Best Local SingleSure, you’ve been going around humming THAT DAMN MODEST MOUSE SONG lately. (Actually, it’s called “Float On,” but nearly everyone we know refers to it as “that damn Modest Mouse song,” and what is Best of Seattle if not for the people?) We’ve been doing it, too; how not to succumb to one of the year’s most insidious musical memes? Because Lord, have we tried. Local boys made good, actual hit single on actual radio stations that aren’t KEXP, ridiculous national exposure, embarrassing ass-kissing in the local press—all of this inspires even more auto-backlash than Isaac Brock’s annoyingly smug vocal. But it’s not about the singing—it’s the guitars, as gorgeous as alt-rock gets without dissolving into ether. And by the time that chorus kicks back in again, even Brock’s full-of-itself snarl is pretty difficult to resist—Michaelangelo MatosBest Local BlogUnless it fulfills an informative niche like gardening, politics, or music, what is the appeal of reading a perfect stranger’s diary online? Most of the time they are forums for people to whine without borders. But there are those who can make observations about their everyday life universal: DEFECTIVE YETI, kept by Matthew Baldwin, is funny, eclectic, and completely engaging. Politics, movies, board games, his new baby, and general Seattle observations are some of the topics he regularly talks about with an energetic tone and wry wit (e.g., “Last week I went to Seattle’s new Science Fiction Museum because, you know, paying 13 bucks to see Paul Allen’s dog-eared copy of Starship Troopers seemed like a good idea at the time”). He updates a few times a week and is never boring.—Samantha Storey www.defectiveyeti.com.Best New Look at an Old DanceSeveral years ago, Bruno Bettelheim made a splash with his psychological analyses of fairy tales—now choreo­grapher Donald Byrd seems poised to do the same with the ballets based on those fables. After dissecting Giselle and reinventing The Nutcracker, he turned his attention to Sleeping Beauty. His SLEEPING BEAUTY NOTEBOOK back in April combined dead-on satire, academic bone picking, and sincere admiration in a roiling mix: Princess Aurora’s christening is celebrated with a bawdy fest out of Brueghel, and her 16th birthday takes place in a high-class brothel. But amongst these changes there were quotations from the original choreography, like heirlooms from a distant past. In this radical vision of a classical work, Byrd questions our definitions of ballet, and of beauty, offering us multiple alternatives to both.—Sandra KurtzBest Bus PoemLeaving some shell of yourselfcovered in sheets, you catchyour bus, pull the cord ten blocksearly, walk into the store that sells magic.When your boss asks where you’ve beenyou say you wanted to learnhow a thing disappeared comes backhow a velvet-lined capefeels against skin.The poet, Marjorie Manwaring, is an experienced Seattle author, with an M.F.A. from the Bennington Writing Seminars and published works in such journals as Pontoon, The Raven Chronicles, and LitRag. Whereas many of this year’s poets mention local mountains or particular bus lines in an obvious effort to get published, “LEAVING SOME SHELL OF YOURSELF” remains less specific, maintaining a sense of mystery while juxtaposing elements of everyday life (including, in fact, the act of catching the bus) with hints of the “magic” buried beneath them. Yet even implements of magic can be bought at a store, which leaves only its intangible attributes—”how a thing disappeared comes back” and the irrational, sensual pleasure of “how a velvet-lined cape/feels against skin”—for the speaker to contemplate.—Neal SchindlerBest Cheap Movie NightThe seats are a little out of the ordinary for the occasion (a couch and some fold-up chairs), the schedule is usually up for grabs, the lights stay on, and extraneous noise is an ongoing hazard, but twice a week, filmgoers can’t beat the deal at the CAPITOL HILL INTERNET CAFE. Monday and Tuesday nights, the Broadway coffeehouse offers free screenings of an impressive range of movies alongside its dinerlike booths, terrific sandwiches, friendly staff, and decent Net prices. In the past few months, we’ve caught the Japanese cult action comedy Shaolin Soccer, Shallow Grave, Chinatown, and Party Girl (part of Parker Posey Month in March, along with The House of Yes, Best in Show, and Waiting for Guffman). And if you really need it, they even have popcorn—in bags, but still.—Michaelangelo Matos 216 Broadway E., 206-860-6858.Best Band NameIn a city with 1,000 bands (at least), you’re bound to turn up some good names. And we did—so much so, in fact, that this category cannot possibly go without listing the runners-up. We came very close to handing it to Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death, a recent project of ex– Murder City Devils vocalist Spencer Moody. We had a difficult time resisting We Wrote the Book on Connectors. And even if it isn’t a joke, Vegas in Flames’ moniker has an admirably brutal panache. But when it came time to voice our choice, there was no second-guessing—the honor had to go to MASTER MUSICIANS OF BUKKAKE. What do they sound like? “Totally just wank noise improv,” says a friend who caught them at a Beatles-covers gig where they cleared the room with a 30-minute version of Abbey Road’s “I Want You (She’s So Heavy).” Still, they have the word bukkake in their name, and that, friends, forgives a multitude of shortcomings.—Michaelangelo MatosBest Opera DirectorMy first CLAUDIA ZAHN moment was the guardian angels’ dream ballet in her 1998 staging of Hansel and Gretel—a sequence so simple, lovely, and witty (kids in white gamboling on white playground equipment) that I just dissolved. Since then, the UW professor’s protean ability to hit the nail on the head in any opera she tackles is more impressive with each widely varied production. Her Dialogues of the Carmelites, Poulenc’s tale of nuns falling victim to the French Revolution, was stark on the surface but revealed the tormented psychodrama underneath the habits; her Beggar’s Opera danced surefootedly between edginess and slapstick. She’s at the Caramoor Festival in New York doing Gluck’s Paride ed Elena, and coming up at UW next May will be Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld. Every time some directorial decision in a Seattle Opera production misfires, I find myself wondering how Zahn would have solved the problem. I long to find out someday.—Gavin BorchertBest All-Ages VenueIt’s your grandmother’s bicycle shed in Snohomish. Wrong! It’s THE VERA PROJECT, and it could be none other. For a city-run collective brought about in the wake of the end of long-term repressive legislation—and a venue with a side room whose decor is reminiscent of a ’70s progressive-education classroom—VERA is pretty damn casual. It’s the kind of place you or your younger siblings might want to hang out by choice, not just default. The nonchalance does not extend to the booking, which is as consistent as anywhere in town, attracting top-drawer acts both local (United State of Electronica, the Dead Science, Blood Brothers, These Arms Are Snakes) and national (Built to Spill, Murs, Sage Francis, KaitO).—Michaelangelo Matos 1916 Fourth Ave., 206-956-8372.Best Band to Break Up in the Last 12 MonthsWhen TEEN CTHULHU announced they were calling it quits, it may not have been altogether shocking: Five years is a long time to play together, particularly in the barely-breaking-even worlds of hard-core punk and black metal, both of which the band alchemized into their own quick, fearsome noise, leavened with very occasional glints of humor. But their passing puts a decent-sized dent in the rock scene. Their final show, held last Sept. 19 at the VERA Project, was as serious as the band itself (they brought San Francisco’s Nigel Peppercock, Reno’s Iron Lung—who have since moved to Seattle—and local faves Akimbo and Wormwood along for the ride). It was hardly solemn, though; just a fitting end to five years of oft-inspired mayhem.—Michaelangelo MatosBest Busker SpotThere’s something reassuring to the soul about coming out of a crappy Hollywood blockbuster, or leaving a store where you’ve just maxed out your credit card, and hearing some earnest somebody play the bongos, which is why the ENTRANCE TO PACIFIC PLACE deserves recognition for the generally high quality of its sidewalk symphonies. Many is the night when you leave the mall to the soothing sounds of a humble troubadour and his guitar, or a folkie and his plaintive pan flute—and damned if the acoustics aren’t the best this side of Benaroya. Sure, there’s plenty of similar street entertainment down at Pike Place Market, but it’s the valiant clash with so much downtown commerce that makes this spot so fine for hearing what Joni Mitchell once called music played “real good for free.”—Steve Wiecking 600 Pine St., 206-405-2655.Best Kept Orchestral SecretThe SEATTLE YOUTH SYMPHONY is not just good as youth symphonies go; at their best, its members play at a near- professional level. What they lack in polish is more than made up for by the electricity generated by the musicians who are genuinely thrilled to be playing, say, the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony for the first time. Petrushka, Eine Alpensinfonie, Lutoslawski’s Concerto for Orchestra—the SYSO (that is, the senior of the five orchestras that make up the SYSO organization) tackles adult repertory fearlessly with astounding results. Since there’s a complete personnel turnover every five years or so, any sense of continuity is entirely the responsibility of the music director. SYSO has had only four in its 60-year history; right now, it’s Huw Edwards, who spurs the SYSO to vivid and thoughtful performances while sharing his enthusiasm for contemporary music. In one way, teenagers are the ideal performers of new music—they haven’t been taught to fear it yet.—Gavin BorchertBest Asset to the Classical SceneIn the eight or so years I’ve been compiling this paper’s classical calendar, rarely has a week gone by, it seems, without an appearance by MARGRIET TINDEMANS. If one does, I’m tempted to call around to make sure she’s OK. Alongside Berkeley and Boston, Seattle is generally considered one of the big three early music centers in America, and the indefatigable Tindemans is largely responsible for this. She’s mastered early string instruments of all kinds, from the gittern to the rebec, but her main focus is the sweet, subtle, plangent viola da gamba, and she’s one of the best in the world at it, concertizing all over Europe and North America. But her home base is here, where she heads the Medieval Women’s Choir and collaborates generously with every other period-instrument player in town.—Gavin BorchertBest Lighting DesignersLighting design is just not something most theatergoers notice when they’re enjoying an evening out, because when it’s really good, it usually tries not to draw too much attention to itself. Sometimes, though, the effect is either so exquisite or so extravagant you’d have to be asleep to miss the artistry, as in the work this spring by PETER MARADUDIN and A.J. EPSTEIN. For Sharon Ott’s production of the Nilo Cruz premiere The Beauty of the Father, Maradudin bathed the stage in an ephemeral glow that evoked the sunset on a Spanish balcony; the mood was so palpable that it seemed to be another character in the play. Epstein is the guy who helped turn up the heat several notches on Re-bar’s already white-hot Hedwig and the Angry Inch, making an intimate space feel at times like a blazing rock arena several stadiums wide. Bravo to both.—Steve WieckingSEATTLE WEEKLY’S BEST OF SEATTLE 2004 INDEX