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Best unabashed use of a theremin

Hoochie

Not since Lothar and the Hand People has a local outfit employed the Russian inventor's electronic-tone generator to such entertaining ends as Boulder's wall-of-noise trio Hoochie. A throwback to cheesy drive-in movie Martians and sweater-bustin' damsels in distress, the oft-snubbed theremin provides just the right blend of faux eeriness and comic relief. It's also living proof, perhaps, that the distance between one's shaky fingers and a simple antenna is equal to the listener's threshold for pure, wavering blissful racket.

Best unabashed use of a theremin

Hoochie

Not since Lothar and the Hand People has a local outfit employed the Russian inventor's electronic-tone generator to such entertaining ends as Boulder's wall-of-noise trio Hoochie. A throwback to cheesy drive-in movie Martians and sweater-bustin' damsels in distress, the oft-snubbed theremin provides just the right blend of faux eeriness and comic relief. It's also living proof, perhaps, that the distance between one's shaky fingers and a simple antenna is equal to the listener's threshold for pure, wavering blissful racket.

Best addition to coffee and crullers

Ron Bucknam

Weekend pastry-noshers at the Tattered Cover bookstore in Cherry Creek are no strangers to the ambient wizardry of local guitarist Ron Bucknam, a bimonthly fixture for those who frequent the Queen City's sequestered nooks. As much influenced by painting as he is by music (think of minimalist Steve Reich floating through one of Kandinski's geometric playgrounds, and you're in the general ballpark), Bucknam produces a soothing and often beguiling soundscape of seamless tones and colors, rhythms and shapes. The stuff's downright hypnotic and can actually enhance great works of literature. Including Yertle the Turtle.

Best addition to coffee and crullers

Ron Bucknam

Weekend pastry-noshers at the Tattered Cover bookstore in Cherry Creek are no strangers to the ambient wizardry of local guitarist Ron Bucknam, a bimonthly fixture for those who frequent the Queen City's sequestered nooks. As much influenced by painting as he is by music (think of minimalist Steve Reich floating through one of Kandinski's geometric playgrounds, and you're in the general ballpark), Bucknam produces a soothing and often beguiling soundscape of seamless tones and colors, rhythms and shapes. The stuff's downright hypnotic and can actually enhance great works of literature. Including Yertle the Turtle.

Best approximation of a turn-of-the-century strip show

Burlesque As It Was

Sisters Michelle and Andrea Baldwin are the driving -- and gyrating, wiggling and titillating -- force behind Burlesque As It Was, a performance group that revisits an era when stripping and erotic dance was an art form. Students of vaudeville and burlesque greats like Gypsy Rose Lee, the sisters and their sequined crew hosted a pair of performances this year: a Parisian-style cabaret and a saucy Valentine's Day fete. They've also been seen shakin' their saucy stuff at shows by bands like the Down-N-Outs. Forget Disco -- Burlesque As It Was takes retro to an entirely new level. Just don't try to shove a dollar bill down the side of the dancers' costumes, please.

Best approximation of a turn-of-the-century strip show

Burlesque As It Was

Sisters Michelle and Andrea Baldwin are the driving -- and gyrating, wiggling and titillating -- force behind Burlesque As It Was, a performance group that revisits an era when stripping and erotic dance was an art form. Students of vaudeville and burlesque greats like Gypsy Rose Lee, the sisters and their sequined crew hosted a pair of performances this year: a Parisian-style cabaret and a saucy Valentine's Day fete. They've also been seen shakin' their saucy stuff at shows by bands like the Down-N-Outs. Forget Disco -- Burlesque As It Was takes retro to an entirely new level. Just don't try to shove a dollar bill down the side of the dancers' costumes, please.

Best local rendition of "Blue Moon"

Mariachi Vasquez

The Partridge Family? Not. The Jackson Five? Please. But cross Selena with the Brady Bunch and you'd be pretty damn close. Mariachi Vasquez is a certified mom-and-dad-and-all-the-kiddies mariachi group: Daddy plays bass, Mama sings tenor, and the three sisters and two brothers join right in there. The group, which hails from Tucson, has been shaking its maracas since the kids wore Pampers. While other children scribbled multiplication tables, these youngsters perfected their chops on violin, trumpet and guitar. Last year the group cut its first CD, Como la Ves, and is compiling its second. Mariachis usually are content to cover the classics, but Mariachi Vasquez spices its playlist with original material and south-of-the-border tributes to Patsy Cline and Elvis. Although the Vasquez kids are still learning their way around a recording studio -- let them make it through puberty first -- they can still put a little rumba into a conga line. And the Mr. Microphone tribute to the King -- as sung by ten-year-old Vincente -- is enough to put a swivel in your hips. If not a black-velvet Elvis painting in your living room.

Best Sinatra lounge singer

John Potter

John Potter can belt 'em out with such force and grace that if you close your eyes and squint just right, you might think it was ol' blue eyes himself swaying between the tables at Patsy's Inn Italian Restaurant, at 3651 Navajo Street. Ask him right, and he'll play your favorite song while you slurp on spaghetti and gulp a glass of vino. Potter doesn't just do Sinatra, though; Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Tom Jones and even Lou Rawls fill his repertoire. "I do a little bit of everybody," he says. "To do a four-hour show, you've got to come up with more than just Sinatra." Potter is also a part of the sixteen-piece Stephen Paul Orchestra, but he'll be doing it Frank's way at Patsy's on Friday and Saturday nights over the summer. He'll make you feel there are songs to be sung!

Best Sinatra lounge singer

John Potter

John Potter can belt 'em out with such force and grace that if you close your eyes and squint just right, you might think it was ol' blue eyes himself swaying between the tables at Patsy's Inn Italian Restaurant, at 3651 Navajo Street. Ask him right, and he'll play your favorite song while you slurp on spaghetti and gulp a glass of vino. Potter doesn't just do Sinatra, though; Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Tom Jones and even Lou Rawls fill his repertoire. "I do a little bit of everybody," he says. "To do a four-hour show, you've got to come up with more than just Sinatra." Potter is also a part of the sixteen-piece Stephen Paul Orchestra, but he'll be doing it Frank's way at Patsy's on Friday and Saturday nights over the summer. He'll make you feel there are songs to be sung!

Best chanteuse

Mary Ann Moore

As a child, New Jersey-raised vocalist Mary Ann Moore listened to the great jazz singers -- Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Chris Conner -- and she listened to romantic, melodically based piano masters like Bill Evans. You can hear their influence in her lush intonation and impeccable phrasing, but Moore has been very much her own woman since she began singing Denver-area clubs in 1990. Catch her Tuesday nights at Manhattan Grill, Thursdays at Trios in Boulder, Fridays and Saturdays at Ruth's Chris steakhouse in LoDo. The schedule is subject to change; Moore's high art is not.

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