Culture

Best band

1. Pulse Ultra
2. 3 Mile Scream
3. Shannon Index
4. The Dears
5. Paper Heroes
6. Amanda Mabro & the Cabaret Band
7. Paul Cargnello
8. Senzafine
9. Ghoulunatics
10. Kobayashi

The heavy rises to the top this year. Breakout (don't call them) nu-metalists Pulse Ultra (see story) have quickly built a vocal fan following to buttress their Atlantic Records signing, while acts like 3 Mile Scream, Senzafine and Ghoulunatics nip at their heels.

Pulse of the city Call Montreal's Pulse Ultra big shots, but don't call them nu-metal You see, children, dreams do come true. One minute you're playing the local bar circuit and earning a living by stacking boxes at Italmelodie. The next, you and your band have been courted and signed to a major U.S. record label, you're selling out Club Soda, you've landed a spot on the Ozzfest tour, and a hack from the Mirror is calling you up with the news that your radically awesome rock band has truly reached the very pinnacle of success by being voted top of the BOM list for 2003. "That's amazing", says Pulse Ultra guitarist Dominic Cifarelli. "We've always felt like such underdogs here so this is, like, huge for us. Montreal is just the coolest." Also pretty cool in Pulse Ultra's book is Taproot guitarist Mike DeWolf, the man who first introduced our heroes to the big leagues a couple of years back. "They were playing at Foufs and I just thought I would go knock on the door of their tour bus to see if they wanted to chill for a while," recalls Cifarelli. "Anyway, I ended up passing Mike a copy of our demo, he told me he was blown away, and the very next day, my birthday, I get an e-mail from his manager offering to help us out and get us a deal. And the rest, as they say, is history." Now hooked up with Velvet Hammer management and Atlantic Records, Cifarelli insists there has been absolutely no fellatio involved in Pulse Ultra's mercurial rise to the toppermost of the poppermost, and that for the moment, his biggest concern is to lose the nu-metal tag people keep ascribing to his band. "Just because we did Ozzfest, everyone says we're nu-metal, but every time I put our CD on, I'm trying to figure out where it is. Where do people hear nu-metal in our stuff? It's insulting. Pulse Ultra is a rock band, period." » Chris Barry

Best club DJ

1. DJ Quest
2. DR One
3. Jojo Flores
4. DJ Mahesh
5. DJ Ilya
6. Laflèche
7. DJ Frigid
8. sir-real
9. DJ Nark
10. DJ Simply Genius

It's been a slow climb, but DJ Quest finally gets his due. Currently holding down Fridays and Saturdays at Jet, he's been delivering a wisely selected balance of hip hop and R&B for years now. DR One of Blue Dog's Back to Basics night pulls in second, house hero Jojo Flores is right behind him, and Quest's compadre Mahesh follows. Which goes to show, smooth grooves rule Montreal's nightclubs right now.

Best electronic act

1. Akufen
2. Tiga
3. Echo Kitty
4. Stereomovers
5. Dr. Noh
6. Laboratory
7. Kobayashi
8. Freeworm
9. Refuge Elektronik
10. Lederhosen Lucil

The electro-splash/crash of last year has catapulted Turbo's Tiga, and likewise new-wave newcomers Echo Kitty, right up the ladder here. Nonetheless, Montreal's IDM poster boy Akufen comes out as our number-one electronica man. What's interesting this year, though, is that half the "electronica" acts listed here are proper bands rather than laptop jockeys. Bring back the show!

Best hip hop act

1. Eye 2 Eye
2. Shades of Culture
3. Offsides
4. Muzion
5. Velvet Trench Vibes
6. Patrick Batemen
7. Ricky J
8. Kid Koala
9. Butta Babees
10. BU the Knowledgist

While the venerable Shades maintain a grip on second place and the sweet sounds of Muzion come in fourth, the new blood is bubbling up with Eye 2 Eye (see story) grabbing the gold, Offsides the bronze and Velvet Trench Vibes, Patrick Batemen and Butta Babees waiting in the wings. And to think, Eye 2 Eye were in a distant 10th place last year…

Now, see, hear Montreal's Eye 2 Eye keep their eyes on the prize You know the deal in Montreal. For every 10 people who say our hip hop scene leaves a lot to be desired, there's 10 cats out there on the low doing it their way, and so it goes with Eye 2 Eye. MCs Second Thought and June Sixth, along with their DJ You Know Who, garnered a fair bit of attention in the last few years with their forays into theatrical hip hop. Audiences watched closely as their rhymes came alive, with characters evolving in the midst of songs live on stage. You may have also heard them on K103 FM, where they've enjoyed both heavy and regular rotation. With no lyrical shortage to speak of, Eye 2 Eye have been pushing through while recording, promoting shows and cooking up new theatrical schemes all at once. One of those shows is the Monster Mash this Friday at l'Alizé. Along with Eye 2 Eye, locals Offsides, Memo and Meta4ce make up the ICM crew, with lots of help from DJs DR One, Mana, Twitch, Fat Sak and You Know Who. "Island City Monsters is just a bunch of MCs that we saw were doing the same things as us, struggling to make some noise and do some shows in Montreal," explains Second Thought. "We decided to team up and work together to bring attention to all of us at once." Second Thought is also part of a growing group of bubbling underground hip hop locals who are prepared to do whatever it takes to get MTL's scene walking on healthy legs. With the broad appeal of ICM and upcoming releases from Eye 2 Eye, nobody can say these guys aren't doing their part. With Island City Monsters (Eye 2 Eye, Offsides, Memo, Meta4ce and guest R-Kade plus DR One, DJ Mana, DJ Twitch and Fat Sak), Patrick Batemen and Rhythmicru at l'Alizé on Friday, May 9, 8:30pm, $7 » Scott C

Best busker

1. Spoonman
2. Sean B'y
3. Stiltman
4. Michael Jackson dancer at Lionel-Groulx metro
5. Three-flute-guy at Guy/Square Victoria metros
6. Richard Baxter
7. "I Will Survive" guy at Lionel-Groulx metro
8. Violin guy at Sherbrooke metro
9. Bad News Brown
10. Bucket Boy

The clackety-clack of Ste-Catherine Street's beloved Spoonman has again won the hearts of Montrealers, with good ol' Stiltman standing tall in third place. Some new players have bum-rushed the scene, though, like the mysterious medievalist with the three recorders (two played with his nostrils) and the fellow responsible for the rather zealous keyboard renditions of Gloria Gaynor, Abba etc. But let's not forget Richard Baxter and Bucket Boy, both of whom make the mayonnaise bucket worthy of the world's finest symphony orchestras.

Most outrageous musical act

1. One 976
2. Vaginal Croutons
3. Pulse Ultra
4. Georges Leningrad
5. Celine Dion
6. Bloodshot Bill
7. Lederhosen Lucil
8. Vulgar Deli
9. Eva Stone
10. Synthetic Folk Hero

As per last year, glam-punk drag explosion One 976 take the top spot here with the Croutons repeating last year's tight second. Pulse Ultra poke their heads in, knocking the absurd Georges Leningrad back to fourth. Celine, meanwhile, climbs to fifth from last year's tenth… must be that whole Vegas atrocity she's got going on.

Most pretentious local act

1. godspeed! you black emperor
2. Pulse Ultra
3. One 976 4. The Dears
5. Vaginal Croutons
6. Celine Dion
7. Paul Cargnello
8. Drugstore Cowboys
9. Rhythm Mercenaries
10. Inveigh

As always, godspeed! have the pretentiousness slot nailed down. Maybe they should do a nutty novelty single with like, singing caribou or something. That might take off heat off. Pulse Ultra pop up here too, suggesting a fan base that'll plug them any damn way they can. One 976 and the Dears repeat their high ratings in this category - ugly crying jags will no doubt result.

Heaviest local act

1. Pulse Ultra
2. Ghoulunatics
3. Shannon Index
4. Grim Skunk
5. Senzafine
6. Bionic
7. Fate 2 Hate
8. Voivod
9. Quo Vadis
10. Donkeys

There they are again, Pulse Ultra, new on top, while last year's winner Fate 2 Hate slips to number seven. Gone from last year's top 10? Vaginal Croutons, Vulgar Deli, Necronomicon, Shiverdown, Bloodshot Bill and godspeed.

Best local music label

1. GotSoul
2. Stomp
3. Turbo
4. Alien8 5. Indica
6. Bombay
7. Grenadine
8. Haute Couture
9. Constellation
10. Union 2112

Largely the usual suspects here, with the exception of newcomers GotSoul taking the top spot by surprise. GotSoul's the imprint run by Jojo Flores, he of the Therapy nights at Jello, so you know you can count on 'em for superior-grade house releases.

Best actor

1. William Shatner
2. Roy Dupuis
3. Luc Picard
4. Shawn Baichoo
5. Andrew Farrar
6. Donald Sutherland
7. Kiefer Sutherland
8. Brian Warren (Sheena Hershey) 9. Matt Holland
10. Jay Baruchel

Shatner, once again, wins easily. Many of the other actors have also skipped town, but they clearly have left an indelible mark on readers and upheld their thespian chic.

Best actress

1. Stephenie Farrell
2. Jessica Paré
3. Karen Simpson
4. Jessica MacKenzie
5. Pascale Bussières
6. Masha Grenon
7. Johanna Nutter
8. Marina Orsini
9. Sheena Hershey
10. Mitsou

The enticing Stephenie Farrell, star of Ugly, is a first-time winner, beating out last year's victor Jessica Paré. Meanwhile, it appears not one but two cross dressers have broken through in this category: Sheena Hershey is the drag persona of Brian Warren, star of the Montreal movie Saved by the Belles, now in cinemas. One of our readers suggested "Shatner in a dress," which is a new one. I don't know that he's ever done a role in drag, but it fits in nicely with our readers' apparent collective obsession with Shatner.

Best local filmmaker

1. Ziad Touma
2. Denys Arcand
3. Léa Pool
4. François Miron
5. Magnus Isacsson
6. Denis Villeneuve
7. Peter Wintonick and Katerina Cizek
8. Robert Lepage
9. Denis Côté 10. Andrea Sadler

The diverse film community Montreal plays home to is reflected here in the broad range of names included. As well, one dear reader seems to be up on a big new thing about town, a young relatively unknown québécois filmmaker we'd never heard of before, who goes by the name of Stéphane Spielberg. Thanks for keeping up our street cred for us - we always like to keep up on what the hot new names of the future are going to be.

Best play

1. TIE: Henry. October. 1970. and Mambo Italiano
2. An Act of God
3. Proof
4. Cobra: The Musical
5. Killing Jar Jar
6. Guys & Dolls 7. Rules of the House
8. Male Intellect: An Oxymoron? 9. Vagina Monologues
10. Noah's Ark 747

A rare tie in the theatre milieu, with Gravy Bath and Madd Harold's Shakespearean look at the FLQ crisis ending dead even with Mambo Italiano, which won last year as well. The film adaptation, which stars Paul Sorvino, Ginette Reno and Tim Post, opens in early June.

Best dance company/choreographer

1. La La La Human Steps
2. Solid State
3. Les Grands Ballets Canadiens
4. O Vertigo
5. Seika Boye
6. Ballet Jazz
7. Carbone 14 8. Cirque du Soleil
9. Margie Gillis
10. Ben Read

Édouard Lock and his acclaimed La La La take the cake again, though they're starting to feel the heat from the very popular breakdance collective Solid State, which rises in the ranks from number four to two this year.

Best spoken word act

1. Coco Café
2. Catherine Kidd
3. Ramón Cespedes
4. Yann Bernaquez
5. Alexis O'Hara
6. Laura MacDonald
7. Mark Harris
8. Lydia Leiffer
9. Broken Spoke
10. Fortner Anderson

Many of the usual suspects here this year, with the powerhouse Coco Café (see story) taking the top spot, just edging out ubiquitous local Kidd.

Street-level spoken word Coco Café opens the doors to an art form Six years of promoting the Coco Café series has put the Inobe Productions crew at the forefront of the Montreal spoken word scene. Musing on the numbers who cast ballots their way, Inobe Stanislaus says, "A lot of people are aware of Coco Café for different reasons. My brother's in the hip hop scene: he sees Coco Café as slowed-down hip hop. Others see it as poetry set to music. It's a gathering, it's a meet-and-greet, unifying the scene a bit." The founders of the Inobe Productions crew got together for a one-off event in 1996; the next year, seeing a distinct lack of black performers at the big spoken word shows like YAWP!, Inobe Productions inaugurated Coco Café to promote the talent they knew was out there. According to Stanislaus, "One of the things that makes Coco Café what it is, is that it's produced by non-spoken word artists. As a non-spoken word artist, I'm not competing with the performers consciously or subconsciously - I love spoken word and I want to see more of it." He sees the vibe as a bit more street-level and less academic. "We're making spoken word as an art form more accessible to people, we're opening the doors to people who might have the perception that spoken word is elitist," Stanislaus says. "It can be a guy reading his thesis paper - but what about the guy off the street who just has something to say?" The next Coco Café, the all-woman Nigga?! Please… is set to go down on Sunday, May 25, with (as always) host Mahalia "Miss Thang" Verna, and featuring Lydia Lockett, the winner of last month's quasi-slam competition Smackdown. At Pub Quartier Latin (318 Ontario E.) 8pm, $6 » Vincent Tinguely

Best museum

1. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
2. Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art
3. McCord Museum
4. Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) 5. Redpath Museum

You Montrealers love culture, that's for sure. Save for a couple of ballot desecrators, that is, one of whom suggested that the best museums are "ones that aren't full of dusty old shards of pottery or cracked paintings by supposed masters," or another who declared that their personal fave was "my aunt's bug collection in formaldehyde." Such anti-intellectualism posing as populism!

Best gallery

1. Zeke's Gallery
2. Elle Corazon
3. Fly
4. Rad'a
5. VAV Gallery
6. Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery
7. Liane & Danny Taran Gallery (Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts) 8. Noel Guyomarc'h
9. Espace verre
10. Clark

Zeke's, the little gallery that could, takes the title for the second year in a row, besting the naysayers who last year complained that it somehow wasn't a "real" gallery.

Best art exhibit

1. Skindeep (Lea Jafiarova and Geneviève Genest) at Elle Corazon
2. Sam Taylor-Wood at the Musée d'art contemporain
3. Art PM at Brutopia
4. Voyage Into Myth: The French Avant-Garde From Gauguin to Matisse at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
5. Concordia's Art Matters
6. Zïlon at Galerie Yves Laroche
7. I am not J.C. Je suis N.B. (Nadia Bertrand) at Zeke's Gallery
8. Genesis P-Orridge at the VAV
9. Low Riders (V-Low collective) at Zeke's Gallery
10. Katia Coric at Saloon

Local artists and smaller galleries rule the category this year, with only one major show entering the top 10.

Best cartoonist

1. Aislin
2. Luis Neves
3. Billy Mavreas
4. Rick Trembles
5. Serge Chapleau
6. Bernie Mireault
7. Marc Bell
8. Sherwin Tjia
9. Howard Chakowicz
10. Dave Rosen

Best local author

1. Mordecai Richler
2. Anthony Kokx
3. Leonard Cohen
4. Neale McDevitt
5. Yann Martel

Honourable mentions: Michel Tremblay • Irena Karafilly • Dany Laferrière • Fabienne Larouche

Booker winner Martel still can't touch the late Richler or meditative Cohen, who hasn't written a book in years. New on the list are playwright Kokx and NDG bard McDevitt.

Best local fashion designer

1. Cosmic Angels (Lydia Lukidis)
2. Philippe Dubuc
3. Yso
4. Ritual Designs
5. Denis Gagnon
6. Geneviève Genest
7. Parasuco
8. Luscious
9. Nevik
10. François Beauregard The order of the top three is reversed from last year, with Cosmic Angels (see story) sashaying to number one.

Cosmic connection Lydia Lukidis designs jewellery with a personal touch It's not a psychic hotline, but a visit to local jewellery designer Cosmic Angels' Web site (www.cosmicangels.ca) does feel a bit like a surf down memory lane into an early '90s new-ageism - a crystals-are-hip time - that some of us may wish to forget. But don't be put off: there's a reason why our poll reveals Cosmic Angels founder Lydia Lukidis as the local designer de préférence. You don't have to know your chakra from your elbow to appreciate these innovative pieces of jewellery, each handcrafted with care by the designer. Lukidis got into the jewellery design business in 1999 when a store owner spotted her wearing one of her pieces and asked if she would sell her work. "It felt like divine intervention," says the artist, who had dabbled in clothing and accessory design, but was ultimately looking to funnel her creative energy into one thing. Her latest spring/summer collection features both beaded and sterling silver works. Think anti-Tiffany's - "I'm interested in pushing the envelope with what jewellery is and how it can be worn," she says. That means anything from giant dream-catcher silver necklaces to beaded corset-style tops, or (my personal favourite) the fetishy, connect-your-choker-to-your belt look. Hot. Cosmic Angels has been expanding steadily since its inception, distributing to stores around the city as well as in Ottawa and Toronto. But Lukidis is not looking to spread herself too thin, wanting to keep the personal touch on all her items. "You have to take baby-steps," is her attitude. These days she's focusing on honing her skills as a jeweller and looking towards custom-design work for films, videos, and fashion shows. You can find Cosmic Angels designs at Freitag, Aqua Sky and Fly boutiques. If you're looking for a custom design, Lukidis takes appointments at her studio, Call 221-5392 for info. » Alexandra Spunt

Best zine

1. Street Eaters
2. Fish Piss 3. King 16 4. Motel
5. Sang frais

As per usual with this category, votes came in for all sorts of publications, many of which can't really be classified as zines. Vice, a glossy, doesn't count as a Montreal publication any more; Strut and Maisonneuve are both new Montreal ventures, but they'd be better categorized as magazines than zines. When they start getting photocopied and stapled by hand, we'll let them up on the list.