Best Devil in Disguise 2001 | Nils KiehnLucifer Tonite | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best Devil in Disguise

Nils Kiehn
Lucifer Tonite

Driven by Nils Kiehn's riveting turn as a raconteurish Satan, Don Becker's Lucifer Tonite stimulated playgoing nerves that, for too long locally, have been deadened by the dumbed-down din of floor-show-style musicals and hapless revue sketches. Despite its in-your-face tone, this play felt refreshing and provocative rather than angry or pompous. Never out of control but always poised to explode with rage or humor, Kiehn took us through several fractured versions of familiar Bible stories. His performance didn't quite qualify as a miracle, but it was an encouraging breath.

Best Open-Mike Night

The Ice House

Located in the old Evergreen Hotel next to the famous Little Bear on the main street that runs through town, the Ice House hosts an open-mike night every Thursday evening from 6 to 10. The "unplugged" musical fare is much better than the usual two guys playing old Eagles covers, with a variety of local talent performing original and customized popular selections and a growing reputation that's attracting top-notch musicians from "down the hill" in Denver. The hors d'oeuvres are free, and the bar specializes in martinis. Come ready to play, sing or just listen till closing, then step next door for the last set of whoever's playing at the Bear.

Best Song for a Brave New World

"World Anthem"

Francis Scott Key could not have envisioned a time when his "Star-Spangled Banner" might be fused with the state song of, say, Namibia; in those days, it would have been impossible to foresee John Guillot's World Anthem Project. The local producer used a computer system called Experiments in Music Intelligence to sample 192 national anthems and create a compositional whole. The anthem debuted this past New Year's Eve in Denver, providing a sonic backdrop for the rockets-red revelry.

Best Literary Service Threatened by the JOA

Rocky Mountain News Books

Rocky Mountain News Books editor Patti Thorn likes mysteries and light fiction. She also respects serious literature. And she harbors a profound curiosity about the current publishing scene, from self-published e-books to monolithic houses, the travails of local writers and the struggles -- and victories -- of independent bookstores. For the past several years, she's dished up a Sunday book section that's a delicious blend of humor, insight, gossip, analysis and wisdom, a section that focuses on Colorado while placing the state's literary doings in a national context. But come April 2001, the News will never again publish on Sunday -- and given the current economic climate, we're not willing to make book on what will happen to Thorn's section.

Best Gallery Show -- Group

Time and Place: 100 Years of Women Artists in Colorado 1900-2000

In an effort to come up with a millennium show last fall, Sally Perisho, director of the Metro Center for the Visual Arts, had the idea for a historic exhibit that would survey women artists working in Colorado during the twentieth century. To carry out her plan, she collaborated with freelance curator Katherine Smith-Warren, who also wrote the accompanying catalogue. The result was Time and Place, a riveting look at women's work beginning at the turn of the nineteenth century and ending at the close of the twentieth. Highlights included pots by Anne Van Briggle Ritter from the 1910s, photographs by Laura Gilpin from the 1920s, and an installation by Virginia Folkestad from 2000.

Best Right-Hand Man

Bill Curley

As the Denver Center Theatre Company's principal designer, Bill Curley has fashioned an impressive string of stage settings over the years. There was the Venice Beach storefront set, complete with a flying plane inviting patrons to renew their subscriptions, that served as the backdrop for The Comedy of Errors; the romantic cyclorama and cobblestone walks that enveloped The Beauty Queen of Leenane; and the magical Parisian watering hole that housed Picasso at the Lapin Agile. But Curley's greatest accomplishment occurred last season, when he served as Tantalus designer Dionysis Fotopoulos's assistant while also mounting the incredible exhibit that accompanied the twelve-hour epic (the traveling show's curator publicly acknowledged Curley's contribution on the exhibit's opening night). Clearly, Curley is that rare creative individual -- the kind who quietly gets it done.

Best Painting Solo -- Young Master Division

Jeff Wenzel: Painting

Expectations were high for Jeff Wenzel: Painting, but even the highest of those were exceeded by this magnificent show held at Ron Judish Fine Arts in February. Educated as a ceramics artist, Wenzel works his paper surfaces as though they were made of pliable clay. He twists and tears, paints and repaints, guided by his instinctual and on-the-mark aesthetic judgment. Wenzel's always been good, but he's never been better than he was here.

Best Hip-Hop DJ

DJ Chonz

DJ Chonz is the consummate hip-hop DJ. From his successful mix-tape series to his own online radio show to the packed houses he regularly rocks, Chonz has helped Denver heads appreciate one of hip-hop's often overlooked elements: the artist behind the turntables. Respected by artists from both coasts, Chonz has opened for Raekwon, the Baka Boys, Maseo from De La Soul and Common. Not limited by hop-hop conventions, however, Chonz recently started a new series at the Roxy that aims to bridge the gap between rap and other forms of electronic music. But whether he's educating or stimulating his crowds, Chonz never loses sight of the fact that a jock's primary objective is to keep them moving.

Best Photo Show

Fresh Eyes

A group of five of Colorado's most interesting experimental photographers were brought together for Fresh Eyes, a cutting-edge exhibit organized by Kathy Andrews, head curator and exhibition director at the Arvada Center. Strong pieces included the uncharacteristic bottle shots by Mark Sink and the multiple-image travel pictures by Michael Butts. David Sharpe's enlargements of pinhole prints depicting the Western landscape were especially choice, photomurals that managed to be retro-pictorial and up-to-the-minute at the same time.

Best Blues Recording

White African
Otis Taylor

Otis Taylor is one of Colorado's many undiscovered treasures -- but if White African, an early release by NorthernBlues Music, a new Canadian blues imprint, receives the attention it deserves, he won't be undiscovered for long. The album isn't just the top blues recording by a local since...well...Taylor's last release; it's as good as any blues disc put out in the past year by anyone, anywhere.

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