Annual Event
Eeyore's Birthday
Age wears well on the donkey. No matter his age, his celebration brings the legions forth. It's clear our readers bray in unison about some things, and this year marks a decade of pinning the winning tail on Eeyore. Sponsored by the University YMCA each spring, nothing mirrors our far-flung diversity more than this unrivaled spectacle. For families, it's a festive day with group games, contests, and face painting. For more uninhibited revelers, it's an uproarious costumed romp of drum circles, live music, and wild dancing. Kids will be kids, and well ... so will the grownups.
Pease Park, 1100 Kingsbury, in April, YMCA, 448-5160
http://www.spamtown.com/ymca/index.html
Place to Meet a Blind Date
Spider House
Well, of course it is. The darkly wooded, rambling interior where you purchase coffee drinks and various comestibles, the vast under-the-trees-and-stars open patio, the central campus location -- perfect for providing comfort in what might be a somewhat awkward situation: "Hi, are you Sylvia? I thought that might be you. What? Mark? No, my name is Charles!" The arachnoid name is supposed to give you the creeps, says co-owner Conrad; the place itself won't.
2908 Fruth, 480-9562
http://austin.citysearch.com/E/V/AUSTX/0000/58/09/
Place to Meet Your Friends
Trudy's
"Party of one" is a tough concept to swallow, but at least it's easy to seat. Now, party of 20, that's a different story. While Trudy's doesn't take reservations, they are most accommodating to groups large or small. And even if it's busy and you're required to wait in the bar for a seat, they hand you this neat-o-keen-o flashing light thingy to tell you when your table is ready. We get all swirly just thinking about it!
409 W. 30th, 477-2935
http://austin.citysearch.com/E/V/AUSTX/0004/51/57/
Swanky Joint
TIE: Speakeasy; Sullivan's
There are very few places in Austin where a double-parked limo out front isn't completely pretentious. Sullivan's is one of them. Come with your red-meat appetite in place and your martini buds primed. The other place is the sneaky Speakeasy. No fear of an Elliot Ness-esque raid here (unless, of course, your taxes aren't paid up), but it's all in the attitude. From the Hitchcockian staircase leading to one of the best rooftops in Austin, to the wingdinging on the dance floor, it's worthy of an ankle excursion.
Speakeasy, 412 Congress, 476-8017; Sullivan's, 300 Colorado, 495-6504
www.citysearch.com/aus/speakeasy
Casual Joint
Club DeVille
Remember when your friend's parents redecorated their basement, all soft funky chairs and disco lights and a killer bar at one end? That's what you've got here, distilled, downtown, and with an outdoor section like Uncle Joe's back yard. (But triple the size of that old haunt inside, and behind the bar, a cadre of booze jockeys with skills a-go-go.) At Club DeVille, you don't turn on the lights: Shadows hang here in profusion, easing the eyes like a visual martini.
900 Red River, 457-0900
Downtown Club
Antone's
Weathering the recent storm-troop tactics of infernal revenuers and the threat of vertical bars for founder Clifford Antone, this club continues to earn its blues licks as a don't-miss-it venue rocking our casbah year after year. It may well be the samurai of Austin clubs.From happy hours to headliners, Antone's has us cheerfully standing in line to vote it Number One. The people have spoken. Take that, Commissar Rylander.
213 W. Fifth, 474-5314
www.citysearch.com/aus/antone
Non-Downtown Club
The Continental Club
From cool vintage car shows out front, hot damn music inside, and cozy intermissions out back, this quintessential South Congress hangout attracts all types. Local songstress Toni Price showcases Tuesdays, but our readers say it's hard to go wrong any night of the week.
1315 S. Congress, 441-2444
Tejano/Conjunto Club
Tejano Ranch
Live Tejano music, man. According to one faithful customer, "I used to be a Sixth Street man, but this Tejano music saved my life." He admits he still ventures downtown, but this is la familia. Cowboy hats are optional, not to mention handsome. The strutting on this dance floor is some of the best in town.
7601 N. Lamar, Ste. A, 453-6615
www.citysearch.com/aus/tejanoranch
Country Music Club
Broken Spoke
You can't get much deeper in that ol' heart of Texas than the Broken Spoke, long a legend amongst classic honky-tonk dance halls. Good folks been dressing ornamental and two-stepping here since 1964, and for nine years, y'all been voting it the best, and you can bet the farm on that.
3201 S. Lamar, 442-6189
http://www.lnstar.com/bspoke/
Dance Music Club
Polly Esther's
David Cassidy is still in his prime in the warehouse district's Polly Esther's Seventies fancy-wancey dance club. Which is a good thing if you never got rid of your lovebeads and smiley faces, baby. This is your club. We are family. Peace-out.
404 Colorado, 472-1975/474-4849
www.pollyesthers.com
Gay/Lesbian Club
Oilcan Harry's
What more is there to mention about this mecca for tight pecs -- the groovy backyard patio or Cher's "I Believe in Love?" All are synonymous with Oilcan's laid back fun times and help keep the effects of that rose-hued lighting dancing in your brain even the morning after.
211 W. Fourth, 320-8823
http://oilcanharrys.com/
Other Club
Carousel Lounge
Jay Clark, everyone's favorite one-man band, retired from his regular Carousel gig last summer, and this Austin mainstay has fallen from the dizzying heights of hipness it represented in previous years. But it remains what it has always been -- a secret little hideaway of hip, a clean and ill-lighted place that attracts people of all ages, classes, tastes, and persuasions. The carnivalesque atmosphere is aided immeasurably by the fact that the Carousel is set up for set-ups and BYOB.
1110 E. 52nd, 452-6790
Jukebox
Casino El Camino
An unerringly slick assortment of the newest and latest, as well as the most eclectic and least hidebound collection of "oldies" in town: MC5! George Jones! X-Ray Spex! Roland Kirk! Motley Crue! Small Faces! Cab Calloway! Love! Shangri-Las! Repo Man! Eric Dolphy! Mott the Hoople! Temptations! Adverts! KISS! Big Joe Turner! Pere Ubu! Clovers! Flamin' Groovies! Eno! AC/DC! Captain Beefheart! Etta James! New York Dolls! Sonny Boy Williams! The Nuggets comp! Roger Miller! Robert Mitchum's Calypso! Psychedelic Furs! Motörhead! Planet of the Apes soundtrack! Who the hell needs live music anyway?
517 E. Sixth, 469-9330
Movie Theatre
Alamo Drafthouse
While the idea of dinner theatre (mediocre food and a play featuring fading TV stars) has gone the way of the dinosaur, this downtown cinema reinvents the concept with top-notch nibbles and a choice lineup of flicks. Readers all slapped their foreheads and said "duh" when it opened, and now they queue up at every opportunity.
409 Colorado, 867-1839
http://www.drafthouse.com
Movie Programming
Dobie Theatre
Sold out ... but still committed! Longtime Dobie kingpin Scott Dinger passed his reins to a new corporate owner, Landmark, amongst much fear and loathing in the Austin film community. So far, so good. They rode the Blair Witch hype broom to death, but have still managed to stay the course, and we're breathing easier knowing those Phantom Menace Iceberg Blockbusters will stay in the megaplexes. We luvvvvv our independents!
2021 Guadalupe (Dobie Mall, 2nd floor), 472-FILM
http://www.hyperweb.com/dobie/index.html
Art Gallery
Art on 5th
With 3,000 square feet filled with Rauschenberg and Warhol, Haring and Hockney, Matisse and Peter Max, this is by far the best collection of modern and contemporary art in the city. No kidding. Housed in the former Children's Museum space in West Towne Common, Art on 5th covers modern art in all its varied styles, with more than the usual touch of whimsy, as noted in the kinetic sculptures of Fredrick Prescott and the drawings of Theodore Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss. And in the short time since its opening in April 1998, our readers have voted it their favorite.
1501 W. Fifth, 481-1111
Artist
Mary Doerr
Check out the life's worth of art at Mary Doerr's Images of Austin store on Burnet Road. The lingering impression is that this local artist loves her locale. Her lifelike, almost photographic images of Austin convey a spirit and verve that leaps way beyond the concept of realism. It's her true passion for this town that makes those cityscapes shine, that makes our unimprovably near-perfect landmarks and natural treasures seem even more sparkly and kissed by the gods.
4612 Burnet, 451-1229
http://www.images-austin.com/artwork1.htm
Author/Poet
Sharon Bridgforth
Sharon Bridgforth's legendary root wy'mn theatre company pulled a 1996 Critics Pick for "Theatre of the Soul." This, however, is the first showing for our local bridger of "traditional storytelling and nontraditional verse," according to the root wo'mn herself on the back cover of her first book the bull-jean stories. While both the smoooooth and sultry author Sharon and the badass, hot-butt character bull-jean have appeared in numerous plays and published anthologies, this is their first ever, totally solo thang. What a book. What a writer. What a glorious thang it is. But, then, you already knew that, now didn't you?
Red Bone Press, 498-4997/448-1835
Stand-up Comic
Brently Heilbron
It's the end of an era. At some point in every king's reign, a bold youth must step forward, challenge the king, and usurp his power so that the kingdom remains vital and alive. Alas, young Brently Heilbron has wrested the scepter of Austin's Best Comic from Kerry Awn. Heilbron is one of the most prolific and inventive comics anywhere. His work with Monks' Night Out and Only Ninety Percent Effective have earned critical acclaim, and his shows Wonderous Pudding of Joy and Bucket of Shins have created a cult following in Austin. Heilbron recently performed at the HBO Workspace in Hollywood, so his star is on the rise. You can generally find Brently at the Velveeta Room of a weekend, riffing wildly on anything from the decline of DJ Jazzy Jeff to the resurgence of Colonel Sanders. Congrats, fair prince!
For bookings, 450-0319
Choreographer
Toni Bravo
"Bravo! Bravissimo!" Our readers applaud enthusiastically for this local dance diva, awarding "Best Choreographer" to Bravo for the second year in a row. Bravo means "brave," an apt word to describe this independent local artist who uses modern dance as her vehicle for courageously addressing social and political issues. Her clever piece "Gender Boxes," performed last November at Mendez Middle School, tackled the feminine/masculine mystique by placing bodies in the context of used car sales. Honk if you love Bravo.
Kinesis Dance Theatre Projects, 346-6288
www.pswtech.com/arts/ballet/
Dance Company
Ballet Austin
This company's strengths grows with its ambitions. Their collaboration with Asleep at the Wheel was a highlight of this past season along with their reliable but never stale Nutcracker. This is a company that knows when to play it traditional, knows when to take risks, and most of all knows its city, and the residents return the favor with this repeat winner.
3004 Guadalupe (Box Office), 476-2163/ 476-9051
www.pswtech.com/arts/ballet/
Stage Director
Dave Steakley
Just when some theatregoers thought they had him pegged as a strictly pop-musical kinda guy, Steakley pulls a fast one and scores with the über-ambitious Angels in America. His passionate and theatrical staging of this modern epic connected with the play's heart and our readers' souls. It proved the Zach Scott artistic director eminently capable of handling heavyweight drama. The upcoming season sees more of Steakley stretching his artistic muscles while keeping the faith with his musical foundations.
http://www.zachscott.com/dsteakley.html
Theatre Actor/Actress
TIE: Joe York; Ron Berry
After 20 years, Joe York continues to surprise and delight our readers with his singular blend of showmanship and depth of character, even when sporting false teeth and a thick Scottish burr or a shoulder-length curls and a frilly frock. Ron Berry, in just a few seasons, has made his mark on the readers' memories. With his energetic and expressive turns whether he's playing a self-absorbed dentist, as in Subterranean's Raised in Captivity, or a conscience-stricken schoolmaster, as in Refraction Arts' The Visit, Berry brings humor and verve to the stage.
Theatre Company
Zachary Scott Theatre
Zach scores again thanks to its mix of stylish, toe-tappin' musicals and beautifully realized plays. Our readers know that whatever the fare, the show will be carefully conceived and professionally executed at every level. Readers, critics, and B. Iden Payne members can't all be wrong.
1510 Toomey, 476-0541
http://www.zachscott.com/
Theatre Space
Paramount Theatre
Walking into this exquisite bastion of glamour transforms the occasion (touring show, locally produced musical, summer movie) into just that: an occasion. And as Harry Knowles knows, you just have to have your Hollywood premiere at the only theatre in town worthy of such an event. Elizabeth Hurley, Matthew McConaughey, and their cohorts were fêted in style at the EdTV premiere last March. It's easy to imagine the red carpet as you saunter in yourself.
713 Congress, 472-5470
http://www.Austin360.com/paramnt/
Video Store
Vulcan Video
Blockbuster guarantees to have it in, but not when we looked for Ponette or Astaire & Rogers' Top Hat. No, when movies outside the current Hollywood offerings are their desire, readers head to one of Vulcan's two locations. Where to start? Try the directors wall for films from your favorite, or check the staff suggestions, because these stores employ clerks in the know.
609 W. 29th, 478-5325; 112 W. Elizabeth, 326-2629
http://www.eden.com/~vulcan/@cutline:
