Best Delivery of a Song 2012 | Katie Ulrich | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Delivery of a Song

Katie Ulrich

Katie Ulrich was all verve and warmth as leading lady Janet Van De Graaff in Boulder's Dinner Theatre's production of The Drowsy Chaperone, a daffy, sweet-cynical tribute to '20s musicals. Van De Graaff was forced to choose between an acting career and love, and explained her choice in a sizzling number called "I Don't Wanna Show Off No More" — demonstrating her lack of interest in stardom by strutting, sashaying, blowing kisses, turning a somersault and throwing a few perfect cartwheels. Some of them one-handed. And all the while, she sang quite beautifully.

Best Denver Dance Institution

Lipgloss

Can you name any other club night that's been going for as long as Lipgloss and has managed not just to survive, but thrive, despite the change in personnel? We thought not. Founded in June 2001 by boyhollow (aka Michael Trundle), Tyler Jacobson and Tim Cook, Lipgloss has become a Denver institution at this point, one that's kept things moving by not straying too far from its starting point. Now helmed by boyhollow and option4 (aka Brennen Bryarly), Lipgloss continues to offer up fresh sounds and frequently brings in other kick-ass local DJs like Narky Stares and DJ Tower to keep the party amped.

Best Director

Edith Weiss
Vox Phamalia: Quadrapalooza

A variety show like Vox Phamalia: Quadrapalooza, presented at the Avenue Theater, required a whole different set of skills from a director. The show was intended as a place where everyone in the PHAMALY company could find a home, regardless of singing or acting talent or level of disability. To achieve this, director Edith Weiss selected stories from those sent in by cast members, edited them and did some writing of her own, along with Jeremy Palmer. She had to learn how to work with actors who had not only the usual emotional vulnerabilities, but unusual physical ones, too. Under her direction, the cast found ways to help and support each other, and the rage and sadness of the stories were often transmuted into humor, without any diminution of truth or impact. As a result, the performers forged a strong emotional connection with their audiences.

Best Disturbing Music Video

"Goodbye Horses"
Tollund Men

Neal Samples has put out music under multiple names for years with an abundance that most people would never bother to explore, much less indulge. His Cabaret Voltaire-esque Tollund Men took his lo-fi, electro-post-punk/performance-art inclinations to another level when he began performing the music live with the aid of friend Daniel Bouse. Last fall, Samples combined that cold, dark, evocative music with his absurdist, self-deprecating sense of humor and produced a music video for his cover of the classic Q. Lazzarus song "Goodbye Horses." Most people know that song from the Married to the Mob soundtrack or, more likely, The Silence of the Lambs. Re-creating the scene in which Buffalo Bill dances to the song for his own video, Samples didn't go the Full Monty, but it was disturbing and hilarious enough for most people.

Best Diva

Marcia Ragonetti

When you're doing a show about Maria Callas giving a master class, it helps if there's a genuine diva around to play the role, and for this Miners Alley Playhouse production of Master Class, director Robert Kramer scored a coup when he cast local mezzo-soprano Marcia Ragonetti — even though she didn't get to sing very much. But watching Ragonetti explain technique for the very talented performers who did sing, you understood that she knew exactly what she was talking about. And when she demonstrated at one point just how to make an entrance, it was mesmerizing — and pure diva. RuPaul, eat your heart out.

Best DIY Label

Bleak Environment

Aaron Miller moved to Denver from the Western Slope a few years back and became part of the local musical community through some old friends. He established a small imprint called Clam Records that released tapes by friends including TekTone. But his real goal was to create a distro and label to support music that he believed in, one that was so far outside the mainstream, oftentimes so hermetic in its approach and distribution, that it could never be co-opted. The result was Bleak Environment, and Miller has since booked the first Iceage show in Denver, in addition to spreading the word about acts as obscure and inspiring as Raspberry Bulbs and Nuit Noir. Proof that big impact need not be big-scale.

Best DIY Venue — Fort Collins

GNU: Experience Gallery

Fort Collins has had its own vibrant art and musical community going back decades. Its existence has resulted in various DIY venue experiments over the years, as well as the scene's semi-legendary progressive shows. For those, one band would play in a certain location, and the next band on the bill would play in a second location whose whereabouts were only revealed to those who were at the first one, as a way of keeping the shows from getting shut down. GNU: Experience Gallery is one of the latest and most active sites of that tradition. Not only does the GNU host the work of some of the most interesting artists and musicians connected to Fort Collins, but it opens its arms to regional talent as well. Kris Smith and Brandton Manshell clearly have a significant institution on their hands.

  • 109 Linden St., Fort Collins, 80524 Map

Best DJ in the World Who Lives Here

DJ Vajra

In 2004, DJ Vajra earned a Best of Denver nod as Best Hip-Hop DJ/Turntablist. Back then, we described the DJ, otherwise known as Chris Karns, as an unassuming record clerk from Boulder. "All DJs fear Vajra," one of his peers said at the time. And in fact, even back then a number of people considered him not just the best DJ in Denver, but one of the best in the world. And now, with his win at the 2011 DMC Championship in London, the freshly minted champion has officially been crowned the best DJ in the world.

Best DJ to Rock a Basement-Style Party

Gypdahip

Not only is Gypdahip an incredible producer — he can sample, chop, screw and do pretty much everything you can imagine to a beat — but he's one of the top DJs in the city. You can find him wrecking shop on everything from underground hip-hop you've forgotten about (Mos Def's "Taxi") to the rarest Dilla sample you've never heard to supreme cuts you don't expect to hear in the club. We've seen him throw on the Roots' famous drum track, "Din Da Da," and come from behind the decks to slay the dance floor, freestyle on the mike and ultimately bring the house down with his sense of style and esoteric selection.

Best Dubstep Night

Bassic Fridays at Beta

When the dubstep craze started taking over Denver, there were so many random bass-heavy weeklies that we almost lost count. But then the Sub.mission Dubstep crew teamed up with Beta Nightclub and Reload Productions' drum-and-bass squad to present a night, and the result was Bassic Fridays. Designed to cater to Denver's true bass-heads, the dub-strong night brings in only the highest talent from the low-end sound spectrum, giving Beta's Funktion-One system a chance to really show what it can do when pushed to the limits. Together with Sub.mission and Reload, Beta has set the bar high for a weekly night dedicated to bass music — in this case, one that shines above the rest.

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