BEST RADIO STATION

KFAI-FM (90.3 Minneapolis, 106.7 St. Paul)
www.kfai.org

"One world, two frequencies" may be the only slogan in local radio that isn't either glib or patently false. In fact, KFAI brings more communities to "community radio" than any other station in Minnesota. Weekly programming includes Hmong pop music, jazz for people who listen to too much jazz, hip-hop freestyling, a chat session in the East African Oromo language, a hardcore punk soiree, and much more. The politics of airing such noncommercial fare is implicit: By showing how listeners and on-air personalities can sidestep advertisers, the station demonstrates the small-D democratic potential of volunteering and organizing, of becoming active rather than passive in the culture. With swelling levels of support, KFAI proves a neglected old point: that "popular" and "commercial" aren't necessarily synonymous. No wonder this institution has become the local soul of what used to be called the counterculture. Listeners may not necessarily agree with all the views expressed on, say, Amy Goodman's nationally syndicated talk show Democracy Now! (whose parent chain, Pacifica Radio, could learn a thing or two from KFAI about nourishing audiences). Perhaps only someone with multiple personalities could like everything on KFAI. Yet as other radio stations bank on the familiar, the discomfort you may feel listening to KFAI is sometimes oddly comforting.

Readers' Choice: Radio K

BEST JAZZ RADIO PROGRAM

'Monday Evening Jazz With Tom Surowicz'
KBEM-FM (88.5)
www.jazz88fm.com

Tom Surowicz sees more live concerts than anyone in town, which not only adds new chapters to his encyclopedic musical knowledge, but also enables him to corral great radio guests such as Blue Note bassist Herbie Lewis and local luminaries such as Herb Pilhofer, Peg Carrothers, and Steve Yeager for his three-hour (8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.) weekly program. Buttressed by a mile-long record collection, Surowicz is able to cook up "Fish for Supper" by Hot Lips Page alongside Eddie Lockjaw Davis's "Wild Rice" and Louis Jordan's "Saturday Night Fish Fry," in a food-themed show. Or he can scare up "I Put a Spell on You" by "Screamin'" Jay Hawkins to go with Duke Ellington's "Jumpin' Pumpkins" for his Halloween special. He can also narrow it down, devoting an entire three hours to discs released in 1959 (Miles's Kind of Blue, Coltrane's Giant Steps, Mingus's Ah Um and Blues and Roots). Or spending 180 minutes on nothing but vibes, with mallet man Yeager providing commentary. Prefaced by the live taping of Cookin' at the Dakota, Surowicz's Monday Evening Jazz caps off a marvelous night of jazz radio.

BEST AM RADIO PERSONALITY

T.D. Mischke
KSTP-AM (1500)
www.am1500.com

Every weeknight at 8:00 p.m., a coup occurs on KSTP radio. Martial music announces the arrival of the Mischke Broadcast, relegating Jason Lewis's right-wing circle-jerk to ruins. In its place a parallel universe rises, where all news is open to interpretation, Willie Dixon is more important than George W. Bush, and beer is beloved. KSTP program director Joe O'Brien describes Mischke as "Garrison Keillor on crack," but even he acknowledges that the analogy doesn't quite suffice. If Keillor is Wonder Bread, Mischke is pumpernickel soaked in bourbon. The cosmos Mischke inhabits is peculiarly his own, whether he's positing that we should recognize a Chinese eunuch rather than Christopher Columbus as the first to land in the New World, or indulging in one of his frequent laments about modern society's reliance on technology. The musical interludes alone make the show worth a listen. One night he's working his way through the Stax/Volt catalog; the next it's John Prine imploring folks to blow up their TVs. We might have put the detonator to our radio long ago if it weren't for Mischke.

Readers' Choice: Joe Soucheray

BEST FM RADIO PERSONALITY

Cathy Wurzer
MPR (KNOW-FM 91.1)
www.mpr.org

For those of us who are not morning people, starting the day is a treacherous process that pits the desire for information against a grumpy impatience with same. Thank goodness for Cathy Wurzer. The host of Minnesota Public Radio's Morning Edition, Wurzer is with us every day from 4:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. And her cozy and mellifluous voice offers just the right combination of enthusiasm and thoughtfulness, whether she's talking about the war in Afghanistan, women's college hockey, or the weather. (Her amusing quips even make those fund drives tolerable.) Wurzer's talent and knowledge of public policy have carried her through a variety of media outlets during her local broadcast career. From 1987 to 1994 she worked as a host and anchor on MPR news programs, then left to host TPT's weekly Almanac program. From there she went on to report and to anchor the weekend news on WCCO-TV (Channel 4). Only in the fall of 2000 did she come full circle, returning to MPR. And we're certainly glad she did. Her ability to distill the news into interesting dialogues makes it worth skipping the snooze button.

Readers' Choice: Tom Barnard

BEST NEW TALK SHOW HOST

Ian Punnett
KSTP-AM (1500)
www.am1500.com

Ian Punnett is a kinder, gentler, more intelligent version of Dr. Laura Schlessinger. In January the Atlanta transplant took over the 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. time slot on KSTP-AM (1500) from the browbeating advice guru--and for that alone he deserves our heartfelt thanks. Punnett's show largely concentrates on current events, like the Enron debacle or our governor's military-record shenanigans, though from a moral standpoint. Hence Enron becomes not a political scandal but an examination of the personal ethics of document shredding. The host is at his best when he has a guest to joust with, quizzing him or her on the topic at hand. When Punnett is left on his own, the show sometimes flails, with caller after caller offering inane comments that add little to the discussion. A March show examining the guilty verdict of child-killer Andrea Yates degenerated into a telephone lynch mob, with listeners advocating not only for Yates's death, but also for the heads of her lawyer, her husband, and anybody else who might have ever expressed an inkling of sympathy for the deranged woman. To Punnett's credit, he shunned the blood sport, gently mocking his audience with chants of "Death, Death, Death." The philosophical stance is reflective of his background as a seminary student. (He's also a former rock 'n' roll jock, a breed not known for its surfeit of profundity.) Punnett's diverse experience allows him to navigate intelligently between pop culture, theology, and current events with ease.

BEST HIP-HOP RADIO PROGRAM

'Smoke 'n' Delite'
KMOJ-FM (89.9)

Now that hip hop is a thriving commercial entity, everybody wants a piece of it. (Though it's a shocking indication of how slowly capitalism moves in these parts that hip hop's infiltration of commercial Twin Cities radio took so long.) But regardless of industry trends, KMOJ has been breaking the latest tracks ever since Travis "Travitron" Lee relocated here from NYC in the late Eighties. Now, hip hop is fully integrated into the R&B/black-pop mix. But that doesn't mean that the station's foremost purveyors and programmers of the music, Smoke D and his partner Derek Delite, don't deserve overdue props for this Friday-night, prime-time show (which airs 8:00 p.m. to.12:00 p.m.). The pair have been toiling away for years, and they serve up a mix from the underground, the street, and the popular marketplace that no commercial station would risk. (It's worth noting that the pair's closest competition comes from their Saturday-night counterparts on KMOJ, Disco T and Yvette). Sure, B96 skims off the most popular joints, and allows the most irritating DJs this side of Cousin Brucie to back-announce them, if that's what you're looking for. And Radio K and KFAI rep the underground with admirable thoroughness. But Smoke and Delite bring the real sound to the community.

Readers' Choice: 'The Beat Box'

BEST TV WEATHERPERSON

Paul Douglas
WCCO-TV (Channel 4)
www.wccotv.com

In a lot of places, it might seem weird to have a favorite TV weatherperson--they're all pretty much interchangeable, right? But this is Minnesota, where weather is less a facet of nature than a collective fixation, something to be ruminated upon, guessed at, and complained about till Doomsday. That's why local stations tease their weather reports incessantly. They know that if they showed the forecast first, viewers would just shut off their TVs afterward. In this market, 'CCO's amiable chief meteorologist stands as a giant among poppies. It isn't that Douglas, a.k.a. "Mr. 50-50," is right more often than the competition: When meteorologists are wrong, they're usually wrong in unison (e.g., early February's infamous non-blizzard). Perhaps Douglas is such a soothing presence simply because he's been around for so long, at WCCO and, before that, KARE-11 (between the two gigs, Douglas made a brief sojourn into Chicago's major-market wilderness). And Douglas clearly knows his trade: In addition to broadcasting the weather, he's written books on it, consulted for Hollywood, and developed popular computer forecasting models. But, in the final analysis, what's most endearing about Douglas is his wry, low-key delivery: Watching his nightly reports, you never get the feeling that the sky is falling--even if it sometimes is.

Readers' Choice: Belinda Jensen

BEST SPORTS TALK RADIO SHOW

'P.A. & Dubay'
KFAN-AM (1130)
www.kfan.com

When Jesse Ventura's gubernatorial bid got him bumped off KFAN four years ago, Paul Allen and Jeffrey Dubay were a stopgap replacement. Allen, who announces the races at Canterbury Park, improvised a hip, wise-guy shtick liberally borrowed from national radio personality Jim Rome. Dubay, who'd been ironically nicknamed the "Culture Vulture" while serving as the straight man and producer for other KFAN shows, played the hapless schmo and butt of all in-station jokes. Slowly but steadily, however, the duo settled into a groove and made their "love covenant" a not-so-guilty pleasure for thousands of morning weekday listeners. P.A. is the alpha personality, deploying snappy argot best described as streetwise suburban while riffing through surprisingly sharp sports analysis and indulging his love of vintage soul tunes for the bumper music. Dubay is the unsung hero, free of the self-importance that is the occupational hazard of his profession. He has gradually fleshed out his original persona as a two-dimensional doofus and, believe it or not, often provides more compelling insights on local sports teams and personalities than many of his more celebrated colleagues at the station. (This is especially true when it comes to his beloved Gopher men's hockey squad.) Throw in regular segments such as "The Barrister's Brunch" (free legal advice for wayward listeners) and phone-ins by Wolves guard Wally Szczerbiak and you've got the best sports-utility vehicle in town.

BEST-DRESSED TV NEWSCASTER

Robyne Robinson
KMSP-TV (Channel 9)
www.kmsp.com

A few months ago, there was a minor stir when a CNN promo touted anchor Paula Zahn as "just a little sexy." Embarrassed network execs immediately killed the ad and apologized profusely. But why? It's no great secret that TV news is largely show business, or that show business is largely about looking good. Style sells substance, the theory goes. On the local dial, there's really no competition when it comes to chic couture. Yeah, okay, Paul Magers looks smashing in a dark suit. But who doesn't? And, yes, Amelia Santaniello's pastel-heavy wardrobe gives her a true maternal glow. But come on: KMSP's Robinson makes them all look like they dressed in the dark during a JC Penney fire sale. From the pixyish coiffure to the flattering fit of her suits, Robinson radiates urbane elegance and maverick-yet-unshowy taste. The Robinson style is classic and simple (and, yes, just a little sexy): lavender and mauve jackets cut to showcase the anchor's long neck and sleek line, and accessorized with nothing more ostentatious than a pair of gold earrings. Sitting in the aura of this sophisticated lady night after night might even inspire co-anchor Jeff Passolt to spruce himself up a little (buying a few new ties would be a great start).

BEST TV SPORTS ANCHOR

Eric Perkins
KARE-TV (Channel 11)
www.kare11.com

As KARE-11's third-string sportscaster, Eric Perkins anchors the sports news only if both Randy Shaver and Tim McNiff are otherwise engaged. But though it might be a rare occasion, watching Perkins on air is a refreshing experience. Sure, he's got television in his genes: His father, Jack Perkins, is a host of A&E's Biography. But it's his personality that's so appealing. Anyone who's ever seen his Tuesday-night sports feature "Perk at Play," in which he attends "sporting" events from kite surfing to rodeo to chair volleyball with senior citizens, knows that this guy is a little goofy. And he unabashedly brings that same goofiness to the anchor desk. He doesn't take himself--or sports--too seriously. After all, aren't sports supposed to be fun?

Readers' Choice: Randy Shaver

BEST PUBLIC-ACCESS CABLE TV PROGRAM

'The InnerCityFishing Show'
MTN (Channel 17/33 in Minneapolis)
Saturdays at 7:00 p.m.
www.innercityfishing.com

Since the spring of 1998, south Minneapolis's Anderson brothers (Pat, Mike, and Ricky) have been quietly cranking out the most entertaining fishing show you'll find anywhere--let alone on public-access television. Truth be told, the commercial fishing program has become a tired genre, an overloaded, NASCAR-esque billboard for boat manufacturers, tackle companies, and other industry sponsors. There is none of that rank hucksterism here. But wedged between madcap monologues, Burger King shore lunches, impromptu fireworks displays, and zany musical interludes, there is something far better: an earthy and heartfelt enthusiasm for angling and the varied pleasures it affords anyone with a can of nightcrawlers and an afternoon to waste. As the show's name suggests, the brothers Anderson typically fish urban waters, where they target a surprising variety of species. Programs have been dedicated to the pursuit of the relatively exotic: A foray on the Minnesota River saw the Andersons chasing "Chicago walleyes" (their name for red horse suckers). Other shows have featured all the usual suspects: largemouth bass, crappies, northern pike, walleye, and so on. Occasionally, the brothers venture far afield, fishing for jumbo cats on the Red River in Manitoba and sturgeon on the Rainy River near International Falls. But most shows are shot in familiar metro-area locations. The InnerCityFishing Show currently airs exclusively in Minneapolis. But the brothers are looking for the wider distribution of the metro cable system and hope to make the leap in the near future. That should give armchair anglers from Coon Rapids to Rosemount something new to get hooked on.

BEST TV STATION

WFTC-TV (Channel 29)
www.fox29.com

The medium of television has so much promise, such great potential--yet here we are watching Judge Judy. Consumers, it seems, are sending a message, and that message is: "I read the paper or have Internet sources for news. High art is best left to film, stage, and canvas. The box in my living room should be there for me when I have no energy for any of those other things, and want to be lulled into a glazed-eyed state of complacency." That's why the award this year goes to the greatest purveyor of small-screen-style guilty pleasure, the network that is Fox. The local affiliate's current weeknight reruns include probably the highest concentration of non-juvenile (wait, not aimed at juveniles) animated series found anywhere, including the sometimes-funny trio of King of the Hill, Futurama, and The Family Guy, and of course the show that sustained the very network for a while, The Simpsons. Fox's daytime offerings leave something to be desired, with family-friendly dreck-fest 7th Heaven currently segueing to scandalmonger Jenny Jones in the midafternoon. But in the morning we'll take the feel-good schlock of Little House on the Prairie and the Cosby Show over the sycophantic big-broadcast morning-show hosts and the endless parade of "real court" dramas droning on elsewhere. Fox's prime-time offerings cater to the lowest of the lowbrow, culminating in the recent ratings-grabber Celebrity Boxing. (An informal day-after poll also revealed an alarming rate of Glutton Bowl viewership among City Pages staffers.) Add in Vikings football, Timberwolves basketball, creative new sitcoms (the current crop of which suck, but we hold out hope for another Malcolm in the Middle), midnight MAD TV airings, and sometimes-decent movies on weekends, and we have a winner.

Readers' Choice: KARE-TV

BEST TV NEWSCASTER

Mary Lahammer
TPT (Channel 2)
www.tpt.org

As chief political correspondent for the now-defunct (but nonetheless noble) NewsNight Minnesota and for Almanac--still the most substantive local news program by leagues--Lahammer has distinguished herself through both the depth and breadth of her reporting. And it doesn't hurt that, of all local TV reporters, Lahammer seems to have the best rapport with Gov. Jesse Ventura (possibly because she engages him with wit and intelligence rather than treating him as a sideshow freak). Shot live at the state capitol, Lahammer's new half-hour program Almanac: At the Capitol (Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. on Channel 17/10:00 p.m. on Channel 2 when the legislature is in session) fills some of the void left by NewsNight's demise. Here we get inclusive coverage of both houses and frequent one-on-one interviews with the major players. Not the sexiest of newscasts, perhaps. But, with Lahammer at the helm, it's must-see TV for anyone who cares about public policy in Minnesota.

Readers' Choice: Paul Magers

BEST REPORTER

Jim Ragsdale
of the 'St. Paul Pioneer Press'
www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress

Why is the Pioneer Press generally more readable than its much bigger, richer rival across the river, the self-declared "Newspaper of the Twin Cities"? There are too many reasons to list here. But a comparison of the papers' coverage of the biggest political story in Minnesota's recent history--the ascent and governance of Jesse Ventura--isn't a bad starting point. For all its resources and institutional ambitions, the Star Tribune has been strangely lackluster in chronicling the Ventura administration--as if its "team leaders" confuse fairness and deference. The Pi Press, by contrast, has seldom shied from a scrap with the gov. Much of the credit for the paper's hard-hitting reportage belongs to Jim Ragsdale. As a state-capitol beat writer (and a city hall, environment, and poverty reporter before that) Ragsdale offers day-to-day coverage that is consistently spot on. But he really shone in his role as the lead author of the Pi Press's excellent weeklong series on the governor, titled "A.K.A. Jesse Ventura." Running in late January, the articles were the product of more than six months of work--and it showed. Along with providing a revealing glimpse into Ventura's past, a good number of amusing anecdotes, and a cogent analysis of his term as governor, "A.K.A. Jesse Ventura" pinned the Body down on the elusive question of his military service. (Did our SEAL-cap-wearing, tough-talking governor ever actually hunt man, as he once famously suggested? The short answer: no). An L.A. native, Ragsdale came to the Twin Cities in 1981 to take a job with the old Minneapolis Tribune. The following year, the Tribune merged with the Star, and Ragsdale, with his low seniority, was laid off. We don't know whether the editors at the Strib regret that decision. But we know they ought to.

BEST COLUMNIST

Nick Coleman
of the 'St. Paul Pioneer Press'
www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress

The story was a doozy. Billy Baldwin, a 63-year-old parking-lot attendant in St. Paul's Midway neighborhood, loses his son in the destruction of the World Trade Center. Two months later four of his family members are killed in a head-on collision in Wisconsin. Overcome by compassion, the office workers who park at the ramp raise $6,000 to help Baldwin pay for funeral costs and other needs. No doubt Nick Coleman began sniffing around this story with every intention of writing about a man besieged by more bad luck than anyone should have to face in a lifetime. But Coleman didn't accept the melodramatic tale on its face. Instead he did his legwork, searching for accident reports and death certificates. What the veteran Pioneer Press columnist unearthed was the (equally heartbreaking) story of a con man who had fabricated his saga of familial woe in order to exploit post-9/11 communal gloom and generosity. The pair of columns that Coleman wrote delicately punctured Baldwin's tale--and laid raw the best and worst of humanity. They stand as a testament to the columnist's ability to skewer conventional wisdom, his willingness to get off his duff and do some reporting, and his unrivaled knowledge of St. Paul. While we also admire Doug Grow's tireless shoe-leather work and D.J. Tice's eloquently contrarian opinion pieces, Coleman's dispatches top our breakfast reading list.

Readers' Choice: Dara Moskowitz

BEST READING OF THE PAST 12 MONTHS

Michael Moore at Ruminator Books/Central Presbyterian Church in St. Paul
March 15, 2002
www.michaelmoore.com

More like an anti-reading, wherein our lovable, pudgy agent provocateur, Michael Moore, reads exactly zero words from his new bestseller, Stupid White Men. Instead, for two hours he improvisationally entertains and enlightens the overflowing crowd of Smart White Lefties. Highlights: 1) M.M. leads audience in camp-style sing-alongs while techies scamper around solving audio problems. 2) M.M. playfully harasses humorless video-camera man who comes too close, setting in motion a comic meta-narrative that M.M. returns to throughout the evening (where's that guy with the camera now?). 3) M.M. recounts his book's arduous journey (owing to post-9/11 "climate" concerns) before HarperCollins agreed to release original print run (i.e., legions of chat-room-organized librarians assault H.C. with accusations of censorship). 4) M.M. delivers five good questions on his mind these days (e.g., Why was a Saudi jet allowed into American airspace during the flight ban after 9/11 to sweep up members of the bin Laden family living in this country?). 5) M.M. leads a collective cell-phone call to the White House (Hello? Is George home?). 6) M.M. screens clips from his forthcoming film, Bowling for Columbine (must be seen to be believed). Then M.M. does the whole show again for the 600 folks who couldn't find standing space among the first show's 1,200-strong crowd. The Ruminator's best-attended reading ever--eclipsing even the turnout for Kurt Vonnegut--and there's M.M. still signing books well after midnight.

BEST ZINE

'Cookie and Butch'
by Frank Yost

Any homemade, black-and-white comic book that opens with the words Minneapolis, two weeks into the start of WWIII... and then shows an image of a destroyed downtown skyline deserves some credit for capturing the Zeitgeist. Yet this tale of adolescent apocalypse survivors (available at zine haven Dreamhaven Books & Comics in Uptown) is as baffling on second glance as it is intriguing on the first. The titular heroine and hero are drawn by writer-artist Frank Yost in the doll-eyed, gape-mouthed style of action-crammed Japanese manga. And they exclaim stuff like "Holy guacamole!" Yet neither engages in anything like an adventure. Mostly the two just hang around: After fleeing the deserted city (and a crew of zombies), the duo retreats with candy bars into a train-tunnel hideout. Once there, Cookie and Butch lean against a jukebox, play pocket video games, and read a superhero comic titled The Incredible Fantastic Invincible Amazing Spectacular Guy. (The comic-within-a-comic also features a female sidekick with a less impressive title, "Super-Duper Chick," though Cookie notes that her "boobies are big enough for three women or more.") Hence the climax of this lovingly illustrated Twilight Zone episode turns out to be kids sitting around reading comics, followed by a "...to be continued" in the final panel and a postscript explaining why Yost is giving up drawing comics altogether. Is he putting us on? Is this the final yawp of some shut-in pop junkie? Either way, the drawings are hilarious.

BEST STAGE PRODUCTION

'Want'

Well, Andrew Kim is gone, at least temporarily. This multi-hyphenate talent, last year's Best Director choice in City Pages, has packed up his masks and puppets and moved to Seattle (although word has it he will return to assist in this year's May Day Parade). But before ditching the Twin Cities, Kim left us with a magnificent example of his talent. Titled Want and directed by Michael Sommers at the Center for Independent Artists, Kim's show involved four wordless, masked scenes. He brought to this material the full range of his skills, including puppetry and commedia dell'arte-style performing. One sequence in particular stands out in our memory for its eloquence and haiku-like concision. Kim, wearing a battered business suit and a mask with a rueful facial expression, pauses to play a bamboo flute. Producing only puffs of tuneless air, he turns his attention to the newspapers lining his briefcase. Horrified to tears by the news he reads, he turns the newspaper into a tiny effigy and then ceremoniously burns it. Returning to his flute, he now pipes out a mournful dirge as the effigy blackens and turns to ash before him. Kim, it seems, can be more expressive in silence than most performers are with poetic dramatic passages.

BEST THEATER FOR NEW WORK

3 Legged Race
www.3leggedrace.org

It's time to tip our hat to this venerable five-year-old outfit whose sole mission is to create new work--and by new, we mean really new. Artistic director David Moore Jr., a Yale man and the former executive director of the Playwrights' Center, takes an almost perverse pleasure in seeking out performers from varied art forms (particularly the more obscure disciplines like modern dance, object theater, and circus arts), putting them in a room together, and seeing what emerges. And, as 3 Legged Race often puts up the money for these new works, this makes the company something of a miniature granting agency. So we have a series of annual shows, such as their Summer Blizzard, featuring circus arts, and their Hand Driven series, which focuses on puppetry and object manipulation. A glance at the list of 3 Legged Race alumni quickly reveals the company's dedication to superb and quirky artists: James Sewell, Hijack, Lisa D'Amour, Michael Sommers, and Andrew Kim. Now if Dave Moore could only get all of these performers in the same room with three Mexican wrestlers, a fire-eater, and a giant squid, he might really have something...

BEST BOOK BY A LOCAL AUTHOR

'Lake Street U.S.A.'
by Wing Young Huie
Ruminator Books
www.ruminator.com/hmp

Usually when we think of great books we think of those that use words to paint a picture and create an idea of place, time, and emotion. But last year, the most interesting portrait of a time and community was accomplished with literal snapshots (and some fascinating text, too). Lake Street U.S.A. is the book version of Wing Young Huie's public art project of the same name. (The much-celebrated show displayed his photos--some as large as 8 feet by 12 feet--along the street itself, in store windows, bus shelters, and on the walls of abandoned buildings.) The pictures depict Lake Street's residents and visitors, from the yuppies and gutter punks of Uptown on the west end to ex-gang-bangers and recent immigrants on the east side. The best thing about the collection, though, may be that the images defy vague distinctions of class and race. Norwegians and Hmong work side by side, and there's more cross-cultural interaction on this one stretch of asphalt than most outsiders would assume of the whole of Minneapolis.

BEST THEATER FOR COMEDY

Bedlam Theater

Bedlam Theater doesn't do many new plays--one every eight months or so, at most--but they get our kudos this year for three compelling reasons. First, there was their sole full-length play from this past season, the recently closed Terminus. This came across like a comical gloss on portentous science-fiction epics, with characters struggling through dense issues of mortality and humanity on an intricate, spinning set. The play was funny, often outrageously so, as director and co-writer Julian McFaul staffed his spacecraft with an oddball collection of grumpy riffraff and one brilliantly haywire robot. Beyond the hysteria that was Terminus, however, Bedlam is responsible for its infrequent Romps, open cabarets of a wildness ordinarily unknown in these polite parts. And it is here that the Bedlam crew show off the anarchic spirit that makes them most deserving of this award. In addition to live puppet shows, song sketches, and what have you, Bedlam produces hilarious movie condensations, in which a small live cast attempts to act out the entirety of a movie in a scant 300 seconds. Their radical, blatantly homoerotic reinterpretation of 2001: A Space Odyssey is even funnier than Kubrick's actors squatting in monkey suits, throwing around bones.

BEST ACTOR

Casey Greig

Short, lean, ruddy-cheeked, and mop-topped, young actor Casey Greig is one of the most recognizable faces in the local theater scene. In fact, Greig is impossible to ignore, whether he's effortlessly stealing scenes in the Jungle Theater's production of Torch Song Trilogy or fleshing out larger leading roles, such as his turn opposite Sally Wingert in Cowbird at Eye of the Storm. His best performance this year, however, was one of his most subdued: the nebbishy, overearnest mortician in Craig Wright's Molly's Delicious. Greig played the role with awkwardly formal mannerisms and a thin, bristling moustache. And in the process, he made convincing the most unlikely of plot points: that a youthful crush might be enough to radically transform a life, and to such an extent that the most impossible decisions might seem entirely reasonable. It was a role that was at once comic and poignant, and Greig, still early in his career, proved himself abundantly capable of both.

BEST ACTRESS

Phyllis Wright

The Frank Theatre has made excellent use of actress Phyllis Wright's seemingly perpetual scowl these past few seasons. First there was Perfect Pie, in which Wright acted out the role of a defeated Canadian farm wife with slouched shoulders, a droll monotone, and lively eyes. More recently, Wright starred in Carson Kreitzer's SELF-DEFENSE, or death of some salesmen, in which Wright bundled her small frame into a ball of furious energy, popping up occasionally on her tiptoes to hurtle some obscenity or stick up for her tendency to murder men by the side of the road. Both performances were terrific and would have been enough to attract notice here. But Wright offered more. In Jeffrey Hatcher's revamped Good 'n' Plenty at the Illusion, she played every single female teacher at a small urban high school, including a discipline-minded civics instructor and a perpetually flirty foreign-language teacher. Each of these performances was a neatly crafted comic caricature, so carefully and humorously detailed that Wright seemed to bring her own spotlight onto the stage with her. She wasn't the only performer onstage worth watching, but while she was onstage, she was the only one we watched.

BEST DIRECTOR

Joel Sass
www.maryworth.org

Joel Sass set out to dazzle us this year, particularly with two plays he directed for his own company, Mary Worth: The History of the Devil and Shakespeare's R&J. His extraordinary sense of low-budget spectacle and his ability to draw epic-sized performances out of every actor must be given due credit. Additionally, his choice of material deserves note, The History of the Devil being a mad meditation on the long life-span of evil and Shakespeare's R&J standing as a radical revision of Romeo and Juliet. Best of all, Sass brings a sense of unrestrained fun to his plays. It's as if--technical competence and visual inventiveness aside--they were primarily a great goof, meant at once to thrill and perplex his audience. This they do, every time.

BEST INDEPENDENT THEATER

Fifty Foot Penguin
www.juniorbirdman.com/50ftp/

It's been a year of transformation for this half-decade-old company, cofounded and overseen by the pathologically overworked Zach Curtis: They grew more professional, switched venues, and gained greater visibility. We've commented on their shows throughout this past year, such as the Matt Sciple-directed Escape From Happiness. This production took a tricky script by George F. Walker and, through keen casting, managed to highlight both the play's bewildering, near-hysterical comic sensibility and also each character's deepening regrets. Melancholy and mirth rarely mix well, but here they played sharply against each other, so that the saddest of moments seemed inevitably comic, and vice versa. But the company's standout show of the past year was its Fringe Festival entry The Murderer and the Martian, two monologues written and performed by Bill Corbett (as the Martian) and Jeffrey Hatcher (as the Murderer). The project sounds as though it began as something of a lark, but the scripts by both writers were exceptionally funny--sometimes savagely so--and director Sarah Gioia brought out both writers' easy charms as storytellers.

BEST LOCAL IMPRESARIO

Philip Bither, Walker Art Center
www.walkerart.org

In 1998 we bestowed the title of Best Local Director upon Philip Bither, the Walker Art Center's performing arts curator, but now, four years later, he deserves a grander accolade. No one around town is provoking audiences the way this guy is. A particularly fine example of Bither's booking work is the recent Out There series: four weeks of uncompromising performance capped by ZT Hollandia's brilliant one-man show about globalism and the corporate conscience, Voices. Bither obviously scheduled this panacea for our post-Enron angst before their corporate brouhaha. But the fact that he did so in the first place demonstrates that he is tuned in to the sorts of social undercurrents that artists are often the first to recognize. So, too, the Walker featured such stirring bookings as Dumb Type's techno-futuristic Memorandum, Roger Guenveur Smith's work in progress Iceland, and the Meredith Monk/Ann Hamilton collaboration Mercy. Bither, through his instinct for meaningful performance, demonstrates that curating is not just a job, but an art form unto itself.

BEST ART SERVICE

mnartists.org
www.mnartists.org

A nod here must go to Springboard for the Arts, the laudable St. Paul-based group that assists artists with career planning, money management, taxes, rights licensing, and job-seeking. (It even provides low-interest loans for entrepreneurial arts projects and small grants to help artists meet emergency expenses.) This year, though, we recognize mnartists.org, the New York Yankees of the local art-service world. What else can you say of a site that boasts the organizational muscle of both the Walker Art Center and the McKnight Foundation, perhaps the best one-two punch since Gehrig-Ruth? Founded to respond to the survival struggles of individual artists, mnartists.org functions as an online database for creative types from all disciplines. Here one finds listings for hundreds of performance artists, painters, craftspeople, media artists, writers, designers, and the like, all under one virtual roof. As a result, mnartists.org has quickly become an invaluable resource. It provides each member with her own Web page for self-promotion. It presents news, listings, calls for artists, and stories by local arts writers about the local scene. And it doesn't stop there. Further plans call for mnartists.org to become a marketplace and community hub, giving the public a new way to explore and buy art and to learn about their local team of artists. Whoever said this wasn't a big-league city?

BEST VENUE FOR DANCE

Southern Theater
1420 Washington Avenue S.
Minneapolis
612.340.1725
www.southerntheater.org

Oh, if those walls could talk! For more than 90 years the Southern Theater has anchored the Seven Corners intersection on the West Bank, evolving from a Swedish-themed vaudeville venue into a porno-movie playhouse, a heavy-equipment garage, the swanky Gaslight Restaurant, a Guthrie Theater outpost, and finally, in 1981, the headquarters for the Twin Cities dance scene. Unlike your typical, minimalist black-box theater, the Southern has carefully cultivated its bohemian sensibility to suit the offbeat personalities of the dance world. The original proscenium arch is intact, and murals from a more elegant era are still visible, arrested in a state of artful decay. The overall feeling of wide-open space is welcoming, even when the theater is packed. And unlike some of the "barns" around town, the Southern remains intimate, making it ideal for experiencing the nuances of human movement. There's no such thing as a bad or uncomfortable seat, especially since the recent renovation, and even back-row dwellers can still see the sweat fly. Artistic director and resident lighting designer Jeff Bartlett presents a mixed program of local and visiting choreographers, as well as music, performance art, theater, and everyone's favorite midnight cabaret, Balls, where you too can trip the light fantastic--for seven minutes or less--just by signing up.

BEST DANCE PERFORMANCE OF THE PAST 12 MONTHS (LOCAL)

'Catalyst Dances' by Emily Johnson

There's something to be said for a performer who can put on a pair of pants five sizes too big and dance around to Dolly Parton with a serious look on her face--and, in the process, thoroughly convince us that she has a very bright future. Emily Johnson, of course, doesn't have to explain what she does. She does most everything with such clear intention that we believe--even during the more absurd moments--that she's making perfect sense. Appearing with her company at the Best Feet Forward series in January, Johnson presented a program of considerable maturity for an artist still in her mid-20s. "If I Shut My Eyes, You Can't See Me," set among a forest of hanging lamps, showcased a canny knack for gesture. And "Everywhere Doing This" gave the tenacious Vanessa Voskuil the opportunity to transform a set of repetitive movements and tasks into a punk-rock-cum-minimalist romp. After exploring such dynamic tension, Johnson, a former basketball player in her native Alaska, let down her postmodern guard with "Power Play," a tongue-in-cheek glimpse into team sports. Suddenly boxing gloves, coaches, and bags of lime acquired new significance. "Defense! Defense!" the dancers shouted as they clambered over one another. Johnson, we suspect, won't have to put up such a fight to reach the top of the dance scene.

BEST DANCE PERFORMANCE OF THE PAST 12 MONTHS (ROAD SHOW)

'PASTForward' by White Oak Dance Project

When the avant-garde Judson Dance Theater was in its early-Sixties heyday in a small church on New York's Washington Square, none of the artists involved likely thought that, some 40 years later, mainstream audiences would be applauding their efforts. Then again, Mikhail Baryshnikov's White Oak Dance Project wasn't around at the time. Misha, as he's known to just about everyone, was a ballet star who defected from the Soviet Union in 1974, partly because he wanted to perform postmodern dance like that cultivated by Judson founders Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, Simone Forti, David Gordon, Deborah Hay, Steve Paxton, and Yvonne Rainer. In 1999 Baryshnikov called upon these cranky iconoclasts, who had rejected the trappings of the formal technique that made him famous. Working closely with producer and director Gordon, Baryshnikov created PASTForward, a retrospective of the Judson artists' work that proved just how important their particular form of rebellion really was. Presented by the Walker Art Center last fall, the touring performance blended revivals and new works with filmed interviews, still photographs, and archival footage, revealing an era of singular artistic inspiration, egalitarian principles, and genuine chutzpah. At its heart, PASTForward reminded us that the status quo should never go unquestioned.

BEST CHOREOGRAPHER

Shapiro & Smith

According to the cliché, two heads are better than one. But in the case of Danial Shapiro and Joanie Smith, it's the noggins and the bodies beneath them that make for a complementary pairing. Shapiro works a damn-the-torpedoes moxie while Smith is all elegant understatement. As leaders of their eponymous 17-year-old company, the New York transplants have established themselves locally as dance-theater innovators who embrace both pure lyrical moments and borscht-belt comedy. With this season's "A Late Frost," the duo paid homage to the Minnesota winters they have come to know all too well, directing their dancers to glide with exceptional serenity through an imagined icy landscape. But Shapiro & Smith have a silly and sardonic side, too, which they've let loose in past works such as the Catskills-inspired "Shtick." There's also a reverent and serious social aspect to their dancemaking, as exemplified by the stark Holocaust drama "What Dark/Falling Into Light." No matter the mood, these artists keep their dancers moving with a sort of looks-easy-but-isn't abandon. The results: a style that demonstrates a commitment to clear physical articulation and a certainty of purpose.

BEST DANCER

Greg Waletski

After months of rigorous rehearsal and performance, you'd think Greg Waletski, an 11-year member of Zenon Dance Company, would want to take a break from physical exertion. Instead, he heads to Bristol Bay, Alaska, and spends the summer working as a commercial salmon fisherman. One wonders if the time spent in the pristine northern air adds that extra buoyancy to Waletski's step. Every time he takes the stage, whether with Zenon or as a member of Cathy Young Dance and Wynn Fricke's Borrowed Bones Company, Waletski moves effortlessly, engaging the floor, the space, and the other dancers in a most unselfish way. Equally adept when performing jazz or modern dance, this wiry native Minnesotan really shone this season as part of a large ensemble in Young's Journey/Sanctuary (The Gospel Project). Performing to the joyful noise of the Twin Cities Community Gospel Choir, the beaming Waletski seemed to radiate bliss. Although he's been dancing a long time, Waletski never appears bored or burned out. His maturity adds nuance to his physical power, refines his explosive moments, and shapes his personal state of grace.

BEST ART GALLERY

Midway Contemporary Art
2500 W. University Avenue, Suite C2
St. Paul
651.917.1851
www.midwaycontemporaryart.org

It takes a keen eye and a steady nerve to run an art gallery. The eye is necessary to bag artists in their native habitat--the wild estuaries and studio complexes where they feed and breed and make their art. Sometimes, no one has noticed these beautiful creatures before. One false look and the artist will spook, stampeding away--slides and artist statement in hand--to calmer pastures and nonprofit art centers. After all, the Twin Cities have many options these days for artists to show their plumage and seek their mates over glasses of cheap wine. The steady nerve comes in handy after the sighting is made, and the artist is bagged, tagged, and turned loose in the confines of the gallery. Because then there is the public to deal with, and the press to court, and the money to bring home--all in the service of staying around and living another day to go after ever more big game. All that said, the two Johns (Rasmussen and Ballinger) who have run this small nonprofit gallery since early 2001 were the biggest trophy winners in the Twin Cities last year. Their game, er, artists, were among the choicest of specimens: postmodern, post-ironic cartoon landscapist Tao Urban, video-performance artist and sometime scribbler Kerry Tribe, mohawked performance artist and photographer Yasser Aggour. And Midway's shows--such as "On Location," "Drawn from L.A. (home is where the heart is)," and "Multiplicity"--were staid and minimalist and funky all at once (like a good menagerie should be). The hunting and tracking skills of the two Johns are superior to the norm. Two of Midway's artists (Omer Fast and Javier Cambre, both from New York) were chosen for the Whitney Biennial this year, at least in part because of recommendations made to Whitney curator Lawrence Rinder when he came to town tracking game for his big zoo. Marlin Perkins, eat your heart out.

Readers' Choice: Walker Art Center

BEST ART CINEMA

U Film Society
Bell Auditorium, University of Minnesota
University Avenue and 17th Street
Minneapolis
612.627.4430
www.ufilm.org

In the wake of Al Milgrom's recent show-stopping announcement--that U Film has finally accepted Oak Street Cinema's long-standing proposal to merge the two organizations, beginning in July--let's take one more opportunity to thank him for four decades of devotion to one of the most distinctive and iconoclastic art-house programs in the U.S. Indeed, few exhibitors anywhere in the world are willing to disregard the bottom line so blatantly in favor of screening international esoterica 52 weeks a year. So even during those weeks when the esoteric seems nearly inconsequential (was anyone really burning to take in the entire load of softcore "Erotic Tales"--including Milgrom?), the cineaste is generally willing to indulge it in trade for the society's continued independence from commercial imperatives. And on a good week, that independence is priceless. Nearly enough to make the year all by themselves were U Film's runs of the apocalyptic Dogme denouement The King Is Alive (whose booking in mid-September was uncannily well-timed to our own end of days); the indelibly surreal Werckmeister Harmonies from Hungarian director Béla Tarr; and French New Wave pioneer Agnès Varda's endearingly scrappy doc The Gleaners and I. The last of these--a resourceful portrait of people who take sustenance from society's discards--was particularly well suited to playing at an organization that has long been a proud gleaner of sorts itself.

BEST MOVIE THEATER

Oak Street Cinema
309 Oak Street SE
Minneapolis
612.331.3134
www.oakstreetcinema.org

At a time when even upscale cafés have turned to unspooling art cinema as an appetizer, the Cities' venerable museum of the moving image has focused on a healthier variety of film nourishment: local premieres (e.g., the surrealist Little Otik, the globalization doc Life and Debt, the Iranian feminist drama The Circle); proven classics in pristine prints (Ashby's Shampoo, Fellini's Juliet of the Spirits, Buñuel's Diary of a Chambermaid); and audaciously extended blasts from the past (the two-week Dietrich/von Sternberg retro, the 24-film "Cinema 80" series, the playful "Curated by Jean-Luc Godard"). The Oak Street also selectively opened its doors to the worthier examples of local indie film (The Unapologetic Life of Margaret Randall, Urban Warrior, the animated short "Bike Ride"), and played exclusive host to the latest edition of "Sound Unseen," a loud batch of music-related movies. (Oh, yeah--and they even let a haughty newspaper staff come in for the weekend and screen a dozen new documentaries.) What they'll do in collaboration with U Film Society when the two organizations join forces in July is an ambiguity even more tantalizing than That Obscure Object of Desire.

Readers' Choice: Lagoon Cinema

BEST FILM

"I'm Sorry I Was Right"
www.thecie.org/gene/

One of the most fascinating characters in 20th-century Minnesota history--former Sen. Eugene McCarthy, best known for his impassioned 1968 campaign against the Vietnam War--is the subject of this half-hour documentary directed for the St. Paul-based Center for International Education by Mike Hazard (a.k.a. Media Mike). Nicknamed "Needle" on Capitol Hill because of his wit, McCarthy remains sharp in his 80s. This is true whether he's reading his own poetry about headless chickens and our equally headless endeavor in Southeast Asia; or holding court on Clinton's folly with other old geezers in a convenience store near his current home in rural Virginia; or deconstructing the War Department's subtly insidious name change to the Defense Department, thus implying the existence of a constant threat. Hazard's film (which screened on KTCA-TV and at the most recent Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival) deftly mixes archival footage with talking-head interviews and gently observed scenes of McCarthy speaking to create a disarming portrait of an enduring activist. Here's a politician whose age, experience, and background encourage him to raise his voice against the dangerous control of corporate media, the unlimited power of the military-industrial complex, and the injustice of tax breaks for the wealthy. The Watkins, Minnesota-born McCarthy also acknowledges his impending death in this half-hour, but the film, to its great credit, is designed as a fond tribute to his continuing history.

BEST SINGLE-ARTIST SHOW

"Shana Kaplow: A Sense of Pull" at Franklin Art Works

Eerily exquisite and dazzlingly beautiful, Kaplow's show stood out from the masses of obvious art devoted to identity issues and political dogma. The nature of this installation was seemingly simple. At the center of the piece was a video projection screen, suspended in mid-gallery by taut wires. Here, a seven-minute video loop showed various hands manipulating a small tangle of black wire while a droning cello played in the background. The paintings running along a single wall behind this screen depicted tangles of wire somewhat similar to the one onscreen. Viewed from edge to edge, the panels suggested a continuous progression, with several breaks made up of completely white panels, or string of a different color. The whole came off much like the imperfections a master weaver will purposefully put into a rug--beauty in art being, by nature, an imperfect and human thing. In the end, the exhibition seemed to be a meditation on the randomness of human endeavors--a perfect opportunity for viewers to make their own leaps and associations without being hit over the head.

BEST MUSEUM EXHIBITION

Mill City Museum
www.mnhs.org/events/saf/camweb2set.html

Do you miss the late 1990s: the heady techno-optimism, the delusional market bubble, the free Internet offers? Remember when everything was e-this, and e-that? When the goatee-and-pierced-face set was going to run the world? Remember when virtual reality--with its clunky headsets and electronic interface--was going to change our lives? Well, we can't go back. It's a what-you-see-is-what-you-get generation now--nothing virtual about it. But we can still sample the coolest museum exhibition in all of Minnesota--a virtual extravaganza almost on the order of what we were promised by Wired back about ten years ago. That is, you can watch the virtual construction of the Mill City Museum, currently being built by Sheehy Construction Company of St. Paul for the Minnesota Historical Society. Devoted to Minneapolis's days as a grain-processing powerhouse, the Mill City Museum is high concept: It will be mere corn husks away from the rugged ruin of the Washburn-Crosby A Mill near the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis. And with this interactive Webcam, you can view the development to date and preview what will come from all angles, with eight different cameras. If the past can provide so much futuristic fun, why can't we vote that rascal Bill back into office for an unconstitutional third term?

BEST MUSEUM

Minneapolis Institute of Arts
2400 Third Avenue S.
Minneapolis
612.870.3131
www.artsmia.org

Sometimes the obvious choice is the best choice. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is the down comforter and cup of cocoa of local museums. It is the known entity, the old standby where we've spent countless hours and never left feeling unsatisfied. By now, we can all recite its charms by heart: the three floors of art history from all over the world; the Minnesota Artists Gallery showcasing some of the best local work; the marquee-quality big-ticket shows at the Target Gallery; even the requisite Chihuly thingy hanging in the foyer. But there are lesser-known attractions as well, tucked away along the endless corridors: the library of art books and art magazines, the print-study room where one can view selections from the permanent collection. The Pillsbury Auditorium bustles with its constant docket of lectures, films, conferences, presentations, concerts, and other events. And the family center can give your budding art lovers their first taste of the aesthetic life. As this pleasant museum suggests, it is a good life, indeed.

Readers' Choice: Minneapolis Institute of Art

2002 Best of the Twin Cities HOME
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