Well, this is it. After 18 years of hosting the original reader-voted Best of Milwaukee, Shepherd Express readers voted in record numbers for the best bands, musicians, venues, performances and personalities.  Here are the top three nominees in each category.   

Voting has ended in the 18th Annual Shepherd Express Best of Milwaukee and reader votes have been tallied. Where there are exact numerical ties we have listed those businesses.

Best of Milwaukee Arts & Entertainment Category Finalists (in no particular order) Are:

Arts and Entertainment

Acoustic Musician

• Ryan McIntire
• Roxie Beane
• Pat McCurdy

Art Gallery

• Art Bar
• Children's Hospital Skywalk
• Milwaukee Art Museum

Best Local Artist

• Four guyz in dinner jackets
• Ryan McIntire
• Willy Porter

Best New Band

• The Now
• Fever Marlene
• The Jenny Thiel Group

Blues Band

• Hounds Tooth
• Booze Brothers
• The Katz Sass Blues Band

Club DJ

• Bounce the DJ
• King James
• DJ Rock Dee

Country Band

• Crossfire
• Chasin Mason
• Southbound

Cover/Tribute Band

• The Toys
• Mt. Olive
• The Lovemonkeys

Dance Company

• Danceworks
• Milwaukee Ballet
• Ko Thi

Jazz Artist

• Swing Nouveau
• Ellen Winters
• Jenny Thiel

Local Filmmaker

• Jason Williams
• Steven Binko
• Cheeseburger Sam

TV Personality

• Ted Perry
• Toya Washington
• Mike Gousha

Movie Theater

• Marcus Majestic
• The Oriental
• Rosebud

Museum

• Milwaukee Art Museum
• Harley Davidson Museum
• Milwaukee Public Museum

R&B/Funk Group

• Boogiemen
• Eddie Butts Band
• Paul Cebar

Radio Personality

• Kramp and Adler
• Bob and Brian
• Dave and Carol

Radio Station

• 103.7 KissFM
• FM102.1
• RadioMilwaukee

Rap/Hip-Hop

• Rusty Ps
• Black Elephant
• Melissa Czarnik

Rock Band

• The Toys
• Mt. Olive
• Oil Can Harry

Female Vocalist

• Jenny from The Crisis
• Roxie Beane
• Dani Daly - Oil Can Harry

Male Vocalist

• Mark Hansen
• Tommy Lueck
• Zach Wade