2015-10-01 - Las Vegas Weekly by Greenspun Media Group

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CONTENTS 7 MAIL Criss Angel: magician or

42 SCREEN NASA’s fave space

Halle Berry look-alike?

flick, The Martian. Emily Blunt’s tense trip to Mexico.

8 AS WE SEE IT Celebs who need slots. Bunkhouse take three? Forcing fall in endless summer.

CARROT TOP BY DENISE TRUSCELLO; POP UP PIZZA BY MIKAYLA WHITMORE

11 Q&A Moving beyond clubs,

44 NOISE What happens when a Lemonhead grabs a drink mid-set. Plus, SquidHat news!

Andy Masi has some tasty ideas.

48 THE STRIP David Perrico pops.

12 FEATURE | DRUM CIRCLE

49 CULTURE Oral histories

Sandy Nelson is a legend on the drums and one of Boulder City’s most fascinating fixtures.

preserve Jewish heritage at UNLV.

16 FEATURE | TEST YOUR VEGASNESS! Ever bumped into Carrot Top? Found glitter in your pockets? Battled the heat with a tiki bender at Frankie’s?

50 FOOD Chada’s small wonders; the Plaza’s classic charms.

54 CALENDAR The Word’s gospel, through the prophet Medeski.

Chicken & Sausage Quesadilla

24 NIGHTS Share’s new operators and some ’80s worship.

39 A&E A Mynabird sings.

Zesty Nachos

COVER ILLUSTRATION BY LEX CANNON

EVERY DAY FROM 3 PM - 7 PM

40 POP CULTURE Why are people pissed at the Muppets? © 2015 DFO, LLC. At participating restaurants for a limited time only. Offer not valid for the Las Vegas Strip locations. Selection and prices may vary. *See server for details.

Lasvegasweekly.com > Caption Head Caption goes here caption goes here

NEW LOOK The menu isn’t undergoing a renovation—it ain’t broke, why fix it?—but the dining room has been refreshed at SW, one of Las Vegas’ most popular restaurants. Check out the Wynn steakhouse’s new digs at lasvegasweekly.com.

AGE OF AWESOME More than 200 artisans hawking their wares, sick historical reenactments and enough mead and turkey legs for a medieval army—the Age of Chivalry Renaissance Festival is back! For details on its 22nd fantastical year, from trained parrots to a princess tea party, head to lasvegasweekly.com.

LIMITING LIT Harry Potter has been challenged. So has Curious George. Why does Banned Books Week matter and which ones should you read? Learn all about this “librarian’s holiday,” only online.

let’s be FRIENDs!

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most read stories lasvegasweekly.com

2. The Weekly interview: Duran Duran keyboardist Nick Rhodes talks Elton, Bowie 3. Look twice: After seven years on the Strip, Criss Angel isn’t done making magic 4. A last-chance nudge: Who will save the Huntridge? 5. Looking at Las Vegas achitecture through the lens of locals

Renaissance festival by l.e. baskow

1. A pocket guide to Uber in Las Vegas: 5 things to know

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ANGEL OR DEVIL Cover boy Criss Angel is still a force to be reckoned with, inspiring passionate fandom and rants.

Thank you for the best article I ever read about Criss Angel. It was honest and raw, loved it! –Leslie5612 Well, until I see Criss live, I guess I’m not gonna believe he’s the king. I do believe he’s talented and quite good. –MaineScorpio75 The best in my book. Keep it up. –Vickigill27 Why does he look like Prince? –April Dilworth Best trick I’ve ever seen: He stole Halle Berry’s hair. –Steve Fields

POSTCARDS FROM THE PAST Historian and longtime local newsman Bob Stoldal isn’t the only one who’s big on old-school correspondence.

For the past three or four years, I have returned to sending postcards home from all my travels. People still love to receive postcards. –Drew Wofford III

SPICY SEASON

photograph by christopher devargas

The southwest Valley’s new Chile Addiction restaurant specializes in New Mexican cuisine spiked with Hatch chiles.

I’ve lived in Albuquerque for 10 years, and if you haven’t tried [Hatch chile] you should. It’s serious business in New Mexico during the fall. If I ever get back

to Nevada I hope this place stays so I can get my New Mexico food fix. –Desiree Hall My husband and I love this place, so highly recommend it. –Nancy Fox Meinel

PRESERVATION WOES The Huntridge Revival LLC effort is kaput, leaving the fate of the historic theater in limbo.

Yeah, I still want my money back. –BillCarsonBill What a waste of a fine example of art-deco architecture if no one ends up buying it. –Art Allen Tear it down and let the Downtown hipster crowd experience loss the way those of us who love and appreciate historic casinos have for the past two decades! –Michael Haberland I have a lot of awesome memories at the Huntridge Theatre. I want it to be saved, but it’s out of reach for many of the people who wish it to be saved. –Justin Cimock In an effort to quell the obvious bad taste left from the first fundraising campaign to “Save the Huntridge,” I’ve started a new fundraising campaign to study the feasibility of the feasibility study that the first campaign purported to carry out. The study will be carried out over three days at the Hustler Club in an effort to figure out why people would feel the need to put money into something with very little tangible gain attached to it. Results to be published in 2048. –Elliot Szabo

LVWeekly@GMGVegas.com Letters and posts may be edited for length/clarity. All submissions become the property of Las Vegas Weekly.

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AsWeSeeIt N E W S + C U LT U R E + S T Y L E + M O R E

> CALL IT A COMEBACK? The Bunkhouse will be back. Again. Soon.

THE BUNKHOUSE’S THIRD LIFE ∑ The Bunkhouse Saloon, which closed in July,

the space, growing food on-site for cocktail ingredients and a yet-to-be-named third-party food vendor, which will run the Bunkhouse kitchen. By moving entertainment outdoors, capacity for shows will increase from the bar’s indoor cap of 250 to 800, Tedrow says. Vegas music scene mainstay Ryan Pardey will head up live programming, primarily booking local acts, in contrast to the many national acts emphasized in the bar’s previous iteration. Downtown Project bought the bar in 2013, renovated it and reopened it in August 2014, unveiling an upgraded sound system, a comfort-food menu and a renovated patio space. During those 11 months of operation, headliners included Built to Spill (twice), The Breeders, Brandon Flowers,

Bob Mould and Panda Bear. Several scheduled shows, including Mew, Savages and upcoming performances by Deerhoof (November 5) and Yo La Tengo (November 11), were moved to the Sayers Club at SLS. Partway through the Bunkhouse’s last existence, Downtown Project shifted operational control to Corner Bar Management. When the venue shuttered suddenly in July, DTP Ventures CEO Mark Rowland issued a statement saying he was “engaging in conversation with potential new operators and considering new concepts.” Tedrow’s winning proposal includes a plan to keep costs down by handing over control of the restaurant and scaling back music programming. “It will be bar-focused,” she says. –Kristy Totten

CELEBS WHO NEED SLOTS ∑ Britney Spears’ mug was already plastered all over Planet Hollywood, but her omnipresence got serious with the premiere of Aristocrat’s Britney Spears Slot Game on the casino floor. Other stars we’d like to see pimping slot machines?

8 LASVEGASWEEKLY.COM OCTOBER 1-7, 2015

MARTIN SHKRELI The ubiquity of America’s reigning King of the Douchebags on casino floors might get a bit creepy (seriously though, that face!), but a percentage of the take could go to those screwed over by his medication price hike.

BARACK OBAMA “Hope.” “Change.” “Yes we can.” The taglines for this game wrote themselves.

CALVIN HARRIS But only until Taylor Swift breaks up with him.

NICOLAS CAGE Nic Cage Losing His Sh*t: The Slot-Sperience.

GARY BUSEY Of course.

GUY FIERI Line up exclamation points (!!!) and random ingredients (his cheesecake includes chips and fudge) to win a trip to Flavortown! The bonus round lets you frost his tips.

BUNKHOUSE BY CORLENE BYRD

will get a new lease on life soon, this time under the direction of Artifice bartender Jillian Tedrow. The Downtown Project-owned venue is scheduled to reopen this year, with the same name, a renewed bar concept and more focus on its outdoor space. Tedrow said she had hoped to open October 30, but that date will likely be pushed back. The bar will undergo a few cosmetic changes, along with the addition of a “secret garden” under the Listening Tree, a porch swing, fake grass and living plant walls. Tedrow plans to offer outdoor games and a projector for backyard movies. “It won’t be a beer garden, but it will have more of that feel,” she says. A hydroponic shipping-container garden, built by Freight Farms, will also occupy

As We See It…

> Picture this A rendering of Eclipse, set to open Downtown next summer.

The fear is near Haunted-house season hits this weekend

On with the show Eclipse Theaters is on schedule for a 2016 Downtown debut By Mike Prevatt A movie theater is among the most lamented commercial absences Downtown. Just ask Eclipse Theatres managing director Nic Steele, whose research revealed that folks living in the area frequently traveled to the suburbs to catch flicks. Six years after the closure of Galaxy Theatres’ 11-screen cineplex at Neonopolis, he aims to fill that void: “With the type of experience we’re offering, people from Henderson and Summerlin will drive to Downtown just to come to our place.” Steele is referring to the eight-auditorium, 550-seat, threestory luxury multiplex he and its proprietors—a group of business owners and theater managers—are scheduled to open on 814 S. Third St. come June 2016. The $21 million project broke ground earlier this month, just a few blocks from multi-level residential buildings, the Arts District and the soon-to-open Pawn Plaza on Las Vegas Boulevard. Potential patrons will have two main ticket options/sections per auditorium: reserved standard leather seats (with tables for counter-service dining), which Steele says will likely

run $14 each, and reserved reclining leather seats with a call button (which prompts a server to take, then deliver food and liquor orders), likely $19-$20. Additionally, private VIP “suite boxes” enclosed by panel glass will allow up to 10 people to be as loud—or make the movie as loud—as they want. An in-house restaurant, bar and lounge round out the amenities. Having polled the area to test interest in Eclipse— which launched an Indiegogo campaign two winters ago to announce the project and gauge the market (it raised just under $2,000)—Steele will also seek programming feedback. While the usual wide releases will be a no-brainer, Eclipse is exploring the idea of screening specialty fare (like operas and Broadway tapings), Spanish-language titles and livestream/ live broadcast events (Super Bowl, World Cup). And, of course, being Downtown brings the possibility of more artistic cinema. “You can tell with Smith Center that there’s more demand for more cultural events,” Steele says. “Offering programming that appeals to a broader cultural sense is fantastic. We’ve started talking to owners of the Las Vegas Film Festival to increase the number of screens during their festival, and during the year we’ll able to offer indie and alternative films.” With architecture designed to reflect that of City Hall and other nearby buildings, Steele hopes Eclipse will both complement Downtown’s character and also stand out. “When you look around [Downtown], the places are unique, not cookiecutter. It gives you a unique sense of being. With Eclipse Theatres, we want to add to that.”

Time machine

On a Thursday morning a dapper Jim Murren, CEO of MGM Resorts International, is standing in the Shops at Crystals discussing Japanese artist Tatsuo Igniting conversation Miyajima’s 18-foot mirrored pagoda placed in front of with powerful art— Dolce & Gabbana and lit up like a Christmas tree. ¶ in a shopping mall “Hoto” features more than 3,000 LED-lit numbers in varying sizes that change in descending order from nine to one (then go blank), each at its own pace. Mesmerizing, mechanical and unexpected, the 2008 sculpture, inspired by Buddhist scripture and 9/11, stops passersby who pause for a moment of contemplation and to better understand its purpose. ¶ That “Hoto” looks like a time machine dropped in the high-end and famously austere shopping mall, fits. Its cyclical process represents the never-ending cycle of life and holds ideas that live in much of Miyajima’s work: Everything is always changing. Everything is connected. Everything continues forever. ¶ Murren, a noted art collector and proponent of creating more enriching environments on the Strip, says “Hoto” hasn’t been seen outside Asia. It appeared on the heels of the Kabuki Spectacle performed within the Bellagio Fountains, a recent MGM effort to showcase Japanese art and culture on the Strip. ¶ Great art brings in great diversity, says the executive whose corporation brought in CityCenter’s $40 million collection, with works by Henry Moore, Claes Oldenburg and Maya Lin, whose piece above Aria’s registration desk addresses water issues and the Colorado River. “We’re not trying to hit people over the head with a message. We’re trying to ignite a conversation.” ¶ Miyajima’s work, celebrating the uniqueness of all individuals, will likely do that. It connects with its environment at Crystals, reflecting in the floors and shop windows of the Daniel Libeskind-designed building. Amid the universal language of numbers viewers see themselves reflected, too—an unusually different take in a visually bombastic city of lights and numbers. –Kristen Peterson

Halloween season is upon us, and October 2 marks the opening of two haunts. The first, and biggest of them all, is Fright Dome, Jason Egan’s big-budget, spooked-out transformation of Circus Circus’ Adventuredome. The un-lucky 13th edition features, naturally, a Friday the 13th experience for the 4D Special FX Theatre and all new mazes, including the fast pass-only Insanitarium requiring brave patrons to find their own way out (and including acquisitions from an actual insane asylum). October 2-31, doors at 7 p.m., $36-$100, frightdome.com. Fans of more lo-fi but actor-driven (and cheaper) neighborhood haunted houses needn’t travel any farther than the northwestern parking lot at the Meadows Mall to brave Las Vegas Haunts’ long-running Asylum and Hotel Fear walk-throughs. October 2-31, doors at 6:30 p.m., $15-$35, lasvegashaunts.com. Those experiences should hold spook-seekers over until other attractions open up next weekend. On October 8, Bonnie Springs Ranch turns into the expansive, immersive Bonnie Screams ($25), and the next day the Freakling Bros’ Trilogy of Terror ($14-$35)—including the new Coven of 13 maze— re-emerges at the Grand Canyon Shopping Center. For the younger set, HallOVeen ($10-$22) at Opportunity Village’s Magical Forest starts back up on October 9, and Springs Preserve’s popular Haunted Harvest ($7) begins October 16. –Mike Prevatt october 1–7, 2015 LasVegasWeekly.com 9

AS WE SEE IT…

PYRAMID OF BISCUITS

CONJURING THE SEASON The odd and lovely certainty of Las Vegas fall BY STACY J. WILLIS

After the first day of fall in Las Vegas, a hiker and her dog had to be rescued due to life-threatening heat exposure. The low temperature set a record high for lows this time of year, and I got sunburned walking around the block. So I Googled “apocalyptic global warming!!!!!”—a modern-day shaking my fist at the sky, which I just realized equates Google with a deity, which I’m uncomfortable with in the same way I’m uncomfortable with sunburns after the Autumnal Equinox. Everything’s cattywampus.

for tourist photos. Big-band music filled the temperature-controlled air, and natural light—bright summer sunlight—beamed through the glass ceiling. I did my best to jam art-of-fall into my need for real fall. Still, the majority of onlookers were wearing shorts, and two women walking through my autumn were wearing bikinis under sheer cover-ups with flip-flops, reeking of suntan lotion. They posed with the giant scarecrow, who, born in a mental landscape of turtlenecks, looked

sun taking a break in the shade of a stucco wall. ***** Of all the (other) things that symbolize fall—the sound of football, earlier sunsets, the joy of layering outerwear—leaves are foremost. On a shelf at home, I have a massive maple leaf, now fragile and brown, that I saved from a trip to somewhere tree-filled last fall. Its intricate system of veins, which transport fluids to the tree during photosynthesis, make me think of our own veins carrying blood from the heart. I caught myself imagining that the tree, too, must have a heart, and then considering that hearts, while scientifically busy muscling out blood, have long been our figurative seat of emotion, of love, of longing. Something about fall seems situated in the heart. I try to put my finger on it while looking at last year’s leaf. Among fall’s many metaphors—change, wisdom, harvest—the one I like most is the notion of home. Fall feels like curling up there. *****

I know it’s a desert. I’ve lived here an eternity, but not so long that I’ve erased memories of Virginia autumns, or a single Maine autumn, or the general notion of what autumn is supposed to feel like: crisp, harvesty, ruminative, full of scarves. I’m sure it will arrive, later, but I’m impatient and sweaty so I went in search of it. My journey began at the center of seasonal change in Las Vegas, the Bellagio Conservatory. If the conservatory is decked out in faux fall foliage, it is fall. Period. To my delight, pumpkins and leaves abounded—beautiful, as all of the seasons of Bellagio are. Some of the pumpkins were real, I think. Enormous glass leaves, brilliant orange, hung from the ceiling on cords, suspended as if in a wind. An 18-foot scarecrow and a 4-foot smiling squirrel and tree trunks with moving eyes and mouths made festive backdrops

10 LASVEGASWEEKLY.COM OCTOBER 1-7, 2015

befuddled, but not unhappy. I had to move on. While driving home, I spotted another key sign of Las Vegas fall. Landscapers in the masterplanned community of Summerlin were out in force on the roadsides ripping out summer flowers and replacing them with autumn flowers. See? Fall. Sure, it lacks the elegance of a tree gently letting go of leaves that have gradually turned from green to yellow to orange or red through an exquisite natural response to shorter days and less sunlight; leaves that then sail through a chilly wind to the cold ground, where they’ll be raked together for rosy-cheeked, laughing children to play in, while the trees, gray now and solemn, hold out for the winter fast. But there it was, fall in Las Vegas: Sweaty, thirsty landscapers wearing sun hats with neck flaps to protect them from the 102-degree

Nevada’s state song, “Home Means Nevada,” which I hear every October on Nevada Day, doesn’t mention Las Vegas. It’s lovely, as state songs go, and pays homage to the Truckee River and the Kit Carson Trail. But there’s endless discussion among Las Vegans, so many of whom are transplants, about when to embrace the city as home, when to identify as a Las Vegan, and after how many years your opinion will finally stand equal with that of natives. I’m reflecting on this when I head to Gilcrease Orchard, in a tank top, shorts and sunscreen, to see the pumpkin patch and ride a hay bale. There’s a new parking lot for this long-standing farm now surrounded by suburbs. They’ve got more cash registers under the shade canopy. Some of the pumpkins are still green, but many are bright orange, fat and seated in wheelbarrows with smiling kids whose parents push them toward the exit, toward streets lined with absurd fall-colored flowers or hot dust and cactus; no matter, they’re heading home. If fall isn’t here yet, it will be, because we make it so. And that’s the wonder and beauty of our home, Las Vegas.

ONE VOICE FOR MANY Bisexual Awareness Week takes a UNLV student to the White House The alphabet soup of sexuality and gender identity doesn’t end at LGBT. A more inclusive acronym extends the group of four communities to 10 with LGBTQQIAAP (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, allies, asexual, pansexual). And while the gay and lesbian segments are quite visible—in news headlines and popular culture—some other parts of the spectrum are less noticed and more misunderstood. That’s why UNLV student Sara Beth Brooks was at the White House last week, taking part in a Bisexual Awareness Week conversation after being invited by national bisexual advocacy group BiNet USA. Brooks says her focus was to advocate for more inclusive data collection. “Many federal surveys that are inclusive of sexual orientation—which there aren’t that many—include gay and lesbian but don’t include … [other] sexual minorities,” says Brooks. She believes a lack of public awareness and education about those communities could be a factor in the many issues they face. “There’s a mounting wealth of scientific evidence that bisexual, biromantic, pansexual, panromantic people experience higher rates of suicide, they’re less likely to be out at work and … they have a harder time with immigration into the U.S.” Brooks says it’s those issues that make education about sexual minorities so important, which is why she helped found Asexual Awareness Week in 2010. “Most people don’t understand asexuality as an orientation,” Brooks says. “Or if they do understand it, they are skeptical whether it is one that should be valued and recognized.” –Mark Adams

Weekly Q&A

> STARTING OVER Masi’s new company operates Hearthstone and the new Salute at Red Rock, shown here, and is set to launch other venues on the Strip soon.

Night moves From clubs to bars to restaurants, Andy Masi is still speeding the pulse of Vegas nightlife Andy Masi is one of the architects of modern Las Vegas entertainment. After arriving from the East Coast in 1999 to open the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay, Masi founded the Light Group with Andrew Sasson in 2001 and partnered with MGM Resorts to create some of the most popular clubs, bars and restaurants on the Strip—with memorably brief names like Light, Mist, Fix, Jet, Stack and Bare. Last year, the Light Group was sold to Hakkasan Group. Masi took only a short break before launching his new Clique Hospitality and embarking on new endeavors, including the recently opened Italian restaurant Salute in Summerlin. He’s not planning on slowing down any time soon. You just opened Salute at Red Rock Resort. How do you describe your newest restaurant? We call it a trattoria,

but what we did is travel all around the Amalfi Coast sampling Southern Italian cuisine, finding great dishes

and recipes. We’re trying to re-create those. We spent a lot of miles and a lot of calories getting this restaurant perfect. It’s been fun but a lot of work. Once you opened Hearthstone at Red Rock last year, was Salute a natural next step? Even before that, for a couple

of years I used to run into [Station Casinos’] Frank Fertitta in Capri [in Italy] in different restaurants. Once we started working together, we’d talk about those trips and remember this dish or that—remember that one restaurant? We decided we should really do an Italian restaurant that serves that style of food. When Hakkasan Group purchased Light Group late last year, you ended up holding on to Hearthstone. [Chef ] Brian

Massie, who really was the main driving force behind Hearthstone, took over and ran the restaurant while I went on a little sabbatical. It was the first restaurant that really had his name on the marquee, and he felt close to it and wanted to keep it. I

came back to work with him. It was a deal worked out between Station Casinos and Hakkasan. There was a time when the Light Group absolutely dominated the scene. Now that you are developing projects through your new company, do you think you might return to creating that type of nightclub, or are you leaning more toward restaurants and lounges?

I really like restaurants and lounges. The nightclub business is incredible, and I’ve been fortunate to be a part of it in its early stages. But people develop and the market changes, and I got more interested in restaurants personally. I also believe people want to go back to just hanging out in a cool bar and socializing that way. But never say never. What do you think is next for nightlife on the Strip? Vegas will always be at the

center of big nightlife and big clubs. It will always be a driver, and there will always be massive demand for it. Hopefully I’ll help bring the friendly

bar, the trendy bar scene, back to the Strip. It’s kinda disappeared for a while. That’s why you see things like the bars in Downtown Las Vegas getting so popular—they are cool places to hang out, and there’s no cover. That scene will grow on the Strip. It’s coming. Maybe your Clique lounge, coming to the Cosmopolitan this winter, will be part of that. It’s going to be a very cool

bar with a great cocktail program, tableside mixology, great music and a very fun atmosphere, casual, no cover, no minimums to sit down and eat and drink. What else are you working on? It’s a

little too early to talk about, but we have two more bar concepts on the Strip and we’re also doing a project in San Diego with a large hotel group. We have more projects coming with Station Casinos, too. There’s a lot of stuff queued up and ready to go, just a few weeks away from announcing. –Brock Radke

“Hopefully I’ll help bring the friendly bar, the trendy bar scene, back to the Strip.”

photograph by mikayla whitmore

october 1–7, 2015 LasVegasWeekly.com 11

A giant of surf rock, drummer Sandy Nelson might be Boulder City’s best storyteller B y

It was 22 years ago when the idea for the Veebles came to Sandy Nelson. They weren’t shoot-you-with-a-stun-gun and beamyou-up type aliens. These cute extraterrestrials landed on Earth in search of something far more innocent. “They’ve come to make Earthlings jump up in the air and tell dumb jokes,” the drummer, pianist and local celebrity explains. And they love music and food, “sort of like the Greeks and Romans.” The Veebles were preserved but unheard by the world, captured on Nelson’s never-released recordings— pre-Pro Tools arrangements he wrote on a synthesizer, charmingly loaded with piano, strings, drums, horns and

12 LasVegasWeekly.com October 1-7, 2015

L e s l i e

layered vocals, the latter sped up to sound something like the Great Gazoo’s offspring. No doubt, it’s the warm and fuzzy work of a musical genius. * * * * * At 76, Sandy Nelson is one of Boulder City’s most eccentric characters—and while he can tell one hell of a story, he can still keep an even meaner beat. The drummer’s bombastic rhythms helped define surf rock in the late ’50s and early ’60s, when he worked as a session drummer and a solo artist, his thumping, wild beats influencing the artists you’ll find in every tiki-lounge jukebox (he’s in the one at Frankie’s). For years, he’s been an approachable star in the sleepy

V e n t u r a

town to the south—a man who collects smiles and shares memories like trading cards. Nelson was drawn to Nevada as a little boy, when “all there was was Glitter Gulch,” and not even a shell of the Strip. “The swamp cooler just turned me on,” he recalls of his aunt and uncle’s trailer in the desert, “the sound of it and that wooshing air, and my mother and aunt making percolated coffee at 3 in the morning.” He moved to Boulder City in 1988 and has lived there since, keeping busy building an underground cave in his backyard, his “attractive nuisance.” Most mornings are spent at the Coffee Cup diner, where everyone knows Nelson’s name. He orders his

usual: a cup of oatmeal, one egg overmedium, a slice of toast and half a cup of coffee. Cozied up to the bar, he talks to a waitress about astronomy (his “higher power”) and soul waves

> FOOD FOR THE SOUL Sandy Nelson spends most mornings at Boulder City’s Coffee Cup (usually without drums). James Adams (second from left) of Same Sex Mary says Nelson paved the way for some kings of the surf genre.

and the supernatural, stops for photo ops and reminisces about the days when he hung with Phil Spector and Bruce Johnston. “I have to drop his name ’cause he’s with The Beach Boys,” Nelson boasts charmingly of Johnston. There’s also the time Juliet Prowse danced to his song “Bouncy” on The Ed Sullivan Show. He’s in a checkered blue button-up, his shirt pocket full of odds and ends: pieces of paper he scribbles notes on, business cards and a plastic, makeshift cigarette holder that’s been taped together, cradling two thin brown Mores. At his side rests a worn but colorful butterfly cane. His salty-white hair frames a gentle face, weathered but warm, with the same grin from the covers of his old albums. “Anyone that’s familiar with rock ’n’ roll should be quite aware of Sandy Nelson’s presence,” says Burger Records co-founder Lee Rickard, who plans to release Nelson’s five-song concept album The Veebles on the label. “In the early ’60s, he played on [Rock and Roll Hall of Famer] Gene Vincent records, he did drum overdubs on PHOTOGRAPH BY MIKAYLA WHITMORE

The Teddy Bears. ... Anyone that’s into digging for records, they’ll surely come across his records, ’cause he’s made more records than most people. They’re all really great and a lot of fun to listen to. He’s a legend.” * * * * * At the piano inside the Boulder Dam Hotel lobby, Nelson tickles the ivories for guests. They probably don’t know they’re in the presence of musical royalty—Mr. Sandy Nelson, creator of singles like “Civilization.” “I used to make a lot of tracks I’m very proud of,” Nelson says, referring to that one in particular. “I put a microphone [outside], and there was a cricket out there—‘Brrrp! Brrrp,’” he says, imitating the sound he captured. It led him to overdub traffic sounds from outside his house, and add the sound of water pouring from a hose into his pool, back before experimental music even had a name. He toured with The Ventures and recorded with Kim Fowley and the Hollywood Argyles, to name a few. For seven years he ran his own pirate radio station, KPOOP 1590, until it was shut down by the FCC.

His best-known single, the instrumental “Teen Beat,” was released in 1959 and reached No. 4 on Billboard’s singles chart. It was a rare time when drum instrumentals could actually climb the charts alongside giants like Elvis and Frankie Avalon, but even then it was uncommon. That hit was followed by Nelson’s “Let There Be Drums,” which reached No. 7 in 1961, both songs preceding classics like The Surfaris’ “Wipe Out” or The Beach Boys’ “Surfin’ USA.” “Him making those hits definitely paved the way for music like ‘Wipe Out,’” says local singer and guitarist James Adams of Same Sex Mary. “You grow up listening to your parents’ music, and he knows all of them.” Nelson’s fascination with drums began in that vein, when his parents “had these drunken parties. The music they’d play, some of it really grabbed me. I’d look down the hallway with my pajamas on and see Aunt Sylvia dance. After the party I’d sneak in and take some of the records to my own little phonograph”—songs like “Rose Room” and “Song of India.” “I was just fascinated.”

He saw legendary drummer Gene Krupa play in Downtown LA, and by age 8 was learning on his first drum kit, an old set from the ’20s. A fan of big band and swing, Nelson’s tastes began to change in his teenage years, as he listened to Little Richard, Ritchie Valens and Fats Domino. Over time, he taught himself by watching idols like Little Richard’s drummer Earl Palmer, the kind of musician he never imagined he’d get to meet. * * * * * The key for Nelson was landing a job in the backing band for KPOP disc jockey Art LeBoe with Johnston, Dave Shostak and Kip Tyler. With his foot in Hollywood’s door, he started playing as a session drummer, filling in for doo-wop groups and finally securing his own cheap recording sessions. And he toured the country. During a gig in Hemet, California, he played in a band with a teenage Phil Spector on guitar. OCTOBER 1–7, 2015 LASVEGASWEEKLY.COM 13

> BEST AT WURST The town celebrity plays at Wurstfest, Boulder City’s annual salute to sausage.

DRUMS & STORIES WITH SANDY NELSON October 23, 7 p.m. life. He’d signed to “[Spector] was Forge Social House, Imperial Records obnoxious,” Nelson says. Boulder City, and had two charting “We drove my old ’49 702-293-6743. singles, with money rollChevy down to Hemet to ing in. He’d drive to Santa do the gig, and all he could Monica on his motorcycle say about the farms in his every week to visit his fiancée. New York accent—he sounded like And then a violent accident changed Sylvester the Cat—he’d go, ‘What do his life forever. people do out here? There’s nothing A school bus came around the out here!’” corner, “the sharpest curve in Through that relationship, though, Mulholland Drive,” and Nelson Nelson became the session drummer grazed it with his elbow, thinking on The Teddy Bears’ single “To Know he’d escaped ill fate. “I thought, Him Is to Love Him.” And not long ‘I hope I have some Band-Aids at after, he’d find inspiration for “Teen home.’ Not realizing that a split secBeat” inside an LA burlesque club. ond [later] my right foot [would get] “We’d all meet and go in the strip caught in the wheel of the bus.” [club], and while they were looking at Nelson’s leg was mangled in the these pretty girls in G-strings, guess crash, and he spent the next six weeks what I was doing? I was looking at the in the hospital. His right leg was drummer in the orchestra pit,” Nelson removed due to gangrene. laughs. “The drums looked real dirty, In two months, Nelson’s life had but he was doing kind of a [ jazz stanbeen turned upside down (he and his dard] ‘Caravan’ beat—‘Bum ta da da fiancée never wed), and there were dum’—small toms, big toms. That’s times he felt like giving up—like when what gave me the idea for ‘Teen Beat.’” he got fitted for his prosthetic. His new Nelson took the track to LeBoe, leg was uncomfortable and the process hoping he’d distribute it on his label, painful. But a young boy in the same Original Sound Records. At a time when payola was still unethical, LeBoe gave it a spin on his radio show first, to test the waters. “Not only that,” Nelson says, “the little rascal, he played the actual acetate from the lathe, and he wasn’t going to press it up unless he got a few calls.” LeBoe played it on the show and got three calls, so he pressed the single. It would be the label’s biggest hit.

* * * * * In 1963, Nelson was living the high

14 LASVEGASWEEKLY.COM OCTOBER 1-7, 2015

room gave him hope. “He lost both legs playing in the railroad yards. He had two of those test legs on, and he was on the parallel bars with a big smile,” Nelson says, holding back tears. He’d continue to play the drums and release records, positioning his hi-hat on the right so he could play with his prosthetic. And he developed an even better technique on the bass drum. “I never thought of just stopping,” Nelson says. “I always ended up playing in some situation.” * * * * * Today, it’s a pretty quiet life. Nelson has battled with alcohol and depression (he’s been sober since 1976), but his off-kilter humor and youthful wanderlust keep his stories upbeat and entertaining. He’s someone you can talk to for hours. “My whole drumming career has gone to playing for pig roasts and hot-dog-eating contests,” he jokes, referencing Boulder City’s annual bratwurst festival, Wurstfest, at which he played on September 26. The same man who worked often with René Hall, the guitarist on Ritchie Valens’ huge hit, “La Bamba.” As Rickard says, “He’s just been around.” But Nelson is content to still be making noise. And records. The Veebles’ friendly alien colony was forged 22 years ago inside his Boulder City motorhome, and soon, the wondrous creatures will be unleashed on the world. “I just jumped at the opportunity to work with Sandy,” Rickard says, as Burger Records gears up to release

The Veebles on cassette. “Sandy Nelson is rock ’n’ roll to the bone, and we’re happy to be working with him in any capacity. There’s not too many first-wavers still among us. It’s our job to find them and give them the respect they deserve.” Rickard is just waiting on the masters, and Nelson’s old pal Dean Ormsby Torrence, of early surf duo Jan and Dean, who’s slated to do the album artwork. “I really hope to introduce Sandy to a new audience,” Rickard says. Nelson’s path has always cut like that—positive moments striking just at the right time. Not only is he full of those stories, he’s happy to share them, everything from music to love and loss. We go outside for a cigarette, and I ask if he believes in fate. Most of his stories have that connective tissue, a certain cosmic something stringing them together. “I’m beginning to come around,” Nelson says, “acknowledging that things happen for a purpose.” After a few puffs, he puts the embers out with his fingers. “You just never know what’s going to come out of left field.” PHOTOGRAPH BY CORLENE BYRD

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How Vegas are you? Vegasness is not an easy thing to measure, but you know it when you feel it. Sometimes it happens exactly when you expected and planned, others it catches you by complete surprise. It can happen when you’re hiking at Red Rock Canyon in 100-plus degrees and marveling at the desert’s beauty just as easily as when you’re scorching a blackjack table on a Saturday night. You don’t need a 702 phone number or a cabbie’s knowledge of the quickest surface streets to be truly Vegas. The application process is minimal (but you should definitely know your drink order when you make eye contact with the bartender). Las Vegas is a party even when it isn’t, and everyone is always invited. But exactly how deep is your neon? Can you simultaneously love and hate the buffets and boozing and general circus of insanity? And can you get past all that to accept and admire the real? If so, it doesn’t matter if you’re born and raised or walking the Strip in socks and sandals. Let this quiz be your guide to self-discovery.

16 LasVegasWeekly.com October 1-7, 2015

1. Do you love the Strip? A. Of course. None of us would be here without it. (5 points) B. Of course. I have lots of fun there. (5 points) C. Of course not. I work there. (10 points)

2. ________ should be the official drink of Las Vegas. A. The yard-long frozen margarita (0 points) B. The Bombay Sapphire martini (2 points) C. The Sinatra Smash (4 points) D. Ass Juice (6 points)

3. What’s the strangest thing you’ve found in your pockets after a wild night out? A. Glitter or confetti. (0 points) B. A room key. Not yours. (3 points) C. Underpants. Not yours. (5 points) D. A cocktail shrimp. (7 points)

4. What is Las Vegas’ defining moment? A. The opening of El Rancho. (3 points) B. The opening of Caesars Palace. (5 points) C. The opening of the Mirage. (7 points) D. The opening of your hotel-room minibar. (7 points)

5. Seriously, who built Las Vegas? A. A Jewish gangster from Brooklyn. (2 points) B. A tycoon/filmmaker/aviator from Texas. (4 points) C. The ambitious son of a bingo parlor operator. (6 points) D. A Mormon banker from Utah. (7 points)

6. The Strip would be even better if ________ was still performing there. A. Danny Gans (1 point) B. Wayne Newton (3 points) C. Siegfried & Roy (5 points) D. Liberace (7 points)

the strip by l.e. baskow; liberace by ap photo

october 1–7, 2015 LasVegasWeekly.com 17

7. You really wish … A. Anderson Hunt had made that shot. (3 points) B. Vegoose was still a thing. (3 points) C. You’d never gone to that strip club that time. (3 points) D. You didn’t miss going to that strip club that time. (5 points)

8. Ever bumped into ________? A. Flavor Flav (0 points) B. Carrot Top (1 point) C. Penn Jillette (1 point) D. Mike Tyson (2 points) E. Holly Madison (2 points) F. Carlos Santana (3 points) G. Steve Wynn (4 points) H. Andre Agassi (3 points) I. Steffi Graf (5 points) J. Nicolas Cage (-1 point)

10. How do you buffet? A. Salad, pizza and pasta, prime rib and crab legs. (1 point) B. Prime rib, crab legs, prime rib, crab legs. (3 points) C. One bite of everything, then lots of dessert. (5 points) D. Lots of dessert, then prime rib and crab legs, even if I don’t have room. (7 points)

11. Ever party at ________? A. C2K (2 points) B. Baby’s (3 points) C. Utopia (4 points) D. The Drink (5 points) E. The Shark Club (6 points)

9. The Stratosphere is ...

12. What’s your favorite pro football team?

A. A layer of Earth’s atmosphere. (0 points) B. A hotel and casino between the Strip and Downtown. (1 point) C. Hella weird, if you think about it. (3 points) D. How I know where I am. (5 points)

A. The one from my real hometown. (1 point) B. The ones on my parlay card. (2 points) C. Parlays are for suckers. (5 points) D. Bishop Gorman. (3 points)

18 LasVegasWeekly.com October 1-7, 2015

> high school heavies Bishop Gorman never loses.

photo illustration by lex cannon; bishop gorman by l.e. baskow

14. How long does it take to adjust to the Vegas climate? A. Two years. (2 points) B. Two months. (4 points) C. Two drinks. (6 points) D. Two drinks at Frankie’s Tiki Room. (8 points)

15. The best Vegas band is … A. Panic! At the Disco. (1 point) B. Imagine Dragons. (1 point) C. The Killers. (2 points) D. Slaughter. (3 points) E. Your local band. (5 points)

16. The best Vegas song is ... A. “Viva Las Vegas.” (3 points) B. “Waking Up in Vegas.” (2 points) C. “Ooh Las Vegas.” (2 points) D. “Leaving Las Vegas.” (0 points)

17. The best parking in Las Vegas is …

> neon at night Vegas’ bright history lives at the Neon Museum.

A. Downtown. (-2 points) B. At the Bellagio. (2 points) C. At the Cosmopolitan. (4 points) D. On Sunset by the airport, watching the planes land. (8 points)

18. Lake Mead is ... A. Kinda pretty from the airplane window. (1 point) B. That place where Erin Brockovich got a DUI. (2 points) C. Kinda disgusting, but I usually jump in it once or twice every summer. (5 points)

19. Do you know what these Vegas-y acronyms stand for? A. TI (1 point) B. DI (2 points) C. LVA (3 points) D. LVCVA (2 points) E. EDC (1 point) F. EDR (5 points)

20. What’s the greatest Vegas concert you’ve seen? A. The Rolling Stones at the Joint. (5 points)

fremont street performer by steve marcus; neon museum by l.e. baskow

B. The Rolling Stones at the Joint. I didn’t see it, but I tell people I did. (7 points) C. Beastie Boys at the Huntridge. (7 points) D. Iggy Pop at Calamity Jayne’s. (9 points)

21. Who is most responsible for making Las Vegas so delicious? A. Andre Rochat. (3 points) B. Wolfgang Puck. (4 points) C. Steve Wynn. (5 points) D. Roberto. (2 points)

22. How would you describe your interactions with Las Vegas street performers? A. You’ve tipped one. (2 points) B. You’ve kicked one. (-5 points) C. You’re friends with one. (5 points) D. You are one. (10 points)

23. What are your thoughts on a Las Vegas art museum? A. Why? (0 points) B. Isn’t that at Bellagio? (2 points) C. A Las Vegas art museum would be fantastic, and hopefully we’ll have one soon. (4 points) D. The Neon Museum is the Las Vegas art museum. (6 points)

24. Have you …? A. Celebrated New Year’s Eve on the Strip (2 points) B. Bounced under the chandelier to Calvin Harris at Omnia (3 points) C. Grabbed a slice at the Cosmopolitan’s “secret” pizzeria (4 points) D. Browsed the Bonanza Gift Shop (5 points) E. Been on the High Roller (6 points) F. Toured the Mob Museum (7 points) G. Been Drunk of the Month at Dino’s (8 points) H. Watched a casino implosion in person (9 points) I. Sipped martinis with Oscar Goodman (20 points) J. Had your name added to the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s Black Book (75 points)

october 1–7, 2015 LasVegasWeekly.com 19

25. What’s the best movie about Vegas? A. Diamonds Are Forever. (3 points) B. Leaving Las Vegas. (4 points) C. The Cooler. (5 points) D. Casino. (7 points)

26. What’s the best worst movie about Vegas? A. Vegas Vacation. (1 point) B. The Hangover. (3 points) C. Showgirls. (5 points) D. Casino. (7 points)

27. Once and for all, which is the best place to live? A. Summerlin. (5 points) B. Green Valley. (5 points) C. The important thing is to claim one or the other and be passionate about it, even if you drive to the other neighborhood to eat or shop or hang with your friends. (7 points)

28. Why is Downtown a big deal? A. That’s where the first non-native settlers built a fort next to a creek in 1855. (5 points) B. That’s where a 1905 land auction took place, giving birth to the Las Vegas townsite. (5 points) C. It’s the true heart of the Valley, and it’s in the middle of an exciting cultural and commercial revitalization. (5 points) D. That’s where you can eat the legendary Golden Gate shrimp cocktail and drink a piña colada out of a football after you’ve been blasted out of a 12-story slot

How’d you do? 75 points or less Your Vegas Is Lacking. Very disappointing, bro. Have you even been here? You can’t be trusted. Report to the Fremont Street Experience immediately for cultivation and discipline.

20 LasVegasWeekly.com October 1-7, 2015

machine and ziplined under a 1,500-foot-long LED canopy. (6 points)

29. What’s the greatest book about Vegas? A. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. (3 points) B. Leaving Las Vegas. (4 points) C. Learning From Las Vegas. (7 points) D. Santa Is Coming to Las Vegas. (10 points)

75-125 points Sprinkled With Vegas. Not bad ... you’ve clearly made the rounds but are you ready to take your Vegas to the next level? You might be a local who needs to participate more to get over the hump. You might be a frequent visitor who’s fantasizing about being a full-timer.

30. How do you complete this statement? “I’m so Vegas, I’m ________.” A. Drunk again (3 points) B. Hawaiian (7 points) C. Visible from space (9 points) D. Hunkered down with a notebook and a tape recorder in a $75-a-day suite and a fantastic room service bill, run up in 48 hours of total madness, knowing that just as soon as dawn comes up I am going to flee without paying a f *cking penny,

go stomping out through the lobby and call my red convertible down from the garage and stand there waiting for it with a suitcase full of marijuana and illegal weapons, trying to look casual, scanning the first morning edition of the Las Vegas Sun. (10 points)

Bonus! You noticed and know why we skipped Question13. (5 points)

125-180 points

180 points or more

Very Vegas. Walking around carrying your heels? Oh no, not you. You enjoy making fun of tourists, even if you are one, and you’ve got plenty of favorite local sights, sounds, bites and bits you show love to on the regular. You’re not a native, but you’ve clearly put in work and you’ve got our respect.

Almost Too Vegas. You aced this quiz, laughed at it and considered writing us a letter to point out its shortcomings. You know where all the holes are out in the desert and what’s buried in them. Oscar Goodman gets points for drinking martinis with you. Congratulations: Tonight, we toast your Vegasness.

photograph by adam shane

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NIGHTS

SUBURBAN RADNESS

> HANDS FULL Datsik is scheduled to play Safe in Sound.

The ’80s get a sweet send-up at Remedy’s

HOT SPOTS

to revisit Tryst as many times as we can before the seminal Wynn nightclub shutters for good next month. And let’s start by catching former Biebs tourmate Tay James on Saturday. October 3, 10:30 p.m., $33+ men, $22+ women.

THURSDAY EDITION WITH DJ CROOKED AT DRAI’S

The Cromwell club kicks off a new locals night with comic book-inspired visuals, Honoluluborn, NYC-bred Skam Artist DJ Crooked and no cover for Las Vegans. October 1, 10:30 p.m., $30+ men, $20+ women. SAFE IN SOUND FESTIVAL AT THE JOINT

Rockstar Energy and RVLTN bring the world’s only traveling bass-music fest back to Vegas and the Hard Rock Hotel. Bro Safari, Datsik, Dirtyphonics, Terrativa, Zomboy and others are ready to lower the boom. October 1, 8 p.m., $36-$46.

trance DJ Jeffrey Sutorius, frontman for the Dash Berlin project, plays Marquee Saturday night, too, but his dayclub appearance on Sunday is augmented by a special closing set from DJ Politik. October 4, 11 a.m., $20+ men, $10+ women.

Actual members of Dash Berlin.

THE GET BACK 13TH ANNIVERSARY AT VELVETEEN RABBIT The legendary First Friday dance party marks

another seemingly impossible milestone at its relatively new home on Main Street this week. Let the funk flow. October 2, 10 p.m., $5 donation. TAY JAMES AT TRYST Let’s make a pact: We’re going

24 LASVEGASWEEKLY.COM OCTOBER 1-7, 2015

DASH BERLIN AT MARQUEE DAYCLUB Dutch

OOKAY AT XS Fall is here, some of the bigger DJ names are coming through less often and interesting bookings are popping up. Rising trap star Ookay, who also produces alternative, mellower dance music as Coaster, is ready for some limelight at XS. October 4, 10:30 p.m., $33+ men, $22+ women.

DRINK BARE DRY AT BARE POOL LOUNGE Make it to the Mirage’s European-style sunbathery on Monday afternoon for what might just be the sexiest pool seasonclosing event yet—and drunkest, as locals with ID drink for free. October 5, 11 a.m., $20+ men, $10+ women.

The couple to my left is hammering through a game of Hungry Hungry Hippos, the girls on the dancefloor are hula hooping in rainbow strobes, and the guy next to me is chuckling about the time he drank Crown Royal with The Outfield during a rainstorm in Delaware. The Brit band’s 1986 chestnut “Your Love” cuts through the bar chatter even more than usual, because this crowd is thick with sideponytails. And Remedy’s homage to the ’80s is just cranking up. The neighborhood tavern is part of a collective (with Elixir lounge, two Distill outposts and another Remedy’s) focused on locals, and they’ve gathered in force for the $3 Bartles & Jaymes and the DJ spinning Cyndi Lauper, Mötley Crüe, Wang REMEDY’S Chung, The Bangles TAVERN and everybody else 3265 who was hot when St. Rose shoulder pads were. Parkway, I’m tempted to dial an 702-982ancient banana-yellow 3026. 24/7. telephone on the offchance Christian Slater answers. Once my eyes adjust to the visual feast of mullets and shredded denim, I’m able to appreciate the underlying cozy-cool of Remedy’s, which was already hopping when I arrived around 8:30 p.m. There’s a family vibe, like most of these people know each other. A bartender shakes my hand and asks my name, and he remembers it. I tell the guy next to me I’ve never been to Remedy’s, and he says they’re happy to have me and puts money in my poker machine. “It’s like Cheers on St. Rose,” he says, and it seems true not only because we look like extras on that show, but also because as the hours pass, I never feel like I showed up alone even though I totally did. I totally do not win the midnight costume contest; a Madonna doppelganger named Amy crushes it. I take third, thanks mostly to my fanny pack, and maybe the radness of strangers. –Erin Ryan

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Nights

changing room A shift in ownership kickstarts a revamp at Share Nightclub

> A QUEEN AND HER ROYAL GUARD Dancers at Chateau’s Roi Sundays.

Sunday fun day

Eduardo Cordova returns with Roi Sundays at Chateau By brock radke Even though he knows as well as anyone about the lack of gay nightlife programming on the Las Vegas Strip, Eduardo Cordova was still a little surprised at the solid showing during the sneak preview/debut of Roi Sundays September 20 at Chateau. “It was packed. Everybody loved the venue and the event,” he says. “It was like the community was waiting for this.” Cordova, a mainstay in the local club scene who also publishes the Spanish-language In Vegas magazine, has teamed with the nightclub at Paris and Pacifico Entertainment to make Roi Sundays a weekly event—the only LGBT night on the Strip. Roi is French for “king,” and the royal French dancers that perform on Sundays help the event match Chateau’s Euro-vibe. An Absolutsponsored open bar runs from 10:30 to 11:30 p.m. (Absolut bottles are $150, and shots are $5 all night) while the sounds are provided by resident DJs Nick Ayler and Ryan Kenney. Locals always get in free. Cordova hasn’t been involved in nightlife

26 LasVegasWeekly.com October 1-7, 2015

ROI SUNDAYS AT CHATEAU October 4, 10 p.m., $20, no cover for locals. Paris Las Vegas, 702-776-7770.

since last year, when he helped Victor Drai open Liaison at Bally’s. That club’s closure, paired with Krave’s 2014 demise after moving Downtown (and then briefly back to the Strip), created the void. Sundays have always been a big gay night out in Las Vegas, says Cordova, who ran successful weekly events on that night at Revolution Lounge for Light Group. He’s hoping to rebuild the gay party scene on the Strip, and Roi Sundays might only be the beginning. Cordova will launch a Wednesday night party at Caesars Palace’s Fizz bar later this month, and he’s eyeballing different casinos for a permanent club location, including one property with a well-known reputation for its gay pool parties. “I do believe it’s the right time for a gay nightclub on the Strip to be very successful,” he says. “It just doesn’t have to be a huge megaclub. That was the mistake of Krave; it was too ambitious. It just has to be a different product from what we already have.” –Brock Radke

With closures plaguing LGBT dancefloors over the past few years, Share Nightclub has gained a bigger audience while remaining fairly consistent in its programming. Now, gradual transformation will abound as new owner and California residential/hospitality developer Chris Rosas assumes responsibility of the dance spot and adult cabaret. (The building remains a Vista Group holding.) Some management and staff changes have already occurred. A slight remodel— ending with a New Year’s Eve grand reopening—will take place over the next few months, with a larger revamp planned for 2016. The calendar looks similar to last month’s, but that could change by NYE, though Rosas says Friday’s popular Stripper Circus is here to stay—as are the underwear-clad dancers who offer lapdances upstairs, provided things stay “classy.” And speaking of upstairs: Popular bartender Cody Milligan will be awarded his own Friday/ Saturday soiree on the second level called, ahem, Cody’s on Top, which may or may not coincide with future changes in that area of the nightclub. Rosas also aims to explore the viability of continuing Share’s never-a-cover policy, a seven-night operation (Share is currently open ThursdaySaturday), taking inspiration from Ibiza nightclubs and adding to the DJ roster. Clearly, he’s already adopted our city’s unofficial tagline of change being the only constant. Actually, he has his own for Share: “Open now and evolving into the future.” –Mike Prevatt

ROI Sundays courtesy; share nightclub by spencer burton

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cedric gervais at Marquee Dayclub Photographs by Seva Kalashnikov

38 LasVegasWeekly.com October 1-7, 2015

Arts&Entertainment Movies + Music + Art + Food

> Fest Folk (Clockwise) Lady Antebellum, Florida Georgia Line and Tim McGraw are headed down Route 91 this weekend.

Such great heights Laura Burhenn brings her Mynabirds to town When did you last play Las Vegas? With Bright Eyes in 2011. Wait, Postal Service played Las Vegas [in 2013]. What’s funny is that the Bright Eyes show was much more memorable—we were on the roof, on the Strip, and you look up [at the video marquee] and there you are, 50-feet tall, which is as Vegas as it gets (laughs). Between 2011’s Generals and August’s Lovers Know, THE you traveled all over the MYNABIRDS world. How did that affect with The Bad your songwriting? When Bad Hats. I came off [The Postal October 7, 9 Service’s] tour, I was riding p.m., $11-$12. this high. Then I got back to The Sayers Omaha, and the relationship Club, 702-761I had been in for six years 7618. started unexpectedly dissolving. So I just started traveling. Being on the road influenced what I was writing, but it was kind of my need for being on the road that mostly influenced it.

Trust Us

Stuff you’ll want to know about

Babble-On with Ralph Garman: October 3, 7:30 p.m. Jay & Silent Bob Get Old with Jason Mewes: October 3, 10 p.m.; $40-$45 apiece.

Go Hear ROUTE 91 HARVEST FESTIVAL Keith Urban, Florida

Georgia Line, Tim McGraw and others provide the soundtrack for throwing back drinks—or throwing down cornhole bean bags, dancing to Dee Jay Silver and spinning on the Vertigo Swing at the Strip-side country music fest. October 2-4, doors at 2 p.m., $199-$349, Las Vegas Village. FROM SASSY TO DIVINE: THE SARAH VAUGHAN PROJECT Award-winning songwriter and cabaret

favorite Ann Hampton Callaway performs the music of Sarah Vaughan, one of the most revered jazz singers of the 20th century. October 3, 3 & 7 p.m., $39-$59, Smith Center’s Cabaret Jazz.

see kevin smith The beloved Clerks writer/director has three different—but sure to be equally profane—live presentations scheduled at Vinyl. An Evening With: October 2, 10 p.m. Hollywood

BETTY WILLIS AND HER “FABULOUS” SIGNS Before ex-Neon Museum executive director Danielle Kelly leaves town (sniff ), she’ll discuss the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Sign, along with other creations by trailblazing designer Willis, who died in April at age 91. October 1, 7 p.m., free, Clark County Library.

Listening to the album, there are recurring themes about couples growing apart and just overall regret. I tried to write in a more open and vulnerable and honest way than I ever have before. I would come to the producer and say, “What do you think about these lyrics?” and he would say, “You’re hiding behind a metaphor.” He really challenged me to say exactly what I was feeling, and that to me was really difficult, because I think that some of that writing can come off as trite or just sort of dumb. But I think if you’re writing a record of love songs it’s really important to say exactly what you mean. –Chris Bitonti For more of our interview with Burhenn, visit lasvegasweekly.com.

eat & drink greek food festival The St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church’s massive, annual feast (pro tip: leave room for dessert) also offers live music, kids’ activities and vendors. October 1, 5-10 p.m.; October 2, 3-11 p.m.; October 3, noon-11 p.m.; October 4; noon-10 p.m.; $6; lasvegasgreekfestival.com. grape stomp Will someone fall like the woman in the viral video? Go over the hump to Pahrump and find out during the event’s annual fruit-crushing contest. October 3 & 4, gates at 11 a.m., $7-$10, Pahrump Valley Winery.

The Bunkhouse Series at the Sayers Club at SLS is sponsored by Southern Wine & Spirits, Live Nation, Downtown Container Park and Greenspun Media Group.

october 1–7, 2015 LasVegasWeekly.com 39

A&E | POP CULTURE

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C U LT U R A L AT TAC H M E N T

MEAN-SPIRITED MUPPETS?

There’s little to love about ABC’s randy relaunch BY SMITH GALTNEY Oh, how my Facebook feed erupted with joy when ABC announced it was bringing the Muppets back to prime time. Then came a publicity shot of Kermit and the gang poring over scripts at a table reading. (Genius.) Then came the news that the show would be “sort of adult.” (I dig it.) And then there was the press release about Kermit and Piggy breaking up. (Wait, what?) Well, now they’re here, and maybe The Muppets is a bit too adult. Not only are they cynical and mean, but they grope their private parts and talk about their sex lives. In fact, it’s such a deviant display that One Million Moms, the Christian activist group, warned parents against the show, deeming it “perverted” and “sinful,” and explaining that it encouraged “promiscuity” and “interspecies relationships.” Critics were no less puritanical. “A travesty!” exclaimed The Telegraph. It’s as if a nation of overgrown children just walked in on their stuffed animals having sex. Here’s what triggered the trauma … Kermit is a bummer. Wasn’t he the one who always had it together, the calm, level-headed eye in the Muppetmayhem storm? More importantly, didn’t he always love his job? As the producer of Up Late With Miss Piggy, the new Kermit is a corporate, budget-obsessed tool who yells at Scooter about C-list guests (sorry, Tom Bergeron) and rebounds with a slutty swine named Denise. “[We] want to see Kermit and his furry friends overcome all the odds to put on the best show they can,” The Telegraph’s Jonathan Bernstein wrote. “[We] don’t want to see a weary, beaten-down frog toiling on the terrible late-night talk show fronted by his unhinged ex-girlfriend.” Piggy is a bitch. She was always a princess, but updating her into a cellphone-wielding, fame-obsessed nightmare diva frames her in a rather unforgiving light. Hopefully they’ll let some of her former vulnerability

surface in future episodes, but for now, she’s the cliché terror and the butt of many fat jokes. “Is Miss Piggy really so heavy, anyway?” asked Entertainment Weekly’s Jeff Jensen. “I never thought so.” It’s tough being a pig in show business. Yet another mockumentary. Like The Office and Modern Family, The Muppets is shot in handheld, fauxdocumentary style, complete with winking asides to the camera and one-on-one interviews. This gimmick is beyond overused by now, so Gonzo has to make an even lamer joke about it, proving that David Foster Wallace was right about irony. Who needs Statler and Waldorf in the audience when these Muppets are pooping on themselves? Too much Muppet genitalia. Piggy makes repeated references to her boobs getting “hiked” and nearly moons Elizabeth Banks. Fozzie’s in a relationship with a human whose father disapproves. (“What if you have kids?” he asks, making me imagine things I don’t want to imagine.) And there are the billboards for the show, which picture Kermit with a towel slung over his shoulder and the tagline, “Finally. A network TV show with full frontal nudity.” Kermit doesn’t have a penis. I know this. But now it’s the only thing I see. Kermit’s. Penis. The Muppets are we. If the show feels a bit dark, the reviews are downright depressing. Rolling Stone went so far as to say everything we know about the Muppets is a lie, that they were just doing the TV shows and the movies to pick up a paycheck, that our image of them wasn’t—gasp!—real. But Grantland’s Alex Pappademus nailed it in every sense of the word. “We are a terrible, dispirited society, and we finally have the terrible, dispirited Muppets we deserve.” With a Peanuts movie on the horizon, I pray we haven’t corrupted Charlie Brown, too.

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IN THEATRES EVERYWHERE OCTOBER 9 LAS VEGAS WEEKLY

A&E | screen > space man Damon contemplates the enormity of the universe.

film

A fine line

The Walk attempts to balance spectacle with truth

film

Out of this world

Matt Damon gets lost in space in the riveting sci-fi drama The Martian By josh bell in a crater. A science-fiction movie with an emphasis on the sciMeanwhile, on the ground, NASA scientists led by the ence, The Martian manages to be triumphant and inspiraorganization’s director (Jeff Daniels) work on solving the tional while focusing primarily on nerdy problem-solving problem from their end. Although his situation appears and organized teamwork. That’s not to say the movie beyond dire, Mark retains a sarcastic sense of humor and isn’t emotional, but its heartwarming (or heart-stopping) an upbeat attitude, using his botany knowledge moments come in the context of smart people and his NASA training to improvise the tools he working together to tackle seemingly insurneeds to survive and eventually get home. mountable problems, with a practical but optiaaaac Damon carries the film with an excellent mistic outlook. THE MARTIAN performance that conveys Mark’s mix of ingeOn the surface, its story sounds similar to Matt Damon, nuity and loneliness, and screenwriter Drew Gravity, another movie about a lone astronaut Jeff Daniels, Goddard (working from Andy Weir’s bestselltrapped in outer space. But while Gravity relied Jessica Chastain, ing novel) and director Ridley Scott effectively mainly on visceral thrills and one person’s inner Chiwetel Ejiofor. balance the surprisingly strong humor with the strength, The Martian finds its suspense in a Directed by serious danger and uncertainty. The supporting series of more small-scale (albeit no less critiRidley Scott. cast is full of great actors even in small parts, cal) dilemmas, which ultimately require the Rated PG-13. and Jessica Chastain stands out as the captain cooperation of people literally spread across Opens Friday. who’s racked with guilt for leaving a crew the solar system. member behind. It’s all in service of rescuing Mark Watney Some of the action back on Earth flags a bit when the (Matt Damon), a botanist and NASA astronaut who’s left movie spends too much time away from Mark, but it all behind on Mars when the rest of his team believes him comes together in a spectacular climax that’s as visudead in a massive storm. Stuck with barely enough food ally dizzying as Gravity’s nonstop motion and as fulfillfor a year (if rationed strictly), a busted communications ing as the end of Apollo 13. Like that fact-based drama, system and a four-year wait before another mission is The Martian makes furious calculations and engineering scheduled to arrive, Mark has to figure out how to survive simulations into gripping, can’t-look-away drama. and how to let his colleagues know that he’s not lying dead

42 LasVegasWeekly.com October 1-7, 2015

James Marsh’s Oscar-winning 2008 documentary Man on Wire turned the story of Frenchman Philippe Petit’s high-wire walk between the towers of the World Trade Center in 1974 into a suspenseful heist movie, aided enormously by the presence of Petit himself and his exuberant recounting of the events. The Walk, Robert Zemeckis’ narrative film about Petit’s daring stunt, attempts to blow the story up into a grand Hollywood spectacle, with mixed results. aaacc Zemeckis THE WALK struggles with Joseph Gordonbringing personal Levitt, Charlotte drama into the Le Bon, Benedict story, and the first Samuel. Directed half of the movie by Robert suffers from some Zemeckis. Rated contrived biopic PG. Now playing. moments. But when Zemeckis finally gets to the walk itself, his excessive technical wizardry (he never met a scene to which he couldn’t add multiple layers of special effects) works wonders, putting the audience right alongside Petit for his heart-stopping, mind-blowing stunt. Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives a solid performance as Petit, although he can’t quite match the impish charm of the real thing, and the supporting characters are little more than literal support for Petit’s exploits (which is perhaps to be expected for a movie based on Petit’s own book). Zemeckis adds constant CGI flourishes, as if to distract from the mundane script he co-wrote with Christopher Browne, and there’s more duty than wonder to the backstory of Petit’s relationship with his mentor (Ben Kingsley). But then Petit steps out on the wire, and Zemeckis captures the kind of visceral awe that Marsh’s documentary could only describe. To learn about Petit and his story, watch Man on Wire; to be dazzled by its wonder (at least briefly), watch The Walk. –Josh Bell

A&E | screen tv

> top gun Emily Blunt takes top billing in Sicario.

Comedy malpractice Family sitcom Dr. Ken is DOA

creating chaos in order to undermine the drug war. In particular, he says very little about Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro), who accompanies them without appearing to have any official role or designation. Kate very much wants to do the right thing, but that’s exceedingly difficult when the people in command deliberately keep you in the dark. The brilliant Sicario is a tension-soaked From its opening raid on the Arizona house of horrors to its climactic face-off between two characters slice of an unwinnable war who are ostensibly on the same side, Sicario is among By Mike D’Angelo the most relentlessly tension-filled movies in recent memory. The movie can be enjoyed (if that’s the right Sicario, the latest film from Denis Villeneuve word for something so harrowing) strictly on a superfi(Prisoners, Enemy), opens with text explaining the cial level, as a masterfully choreographed slow descent title, which means “hit man” in Spanish. It’s the last into the moral ooze of an unwinnable war. explanation that will be forthcoming for What’s most remarkable, however—and a long while. At the outset, Kate Macer potentially frustrating for some—is the (Emily Blunt), an FBI agent specializing in way that it gradually neutralizes its apparaaaab hostage situations, finds dozens of corpses ent protagonist, rendering Kate ever more SICARIO Emily in a house near the Mexican border; she’s impotent as the story progresses, until she Blunt, Josh Brolin, then drafted into a special inter-agency winds up being shoved aside entirely. In its Benicio Del Toro. task force led by Matt Graver (Josh Brolin), own maddening way, this is a more potent Directed by Denis who’s allegedly a Department of Defense feminist statement than it would be to have Villeneuve. Rated R. consultant. Kate kick righteous ass, as one would genOpens Friday. Matt kicks off this partnership by lying erally expect from a narrative like this. to Kate about their destination—he claims (It’s likewise significant that Kate’s partner, they’re headed to El Paso, but takes her instead to played by Daniel Kaluuya, is black.) Juárez, where he abducts a possible informant—and Sicario’s despairing cynicism says less about the consistently refuses to explain the details of the misMexican drug war than it says about the American prosion, offering only vague, rather smug remarks about pensity to abuse power. It’s a necessary tonic. film

Mexican standoff

Ken Jeong has had scene-stealing roles as oddball characters on Community and in The Hangover movies, but a little of his manic energy goes a long way, and he makes for a pretty annoying star in the dreadful sitcom Dr. Ken. Jeong attempts to play it straight as a typical overprotective, clueless sitcom dad, and he fails at both genuine emotion and wacky antics. The old-fashioned, hokey family sitcom acccc fits perfectly with the DR. KEN equally stodgy, unFridays, funny (and inexplicably 8:30 p.m., long-running) Last Man ABC. Standing on ABC’s Friday night, with echoes of the ’90s powerhouse TGIF lineup of awful family-friendly comedies. While it’s heartening to see ABC airing two comedies featuring AsianAmerican families, Dr. Ken lacks any of the warmth, subtlety or cleverness of network sibling Fresh Off the Boat, instead relying on listless sitcom clichés and broad, obvious jokes (accompanied by loud, unwarranted audience laughter). It’s completely tone-deaf when it comes to depicting modern youth culture (Jeong’s doctor character stumbles into the world’s least convincing nightclub in the premiere episode), and it wastes talented supporting players Dave Foley, Albert Tsai and Suzy Nakamura along with Jeong. For an actor who knows how to make the most out of small parts, Jeong manages to thoroughly squander his chance at a starring role. –Josh Bell

FILM | VO D

After giving a fantastic supporting performance in Alex Ross Perry’s bitingly funny Listen Up Philip last year, Elisabeth Moss re-teams with the writer-director to star in the very different Queen of Earth. She’s equally fantastic in Perry’s alternately mesmerizing and confounding film, a dark psychological drama about a woman slowly coming unhinged following the death of her father and a break-up with her boyfriend. Catherine (Moss) joins her best friend Virginia (Katherine Waterston) at Virginia’s remote family vacation home for a week, and the two constantly snipe at each other while ominous music suggests something sinister just over the horizon. What exactly that might be is never clear, but Perry builds an atmosphere of dread and mistrust, while exploring the toxic codependencies of Catherine’s relationships (with her father, with her ex-boyfriend, with Virginia). It’s an unsettling experience that falls somewhere between art-film obtuseness and horror-movie discomfort, and its effects will stick with you, even if you don’t quite understand them. –Josh Bell

A haunting vision

aaabc QUEEN OF EARTH Elisabeth Moss, Katherine Waterston, Patrick Fugit. Directed by Alex Ross Perry. Not rated. Available on Video on Demand.

october 1–7, 2015 LasVegasWeekly.com 43

A&E | noise l i st

> BADU IN HENDO The neo-soul queen plays Henderson Pavilion.

vegas On RECOrD

Metric’s new Pagans in Vegas isn’t the first LP to name-check our town. A few of the others …

Buck Owens Big in Vegas (1969) The Gun Club The Las Vegas Story (1984) Barkmarket Vegas Throat (1990) Cocteau Twins Heaven or Las Vegas (1990) The Crystal Method Vegas (1997) c o n c e rt

ists, one on a traditional kit and the other standing behind congas and a few other toys, Badu & Co. were really able to explore the rhythmic space. “Appletree” took the opposite tact, with the bass and keyboards dominating the musicality. It also showed the star’s immaculate range, through the Erykah Badu helps make Jazz Fest simple refrain of the word “down” toward the end of the jam, memorable By jason harris as she reached full, powerful notes all over the map. Badu asked the lively crowd, “How many people out In the loosest interpretation, headliner Erykah Badu there are having their first Badu experience?” then made makes sense on a jazz festival bill. But the queen of neosure those who cheered wouldn’t forget what they had witsoul proved that it’s impossible to box her into nessed. “Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)” any one genre, electrifying the Las Vegas Jazz might as well have been part of an old-school Festival crowd at the Henderson Pavilion on block party. The video, which features cameos aaaac Friday night. from many of hip-hop’s legends, remained in ERYKAH First, a word about the venue. It might be the spirit in this incarnation, as Badu sampled some BADU premiere outdoor concert locale in the Valley. of her favorite way-back cuts mid-song. The September 25, Sitting up close in the seats is nice, but nothing West Coast was repped by NWA’s “Straight Outta Henderson beats stretching out on the grassy hill, which still Compton,” but the highlight was Whodini’s Pavilion. gives you a good view of the show and makes you “Friends,” which sounded totally fresh from the feel like you’re at a true concert in the park. mouth of Badu, with dirty synths behind her. Badu, now 44, still has the energy she did nearly two As she dips in and out of the spotlight, Badu could be playdecades ago, when she first exploded onto the scene. From ing an amphitheater or a bingo hall. Wherever she’s at, and that initial album Baduizm, “On & On” made an early appearhowever they’re billing her really doesn’t matter. She remains ance and retains its silky smooth feel. With two percussionone of the great live performers.

SOUL FOOD

Jucifer Calling All Cars on the Vegas Strip (1999) The New Duncan Imperials In-A-Gadda-Da-Vegas (1999) Jizzy Pearl Vegas Must Die! (2005) Glasvegas Glasvegas (2008) Tangerine Dream Run to Vegas (2010)

It’s late in The Lemonheads’ set. I couldn’t give you an exact time, because that would be utilizing the philosophy that time is linear, which has been thrown out the window for the night, as one of college rock’s great ’90s bands kicks off a U.S. mini-tour. The Lemonheads’ Evan Dando Consider this: Instead of walking onto the stage from wherever qualifies as takes us on a strange journey backstage at the Sayers Club, lead singer Evan Dando walks in through the main doors wielding an acoustic guitar and comes through the crowd. He plays a few acoustic numbers by himself, before the rest of the band joins him. Surely Dando, who looks strikingly similar to Anton Chigurh, the villain in No Country for Old Men, would perform his biggest hits, right? “It’s a Shame About Ray” is setlisted but not played. “Into Your Arms” is nowhere to be heard. Of “Mrs. Robinson,” we could only ask, “Where have you gone?” From the super-familiar, only “My Drug Buddy” makes it to the show. We’re now back at the end of the main set, I guess. No longer are all four members of the band onstage, because that would be predictable. It’s only Dando on acoustic and an electric guitarist beside him. A few slower songs are played. And then, abruptly, Dando walks offstage … through the crowd to the back of the room. He lays some money onto the bar and orders a drink. Seconds later, he turns around and looks shocked that the crowd’s still in place. He tells them, from the back of the room, that he’ll play some more songs after he smokes a cigarette. Then he lights up and slowly makes his way back through the crowd, stopping for conversations along the way. An encore is played. We only know it’s over when the lights come up and house music comes on. This also might be news to Evan Dando. –Jason Harris c o n c e rt

Rockin’ stroll

44 LasVegasWeekly.com October 1-7, 2015

erykah badu by corlene byrd; The lemonheads by spencer burton

A&E | noise M u s i c | a lt– R OCK

> STATUS QUO The brothers Lawrence retreat into templates for Caracal.

Burn notice The Dead Weather’s latest album is worth the wait

measly six to eight months to dream up, lay down and put out Caracal—and it sure sounds like it. Anyone would ding Disclosure for making Settle 2, but it’s disheartening that the duo took great pains to move on from the 1990s U.K. garage aesthetic it so effortlessly updated, only to retreat into the doldrums of templated electro-R&B and club pop. For an act that represented Disclosure’s play for club ascendance the anti-EDM in 2013 and ’14, it’s sounding status quo feels shallow on Caracal on tunes like “Nocturnal,” which blows a big-name get like The Weeknd—as “Magnets” and “Good Intentions” do with Lorde and Miguel, respectively—with With all the touring and promotion a languid composition destined to open club U.K. electronic duo Disclosure did in doors rather than raise their roofs. “Hourglass” the 28 months between the release of its is a rehash of modern British dance music rapturously received 2013 debut album, with little snap or seductiveness, a likely favor Settle, and its follow-up, Caracal, it’s to Disclosure’s record company, Interscope, as hard to fathom where brothers Howard it features the vocals of unknown labelmate and Guy Lawrence found the time to Jillian Hervey (of duo Lion Babe). Sam Smith actually write and record songs. We’re reappears for “Omen,” a forgettable, mid-tempretty sure it wasn’t during their venuepo groover that doesn’t kick up like his first filling, festival-conquering summer tour DISCLOSURE Disclosure collaboration, “Latch.” last year, which included a sold-out gig Caracal aaccc Only first single “Holding On,” featurat Brooklyn Bowl, or their big Wild Life ing jazz-cum-house vocalist Gregory Porter, weekends this year, where they’d top a bounces along with any sort of enthusiasm stacked bill of DJs at party capitals like or inspiration—both of which marked Settle and evade Ibiza, Miami and, on multiple occasions, Las Vegas Caracal. –Mike Prevatt (namely, at Light and Daylight). They might’ve had a Music | electronic

The sound of Settling

Music | HIP–Hop

You couldn’t go FETTY WAP Fetty anywhere this summer without hearing Paterson, Wap aabcc New Jersey, newcomer Fetty Wap, who has racked up two of the year’s biggest crossover hip-hop songs with “Trap Queen” and “My Way.” Both of those airborne tracks invaded radio and clubs by building on the Auto-Tune sing-rap blueprint that guys like T-Pain and Future have been employing for a few years now. Fetty’s tunes are undeniably catchy, but his self-titled debut paints him as a one-trick-pony, who does the same backflip over and over. “Trap Luv” is not to be confused for “Trap Queen,” but easily could be, as the two songs are almost indistinguishable. That goes for much of the album, as Fetty redundantly tries to coax females into Netflix & chill again and again (“Jugg,” “Again,” “D.A.M.”), at least when he’s not flipping bricks (“RGF Island,” “No Days Off”). Nevertheless, Fetty still manages to make incredibly infectious tunes, and the album’s loaded with potential crossover hits, however disposable they might be. As far as guilty pleasures go, it remains to be seen how long he can sustain this formula before people move on to the next thing. –Mike Pizzo

Only Jack White truly knows when things are going to happen in his world, but this time with The Dead Weather— his collaboration with vocalist Alison Mosshart of The Kills, Dean Fertita of Queens of the Stone Age on guitars/keys and bassist Jack Lawrence—there were a few hints along the way. They released a pair of singles in 2013 and ’14 that have now been fleshed out with eight additional tunes to complete Dodge and Burn, the band’s first album in five years. THE DEAD Despite the WEATHER progressive Dodge and Burn birth of the proj- aaaac ect, however, it’s no hodgepodge, instead playing like The Dead Weather’s most satisfying and consistent collection to date. Its songs weave together an engaging set of stories, as Mosshart’s tantalizing vocals dance with the music’s gritty rhythmic base. She changes character at times, as during “Let Me Through,” where her voice gets creepy-crawly. And when Mosshart and White (the latter credited with “drums, percussion, some vocals, some guitar”) sing together, it’s staged in an interesting way. The pair takes a conversational approach on “Rough Detective,” while “Three Dollar Hat” features Jekyll and Hyde-pacing, with the mood shifting as each section completes. There’s a lot to unpack and dissect here, and fans of elaborately constructed music should enjoy the imaginative journey. –Matt Wardlaw

LA’s Silversun Pickups hit pay dirt with 2006 debut Carnavas, thanks to a lofty combination of sugary shoegaze and cathartic aaabc noise-rock, but on the next two albums, the band struggled to preserve its unselfconscious weirdness. The Pickups recapture some of their early magic, however, on fourth album Better Nature, thanks to a combination of polished Jacknife Lee production and a looser, denser approach to arrangements. Sleek keyboard space dust and fuzzy guitars collide on the ominous standout “Cradle (Better Nature),” while the soaring choruses of “Connection” boast a racing tempo and a bustling synth core. Fans of Muse, meanwhile, will dig the robo-funk of “Pins and Needles” and snarling distorto-rock of “Nightlight.” Better Nature’s more delicate moments work, too: On “Friendly Fires,” vocalist Brian Aubert stretches his range to channel a torchy soul singer, while “Latchkey Kids” is a wistful synth-pop pop gem that could have been in an ’80s teen movie. The album’s more sprawling noise and electro freakouts, which are clustered near its end, aren’t quite as compelling, but it’s a minor quibble. Better Nature is a welcome return to form. –Annie Zaleski M u s i c | A LT- R OCK

Silversun Pickups Better Nature

october 1–7, 2015 LasVegasWeekly.com 45

A&E | noise archives

Sonic Flashback

Silver celebration

> rock IN a hard place Aerosmith, shown here during a 1993 performance, opened the first Vegas Hard Rock Cafe in 1990.

Hard Rock Cafe celebrates its 25th with a slew of special happenings

Aerosmith // September 8, 1990 // Hard Rock Cafe By Dennis Mitchell It’s been a given for ages that everyone in Las Vegas seems to be from somewhere else. And since many of their hometowns had a Hard Rock Cafe of their own, the grand opening of the location at Harmon and Paradise 25 years ago wasn’t your typical Vegas restaurant debut. Aside from a 24-hour record store and a few fun bars with stages, the Entertainment Capital lacked that big-city, all-inclusive music hangout, and it felt obvious the Hard Rock would change that. Even by Las Vegas grand-opening standards it was one for the ages, rivaling the big hotel-casinos in terms of advance buzz and ticket demand. The $250 VIP package included an Aerosmith concert and a buffet, both staged behind the actual café with the concert inside a convention tent. The size and layout of the restaurant precluded holding such a large-scale event there, though it was used as a live-music venue for smaller shows once it opened. Aerosmith had worked its way out of dark times during the ’80s with hit albums Permanent Vacation and Pump, and the September 8, 1990, Vegas stop came near the end of a yearlong tour supporting the latter. Crowds started building early. Just after dark the band turned up in front of the new building, climbing aboard a cherry picker and rising to be photographed next to the huge, neonlined guitar. We were then treated to a fine, patio-style buffet featuring many of the chain’s specialties, and then off we trundled, into the big white tent. The show started late, the result of technical issues known only to those at the front of the packed venue. They would become obvious to the rest of us soon enough. After a dramatic entrance to the theme from Psycho, high anticipation gave way to high anxiety when the power went out about 30 seconds into the first song. The tent sat in darkness for a few moments, and then the lights and sound returned, with frontman Steven Tyler asking us to keep our fingers crossed. We tried, to no avail. It happened again and again, the sound dropping out after a minute or so each time. The stage crew then stepped in, taking up the band’s instruments and jamming to the theme from Peter Gunn long enough to ensure the gremlins were finally gone. Aerosmith then launched into

46 LasVegasWeekly.com October 1-7, 2015

Car Show. Classic autos assemble in the lot, and guests can register for a raffle benefitting Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. October 2, 6-9 p.m. Gibson Guitar Acoustic Asylum. Local musicians Cameron Calloway, Danny Wilde, Max Rico and Daniel Park perform for free. October 5, 8-11 p.m.

Hard Rock Cafe 4475 Paradise Road, 702-7338400. SundayThursday, 8:30 a.m.-midnight; Friday & Saturday, 8:30 a.m.-1 a.m.

Wine & Canvas. For $25, create a rock-inspired painting—while drinking bottomless wine—with proceeds helping Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. October 7, 6:30-9:30 p.m. #ThrowbackThursday Cover band Like, Totally reaches back to the ’80s with tributes to the era of Toni Basil and Soft Cell. October 8, 8-11 p.m. 25th Anniversary Concert A free show featuring Missing Persons and The Vegas Rock All-Stars, the latter showcasing the likes of Brent Muscat (Faster Pussycat) and Jeff Young (Megadeth). October 10, 9 p.m. Celebrity Brunch With a Beat What’s better than a $25 brunch paired with bottomless mimosas and Bloody Marys for another $25? When Slaughter drummer Blas Elias and his rocker friends are in the house. October 11, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

“Young Lust” and kept the energy high for an abbreviated set, which began with the bulk of Pump and finished with hits. Having seen the group a few times in basketball arenas in earlier years, I took note of how tight and sharp it still sounded. It was almost midnight when Aerosmith wrapped up with “Walk This Way,” and by then the technical problems were a distant memory. Upon leaving, we noticed a few people sitting on the curb along the south side of Harmon Avenue in handcuffs. We hadn’t realized, but there had been a melee outside involving folks without tickets. There was trash everywhere and several

Metro police cruisers were still on hand. A world-class chain arrived in town, Aerosmith slew electronic demons and somebody called in the paddy wagons. Just another Saturday night in Vegas. From there, the restaurant thrived. Music groups from multiple genres began holding events there, and local music fans took to it. And it turned out, the cool stuff on display inside was just a starting point. Four and a half years later the Hard Rock Hotel opened right behind it, bigger and with even more memorabilia. It sure is nice to see the original’s still standing—and going strong—a quarter-century later.

Throwback menu. The Cafe rolls back prices to 1990 for three fan favorites from that era—Rita’s Pot Roast ($12.95), H.R.C. Famous Watermelon Ribs ($12.95) and the Chinese Chicken Salad ($7.95). October 4-11.

aerosmith by susan walsh; hard rock cafe by l.e. baskow; cameron calloway by sonia seelinger

A&E | noise

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> Surf and swine Hemlock’s new album rides in this week.

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band Hemlock has been a metal mainstay since hitting the scene in the early ’90s, supporting Slayer in 2003 and embarking on lengthy tours on their own. Now, the band is back with a new LP, Mouth of Swine, its first since 2013. In those two years, Hemlock put out a live record and wrote new songs, all while living on the road, then went into the studio earlier this year at LA’s Kingsize Soundlabs and Stagg Street Studio. Produced by Channel Zero guitarist Mikey Doling and recorded in five days, the new album focuses on the recording industry and the wateringdown of modern music. “Most of our music and lyrics have always had a positive spin on everything,” drummer Brian Smith says. “Everything [now] is so processed and packaged, we wanted to do something more raw again and stay true to ourselves.” Mouth of Swine also takes on the bigwigs in the industry. “You’re out there working hard, and a lot of the times money stays at the top and doesn’t trickle down.” The band will celebrate the

official CD release with a performance at the House of Blues on Friday, October 2 with Dim, Wretched Sky and Bipolar ($10).

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Franks & Deans, billed as “The World’s First Rock ‘N’ Roll Rat Pack,” will release a new album, How Did You All Get In My Room? on SquidHat Records, with a limited, blue-vinyl pressing. Paying homage to Sinatra & Co. with punk-driven covers of the old Vegas lounge favorites, Franks & Deans will perform a free album-release set on Halloween—complete with toga party— at the Double Down. Also, in SquidHat pop-punk news, the label just released Never Die, the debut EP from The Damnit Jims, and signed The Negative Nancys to its stable of Vegas bands. The label is also working on a Prince cover album, titled Punk Sexy: A Las Vegas Punk Rock Tribute to Prince and set for a Record Store Day 2016 release on purple vinyl, with Mercy Music, The Quitters and New Cold War among the participating acts. And lastly, SquidHat has announced the creation of sub-imprint SquidProQuo, which will release music from non-Vegas artists, beginning with Tokyo three-piece—and Double Down frequenter—The Heiz in November. –Leslie Ventura

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A&E | the strip T H E K AT S R E P O RT

POP ROCKS

> PITCH PERFECT Perrico needs the right room for his thunderous Pop Strings Orchestra.

David Perrico test-drives his new group at the Lounge at the Palms By John Katsilometes

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club feel, and became well-suited for privately booked events and the new Comedy Rocks stand-up series. But it’s not great for the thundering live music produced by Pop Strings, and Perrico knew it immediately. “I want a room that will work for us,” he says, “and that room was not working for us.” Perrico left Rocks Lounge in September, lacking a gig anywhere in town. Bold move. He booked the Cab Jazz show on September 24, and quickly made a deal to test-drive the band at the Palms. There, Perrico has the sort of open venue his band enjoyed at Rocks Lounge, along with an upgraded sound and light system. The band will continue to churn out such pop classics as “Papa Don’t Preach” and “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough” mixed with newer hits (“Uptown Funk,” which has become required material for any live act in Vegas) and a few Perrico-penned originals. He’s hoping for a regular Saturday night residency, and the Palms could use

a high-caliber local act after losing Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns to the South Point in September. The strategy at the Palms, thus far, is to match genres with acts at the Lounge and Pearl Concert Theater. If a hard-rock artist is headlining the Pearl, expect a hard-rock act to play the later gig at the Lounge. Perrico is hoping to convince the Palms’ entertainment team to keep Pop Strings as the set house band on Saturdays, regardless of who’s playing the Pearl. The far-reaching goal with Pop Strings is to tour the band and use Vegas as a hub. Pop Evolution has effectively been on hiatus for months, with several musicians crossing over from Pop Strings. Perrico says he’s had a lot of inquiries about out-of-town work for the group. “The whole thing with Pop Strings is, how can I tap into what DJs are doing and create that kind of energy with classical instruments in a pop setting?” Perrico says. “We can do that with this band.” The next step is simple: finding a regular room to set the vibe.

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he rolls his eyes at today, for the goldIt’s maybe a third of the way sequined jacket he was required to through David Perrico’s Pop Strings wear onstage) during that show’s run Orchestra show at the Smith Center’s at Aria. He served as music director Cabaret Jazz, and the band is ragin Pin Up at the Stratosphere before ing on a cover of the Jessie J-Ariana leaving that show in September 2014. Grande-Nicki Minaj hit “Bang Bang,” He currently performs in and writes with singer Naomi Mauro taking on the charts for The Rat Pack Is Back at the howling vocals. Tuscany’s Copa Room and, among all The cozy club is filled with sound these other demanding projects, is the and power, searing with eight violins music director for Alice, A Steampunk and cellos. And at the end of the song Concert Fantasy, next performing the audience stands and roars. For October 13 at Brooklyn Bowl. Perrico, ever seeking the ideal groove, Perrico’s latest project, Pop this is a moment to cherish. Strings is a 15-member act packed “What Pop Strings is after is a highwith great players from across the energy, Top 40 dance vibe,” Perrico city and featuring a rarsays. “I mean, that’s really ity in Las Vegas—a full what I am focused on.” string section in a smallPop Strings is the latDAVID venue Vegas band. The est top Vegas act to fill PERRICO & act debuted at Red Rock Cabaret Jazz, and the POP STRINGS Resort’s Rocks Lounge in second band fronted ORCHESTRA January, and swiftly built by Perrico to headline October 10 & a solid following that comthe 240-seat room. Pop 24, 11 p.m., free. plemented Zowie Bowie’s Evolution, his 22-piece Palms Lounge, Friday night dancefests in musical big rig, has also 702-942-7777. that room. played a series of shows at One of the final bookthe Smith Center dating to ings by outgoing Station Casinos June 2014. Pop Strings’ next perforentertainment director Judy Alberti mances are October 10 and 24 at the (whose final day with the company Lounge at the Palms. was the night Perrico’s new lineup Perrico has earned a reputation as opened), Pop Strings steadily gained a nimble and tireless arranger, a great momentum through the spring and player (among the very best trumpetearly summer. But Perrico, owing to ers in town) and a persuasive recruithis own sense of vibe—shared by his er of talent. His career achievements bandmates—pulled Pop Strings from give him ample equity in Las Vegas, as Rocks Lounge after the hotel built a he toured extensively with the Tommy glass wall enclosing the lounge and Dorsey Orchestra, and has backed separating the band from the customDonny & Marie, Natalie Cole, Toni ers in the casino. Braxton and Gladys Knight. He was The room took on more of a nightmusic director for Viva Elvis (a role

A&E | culture BREE DELANO Las Vegas’ acclaimed DJ88 > MAJOR IMPACT Las Vegas would be very different without contributions from the Jewish community.

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Israel Peace Rally photograph courtesy Special Collections, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

The history of Las Vegas’ Jewish community is coming together at UNLV By Kristen Peterson nurse who arrived in Las Vegas in Within the sprawling contemthe 1920s when she was 2 years porary Las Vegas landscape linger old, graduated from Las Vegas millions of personal stories that High School, moved away twice are lost to history or buried in and then spent 17 years at Sunrise the larger picture. Delving into the Hospital, seeing nearly a century files (digital and physical) at UNLV’s of change. Las Vegas Sun publisher Special Collections reveals the layHank Greenspun created Green ers, the minutiae behind the names Valley. Steve Wynn transformed and places that weave together a the image of Las Vegas. larger narrative. The Digital Heritage Project Without Nathan Adelson, there was launched with a wouldn’t be his name$100,000 grant through sake nonprofit hospice. SOUTHERN the Library Services and Without Irwin Molasky NEVADA JEWISH Technology Act, and donating land, UNLV COMMUNITY UNLV asked the commight not have hapDIGITAL munity to participate. pened where it did. HERITAGE Emily Lapworth, hired Paradise Palms? That, PROJECT in January as the project too, was Molasky. Then UNLV University archivist, says the goal there were Joyce and Libraries, digital. is to build a web portal Jerry Mack, who helped library.unlv.edu/ that contextualizes the found the university. jewish. information, but also to All of this emergsave what risks being es in the Southern lost: “There was a Jewish commuNevada Jewish Community nity center in the ’40s, but none of Digital Heritage Project, a UNLV those records survived.” University Libraries effort to Now there are materials from the collect oral histories, old photolocal Hadassah group, Jewish newsgraphs, memorabilia and other papers, Holocaust education efforts, information. The three-year projtemples and a growing collection of ect aims to preserve the past and oral histories that will be available present, casting light on faith and to the public. And it’s still growing. community even without a temple As with other UNLV collections, in town. including Documenting the African What we learn is that Las Vegas American Experience in Las Vegas, would look completely different it’s these stories from community without the contributions from members—business owners, phiJewish people who settled here lanthropists, chefs, homemakers, to build their own lives, whether politicians, casino executives, activit’s Molasky, Edythe and Lloyd ists, developers, photographers and Katz—who owned the Huntridge shop owners—that bring depth to and Fremont theaters and intethat larger snapshot. grated them—or Adele Baratz, a

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FOOD & DRINK

THE SEQUEL THRILLS

> BIG ON SMALL PLATES Get a bit of everything at Chada Street, including grilled Cornish hen and whole tilapia to build a fish wrap.

Chada Street tastes like another Thai food home run BY BROCK RADKE

Chada Street has only been open for a month, but we couldn’t CHADA wait. When you’re excited about a STREET new restaurant, it’s hard to contain. 3839 Spring Bank Atcharawan’s first ChinaMountain town-area eatery, Chada Thai & Road, 702Wine, quickly emerged as one of the 579-0207. city’s best Thai restaurants and a true Lunch: culinary hot spot when it opened in Mondaylate 2012. When out-of-town critics Friday, 11:30 and national foodie mags do Vegas, a.m.-3 p.m. Chada is always among their stops. Dinner: Daily, Chada Street takes this food (and 5 p.m.-3 a.m. wine) in another direction, specifically exploring authentic flavors served from Thai street vendors and night markets through smaller dishes with fewer ingredients. The food focus might be more concentrated, but the space at Chada Street—located in a bustling, narrow strip mall on Spring Mountain Road—is much more open and airy than the original restaurant. Beautiful, rustic wood is everywhere, and a photo mural of street-food vendors rests above a black marble bar. At your table, a carafe of ice water is poured into metal tumblers. You’ll need it. This is going to get spicy, if you want it to. There are bountiful seafood dishes, from simple and familiar fish cakes ($7) and fried calamari with garlic ($9) to an elaborate build-your-own wrap ($20) from a whole grilled tilapia and assorted fresh herbs. Yum hoi ($18) combines blanched oysters with lemongrass, mint, fiery birds-eye chilies, fish sauce and lime juice, and the similarly flavored larb pla dook ($8) is a spicy revelation, with chunks of tender catfish coated in rice powder, plus onion and cilantro. Simplicity shines. A whole or half grilled Cornish

hen ($8-$15) with an order of crab fat fried rice ($12) might be your new favorite lunch. The tangy house-made chicken meatball ($6) is beyond addictive, and the same goes for the crunchy chicken wings ($7). But most memorable is the sai qua ($8), a spicy herb sausage from northern Thailand eaten with fresh ginger, peanuts, onion and cabbage. It’s savagely good all by itself. Chada Street offers more exotic curries and vegetable-oriented dishes (pea sprouts with crispy shal-

lots and ground pork, for example) than its predecessor. But Atcharawan has wisely added a secondary menu with some plates we know from Chada Thai, like pad kee mao drunken noodles and crispy roasted duck with panang curry, for diners who need to be coaxed into this lively new experience. Maybe you have to work your way up to ka nom jeen nam ya—vermicelli noodles swimming in a complex fish curry broth—or green papaya salad with green beans, tomato and salted duck egg ($8). It’s just nice to have a another place where all levels of culinary curiosity will be consistently rewarded.

BITE NOW: CARMINE’S SPICY SCARPARIELLO WINGS Carmine’s is known for its comically large portions of Italian food favorites, and while those Brobdingnagian plates might be enticing for some, I just don’t underCARMINE’S stand the fascination with overwhelming amounts of food. Still, I recommend a Forum Shops visit, for an unlikely reason: some of the Valley’s most stellar chicken wings. at Caesars, The spicy scarpariello wings are a labor of love for chef Michael Ingino. The 702-472-9700. multistep prep process begins with marinating for at least a day—although he tries Sundayto get closer to 36 hours—in an eclectic marinade that includes lemon zest, garlic, Thursday, rosemary, oregano and olive oil. After frying the wings to order for 15 minutes(!), 11 a.m.-11 they’re finished in a sauce similar to the marinade with added white wine, sage, p.m.; Friday & Tabasco flakes and a heart attack-inducing amount of butter. As Ingino puts it, Saturday, 11 “Butter is love.” a.m.-midnight. Two-dozen wings per order ($32) are delivered alongside a house-made blue cheese dip combining Danish blue cheese, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce and garlic, served with fennel sticks instead of celery. The thick sauce coating the wings is rich and citrusy, while the creamy sharpness of the dip provides a foil to the heat. You’ll want to sop up every last bit. –Jim Begley

50 LASVEGASWEEKLY.COM OCTOBER 1-7, 2015

PHOTOGRAPHS BY STEVE MARCUS

> PLAZA PICKS Spicy Spilotro steak at Oscar’s; the Hacienda at Beer Garden; slices at Pop Up.

HEAT WAVE

INGREDIENTS 2 oz. Azzurre Vodka 5 oz. Fever-Tree Elderflower Tonic Water E AT T H E C A S I N O

DON’T SKIP THE PLAZA

Venture to the tip of Fremont Street for well-rounded eating

soft-serve here, but Pop Up’s crust is such an emblem of When the Tamares Group sold the Las Vegas Club crispy-chewy bliss, you might want to stick with the pizza. in August—a largely forgotten property devoid of dining White pies are a specialty, like the Chapel, with roasted options when it closed—it reminded us that the Plaza garlic oil and spinach, and the Plaza, with mozzarella, has been the Downtown casino the investment group has ricotta, roasted peppers and sausage. focused on sprucing up in recent years. It seemed a good The food court offers the typical stuff, topped time to check in and see how the Plaza’s recent off with Cafelatte, a Lavazza coffee bar with plenty restaurant renovations and additions are holding up. The short answer: pretty great. Most Fremont THE PLAZA of pastries and Krispy Kremes if you don’t have Street Experience casinos don’t boast a strong bal- 1 S. Main St., the time or energy to attack Hash House A Go Go, ance of restaurants; the Plaza is well-covered with 702-386-2110. still one of the Valley’s favorite large-portioned, a classic, destination steakhouse, a popular breakhangover-curing breakfast depots. This one serves fast-brunch spot, and two quietly delicious snackeries. lunch and dinner, too. The most quiet is Beer Garden, formerly known as Bier Say what you will about the man, but Oscar’s Garten, which recently changed its name and renovated Steakhouse is undeniably one of those old-school Vegas its already lovely “backyard” patio that peers across Main experiences we all claim to clamor for, even though Street into the FSE. On my recent visit, the rotating taps it’s only been open four years. As if the vibe and neonoffered diverse suds from Traveler Beer Company’s crisp speckled views from the glass-dome dining room weren’t grapefruit shandy to the Belgian-style PranQster from enough, the menu’s laced with classics from shellfish North Coast Brewing Company. The drool-inducing menu platters to meatballs to Caesars to a fine rendition of the of signature sausages is about to expand with a Vienna late, great Alpine Village’s chicken supreme soup ($8). hot dog, a burger, steak and grilled sandwiches, but don’t Definitely have a martini, and my top steak picks are the worry—the Hacienda ($7.99), a sweet Italian link with Spilotro ($29), grilled and spiced with lots of garlic and roasted peppers, caramelized onions and giardinera will red chili, and the prime rib ($34 for Carolyn’s Cut or $43 remain. Downtown has its share of places to drink great for a bone-in slab). beer, and this one needs to be near the top of your list. When we talk about Downtown dining these days, it’s Beer Garden’s operators also run Pop Up Pizza, which all about the hip food around Fremont East. But the Plaza savvy Downtowners know is home to some of the best mixes a bit of that with more traditional casino fare, and slices in the city. You can grab wings, salads and vegan does it all well. –Brock Radke

PLAZA BY MIKAYLA WHITMORE

1 scoop of lemon sorbet Sprig of thyme, lemon slice, lime slice, kumquat slices (garnish)

METHOD Build drink over ice in a 14-ounce stemmed wine glass. Serve with a scoop of lemon sorbet, and garnish with a thyme sprig and lemon, lime and kumquat slices.

A classic vodka tonic pales in comparison to this cocktail. The elderflower tonic, lemon sorbet and citrus garnishes elevate this beyond the bar staple and into a drink that is delicately sweet, slightly tangy and truly decadent.

Cocktail created by Francesco Lafranconi, Executive Director of Mixology and Spirits Education at Southern Wine & Spirits.

OCTOBER 1–7, 2015 LASVEGASWEEKLY.COM 51

A&E | Short Takes > morning person Anne Hathaway drinks her coffee in The Intern.

See review Page 42. Theaters: AL, CAN, CH, DI, FH, GVL, GVR, ORL, PAL, RP, RR, SF, SHO, SP, SS, ST, TS, TX, VS Saving Mr. Wu (Not reviewed) Andy Lau, Liu Ye, Wang Qianyuan. Directed by Ding Sheng. 105 minutes. Not rated. In Chinese with English subtitles. A group of criminals kidnap a famous movie star. Theaters: TS Sicario aaaab Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin. Directed by Denis Villeneuve. 121 minutes. Rated R. See review Page 43. Theaters: AL, CAN, CH, COL, DI, DTS, FH, GVL, ORL, PAL, RP, SF, SHO, SP, SS, ST, TS, TX, VS Singh Is Bliing (Not reviewed) Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson, Kay Kay Menon. Directed by Prabhu Deva. 140 minutes. Not rated. In Hindi with English subtitles. A Punjabi man falls in love with a foreign woman. Theaters: VS The Walk aaacc Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Charlotte Le Bon, Benedict Samuel. Directed by Robert Zemeckis. 123 minutes. Rated PG. See review Page 42. Theaters: AL, PAL, RR, SP, SS

Special screenings Attack on Titan - Part 1 10/1, feature film based on manga series, 7:30 pm, $7.50-$10.75. Theaters: ORL, SC, SP, ST. Info: attackontitanthemovie.com. Banff Mountain Film Festival’s Radical Reels 10/8, touring festival of adventure sports films, 7 pm, free. Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road, 702507-3400.

RiffTrax Live 10/1, Miami Connection with comedic commentary, 8 pm, $10.50-$12.50. Theaters: COL, ORL, SF, SP, ST, VS. 10/6, encore showing, 7:30 pm, $12.50. Theaters: COL, VS. Info: fathomevents. com. The Rocky Horror Picture Show 10/3, augmented by live cast and audience participation, 10 pm, $9. Theaters: TC. Info: rhpsvegas.com. The Rocky Horror Picture Show 40th Anniversary Through 10/31, Fri-Sat 10 pm, $5.50$8.50. Theaters: TS

Cinemark Classic Series Sun, 2 pm; Wed, 2 & 7 pm, $7-$10. 10/4, 10/7, The Princess Bride. Theaters: ORL, ST, SF, SP, SC

Sci Fi Center Mon, Cinemondays, 8 pm, free. 5077 Arville St., 855-501-4335, thescificenter. com.

Finding Noah 10/8, documentary film plus broadcast of panel discussion, 7 pm, $10.50$12.50. Theaters: COL, SF, SP, ST, VS. Info: fathomevents.com.

Tuesday Afternoon at the Bijou Tue, 1 pm, free. 10/6, Turn Back the Clock. Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road, 702-507-3400.

The Hobbit: Extended Edition Expanded editions of The Hobbit trilogy, plus recorded introductions by filmmaker Peter Jackson, 7:30 pm, $10.50-$12.50. 10/5, An Unexpected Journey. 10/7, The Desolation of Smaug. 10/13, The Battle of the Five Armies. Theaters: COL, ORL, ST, VS. Info: fathomevents.com. The Iron Giant: Signature Edition 10/4, remastered and expanded feature film, noon, $12.50. Theaters: COL, VS. Info: fathomevents.com. The Metropolitan Opera HD Live 10/3, Verdi’s Il Trovatore live, 9:55 am, $17-$25. 10/7, Verdi’s Il Trovatore encore, 6:30 pm, $16-$24. Theaters: COL, ORL, SF, SP, ST, VS. Info: fathomevents.com. Midnight Brewvies Mon, movie plus popcorn, midnight, free. Elixir, 2920 N. Green Valley Parkway, Henderson, 702-272-0000. Outdoor Picture Show Sat, dusk, free. 10/3, Monster House. The District at Green Valley Ranch, 2225 Village Walk Drive, Henderson, 702-564-8595.

The Who 10/8, concert film recorded live at Hyde Park in London, 7:30 pm, $13-$15. Theaters: COL, SF, ST, VS. Info: fathomevents.com.

New this week Etiquette for Mistresses (Not reviewed) Kim Chiu, Kris Aquino, Iza Calzado. Directed by Chito S. Roño. 122 minutes. Not rated. In Filipino with English subtitles. Unbeknownst to each other, five successful women are all having affairs with the same married man. Theaters: ORL, VS Hell and Back (Not reviewed) Voices of Nick Swardson, T.J. Miller, Mila Kunis. Directed by Tom Gianas and Russ Shuman. 84 minutes. Rated R. Two friends travel to hell to try to rescue a third friend from the clutches of the devil. Theaters: BS, COL, FH, ORL, RR, SC, TS, TX The Martian aaaac Matt Damon, Jeff Daniels, Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor. Directed by Ridley Scott. 141 minutes. Rated PG-13.

52 LasVegasWeekly.com October 1-7, 2015

Now playing 90 Minutes in Heaven (Not reviewed) Kate Bosworth, Hayden Christensen, Hudson Meek. Directed by Michael Polish. 121 minutes. Rated PG-13. After a serious car accident, a man awakens claiming to have seen heaven. Theaters: BS, SC American Ultra aabcc Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Topher Grace. Directed by Nima Nourizadeh. 96 minutes. Rated R. Small-town stoner Mike (Eisenberg) discovers that he’s the product of a secret CIA program that turned him into an ultimate weapon, and now assassins are after him and his girlfriend (Stewart). As Mike maims and kills more thugs in increasingly brutal ways, the low-key stoner comedy becomes an ugly, cynical bloodbath. –JB Theaters: ST, TC Ant-Man aaabc Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly. Directed by Peyton Reed. 117 minutes. Rated PG-13. Semi-reformed thief Scott Lang (Rudd) is recruited by scientist Hank Pym (Douglas) to steal a version of a size-changing suit from a greedy technocrat. Ant-Man plays things relatively safe, but it’s still a different sort of Marvel superhero movie, a looser, funnier and lower-stakes story than Marvel’s typical world-ending spectacles. –JB Theaters: BS, COL, DI, TX Avengers: Age of Ultron aaabc Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth. Directed by Joss Whedon. 141 minutes. Rated PG-13. The Marvel superheroes (including Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and more) team up for their latest adventure, taking on evil robot Ultron. Writer-director Whedon manages to include an impressive amount of character development and clever dialogue, although eventually the action set pieces and cluttered plot steamroll over the drama. –JB Theaters: TC Black Mass aaacc Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch. Directed by Scott Cooper. 122 minutes. Rated R. Depp undergoes a startling physical transformation as James “Whitey” Bulger

in this historical biopic, but opts to make the notorious Boston crime boss just the latest in his series of vaguely inhuman freaks, portraying him less as a typical gangster than as a Nosferatustyle ghoul. –MD Theaters: AL, CAN, CH, DTS, FH, GVL, GVR, ORL, PAL, RP, SF, SHO, SP, SS, ST, TS, TX, VS Captive aaccc Kate Mara, David Oyelowo, Michael K. Williams. Directed by Jerry Jameson. 97 minutes. Rated PG-13. This faith-based thriller is less heavyhanded than most films targeted at the Christian market, but it replaces preaching with mostly dull, slow drama. Oyelowo and Mara are strong as an escaped killer and the recovering drug addict he holds hostage, but the movie never reaches the larger resonance it strains for. –JB Theaters: SF, TS Everest aaacc Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin. Directed by Baltasar Kormákur. 121 minutes. Rated PG-13. This big-budget drama about the day in 1996 when eight climbers died on Mount Everest is not as informative as any of the several books on the subject, but it is viscerally exciting, with awe-inspiring visuals. The characters don’t make much of an impression, but the mountain and the storm do. –JB Theaters: AL, CAN, CH, DI, FH, GVL, GVR, ORL, PAL, RP, RR, SF, SHO, SP, SS, ST, TS, TX, VS Fantastic Four AABCC Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell. Directed by Josh Trank. 100 minutes. Rated PG-13. Trank’s rebooted Fantastic Four stacks the deck in the wrong direction, spending far too much time getting things going and caring very little about these particular superheroes. This the fourth featurefilm version in this franchise, counting a 1994 low-budget mishap, and it just seems as if it’s doomed. –JMA Theaters: TC The Gift aaacc Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall, Joel Edgerton. Directed by Joel Edgerton. 108 minutes. Rated R. Married couple Simon (Bateman) and Robyn (Hall) run into Gordo (Edgerton), a creepy loner from Simon’s past who appears way too eager to befriend the couple. Writer-director Edgerton subverts expectations with his stylish, elegant thriller, although he eventually succumbs to a cheap, sensationalistic twist ending. –JB Theaters: VS Grandma aaabc Lily Tomlin, Julia Garner, Marcia Gay Harden. Directed by Paul Weitz. 79 minutes. Rated R. Tomlin brings fire to the title role, an aging lesbian poet who spends a day trying to round up funds for her granddaughter (Garner) to get an abortion. Some of the episodic interactions are a little forced, but the movie shines when it focuses on the multigenerational connections and conflicts. –JB Theaters: GVR, SC The Green Inferno aaccc Lorenza Izzo, Ariel Levy, Aaron Burns. Directed by Eli Roth. 103 minutes. Rated R. Roth attempts satire in this horror movie about student activists captured by a cannibalistic Amazon tribe, but he misses the mark. Instead of taking down privileged Americans, the movie wallows in nasty exploitation, with a series of gory acts of savagery by natives who are never given any motivation or agency. –JB Theaters: AL, BS, CAN, CH, COL, DI, FH, ORL, PAL, RP, RR, SC, SF, SP, SS, TS, TX

Hitman: Agent 47 (Not reviewed) Rupert Friend, Zachary Quinto, Hannah Ware. Directed by Aleksander Bach. 96 minutes. Rated R. A genetically engineered assassin targets the corporation that created him. Theaters: ORL, TC Hotel Transylvania 2 (Not reviewed) Voices of Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Andy Samberg. Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky. 89 minutes. Rated PG. Dracula and his fellow monsters try to get Dracula’s half-human grandson to embrace his vampire side. Theaters: AL, BS, CAN, CH, COL, DI, FH, GVL, ORL, PAL, RP, RR, SC, SF, SHO, SP, SS, TS, TX Inside Out aaabc Voices of Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Richard Kind. Directed by Pete Docter. 94 minutes. Rated PG. Pixar’s latest animated feature takes place almost entirely inside the brain of an 11-yearold girl, focusing on the five core emotions—Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust and Anger—who control her behavior. It’s a funny movie with a remarkably wise message, but parents of pre-teen kids be warned: It will wreck you. –MD Theaters: COL The Intern aaccc Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Rene Russo. Directed by Nancy Meyers. 121 minutes. Rated PG-13. For a movie that’s supposedly about life experience, The Intern shows very little. De Niro (as a “senior intern”) and Hathaway (as his boss) give everything they can to keep this company afloat, but filmmaker Nancy Meyers polishes and bleaches every scene, drizzling them in tinkly, twittery music; it’s scrubbed of life. –JMA Theaters: AL, BS, CAN, CH, COL, DI, DTS, FH, GVL, ORL, PAL, RP, SC, SF, SHO, SP, SS, TS, TX Jurassic World aabcc Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty Simpkins. Directed by Colin Trevorrow. 124 minutes. Rated PG-13. The fourth movie in the series about genetically engineered dinosaurs returns to the theme-park setting, with a new deadly dino wreaking havoc on the fully operational park. Two decades after the groundbreaking original, this sequel arrives as just another overstuffed, CGI-filled blockbuster about people running and yelling. –JB Theaters: ST Learning to Drive aaacc Patricia Clarkson, Ben Kingsley, Grace Gummer. Directed by Isabel Coixet. 90 minutes. Rated R. Working again with Spanish-born director Coixet (Elegy), Kingsley and Clarkson are a Sikh cab driver and a New York book critic, respectively, who form a mismatched friendship. The movie’s cute and a little too pat, but it finds time to breathe life into its two characters, and the performances repay the effort. –JMA Theaters: VS The Man From U.N.C.L.E. aabcc Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander. Directed by Guy Ritchie. 116 minutes. Rated PG-13. Based on the 1960s TV series of the same name (and set in that time period), U.N.C.L.E. features Cavill and Hammer as American and Soviet secret agents, respectively, forced to team up against a poorly defined threat. Director Ritchie throws buckets of style onto the screen but fails to generate an interesting plot. –JB Theaters: SC Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials aaccc Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster. Directed by Wes Ball. 131 minutes. Rated PG-13. There are no mazes in this sequel to

A&E | Short Takes The Maze Runner, but there sure is plenty of running. The second movie in the dystopian sci-fi series based on the popular YA novels just throws together a bunch of overused post-apocalyptic elements and careens haphazardly from one to the next. –JB Theaters: AL, BS, CAN, CH, COL, FH, GVL, ORL, PAL, RP, RR, SC, SF, SHO, SP, SS, TS, TX

historical figures as minor supporting characters, Stonewall is mainly about the cliched coming-of-age story of allAmerican Midwesterner Danny (Irvine), who’s a boring blank. –JB Theaters: VS Straight Outta Compton aaacc O’Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell. Directed by F. Gary Gray. 146 minutes. Rated R. Seminal ’80s hip-hop group N.W.A. gets the musical-biopic treatment, with Ice Cube played by his dead-ringer son (though it’s Mitchell, as Eazy-E, who’s the potential breakout star). It’s fairly standard-issue, but the time is definitely right for a cathartic portrait of the group that sang “F*ck Tha Police.” –MD Theaters: GVR, RR, TC, TX

Meru aaacc Directed by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi. 87 minutes. Rated R. This documentary about three mountain climbers attempting to be the first to reach a dangerous Himalayan summit offers some amazing visuals but gets bogged down in a slow middle section. It doesn’t add anything new to the extreme-sports subgenre, but for audiences fascinated by mountain climbing, Meru is worth watching on a big screen. –JB Theaters: VS Minions aabcc Voices of Pierre Coffin, Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm. Directed by Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda. 91 minutes. Rated PG. In the two animated Despicable Me movies, the little yellow pill-shaped creatures were reliable sources of pratfalls, pranks and puns, but given the task of carrying their own 90-minute feature, they quickly wear out their welcome. It’s just a series of silly set pieces barely held together by a halfformed plot. –JB Theaters: ST, VS Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation aaabc Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie. 131 minutes. Rated PG-13. The fifth movie in the action series finds Cruise’s secret agent Ethan Hunt once again on the run after being disavowed by the very government he works for. While not the strongest in the remarkably consistent series, it’s still entertaining and exciting, an example of the best in blockbuster filmmaking. –JB Theaters: GVR, RR, SHO, VS No Escape abccc Owen Wilson, Lake Bell, Pierce Brosnan. Directed by John Erick Dowdle. 103 minutes. Rated R. Wilson and Bell are miscast in serious roles as an American married couple who’ve just moved with their two young daughters to an unnamed country in Southeast Asia, hours before an armed coup begins. The action that follows is mostly laughable when it isn’t tedious or insulting. –JB Theaters: SC Pawn Sacrifice aabcc Tobey Maguire, Michael Stuhlbarg, Peter Sarsgaard. Directed by Edward Zwick. 114 minutes. Rated PG-13. This conventional biopic about troubled chess champion Bobby Fischer (Maguire) is a superficial portrait of a complex man. It’s more interested in his mental anguish than his talents (which are only occasionally depicted effectively), and his relationships with the supporting characters are pretty thinly drawn. –JB Theaters: FH, GVR, SC, TS The Perfect Guy aaccc Sanaa Lathan, Michael Ealy, Morris Chestnut. Directed by David M. Rosenthal. 100 minutes. Rated PG-13. A successful lobbyist (Lathan) becomes a stalking target for her unhinged ex (Ealy) in this overwrought, Lifetimestyle thriller. It’s too ridiculous to work as serious drama, but it takes itself too seriously to succeed as camp. Instead, it strands three talented actors in a story that devolves quickly from grounded to histrionic. –JB

> Labyrinth lad Dylan O’Brien in Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials.

Theaters: AL, CAN, DI, GVR, ORL, PAL, SHO, RR, SF, SS, ST, TS, TX, VS Pixels aaccc Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Josh Gad. Directed by Chris Columbus. 105 minutes. Rated PG-13. When aliens invade Earth with replicas of ’80s video-game characters, the president (James) calls on loser Sam (Sandler) and his fellow video-game nerds to save the day. Based on a 2010 short, Pixels is mostly genial and family-friendly, but also plodding and frequently boring, with listless performances and a moronic plot. –JB Theaters: CH, DI, ST, TX, VS San Andreas aaccc Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, Alexandra Daddario. Directed by Brad Peyton. 114 minutes. Rated PG-13. Johnson plays a fire department rescue pilot who attempts to save his wife and daughter when a series of massive earthquakes strike California in this moronic, mushy, painfully predictable disaster movie. Its wholesale devastation of California is an impressive feat of special effects, but the destruction eventually becomes repetitive. –JB Theaters: TC Shaun the Sheep Movie (Not reviewed) Voices of Justin Fletcher, John Sparkes, Omid Djalili. Directed by Mark Burton and Richard Starzak. 85 minutes. Rated PG. Shaun the sheep must find his way home to his farm from the big city. Theaters: TC Sinister 2 (Not reviewed) James Ransone, Shannyn Sossamon, Robert Daniel Sloan, Dartanian Sloan. Directed by Ciarán Foy. 97 minutes. Rated R. A single mother and her two sons move into a haunted house. Theaters: DI, ST Southpaw aabcc Jake Gyllenhaal, Forest Whitaker, Oona Laurence. Directed by Antoine Fuqua. 123 minutes. Rated R. Former boxing champion Billy Hope (Gyllenhaal) attempts to mount a comeback in this contrived melodrama. The direction and the performances end up pounding the audience as hard as Billy in his early fights, and there isn’t much relief in his eventual drawn-out triumph. –JB Theaters: COL, SC, ST

Sleeping With Other People aaabc Alison Brie, Jason Sudeikis, Adam Scott. Directed by Leslye Headland. 95 minutes. Rated R. College lovers Lainey (Brie) and Jake (Sudeikis) reunite a decade later but pledge to remain just friends in this predictable but well-crafted romantic comedy. Writerdirector Headland (Bachelorette) invests a somewhat formulaic story with genuine, flawed characters and a frank tone about both sexuality and emotional hang-ups. –JB Theaters: ST, TS, VS Stonewall aaccc Jeremy Irvine, Jonny Beauchamp, Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Directed by Roland Emmerich. 129 minutes. Rated R. Emmerich (Independence Day, 2012) botches this story of the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City, which were a catalyst for the gay-rights movement. Although it includes some

Theaters (AL) Regal Aliante 7300 Aliante Parkway, North Las Vegas, 702-221-2283 (BS) Regal Boulder Station 4111 Boulder Highway, 702-221-2283 (PAL) Brenden Theatres at the Palms 4321 W. Flamingo Road, 702-507-4849 (CAN) Galaxy Cannery 2121 E. Craig Road, North Las Vegas, 702-639-9779 (CH) Cinedome Henderson 851 S. Boulder Highway, Henderson, 702-566-1570 (COL) Regal Colonnade 8880 S. Eastern Ave., 702-221-2283

Trainwreck aabcc Amy Schumer, Bill Hader, Brie Larson. Directed by Judd Apatow. 125 minutes. Rated R. Comedy Central star Schumer wrote the latest film directed by Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, This Is 40), and also plays the lead, a commitment-phobic journalist who falls for a surgeon (Hader) she’s profiling. It’s a perfectly ordinary rom-com that merely swaps the genre’s standard gender clichés. –MD Theaters: COL, SC The Transporter Refueled (Not reviewed) Ed Skrein, Loan Chabanol, Ray Stevenson. Directed by Camille Delamarre. 96 minutes. Rated PG-13. Former mercenary and current special-ops driver Frank Martin faces off against a group of criminals out for revenge. Theaters: ST Un Gallo Con Muchos Huevos (Not reviewed) Voices of Bruno Bichir, Carlos Espejel, Angélica Vale. Directed by Gabriel Riva Palacio Alatriste. 99 minutes. Rated PG-13. In Spanish with English subtitles. A young, timid rooster must stand up to an evil rancher who threatens his family. Theaters: BS, ORL, TX Vacation aaccc Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Skyler Gisondo. Directed by John Francis

Summerlin 2070 Park Center Drive, 702-221-2283 (FH) Regal Fiesta Henderson 777 W. Lake Mead Parkway, Henderson, 702-221-2283 (GVR) Regal Green Valley Ranch 2300 Paseo Verde Parkway, Henderson, 702-221-2283 (GVL) Galaxy Green Valley Luxury+ 4500 E. Sunset Road, Henderson, 702442-0244 (ORL) Century Orleans 4500 W. Tropicana Ave., 702-889-1220 (RP) AMC Rainbow Promenade 2321 N. Rainbow Blvd., 888-262-4386 (RR) Regal Red Rock 11011 W. Charleston Blvd., 702-221-2283

(DI) Las Vegas Drive-In 4150 W. Carey Ave., North Las Vegas, 702-646-3565

(ST) Century Sam’s Town 5111 Boulder Highway, 702-547-1732

(DTS) Regal Downtown

(SF) Century Santa Fe Station

Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein. 99 minutes. Rated R. This franchise sequel/reboot recycles the plot of the 1983 original, replacing previous patriarch Clark (Chevy Chase) with his son Rusty (Helms), taking his family on a cross-country road trip. Relying heavily on nasty gross-out humor, it’s a series of belabored, poorly executed jokes, a sad re-creation of a once-beloved comedy franchise. –JB Theaters: ST, TC Veteran (Not reviewed) Jeong-min Hwang, Ah In Yoo, Hae-jin Yoo. Directed by Seung-wan Ryoo. 124 minutes. Not rated. In Korean with English subtitles. A detective targets a young millionaire who runs a crime syndicate. Theaters: VS The Visit aaabc Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Deanna Dunagan. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan. 94 minutes. Rated PG-13. Teenage siblings Becca (DeJonge) and Tyler (Oxenbould) start noticing strange things while visiting the grandparents they’ve never met before. Shyamalan brings impressive skill to the disreputable found-footage genre, effectively mixing comedy and scares and adding cinematic flair to the genre’s typically artless style. –JB Theaters: AL, BS, CH, COL, FH, ORL, PAL, RR, SC, SF, SP, SS, TS, TX A Walk in the Woods aabcc Robert Redford, Nick Nolte, Emma Thompson. Directed by Ken Kwapis. 104 minutes. Rated R. Redford and Nolte attempt to hike the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail in this adaptation of Bill Bryson’s bestselling 1998 memoir. Bryson was only 44 at the time, however, whereas Redford is 79 (and Nolte 74); consequently, the movie version has a distinct grumpy-oldmen vibe. –MD Theaters: BS, COL, SC War Room (Not reviewed) Priscilla Shirer, T.C. Stallings, Karen Abercrombie. Directed by Alex Kendrick. 120 minutes. Rated PG. A couple turns to prayer to save their troubled marriage. Theaters: AL, FH, RR, SF, ST, TS, TX, VS JMA Jeffrey M. Anderson; JB Josh Bell; MD Mike D’Angelo

4949 N. Rancho Drive, 702-655-8178 (SHO) United Artists Showcase 3769 Las Vegas Blvd. S., 702-221-2283 (SP) Century South Point 9777 Las Vegas Blvd. S., 702-260-4061 (SC) Century Suncoast 9090 Alta Drive, 702-869-1880 (SS) Regal Sunset Station 1301-A W. Sunset Road, Henderson, 702-221-2283 (TX) Regal Texas Station 2101 Texas Star Lane, North Las Vegas, 702-221-2283 (TS) AMC Town Square 6587 Las Vegas Blvd. S., 702-362-7283 (TC) Regency Tropicana Cinemas 3330 E. Tropicana Ave., 702-438-3456 (VS) Regal Village Square 9400 W. Sahara Ave., 702-221-2283

For complete movie times, visit lasvegasweekly.com/movies/listings. october 1–7, 2015 LasVegasWeekly.com 53

Calendar LISTINGS YOU CAN PLAN YOUR LIFE BY! > WORD UP Medeski (second from left) and his “other” band play Brooklyn Bowl on Tuesday,

THREE QUESTIONS WITH KEYBOARDIST JOHN MEDESKI The Word is pedal-steel guitarist Robert Randolph, keyboardist/organist John Medeski (of Medeski Martin & Wood) and the three North Mississippi Allstars. Fourteen years after releasing a self-titled debut, the band returned this year with Soul Food, featuring improvised gospel-blues and sacred steel instrumental jams. You recorded in Memphis and New York City. Did those cities influence the music you guys made? In Memphis, the tunes just started coming. It was like this faucet that just got turned on when we got together. We had to stop recording and start working

LIVE MUSIC T H E ST R I P & N E A R BY Brooklyn Bowl Mike Love 10/2, 9 pm, $10-$15. Nashville Unplugged 10/3, 9:30 pm, $25-$50. Hiatus Kaiyote 10/5, 9 pm, $20-$35. The Word, Amy Helm & The Handsome Strangers 10/6, 8 pm, $20-$30. Dark Star Orchestra 10/8, 8 pm, $25-$28. My Morning Jacket, Strand of Oaks 10/9-10/10, 9 pm, $50. Blues Traveler, Matt Jaffe 10/22, 8 pm, $28-$33. Pepper, Ballyhoo! 10/24, 8:30 pm, $25-$27. Deftones 10/27, 8 pm, $27$42. Rusted Root, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Moksha 10/29, 8 pm, $27-$32. Trey Anastasio Band 10/30-10/31, 9 pm, $43-$50. Rebel Souljahz, Tribal Theory, Teki 11/5, 8 pm, $20-$23. The Dandy Warhols, The Shelters 11/6, 9 pm, $20-$23. Moon Taxi 11/8, 9 pm, $18-$20. Peaches, Christeene 11/11, 8 pm, $22-$27. Mac Miller, Tory Lanez, Michael Christmas,

on what we had, because stuff just kept coming. It’s really inspiring to be in Memphis. As you’re playing the new songs live, how are they evolving? We rarely do anything the same way twice. It’s very real that way, really in the moment. Songs change every night, depending on when in the set we play them, depending on the feeling of the place. I’m interested to see what going on the road for a few weeks is going to do.

be in something that’s out of your control. Musically, I like to be put in that situation a lot, where I’m forced to be on my toes and work with whatever’s going on. This band is like that— every aspect of it is like that. You never know what’s going to happen; you never know who’s going to make their flight. (laughs) –Annie Zaleski For more of our interview with Medeski, visit lasvegasweekly.com.

What do you enjoy about collaborating with this particular group of musicians? The chaos of it all. It’s nice to

THE WORD with Amy Helm & The Handsome Strangers. October 6, 8 p.m., $25-$30. Brooklyn Bowl, 702-862-2695.

Njomza, Alexander Spit 11/17, 7:45 pm, $33-$38. Motionless in White, The Devil Wears Prada, The Word Alive, Upon a Burning Body, The Color Morale 11/15, 5 pm, $22-$25. J Boog, Spawnbreezie 11/18, 9 pm, $18-$20. Yellowcard, New Found Glory, Tigers Jaw 11/21, 8 pm, $26$30. Public Image Ltd 11/25, 9 pm, $30-$50. Gogol Bordello 11/28, 9 pm, $30-$35. Fortunate Youth 11/29, 8:30 pm, $12-$15. Gary Clark Jr. 3/12, 9 pm, $30-$50. Linq, 702-862-2695. The Colosseum Celine Dion 10/2-10/3, 10/6-10/7, 10/9-10/10, $55-$250, 7:30 pm. Elton John 10/13-10/14, 10/16, 6:30 pm, $55-$500. Reba, Brooks & Dunn 12/2, 12/4, 12/6, 12/9, $60-$205. Mariah Carey 2/2, 2/5-2/6, 2/10, 2/132/14, 2/17, 2/19-2/20. 8 pm, $55-$250. Rod Stewart 3/19-3/20, 3/23, 3/253/26, 3/29, 4/1-4/2, 4/5, 7:30 pm, $49$250. Caesars Palace, 702-731-7333. The Cosmopolitan (Boulevard Pool) Flogging Molly, Sean Wheeler & Zander Schloss 10/2, 8 pm, $40. Counting Crows, Citizen Cope

10/3, 7:30 pm, $55. Garbage, Torres 10/10, 8 pm, $40. Father John Misty, Mikal Cronin 10/15, 8 pm, $23. The Neighborhood, Bad Suns, Hunny 10/30, 8 pm, $25. (Chelsea) Neil Young & Promise of the Real 10/11, 6:30 pm, $65. Sam Hunt, Carter Winter 12/4, 8 pm, $30. 702-6987000. Double Down Bargain DJ Collective Mon. Unique Massive Tue, midnight. The Juju Man Wed, midnight. Shows 10 pm, free unless noted. 640 Paradise Road, 702-791-5775. Flamingo Olivia Newton-John 10/2710/31, 11/17-11/21, 11/24-11/28, 12/1-12/5, 12/15-12/19, 1/1-1/2, 7:30 pm, $69-$139. Donny & Marie Thru 10/3, 10/6-10/10, 10/14-10/17, 10/20-10/24, 11/3-11/7. 11/10-11/14, 7:30 pm, $105-$237. 702733-3333. Hard Rock Hotel Pool Live, Elvis Monroe 10/2, 9 pm, $35. 702-6935000. Hard Rock Live Tremonti, Trivium 10/11, 6:30 pm, $25. Skinny Puppy, Youth Code 10/30, 8 pm, $29.

Mayday Parade, Real Friends, This Wild Life, As It Is 11/15, 5:30 pm, $26. Hard Rock Cafe (Strip), 702-733-7625. House of Blues Hemlock, Dim, Wretched Sky, BiPolar 10/2, 6 pm, $10-$13. The Tragically Hip 10/3, 7:30 pm, $43-$55. Halestorm 10/17, $30. Seether, Saint Asonia 10/20, 6:30 pm, $33-$43. Korn 10/23, 7:30 pm, $50. The Adicts 10/30, $17-$20, 6:30 pm. Ghost 10/31, $25. Carlos Santana 11/4, 11/6-11/8, 11/11, 11/13-11/15, $90$350, 8 pm. King Diamond, Exodus 11/9, 7 pm, $35-$50. Ride 11/10, 7:30 pm, $30. Collective Soul 11/12, 7 pm, $33-$36. The Wonder Years 11/5, 5 pm, $23-$25. Heart 11/19-11/21, 8 pm, $55-$70. Parkway Drive 12/6, 4:30 pm, $25. Kamelot, DragonForce 12/7, 7 pm, $22-$25. (Crossroads) Looped Sun, Thu, 9-11 pm, free. Nothing but the Blues Mon-Wed, 8-11 pm, free. Rockstar Karaoke Fri, 9 pm-midnight, free. Get Up and Dance Sat, 9 pmmidnight, free. Gospel Brunch Sun, 10 am, 1 pm, $60. Mandalay Bay, 702632-7600. The Joint Safe in Sound Festival ft. Bro Safari, Datsik, Zomboy 10/1, 8 pm, $36-$46. Scorpions, Queensrÿche 10/7, 8 pm, $60-$250. UB40, Ali Campbell, Astro, Mickey Virtue 10/16, $40-$55. Shinedown, Breaking Benjamin, Nothing More 10/22, 7 pm, $40-$175. J Balvin, Becky G 10/24, 8 pm, $60-$200. Rick Springfield, Loverboy, Avalon Landing 10/25, 8 pm, $40-$175. Rob Zombie, Danzig, Witch Mountain 10/30, 8:30 pm, $50-$175. Café Tacvba 11/18, 8 pm, $35-$120. West Coast Feast ft. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, DJ Quik, Collie Buddz, Tha Dogg Pound 11/27, 9 pm, $45. Little Big Town 12/4, 8 pm, $35-$150. Gary Allan, Clare Dunn 12/11-12/12, 9:30 pm, $40-$125. Bullet For My Valentine, Asking Alexandria 2/6, 7:30 pm, $32. Hard Rock Hotel, 702-693-5222. Mandalay Bay (Events Center) BIGBANG 10/2, 8 pm, $75-$239. Roberto Carlos 11/20, 8 pm, $100$175. Maroon 5 12/30-12/31, 8 pm, $100-$225. 702-632-7777. MGM Grand (Garden Arena) Madonna 10/24, 8 pm, $43-$383. Latin Grammy Awards 11/19, 8 pm, $125-$500. Andrea Bocelli 12/5, 8 pm, $78-$403. Mötley Crüe 12/27, 7 pm, $25-$150. 702-891-7777. Orleans (Arena) The Masters of Funk ft. Bar-Kays, Switch, Brick, Original Lakeside, One way, Mary Jane Girls, Dazz Band 10/17, 8 pm, $50-$80. (Showroom) Jamey Johnson 10/1010/11, 8 pm, $44-$66. Bret Michaels 11/21-11/22, 8 p, $66-$94. 702-3657075. Palace Station (Jack’s Irish Pub) Forget to Remember Fri & Sat, 9 pm, free. 702-547-5300. The Pearl Gregg Allman 10/9, 8 pm, $39. Judas Priest, Mastodon 10/17, 8 pm, $73+. Godsmack, Red Sun Rising 11/14, 8 pm, $53-$93. Puscifer 12/12, 8 pm, $43-$103. Palms, 702-942-7777. Planet Hollywood Britney Spears 10/14, 10/16-10/17, 10/21, 10/23-10/24, 10/28, $60-$195. Janet Jackson 10/10, 8 pm, $68-$198. 702-234-7469. Route 91 Harvest Festival ft. Florida Georgia Line, Keith Urban, Tim McGraw & more. 10/2-10/4, $199. MGM Resorts Village, rt91harvest. com. The Sayers Club The Mynabirds 10/7, 9 pm, $10-$12. Almost Normal 10/14, 10 pm, $10 (locals free). Doomtree,

CHECK OUT OUR COMPLETE CALENDAR LISTINGS AT LASVEGASWEEKLY.COM/EVENTS 54 LASVEGASWEEKLY.COM OCTOBER 1-7, 2015

Astronautalis 10/18. Crash Kit 10/21, 10 pm, $10 (locals free). The Dirty Panties 10/28, 10 pm, $10 (locals free). Eliza Battle 11/4, 10 pm, $10 (locals free). Deerhoof, Cy Dune, The Anti-Job 11/5, 9 pm, $12-$15. In the Valley Below 11/13, 9 pm, $12-$14. The Polyphonic Spree 11/18, 9 pm, $25-$27. The Solid Suns 11/25, 10 pm, $10 (locals free). Buckin Fridays Fri, 10 pm, $10. SLS, 702-761-7618. Tuscany Danny Lozada Sun & Thu 10 pm, free. Kenny Davidsen Celebrity Piano Bar Fri, 10 pm, free. Live music Sat, 10 pm., free. 255 E. Flamingo Road, 702-893-8933. Vinyl The Set List: Thriller 10/8, 11 pm, $25-$35. Get the Led Out 10/9, 9 pm, $25-$45. ZZ Ward 10/14, 8 pm, $25$45. New Kingston 10/18, 8 pm, $12$20. The Sword, Kadavar, All Them Witches 10/21, 8 pm, $20-$35. The Internet 10/23, 9 pm, $15-$35. Be Like Max 10/24, 7 pm, $20-$35. Corrosion of Conformity 10/25, 8 pm, $17-$35. Soulfly, Crowbar, Shattered Sun, Incite 11/6, 8 pm, $20-$35. Viva Ska Vegas ft. Hub City Stompers, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Interupters & more 11/7, 5 pm. Misfits 11/11, 8 pm, $25-$45. Escape the Fate, A Skylit Drive, Sworn In, Sirens & Sailors, Myka, Relocate 11/12, 6:30 pm, $17$19. The Struts, Andrew Matt 11/14, 9 pm, $11-$25. The Story So Far 11/18, 7 pm, $21-$24. Bless the Fall, Stick to Your Guns, Emarosa, Oceans Ate Alaska 11/19, 6 pm. Reverend Horton Heat, The BellRays, The Lords of Altamont 12/4, 9 pm, $25-$45. Hard Rock Hotel, 702-693-5000. Wine Amplified Festival ft. Panic! at the Disco, 50 Cent & G-Unit & more 10/9-10/10, $59-$249. Las Vegas Village, wineamplified.com. Wynn (Eastside Lounge) Michael Monge Wed & Thu, 9 pm, $10. 702770-7000.

D OW N TOW N Artifice Vegas Jazz Tue, 7 pm, $15. Thursday Request Live First Thu, 10 pm, free. 1025 S. 1st St., Ste. 100., 702-489-6339. Backstage Bar & Billiards Murs, Red Pill, King Fantastic, Noa James 10/1, 8 pm, $15-$18. Marty Friedman, Pillars of Creation 10/2, 8 pm, $20$25. Choppercon ft. Motochrist, Rumble King, Sean & Zander, ChickenHawk, Crazy Chief 10/3, 8 pm, free. Conflict, Total Chaos, Hard Pipe Hitters, Brutal Resistance, D.I. 10/8, 7 pm, $20. My Life WIth the Thrill Kill Kult, Candy Warpop, EMDF, Midnight Feature 10/9, 8 pm, $15-$20. Sons of Texas, 3 By Design, Silversage 10/10, 8 pm, free. Wanda Jackson, Delta Bombers, The Yawpers, DJ Lucky La Rue, Catman Eddy Bear & The Cubs 10/31, 8 pm, $20. Tankcsapda 11/6, 8 pm, $35. 601 E. Fremont St., 702-382-2227. Beauty Bar JT Woodruff 10/1, 9 pm, $8. The Decline, War Called Home, In Theatres Friday 10/3, midnight. Gardens & Villa, James Supercave 10/8, 9 pm, $8. Cash’d Out 10/9, 9 pm, $10. Riverboat Gamblers 10/11, 9 pm, $10. Joey Cape, Walt Hamburger, Laura Mardon 10/13, 9 pm, $10. Swingin Utters, The Bombpops, Success 11/17, 9 pm, $12. The Rocket Summer 11/20, 9 pm, $12. Nikki Lane 12/3, 8 pm. Everlast 12/5, 9 pm, $18. 517 Fremont St., 702598-3757.

Calendar Downtown Container Park 707 Fremont St, downtowncontainerpark.com. Downtown Las Vegas Events Center Slaughter, Vixen, Steelheart 10/2, 8 pm, $25. Paul Rodgers 10/3, 9:30 pm, $25. Daughtry 10/17, $35. All Time Low, Sleeping with Sirens, One OK Rock, Neck Deep 10/24, 6 pm. Rise Against, Killswitch Engage, Letlive 11/21, 8 pm, $40-$80. 200 S. 3rd Street, dlvec. com. Fremont Country Club Failure, Local H 10/22, 8 pm, $18-$20. Gwar, Born of Osiris, Battlecross, We Gave it Hell 10/23, 7 pm, $20-$25. Lagwagon, The Briefs, Runaway Kids 11/11, 8 pm, $20-$22. 601 E. Fremont St., 702-382-6601. Golden Nugget Herman’s Hermits 10/2, 8 pm, $54-$98. Lou Gramm, 10/9, 8 pm, $32$65. Morris Day and the Time 10/16, 8 pm, $32-$76. Little River Band 10/23, 8 pm, $76$109. Ohio Players 10/30, 8 pm, $32-$65. Foghat 11/6, 8 pm, $21-$65. Village People 11/13, 8 pm, $32-$65. Eric Burdon & The Animals 11/20, 8 pm, $32-$87. Jefferson Starship 11/27, 8 pm, $21-$65. Edgar Winter 12/18, 8 pm, $32-$65. (NFR) Tanya Tucker 12/3, $43-$87. Big and Rich 12/4, $54-$142. Trace Adkins 12/5, $109-$164. Terri Clark 12/6, $43-$87. Merle Haggard 12/7-12/8, $109-$164. LeAnn Rimes 12/9, $54-$109. Alabama 12/10-12/11, $163-$252. Shows at 10 p.m. 129 E. Fremont St., 866-946-5336. Griffin Together Pangea, White Reaper, Leather Lungs, DJ Fish 10/31, 9 pm, free. Live music Wed, 10 pm, free. 511 Fremont St., 702-382-0577. Hard Hat Lounge The Funk Jam Wed, 10:30 pm, free. Florescent Flames Second Sat, 9 pm, free. Foundation Factory Fourth Sat, 8 pm, free. 1675 Industrial Road, 702-3848987. LVCS Sadistik, Sapient, Ceschi, Early Adopted, Graves 10/4, 9 pm, $7-$10. 425 Fremont St., 702-382-3531. Mickie Finnz Live music Daily, 4-7 pm, free. 425 Fremont St., 702-382-4204. The Smith Center (Reynolds Hall) Kenny Loggins 11/10, 6:30 pm, $39-$179. The Tenors 2/20, 7:30 pm, $24-$95. (Cabaret Jazz) Mark O’Toole 10/2, 7 pm, $39-$49. Ann Hampton Callaway 10/3, 3 & 7 pm, $39-$59. Clint Holmes 10/9-10/10, 11/6-11/7, 12/3-12/5 8:30 pm; 10/11, 11/8, 12/6 2 pm; $37-$46. Goapele 10/15-10/16, 7 pm, $29-$69. Lon Bronson All-Star Band 10/17, 7 & 10 pm, $20-$35. George Bugatti & Vincent Falcone 10/19, 7:30 pm, $39-$45. Jane Monheit, Jim Caruso & Billy Stritch 10/23, 7 pm; 10/24, 6 & 8:30 pm; $39-$65. Glenn Williams: Remembering Robert (Goulet) 10/25, 2 pm, $25. Reckless in Vegas 10/30, 8 pm, $35$45. Spectrum, Radiance 11/14, 7 pm; 11/15, 3 pm; $37-$40. The Skivvies 11/20-11/21, 7 pm, $39-$45. Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band 11/27, 7 pm; 11/28, 6 pm; 11/29, 8:30 pm; $47$69. Laura Osnes 12/11-12/12, 7 pm, $39-$59. Kristen Hertzenberg & Philip Fortenberry 12/19, 2:30 & 7 pm, $26-$36. Pink Martini 2/6, 7:30 pm, $100-$250. 361 Symphony Park Ave., 702-749-2000.

The ’Burbs Eagle Aerie Hall Secrets, A Friend a Foe, From Where We Came, I Am of Terra 11/3, 5:30 pm, $12-$15. 310 W. Pacific Ave., 702645-4139. Green Valley Ranch (Hanks) Dave Ritz Tue, Thu, 6 pm; Sat, 7 pm. Rick Duarte Wed, 6 pm. Nick Mattera Fri, 6 pm; Sat, 7 pm. Shows free unless noted. 702-367-2470. M Resort (M Pavillion) Martin Nievera 12/12, 7 pm, $32-$46. Shows free/drink minimum. M Resort, 800-745-3000. Rampart Casino (Addison’s Lounge) Wes Winters Tue, 6 pm. Mark O’Toole Wed, 6 pm. Shows free unless noted. JW Marriott, 221 N. Rampart Blvd., 702-507-5900. Red Rock (Rocks Lounge) Fleetwood Nicks 10/9, 7:30 pm, $15. Zowie Bowie Fri, 10 pm. The Dirty Sat, 11 pm, $10. David Perrico Pop Strings Orchestra Sat, 11 pm, free. (Onyx) Jared Berry Fri & Sat, 9 pm. The Dirty Sat. 11 pm, $10. (T-Bones) Dave Ritz Wed, 6 pm; Fri, 7 pm. Rick Duarte Thu, 6 pm; Sat, 7 pm. Shows free unless noted. 11011 W. Charleston Blvd., 702-797-7777. Santa Fe Station (Revolver) Bro Country Thu, 8 pm. (4949 Lounge) Jared Berry Thu, 7 pm,

free. 4949 N Rancho Drive, 702-658-4900. Sienna Italian Authentic Trattoria Vegas Good Fellas Thu, 7:30 pm. Red Velvet Fri & Sat, 8:30 pm. 9500 Sahara Ave., 702-3603358. Silverton (Veil Pavilion) The Fabulous Thunderbirds ft. Kim Wilson 10/10, 8 pm, $29. 3333 Blue Diamond Road, 702-2637777. South Point Winter Dance Party 10/2-10/4, 7:30 pm, $20+. Tower of Power 10/16-10/18, 7:30 pm, $45-$55. Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers 10/23-10/25, 7:30 pm, $45-$55. The Lettermen 10/30-11/1, 7:30 pm, $25$35. Santa Fe and the Fat City Horns Mon, 10:30 pm, $5-$10. Dennis Bono Show Thu, 2 pm, free. Wes Winters Fri & Sat, 6 pm, free. Spazmatics Sat, 10:30 pm, $5. 702-7978005. Sunset Station (Club Madrid) Yellow Brick Road Fri, 9:30 pm. Zowie Bowie Sat, 10 pm. (Gaudi Bar) Ryan Whyte Maloney, Cali Tucker Fri, Sat, 7 pm. Willplay Sat, 7 pm. (Rosalita’s) Tony Venniro Fri, 7 pm. Peter Love Sat, 7 pm. (Sunset Amphitheater) 1301 W. Sunset Road, 702-547-7777. Texas Station (A-Bar) Darrin Michaels Fri & Sat, 7 pm. (South Padre) VooDoo Band Fri, 9 pm. Yellow Brick Road Sat, 9 pm. 702-6311000.

E v e ry w h e r e E l s e Arizona Charlie’s Boulder (Palace Grand Lounge) Live music Fri & Sat, 9 pm, free. 4575 Boulder Highway, 888-236-9066. Arizona Charlie’s (Naughty Ladies Saloon) Jerry Tiffe Fri, 4 pm. 740 S. Decatur Blvd., 702-258-5200. Boomers Live music Wed, 10 pm, $5-$10. 3200 Sirius Ave., 702-368-1863. Boulder Dam Brewing Stolen Gold 10/2. Sunset Ridge 10/3. Holes and Hearts 10/9. Out of the Desert 10/10. Troy Bullock 10/16. Water Landing, The Ditch Diggers 10/17. Andy Frasco and the U.N. 10/19. The Deltaz 10/22. The Alkis 10/23. Chicago Joe and the Waybacks 10/24. The AllTogethers 10/30. Boulder Dam Halloween Bash ft. American Voodoo 10/31. Thu, 7 pm; Fri & Sat, 8 pm. Shows free unless noted. 453 Nevada Way, Boulder City, 702243-2739. Boulder Station (Kixx Bar) Reflection Fri & Sat, 8 pm. 702-432-7777. Count’s Vamp’d Trixter, Cyanide 10/2, 9 pm, $10. Smashing Alice, Bong 10/3, 10 pm, free. Britny Fox, Kill Ritual 10/8, 9 pm, $10. Stephen Pearcy 10/10, 9 pm, $18-$23. Act of Defiance, Allegaeon 10/22, 8 pm, $8-$12. House of Zombie, The Solid Suns, One Ton Project 10/23, 9 pm, free. Pretty Boy Floyd 10/24, 9 pm, $10. Loudness, Cyanide 10/30, 9 pm, $12-$17. The Winery Dogs 11/7, 8:30 pm, $20-$25. John Zito Electric Jam Wed, 9 pm, free. 9:30 pm, free. 6750 W. Sahara, 702-220-8849. Craig Ranch Regional Park Amphitheater Yesterday the Beatles Tribute Show Band 10/9, 8 pm, $5-$10. War 10/10, 8 pm, $20$25. Sammy Kershaw 10/23, 8 pm, $20-$25. 628 W. Craig Rd., 702-633-2418. Dispensary Lounge Uli Geissendoerfer Trio Fri & Sat, 10 pm. 2451 E. Tropicana, 702-4586343. Dive Bar The Goddamn Gallows, The Scoundrels, The Sawyer Family, Eliza Battle 10/17, 9 pm, $8-$10. D.R.I. 10/28, $20$22. One Eyed Doll 10/30, 9 pm, $10-$12. 4110 S. Maryland Parkway., 702-586-3483. Eastside Cannery (Marilyn’s Lounge) Claudine Castro Band Mon, 10 pm. Phoenix Wed, 9 pm. Spazmatics Sun, 9 pm. Shows free unless noted. 702-507-5700. Milo’s Cellar Live Music Thu, 8 pm, free. 538 Nevada Hwy., 702-293-9540. Sam’s Town Los NiteKings Sun, 7 pm, free. Shows free unless noted. 5111 Boulder Hwy., 702-284-7777.

Comedy Boomers Side Splitting Sundays Sun, 9 pm, free. 3200 Sirius Ave., 702-368-1863. Craig Ranch Regional Park Amphitheater Paul Rodriguez 10/24, 8 pm, $20-$25. 628 W. Craid Rd., 702-633-2418. The D Laughternoon Starring Adam London

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CALENDAR Daily, 4 pm, $20-$25. 702-388-2111.. Hard Rock Hotel (The Joint) Jim Jefferies 10/3, 8 pm, $45. (Vinyl) Kevin Smith 10/2, 10 pm, $40-$45. Hollywood Babble-On with Kevin Smith & Ralph Garman 10/3, 7:30 pm, $40-$45. Jay & Silent Bob Get Old with Kevin Smith & Jason Mewes 10/3, 10 pm, $40-$45. 702693-5000. Harrah’s (Main Showrom) Mac King Tue-Sat, 1 & 3 pm, $33. (The Improv) Scott Henry, Suli McCullough, Alysia Wood 10/6-10/11. Darryl Wright, Sandro Iocolano 10/1310/18. Brian Scolaro, Tony Camin, Alli Breen 10/20-10/25. Tue-Sun, 8:30 pm; Fri & Sat, 10 pm; $30-$45. 702369-5000. Luxor Carrot Top Wed-Mon, 8 pm, $50$60. 702-262-4900. MGM Grand (Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club) Nightly, 8 pm, $43-$87. 702891-7777. Mirage Jay Leno 11/20-11/21, 10 pm; $60-$80. Nick Swardson 10/9, 10 pm, $55-$66. Ray Romano 10/2-10/3, 10 pm, $55-$77. 10/23-10/24, 12/4-12/5, 12/11-12/12, 10 pm, $60. Daniel Tosh 10/16, 11/13, 10 pm; 10/17, 11/14, 7:30 pm. 702-792-7777. Orleans (Showroom) Don Rickles 10/17-10/18, 8 pm, $88-$110. 702-2847777. Palms (The Pearl) Bill Maher 10/24, 8 pm, $49-$99. 702-942-7777. Planet Hollywood (Las Vegas Live Comedy Club) Edwin San Juan Nightly, 9 pm, $56-$67, V Theater. (PH Showroom) Jeff Dunham WedSun, 7 pm; Sat-Sun, 4 pm, $72.. (Sin City Theatre) Sin City Comedy & Burlesque Show Nightly, 8:30 pm, $38-$49. 702-777-2782. Quad Jeff Civilico Sat-Mon, Wed-Thu, 4 pm, $39-$50. 888-777-7664. Rampart Casino (Bonkerz Comedy Club) Thu, 7 pm, free., 702-507-5900. Red Rock (Rocks Lounge) Rita Rudner 10/17, 8 pm, $25-$35. Orny Adams 11/21, 8 pm, $25-$35. Hal Sparks 1/23, 8 pm, $25-$35. Justin Willman 2/20, 8 pm, $25-$35. 702797-7777. Rio Eddie Griffin Mon-Thu, 7 pm, $73$136. 702-777-2782. The Sayers Club (Bonkerz Comedy Club) Thu-Sat 8 pm, $10. SLS, 702761-7000. South Point Dave Coulier 10/9-10/11, 7:30 pm, $15-$25. Jay Mohr 11/6-11/7, 7:30 pm, $25-$35. 702-797-8005. Tropicana (The Laugh Factory) Nightly, 8:30 & 10:30 pm, $35-$55. 702-739-2222. Treasure Island Margaret Cho 10/16, 9 pm, $44-$72. Bill Engvall 10/23, 12/4, 9 pm, $53-$83. Whoopi Goldberg 11/13, 9 pm, $58-$99. Billy Gardell 11/27, 9 pm, $44-$72. 702-894-7111.. Venetian Loni Love 10/10, 9:30 pm, $40-$60. Whitney Cummings 11/28, 9:30 pm; 1/2, 8 pm, $50-$118. Lisa Lampanelli 10/31, 8 pm; 12/26, 8 pm, $50-$118. Jennifer Coolidge 10/3, 9:30 pm, $40-$96. Roseanne Barr 10/17, 9:30 pm, $50-$118. Jen Kirkman 10/24, 9:30 pm, $40-$96. Fortune Feimster 10/24, 9:30 pm, $40-$97. Garfunkel & Oates 11/7, 9:30 pm, $40$96. 702-414-9000.

PERFORMING ARTS Brooklyn Bowl Alice: A Steampunk Fantasy 10/13, 10 pm, $15-$30. 702862-2695. Christ Church Episcopal Ty Woodward 10/2, 7:30 pm, $15. Advent-Christmas Recital 12/6, 4 pm, $15. Adam J. Brakel 1/8, 7:30 pm, $15. Hans Uwe Hielscher 2/5, 7:30 pm, $15. David Dorway 4/29, 7:30

TO SUBMIT LISTINGS: Email listings@gmgvegas.com. Submissions received after Friday will be published in the following week’s issue.

pm, $15. 2000 S. Maryland Parkway, sncago.org. Erotic Heritage Museum Judy Forever in My Heart 11/8, 2:30 pm, $18-$20. 3275 Industrial Rd, 702794-4000. Italian American Club Voices of Rudy: The Journey to the Movie 11/13, 7:30 pm, $30. 2333 E. Sahara Ave., 702-457-3866. Las Vegas Little Theatre Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) 10/2-10/3, 10/9-10/10, 8 pm; 10/11, 2 pm. 3920 Schiff Dr., 702362-7996. Las Vegas Philharmonic Passport to the World 10/24, 7:30 pm, $26-$96. Cabrera Celebrates Sibelius 11/21, 7:30 pm, $26-$96. The Snowman 12/5/12-6, 2 pm; 12/5, 7:30 pm; $26$96; 12/6, 2 pm, $46-$96. Cabrera Conducts Rachmaninoff 1/9, 7:30 pm, 1/10, 2 pm, $26-$96. Spotlight Series 2/16, 4/26, 5/3, 7:30 pm, $168. Smith Center, 702-749-2000. Nevada Ballet Theatre A Balanchine Celebration: From Tchaikobsky to Rodgers & Hart to Gershwin 11/7, 7:30 pm., 11/8, 2 pm, $29-$139. The Nutcracker 12/12, 8:30 pm, 12/13, 1 & 5:30 pm, 12/18, 7:30 pm, 12/19, 2 pm $ 7:30 pm, 12/20, 1 & 5:30 pm, $29-$179. Smith Center’s Reynolds Hall, 702749-2000. Nevada Chamber Symphony Music Maestro 10/4, 3 p.m., free. Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Rd., 702-507-3459. Onyx Theatre Showgirls the Musical Thru 10/3, Thu-Sat, 8 pm, $25. King of Kong: A Musical Parody 10/910/10, 8 pm; 10/11, 2 pm, $20. She Kills Monsters 10/15-10/17, 10/22-10/24, 10/29-10/31, 8 pm; 10/25, 5 pm, $20. Mister Wives 11/12-11/14, 11/19-11/21, 11/27-11/28, 8 pm; 11/22, 5 pm, $20. The Blanche DeBris Emergency Xmas Broadcast 12/10-12/12, 12/17-12/19, 8 pm; 12/13, 5 pm, $20. 953 E. Sahara Ave., 702-732-7225. The Smith Center (Reynolds Hall) The Book of Mormon 10/1-10/4, 10/6-10/11, 10/13-10/18, 7:30 pm, 10/3-10/4, 10/1010/11, 10/17-10/18, 2 pm, $36-$160. Room on the Broom 10/21, 6:30 pm, $15-$23. Ragtime 10/27-11/1, 7:30 pm; 10/31, 2 pm; $30-$130. Simply Ella 11/13, 7:30 pm, $35-$125. God Lives in Glass 11/15, 3 pm, $19-$79. Elf the Musical 11/24-11/29, $29-$129. New Year’s Eve at the Smith Center 12/31, 7 pm, $39-$125. The Cat in the Hat 1/13, 6:30 pm, $15-$23. Riverdance 1/26-1/21, $29-$129. Panties in a Twist 2/2-2/6, $35-$43. Cinderella 2/13, 7:30 pm, 2/14, 2 pm, $29-$139. The Bridges of Madison County 2/23-2/28, $29-$129. (Troesh Studio Theater) Miss Margarida’s Way 10/22-10/24, 7 pm; 10/24-10/25, 2:30 pm; $49. Violet 10/30-11/1, 8 pm; 10/3111/1, 3 pm; $34. ’Twas a Girls Night Before Christmas: The Musical 11/24-11/28, 7 pm; 11/28, 2 pm; $35-$43. My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish & I’m Home for the Holidays 12/2-12/5, 7 pm; $35-$40. Driving Miss Daisy 1/15-1/17, 8 pm; 1/16-1/17, 3 pm; $34. 702-749-2000. Treasure Island (Mystère Theatre) A Choreographers’ Showcase 10/11, 10/18, 1 pm, $25-$45. UNLV (Rando-Grillot Recital Hall) Christopher Houlihan 10/9, 7:30 pm, free. Pacifica Quartet 10/22, 7:30 pm, $27-$30. Thomas Strauss 11/1, 7:30 pm, free. Larry Del Casale & Carlos Barbosa Lima 11/21, 8 pm, $45. Amernet Quartet ft. Rachel Calloway 1/28, 7:30 pm, $27-$30. Andrew York 2/20, 8 pm, $41-$45. Chelsea Chen 2/26, 7:30 pm, free.Jens Korndorfer 4/8, 7:30 pm, free. Duo Deloro 4/13, 8 pm, $41-$45. Dorothy Young Riess 5/20, 7:30 pm, free. (Artemus W. Ham

Hall) UNLV Wind Orchestra: Raise the Roof 10/1, 7 pm, $10. National Circus and Acrobats of the People’s Republic of China 10/2, 8 pm, $20$70. UNLV Dance: In Orchestra 2 10/16-10/17, 7:30 pm; 10/17, 2:30 pm, $18. Well Strung 10/24, 8 pm, $20$70. Rockapella’s Holiday Concert 12/5, 8 pm, $20-$70. Sarah Chang and Julio Elizalde 2/6, 8 pm, $25-$75. Polish Baltic Philharmonic 3/17, 8 pm, $25-$75. Orlowsky Trio 4/2, 8 pm, $20-$70. (Judy Bayley Theatre) Nevada Conservatory Theatre: Much Ado about Nothing 10/2-10/3, 10/8-10/10, 8 pm; 10/4, 10/11, 2 pm, $28-$33. UNLV Jazz Ensemble 1 & UNLV Contemporary Jazz Ensemble 10/13, 7:30 pm, $10. 702-895-3332.

SPECIAL EVENTS Alvin and the Chipmunks Live on Stage 12/2, 3:30 pm & 6:30 pm, $18$65. An Executive Chef’s Culinary Classroom With Executive Chef Edmond Wong. 10/13, 11/10, 7 pm, $135. Bellagio, 866-406-7117. Bill O’Riley and Dennis Miller: Don’t Be a Pinhead 12/5, 7:30 pm, $86-$501. The Colosseum, Caesars Palace, 702-731-7333. Charles Bukowski: Man and Myth 10/17, 2 pm, free. Winchester Cultural Center, 3130 McLeod Dr., 702-455-7340. Disney Live! Three Classic Fairy Tales 10/2-10/4, times vary, $22-$72. Orleans, 702-284-7777. Disney on Ice presents Frozen 1/61/11, times vary, $38-$83. Thomas & Mack Center, unlvtickets.com. Downtown Podcast Thu, 9 pm, free. Inspire Theater, 107 Las Vegas Blvd. S., downtownpodcast.tv. Ethel M Chocolates Holiday Cactus Garden 11/11, 5 pm to 10 pm, free. Ethel M Chocolate Factory and Cactus Garden, 2 Cactus Garden Dr., ethelm.com. Fetish & Fantasy Halloween Ball 10/31, 10 pm, $50-$100. The Joint, 702-6935222. Freakling Bros. Trilogy of Terror ft. Castle Vampyre, Gates of Hell, Coven of 13 Beginning Oct. 9, 7pm-11 pm, Sun-Thu; 7 pm to midnight, Fr-Sat., $14-$15. Grand Canyon Shopping Center, 4245 S. Grand canyon Dr., 702-362-3327. Gingerbread Fair & Pantry 10/10, 9 am, free. Green Valley Presbyterian Church, 1978 Wigwam Parkway, 702454-8484. Grapes & Hops Festival 10/3, 5 pm, $40-$100. Springs Preserve, 333 S. Valley View Blvd., springspreserve. org. Lebanese Festival 10/9-10/11, times vary, $3. St. Sharbel Catholic Church, 10325 Rancho Destino Road, 702616-6902. Mannheim Steamroller Christmas 12/3, 7:30 pm, $35-$75. Orleans, 702284-7777. M.E.N.U.S. presented by Epicurean Charitable Foundation 10/9, $500. The Beach at Mandalay Bay, 702-9325098. Mondays Dark with Mark Shunock 10/19, 11/16, 9:30 pm, $20-$30. Vinyl, 702-693-5000. Motley Brew’s Downtown Brew Festival 10/24, 5 pm, $35-$80. Clark County Amphitheater, 500 S. Grand Central Parkway, downtownbrewfestival.com. Nitro Circus Live 11/21, 8 pm, $42$128. MGM Grand Garden Arena, 702-891-7777. Christopher Norment Book Signing 11/17, 7 pm, free. The Writer’s Block,

1020 Fremont St., 702-550-6399. Jessica Lee Richardson Book Signing 10/24, 7 pm, free. The Writer’s Block, 1020 Fremont St., 702-550-6399. Las Vegas Burlesque Festival 10/810/10, 8 pm, $50-$150. Gold Coast, 702-367-7111. Las Vegas Stories: Betty Willis and Her Fabulous Signs 10/1, 7 pm, free. Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Rd., 702-507-3459. One Drop Walk for Water 10/17, 8 am, $20-$25. Smith Center, onedrop.org. Pawcasso Art & Silent Auction 10/10, 6:30 pm, $25-$30. Marjorie Barrick Museum at UNLV, 4505 S. Maryland Pkwy., pawcassolv.org. Pemberton al Fresco 10/4, 6 to 9 pm, $100. Ferraro’s Italian Restaurant, 4480 Paradise Rd., 702-364-5300. Sevens Live Music, comedy & spoken arts. Tue, 7 pm, one-drink minimum. Silver Sevens, 4100 Paradise, 702733-7000. Suicide GIrls: Blackheart Burlesque 11/20, 8 pm, $25. Vinyl, 702-6935000. Switch: Trans* Clothing Swap Thu, 5 pm, free. Gay & Lesbian Community Center, 702-733-9800. Theresa Caputo Live! The Experience 10/5, 7:30 pm, $40-$100. Orleans, 702-284-7777. Vegas Valley Book Festival 10/15-10/17, times vary, free. Historic Fifth Street School, 401 S. Fourth St., vegasvalleybookfestival.org. Windmill Music Club 11/15, 12/20, 4 pm, free. Windmill Library, 7060 W Windmill Lane, 702-507-6030.

SPORTS AMA Pro Flat Track Finale 11/20-11/21, 7:30 pm, $45-$55. Orleans, 702-2847777. Boxing: Cotto vs. Canelo 11/21, 2 pm, $150-$2,000. Mandalay Bay Events Center, 702-632-7777. Cinch Boyd Gaming Chute-Out 12/1012/12, 2 pm, $50-$110. Orleans, 702284-7777. Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational 11/26-11/27, noon, $47$157. Orleans, 702-284-7777. Frozen Fury XVII: LA Kings vs. Colorado Avalanche 10/3, 7 pm, $53-$255. MGM Grand Garden Arena, 702-891-7777. Global Force Wrestling Amped 10/23, 8 pm, $10-$125. Orleans, 702284-7777. Los Angeles Lakers vs. Sacramento Kings 10/13, 7 pm, $25-$500. MGM Grand Garden Arena, 702-891-7777. Monster Energy Cup 10/17, 6 pm, $56-$76. Sam Boyd Stadium, unlvtickets.com. Monster Energy Supercross Finals 5/7, 6:30 pm, $180. Sam Boyd Stadium, unlvtickets.com. Monster Jam World Finals 3/17, 5:30 pm; 3/18-3/19, 7 pm, $80-$180. Sam Boyd Stadium, unlvtickets.com. Mylan World Team Tennis Smash Hits 10/12, 7 pm, $45-$125. The Colosseum, Caesars Palace, 702731-7333. National Finals Rodeo 12/3-12/12, 6:45 pm, $58-$232. Thomas & Mack, unlvtickets.com. PBR World Finals 10/21-10/24, 6 pm; 10/25, 1 pm, $30-$170. Thomas & Mack Center, unlvtickets.com. Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl 12/19, 12:30 pm, $24-$110. Sam Boyd Stadium, unlvtickets.com. Runnin’ Rebel Madness 10/22, 7 pm, free. Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, 200 S. 3rd Street, dlvec.com. UFC: Fight Night ft. Paige VanZant vs. Joanne Calderwood 12/10, $75$225.

CHECK OUT OUR COMPLETE CALENDAR LISTINGS AT LASVEGASWEEKLY.COM/EVENTS 56 LASVEGASWEEKLY.COM OCTOBER 1-7, 2015

Ultimate Fighter: Team McGregor vs. Team Faber Finale ft. Frankie Edgar vs. Chad Mendes 12/11, $150-$350. UNLV Football San Jose St. 10/10, 6 pm, $17-$53. Sam Boyd Stadium, unlvtickets.com. World Series of Team Roping 12/512/8, 9:30 am, price TBA. Orleans, 702-284-7777.

GALLERIES Amanda Harris Gallery of Contemporary Art By appointment. 900 Las Vegas Blvd. S., 702-7696036. Arts Factory 107 E. Charleston Blvd, 702-383-3133. Galleries include: Joseph Watson Collection Wed-Fri, 1-6 pm; Sat, noon-3 pm; Sun, 11 am-2 pm. Suite 115, 858-733-2135. Sin City Gallery Wed-Sat, 1-7 pm; Sun, 11 am-2 pm. Suite 100, 702-608-2461. Suite 135, 702-366-7001, trifectagallery.com. Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art Picasso: Creatures and Creativity Thru 1/10. Daily, 10 am-8 pm, $11-$16. 3600 Las Vegas Blvd. S., 702-693-7871. Blackbird Studios By appointment. 1551 S. Commerce St., 702-782-0319. Brett Wesley Gallery Wed-Sat, 1-7 pm. 1025 S. First St. #150, 702-433-4433. Clark County Government Center Rotunda 500 Grand Central Parkway, 702-455-7030. Clay Arts Vegas Mon-Sat, 9 am-9 pm; Sun, 11:30 am-6:30 pm. 1511 S. Main St., 702-375-4147. Downtown Spaces 1800 Industrial Road, dtspaces.com. Galleries include: Candy Wolves Studio 702-6003011. Skin City Body Painting 702-4317546. Solsis Gallery 702-557-2225. Spectral Gallery Sat, noon-10 pm & by appointment. Urizen Gallery First Fri, 6-10 pm. Wasteland Gallery Mon-Fri, 10 am-2 pm. 702-475-9161. Emergency Arts 520 Fremont St. Galleries include: Satellite Contemporary 973-9643050. Rhizome Gallery 702-907-7526. Gainsburg Studio & Gallery Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm. 1533 West Oakey Blvd, 702-249-3200. Las Vegas City Hall Chamber Gallery In Focus: Downtown Architecture by Ryan Reason & Jennifer Burkart Mon-Fri, 7 am-5:30 pm, 495 S. Main St., 702-229-1012. Left of Center Tue-Fri, noon-5 pm; Sat, 10 am-3 pm. 2207 W. Gowan Road, 702-647-7378. Michelle C. Quinn Fine Art By appointment. 620 S. 7th St., 702-3669339. P3Studio Record & Play by Shantell Martin Thru 10/11. Wed-Thu, 5-10 pm; Fri-Sun, 6-11 pm. Cosmopolitan. UNLV Barrick Museum Recent Aquisitions Thru 10/10. Mon-Fri, 9 am–5 pm; Thu, 9 am-8 pm; Sat, noon-5 pm. 4505 S Maryland Parkway., 702895-3381 Donna Beam Fine Art Mon-Fri, 9 am-5 pm; Sat, 10 am-2 pm. 702-8953893. Lied Library The French Connection Thru 10/31. Mon-Thu, 7:30 am-midnight; Fri, 7:30 am-7 pm; Sat, 9 am-6 pm; Sun, 11 am-midnight. West Las Vegas Arts Center Wed-Sat, 9 am-7 pm. 947 W. Lake Mead Blvd., 702-229-4800. Winchester Cultural Center Art Gallery Tue-Fri, 10 am-8 pm; Sat, 9 am-6 pm. 3130 S. McLeod Drive, 702455-7340.

HOROSCOPE

free will astrology

By Rob Brezsny

ARIES

LEO

SAGITTARIUS

March 21-April 19

July 23-Aug. 22

Nov. 22-Dec. 21

The next seven weeks will NOT be a favorable time to fool around with psychic vampires and charismatic jerks. I recommend you avoid the following mistakes, as well: failing to protect the wounded areas of your psyche; demanding perfection from those you care about; and trying to fulfill questionable desires that have led you astray in the past. Now I’ll name some positive actions you’d be wise to consider: hunting for skillful healers who can relieve your angst and aches; favoring the companionship of people who are empathetic and emotionally intelligent; and getting educated about how to build the kind of intimacy you can thrive on.

Should I offer my congratulations? You have corralled a gorgeous mess of problems that are more interesting and provocative than everyone else’s. It’s unclear how long this odd good fortune will last, however, so I suggest you act decisively to take maximum advantage of the opportunities your dilemmas have cracked open. If anyone can turn the heartache of misplaced energy into practical wisdom, you can. If anyone can harness chaos to drum up new assets, it’s you. Is it possible to be both cunning and conscientious, both strategic and ethical? For you right now, I think it is.

Your fellow Sagittarian Walt Disney accomplished a lot. He was a pioneer in the art of animation and made movies that won Academy Awards. He built theme parks, created an entertainment empire, and amassed fantastic wealth. Why was he so successful? In part because he had high standards, worked hard and harbored an obsessive devotion to his quirky vision. If you aspire to cultivate any of those qualities, now’s a favorable time to raise your mastery to the next level. Disney also liked to play the game of life by his own rules. For example, his favorite breakfast was donuts dipped in Scotch whiskey. What would be your equivalent?

TAURUS

VIRGO

CAPRICORN

April 20-May 20

Aug. 23-Sept. 22

Dec. 22-Jan. 19

You may have seen websites that offer practical tips on how to improve your mastery of life’s little details, how to de-clutter your home or keep baked goods from going stale. I recently came across a humorous site that provides the opposite: bad life tips. It suggests that you make job interviews less stressful by only applying for jobs you don’t want. Put your laptop in cold water to prevent overheating. To save time, brush your teeth while you eat. It’s easy to tell the difference between which tips are trustworthy and which aren’t. But in the coming days, you might find it more challenging to distinguish between the good advice and bad advice.

Let’s say you have driven down the same road a thousand times. Then, one day, as you repeat your familiar route, a certain object or scene snags your attention for the first time. Maybe it’s a small fountain or a statue of the Buddhist goddess Guanyin or a wall with graffiti that says, “Crap happens, but so does magic.” It has always been there. You’ve been subconsciously aware of it. But at this moment, for unknown reasons, it finally arrives in your conscious mind. I believe this is an apt metaphor for your life in the next week. More than once, you will suddenly tune in to influences that had previously been invisible to you. That’s a good thing! Bring a jolt.

October is Fix the Fundamentals Month. It will be a favorable time to substitute good habits for bad. You will attract lucky breaks and practical blessings as you work to transform overwrought compulsions into rigorous passions. You will thrive as you seek to discover the holy yearning that’s hidden at the root of devitalizing addictions. To get started, instigate free-wheeling experiments that will propel you out of your sticky rut and in the direction of a percolating groove.

GEMINI

LIBRA

AQUARIUS

May 21-June 20

Sept. 23-Oct. 22

Jan. 20-Feb. 18

On a windy afternoon last spring I was walking through a quiet neighborhood in Berkeley. In one yard there was a garden plot filled with the young green stems of as-yet unidentifiable plants. Anchored in their midst was a small handwritten sign. Its message seemed to be directed not at passersby like me but at the sprouts themselves. “Grow faster, you little bastards!” the sign said—as if the blooming things might be bullied into ripening. I hope you’re smart enough not to make similar demands on yourself and those you care about, Gemini. It’s not even necessary. I suspect that everything in your life will just naturally grow with vigor in the coming weeks.

The 20th century’s most influential artist may have been Pablo Picasso. He created thousands of paintings, and was still churning them out when he was 91 years old. A journalist asked him which one was his favorite. “The next one,” he said. I suggest you adopt a similar attitude in the coming weeks, Libra. What you did in the past is irrelevant. You should neither depend on nor be weighed down by anything that has come before. For now, all that matters are the accomplishments and adventures ahead of you.

Have you made your travel plans yet? Have you plotted your escape? I hope you will hightail it to a festive playground where some of your inhibitions will shrink, or else journey to a holy spot where your spiritual yearnings will ripen. What would be even better is if you made a pilgrimage to a place that satisfied both of those agendas—filled up your senses with novel enticements and fed your hunger for transcendent insights. Off you go, Aquarius! Why aren’t you already on your way? If you can’t manage a real getaway in the near future, please at least stage a jailbreak for your imagination.

CANCER

SCORPIO

PISCES

June 21-July 22

Oct. 23-Nov. 21

Feb. 19-March 20

“I am rooted, but I flow,” Virginia Woolf wrote in her novel The Waves. That paradoxical image reminds me of you right now. You are as grounded as a tree and as fluid as a river. Your foundation is deep and strong, even as you are resilient in your ability to adapt to changing circumstances. This is your birthright as a Cancerian! Enjoy and use the blessings it confers. (P.S. If for some strange reason you’re not experiencing an exquisite version of what I’ve described, there must be some obstacle you are mistakenly tolerating. Get rid of it.)

A windbreak is a line of stout trees or thick bushes that provides shelter from the wind. I think you need a metaphorical version: someone or something to shield you from a relentless force that has been putting pressure on you; a buffer zone or protected haven where you can take refuge from a stressful barrage that has been hampering your ability to act with clarity and grace. Do you know what you will have to do to get it? Here’s your battle cry: “I need sanctuary! I deserve sanctuary!”

Pablo Neruda’s Book of Questions consists entirely of 316 questions. It’s one of those rare texts that makes no assertions and draws no conclusions. In this spirit, and in honor of the sphinx-like phase you’re now passing through, I offer you six pertinent riddles: 1. What is the most important thing you have never done? 2. How could you play a joke on your fears? 3. Identify the people in your life who have made you real to yourself. 4. Name a good old thing you would have to give up in order to get a great new thing. 5. What’s the one feeling you want to feel more than any other in the next three years? 6. What inspires you to love?

october 1–7, 2015 LasVegasWeekly.com 57

The BackStory

Photograph by L.E. Baskow

SUPERMOON ECLIPSE | VALLEY OF FIRE STATE PARK | SEPTEMBER 27, 2015 | 7:45 P.M. Stars don’t do it. They can’t. They’re just a salting of light in endless dark. Only the moon makes us feel the Earth hanging in space like a papier-mâché ball on a string. It’s the closest celestial body, occasionally so close in its orbit that scientists say it appears about 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than normal. This weekend, such a “supermoon” overlapped a lunar eclipse, transforming our little white sphere into a rare blood moon. As it rose over Las Vegas, it was more like a sun setting on Tatooine. And in the desert night at Valley of Fire, the moon’s gorgeous rust colors looked sucked straight from the rock. We get pretty desensitized to the sublime in nature. But some things are just too awesome. –Erin Ryan

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