Best Roving Dance Party
Action Dance Party
"Two turntables and a microphone" are all the Action team need to get the party started right (okay, a dance floor and a stack of vinyl never hurt). These freelance DJs have rocked the Carousel Lounge, the Ritz Upstairs, and private functions around town. We've grooved to new wave night ("Hiroshima, Mon Amour") as well as many an evening of soul, R&B, and garage. Luckily, the DJs work in pairs: One handles the tables while the other shakes it on the floor ... a sight not to be missed. C'mon Action Parties, keep us moving into the next millennium!
302-9328
Best Unplanned Exercise
Any of Austin's Movie Multiplexes
You certainly don't plan that race-walk through the long corridors of the movie multiplexes when you're late for a movie, now, do you?
Best Free Film Series
Austin Film Society Summer Free For All Film Series at UT
Getting to see some of the great old classic films on a big screen is a real treat, but when it's free it's even better. In a collaboration between the Austin Film Society and UT, every Tuesday for 13 weeks during the summer rarely screened gems such as An American In Paris, Imitation of Life, and Carmen Jones come to life at the Texas Student Union Theatre. Usually there's an intro by UT film prof Charles Ramirez-Berg about the director or some other unusual aspect of the film. Yes, please bring it back next year!
Texas Union Building, Second level, A.F.S., 322-0145
http://www.austinfilm.org
Best Art Space Where Everything Clicks
Austin Museum of Art Photography Exhibits
While the Austin Museum of Art -- Downtown awaits its ultimate makeover by architect Richard Gluckman, last fall found the museum performing a little nip and tuck of its own, raising the bar on its exhibits, especially its photography. "Modotti and Weston: Mexicanidad" was a memorable survey of Mexico in the mid- to late Twenties. In November came "The Complete Untitled Film Stills" by Cindy Sherman, whose self-reflexive, ironic series found the photographer herself posing as weepy B-movie stars of the Fifties and Sixties. Meanwhile, AMOA's sister site Laguna Gloria offered the haunting, evocative work of Sally Mann's 25-year career, including the controversial and unforgettable series of nude photos of her three children. Will next season be even better? Just shoot.
AMOA Downtown, 823 Congress, 495-9224; AMOA, Laguna Gloria, 3809 W. 35th, 458-8191
http://www.amoa.org
Best Place to Rave
Austin Music Hall
You can trip, roll, stumble, or run down to the Austin Music Hall on various weekends and witness some of the wildest concerts on the planet. The rave scene is flying high (no pun intended) and there is no end in sight. With its warehouse proportions, the Music Hall is spacious. An upper deck is available at higher cost for you "connected VIPer's," but the bottom floor is where the party is, with three full-size bars, an outside smoking deck, and tons of hammered concert goers. Big beat monsters like Fat Boy Slim, Crystal Method, and other internationally touring house, trance, and techno groups have frequented this venue. Ticket prices vary.
208 Nueces, 495-9962
http://www.austinmusichall.com/
Best Slam Survivors
Austin's Slam Poets
They survived the slamming shut of the Electric Lounge and the unceremonious bouncing from the Red Eyed Fly and have still kept emoting. '99 Slam Teamers Phil West, Karina McGlynn, Mike Henry, and Vicky Charleston, along with their many slammin' compadres, take their art seriously, and have a string of impressive national placings over the years to show for it. A bit like the bastard stepchildren of theatre and literature mixed together, the spoken word "trend" has proven that it has the legs to stick around as a viable performance genre. Our local group even hosted the National Slam here in Austin last year. Bless their dirty little mouths.
Austin Slam Team, Mike Henry, 326-9692
Best Place to Jive With a First Date
Cafe Mundi
It takes courage to set up shop off the beaten track. Cafe Mundi is a little gem tucked away behind the old Mexico Tipico parking lot. The brew is good, the pastries tasty, and their java comes in exquisite coffee ware from around the world. Inside it's a snug, little grotto for creative types, and outside tables are nestled in a crepe myrtle grove. They host literary events, poetry, and a regular bill of live music. Cafe Mundi is the ideal spot to get acquainted with a new love interest. Cozy in winter, cool in summer, and offering an outdoor patio looking onto the railroad tracks, this little place has it all ... if only we had dates to meet there.
1707 E. Fifth, 236-8634
Best Dancer of Versatility & Dynamism
Christopher Hannon, Ballet Austin
Our recent visits to Ballet Austin have held many pleasures but perhaps none so exhilarating as the evolution of company member Christopher Hannon. Over the past few seasons, the athletic young dancer with the large, soulful eyes has proven himself a chameleon of the ballet. He has dazzled us in serious parts well-suited to his age and skills -- in Ulysses, his Telemachus was a coiled spring of frustration -- but he's been equally striking in comic roles, crafting a coy, impetuous, otherworldly Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream, a sly, languid partner to Karen Kuykendall in a segment of Kisses, and a classic nerd awkwardly attempting balletic grace in the spoof The Nutzy Nutcracker. With this versatility and his unfailing vigor and precision of execution, Hannon has taken our breath away.
Ballet Austin, 476-9051
Best Mexican Motif Decor in a Nightclub
Club Carnaval
We can remember when this place was still in its disco-fever daze with lots of lights and not much else for atmosphere. But oh, what a transformation! Bas relief murals of Pancho Villa and pre-Columbian pyramids, large Mayan-inspired columns and gargoyles around the bar, and the really cool, long cylindrical fish tank columns that greet the customer at the front entrance give the impression of being inside a temple of Aztec royalty.
2237 E. Riverside, 444-6396
Best Dinner Entertainment
Dee McCandless at The Treehouse Italian Grill
Though they often feature fine weekend performances on their outdoor patio by acts such as Correo Aeréo, we were strangely and indelibly affected by the striking singer-accordionist sporting a sailor's hat who performed Italian-American standards from on high on the inside dining room balcony. To learn this bella cantante was none other than local dance legend McCandless, well, that was more than one mind could comprehend.
2201 College, 443-4200
Best Chance at a New Chances
Gaby & Mo's
After five years, you'd think we'd stop bitchin' and moanin' about the loss of our venerated club Chances. But face it: Nothing's ever replaced it. Hmmm. Well... Not so fast. Gaby & Mo's has effectively filled a big slot for both cool, casual hang-out cafe and low-key, comfy live music venue in the Manor Road area. And the girl scene? Oooh, so far, it can't be beat. Dunno... it's sure close. It's certainly enough to make women forget that they don't have a real club in town to call their own. Chances are that this new joint -- with its friendly, open-armed attitude, terrific lunch and lite-dinner menu options, and total babes behind the counter -- might just do the trick.
1809 Manor, 457-9027
Best Works of Art on Food Wrappers
Heather Coffey, Jo's Hot Coffee & Good Food
Wrap is a genuine art form, or at least a genuine art medium. There's no denying it when viewing the Coffey creations done up in pen and ink on the pastry wrappers that hold Jo's fabulous baked goods. From kitschy superheroes to Kit the Sexy Cowgal, Coffey's artwork is eye-catching and, well, funky.
1300 S. Congress, 444-3800
Best Room With a View
Helm Fine Arts Center, St. Stephen's Academy
This is a sterling arts venue, but what really makes the Helms such a swell destination for an arts night out is walking around the building and suddenly seeing the land drop away toward the Colorado below, and the layers of rolling hills on the far shore. Before stepping inside, amble about the hilltop at St. Stephen's and marvel at how nature can improve one's appreciation of the arts.
2900 Bunny Run, 329-0964
Best Hop for a Good Cause
Hip-Hop 4 Laydeez
Can I get a wuh-wuh; can I get a woo woo?! Yeeeeeeeeah ... Old-school mamas and new nubians alike come out for this semi-regular fundraiser and excuse to get down for a good cause. Hip-Hop 4 Laydeez has attracted girls from all over and gets the local ones crawling out of the woodwork for these all-gal throwdowns. There's always a DJ (usually a laydee), usually some go-go sisters, and sometimes live music (like from those ambassadors from the Xenaverse, Raunchy Reckless & the Amazons). No matter the venue, there's always a party goin' on. All proceeds go to Texas Abortion Rights Action League's Rosie Jimenez Fund.
Texas Abortion Rights Action League (TARAL), 462-1661; Rosie Jimenez Fund, PO BOX 684602, 76768
Best Tank Tops on a Coffeeslinger
Jo's Hot Coffee & Good Food
We're saving this award for the women at Jo's, by the way. Guys in tank tops, no way. Jo's is also a heat phenom -- the sun bakes all day on the green stucco and tin coffee shack, and yet the temps are cooler than thou in the bamboo shade. Great mochas and The New York Times.
1300 S. Congress, 444-3800
Best Cultural Philanthropists
Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long
As Austin prospers, more and more big bucks are being tossed at the city's arts groups. But checks with long strings of zeroes on them, while valuable, don't equal philanthropy. True philanthropists contribute more than money to a cause -- they give of their time, their passion, themselves. That's what puts Teresa Lozano and Joe R. Long at the forefront of our cultural patrons. For half a century, they've given of themselves to support Austin arts, founding new institutions, serving on boards, shaping our cultural life. Their $20 million gift to help transform Palmer Auditorium into a center for the arts is only the latest and grandest sample of an outstanding generosity that stretches back decades -- and will benefit Austinites decades into the future as well.
contact, Arts Center Stage, 482-0800
Best Diva
Karen Kuykendall
For the purposes of this award, the word "diva" is used in the classical sense, i.e., the divine, a goddess. For little short of heaven does justice to the exquisite Ms. Kuykendall. When she takes the stage, it's as if the sun has broken through a bank of storm clouds; there is light in her presence, her poise, her diamond-cut wit. Her voice is, in the lexicon of cognac, VSOP, and when she sings, she intoxicates you with the same smoky burn that you get from a snifter of fine brandy. Whether she's caressing Cole Porter in a cabaret ballad or ripping up the stage in a show such as Full Gallop, Kuykendall makes going to the theatre a visit to Paradise.
db Talent, 292-1030
Best Literary Resurrection
Katherine Anne Porter House
Several weeks ago, it was announced that the tiny house in Kyle in which Katherine Anne Porter (Pale Horse, Pale Rider, "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall") grew up is soon to be a writer's center and library accessible to the public. Porter is probably turning in her grave just now, surprised to learn that she is finally attaining the endorsement as a Texas writer that had largely eluded her while she was alive. But she'd be heartened to know that the Katherine Anne Porter House Restoration Committee has raised nearly one million dollars to fully fix up a house that was bought for $10 in 1904.
1710 Main, Kyle, 512/245-7681
Best Bagpiper
Ken Liechti
Liechti, who plays the Great Highland Pipes expertly and joyously enough to make a brace of haggis frolic drunkenly on th'moors, looks exactly the way we imagine a bagpiper should: flowing white hair and beard, aristocratic nose centering a handsome, ruddy-cheeked face, just so tall, just so wide, just enough paleness to the sturdy legs half-bared by his tartan kilt. This fellow tosses the caber of authenticity right outta the kingdom.
306-9245
http://www.silverthistle.com
Best Play-Full Wordsmith
Kirk Lynn
Even the stumble of last fall's Salivation can't drop the wisdom and beauty of Lust Supper and Crucks, the first two parts of Lynn's ambitious Faminly Trilogy. Note his award-winning Rude Mechanicals IPO, Pale Idiot, too, and his recent adaptations of print classics by Greil Marcus and Donald Barthelme. This is a gloriously busy man, here.
720 Bastrop Hwy. #220, 476-RUDE
Best Club-Closing Event
"Kiss-Offs Kristalnacht" at The Bates Motel
During the final set on the final night of this club's existence, the Kiss-Offs had some severe problems with their planned pyrotechnic display. (Vocalist Travis Higdon ended up in the hospital with second-degree burns.) Meanwhile, a self-appointed demolition crew began deconstructing the place. Naturally, the show ended abruptly, and the cops waded in to restore order and make a few arrests. Why does The Man always have to bring us down??? Who the hell's idea was it to cover the walls of a seedy punk club with tantalizingly fragile mirrors, anyway?
317 E. Sixth (RIP)
Best Trip to the Sixties
LBJ Library & Museum
All ex-presidents do the library thing, but LBJ drew one of the wildest cards of this century, the tumultuous Sixties, and his library is like no other. Including a near-lifesized replica of the Oval Office, there are countless mementos from this extraordinary time. The profound depictions of the cultural revolution cut to the quick. Using music, film, and images in state-of-the-art presentations, the gloriously incoherent Sixties are revisited in a mysteriously healing way. We're not ashamed to admit it: We choked up and will forever be haunted by LBJ's words: "We tried." Admission free.
2313 Red River, 916-5137
Best Guy to Have in the House When the Show Might Not Go On
Marco Noyola
The performance is set to start at 8pm. At 7:30pm, an actor hasn't shown and no one can reach him. Under most circumstances, this is cause for cancellation. But not if you have Marco Noyola in the house, as OnStage Productions did one night during its run of The Hound of the Baskervilles last year. A half-hour before curtain, cast members found Noyola in the audience and pressed him into service. He was given a costume to wear and a script to scan, and shortly after eight, Noyola took to the stage without even a script in hand. Amazingly, he pulled it off -- with style -- but more amazing is the fact that Noyola has been drafted for this kind of duty before. Apparently, he has a knack for being on hand when theatrical crises arise, and at The Public Domain, where he's a company member, his stage savvy and cool under pressure have saved several shows. We're applauding his ability and keeping his number handy.
459-3825
Best Museum Outgrowing Itself
Mexic-Arte Museum
From its tiny beginnings in a 300-square-foot space in the former Arts Warehouse, Mexic-Arte Museum has grown to become the city's premier showcase for Latino art. Now situated on the corner of Fifth & Congress in a 20,000+ square-foot building, Mexic-Arte's future plans include renovation and purchase of their building, expanding services and facilities, and promoting their Mexican art exhibits statewide. Their unique collaboration with Mexican institutions keeps them focused, resulting in exhibits which are inspiring, innovative, and educational.
419 Congress, 480-9373
Best Place to Write Poetry
Mozart's Coffee Roasters Inc. on the Lake
Some of us have the need to be creative, to pour out our hearts and souls on paper because at times, only words make sense. Second to stuffing yourself in a loft, unplugging the phone, and separating yourself from all that is human (or drinking yourself into a stupor), Mozart's offers one of the area's best atmospheres to write what you feel. Situated on Lake Austin with a cafe and juice bar, it offers a peaceful setting for even the most disgruntled blurb writer ... or poet. With two large decks, plenty of seating, and cool breezes flowing off the lake, the troubled writer may actually find a moment of happiness before picking up the pen again and scribbling away into the night.
3825 Lake Austin Blvd., 477-2900
Best Corner for Rock
NE Corner of Fifth & San Jacinto
Home to a myriad of art, music, and dance organizations including Sweatbox Recording Studio, Center Dance Studio, and KOOP Radio, this reformed warehouse now provides some of the last affordable practice and art spaces in downtown Austin. Walk by most any evening and sample the sounds of Austin's performers hard at work.
Fifth & San Jacinto, 499-8858 (Sweatbox); 472-1369 (KOOP); 416-7079 (Center Studio)
Best Thing on Paper
"Old Master Drawings From the Suida-Manning Collection"
This exhibition at UT's Blanton Museum of Art is a precious collection of drawings preserved for hundreds of years on paper so delicate it makes you want to weep. With works by Raphael, Farinati, Cambiaso, Guercino, and Boucher, the fine detail of these drawings invite the eye to gaze closely -- and for a long time. Our only complaint about this exhibition -- part of the $35 million Suida-Manning collection -- is its short run. Get in to see it before it closes next month on October 24.
23rd & San Jacinto, 471-7324
http://www.utexas.edu/cofa/hag/
Best Place to Humiliate Out-of-Town Guests
Pete's Dueling Piano Bar
The two players at Pete's, each at their own piano on stage, are a hilarious pair. Not just because they poke endless fun at each other, but because they are just as relentless to customers. Don't do anything to stand out, because they have the mikes and they aren't afraid to use them. (One of our redheaded friends once found the entire bar calling him "Opie," and that was a tame night.) Take those out-of-towners to Pete's for a beer if you're out on Sixth, and make sure to tell the players your friends aren't local (as if they can't tell.) The place is a blast for anyone with a sense of humor, but a word of caution: this may not be the place for grandma's virgin ears!
1012 E. Sixth, 474-1299
Best Place to Network With the Hole in the Wall "Elite" and Still Be Home by Noon
Quack's 43rd Street Bakery
The Guadalupe Quack's may be dead, but the Hyde Park location is thriving -- mostly off of caffeine-addled musicians, it seems. With Sixteen Deluxe's Carrie Clark behind the counter and a Who's Who of Free-for-All illuminati inside, outside, and on the tree-covered park bench, Quack's has become the Hyde Park equivalent to Flipnotics -- a place for musicians to meet sans instruments in the morning (that's 11am-1pm, Musician Standard Time). With all the gossip flying, for just the price of a cup of coffee and a cinnamon roll, you too can know what's in next week's "Dancing About Architecture" before even Ken Lieck does.
411 E. 43rd, 453-3399
http://austin.citysearch.com/E/V/AUSTX/0004/90/81/
Best Low-Grooming, Low-Intensity, Star-Rubbing Event
Quentin Tarantino Film Fest
In NY or L.A., an opportunity to hang with a hip director, watch his personal prints, and drink beer for 10 bucks a movie would be sold out -- with plenty of prospective starlets and desperate screenwriters attempting ambushes. Not in Austin. Last year we were problem-free getting into the Alamo Drafthouse. More film society than "society," no one in the crowd needed to fret about what to wear. There was no way anyone there could do any worse than the host! The annual event occurs whenever Mr. T takes a holiday in our fair town.
Alamo Drafthouse, 409 Colorado, 867-1839; Austin Film Society, 322-0145
http://www.drafthouse.com
Best (Multi)Cultural Stage
Santa Cruz Center for Culture
Located on East Seventh Street, the center now brings some of the best and most exciting cultural and offbeat programming to East Austin. The Center continues to physically expand with the recent addition of offices and storage space. Its programming is also growing with local theatre groups using the facilities on a more frequent basis. It's also home of Aztlan Folk Dance Company; keep an eye out for their seasonal performances.
1805 E. Seventh, 478-9311
Best Overdue Release
Second Time Around by the Bells of Joy
1999 marks the first Bells of Joy release in over 30 years, and boy, is it about time. With Second Time Around, Austin's Grammy winners are poised to bring their faith-filled grooves into the next millennium. We bet the Lord in heaven even puts on his dancing shoes when this band strikes up. We challenge the biggest skeptics to take a listen.
Dialtone Records, P.O. Box 684822, 78768, 442-1384
Best Local Film Trend
Silent Films With Live Musical Accompaniment
Austinites were lucky enough to see more than half a dozen scored "silents" this year. The Alamo Drafthouse gave us Guy Forsyth and friends doing Buster Keaton's The General, ST 37's retro-futurist take on Metropolis, and Nosferatu paired with the unclassifiable stylings of Brown Whörnet. Additionally, the Gypsies provided suitably eerie backup for Todd Browning's Unknown, the Golden Arm Trio roused the rabble with Battleship Potemkin, and Graham Reynolds did a stark solo piano accompaniment for Lillian Gish's The Wind. Factor in the privilege of hearing Gillian Armstrong conducting the restored score of Wings with a full orchestra at the Paramount, and you have Austin's most promising new film tradition.
Alamo Drafthouse, 409 Colorado, 867-1839; Paramount Theatre, 713 Congress, 472-5470
Alamo, http://www.drafthouse.com; Paramount, http://www.Austin360.com/paramnt/
Best Recurring Eeyore's Birthday Character
Silver Man
Like a hardy perennial, Eeyore's birthday comes up the third weekend in April, successfully battling irate neighbors and City Council threats. Similarly, annual party-goer "Silver Man" is dependably out -- clad primarily in silver body-paint. Every year we wonder where he lives, and how he gets to Eeyore's without silver-painting his transportation. And how long does it take to get all that silver paint off again? And didn't that lady in Goldfinger die? We may never know, but Silver Man and the drum circle are what make Eeyore's so special.
Pease Park, 1100 Kingsberry, YMCA, 448-5160
http://www.spamtown.com/ymca/index.html
Saddest Sixth Street Adios
Steamboat
As the venerable downtown paddlewheeler sails into the final weekend at its current location, let's do like John Cage on Ally McBeal and "take a moment." Steamboat did more than its share to help create the myth of Sixth Street, of loud music, packed houses, and good times aplenty. Even amid the street's current frat-boys'-Bourbon-Street incarnation of shot bars, fake IDs, and cover bands, Steamboat held its ground admirably, inspiring intense loyalty from patrons and performers alike and never wavering from its original charge to showcase Austin performers from all over the musical map. So as the Sixth Street juggernaut finally devours one of its originators, weep not, because the Boat will surface again as soon as captain Danny Crooks and his able crew steer into a suitable port.
"The God I believe in ain't short of cash, mister."
-- Bono
403 E. Sixth, 478-2912
http://www.io.com/steamboat/
Best Single Silent Film Revival
Thief of Baghdad with Kamran Hooshmand & the 1001 Nights Orchestra
It's hard to pick one standout from such an impressive field of performances, but this show deserves special praise. The sublime score was performed by 10 musicians playing over 25 different instruments. Kamran Hooshmand's unerring selection and arrangement of Middle Eastern songs displayed a perfect understanding of how silent film music has traditionally been used to express mood, situation, and personality. Even minor characters like the Indian Prince, the Mongol Prince, and the Persian Prince had his own theme song, appropriate to each region of origin. Bravo to all for this transcendent evening's entertainment.
Alamo Drafthouse, 409 Colorado, 867-1839
Best Local Character Without a G-String
Tommy X
In Texas, we dance like we play the mating game -- fast! as says Tommy X, our local Obi Wan Kenobi. Retired at 70 from his celebrated Supernatural Family Band, and more barefoot than bareass, he can be found rollicking to the music of the Texana Dames, his wife and daughters' band, as they perform around Austin. Out cavorting most nights at legendary Austin clubs, he's known and loved by honky-tonk denizens and dancers.
469-7887
