DAVID

www.davidlv.com DECEMBER 2011

OY TO THE WORLD

THE BEST CHRISTMAS SONGS PENNED

BY JEWS

YUCCA MOUNTAIN MUCK

“IT’S COMPLICATED” THE HOLIDAY SEASON FOR INTERFAITH FAMILIES

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FORGET THE WASTE, THE POLITICS ARE RADIOACTIVE

COREY LEVITAN

ON HIS FAMILY’S BATTLE WITH INFERTILITY

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BLUNOIR

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BOBBY WHEAT GALLERY • BOTTLES & BURGERS • BRASADO CHOCOLATE

BRIO TUSCAN GRILLE • CHARMING CHARLIE • CUCINA OLIVE OIL • DAVIDBARTONGYM JEFF WHITE CUSTOM JEWELRY • KIDVILLE • LEONÉ CAFÉ • OBIKA • PETRA-A GREEK TAVERNA RADIO CITY PIZZERIA • REPUBLIC OF COUTURE • RITUAL SALON & SPA • THE DOG HOUSE THE STRAND • VASARI • YOSCREAM

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December

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14 explore The month’s event listings to help plan your day or your stay 18 devour Where to find some of the best eats, drinks and foodie happenings in the Valley 20 desire Sin City abounds in worldclass shopping ... these are a few of our favorite things 22 discover Hot spots to go, cool things to do, hip people to see—the Entertainment Capital of the World, need we say more 23 mingle Snapshots of the latest, greatest Vegas events

28 speak Local humorist talks about the joy of beating the odds and becoming a father

42 Zombie Mountain Will the political climate keep Yucca dead

58 Yvette Brown

Social Connector The month’s spotlight on someone of interest

32 play The Venetian builds the first eco friendly outdoor ice rink on the strip to host its Winter in Venice celebration 36 taste A round up of the comings and goings in the Vegas restaurant scene, plus our reviewer’s favorite dishes for 2011

46 Jew’ltide Would you know it, its the Heebs that provide the holiday sound track 52 Menorahs & Mistletoe Interfaith families navigate the holiday season calendar

on the cover “It’s complicated” says this yidishe Santa. Realities collide at this time of year.

Photo by Brian Brown.

Copyright 2011 by JewishINK LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. DAVID MAGAZINE is protected as a trademark in the United States. Subscribers: If the Postal Service alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we are under no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within one year.

The publisher accepts no responsibility for unsolicited or contributed manuscripts, photographs, artwork or advertisements.

Submissions will not be returned unless arranged for in writing. DAVID MAGAZINE is a monthly publication. All information regarding editorial content or property for sale is deemed reliable. No representation is made as to the accuracy hereof and is printed subject to errors and omissions.

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Max Friedland

max@davidlv.com editor@davidlv.com

Joanne Friedland joanne@davidlv.com

EDITORIALllllllll

Editorial Assistant

Jeremy Leopold a

Brianna Soloski

brianna@davidlv.com

Copy Editor

Pat Teague

Contributing Writers

Jim Begley Marisa Finetti Jaq Greenspon Corey Levitan Cynthia Robbins Pat Teague Lynn Wexler-Margolies

ART & PHOTOGRAPHY

Art Director/ Photographer Contributing Photographer

Steven Wilson steve@davidlv.co

Brian Brown

ADVERTISING & MARKETING

Advertising Director Editorial Board

Joanne Friedland joanne@davidlv.com

Andrea Behrens Stewart Blumenfeld Nancy Katz Ellen Kominsky Lori Nelson

SUBSCRIPTIONS 702-254-2223 | subscribe@davidlv.com

Volume 02 Number 08 www.davidlv.com DAVID Magazine is published 12 times a year.

Copyright 2011 by JewishINK LLC. 1930 Village Center Circle, No. 3-459 Las Vegas, NV 89134 (p) 702-254-2223 (f) 702-664-2633

To advertise in DAVID Magazine, call 702-254-2223 or email ads@davidlv.com To subscribe to DAVID Magazine, call 702.254-2223 or email subscibe@davidlv.com

DAVID Magazine sets high standards to ensure forestry is practiced in an environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable manner. This copy of DAVID Magazine was printed by American Web in Denver, Colo., on paper from well-managed forests which meet EPA guidelines that recommend use of recovered fibers for coated papers. Inks used contain a blend of soy base. Our printer meets or exceeds all federal Resource Conservation Recovery Act standards and is a certified member of both the Forest Stewardship Council and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. When you are done with this issue, please pass it on to a friend or recycle it.

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contributors

Marisa Finetti is a local writer, marketing professional and blogger. The Tokyoborn Finetti has called Las Vegas home since 2005.

She has written for such publications as Spirit and Las Vegas and Nevada magazines and has a healthy-living blog at bestbewell.com.

When she’s not writing, Finetti enjoys family time with her husband and two boys.

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Jaq Greenspon is a noted local journalist, screenwriter and author with credits on The New Adventures of Robin Hood and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

He also is a literary and movie critic, has taught and written about filmmaking but is most proud of his role in the film, Lotto Love. A Vegas resident for most of his life, his native language is Hebrew, but he doesn’t speak it anymore.

Corey Levitan Las Vegas journalist Corey Levitan was laid off four months before the Nevada Press Association named his “Fear and Loafing” series the Best Local Column of 2011. He is now a freelance writer, a new dad and a pauper.

Jim Begley is an avid food lover who has recently taken up food writing in a feeble attempt to defray his obscene restaurant spending. If you like what you’ve read, follow him at splurgemonkey.com or via Twitter@ splurgemonkey.

Cynthia Robins Cynthia Robins was the television editor for the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, fashion and beauty editor for the San Francisco Examiner and finally, a feature writer for the San Francisco Chronicle.

She took a buyout from Hearst in 2001 and hightailied it to Las Vegas where she has written three books and set up a jewelry studio to create unique gemstone pieces. She is currently working on a memoir.

Pat Teague has been a practicing journalist, manager and editor for international and regional wire services, and has worked for several metropolitan daily newspapers. He also has worked for one of the world’s largest corporations and was one of five Southern Californians in the Los Angeles chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists honored in 2000 for career achievement.

Lynn WexlerMargolies has been a feature writer and contributor for magazines and newspapers, locally and nationally, for over 20 years. She writes a monthly online column entitled Manners in the News, which comments on the behavior of politicians, celebrities and others thrust in the public arena.

She is the Founder and President of Perfectly Poised, a school of manners that teaches social, personal and business etiquette to young people.

She is a former TV Reporter and News Anchor. Of her many accomplishments, she is most proud of her three outstanding teenaged children.

DAVID KISLEV/TEVET 5772

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CHANUKAH bUffet speCiAls DeCeMbeR 20 – DiNNeR DeC. 21–24 & 26–28 – bRUNCH, lUNCH AND DiNNeR

sMOKeD WHitefisH bRisKet CHAROset pOtAtO lAtKes MAtZO bAll sOUp KUgel beet HORseRADisH speCiAl MeNU NOt AVAilAble ON DeCeMbeR 25

paLace • bouLder • texas • sunset • santa Fe • red rock • Green VaLLey ranch aLiante • Fiesta henderson • Fiesta rancho StationcaSinoS.com/buffet • Like us on Facebook.com/stationcasinos ©2011 Station Casinos LLC. Las Vegas, NV

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feedback



  

Editor, I could not be more delighted that the one and only Corey Levitan will now be a regular feature in DAVID. Corey has established himself as a talented on air personality and most certainly an engaging writer, whose hilarious exploits around Las Vegas so many follow regularly. Smart, edgy, fun, iconic - just like the magazine!

David Blackman Las Vegas, NV

PLURALISTIC ADULT JEWISH EDUCATION No Tests  No Homework  No Grades

Know Judaism.  JCC in Summerlin • Midbar Kodesh Temple in Henderson

       

Editor: Just when I thought I’d read the last of my favorite journalist’s articles. . .I pick up a copy of DAVID Magazine, and there’s Corey Levitan entertaining me once again.

With my busy schedule, it’s hard to get and keep my attention on much media prose these days; but Corey always manages to keep me interested right down to his very last words.

Thanks for a great magazine and the wise addition of Corey Levitan to your talented writers.

Keep up the good work and I’ll keep reading.

Annoula Wylderich Las Vegas, NV

Dear Editor: The November issue’s interview of David Pipes (A NEO Confidential) was pretty good - somewhat mild if it were in a conservative publication, but very good to see in a Jewish oriented magazine.

Perhaps the article will lead your readers to become seriously interested in the political aspects of Islam, starting with reading the many excellent books available which provide accurate pictures of what the advance of Islamic policies mean to the world.

Joe Chernicoff Las Vegas, NV

We want to hear from you!

Compliments and complaints are welcome, but only if we get them. Send them to the editor at editor@davidlv.com with “Letter to Editor” in the subject line or mail them to DAVID, 1930 Village Center Circle, No. 3-459, Las Vegas, NV 89134 10

DAVID KISLEV/TEVET 5772

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from the publisher So I am at home working on the Goldsteins remodel. (Full disclosure: I am, or have been at some time, an architect. If it’s true you are what you do, then this economy has had many in my profession equally ambivalent.) I’m trying to reconcile my clients’ budget with their desires when an agonized wail pierces the silence.

Startled, I look up and to my dismay the sobbing is coming from my diminutive 8-year-old. Only now I make out the words that accompany her lamentation. “Daddy, I am useless, I am useless!” and “Look at this total mess!” she repeats over and over, as if intoning some painful mantra.

Only then do I notice the pile of congealed goo in her hands. After inquiring why she had brought the mess into the house, she replies, “It is my menorah. I made it.” This concoction looked more like the newspaper on my driveway after a strong rain (and throw in, for good measure, the car backing over it).

But … I am a dad, and as if on cue the words emerge: “What a beautiful menorah!” and something about never, in my long life, having seen one of such beauty. A little extra background is required. Our daughter’s nickname, besides “Zoz,” was “Wallpaper.” Life challenged her vertically, but more than compensated in the intelligence department. Her report cards, always all A’s and O’s, were a study in design repetition, resembling wallpaper. So, you see, she was not buying my excessive, if understandable praise.

The only thing to assuage her grief was to desert my clients for a while and focus on her crisis. We transported the art project to the kitchen for a much-needed design analysis. After a while, the light in her head went on: “I used too much papier-mâché and it broke.” She had been at the neighbors’ house, making menorahs with their kids. She fashioned the candelabra out of tin foil (the easy part), but in slathering the armature added excessive weight to the arms, which kept collapsing – followed by more papier-mâché and even more structural failure.

A chopstick here, a few old pencils there and we had the thing back in shape. Only problem: It no longer looked like a menorah. As my daughter’s architectural consultant, it fell to me to admonish her to think outside the box. In moments her eyes lit up. “I made a menorah forest! It’s magnificent! Can we paint it like the Garden of Eden?”

Over the next few nights we created with paint what to me is truly the world’s most beautiful menorah. As I write, 12 years later, I count my blessings. I think that this year we will use the Garden of Eden menorah for Chanukah. I go to the cupboard and take it out. It’s cracked, in need of repair. I think I’ll call my daughter.

Chag Sameach and enjoy the latkes.

Early detection is vital.

No matter what your imaging needs are, we provide fast, accurate diagnosis and treatment using the most advanced technology available.

702.759.8600

www.desertrad.com Max Friedland max@davidlv.com DECEMBER 2011 DAVID

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OUR FIGHT IS ON BEHALF OF ALL SISTERS. BUT OUR INSPIRATION BELONGS TO ONE.

Our Founder, Nancy G. Brinker

Her Sister, Susan G. Komen

Years ago, Nancy G. Brinker made her dying sister a promise: to do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever. In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

For more information about Komen for the Cure’s mission to end breast cancer forever, visit komensouthernnevada.org or call 702.822.2324.

This space provided as a public service. ©2009 Susan G. Komen for the Cure ® The Running Ribbon is a registered trademark of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

BE SURE TO JOIN US FOR THE 17TH ANNUAL KOMEN SOUTHERN NEVADA RACE FOR THE CURE® Saturday, May 5, 2012 • Fremont Street Experience • Downtown Las Vegas For further information, call 702.822.2324 or visit our website at www.komensouthernnevada.org

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pulse INSIDE explore @ 14 devour @ 18 desire @ 20 discover @ 22

Bringing the magic of Christmas alive for years, The Nutcracker will be put on by the Nevada Ballet Theatre at the Paris Theatre this year, from December 17-24.

DECEMBER 2011 DAVID

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eXplore L A S

V E G A S

& 7:30 p.m., 8 p.m., $64-$168.50. Mandalay Bay, 3950 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas. 702632-7777. mandalaybay.com Body Carnival. Through Jan. 2, $8.50$9.50, Tues.-Fri. 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. & Sun. Noon-5 p.m., all ages. Lied Discovery Children’s Museum, 833 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas. 702-382-3445. ldcm.org Ethel M. Holiday Garden. Through Jan. 1, 5-10 p.m., free. Ethel M., 2 Cactus Drive, Henderson. 702-458-8864. ethelm.com Cirque Week. Through Dec. 10, times vary, $165-$561. Various locations on the Las Vegas Strip. Visit cirquedusoleil.com/cirqueweek Mystic Falls Winter Wonderland.

Through Dec. 23, free, all ages. Sam’s Town Hotel, 5111 Boulder Highway, Las Vegas. 702454-8020. samstownlv.com Opportunity Village Magical Forest.

Through Dec. 31, Sun.-Thurs. 5:30-9 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 5:30-10 p.m. Opportunity Village Magical Forest, 6300 West Oakey Blvd., Las Vegas. 702-259-3741. opportunityvillage.org Winter in Venice Ice Skating. Through Jan. 8, 11 a.m.-11 p.m., $14-$19, 5+. Venetian Hotel & Casino, 3355 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas. 702-414-1000. venetian.com/winterin-venice Skating on the Lake. Through Jan. 29, Mon.-Fri. 3-9 p.m.; Sat-Sun. 12-9 p.m., $8$15, all ages. The Village Lake Las Vegas, 15 Costa di Lago, Henderson. 702-564-4766. montelagovillage.com

J W Caldwell. Lightbulb Veteran, 2011 Acrylic on Canvas 44 ½ x 50 ½ inches. Now viewing , CENTERpiece Gallery (see 12.1)

12.1

Art by Corey Levitan. Free, all ages.

City of the World Gallery, 1229 S. Casino Center Blvd., Las Vegas. 702-523-5306. cityoftheworld.org David Levinthal & JW Caldwell Art Exhibitions. Through Jan. 15, free, all ages.

CENTERpiece Gallery, 3720 Las Vegas Blvd.

S., Las Vegas. 702-739-3314. centerpiecelv. com & MCQ Fine Art, 620 S. 7th Street, Las Vegas. 702-366-9339. mcqfineart.com Rumor de Lobos Grandes: Endi Poskovic Selected Prints. Through Jan. 9, hours vary, free. Historic Fifth Street School

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Gallery, 401 S. Fourth St., Las Vegas. 702-2291012. artslasvegas.org What Continues the Dream: Contemporary Arts and Crafts from the Powwow Tradition. Through Dec. 21, Weds.-Fri., 12:30-9 p.m.; Sat. 10 a.m.-7 p.m., free. Charleston Heights Arts Center, 800 S. Brush St. Las Vegas. 702-229-6383. artslasvegas.org A Walk on the Wild Side. Through Jan. 26, Mon.-Thurs., 7 a.m.-5:30 p.m., free. Bridge Gallery, City Hall, 400 Stewart Ave., Las Vegas. 702-229-1012. artslasvegas.org The Lion King. Through Dec. 31, 4 p.m.

National Finals Rodeo. Through Dec. 10, 6:45 p.m., $49, all ages. Thomas and Mack Center, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas.

702-739-3267. unlvtickets.com Cowboy Christmas Gift Show.

Through Dec. 10, 10 a.m-5 p.m., free, all ages.

Las Vegas Convention Center North Hall, 3150 Paradise Road, Las Vegas. nfrexperience.com A Place in Paradise Photographic Exhibit. Through Dec. 31, free. Boulevard Mall, 3528 Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas. 702735-7430. paradisepalmslasvegas.com

12.2

A Christmas Carol. Through Dec. 18, Dec. 2-3, 8-10, 15-17 at 8 p.m. & Dec. 4, 11, 18 at 2 p.m., $17-$30, all ages. Nevada Conservatory Theatre at UNLV, 4505 Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas. 702-895-2787. nct.unlv.edu First Friday. 6 p.m.-midnight, free, all ages.

Various locations downtown. For more information, call 702-384-0092. firstfriday-lasvegas.org

DAVID KISLEV/TEVET 5772

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America’s original

hookah lounge Open Every day from 5pm-1am, Happy Hour every day 5pm-7pm & Tuesdays from 5pm-1am

Featuring Specialty Cocktails, Beer, Wine, Mixed Drinks, Hookahs and Food.

Six Mounds in Dark Red and Yellow with Red by Endi Poskovic (see 12.1)

Brantley Gilbert. Through Dec. 3, 10:30 p.m., $25. Veil Pavilion at Silverton Hotel, 3333 Blue Diamond Road, Las Vegas. 702263-7777. silvertoncasino.com Lee Ann Womack. Through Dec. 4, 8 p.m. $29.95. Orleans Arena, 4500 W. Tropicana Avenue, Las Vegas. 702-365-7075. orleanscasino.com

UNLV Choral Ensembles Winter Concert. 7:30 pm., $8-$10, all ages. Artemus Ham Concert Hall at UNLV, 4505 Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas. 702-982-7805. unlvtickets.com

12.3

A Scinta Christmas. Through Dec. 4, 7:30 p.m., $29.95. Suncoast Hotel, 9090 Alta Drive, Las Vegas. 702-636-7111. suncoastcasino.com

Jeff Dunham. 8 p.m., $49.50-$89.50, 21+.

The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, 3570 Las Vegas Blvd. S.,Las Vegas. 702-731-7110. caesarspalace.com

Barry Manilow. Through Dec. 4, 8 p.m., $65-$250, all ages. Paris Las Vegas, 3655 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas. 702-946-7000. parislasvegas.com

Las Vegas Great Santa Run. 10 a.m., $25-$35, all ages. Town Square Las Vegas, 6605 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas. 702-2695000. lasvegassantarun.org

Ron White. Through Dec. 3, 10 p.m., $194.48, 18+. Mirage Hotel & Casino, 3400 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas. 702-792-7777. mirage.com

Michael Jackson Fan Fest. Through Dec. 14, 12-4 p.m. & 5-9 p.m. (Dec. 3-4 & 9-11) & 2-6 p.m. (Dec. 6-7 & 13-14), $35-$75, all ages. Mandalay Bay, 3950 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas. 702-632-7777. mandalaybay.com

Gustav Mahler Dance Concert.

Through Dec. 3, 2 p.m. & 7 p.m., $8-$10, all ages.

Nicholas J. Horn Theatre at CSN, 3200 E. Cheyenne Ave, Las Vegas. 702-651-4759. csn.edu Deadman’s Cell Phone. Through Dec. 18, times vary, $13-$15. Las Vegas Little Theatre, 3920 Schiff Drive, Las Vegas. 702-3627996. lvlt.org CSN Fall Dance Concert. Through Dec. 3, 2 p.m. & 7 p.m., $8-$10, all ages. Nicholas J. Horn Theatre at CSN, 3200 E. Cheyenne Ave, Las Vegas. 702-651-4759. csn.edu Holiday Movie in the Park: How the Grinch Stole Christmas. 6 p.m., free, all ages. Police Memorial Park, 3250 Metro Academy Way, Las Vegas. 702-828-3111. lvmpd. com/memorial/park

Neil Berg’s Broadway Holiday. 8 p.m., $31.50-$75, all ages. Artemus Ham Concert Hall at UNLV, 4505 Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas. 702-982-7805. unlvtickets.com

12.4

Zappos.com Rock ’n Roll Las Vegas Marathon. 4 p.m. Sold out for participants.

Mandalay Bay, 3950 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas. runrocknroll.competitor.com/lasvegas Rodney Carrington. Through Dec. 10, 10 p.m., $79.99, 18+. Hollywood Theatre at MGM Grand, 3799 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas. 702-891-7777. mgmgrand.com Toys for Tickets All-Star Jam. Bring new toys to Star Nursery in exchange for tickets to the concert (one ticket per toy), now through

™

hookahlounge.com paymons.com 702.731.6030 4147 S. Maryland Pkwy.

702.804.0293 8380 W. Sahara Ave. DECEMBER 2011 DAVID

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Dec. 4. 7 p.m., free, all ages. Green Valley Ranch, 2300 Paseo Verde Parkway, Las Vegas. 702-6177777. greenvalleyranchresort.com

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“MAMA’S FABRIC” VISUAL ARTS EXHIBIT, FEAT. Artist John Broussard. Through May 5, Weds.-Fri. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. & Sat. 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m., free. West Las Vegas Arts Center Gallery, 947 W. Lake Mead Blvd., Las Vegas. 702-2294800. artslasvegas.org

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KEEPER OF THE KEYS MOVIE PREMIERE. 7 p.m., $75. Plaza Hotel & Casino, 1 Main Street, Las Vegas. 702-739-9933. eventbee. com/v/keeperofthekeys THE ELVES AND THE SHOEMAKER. 10 a.m., $8.75, all ages. Artemus Ham Concert Hall at UNLV, 4505 Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas.

702-982-7805. unlvtickets.com

12.9

Saturday, December 17 - 2 & 7pm Sunday, December 18 - 1 & 5pm Tuesday, December 20 - 7pm Wednesday, December 21 - 7pm Thursday, December 22 - 7pm Friday, December 23 - 7pm Saturday, December 24 - 1 & 5pm

RON WHITE. Through Dec. 10, 10 p.m., $194.48, 18+. Mirage Hotel & Casino, 3400 Las Vegas Blvd.

S., Las Vegas. 702-792-7777. mirage.com WINTERFEST. Through Dec. 10, 6-9 p.m. (Dec. 9) & 11 a.m.-5 p.m. (Dec. 10), free, all ages.

Henderson Convention Center, 200 S. Water Street, Henderson. 702-267-2171. hendersonlive.com/special-events/winterfest ONE CHRISTMAS CAROL. Through Dec. 11, 2 & 7:30 p.m., $8-$10, all ages. BackStage Theatre at CSN, 3200 E. Cheyenne Ave, Las Vegas.

702-651-4759. csn.edu OLIVER. Through Dec. 18, times vary, $3-$7, all ages. Charleston Heights Art Center, 800 S. Brush Street, Las Vegas. 702-229-6383. artslasvegas.org

12.10

MARTY ALLEN. Through Dec. 11, 4 p.m., $49.95. Palace Station, 2411 W. Sahara Avenue, Las Vegas. 702-367-2411. palacestation.com

JCCSN SINGLES CHARDONNAY SHABBAT. 6 p.m. $30, 21+. Congregation Ner Tamid, 55 North Valle Verde Dr., Henderson. 702-7336292, rphillips@lvnertamid.org. jccsn.org

DOMENICK ALLEN & VINYL. 2 & 7:30 p.m., $15.95, all ages. Suncoast Hotel & Casino, Suncoast Hotel, 9090 Alta Drive, Las Vegas.

702-636-7111. suncoastcasino.com

CHARLIE DANIELS BAND. Through Dec. 10, 8:30 p.m. (Dec. 9), 8 p.m. $29.95. Orleans Hotel, 4500 W. Tropicana Avenue, Las Vegas.

702-365-7075. orleanscasino.com

WOMEN OF THE WORLD BENEFIT GALA TO BENEFIT SHADE TREE. 6-11 p.m., $300, 21+. Mandarin Oriental, 3752 Las Vegas Blvd.

S., Las Vegas. lvwow.org

BARRY MANILOW. Through Dec. 11, 8 p.m., $65-$250, all ages. Paris Las Vegas, 3655 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas. 702-946-7000. parislasvegas.com

THE LAKES FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS. 12-6 p.m., free, all ages. The Lakes (West Sahara), 9030 W. Sahara Avenue, Las Vegas. 702-256-9998. festival.lakesassociation.com



Groups are Welcome!

(10 or more)

The Nutcracker experience is perfect for your corporate or club holiday event!

Contact Joel Mann (702) 967-4938



ORDER NOW (702) 946-4567 nevadaballet.org

TickeTs also available aT Paris las vegas’ box office, aT Parislasvegas.com and Through TickeTmasTer ouTleTs. Season Sponsors:

Cactus Lighting at Ethel Holiday Garden (see 12.1) 16

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Winter Fun at Camp K’helah (see 12.19)

12.14

JCC Winter Mah Jongg Tournament.

9 a.m.-4 p.m., $50-$60, all ages. JCC of Southern Nevada, 9001 Hillpointe Road, Las Vegas.

702-794-0090. jccsn.org Art & Wine: A Perfect Pairing. 5-7 p.m., $30-$38, 21+. Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, 3600 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas. 702-6937871. bellagio.com

12.17

Pops II with Kristen Hertzenberg & Travis Cloer. 2 & 8 pm., $34.25-$78, all ages. Artemus Ham Concert Hall at UNLV, 4505 Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas. 702-9827805. lvphil.com

The Nutcracker. Through Dec. 24, times vary, $38.70-$131.70, all ages. Paris Las Vegas, 3655 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas. 702946-7000. parislasvegas.com

12.19

Camp K’helah Winter Session. Through Dec. 30, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., ages 3+. JCC of Southern Nevada, 9001 Hillpointe Road, Las Vegas.

702-794-0090. jccsn.org

12.20

Grand Menorah Lighting on Freemont St. 4 p.m., all ages. Freemont St. and 4th St., Las Vegas. chabadlv.org

12.22

Chanukah in the District. 6 p.m., all ages.

The District at Green Valley Ranch, 2240 Village Walk Dr., Henderson. chabadofgreenvalley.org

Jewish COMMUNITY ice skating Night.

9 pm, $36, 21+.Winter in Venice @ Venitian, 3355 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas. RSVP Carrie.Giverson@Venetian.com

12.24

17th Annual Bagel Ball. $25-$40, 21+.

Beso Ultra Lounge at Crystals at City Center, 3720 Las Vegas Blvd. S #260, Las Vegas. 702794-0090. jccsn.org

12.26

Jerry Seinfeld. Through Dec. 27, 7:30 p.m., $75-$150, 21+. The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, 3570 Las Vegas Blvd. S.,Las Vegas. 702731-7110. caesarspalace.com

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Celine Dion. Through Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m., $55-$250, 21+. The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, 3570 Las Vegas Blvd. S.,Las Vegas. 702731-7110. caesarspalace.com

12.29

Trans-Siberian Orchestra. 4 & 8 p.m., $63-$276, all ages. Thomas and Mack Center, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas. 702739-3267. unlvtickets.com Stevie Wonder. 9:30 p.m., $250+, 21+. The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan, 3708 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas. 702-698-7000. cosmopolitanlasvegas.com John Legend. 9 p.m., $99-$254, 21+. Pearl at the Palms, 4321 West Flamingo Road, Las Vegas. 702-942-7777. palms.com

To submit your event information, email calendar@davidlv.com by the 15th of the month prior to the month in which the event is being held.

HAPPY Chanukah

Come in for Holiday Favorites Jelly Donuts Potato Pancakes and more 301 N. Buffalo Drive 255-3444 www.thebagelcafelv.com

WhereTheLocalsEat.com

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devour Fogo de Chão Looking for copious quantities of grilled meat served to you by gauchos? Look no further than the Valley’s latest churrascaria, or Brazilian steakhouse, Fogo de Chão. Be sure to ask for the fraldinha (bottom sirloin), costela (beef ribs) and cordeiro (lamb); they’ll be escorted directly to your table. Quell your inner carnivore while partaking of the caipirinha — the Brazilian national cocktail consisting of cachaça, sugar and lime serves as the perfect foil to the multiple of red meat. You shan’t be disappointed. Fogo de Chao, 360 E. Flamingo Rd., Las Vegas, 702-431-4500, fogodechao.com

French Onion Soup @ The Range French onion soup is normally a memorable presentation as it’s difficult to forget soup overflowing with gooey cheese. Chef John Witte of The Range Steakhouse at Harrah’s takes the classic one step further and serves the soup comprised of five different onions — Walla Walla sweet, leeks, scallions, red and shallots — and a generous quantity of brandy in a hollowed-out colossal Walla Walla.

The result is an immensely rich and wonderfully balanced offering served at one of Vegas’ best kept secrets, but now you know. The Range Steakhouse at Harrah’s, 3475 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, 800-392-9002 ext. 5084, harrahslasvegas.com

Champagne @ Total Wine & More Champagne has long been the beverage of choice for New Year’s Eve and wow, is there a huge selection to choose from. To be called champagne a sparkling wine must come from the Champagne region of France. Total Wine & More offers a veritable ooh la la of labels, claimed to be in excess of 100. They also offer an equally large number of great international and domestic sparkling wines. French champagnes start at $32 and go all the way up to nearly $600, with Dubois Grand Cru being among the most popular. There are many choices of sparkling wines, with the basics ranging from $15-$20, Proseco ranging from $10-$25, and Kava ranging from $8-$15. Total Wine & More, 730 S. Rampart Blvd., Las Vegas. 702-933-8740. totalwine.com 18

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Candlelighting Kislev/Tevet 5772

FRI., DECEMBER 2, KISLEV 6 Light candles at 4:08 p.m.

SAT., DECEMBER 3, KISLEV 7 Shabbat ends 5:08 p.m.

FRI., DECEMBER 9, KISLEV 13 Light candles at 4:08 p.m.

SAT., DECEMBER 10, KISLEV 14 Shabbat ends 5:08 p.m.

FRI., DECEMBER 16, KISLEV 20 Light candles at 4:10 p.m.

SAT., DECEMBER 17, KISLEV 21 Shabbat ends 5:10 p.m.

TUES., DECEMBER 20, KISLEV 24 1st Candle of Chanukah WED., DECEMBER 21, KISLEV 25 2nd Candle of Chanukah THURS., DECEMBER 22, KISLEV 26 3rd Candle of Chanukah FRI., DECEMBER 23, KISLEV 27 4th Candle of Chanukah Light candles at 4:13 p.m.

SAT., DECEMBER 24, KISLEV 28 5th Candle of Chanukah Blessing of the New Month Shabbat ends 5:13 p.m.

Valid 1-1-12 thru 3-15-12

$20 OFF

y!

of Tuscan Savor the Flavors ve well.

To eat well is to li

SUN., DECEMBER 25, KISLEV 29 6th Candle of Chanukah MON., DECEMBER 26, KISLEV 30 Rosh Chodesh Kislev 7th Candle of Chanukah TUES., DECEMBER 27, TEVET 1 Rosh Chodesh Kislev 8th Candle of Chanukah WED., DECEMBER 28, TEVET 2 8th Day of Chanukah FRI., DECEMBER 30, TEVET 4 Light candles at 4:17 p.m.

SAT., DECEMBER 31, TEVET 5 Shabbat ends 5:18 p.m.

DECEMBER 2011 DAVID

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desire

Holiday Accessories Tie the knot at year’s end with this stunning and elegant .18 carat pave cubic Zirconia bow ring set in sterling platinum, $245. Ice Jewelry at Shoppes at The Palazzo, 3327 Las Vegas Blvd.

S., Las Vegas. 702-369-2955.

Designer David Meister’s gowns are a red carpet staple, gracing the frames of Hollywood luminaries, prices and styles vary. Neiman Marcus at Fashion Show, 3200 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas. 702-731-3636.

Step into a perfect fairy tail moment with this lustrous two-tone metallic and patent leather pump, $675. Christian Louboutin at The Shoppes at the Palazzo, 3327 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas. 702-818-1650.

Clutch on to the Elsa Peretti bean purse in red lacquer or gold lacquer to celebrate the origin of new beginnings, $3,200, $5,300. Tiffany & Co. at Crystals, 3720 South Las Vegas Boulevard Las Vegas. 702- 590-9299.

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Inspired by feathers, this eyecatching ruthenium-plated necklace sparkles in trendy shades of indigo, purple and turquoise., $380. Swarosvski at Town Square, 6643 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas.

702-269-9508.

Rugged, yet stylish, the men’s Swiss-made Atlas® watch in stainless steel with black rubber and black and gray dial is a timepiece for day and evening, $7,900. Tiffany & Co. at Crystals, 3720 South Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas. 702- 590-9299.

This Swarovski-encrusted slim pocket mirror by Judith Leiber isa creation of beauty, just like you, $195. Judith Leiber at The Forum Shops at Caesars, 3500 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas. 702-893-4800.

Be inspired by the graphic motifs of Moroccan tiles with these cuff links designed by Paloma Picasso, $300. Tiffany & Co. at Crystals, 3720 South Las Vegas Boulevard Las Vegas. 702- 590-9299.

DECEMBER 2011 DAVID

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discover JFSA Menorah @ The Magical Forest A long-time Las Vegas tradition, the Opportunity Village Magical Forest will once again be taking place this year from November 23 through December 31. As always there will be hundreds of beautifully decorated trees, light displays and live entertainment.

Once again this year the Jewish Family Service Agency is lighting its menorah — a nine-branched candle holder used on Chanukah.

This event is the culmination of their annual Light of Life Menorah campaign.The Forest will be open Sunday through Thursday from 5:309 p.m.; Friday and Saturday from 5:30-10 p.m. Opportunity Village Magical Forest, 6300 West Oakey Blvd., Las Vegas. 702-259-3741. opportunityvillage.org

Florence Melton Adult Mini-School

Garet Gordon

Looking for a program designed to enhance your Jewish education with a minimal time commitment? The Florence Melton Adult Mini-School offers adults a opportunity to explore their religion and culture in a multi-denominational welcoming environment. Meeting once a week for two years, the curriculum provides students with graduate level course work. The school partners with a number of local and international Jewish organizations to maintain a high level of excellence. For more information, contact Lynn WexlerMargolies at 702-875-5387 or e-mail her at meltonminischool.lynn@aol. com. www.fmams.org.il

Rocking Vegas from start to finish, the Rok’n’Roll Las Vegas Marathon is the ultimate sold out strip experience. More than 44,000 runners will descend on the night lit strip on Sunday December 4th. The full marathon starts 4:00 p.m., those running in the half marathon will hear the gun at 5:30 p.m. A Competitor event partnered with Zappos.com, this year will benefit the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America. A new event this year, the Stiletto Dash hosted by Brooke Burke of Dancing With The Stars will keep podiatrist in business years to come. runrocknroll.competitor.com/ lasvegas 22

Courtesy of Competitor Group

Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon

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mingle

Jill Super and Marjorie Belsky

Guest Speaker Barbara Goldstein

HADASSAH SOUTHERN NEVADA chapter, GALA for giving Red Rock Casino, Resort & Spa Saturday, November 4

(left to right) Sharon Walker, Amy Reiner and Liza Abrams

Sheryl Kogen and Nevada Supreme Court Justice Michael Cherry

Photographs by Tonya Harvey PBTH.com Honoree Congresswoman Shelley Berkley

(left to right) David & Betsi Steinberg, Hillary Torchin,Brian Steinberg, Leon & Faye Steinberg and Sam &Suzanne Green

Dina Titus and Marlene Silverman

Lauren and Danny Eisenberg

Stefanie Szlamkowicz and Jonathan Tuzman

(left to right) Deputy Director Hadassah Israel Barbara Golstein, HSNC Co-President Elaine Entin, Gala Co-Chair Laura Sussman, Congresswoman Shelley Berkley, HSNC Co-President Barbara Raben, Hadassah Desert Mountain Region President Fredi Brown and Gala Co-Chair Wendy Kraft

DECEMBER 2011 DAVID

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cosmopolitanconnections.com HOSTED BY YVETTE BROWN

DEUCE LOUNGE @ ARIA RESORT & CASINO Wednesday, November, 16 Photographs by Cory Fields fieldsphotography.com

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Josh and

Cleveland Cavaliers Forward Omri Casspi with Adelson Campus Students and Alumni

Chairman, Board of Trustees Victor Chaltiel

ADELSON EDUCATIONAL CAMPUS IN PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE GALA

The Venetian, Las Vegas Sunday , November13 Photographs by cashmanphoto.com Tammy Holt and Board Member Steve Haberkorn

Honoree Alan Dershowitz

Head of School Paul Schiffman and Michael Serenco

(left to right) Event Chair Mala Zheleznyak, Committee Members Kim Anderson and Kim Taylor

Alan Margolies and Event Emcee Lynn Wexler-Margolies

Josh and jessica Pianko

Adelson Campus Sunshine Committee

Standing Ovation for Dr Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson

DECEMBER 2011 DAVID

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(left to right) Danny Capp, Zach Capp, Lexy Capp, Rabbi Sanford Akselrad and Josh Capp

Tricia Keen and Ruth Furman

congregation ner tamid women of valor 2011

@ Congregation Ner Tamid Saturday, November, 19 Photographs by cashmanphoto.com The Honorable Elissa Cadish and Jacky Rosen

Lexy Capp

(left to right) Norma Friedman, Lisa Katz and Pam Poster

(left to right) Judge Linda Bell, Cindy Lein,Macaire Moran and Dianne Welch

Christina Primack and Skeeter

(left to right) Rabbi Sanford Akselrad, Lexi Capp, The Honorable Elissa Cadish, Tricia Kean, Philip Goldstein, Annie Matza and Bruce Matza

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(left to right) Dr Parvin Modaber-Jacobs, Leslie Jacobs and Tanya Murray

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“American Idol” winner Jordan Sparks performs at the opening of The Venetian’s first-ever ice skating rink. The event launches Winter in Venice, a 49 day celebration which includes a Nightly Holiday Spectacular at the property’s Doge’s Palace on the strip.

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Beating the Baby Odds in Las Vegas

T

he blood was pooling. I could see it now. I tried reassuring my wife, but Jo Ann knew what was probably happening.

The admitting nurse at the Summerlin Hospital emergency room validated our fears with her brainlessly worded first question: “How far along WERE you?”

The word miracle is overused. However, few others describe our daughter, Skylar Nicole. You’ve already eyeballed the photo, so you know we could not have asked for a better ending to this story.

However, a better beginning and middle would have been nice.

According to Dr. Bruce Shapiro of the Fertility Center of Las Vegas, there was only a 20 percent chance that the embryo he created would even implant in the uterus, much less ever ride a tricycle or attend college.

The average number of eggs collected for in-vitro fertilization, or IVF, is 12. After sperm injections, the resulting viable embryos number three or four, from which the best one or two are introduced to the womb. Jo Ann had nine eggs. Only one became an embryo and not a particularly viable one. (Shapiro graded it a “B” for unequal cell division.)

In clinical terms, that’s IVF’ed up.

“We might as well try it and see what happens,” Shapiro said, standing over Jo Ann’s stirrup-spread legs with the eyedropper containing what remained of our hopes for biological parenthood.

Jo Ann spent the next three days weeping inconsolably into a pillow with our bedroom door closed, a condition I hadn’t seen her in since our honeymoon.

Before IVF were three failed artificial insemination attempts, heartbreak following hope each time. “I feel pregnant!” Jo Ann would beam. Then the cramps came.

Not only was she in early perimenopause at the shocking age of 35, but (too much information alert) my swimmers were 97 percent misshapen due to varicose veins in my factory, which make the assembly line too hot to work right.

“Dude, do they have little bodies with big heads and highlighted hair?” asked a friend. “They’re not misshaped. They’re COREYshaped!”

It’s no joke that we had already spent more than $20,000 on infertility treatments that health insurance does not cover. Instead of further decimating my 401K, we called Jewish Family Services to launch the adoption process. Our appointment was scheduled for the following Wednesday.

Jo Ann called me a day before. She was weeping again. What now?

“I’m pregnant,” she said.

The midnight dash to Summerlin Hospital was a false alarm — although we wouldn’t know until Shapiro’s office opened at 6:30 a.m. (A doctor discharged us without assurances, stating only that Jo Ann herself was in no immediate danger.) Rather than a miscarriage, Shapiro said, the bleeding signaled difficulty the fetus had tapping into a blood vessel. The profusion of blood was rare, but the fetus still appeared healthy.

What Shapiro could not see was Jo Ann’s cervix, because the baby was not yet big enough to stretch it out.

Jo Ann has been cancer-free for 14 years now. But when she was 22, doctors discovered it in her cervix. Valuing potential mother-

www.sholombook.com

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hood over her own health, she refused the prescribed chemotherapy and radiation. Three surgeries followed, each removing more of her future baby’s flooring. The third one got infected, requiring even more removal.

“You’ll just have to have a cerclage when you get pregnant,” she remembers one of her doctors saying nonchalantly, referring to a stitch used to prevent preterm labor due to incompetent cervix.

Dr. Brian Iriye of the Center for Maternal-Fetal Medicine came recommended by my brother-in-law, a doctor in Arizona, who discovered that my first choice for a high-risk valley pregnancy doctor was high-risk for a different reason: Although this doc had glowing Internet reviews, he had lost, or surrendered, his license to practice medicine in California — due either to malpractice or sexual misconduct. (If Las Vegas ever opens another new hospital, I’ve got the name for it: Bolivia North.)

While searching for Jo Ann’s cervix, Iriye made an observation that surprised everyone — especially himself.

“Umm, it’s not there,” he said.

The Shirodkar cerclage is almost never used. It’s so much more invasive and complex than the traditional McDonald cerclage, its baseball-like stitches cannot be removed and the baby must be delivered by cesarean section. It also requires strict bed rest for the duration of the pregnancy, and foot massages administered by the husband every night. (Hmm, looking back, I think Jo Ann sneaked that last one in there.)

Iriye passed the baton to the partner in his practice with the most Shirodkar experience, Dr. Wilson Huang, who had performed exactly three in his career. Like the fast food they sound like, McDonald cerclages are quick. They take 20 minutes. Jo Ann returned from the operating room after 90. Through an epidural haze, she recalled Huang placing his foot on the bed for leverage as he yanked threads with strokes long and powerful enough to row a boat.

The only people to whom bed rest sounds like fun are those who have never been ordered on it. Jo Ann could stand up for only 20 minutes every two hours, and travel was restricted either to the bathroom, kitchen or doctor’s office. This lasted six months.

One day, I came home from work, greeted Jo Ann and rushed upstairs to my computer to send an email. Jo Ann sobbed. (I was the only person she had talked to all day and I didn’t want to talk to her.)

At 3 a.m. on a random Wednesday, Jo Ann flicked on our bedroom light. “Are you ready to meet your daughter?” she asked.

A clear and odorless liquid drenched her legs. There were no contractions, but she had been placed on anti-contraction medication to extend the pregnancy. We weren’t expecting to no longer be expecting yet; it was just shy of Jo Ann’s eighth month.

I jolted out of bed, then paced back and forth along the foot of it.

Every ‘70s sitcom cliché consumed me: Do I boil water? Did we pack a bag? What the hell do you boil water for? Jo Ann laughed.

This emergency hospital trip was a much better one. My wife held my hand as the nurse took a sample of the liquid for a test.

A half hour later, the result came back. It was negative. We were discharged, the nurse explaining: “We can’t give you a C-section before your due date if your water hasn’t broken yet.”

The next day, the flow increased. Freaked out, we returned to the hospital, where the test also came back negative. Discharge followed, yet again, by discharge.

What was this clear and odorless liquid? “We don’t know,” another nurse said, “but it’s not amniotic fluid.” If it were, she explained, the 30

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test would turn bluish-purple.

“See?” she asked, holding up something I couldn’t identify by anything other than its lack of bluish-purpleness.

Jo Ann had been monitoring the baby’s kicks with an iPhone app.

The number was normal: between 10-50 per hour. From 2-3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, there were none.

Jo Ann didn’t want to return to the hospital just to be sent back home again. I insisted, and our baby owes her life to it.

Glucose and electrical stimulation were administered. There was no response from the womb. More foot-of-bed pacing followed. It extended out into the hallway. Oddly, I found Iriye there. Although none of his offices is within 10 miles of Summerlin, he just happened to be seeing a patient in the same maternity ward at the same time. We exchanged pleasantries, then he read our baby’s vital signs and ordered the emergency C-section. Jo Ann’s OB/GYN, Dr. Edward Spoon, was summoned.

Holding my wife’s hand while she was sliced like a New York brisket, I made a promise I wasn’t authorized to make: that everything would be OK. After 14 minutes, I peeked over the curtain and pointed my iPhone’s video camera. This pool of blood was a more welcome sight. Our daughter was being plucked from it, pink and crying.

An NICU doctor manned a table

by Jo Ann’s feet.

Later, he told us he had been sent there to resuscitate. “We weren’t expecting a pink baby,” he said.

Dr. Bruce Shapiro with Skylar Levitan Another NICU doctor told us that, of course, the mysterious clear liquid was amniotic fluid. “What else could it have been?” he asked. (Later, Iriye told us the test is only 95 percent accurate.)

For three solid days, our baby endured an environment generally considered unsafe after 24 hours. This could be why she was now suffering from a suspected lung infection.

Ten days of antibiotics, tube-feeding and a spinal tap to rule out meningitis later, our daughter was home, where she has been happy, healthy and relatively drama-free for nine months (with the exception of a dog food-tasting incident I don’t care to discuss).

Using Facebook to announce her birthday, I joked that I couldn’t believe they let me reproduce. One friend replied: “When you think about it, they really did try to stop you.”

As the first calm in eight months descended on our new family, my own father phoned for a heart-to-heart. I prepared myself to receive information critical to the fathering process, some sort of dad-to-dad download.

“So,” he said instead, “when are you having another one?”

— By Corey Levitan DECEMBER 2011 DAVID

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Hold the Ice

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Venetian’s Faux Frozen Wonderland

Members Wanted

H

ere’s a holiday riddle for you. When is “ice” not ice? When it becomes a skating rink in Las Vegas.

It makes sense when you think about it. Everything else in Vegas is pretend: an “Eiffel” tower that really isn’t; a “Rialto” bridge far from the real Grand Canal; a pirate ship that “sails” on hydraulics.

Why shouldn’t a skating rink be just as faux, and just as fun?

Smack dab in the center of the gondolier lagoon in front of The Venetian Las Vegas is a 2,880-square-foot, 3,120-pound skating rink, open from 11 a.m. until 10:45 p.m.

But don’t look for a Zamboni to keep it smooth, or an assortment of water pipes and freezing units to keep it cold. This rink is a 2-inch-thick surface of plastic – “green ice” –that is both eco-friendly and reusable.

John Caparella, president and chief operating officer of The Venetian, Palazzo and Sands Expo Center, is the driving force behind the bedazzlement.

“This building is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certified and responsible to the environment,” he says.

“The engineering team told us that there’s a solution here that can be a lot more environmentally friendly. In fact, I’ve seen it done at Disney in Florida. I don’t know if we’re using the same technology, but I knew that we were using artificial ice out there.”

Differences abound between The Venetian rink and other winter-skating venues, such as the Wollman Rink in New York’s Central Park and Rockefeller Center.

Yes, it’s a slippery surface, but the glittery bells and whistles that surround it immediately identify it as a bona fide Vegas attraction. Plus, the Wollman Rink didn’t have Jordin Sparks or four laser systems.

The holidays can be a slow period in Vegas, so the rink may be far more than a conversation starter.

As Caparella puts it, “What we’re doing is creating a holiday experience Las Vegas hasn’t seen – and mixing it with The Venetian theme. Couples can experience a unique date night out, starting with dinner in one of our restaurants or just a simple hot cocoa or cider rink-side.”

The recent rink opening featured sixth-season “American Idol” winner Sparks standing in the middle of the “ice” on a specially-built platform, beneath an 8-foot disco ball.

The festivities were augmented by a laser light show, a suspended “angel” to light the holiday tree, dancing violinists, singing tenor statues, candy cane stilt-walkers, jugglers, magicians and the hotel’s signature singing gondoliers, all duded up for the start of the rink’s 49-day run.

The Venetian will reprise the ceremony five times a night, starting at 6:30 p.m. and repeating on the half hour until 10:45 p.m. The rink also will be open to skaters on New Year’s Eve. You can’t get much more festive than that.

The 36-by-80-foot rink consists of a grid of 4-by-8 interlocking sheets of a special polymer that will be laid down seamlessly, like a dance floor, to present an ice-like surface. Above it all is a 700-linear-foot truss system, festooned with 100,000 lumens of programmable lights. Adding to the ambience is a 50,000-watt sound system cranking out holiday tunes. And, yes, there will be hot chocolate and

Your Family. Your Home.

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Happy New Year!

Shabbat Worship Friday evenings at 7:30pm Saturday mornings at 10:00am

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munchies, including eggnog-flavored offerings from the Sweet Surrender Cupcake Shop.

The Winter in Venice theme continues inside the hotel, with specially concocted cocktails in the restaurants and bars.

But why bring “winter” to Vegas, where people ordinarily come to escape the ice, snow, cold and unshoveled driveways of their hometowns?

“Winter is here, too,” Caparella says. “It’s not about the cold. We’ve researched Venice, Italy, during the holidays, and have created visual storyboards that evoke some images to develop concepts. We noticed that they hang lights as they do here, although they do it in a more elegant way, with many star elements – which they can do, considering the glass-blowing business (on the nearby island of) Murano.

“We’re trying to capture the look and the feel of iconic Venice holiday activities, creating a holiday experience that Las Vegas has yet to see.”

Kim Grange, vice president of facilities for The Venetian and Palazzo Las Vegas says “The goal with the rink is to create an epicenter for the holidays for our guests and locals, and to drive business.”

“For the first few weeks of December, across The Strip, it’s very slow.

Occupancies are traditionally low, and people don’t usually come to Vegas for Christmas. We want to get them here a little earlier.”

The Venetian declined to offer a ballpark price tag for the winter extravaganza, but Caparella promises it is “going to be worth all the time and money. We’ve already seen a boost in bookings. We think it will drive additional guests to the resorts, who don’t usually think of Vegas for the holidays. We’ve had a lot of buzz about it already.”

Installation for the project started at the end of October. Thirty lighting technicians and carpenters have been working two shifts, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., to complete the rink in time for holiday visitors.

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It is only part of the overall spectacle, which will include a 65foot tree with more than 15,000 individually programmable lights.

With a nod to the city’s rock show productions, lasers will sweep the crowd and The Venetian façade. Nearly a quarter mile of lightemitting-diode robe décor lights swoop from lamp to lamp. And holiday images are projected onto the sides of the hotel’s landmark bell tower, or campanile, like the one in St. Mark’s Square.

Half-hour skating sessions are limited to 100 guests, to keep participants from being body-checked off the “ice.”

Tickets, available by reservation only, are $19 and include the skate rental. For The Venetian and Palazzo Grazie player club members, there’s a $5 discount. Skaters must reserve their spot in person at an outdoor ticket booth. The hotel will not take over-thephone reservations.

For those who bring their own skates, and need a little more edge to their performances, there is a sharpening concession at the rink.

Street footwear and other gear can be stowed in rental lockers for $1. Kids over 5 are welcome. A liability waiver must be signed before entering the rink area.

But what about Chanukah, with all this glittery Christmas mishegas?

On Thursday, Dec. 22, from 9 p.m. until 11 p.m., the Jewish community has reserved the rink for its holiday celebrations. The cost is $36. The evening will be festooned with all the lights and traditions of Chanukah, Vegas-style. There will be a menorah lighting, a gondola ride, kosher-style appetizers, complimentary water and soda and “buy one and get one free” cocktails. Such a deal – all this and ice skating, too.

— By Cynthia Robins

DECEMBER 2011 DAVID

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taste

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The Restaurant Year in a Wrap

11/22/11 10:33 AM

Mouthwatering Openings and Fond Fare Wells

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Let this holiday brighten your home with a Menorah from

Glass Vegas

011 was a year of ups and downs for the culinary scene.

To view On the downside, we experienced the closing of major institutions, such as neighborhood favorite Rosemary’s and Wynn Las Vegas’ ALEX, along with smaller closings without nearly as much fanfare, such as Chinatown’s Noodle Palace and Nora’s Wine Bar and Osteria in Summerlin.

In particular, I’ll truly miss Chef Michael Jordan’s Rosemary’s and the remarkable impression it made on the local dining scene.

Jordan was a pioneer in leaving the Strip for a local locale. He had an immensely successful run in his Sahara location. I can’t begin to express how we were saddened in its passing as we were fixtures in the restaurant. I still dream about the andouille-crusted duck confit.

Surprisingly enough, the passing of Jordan’s Rosemary’s occurs as other Strip chefs make their mark in the suburbs. Notable recent openings helmed by Strip-pedigreed chefs include The Great Bao (Sheridan Su), Bread and Butter (Chris Herrin) and Due Forni (Carlos Buscaglia). This is a time of epic transition in the Valley’s culinary scene.

Outside of high-profile closures, probably the two biggest culinary stories of 2011 were the openings at the Cosmopolitan (yes, I’m aware Cosmo opened in December, but it was late December … ) and the continued onslaught of gourmet food trucks on our Valley’sGlassVegas_12_2011.indd 1 streets. Each has added to the local dining scene.

Cosmopolitan simply rolled out a murderer’s row of restaurants, which appear to have only matured for the better as 2011 progressed. Estarios Milos now offers the ridiculously low-priced $20.11 lunch (to be increased to $20.12 in 2012) while Comme Ca has stepped up its French bistro offerings under the tutelage of Brian Howard – one of the Valley’s brightest young chefs. Throw the continually appetizing D.O.C.G. and China Poblano into the mix and you’ve got a collection of restaurants under a single roof that most small cities would envy.

The proliferation of gourmet food trucks that began in 2010 continued well into 2011, with numerous opening announcements.

While some have dropped off (RIP - Sloppi Jo’s and Top Notch BBQ), others have taken advantage of their newfound fame and even transitioned into brick-and-mortar locations (e.g. Fukuburger and Slidin’ Thru). In my mind, the best include Fukuburger and Slidin’Thru, along with Curbside Café, SnOw ONO Shave Ice and Tasty Bunz, although most are worth checking out and each brings something unique to the streets.

If you haven’t partaken of the food truck scene, do so. The unique offerings in these movable feasts rival those in Strip restaurants, at a fraction of the price. To track them down, follow their Twitter feeds or check out their locations on their websites. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did.

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Opposite: David Wong’s Pan Asian, Malaysian Roti DECEMBER 2011 DAVID

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2011 BEST DISHES In a year strewn throughout with outstanding eats, it’s difficult to pick a list of memorable ones; however, I’m glad to do the dirty work for you. These are not the absolute best dishes I had in 2011, but some of the best I was introduced to in 2011.

All are readily available menu items. What’s the point of tempting prose about dishes you can’t have? That’d just be cruel.

Aburiya Raku, Kaiseki dinner

Kaiseki Dinner at Aburiya Raku Probably the most memorable dining experience in a whirlwind year of eating was my first kaiseki dinner at Aburiya Raku (aka Raku), although truth be told I can hardly remember a single dish. With kaiseki that’s not uncommon, particularly if there’s sake (Japanese rice wine) paired with each course, which in this case there was; however, it was a memorable enough overall experience.

Kaiseki is a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner – Rakus are either 10 or 15 courses – with a series of small dishes based on readily available ingredients. Because the menu is seasonal, you’ll never get the same dishes twice. Even if you’re fortunate enough for multiple visits during the same season, chef Mitsuo Endo maintains meticulous records of what dishes each diner has been served, to ensure you don’t eat the same thing twice.

What I find memorable about the kaiseki dinner at Raku is the presentation — course after course meticulously prepared and presented, with Endo overseeing each detail. China and serving ware are expertly paired with each dish. And, as a bonus, a number of dishes are interactive and envelop the diner in the overall experience.

Offerings run the gamut from seafood and meat to vegetables, eventually onward to dessert, with each dish building on the previous.

The kaiseki dinner is less a meal and more an overall extravaganza in which to submerge yourself. Embrace it and be prepared for one of the most memorable dining experiences you’ll ever have.

Bulgogi-Fried Rice at KoMex Express This nondescript restaurant in an unassuming strip mall (aren’t they all?) on Decatur, south of Washington, is arguably my favorite new restaurant of 2011. Chef Sonny Yi flawlessly intermingles Mexican and Asian offerings with surgeon-like precision. The result: true fusion fare.

After having owned a Mexican grocery for a number of years near their current location, Yi and his wife Lynda opened KoMex Express in early 2011. The menu offerings, reflecting customer requests from those market days when Yi combined traditional Korean flavors and 38

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CHANUKAH SPECIAL DECEMBER 20th - 27th

4:00 PM - 10:00 PM KoMex Express, Bulgogi-Fried Rice

readily available Mexican ingredients, are nothing short of fabulous.

A number of great dishes line the menu, but my favorite is a Korean/ Chinese amalgamation – the bulgogi-fried rice. The smokiness of the fried rice is a perfect foil to the subtle sweetness of Yi’s bulgogi (Korean marinated beef). Topped with a bit of nori (seaweed) for a soupçon of saltiness, it is a sublime dish. I like it so much they named it after me on the menu – true story!

This is only one of many fusion offerings, along with a weekly rotating special serving, as Yi’s means to try new items. My only suggestion is, whatever your choice, pick the beef over the chicken.

While the chicken is delicious in its own right, the beef absorbs the characteristic Korean marinade better for a more unique flavor profile.

Combined with Mexican cooking in a taco or burrito and you’ve got a wonderful culinary melting pot in a single dish.

Malaysian Roti at David Wong’s Pan Asian

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David Wong’s Pan Asian is another strip mall tenant offering outstanding ethnic food. They’re serving the Valley’s best Thai food this side of Lotus of Siam.

David Wong’s rad nah, a standard Thai offering of wok-fried flat noodle in oyster sauce and a favorite of mine, gets enough pan time to impart the characteristic smokiness into the dish. The same goes for the pad see-yew, flat noodles with black soy beans, and now my favorite Thai noodle dish. Their representations of these dishes are the best I’ve encountered in the Valley because chef Lisa Wong, David’s wife, fries the noodles long enough to ensure crispness and smokiness.

While David Wong’s Thai offerings are remarkable, even better is his Malaysian roti. The dish consists of fried bread served alongside a side of yellow curry. Wong’s rendition is incredibly addictive. Use the roti to scoop up the potato-laden yellow curry — it’s as simple as that with this incredibly straightforward dish, which is why it’s a street food favorite. Finger food at it’s best.

Potato Salad no Blue Cheese Fuumi at Kyara Japanese Tapas More and more high-quality Japanese restaurants have opened in the Valley over the last couple of years, creating a vibrant ethnic dining niche unlike any other. Kyara Japanese Tapas, vintage 2011, is a worthy addition to a roster whose luminaries include Sen of Japan and Aburiya Raku.

Kyara is an izakaya — a Japanese bar that serves food to accompany the drinks. While there are a variety of sakes and shochu (essentially

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Japanese vodka) cocktails to choose from, Kyara’s tapas are noteworthy.

Selections include a variety of kushi yaki, or grilled skewers, such as teba (chicken wing) and gyutan (beef tongue); however, the most memorable of the skewers are the vegetable offerings infused with fragrant charcoal flavors. Among the best are shishito (Japanese peppers), asparagus, okura (okra) and nasu (Japanese eggplant). The eggplant absorbs even more grilled deliciousness because its large, flat sides sit squarely on the robata grill.

As good as the robata offerings are, my favorite dish is the potato salad no blue cheese fuumi — potato salad with blue cheese. While a dish of this type would seem more appropriate for a picnic than an ikazaya, therein lies the beauty. The potatoes intermingle with a hearty helping of tangy blue cheese and cucumbers for a bit of textural 4:41 PM contrast. The resulting dish has pangs of sharpness that easily pair with an Orion (OHR-ee-on), an Okinawan lager. It’s a perfect starter, although you may find yourself wanting more to pair with skewers throughout your meal.

So there you have it — some of the memorable highlights and dishes of 2011. If 2012 is anywhere as good, we’re in for a fabulous year!

Happy New Year, everyone!

— Jim Begley Aburiya Raku 5030 W. Spring Mountain Road #2, LV 89146 702.367.3511 6PM – 3AM Mon – Sat www.raku-grill.com

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KoMex Express 633 N. Decatur, Suite H, LV 89107 11AM – 9PM Tues – Sat and 11:30AM – 8:30 Sun 702.646.1612 www.komexexpress.com David Wong’s Pan Asian 2980 S. Durango Drive, LV 89117 702.629.7464 10AM -9:30PM Mon – Sat and 10AM – 9PM Sun Kyara Japanese Tapas 6555 S. Jones, Suite #120, LV 89118 702.434.8856 11AM – 3PM and 5PM – 2AM M-F and 5PM – 2AM Sat - Sun www.kyaraizakaya.com

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think INSIDE Zombie Mountain @ 42 Jew’ltide @ 46 Menorahs & Mistletoe @ 52

A menorah is a nine-branched candleabra used at Chanukah to represent the Jewish people finding enough oil to last for eight nights.

This year, for the second year, Jewish Family Service Agency of Las Vegas is sponsoring a menorah at the Opportunity Village Magical Forest.

DECEMBER 2011 DAVID

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ZOMBIE MOUNTAIN

Exactly How Dead is Yucca.....

By Pat Teague

T

he Yucca Mountain Project, dead or dormant depending on whom you ask these days, doubtlessly helped put a lot of kids through college and enabled some folks to pay their mortgages or car notes for years before funding was yanked.

In that sense, it was never entirely about shoving federal money — lots of it — down a desolate Great Basin hole. The outlays covered salaries, kept people employed for the better part of two decades, until the science and dollars ran afoul of politics.

Over the years, the U.S. government — through kilowatt-hour levies passed on to electric ratepayers under a 1982 law — dedicated

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close to $15 billion, from the set-aside fund, for geological study and site preparation work at the now-shuttered project about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

YMP was supposed to be what the specialists call a “deep geological repository” for spent nuclear reactor fuel and high-level radioactive waste from the defense sector — some 77,000 tons of it. A pair of tunnels, one about five miles long and 25 feet wide, and another roughly two miles long and branching off the first, were bored into the volcanic tuff hundreds of feet below the mountain’s surface.

Some of the stockpiled hot stuff, fused inside a glass matrix enclosed

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in a steel cask (with inert gas) surrounded by a concrete cylinder was supposed to remain undisturbed for up to a million years — abetted by human engineering and surrounding geology. Some of the decaying waste also needed to be accessible for handling again later.

As the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission explains: “Because of their highly radioactive fission products, high-level waste and spent fuel must be handled and stored with care. Since the only way radioactive waste finally becomes harmless is through decay, which for high-level wastes can take hundreds of thousands of years, the wastes must be stored and finally disposed of in a way that provides adequate protection of the public for a very long time.”

Indeed.

Project opponents said Yucca was never the geologically isolated, stable environment that the government wanted Americans — especially Nevadans — to believe was there.

They argued that Yucca Mountain is actually an area of historic disruptive activity, including earthquakes and volcanoes, and that a water table higher than experts initially believed could threaten the viability of the casks, whose contents could in turn threaten the biosphere, in the event of a large temblor.

On April 14 this year, the Obama administration zeroed out the federal budget funding for developing the site, sounding the project’s death knell — for now — and signaling that billions of dollars invested there would not result in a nuclear waste repository or much of anything. It marked the fulfillment of a campaign pledge presidential candidate Barack Obama made in 2008. Yucca backers called it political, without scientific underpinning.

History of the Project

safe repository for specified nuclear waste.

The Energy Department intended to begin accepting the nuclearderived chaff by Jan. 31, 1998. But legal challenges, concerns over transport of the waste to the facility and political machinations designed to underfund the project would ruin that timetable.

On July 18, 2006, the DOE proposed March 31, 2017, as the date to open the facility and begin accepting waste, based on full project funding.

Less than two months later, Bush nominated Ward “Edward” Sproat, a nuclear industry executive, to lead the Yucca Mountain Project.

Harry Makes a Prediction

But following the mid-term elections in November 2006, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., became the majority leader in the upper chamber. A long-time opponent of YMP, Reid reportedly remarked around that time: “Yucca Mountain is dead. It’ll never happen.”

By 2008, the YMP budget had been cut to $390 million. Still, with some creative dollar shifting, the DOE was able to submit a Yucca license application to the NRC on June 3, 2008. Meantime, the federal government was on the hook to utility companies for $300 million to $500 million annually for failing to start accepting spent nuclear fuel at a national repository by 1998, as promised by legislation.

During his run for president, Obama had pledged to scuttle the Yucca project if elected. After he took office, the NRC told the president he did not have the authority to make good on his promise.

On April 29, 2009, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and eight of his colleagues introduced a bill to provide “rebates” from the $30 billion federally managed — Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill. set-aside fund — which nuclear power plants, via ratepayers, had been contributing to — if the Yucca Mountain Project were abandoned. Graham’s state, which generates a lot of radioactive waste, gets half its electricity from nuclear power generation, and more reactors are planned.

“If you can’t store nuclear waste on federal property in the desert, under a mountain, you’re not going to find anywhere (to store it).”

In 1957, the National Academy of Sciences recommended that radioactive waste be entombed in rock deep underground, to protect the environment and public from the insidious effects of some decaying uranium and plutonium isotopes, among others.

In 1978, the Department of Energy began studying Yucca Mountain to determine if it would be suitable for the nation’s first long-term geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, the stuff now stored at 121 sites around the country. An estimated 11,000 tons of the waste is attributed to America’s military nuclear programs alone.

By December 1984, the DOE had selected 10 places in six states as potential sites for a national repository. They were studied and delineated in 1985. President Ronald Reagan specified those in Hanford, Wash., Deaf Smith County, Texas, and Yucca Mountain for more intensive study, or what the Energy Department labeled site characterization.

By 1987, Congress had amended the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (the legislation that opponents would dub the “Screw Nevada” act), directing DOE to focus all its efforts on Yucca Mountain, even though the Silver State had not one nuclear plant. Part of the reasoning was that Yucca was already within a former nuclear test site. Reagan eventually recommended Yucca Mountain for the project. And on July 23, 2002, another Republican, President George W. Bush, signed a House joint resolution allowing DOE to take the next step in establishing a putatively

The Science Adviser In 2009, Reid’s former science adviser, Gregory Jaczko, was nominated and later confirmed as the new NRC chairman. Jaczko eventually would halt the Yucca program unilaterally — provoking anger among some NRC staff who had worked on the project more than two decades. He cited the DOE decision to withdraw its license application, and Congress’ move to eliminate funding, as justification for quitting the project.

In February 2010, the president proposed eliminating funding for YMP. A month later, DOE filed a motion to withdraw its licensing application from the NRC, essentially halting the project in its dusty tracks. In September this year, the NRC voted on whether to allow the license withdrawal. The tally was 2-2, reportedly reflecting a split along Democrat-Republican lines. One member recused himself from the vote. Reps. Fred Upton, R-Mich., and John Shimkus, R-Ill., said the 2-2 tie means the DOE’s motion to withdraw its Yucca Mountain licensing application has not been granted.

Since the defunding of Yucca, the GAO has solicited proposals for alternative uses for the site. According to the GAO, the suggested alternative uses span five broad categories: (1) nuclear or radiological uses, such as locating a nuclear reprocessing complex at or near the site; (2) defense or homeland security activities, such as testing systems to detect and identify radioactive materials; (3) DECEMBER 2011 DAVID

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information technology uses, such as secure electronic data storage; (4) energy development or storage, such as using the site for renewable energy development; and (5) scientific research, such as geology or mining research.

Several experts also acknowledged that the proposed alternative uses could be done elsewhere, that Yucca Mountain is hardly mission-critical to such projects. And there’s always that hint of doubt over whether YMP is truly dead in the first place.

As the GAO sums it up: “First, DOE’s withdrawal of its application to build a repository at Yucca Mountain is subject to continuing legal proceedings, and resolution of these proceedings could preclude or significantly delay alternative uses of the site. Second, potential litigation regarding mining claims may affect alternative uses of the site.

Following the 2010 expiration of a land withdrawal order, 35 mining claims were recorded and processed by (the Bureau of Land Management). Although BLM declared these claims void in August, their legitimacy could be litigated, which could delay or pose challenges to alternative uses of the site. Third, because control of the site is divided among three different federal agencies (BLM, DOD and DOE), potential alternative uses may face challenges related to management of the site’s lands. Fourth, potential alternative uses of the site may be limited by national security activities that currently take place on adjacent lands.

Fifth, as with any activity, proposed uses of the site will require the user to comply with applicable federal and state regulations.”

Translation: Don’t hold your breath.

Recommendations on alternative uses to the site are due in January from The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, established almost two years ago and headed by former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., and longtime Republican presidential adviser Brent Scowcroft.

‘Nail’ to the Chief Last spring, Reid sounded triumphant as he reminded constituents back home he had shot down a House adversaries’ attempt to attach a rider to the sine qua non U.S. budget bill.

The add-on to the bill that authorizes the nation’s spending, an age-old parliamentary play in Congress, would have barred the NRC from stopping the Yucca Mountain dump licensing process. But Reid and his Democratic Caucus allies parried the maneuver, passing the budget without the offending provision. He said: “This budget agreement makes it crystal clear: the nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain is dead. Despite attempts by House Republicans to revive this ill-conceived project, we’ve once again driven a nail into its coffin. … Nevada will never become the country’s nuclear dumping ground. It’s time for proponents of Yucca Mountain to move on and stop wasting taxpayer money on this boondoggle.”

Pass the Gas Mask These days, it practically takes an act of Congress to get close to the Nye County site. Shimkus, R-Ill., is a West Point graduate who heads up the House Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy. Back in April, the former teacher and a couple of other ranking members of Congress from Texas took a short walk into the north portal of the five-mile tunnel that would have provided access to the many-chambered storage facility. An NRC delegation had gone even deeper into the tunnel a week earlier.

It must have been a spooky trek for the visiting lawmakers, who 44

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tramped past a white-painted chunk of the “Yucca Mucker,” a huge boring machine now on display near the entrance. The men carried flashlights and wore protective gear, including yellow hard hats and respirators that enabled them to go where the public is forbidden, where radon gas lurks. Lights were out, the ventilation off. Owl feathers on the tunnel floor signified humans were no longer masters of the subterranean domain.

Shimkus, whose state has more nuclear reactors (11) and nuclear garbage than any other, can’t understand why the Obama administration wanted to kill funding for YMP, or “waste” such a substantial investment of time and money and turn its back on potential jobs for economically ravaged Nevada. He made sure photos were taken, then issued a press release: “Our committee is taking on an aggressive role of doing our constitutional duty of government oversight of this administration and its actions,” Shimkus said. “Yucca Mountain was stopped for no apparent scientific or technical reasons.

“There are over 120 storage pools scattered around the country. We need to proceed with a consolidated site, and one site has been in the works for years. Not only have all the scientific studies at Yucca shown it is capable of handling nuclear waste, but those living closest to the site in Pahrump and Nye County want to see Yucca move forward. They have seen the loss of jobs and economic activity since the site has shuttered.”

Stunts and Stones His statement essentially echoed the 2 minute-11-second video essay on his youtube channel, a production spiced up with a banjo soundtrack.

Superimposed on the screen at one point are these Shimkus words: “If you can’t store nuclear waste on federal property in the desert, under a mountain, you’re not going to find anywhere (to store it).”

Nye County officials have long championed the Yucca project, stating unequivocally that their primary economic responsibility is to the citizens of that county — not the state, president or nation.

Clark County has long opposed Yucca.

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The Politics of Forever Reid and Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and some YMP opponents denounced the Shimkus tour as a public relations stunt, one for which taxpayers were handed the tab. Shimkus claimed the trip was made on a shoestring budget.

Shimkus took another jaunt Sept. 1, stopping in Richland, Wash., to visit the Hanford nuclear site on the banks of the Columbia River, home to 177 storage tanks holding 53 million gallons of radioactive waste from Cold War weapons programs.

Ostensibly, the Land of Lincoln congressman wanted to see the waste cleanup and reprocessing and the vitrification facility — where leftover nuclear waste is turned into relatively impervious glass, pointedly for permanent geologic storage in steel casks.

“Like Illinois, which has more spent nuclear fuel than any other state, Hanford is a prime example of the unmet promises across America to permanently relocate and secure nuclear waste,” Shimkus stated later. “That final destination by law is Yucca Mountain. Yet Yucca Mountain remains blocked by (the) political pandering, not any scientific or legal realities, of the Obama administration.”

Yucca does seem “dead” for the moment. But in American politics, nothing’s forever. No one serves until the end of time. Presidents come and go. Power shifts. Politicians quit one party for another.

Minds change. Memories fade. Unforeseen events can forge new realities almost overnight. Populist movements spring up and wither.

But radioactive waste is pretty much “forever.”

Jay Poster Funeral Director, Manager & Founder

Irv Weinberger Counselor, Family Services

Sheryl Chenin-Webb Counselor, Family Services

Bobbie Sgrillo Counselor, Family Services

A Dignity Memorial® Provider

2697 East Eldorado Lane Las Vegas, NV 89120 702-464-8570 www.kingdavidlv.com DECEMBER 2011 DAVID

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JEW’LTIDE How the Heebs Saved Christmas

By Jaq Greenspon

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eople everywhere are looking forward to “the kids jingle belling, and everyone telling you ‘Be of good cheer.’” And with all that going on, who can resist the “parties for hosting,” or the “marshmallows for toasting and caroling out in the snow?” Especially when you include the “tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago … ” Wait. What?

Christmases?

Shouldn’t we be sitting around the menorah, lighting candles, stockpiling (that oh-so-delicious chocolate) gelt and singing about dreidels and latkes? Sure, but why leave out Christmas songs, music and films, when a good many of the most iconic, well known and beloved of them were written and performed by Jews? In fact, when you really stop to look at things closely, a lot of the ways we, as a society, reference Christmas springs from the imaginations of a number of folks who themselves never celebrated the holiday.

We can start with the classic Andy Williams standard quoted above. It was originally recorded in 1963 for “The Andy Williams Christmas Album” and then covered by Johnny Mathis in 1986 on “Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis.” But the song itself was written by George Wyle (born Bernard Weissman in 1916) and Edward Pola, two Jews who also wrote the fun “Santa Claus Party” for Les Baxter. While the Williams and Mathis versions of “Wonderful Time … ” are iconic to people of a certain demographic, Wyle didn’t stop there. He was also the musical director of the 1979 “John Denver and the Muppets – A Christmas Together,” making sure his influence on Christmas was carried on by another generation. In fact, Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat, two of the more popular Muppets, recorded their own version of “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” for their 2006 holiday album “The Muppets: A Red and Green Christmas.”

Wyle and Pola are far from the only Jewish influence on the holiday, though.

Let’s start at the beginning – OK, not the “beginning” beginning … not going all the way back to Bethlehem, but back to the start of modern Christmas and the art and commerce that surrounds it. In 1895, two German/Jewish brothers, Isadore and Nathan Straus, purchased Macy’s department store and built it into a major concern, culminating in the building of the company’s flagship location on 34th Street (home of a famous miracle, but we’ll get to that). In 1924, the store employees, many of whom were immigrants like their owners, came up with a plan to give something back to the community that had offered them a home in the interwar period. Their plan, executed by the store itself (Nathan Straus had, by this time, already had a long history of philanthropy), was a big event, known initially as the Macy’s Christmas Parade.

This procession, held almost every Thanksgiving Day since, always ends the same way, with the appearance of Santa Claus, marking the official beginning of the Christmas season.

The parade, and the Santa connection, were immortalized in the 1947 film

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“Miracle on 34th Street,” where rival department stores Macy’s and Gimbels fight for holiday customers. It takes a special “Kris Kringle,” who may or may not be the real Santa Claus, to show the owners of these very real retail chains the true meaning of Christmas. At the time, though, owners of both stores were Jewish.

The arts reflect the society, and American culture is no different. From the early 1940s the idea of what Christmas was, as reflected in the arts, began to change rapidly. Most of that change was forged by Jews in the entertainment field.

The small pebble that started the avalanche was “White Christmas,” recorded

by Bing Crosby in 1942. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, or ASCAP, lists the song as one of the top-selling Christmas singles of all time, with more than 500 official recordings in dozens of languages. It has been recorded a record number of times, including twice by Bing himself.

Of course, Irving Berlin, a Jewish immigrant and son of a Russian cantor, penned the song. Berlin wrote it originally for a Broadway play celebrating the major American holidays. But when the play never materialized, Hollywood came calling and turned the idea into the Crosby vehicle we know as “Holiday Inn.” Berlin never imagined the song as the big hit of the film, focusing instead on “Be Careful, It’s My Heart,” the song that is centered around Valentine’s Day. Thankfully, he was wrong and “White Christmas” topped the charts for 11 weeks and took home the best song Oscar at the next year’s Academy Awards presentation.

When a song becomes a smash hit, people take notice. Jews already were writing a disproportionate number of pop hits, so it followed that a disproportionate number of Christmas songs soon would be flowing from their pens.

Jody Rosen, author of the song biography White Christmas, sees this musical gold rush as the starting point to “a new canon of holiday pop tunes that, seemingly overnight, had acquired cultural stature on par with Handel’s Messiah, traditional Christmas hymns, and 19th-century secular carols like Jingle Bells and Deck the Halls.”

These pop tunes, taking their cue from returning World War II soldiers experiencing the joy of simply being alive, had the effect of changing the holiday from something with deep, meaningful religious overtones to the secular, consumer-driven festival it has become.

Robert Everett-Green, writing in The Globe and Mail in 2010, put it best: “It wasn’t enough just to tell people to buy; they had to have some warmer, more collective mythology, something related to the generosity supposedly ingrained in Christmas traditions. The fact that much of that scenery and its sentimental trappings were painted and celebrated in song by urban Jews was not just a fluke of history. Only when Christmas could be defined by people who had

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nothing invested in Christmas as a religious occasion could the event become secular enough to include everybody with cash or credit card. Christmas as we know it in our malls and superstores needed outsiders — including Jewish songwriters — to make it what it is.”

Annually, ASCAP publishes a list of the year’s most-often-played Christmas songs. In November 2010, it was topped by “Sleigh Ride,” performed by Leroy Anderson, who also wrote the music. Anderson was not Jewish, but lyricist Mitchell Parish was. Parish, born Michael Hyman Pashelinsky in Lithuania, immigrated to Louisiana with his family when he was a child. In 1948, Anderson wrote the music to be performed by the Boston Pops. It wasn’t until the next year that Parish added the lyrics, making the song a verifiable hit.

Number two on the list is the perennial favorite “Winter Wonderland.” Here, lyricist Richard B. Smith most likely wasn’t Jewish (no verifiable evidence either way). But, according to Nate Bloom of Interfaithfamilies.com, composer Felix Bernard most certainly is. Bernard was born Felix Bernhard in Brooklyn and, as Bloom points out, “both his parents told the census taker that their mother tongue was Yiddish. Given that information one can safely assume that Felix Bernard was Jewish.” Bloom also substantiates his claim by citing Bernard familial sources.

Our friends Wyle and Pola come in with the third most popular Christmas song of 2010. Andy Williams’ version is still the top choice, and its popularity doesn’t seem to be diminishing in any significant fashion. Bing Crosby’s rendition of “White Christmas” landed at fifth in this most recent list. For a song celebrating its 70th year, it shows no signs of aging. (The fourth song on the list has no tangible Jewish connection.) So, to misquote a popular advertisement, four out of five of the most popular Christmas songs of 2010 were written by Jews.

But it doesn’t stop there.

“Silver Bells” was written for a Bob Hope film (“The Lemon Drop Kid”) by the Jewish duo of Jay Livingston (born Jacob Harold Levison) and Ray Evans. The tune was used in the film, but Bing Crosby performed the first recorded version.

The most popular version of the song today, though, is by Jewish saxophonist Kenny G. Crosby came back in the hopeful “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” Walter Kent, who wrote the music, and Buck Ram (who co-wrote the lyrics with Kim Gannon) were Jewish. According to Bloom, Ram (born Samuel Ram) wasn’t directly involved in the song, except to provide the title, but is still a worthy mention as a songwriter, having penned such ‘50s hits for The Platters as “The Great Pretender,” “Only You,” “The Magic Touch” and “Twilight Time.”

Mel Tormé, The Velvet Fog himself, spent July 1945 (according to Nate Bloom) in the desert, working with lyricist Robert “Bob” Wells (born Robert Levinson) writing what would become “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire).” Both Wells and Tormé are Jewish. The song itself has been recorded by significant performers no less than 75 times — the Nat

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King Cole version tops the list — and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1974.

And then there is Johnny Marks.

Johnny Marks was a decorated World War II veteran and a former ASCAP president. Although Jewish, he wrote so many Christmas songs he named his publishing company St. Nicholas Music. Perhaps his most popular ditty is “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” based on a poem originally written by his brother-in-law, Robert L. May, as an advertising giveaway from Montgomery Ward. A hesitant Gene Autry recorded “Rudolph” in 1949 and much to the surprise of “The Singing Cowboy,” (although probably not to Marks) the song was and remains a huge success. Marks even wrote a sequel nine years later.

In 1958, Chuck Berry recorded “Run, Rudolph, Run” that, while good, never enjoyed its predecessor’s success.

Marks also was responsible for turning Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “Christmas Bells” into the Bing Crosby hit “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” At this point, Crosby had recorded so many Jewish-penned Christmas hits he should have been made an honorary member of the tribe. Additionally, Marks wrote “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” which became a hit for Brenda Lee in 1960 (despite having been released in both 1958 and 1959) and again, as a benefit for Comic Relief, in 1987, for Kim Wilde and Mel Smith.

Finally, and this is really where Marks made his … well … mark, he wrote the songs for the Rankin-Bass 1964 stop-motion classic of “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.” This one television special, a holiday season staple, gave us “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” “Silver and Gold,” “There’s Always Tomorrow,” “The Most Wonderful Day of the Year,” “Jingle, Jingle, Jingle” and “We’re a Couple of Misfits.”

A lot of these songs first found their audience through visual productions, many of which were the works of Jews in Hollywood. For instance, “Holiday Inn,” which marked the first time that “White Christmas” was performed on screen, was remade 12 years later (in 1954), again with Bing Crosby. But this time, the Jewish involvement was much higher. Instead of Fred Astaire, the film co-starred Danny Kaye, was written by Norman Panama, Norman Krasna and Melvin Frank and directed by Michael Curtiz, all of them Jewish.

We could continue, looking at the history of Hollywood and the influence of people like Lew Wasserman, who famously directed his creative staff to “Dress British, Think Yiddish.” Then there were the Warner Brothers, Adolph Zukor or William Fox, all Jewish, and all of whom were responsible for creating the modern film industry; instead, let’s look forward to next October and how the Jews created Halloween!

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Menorahs & Mistletoe For This Meshuggenah Time of the Year

By Lynn Wexler-Margolies

’Twas the night before Chanukah … I was chasing a mouse, While Mama made latkes, and the smell filled the house.

Papa placed a menorah on the mantel with care, In hopes that Saint Nicholstein soon would be there.

My siblings all snug, as they slept in their beds, While pictures of dreidels danced in their heads.

Dressed in his robe and a red woven yarmulke, I sat by my Zeide, reading stories of Chanukah.

Then a thump from above woke my Bubbe Leora, Reindeer on the roof? Are they dancing the hora?

I ran to assess what the mishigas could be, And found in the garden a lit Christmas tree!

It shimmered in colors red, green, blue and white, A six-pointed star sat atop, tilting right.

There at the base lay gifts wrapped in clear foil, Chocolate gelt … painted dreidels … a menorah with oil.

Up on the roof, Ho Ho Ho I could hear, Saint Nicholstein holding the reins of his deer.

He then gave a shout as his sleigh bounded home…

Happy Holidays to all, and to all a Shalom.

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umorous, but presents a dilemma … and an increasingly common one at that. Menorahs and trees, dreidels and ornaments, Santas and Macabees … all symbols of the holiday season that, for an interfaith family, pose the so-called December Dilemma. For many of these families, the cultural, and in some cases theological, lines between religious observances and traditions during the holidays become uncomfortable and even confused.

According to the North American Jewish Data Bank, there are upwards of 6 million Jews in America. In a survey taken by the United Jewish Communities, 35 percent of American Jewish families are interfaith, up from 28 percent in 1990, with more than 50 percent of American Jews today marrying non-Jews. Interfaith marriages are a reality, and the need to address the December Dilemma is as prominent as ever.

For interfaith couples involving a Jew and any non-Jew who celebrates Christmas, the December holidays are a yearly reminder that they don’t share the same religious, ethnic or cultural background. Strong childhood memories can pull interfaith couples in opposite directions. The Jewish partner who participates in Christmas, often feels that they have betrayed their heritage by having a decorated evergreen in their home, and a jolly old man sliding down the fireplace. By contrast, the non-Jewish partner, who yearns to share the pervasive festivities of the Christmas season, feels a painful loss when met with resistance to Christmas observance. More than any other time of year, emotional tugs are at an alltime high, leaving interfaith couples to wrestle with what to do during the December holidays, forcing religious and cultural differences to the fore. What ought to be a time of joy and celebration with family and friends instead becomes a time of crisis and tensions.

John C. Hawxhurst, editor of Dovetail, a national interfaith newsletter, found that an estimated 750,000 interfaith families in the U.S. face this difficulty each year. “How can we balance our celebrations of Christmas and Chanukah, and at the same time remember the true significance of these two distinct and wonderful holidays? Do we wrap presents in Chanukah or Christmas paper? With which extended families should we celebrate? How do we explain all this to the children?”

Younger, newly married couples more easily laugh off these tensions. When children enter the picture, however, these issues cannot be avoided. “Youngsters often get right to the heart of the holiday matter … Are we Jewish or Christian?” says Hawxhurst.

“Even when an interfaith couple is living an almost exclusively Jewish life, when the non-Jewish spouse wants a Christmas tree, the trouble can begin,” said Renee Karp, a teacher at Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, Texas, where interfaith couples make up 15-20 percent of the congregation’s 2,600 families. “It’s a big issue,” she said.

Jane Kaplan, author of Interfaith Families, found that “Jews

are particularly concerned that interfaith holiday celebrations undermine traditional Jewish observance, and the Christmas tree is an especially sore subject. It seems to epitomize Christianity. It doesn’t seem to be nearly as big a deal for Christians to participate in Chanukah, or put a menorah in the window,” she said.

While the Christmas tree, and the holiday celebrating the birth of Christ seem inextricably linked, the modern Christmas tree tradition dates back to western Germany in the 16th century. They were called Paradeisbaum or paradise trees, and were brought into homes to celebrate the annual Feast of Adam and Eve on the 24th of December. Apples were thus the customary ornament. German immigrants brought this tradition to America in the late 1600s. It wasn’t until 1850 that the tree became popular among the general U.S. population as a decorative item for the Christmas holiday.

Another Christmas icon, Santa Klaus, dates back to a 4th-century Greek Christian bishop, Saint Nicholas of Myra (in today’s Turkey), who was famous for his generous gifts to the poor. He died on Dec. 6 and was celebrated each year by parents who rewarded their children with a small gift if their behavior modeled the saint’s. By the 1660s the Dutch called him Sinterklass. In 1821, he was given the name Sante Claus, in a book titled Children’s Friend by an anonymous author, in which he arrived as a jolly elf from the North in a sleigh with a flying reindeer, marking his first appearance on Christmas Eve rather than Dec. 6.

The jolly elf received another boost in 1823, from a poem destined to become immensely popular, A Visit from St. Nicholas, now familiar as The Night Before Christmas.

Rabbi Sam Gordon of Sukkat Shalom Synagogue in Chicago agrees that Christmas is more emotionally loaded for Jews than Chanukah is for Christians.

“Chanukah’s message of freedom is universal and easily accepted by all,” he said. The name Chanukah derives from the Hebrew verb to dedicate. On Chanukah, the Jews regained control of Jerusalem from the Seleucid Empire, rededicated the Temple, and reclaimed the Temple menorah. Because the small amount of oil they found to light the menorah burned for eight nights, Chanukah is also called the Festival or Miracle of Lights.

Dr. Dianne Ashton, author of The American Chanukah, explains that the trend of giving gifts on Chanukah originated in the 1950s.

Jewish child psychologists, as well as rabbis, started promoting gifts as a way to make post-Holocaust Jewish children happy to be Jewish, rather than sad about missing out on Christmas. In his book Holidays, History and Halakhah, Eliezer Segal contends the earliest sources to mention the giving of gelt on Chanukah are about students in Europe presenting it to their teachers to say thank you.

“Christmas, on the other hand, celebrates the birth of Christ, believed to be the son of God by Christians, and is the most familyoriented of Christian holidays,” Gordon continued. “Holiday memories consist of family gatherings in warm and beautiful DECEMBER 2011 DAVID

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settings, attending church, exchanging gifts in remembrance of those given the infant Jesus by the Three Wise Men, and singing magnificent songs. For this reason, many Jews find it difficult to tolerate Christmas symbols of any kind.”

That beautiful Christmas music, it should be noted, was written by none other than talented Jewish songwriters and lyricists.

“Winter Wonderland,” “The Christmas Song,” “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas,” “Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” “Silver Bells,” “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and more, written by such music greats as Irving Berlin, Sammy Cahn, Mel Torme, Johnny Marks, Felix Bernard, Mitchell Paris, Bob Wells, George Wyles … well, the list is just too long. It begs the question, though: Why were so many Christmas classics written by Jews?

InterFaithFamily.com contributor Nate Bloom suggests it dates back to the Middle Ages and the early modern period, where music was one of the relatively few fields where European Jews could make a living. Medieval and early modern Jewish musicians entertained Jews and non-Jews. “They even enjoyed a certain degree of admiration for their skill among the non-Jewish population,” Bloom states. Starting in the 1880s, millions of European Jews, seeking relief from religious persecution and economic deprivation, poured into America’s teeming cities.

The American Jewish population grew from an estimated 200,000 in 1870 to around 3.5 million by 1920. A huge market for popular music developed in America after that, coinciding with the mass production of pianos, the phonograph, radio, talking pictures, vaudeville and Broadway musical theater. “American Jews dove into American popular music. I think the main reason that Jewish songwriters wrote and still write Christmas or holiday songs was and is commercial.

A hit Christmas song meant a lot of sales,” concluded Bloom.

Elliot and Jennifer Weller live in Las Vegas with their children, Noah, 13, Hannah, 11, and Asher, 7 — good Jewish names considering Jennifer was raised Mormon and has not converted to Judaism. But Elliot, who is Jewish, and Jennifer went to an interfaith havurah for a year before they married, to be sure they could make it work. They also agreed that the children would be raised Jewish and attend Jewish day schools. Elliot’s mother was skeptical until she saw that they kept their word on raising the children Jewish. Jennifer’s parents were accepting from the start. For the first five or so years, though, Elliot was uncomfortable with the idea of that tree in his home, which Jennifer on the other hand dearly missed. But they solved that too by spending the Christmas holidays with her family. Elliot has since come ‘round, and their home now embraces symbols and traditions from both religions.

And their children? All three say they are clear on being Jewish, and they even view their mother as Jewish. “My mother is Jewish in her 56

heart and that’s what matters,” said Hannah. All three would like to marry within the faith someday, but “I would always include a Christmas tree, as it connects me to my memories and, of course, my mother’s side of the family,” said Noah. I asked them which holiday was more fun to celebrate. All three slowly responded, “Well, Christmas, sort of, only because of the large family gatherings on my mom’s side with food, fun and lots of presents!” said Asher.

“You don’t always choose who you fall in love with,” said Frank Williams, an ordained Methodist minister in Las Vegas. “Interfaith marriages are on the rise across all faiths because we are less dogmatic within our faith traditions these days, and society is more pluralistic.” And while no Orthodox Jewish congregations, and few Conservative ones embrace intermarriages, the Reform and Reconstructionist branches of Judaism have sought to reach out to those couples and families in the communities where they live.

Interfaith Families’ Jane Kaplan suggests …

1. Remember that it’s OK to participate in the holiday as a way to respect your spouse and extended family.

2. Help children understand they can enjoy Christmas and Chanukah activities without betraying either parent or their religious upbringing.

Use the holidays to reinforce their religious identity.

3. Don’t set it up so that the holidays are in competition. Christmas is clearly bigger, but Chanukah offers eight wonderful days of celebration, stories and the tradition of doughnuts and latkes!

4. Rather than asking in-laws to give Christmas or Chanukah presents, ask them to give gifts wrapped in paper indicating the holiday the children do celebrate.

5. If your children want a Christmas tree in your home, sit down with your partner and discuss what the holiday means to each of you. Be clear about underlying issues. Is it your own reluctance to have a tree or menorah in your home, or is it the fear of how relatives might react?

6. Giving in on a holiday becomes less significant if you remember that the main concern is to know how your family will live religiously throughout the year, not just in December.

7. Allow your initial decisions to change as your family evolves.

Certain things that may have seemed important at one stage in your marriage may become less important later on.

8. Develop traditions together. Denying a need will breed resentment, but negotiating a mutually acceptable way to celebrate will strengthen the relationship and unify the family.

While there is no silver bullet to solving the December Dilemma, since there are as many differing circumstances as there are interfaith marriages, families can start by seeking the advice of experts. Or, if possible, why not plan in advance as the Wellers did, leaving little to surprise? That way you entitle yourself and your potential mate to the opportunity to learn whether the interfaith challenge is for you.

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grill Yvette Brown Social Connector DAVID: You’re originally from the UK. How did you come to land in Las Vegas?

BROWN: I came here with the Irish Dance Show production ‘Spirit of the Dance,’ in 2003 as an Irish dancer. It played at the Golden Nugget until 2005 and that’s when I decided that Las Vegas was the town for me, and I decided to stay. I was lucky in that I had traveled the world extensively with my professional dance career for years before-hand, living in Paris, India, Portugal, London and two contracts on the cruise ships, with Las Vegas as the pinnacle and finale of my dance career. I’d danced and lived everywhere I wanted to.

DAVID: You recently became a U.S. citizen.

What made you decide to become an American?

BROWN: I’ve always loved the principles, values, rights, morals and freedoms this country is built on and afforded to everyone. Deciding to become a U.S. citizen was a natural step for me, as I always knew that this was the country for me. I feel very fortunate to be able to stay, and I take very seriously the rights and responsibilities that come along with that privilege. That’s why I decided to start my own free weekly networking events called ‘Cosmopolitan Connections,’ and invite everybody in the community to come along and make new friends and connections, whether it be for the social aspect or for business.

DAVID: You mention the social aspect, can you elaborate?

BROWN: Yes, everyone who attends my networking events gets the value in making connections. Some guests come to mix and mingle and make new friendships, and some come to make new business referrals and connections. I had one lady tell me, ‘Yvette, every time I attend your events I make new best friends.’ For me that is the goal of giving back. Also, in Las Vegas it’s all about who you know, so I strongly believe that networking is key to helping people find a job, etc. I’ve found that anything I’ve ever needed in this town came about because of networking. We have between 50-100 different guests who attend per weekly event, and we always welcome new faces with open arms.

DAVID: Where can potential guests get invited and read about your forthcoming events?

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BROWN: I have two websites that they can go to free of charge: http:// CosmopolitanConnections.com, which purely explains about my company and our past and forthcoming events, as well as our photo gallery posted there with all of our previous event photos.

Also, I’m relaunching my latest website, http://MyVegasFriends.com, at our event on Jan. 4, 2012, with a little help from the amazing Nina and Michael at inlineVision.com. This website will serve as an online resource where our event guests can connect with the people they have met face-to-face in person at our events; either to further interact for friendship, or for business purposes.

We also have a large presence on all social media. You can find and join our group at https://www.facebook.com/ cosmopolitanconnections, also on Meetup, Twitter and Linked-in.

DAVID: DAVID Magazine is your monthly featured event guest. What other themes do you have?

BROWN: Yes, I feel very lucky to have Max and Joanne Friedland and DAVID Magazine supporting my events. It is a chance for me to get our lovely professional event photographs out to the community, and for us to promote the magazine to our event guests and get the word out. We also have other themed events, which include Fortune Telling with Locq Fortune; Swimwear Models with Unleashed Swimwear; Free Real estate advice with Gady Medrano from A & E’s “Flipping Vegas”; and many others. We hold our events at different venues each week, from the Strip to Summerlin. I work with Light Group and individual restaurant owners, as well as others, to schedule the best and newest venues for our guests to check out and enjoy.

DAVID: You’ve achieved so much. Where would you like to see yourself in the near future?

BROWN: The past eight years have been all about establishing myself and my businesses in the United States and in Las Vegas. Now, I would like to concentrate on marriage and family. I would like to meet a nice Jewish guy. After all, I’ve heard they make the best husbands!

DAVID KISLEV/TEVET 5772

11/22/11 10:59 AM

For problems or story ideas email us at: 13INVESTIGATES@KTNV.COM

Watch Nina weeknights at 6:00 & 11:00 on Action News.

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GIVE THE GIFT OF THE RTS Academy of St. Martin in the Fields with Joshua Bell

Savion Glover

Yo-Yo Ma & Kathryn Stott with The Assad Brothers

Lily Tomlin

MOMIX - Botanica

The Cleveland Orchestra

David Sedaris

Béla Fleck & The Flecktones

Golda’s Balcony

The Canadian Tenors

Paco de Lucía

Straight No Chaser

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

The Pink Floyd Experience

Imagination Movers

Buddy Guy with Quinn Sullivan

Michael Feinstein The Sinatra Project

Now you can share all the grandeur and wonder of The Smith Center’s very first season with your friends and family. With a holiday gift certificate, you’ll be giving them an experience like no other — a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see this new Heart of the Arts from the very beginning. There are 26 must-see shows to choose from this season, many starting at only $24. Visit TheSmithCenter.com or call 702.982.7805 to purchase your holiday gift certificate in any denomination you wish.

Debuting, March 2012

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702.982.7805

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TheSmithCenter.com

11/17/11 7:02 PM