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Best Creative Convergence:

artisan building

Housing an art gallery, cafe, concert hall and theater, the Artisan Building on Del Paso Boulevard serves a multitude of needs. The space comes alive during concerts, plays and Second Saturday receptions. When there's a performance in the theater or the concert hall, the gallery and cafe are open. Likewise, on Second Saturday, patrons can look forward to shows in the concert hall and theater and seek refreshments at the cafe. Since 2004, the building has been owned by Capital City Church International, a nondenominational Christian church. (The concert hall doubles as a meeting place on Sunday for worshippers.) Our philosophy is â€˜the more, the better,' says curator Terry Flowers, who plans to introduce after-school music, art and storytelling programs for children and life-skills classes for adults. Look for local musical entertainment Saturday nights at the cafe, and check out caferefugio.com for a list of events and movie nights. (1901 Del Paso Blvd., Sacramento; 916-929-9900)

Best Example of Embracing Change:

mike farrell and tatiana latour of daisy spot

At one time they were a twosome in music&emdash;he on guitar, she on vocals, both sharing songwriting duties&emdash;and in life. Mike Farrell and Tatiana LaTour's romance cooled but a beautiful friendship remained. As their relationship changed, so did their band. Daisy Spot, whose music has been described as psychedelic pop with a bossa nova twist, started as a duo and went through various rhythm sections in the â€˜90s. In 2000, Tatiana's husband, Brian, joined the group as its bass player, and in 2003, Alex Jenkins joined them on drums. In 2005, Farrell was inducted into the SAMMIES (Sacramento Area Music Awards) Hall of Fame. At this year's SAMMIES, LaTour nabbed Best Female Vocalist&emdash;her second; she also won the accolade in 1997&emdash;and Daisy Spot's self-titled CD won Best Local CD. Spot the band around town playing at Old Ironsides, Harlow's, Fox & Goose and Marilyn's.

Best Food Dude on the Tube:

guy fieri

Winning Food Network's The Next Food Network Star this past season netted Guy Fieri a six-week stint with his own show: Guy's Big Bite. Next came Gotta Get It, also on the Food Network, and more episodes of Guy's Big Bite are coming soon. Fieri's also hosting Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, a special airing Nov. 4. This spiky-haired, bowling shirt-attired, armband-wearing chef, whose creations include Bloody Mary Steak, may look like all fun and games, but the guy is serious about what he's dishing out. Fieri co-owns four restaurants in Northern California, including Tex Wasabi's Rock-N-Roll Sushi-BBQ at the corner of Arden Way and Howe Avenue in Sacramento. All my food styles are pretty eccentric, pretty wild, pretty out of bounds, Fieri says. It's big, bold, in-your-face flavor. You could say he's on like Donkey Kong, a Guyism meaning ready to get it going, grab the hammer, jump over barrels, save the girl. It's go time.

Best Beatkeepers:

fenix

The name says it all. This African drumming and dance group&emdash; pronounced phoenix&emdash;has certainly been reborn. In fact, it has birth to thank for many of its second- and third-generation members. My daughter and I used to get together with other pairs of mothers and daughters to practice [drumming] and socialize, says Angela James, a founding member and mother of Olivia, a Fenix drummer, and grandmother of dancers Jordan and Jenice. We're a very versatile group of people&emdash;multigenerational and multiethnic. What began as an informal play group called the Umoja Sisters became the Fenix of today when it merged with the junior dance company Kucheza Kids. Now nearly 20 members strong, Fenix has performed African drumming, dance and storytelling at the Sacramento Public Library, school assemblies, private parties and the World Peace Conference. This is the new Fenix, James says. We finally said, â€˜Let's get on with it' and moved into the 21st century.

Best Campus Crooners:

sacramento state jazz singers and csus

Sacramento State is seeing double. Both its Sac State Jazz Singers and songbirds C-Sus (pronounced SEE-suss, after a familiar jazz chord&emdash;and, not coincidentally, the initials of the school) were named Best Collegiate Vocal Jazz Ensembles in the United States and Canada in the June 2006 issue of DownBeat magazine, considered the premier jazz rag for devotees. The coed groups of eight singers each are part of Sac State music department's Jazz Studies program and are students of Professor Kerry Marsh, a musician and contemporary-jazz enthusiast. The groups' sounds, according to music department chair Dr. Ernie Hills, are unique and more like instrumental jazz than pop&emdash;a style that clearly stood out to the judges of DownBeat's annual collegiate jazz competition. [Marsh] is a fantastic arranger, Hills says, and, after only three years on the job, he's created quite a stir.