Best New Club

Sadly, this is another posthumous award. Stuka as we know it is closing down; when the club reopens it will be under a new name, concept and management. Stuka was harder to pigeonhole than its competitors Numbers and the Proletariat, and former manager Tim Murrah liked it that way. Since its opening last winter, Stuka dive-bombed the competition by bringing in hot New York acts such as Navdeep, Longwave, ARE Weapons and Larry Tee, while not neglecting California (the Dragons) and Texas (the Riverboat Gamblers). The love of music trumped the love of being a scenester here at this short-lived haven for the truly hip, a nightspot where having good ears was seen as more desirable than having the coolest thrift-store threads.