It’s here again, the day of reckoning for the nominees for ARTVOICE’s annual Best of Buffalo poll. The first-place winner in each category will be announced this evening, but the fanfare is really for all the finalists, especially considering how close the votes were for the top five winners this year. Pictured left are last year’s hosts Val Townsend (104.1 WHHT’s Best Radio Personality) and Chevon Davis (our favorite drag queen) amid the pomp and circumstance. This year’s highlights will include musical performances by The Skiffle Minstrels (nominee for Best Genre-Defying Act) and the Steam Donkeys (Best Country Act nominee), EmCee Chevon Davis, and food from a variety of the local restaurants nominated as well as surprise guests and entertainers TBA. And of course, the ARTVOICE staff will be there practically in its entirety, so come on down and give us all a piece of your minds.

Brightblack Morning Light’s music is so groovy, so mellow, it’s like Donovan without the (shall we say, Donovan-esque?) lyrics. Also like Donovan, it has redefined “folk” and “psychedelic” for a new age. Brightblack, as the group is affectionately known, is a collaboration between self-described best friends Nathan “Nabob” Shineywater and Rachel “Rabob” Hughes, and whatever stray folk (musicians) may come along. Hughes and Shineywater both grew up in rural Alabama but have since relocated to Northern California, where their particular style may be better appreciated. Yet if they’ve left their roots behind in some ways, they certainly haven’t musically. This so-called “freak folk” is heavy on rhythm and blues, and even though they are white neo-hippies, Brightblack’s blues sounds as sincere as can be. The music includes elements of folk, rock, blues, and psychedelia that is simultaneously progressive and Southern-flavored. This is one of the best examples out there of weird yet accessible music. Listening to Brightblack Morning Light (their first full-length, for Matador Records, is self-titled) is like a shot of natural opium. That is to say, listen to it when you want to feel a certain way: like really, really good. Also on the bill are Daniel A.I.U. Belteshazzar-Higgs (Interdimensional Song-Seamstress and Corpse-Dancer of the Mystic Crags) and Philedelphia-based electronics artist Chiara Giovando.

Bread & Puppet Theatre has been a voice for political and social commentary in performance art for over forty years. Founded amid the protests against the Vietnam War, Bread & Puppet is one of the oldest self-supporting nonprofit theatrical companies in the United States. The spectacle of these puppets, with their larger-than-life size that can extend up to 15 feet in the air, is the product of artistic director Peter Schumann’s creative mind and philosophy of “Cheap Art” (art that ranges from five cents to 50 dollars). This unique take on theater draws heavily on the traditional circus format, creating a magical experience suitable for all ages. The name Bread & Puppet comes from the ceremonial rite of sharing fresh-baked bread with the audience to create a sense of community. This particular presentation is called the “Everything Is Fine Circus” and features characters such as Pinky the Federal Emergency Elephant, the Rotten Idea Theater Company and the Axis of Beagle, among others. All are accompanied by the B&P

When Leo Kottke was a kid in Muskogee, Oklahoma, a poorly handled firecracker did permanent damage to his hearing in one ear. But you’d never know Kottke was partly deaf, or that he could mishandle anything, when he picks a guitar in that aggressive, complicated, syncopated style that has been his alone, utterly inimitable, for nearly 40 years. (Some, including the chronically self-deprecating Kottke, might argue that his deafness evinces itself in his strange baritone. Most fans, however, find Kottke’s rumbling voice a fine counterpoint to the richly harmonic melodies he pulls from his guitars.) He’s released 30 albums of his own material since his 1968 debut, 12-String Blues; his most recent was 2005’s Sixty-Six Steps, his second collaboration with former Phish bassist Mike Gordon, which is highlighted by three guitar instrumentals. He has collaborated with fellow guitar masters like Chet Atkins and Jorma Kaukonen, and with songwriters the likes of Lyle Lovett and Rickie Lee Jones. Kottke books shorter tours than he used to do, and so his performances are that rare thing: an opportunity to see an artist who has mastered his instrument. To boot, like most people who take to the stage with nothing but a guitar in hand, he’s an ace storyteller.