guts. It's a story about four women: Val, a Christian zealot; Simone, a new-agey television host; Nicola, a soldier of fortune; and Nicola's partner, the sometimes waspish but usually lost and bemused... More >>
• Best Dramatization of a Novel
  Eric Schmiedl
  Plainsong
  Denver Center Theatre Company
  Kent Haruf's Plainsong won critical acclaim for its quiet beauty, and Eric Schmiedl's stage adaptation — miraculously — comes close to doing the novel justice. This isn't one of those theater pieces that wows you on the spot; instead, Plainsong stays with you, settling slowly into... More >>
• Best Prologue
  Erik Edborg
  Moby Dick Unread
  Buntport Theater Company
  No other company in town matches Buntport's humor and inventiveness, and the group's take on Moby Dick was no exception. But perhaps the funniest bit occurred at the very beginning, when Erik Edborg re-enacted the entire leviathan of a novel using nothing but a red plastic fish and a round fishbowl. More >>
• Best Remount
  Titus Andronicus!
  Buntport Theater Company
  The conceit of this sendup of Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare's bloodiest and most incoherent of plays, is that a wandering troupe of five actors is presenting it as a musical. Buntport actually got us through the entire plot, using a board with caricatures and lightbulbs to tell us which of the... More >>
• Best Cameo
  Steven J. Burge
  Contrived Ending
  Conundrum Productions
  Shane is just a small role in Contrived Ending, an original play by Josh Hartwell. He's one of those dopey, marginal little guys whom no one in his high school respected, and who gets put down constantly even after high school is over. He also invents all kinds of lies to make himself seem more... More >>
• Best Depiction of Virtue
  Terry Ann Watts
  Dead Man Walking
  Denver Victorian Playhouse
  Terry Ann Watts gave a beautiful and open-souled performance as Sister Helen Prejean, the real-life nun who has worked for years with death-row inmates, making her exactly the sort of wise, calm woman you would want beside you in a crisis. Watts was quietly dignified throughout Dead Man Walking,... More >>
• Best Display of Theatrical Integrity
  My Name Is Rachel Corrie
  Countdown to Zero
  Rachel Corrie has been a lighting rod for controversy since her death in Gaza at the age of 23, when she was run over by an Israeli soldier driving a bulldozer while attempting to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home. And My Name Is Rachel Corrie has proved controversial, too. The play... More >>
• Best New Theater Space
  Crossroads Theater at Five Points
  Kurt Lewis opened this small, comfortable performing space with Bold Girls, a fine play about Ireland's Troubles directed by Anthony Powell. Now Paragon Theatre has made the place its permanent home. A welcome addition to Five Points, a historic part of Denver, the theater will also be used for... More >>
• Best Reinvention of Theater (1 Comment)
  Heritage Square Music Hall
  What you'll see at Heritage is unlike anything you'll see anywhere else. It's pure silliness, pure Colorado, pure pleasure, an odd mix of dramatics, song, utter craziness and actors just sort of palling around with the audience. Veteran T.J. Mullin writes a lot of the material and delivers his... More >>