Best of Syracuse 2000

Arts & Entertainment

Best Local Band

ELECTRIC CHICK MAGNETS
2. Mike Estep Band
Known for their fondness of polyester, wide collars and infectious disco covers, the Electric Chick Magnets remain a viable live music commodity in the Salt City and environs. Sure, there are probably just as many local music fans that find the band's retro 1970s riffs and fashion (and the public's seemingly tireless fascination with them) overdone and passe. When it came time to count the ballots, though, the Magnets fans fessed up about how deep their love for the band really is.

Baldwinsville's Mike Estep Band placed second on the strengths of its original songs and Estep's genuine good-guy appeal. Tom Townsley and the Backsliders carried the banner for the legion local blues bands in the balloting, finishing a respectable third.

Best Live Music Venue

STYLEEN'S RHTYHM PALACE/ARMORY HIGH
314 S. Franklin St., Armory Square
2. Landmark Theatre
362 S. Salina St.
In a year where Styleen's switched ownership, changed its name twice, and cancelled a few shows as a result of some confusion regarding its liquor license, New Times readers still tagged it as the best place to see a live show, whether it's national and regional touring acts or original artists from the Syracuse area.

While Armory High's mural depicting Syracuse music scene stalwarts livens up the room, it cannot compare with the ornate walls of this year's runner-up: the venerable Landmark Theatre. Syracuse's historic gem shined its Y2K spotlights on the Moody Blues, Ringo Starr and, most recently, the Tragically Hip.

Best Dance Club

THE COUNTRY CLUB
Bridge Street and Erie Boulevard E.

2. Trexx
321 N. Clinton St.
When Syracusans feel the need to shake a tail feather, they roll down the boulevard to feel the energy of the crowd, flashing lights and big beats of the Country Club. You don't have to move like Travolta in Saturday Night Fever to fit in, either. Plenty of rumps start shaking on the dance floor when the DJs play repetitious Top 40 hits on Thursday's "Safe Sex" college night or twanging sounds of Nashville on Friday's "Country Music Night." An urban cowboy can even get an hour lesson to learn how to do the two-step and line dances properly.

Second place Trexx enjoys a reputation as something of an after-hours dance club where drag queens sometimes strut their stuff. Switch hitters and swingers take note: Trexx also won in the Best Lesbian and Gay Bar category.

Best Museum

EVERSON MUSEUM OF ART
401 Harrison St.

2. Museum of Science and Technology
500 S. Franklin St.
The Everson's perennial sweep of this category was no doubt enhanced by publicity surrounding its announced expansion, including I.M. Pei's mused intentions to dabble with some of the things he didn't like about what he did in the first place. Artistic expansions are grand adventures, but fraught with the occasional looming abyss, as the MOST recently discovered. So aficionados of the Salt City's two most engaging stop-and-look spots should listen for their calls for community support and respond. The Everson makes culture extra fun every first Thursday with live music and lively conversation and the MOST continues to score with movie hits on the gigantic IMAX screen (otherwise, you never would have known what beavers say to each other underwater, would you?).

Best Small Art Gallery

ARTIFICE GALLERY
247 W. Fayette St.

2. Community Folk Art Gallery
2223 E. Genesee St.
The recent closing of Gallery 210 downtown and the concurrent homelessness of East Village Arts is an index for the extreme degree of difficulty facing small gallery owners and those who dream of opening new ones. Knowing that art buyers are always looking for something new but are afraid they won't like it when they find it and really want more of what they've got anyway is the perplexing perspective needed to balance the satisfying of artistic taste and the bottom line of paying the rent. Paying the rent for the Community Folk Art Gallery is one of Syracuse University's contributions to local culture that deserves more recognition.

Best Local Theater Production 1999-2000

Jesus Christ Superstar
Salt City Center for the Performing Arts
2. Long Day's Journey Into Night
Syracuse Stage

Practice not only makes perfect, it also makes for popularity. Salt City Center's 23rd annual run of Jesus Christ Superstar upheld the generation-long tradition of pleasing the crowd. Dozens of community theater stalwarts made their first appearances in the large children's chorus, with striped bathrobes, sandals and headscarves. The tone and interpretation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber rock opera stays piously orthodox, year after year, just like the Oberamergau Passion Play, dealing with the same story. This year Doug Meech was lyrical and compassionate in the title role, while Becky Bottrill, a two-time Best of Syracuse favorite actress, continued as Mary Magdalene.

When the stars came out last summer in Syracuse, so did many Best of ballots for Syracuse Stage's production of Long Day's Journey Into Night, a daunting Eugene O'Neill play brought vividly to life by a grand cast headed by TV sensation Sam Waterston and Tony winner Elizabeth Franz. And speaking of coming out, the Talent Company's production of the cross-dressing beauty-contest spoof Pageant also snared some voter consideration.

Best Visual Artist

OLIVER FOX
2. Amy Bartell
Judging from the underwhelming response from voters in this category, not to mention that the ones who did cast ballots didn't quite understand the concept (musician Ronnie Leigh got some consideration, for instance), don't expect this category to turn up next year. However, graffiti artist Oliver Fox (named in several ballots as "the kid who lost the Coke contract" because of alleged gang-related references in his murals) earned some respect for his colorful pieces that still brighten up local inner-city storefronts. Spray-paint never looked so good.

Best Local Author

BRUCE COVILLE
2. Mary Karr
Orchids to those of our readers, mostly adults, who recognize the value of Bruce Coville's work, mostly aimed at children. Able to spin a tale of pre-teen terror without reliance on slice and dice, dedicated to making complex classics like Shakespeare's Tempest accessible to younger readers and continuing to push us to imagine more with his aliens at school series, Coville lives as proof that reports of the death of print are premature. Syracuse University Writing Program professor Karr (The Liars' Club, Cherry) is credited with reviving the memoir in American letters and maintains a commitment to filling the literary void of teen female sexual awakening.

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