Best Local Performing ArtistOK, we admit this category may have been a

Published 7:00 am Monday, October 9, 2006

Best Local Performing ArtistOK, we admit this category may have been a shade ambiguous . . . nominees included Dina Martina, Gerard Schwarz, the Degenerate Art Ensemble, and Maktub. Yet coming out atop an enormous field is theatrical multitasker MARYA SEA KAMINSKI: actor, director, onetime busker, founder of the Washington Ensemble Theatre—and also a pick of Seattle Weekly theater maven Richard Morin (see “Best Work Onstage and Backstage,” p. 79).Best Local Painter or SculptorTrue, he paints; true, he sculpts; but DALE CHIHULY is busiest these days as an international brand name and storm center of the ongoing discussion about whether it matters whether or not he makes all (or any) of those fanciful glass tchotchkes himself. www.chihuly.com.Best Public ArtworkStill munching down those VW bugs, still sporting that fetching Veronica Lake peekaboo do, the Fremont Troll is first in a category that included some imaginative definitions of art: the Columbia Tower, the Ballard Bridge, the Caffe Ladro at 15th and Republican, and “birds.” All, we agree, make Seattle a little nicer. Under the Aurora Bridge, Fremont.Best Local Arts OrganizationRecord-breaking attendance—over 160,000, they estimate—marked the 2006 SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, and you also showed your love of film (Seattle has the highest per-capita movie attendance of any city in the country) by naming them tops. www.seattlefilm.org.Best Independent BookstoreThe Elliott Bay Book Company garnered more than twice as many votes as its nearest rival, Bailey Coy Books. The general selection—150,000 volumes!—helpful staff, author appearances and readings, Booknotes for a look at what’s coming soon, book groups, summer reading programs for kids, and the cafe—all added up to a clear winner. 101 S. Main St., 206-624-6600, www.elliottbaybook.comBest Movie TheaterThe runaway choice here was CINERAMA, the local theater that seems to come nearest to the spirit of those vast Golden Age movie palaces. Its majestically sweeping screen is the best place to see those cult-fave I’ve-waited- 18-months-for-this blockbusters, the Lord of the Ringses and Harry Potters. 2100 Fourth Ave., 206-441-3653, www.cinerama.com.Best Local Video Store/ Best Place to Get Foreign Videos”Hello, are there any that compete with SCARECROW?” asked one balloteer. Good question. With more than 70,000 titles, it doesn’t seem likely. This dual winner was even more dominant in the Foreign Videos category. 5030 Roosevelt Way N.E., 206-524-8554, www.scarecrow.com.Best Independent Music StoreIf brick-and-mortar stores are to survive in a world of online music buying, it’ll probably help if they look and feel like EASY STREET RECORDS.Their two locations offer new and used CDs (and vinyl) in every genre, DVDs too, plus live performances, with a welcoming hangout vibe—a music store you actually like spending time in. 4559 California Ave. S.W., 206-938-EASY; 20 W. Mercer St., 206-691-EASY. www.buymusichere.net/stores/easystreet.Best Local Music LabelWell, of course you voted for SUB POP! After all, it’s damn near a cultural institution. But you wouldn’t have voted for it if it was putting out remastered versions of Andy Griffith Sings Old-Time Favorite Songs. No, you voted for Sub Pop because it has a current roster just heaped with amazing bands. The Shins, Comets on Fire, Band of Horses, and Wolf Parade are a mere sampling of the stellar acts Sub Pop managed to convince to ink contracts. The rest of the world may buy Sub Pop’s records, but that little label is all ours. www.subpop.com.Best Rock ClubEvery neighborhood has its favorite club, but downtown garnered top honors—THE SHOWBOX beating out the Crocodile Cafe by a slim two votes. For once-small local bands like the Decemberists and nationally hyped ones like Stars, the winning venue is the transition spot between the cozy Croc and the Paramount. Still, thousands of aspiring rock stars and the crowds that love them know that taking the stage at the Showbox is no small potatoes. 1426 First Ave., 206-628-3151. www.showboxonline.com.Best Piano BarSorry, people—the Cloud Room is gone, and it isn’t coming back. But you still know where to go to find that elegant lounge’s piano man, Martin Ross, who held down a 14-year run until the Cloud Room’s hotel was sold in 2003. Ross’ tenure at DANIEL’S BROILER makes that Lake Union steakhouse your new favorite spot. 809 Fairview Place N., 206-621-8262.Best DJWhat’s a rock town? Seattle is, but not as much as the hilariously filled out ballots (Donald Glaude received two votes, $$$ got four) would suggest. Some of you have an opinion on who’s our best mixmaster, and beating longtime KEXP and around-town DJs Riz and Darek Mazzone this time is See Sound Lounge’s hardworking resident DJ Bryce. On Saturday nights, he’s been known to spin six-hour marathon sets for the beautiful people—who appreciate his style in turn. See Sound Lounge, 115 Blanchard St., 206-374-3733.Best Classical InstrumentalistWinning this category is well-timed recognition for BYRON SCHENKMAN at a career turning point: He recently left Seattle Baroque, the ensemble he founded in 1994, to concentrate more on the piano and less on the harpsichord, the instrument with which he’s made a name for himself in early-music circles worldwide.Best Local Dance TroupeRevitalized in its well-received, hot-buzz first season under director Peter Boal, PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET came out on top here—though it wasn’t quite as dominant in the polling as you might expect, with groups from Spectrum Dance Theater to the Atomic Bombshells showing strongly as well. www.pnb.org.Best Theater CompanySame goes here—INTIMAN THEATRE led a wide-ranging and competitive field that included companies large and small, mainstream and fringy: testament to the richness of Seattle’s theater scene. (See “Best Bandwagon,” p. 79.) www.intiman.org.Best Street PerformerSince 1972, activist, celebrity, and cutlery virtuoso ARTIS THE SPOONMAN has circled the globe and conquered the media, remaining an icon of eccentric, unwired, nonhomogenized Seattle. www.artisthespoonman.org.Best Burlesque PerformerGO-GO AMY, a self-described “International Burlesque Sensation, Pin-Up Model, Bombshell, Go-Go Girl, Seamstress, [and] Rock and Roll Housewife,” rules this category, riding the recent wave of interest in variety/cabaret performance (see “Best Theatrical Trend,” p. 82). Via her Web page, Amy merchandises, among much else, a line of vintage-y cheesecake postcards (shots of her baking, ironing, and knitting play wittily off the “Housewife” theme) that pretty much define the word “fetching.” www.gogoamy.com.Best Afterhours Hot SpotAlthough “home in bed” got a surprisingly high number of votes, those of you who’ve just gotta keep the party going favor downtown’s trusty NOC NOC, an unassuming bar that seems to overflow with revelers from happy hour until the wee ones. DJ/VJ Shane keeps longtime parties Resurrection (goth, Sundays) and I Love the ’80s (Tuesdays) in full tilt, while house and hardcore also get their due. It’s the spot that never sleeps. 1516 Second Ave., 206-223-1333.Best Free ActivityPlain, old WALKING: Readers cite beach walking, walking on Alki, walking through the Arboretum, around Green Lake strolling, flower walking, neighborhood walking, “gotta say walking through Pike Place Market,” the great trails in Discovery Park, and the Pioneer Square gallery walk. But not dog walking—Seattleites let their pooches run free at dog parks. Though there was another free activity on many of your minds: Sex came in second.