Best Local Band
Two A Day
www.twoaday.com

In a town known for being musically fickle, to score best local band after just a short two years together is a doubly hard feat. But the boys of Two A Day–Joe Cassese (lead vocals/rhythm guitar), Wesley Buckwalter (lead guitar/backing vocals), John Correa (bass), and Nick Cassese (drums/backing vocals)–have worked tirelessly to garner new fans. They have a slick Web site and they’re always passing out fliers before shows. They’ve also recorded a nice little EP and made up Two A Day T-shirts.

"We’re trying really hard to get our name out there and the little things we're doing now will only continue to help us in the future," says Cassese.

But that promotion is just bells and whistles. What it comes down to is the music. Bottom line: this quartet of hard-working musicians rock, bridging the gap between hard alternative and sensitive emo-core. They have the talent, sure, but more importantly they have the work ethic to practice and continue to write new music and grow as artists.

"It was nice to find some musicians around who I could tell were serious," says Correa.

"We got it together musically really quickly and started hitting the clubs," adds Cassese.

Not only does Two A Day perform locally, but they’ve been hitting clubs up and down the coast, spreading the SLO sound. And the boys show no sign of giving up.

"Someday we want to be playing arena rock shows," says Buckwalter.

Judging from their commitment and talent, they just might make it. They might be the new kids on the block, but they sure aren’t the New Kids on the Block.

2nd: JND
3rd: Ragg

Best Place To Go On A First Date
The Beach
(Face north, turn left, go straight)

Some people don’t like the beach. Can you imagine? They fret about sand in their underpants or getting their feet wet or coming home smelling like dead fish and seaweed. Too bad for them, because most people know the beach is the ultimate romance spot.

The gentle lapping of small waves is sexy, but when it’s big and crashing, the power of the ocean is also an aphrodisiac! And the way the sky meets the sea is like two lovers caught in a gentle embrace.

The beauty of the beach can silence a couple, allowing them to bask in one another’s reverence of nature, but it’s also a spot that can foster conversation (the ultimate foreplay!).

And stripping down to the ol’ swimsuit … well, that’s always nice too, isn’t it. You wouldn’t want to buy a pig in a poke, and in a nice tight bikini or a pair of Speedos, the pig is definitely out of the poke and flying free!

The beach allows for those wishing to be active or inactive. You can go for a swim or play a little paddleball or Frisbee, or you can lie there and bake. And like all good first dates, it’s free.

2nd: The Movies
3rd: Sycamore Mineral Springs

Best Dive Bar
Bull’s Tavern
1032 Chorro St., San Luis Obispo

"I’ve got friends in low places…" Garth Brooks’ country song is the best description of Bull’s Tavern–plus it’s playing on their jukebox all the time.

Bull’s is a "low place," but everyone is so friendly there that it doesn’t seem to matter. In fact, the dive bar atmosphere makes the important things stand out: friends and liquor.

"You don’t come to Bull’s cause it’s a ‘nice’ bar," bartender Dave Steele says. "You come to Bull’s to get a good drink at a good price and have some fun."

The drinks, the prices and the fun are definitely good at Bull’s. The bartenders make strong drinks. There is no watering down drinks and no sissy drinks where you can’t taste the alcohol. The stiff drinks naturally lead to not-so-stiff fun.

Bull’s ‘décor’ is the best place to have this type of fun because no potted plants are going to get knocked over, couches won’t be spilled on and a nice floor won’t be scuffed or stained. Why? Bull’s doesn’t have any of these things.

What Bull’s does have is a few wobbly stools, some wood protruding from the back wall that serve as tables and a sticky floor.

"Bull’s is definitely a dive bar," Steele says.

Bull’s adds its own touches to the traditional dive-bar look. There is a porn machine where you can play games with naked ladies on the screen in one corner and a jukebox playing all types of rock in the other corner. More naked ladies are the sole decoration for behind the bar. Shrines to dedicated patrons cover the ceiling like no patchwork quilt grandma ever made.

The bathrooms are a whole new type of ‘dive.’ There is so much graffiti that even the handle on the toilet seat has writing on it. Hopefully everyone would figure this out by looking, but it is highly recommended that you do not let your bare butt touch the toilet seats.

While there are no employees to clean up the bathroom or the spills, there are bartenders that add to the fun. When the bar is packed and the patrons are packing in the drinks is when you can find the bartenders in their element. They will make a big round of special ‘mystery’ drinks and give them out to the first customers that reach the bar.

"People come to Bull’s to drink, and they might drink when their happy or when their sad but they always tip the bartenders," Chris Mills, who has labeled himself as a "drinker" at Bull’s, explains the popularity of Bull’s bartenders. "Dave Steele is THE bartender."

The bartenders also have a bell that they ring, especially when someone orders a Bull’s Sweat. Bull’s Tavern’s signature drink, the Bull’s Sweat, is a big shot of Bacardi 151 Proof Rum, a splash of Tabasco Sauce and a dash of Worcestershire Sauce.

The shooter is appropriately named because it does taste like what you would imagine bull’s sweat tastes like and it will make you sweat it is so spicy. Why is it so popular then? The Bull’s Sweat is a rite of passage, especially when turning 21.

Everything at Bull’s seems designed to get people to make new friends, whether it be sharing the pain of a Bull’s Sweat, dancing by the juke box, taking one of the bartender’s shots, bonding over the slightly scary state of the bathrooms or swaying with your arms over the shoulders of the person next to you while yelling, "I’ve got friends in low places…"

2nd: McCarthy’s Irish Pub
3rd: Harry’s Night Club and Beach Bar

Best Movie Theater
Fremont
1025 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo

What makes a movie theater the best? A nice screen? Comfortably chairs? Tasty snacks? A good sound system? No, because that describes every theater in the county.

Being the best theater is something more intangible. It’s a vibe that comes from having the county’s only old school box office, the kind that sits like a sentinel before the bank of glass doors opening into a large, rambling lobby, complete with padded curving seating custom made for waiting around in style. It’s about an art deco interior featuring a stunning mural with gracefully swooping lines. It’s about colorful recessed lighting in the ceiling. It’s about a giant marquee outside and a façade rising into the air like a giant pink flamingo. It’s the feeling of nostalgia that only the Fremont can offer, harkening back to a time when going to the theater meant escape, fantasy, community–laughing and crying together, sharing experiences, building a common bond over the magic of movies.

The Fremont has won this category since 1995 because a theater like this one simply can’t be recreated in this age of strip mall multiplexes. Moviegoers recognize that. The one, the only … The Fremont!

2nd: The Palm
3rd: Signature

Best Place To Dance
The Graduate
990 Industrial Way, San Luis Obispo

Everybody needs to shake their groove thang, lest it shrivel up or wither away or atrophy or start dragging on the ground like a sack of lumpy mash potatoes. And those in the know say the best place to get your groove on is the Graduate. Located just on the outskirts of SLO Town, the cavernous restaurant and night club has dancing fun scheduled five nights a week.

Wanna learn to line dance? Come on out every Tuesday night for some free lessons from 8 to 8:30 p.m., followed by a whole lot of practice to some great country tunes. And once you get it wired, you can hit Country Stampede night on Thursdays.

Country music’s not your bag? Never fear, because the Grad has Old School Countdown every other Friday, where you’ll hear the best dance music of the 1980s and ‘90s. And there’s also specialty nights like Big Chill and College Hump Wednesdays. And most nights are 18 and over, so everybody’s welcome.

The Grad, which has won this category every single year since its inception, keeps the party going with unbelievable drink specials, like the three-for-one Friday night special from 9 to 10 p.m., or the $1.50 domestic beer bottles on Thursdays.

Special events sometimes preempt the regularly scheduled theme nights, so visit the club’s Web site at slograd.com to find out what fun is in store for you this week. Then get dolled up and prepare to shake your moneymaker.

2nd: Mother’s Tavern
3rd: Tortilla Flats

Best Cowboy Bar
Harry’s Night Club & Beach Bar
Cypress & Pomeroy, Pismo Beach

If you’re an old cowhand from the Rio Grand, an urban cowboy, or just some investment banker with snake skin boots, a big belt buckle, and a snazzy cowboy hat, as far as the citizens of SLO County are concerned, Harry’s is the place for you. The beachside nightclub has true grit, and as any cowboy knows, true grit is the best possible attribute for a bar to have.

Look around Harry’s and you’ll see the tools of the cowboy and rancher trade–real antique farm implements rusty and aging. It’s just got that comfortable down-home feel that cowpokes like.

Harry’s is also the live entertainment champion for the Central Coast with live music seven–count ‘em!–seven nights a week! That’s a whole heap of hootin’ and hollerin’ to be had, pards.

I’ll tell you a secret. Come closer. A little closer. Harry’s ain’t just for cowboys, friends. It’s also a place where surfers and tourists and bikers and college kids mix together in a big warm fuzzy embrace. It don’t matter who or what you are, Harry’s is the people’s bar. Chairman Mao, eat yer heart out!

2nd: Bull’s
3rd: The Graduate

Best San Luis Obispo Bar
Mother’s Tavern
725 Higuera St., San Luis Obispo
www.motherstavern.com

San Luis Obispo is full of great bars, so to be voted best is no small feat. And without question, Mother’s Tavern has been your favorite since it opened and began winning Best SLO Bar in 1995.

Right from the get go, Mother’s had an old-time vibe. Its massive handmade bar looks like it could have been built in the 19th century rather than the 20th, with its giant oval mirror and row after row of heartwarming booze. Look around the old-time faux copper ceiling and you’ll see an antique motorcycle, old snow shoes, a wooden airplane propeller and any number of other artifacts that add to the tavern’s nostalgic ambiance.

You can scope out the scene below from the upper-level, or you can get down to live music or DJs on the dance floor. Get there before the dancing starts and enjoy an excellent meal.

But good food, drink, music, and ambiance are only part of the formula that makes Mother’s Tavern SLO Town’s favorite watering hole. It’s the people, from the polite and gentlemanly doormen, to the hard-hustling bartenders and waitresses who are always ready to take your order that make Mother’s a welcoming place. Come on in and stay awhile.

2nd: McCarthy’s Irish Pub
3rd: Frog and Peach

Best North County Bar
Bonnema Brewing Company
6900 El Camino Real, Atascadero

Bonnema has been coming on strong in the past year or so, bringing in dozens of red hot bands, from Martha Davis and the Motels to rockabilly grandma Wanda Jackson, from 1980s alternative rockers like The Fixx and The Tubes to metal favorites like Y&T and Ratt. No other county nightclub offers more big name entertainment!

But Bonnema is also a great place to get a steak or shoot some pool or enjoy some fresh air on its spacious creek-side patio. With an upstairs and downstairs and booths and plenty of nooks and crannies to chill with friends, Bonnema is unlike any other local club.

Located in the heart of Atascadero on El Camino Real, it’s a magnet for young and old. At the Wanda Jackson show, for instance, gray-haired fans who grew up with the queen of rockabilly shared space on the dance floor with the new crop of youthful greasers who were discovering Jackson for the first time. Any bar that can attract a mixed crowd like that is magic, people.

2nd: Villa Creek
3rd: O’Grady’s

Best North Coast Bar
Old Cayucos Tavern and Card Room
130 N. Ocean Ave., Cayucos

"Hey, man. What’s up with that?"

"What, the half-naked chicks in chaps painted on the walls?"

"Yeah."

"You got a problem with it?"

"No, no. I was just askin’."

"I think it adds to the mystique."

"Mystique. Is that some sort of perfume?"

"No. Mystique, like mystery."

"Mystery of what?"

"The mystery of this wonderful saloon. What makes it so great? It could be the raucous bartenders or the great bands. It could be the happy crowd, full of conversation."

"I guess I never thought of that. I mean Cayucos isn’t a huge town, but this place is always full of people having a great time."

"Know why?"

"Because people come from all over just to be here."

"Right. The barroom fills with music and laughter on the weekends. There’s a poker room in back and buck-fifty shots of JD."

"Everybody probably comes for that last one."

"You sure? This place is listed on a bunch of Web sites as a great place to play poker. Plus, it really looks like an old west saloon in an old west town…an old west beach town. The vibe here is always upbeat and energetic. They won Best North Coast Bar a bunch of times before."

"Yeah, it is."

"Look around. It’s a great crowd. It’s like everybody here is friends as soon as they walk in the door."

"Do you think that girl over there would be my friend?"

"No."

"You just said…"

"It’s a bar, not a miracle."

"Fine. I just never hear this place described as having mystique."

"Well, whatever it is, the Old Cayucos Tavern has it."

"Mystique?"

"Sure, mystique."

"Which is mystery."

"Yeah."

"Why didn’t you just say mystery?"

"Shut up and have another drink."

2nd Place: Sweet Springs Saloon

3rd Place: Camozzi’s Saloon

Best South County Bar
Harry’s Night Club & Beach Bar
Cypress & Pomeroy, Pismo Beach

Good old Harry’s! It’s won this category eight years in a row. Read more about the Best South County Bar in the Best Cowboy Bar category: No. 47.

2nd: Bill’s Place
3rd: Scotty’s Bar and Grill

Best Live Theater
Great American Melodrama Theatre
1836 Pacific Coast Highway 1, Oceano

Remember back in high school when that crazy football coach-combo-history teacher was explaining the early days of American entertainment? For those of you who might not have been paying complete attention, he went on and on about vaudeville acts. They were these shows where some traveling musicians and dancers would smash into town and knock the socks off the local farmers with all their ruckus and noise.

And you thought you missed it! But you didn’t, because the Great American Melodrama Theatre right here in Oceano is still reveling in Hee Haw-type performances. They perform live theater year round and every show will have you on the floor laughing.

The off season sees the Great American Theatre producing "regular plays" like Neil Simon’s Fools and the Pirates of Penzance. The best times though, are in the summer, when the true cabaret performances come to the stage.

Melodrama is what this theater is all about, so start practicing your BOO and HISS and YEA before you arrive. There will be a villain to hate, a heroine to save, and a hero to love in each of these lively shows. And plenty of song and dance from the players, who also happen to be the theater’s ushers and snack bar attendants. So you can cuddle up with a fully costumed Bad Guy during intermission.

The owners of Great American Melodrama Theatre find folks willing to sing and dance by attending events known as Straw Hat Auditions. Held throughout the country, these unique auditions provide for impressive variety in the actors used for each show. There are a couple of local actors who appear regularly in the shows, but overall the players are always changing.

So for a little hoop it up that you can take the whole family to, check out SLO County’s own Great American Melodrama Theater.

Best Radio Station
KCBX 90.1 FM

Talk about a tough category! This one has gone back and forth over the years, with KCBX and KOTR battling it out like two titans of radio. KOTR won in ‘95 and ‘96, ‘98, and ‘01, but KCBX came out on top in ‘97, ‘99, ‘00 … and of course, this year as well.

What makes KCBX such a favorite among local radio fans? It comes down to programming and personalities, and KCBX has both in spades. Local DJs–jazz fanatic Neal Losey and his "Morning Cup of Jazz, classical expert Marisa Waddell and her "Afternoon Classics," 78-rpm record collector Guy Rathbun and his terrific "Club McKenzie"–create amazing locally produced shows that keep listeners coming back because of the terrific music and knowledgeable insights. Plus there’s plenty of eclectic world music programming.

What other local station offers more important news programming? "The California Report" is a favorite not only with the public, but also with politicians, who call and thank the station for keeping them up-to-date. In addition to California news, KCBX also brings locals the world through National Public Radio programs such as "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered."

You want great specialty programming? How about "Writers’ Almanac," "Dr. Science, "Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz," "The Prairie Home Companion," "Car Talk," "New Dimensions" (that highlights current thinkers from across the world) and "Alternative Radio," where the alternative media comments on current news.

If that’s not enough, the station–under the expert guidance of General Manager Frank Lanzone–presents popular local events like the Live Oak Music Festival and the Central Coast Wine Classic, the second-largest wine event in the state! Plus the station is always co-sponsoring concerts or special events, like the recent appearance by Ira Glass at the PAC.

KCBX is going into its 27th year, supported in large portion by local listeners just like you, who every year during the annual pledge drive pony up the dough to keep this unique and amazing station going. Cheers to KCBX, and here’s wishing you another 27 years!

2nd: KOTR 94.3 FM
3rd: KZOZ 93.3 FM

Best Place To See Art
SLO Art Center
1010 Broad St., San Luis Obispo

Art is food for the soul, and your soul can fill to the point of bursting at the SLO Art Center, which anchors one corner of the Mission Plaza, bringing art out of the ivory towers and cloistered stuffiness of museums and into the minds and hearts of the masses.

With four galleries, plenty of special programming, and art classes for all ages, there’s simply nowhere better to see, experience and practice art.

Anybody can be a member of the Art Center, which allows you to be part of the rotating exhibition in the upper gallery. You can also join any one of the several groups–watercolor, photographic, printmakers, craftmakers, opaque painters–which hold periodic shows in the various galleries.

The SLO Art Center also brings into its main gallery important regional and national artists, and has hosted talks by the likes of Wayne Thiebaud.

The best of local painters, such as Mark Freear, offer classes there, while there’s summer and after school programming for kids as well. Life models are available for life-drawing sessions. In short, whether you want to make or see view art, there’s something for everyone at the SLO Art Center. Go fill your soul.

2nd: The Creamery
3rd: John Ramos Gallery

Best Community Festival
Mardi Gras

Considering there wasn’t a parade this year, this is an amaaaaazing win! The Mardi Gras was picked Best Fest in ‘95 and ‘01, and it never went a year without being in the top three. People like you, SLO Mardi Gras, they really like you (even if the powers that be in city government would like to see you go the way of the dinosaur, 25-cent hamburgers and Poly Royal).

Since its inception more than two decades ago, this event has steadily grown into the biggest thing San Luis Obispo has ever known! Not bad for what started as a little impromptu parade that traveled down Monterey Street throwing beads at incredulous onlookers. Since that humble beginning, the Mardi Gras has brought crowds estimated at 30,000 into the city, filling local hotels, restaurants and bars with revelers excited to be part of "the biggest Mardi Gras celebration west of the Mississippi."

Sometimes condemned for being too bawdy, Mardi Gras marks Fat Tuesday, the day before the Catholic holiday of Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. It’s a time for one last go at irreverence and cutting loose before the asceticism of Lent’s 40 days of deprivation kick in, and boy do people like to cut loose. There’s dancing in the streets, and sometimes drinking, and occasional flashing of bosoms and buns–things a few local, vocal residents find unsavory … but obviously not ALL residents, otherwise why would the Mardi Gras keep getting voted in the top spots for favorite festival?

Love it or hate it–and a lot of you love it!–it seems Mardi Gras is here to stay since an L.A. judge recently shot down as unconstitutional SLO City’s special events ordinance, which had tried to price Mardi Gras out of existence with a potential $100,000 bill to police this year’s parade. City of SLO, give the people what they want!

2nd: Arroyo Grande Strawberry Festival
3rd: Paso Robles Wine Festival