The First Annual Good Citizen Awards: The Best of 1998!

We had a whole bunch of know-it-all’s vote on their favorites in the local music scene for teh year just ending. We gave them no clues, but they surprisingly agreed on more than you might expect. See what you think.

At the end of every year, local music publications all over the country proclaim their annual favorites and sum up the preceeding months by polling their writers or readers and asking what they liked and disliked about the past year. We asked thirteen of Burlington’s movers, shakers and know-it-alls (you know, the people who have to know something about local music ‘cause it’s in their job description) to tell us what they thought about the Vermont music scene in 1998. Our panelists: Nicole Saltus of The Buzz, Anne Rothwell of Club Metronome, Mike Luoma of WIZN, Mia Sladyk of Pure Pop Records and Club Toast, Jim Lockridge of Big Heavy World, Paul Doyle of the Vermont Review, Alex Martin of WRUV, Kevin Murrihy of WWPV, Alex Crothers of Higher Ground, Pamela Polston of Seven Days, Pete Gershon of Signal to Noise Magazine, and Good Citizen co-publishers Andrew Smith and Chris Parizo. Our rules? Simple and few: the music must have a distinct relationship to Vermont, and it must have been a part of our culture in 1998. We didn’t nominate anyone, we just asked our esteemed panelists to fill in the blanks. The only other rule? Because we own the magazine, Chin Ho! and it’s members were disqualified. There would have been too much whining, otherwise. So, we’ll let the awards begin here: 

Best Disqualification

1) Chin Ho!

Album of the Year

1) Construction Joe Cry Uncle
2) Pants Eat Crow
3) Wide Wail Like it Never Was
4) Stupid Club Made to Feel. Also: Drowningman, My Own Sweet, Strangefolk, viperHouse, Invisible Jet.

Song of the Year

1) Wide Wail “All My Life”
2) Invisible Jet “Grounded”
Also: Chad “Monster Truck”
Zola Turn “Racecar Driver”
Zola Turn “Escape Artist”
viperHouse “Catostrophic Lens”
The Pants “Intruder Alert”
Invisible Jet “Taxi”
My Own Sweet “Shards”

Best Compilation Album

1) Welcome to Vermont, Now Go Home
2) Pop Pie
3) No Secrets

Best Group

1) viperHouse
2) Construction Joe
2) The Pants
3) Strangefolk
3) Wide Wail
Also: Zola Turn, Barbacoa

Best Artist

1) James Harvey. Also: David Kamm, Aaron Flinn, Tom Lawson, Craig Mitchell, James Kochalka Superstar, Sandra Wright, Katherine Quinn.

Best Vocalist

1) Amanda Gustafson (of Wide Wail)
2) Heloise Williams (of viperHouse)
Also: Jesse Sargent, Katherine Quinn, Tom Lawson, Kadiatou Sibi, Nelson Caldwell, Yolanda.

Best Guitarist

1) David Kamm (Construction Joe, Famous Potato)
2) Steve Blair (freefall, Science Fixion)
2) Max Owre ((sic), Motel Brown, Rina Bijou)
Also: Trey Anastasio, Josh Mechum, Jim Branca, Neil Cleary, Bill Mullins, J’Kael.

Best Keyboards

1) Ray Paczkowski (viperHouse)
Also: Andy Hildebrandt, Steve Tremblay, Don Gay, James Harvey.

Best Bass

1) Andy Cotton (Gordon Stone, Rina Bijou)
2) Stacy Starkweather (Option Anxiety)
Also: Rob Morse, Tom Carvey, Tyler Bolles, Billy Moschella, Bill Bratcher.

Best Drummer

1) Mark Robohm (Belizbeha)
2) Phil Carr
Also: Luke Smith, Greg Beadle, Gabe Jarrett, Jamie Sheffer, Jeff Salisbury, Phil Brown, Tim Buckingham, Paul Gibson.

Best Horns/Brass

1) Dave Grippo
2) Michael Chorney
2) James Harvey
Also: Peter Danforth, Michael Ray, Max Hobar.

Best Songwriters

1) Construction Joe/David Kamm
2) Tom Lawson/The Pants
2) Neil Cleary/Stupid Club
Also: Velvet Ovum, Strangefolk, Katherine Quinn, Skamaphrodites, My Own Sweet, Amanda Gustafson.

Best Mixer/DJ

1) Cousin Dave. Also: Little Martin, Melo Grant, Craig Mitchell, Mike Luoma

Best Blues Performer/Artist

1) Jim Branca (of Bloozotomy)
2) Dave Keller
2) Nobby Reed
2) Kip Meaker
2) Big Joe Burrell
3) Christine Adler

Best Folk/Acoustic Performer

1) Katherine Quinn
2) Rik Palieri
2) Aaron Flinn
2) Glenn Schweitzer

Best Jazz Performer/Artists

1) viperHouse
2) James Harvey
3) Picture This
3) Grippo/Sklar
3) Jazz Mandolin Project

Best Bluegrass Performer/Artists

1) Gordon Stone Trio/Band
2) Smokin Grass
Also: Organic Groove Farmers, Peter Riley.

Best Rock Performer/Artists

1) The Pants
2) Strangefolk
3) Invisible Jet
Also: Wide Wail, My Own Sweet. Chris Lentz, Josh Mechum, David Kamm, Skamaphrodites.

Best Local Radio

1) Burlington and Beyond (WWPV)
2) Buzz Homebrew

Best Commercial Radio Station

1) The Point (104.7, 103.1. 95.7fm)
2) The Buzz (WBTZ) 99.9fm
3) WIZN 106.7fm

Best College Radio Station

1) WRUV (90.1fm) University of Vermont
2) WWPV (88.7fm) St. Michael’s College

Best Radio On-Air Personality

1) Captain Steph (Stephanie Hindley) WBTZ 99.9fm
2) Doctor Tuna (Alfred Snider) WRUV 90.1fm
3) Mike Luoma WIZN 106.7fm

Best Local Music Writer

1) Steve Lemcke Burlington Free Press
2) Pamela Polston Seven Days

Best Web Site

1) Big Heavy World

Best Live Music Venue

1) TIE: Higher Ground and Club Toast
2) Club Metronome
3) Mad Mountain Tavern
4) Toadstool Harry’s

Best Live Sound Engineer

1) Sergei Ushakov
2) Don “Quennie” Quenneville

Best Local Record Store

1) Pure Pop (Burlington)
2) Buch Spieler (Montpelier)
3) Tones (Johnson)

Most Likely to Succeed

1) TIE: viperhouse, Belizbeha, Strangefolk

Best Looking Band

1) Zola Turn
2) Belizbeha
3) viperHouse

Sexiest Band

1) Zola Turn. Also: Non Compos Mentis, Velvet Ovum Band, Belizbeha, Craig Mitchell, viperHouse, The Skamaphrodites, Jusagroove.

Best Dressed Band

1) TIE: The Skamaphrodites, Zola Turn. Also: Velvet Ovum Band, Invisible Jet, Helicopter, Jusagroove, Cosmic Krewe, Wide Wail, Starline Rhythym Boys.