2023-06-01-Las-Vegas-Weekly

VALID 6/1/2023-6/30/2023 AT PARTICIPATING LOCATIONS

PUBLISHER

MARK DE POOTER mark.depooter@gmgvegas.com

EDITOR SPENCER PATTERSON spencer.patterson@gmgvegas.com

EDITORIAL

Senior Editor GEOFF CARTER (geo .carter@gmgvegas.com)

Editor at Large BROCK RADKE (brock.radke@gmgvegas.com)

Deputy Editor SHANNON MILLER (shannon.miller@gmgvegas.com)

Sta Writer AMBER SAMPSON (amber.sampson@gmgvegas.com)

Contributing Writers GRACE DA ROCHA,HILLARY DAVIS, MIKE GRIMALA, CASEY HARRISON, KATIE ANN MCCARVER, TERESA MOSS, RHIANNON SAEGERT, DANNY WEBSTER

Contributing Editors RAY BREWER, JUSTIN HAGER, CASE KEEFER, DAVE MONDT

O ce Coordinator NADINE GUY

CREATIVE

Art Director CORLENE BYRD (corlene.byrd@gmgvegas.com)

Senior Designer IAN RACOMA

Photo Coordinator BRIAN RAMOS

Photographers CHRISTOPHER DEVARGAS, STEVE MARCUS, WADE VANDERVORT

DIGITAL

Publisher of Digital Media KATIE HORTON

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ADVERTISING & MARKETING

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Account Executives MARY CHARISSE DIMAIN, DEREK EIGE, LAUREN JOHNSON, ANNA ZYMANEK

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PRODUCTION & CIRCULATION

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IN THIS ISSUE

WANT MORE? Head to lasvegasweekly.com.

SUPERGUIDE

Your daily events planner, starring Seal, Earthgang, Nate Bargatze, Bryson Tiller, the Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekender and more.

THE STRIP

Transfix conveniently brings the largescale art of Burning Man and beyond to Resorts World.

NEWS

The federal COVID-19 public health emergency has ended. What does it mean for vaccines, testing and you?

STAGE

R.I.P. Tina Turner. A Smith Center show is celebrating her legacy, and we visited with the two women set to sing her songs.

NOISE

Meet the badass ladies of Blackwater Holylight, a heavy psych band headed for the Usual Place.

42 SPORTS

The Raiders have one of the best receivers in the NFL in Davante Adams; now they might have one of the top catching combos, thanks to the addition of Jakobi Meyers.

FOOD & DRINK

BLVD Eats brings tasty bites to, well, the Boulevard, and we point the way to Restaurant Week glory.

Tina Turner, shown here performing at London’s Wembley Arena in 1987, died May 24 at age 83. A touring show running this month at the Smith Center will pay tribute to her catalog and her influential career. (AP Photo/Gill Allen)

SUPERGUIDE

BURLESQUE HALL OF FAME WEEKENDER

MUSIC PARTY

As we described in our special museum-themed issue earlier this year, the Burlesque Hall of Fame is a lot like Las Vegas itself—the only place of its kind, a unique gem, a destination that can provide a very personal experience. It’s not just about sexy stu ; there are stories here about special people that simply haven’t been told elsewhere. And since it’s pretty small, as far as museums go, it requires support by means other than visitation. That’s where the annual weekender comes in, an anything-but-small takeover of the Orleans Casino featuring lots of burlesque showcases, DJ sets, a bowling tournament and special programs you also won’t find anywhere else. How about a seminar on creative costuming with the enigmatic Aria Delanoche, titled “How to Leave Them Gagging.” Sign us up. Saturday’s 33rd-annual Tournament of Tease will welcome newcomers and groups competing from all around the world, featuring a special performance from reigning Miss Exotic World Lou Lou la Duchesse de Rière. For the only somewhat devoted, single day passes cost $100. Thru 6/4, event times vary, bhofweekend.com. –Brock Radke

SPORTS

HELLOWEEN With Hammerfall, 6 p.m., Brooklyn Bowl, ticketmaster.com.

NERVO With Madds, 10:30 p.m., Zouk Nightclub, zoukgrouplv.com.

RYAN OAKES With Layto, Cherie Amour, 7 p.m., the Gri n, eventbrite.com.

TALIA J DUDLEY: BUILDING MATERIALS

ARTS

FOOD + DRINK

GARTH BROOKS 8 p.m., & 6/3-6/4, the Colosseum, ticketmaster.com.

NUWU ART COLLECTIVE: BRIDGES

Reception 6-8 p.m., exhibition thru 8/25, Nuwu Art Gallery & Community Center, nuwuart.com.

DANIEL EMMET & PIA TOSCANO 7:30 p.m., Westgate International Theater, ticketmaster.com.

BRAD GARRETT With Tom McTigue, Omid Singh, 8 p.m., & 6/4, Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club, bradgarrettcomedy.com.

TANNER USREY 8 p.m., 24 Oxford, etix.com.

Thru 6/20, MondayThursday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Friday-Sunday, 10 a.m.6 p.m., Centennial Hills Library, thelibrary district.org.

HI I’M GHOST With YDG, Skunkz, 10 p.m., We All Scream, seetickets.us.

HARBOR With Harvested, Slaughterhouse E ect, The Red Charade, 7 p.m., Cheba Hut (Rainbow), chebahut.com.

BIG JAY OAKERSON 8 p.m., & 6/2-6/3, 7:30 & 10 p.m., Wiseguys, vegas. wiseguyscomedy.com.

RALPH MEGGINSON: MUSICIANS & ATHLETES

Thru 6/25, MondayThursday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Friday-Sunday, 10 a.m.6 p.m., Whitney Library, thelibrarydistrict.org.

KELSEY COOK

Thru 6/4, 7:30 p.m. (& 6/2-6/3, 9:30 p.m.), Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club, ticketmaster.com.

TIG NOTARO

8 p.m., Theater at Virgin, axs.com.

FIRST FRIDAY

5 p.m., Downtown Las Vegas, ffflv.org

BRUNO MARS

9 p.m., & 6/3, Dolby Live, ticketmaster.com

FRENCH MONTANA

10 p.m., Drai’s Nightclub, draisgroup.com

DAVID BLAINE

8 p.m., & 6/3, Resorts World Theatre, axs.com.

JIM JEFFERIES

10 p.m., & 6/3, Mirage Theatre, ticketmaster.com.

STEVE AOKI

10:30 p.m., Omnia Nightclub, events. taogroup.com

HENDERSON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: WHAM! 7:30 p.m., Dollar Loan Center, henderson symphonynv.org.

DEORRO 11 a.m., Tao Beach Dayclub, events. taogroup.com

DEAD AT MIDNIGHT

With 12 Step Rebels, Poison Hearts, 9 p.m., Red Dwarf, reddwarflv.com

RL GRIME

10 p.m., Zouk Nightclub, zoukgrouplv.com

ZEBRA

With Jason Walker & The Majestic 12, 8 p.m., Count’s Vamp’d, eventbrite.com

THE CHAINSMOKERS

10:30 p.m., XS Nightclub, wynnsocial.com

THE ILLEGAL ALIENS

With Riddled, Open Fist, 10 p.m., Double Down Saloon, double downsaloon.com

CHASSI & FREAKY

9:30 p.m., the Wall at Area15, area15.com

SEAL

Seal’s last album, 2017’s Standards, is tailor-made for old-fashioned Vegas residencies. It’s a collection of Rat Packera standards, from “Luck Be a Lady” to “It Was a Very Good Year.” I’d be lying if I said I was on board with that—not because I don’t think his soulful, once-in-a-generation voice isn’t up to the material, but because the Seal we fell for back in the day never fitted himself into a box. He moved from dancefloor bangers (“Killer”), to radio-ready hits (“Crazy”); from uplifting anthems (“I’m Alive”), to chamber pop (“Kiss from a Rose”). Strictly in karaoke terms, the man’s already made a fistful of standards; he doesn’t need to go borrowing. That said, Seal has a way of personalizing songs, pretty much anyone’s songs (see “Fly Like an Eagle”). His instrument is just that unique, mesmerizing and strong. And to spend an entire evening hearing him use it—well, that’s simply a killer idea. June 2-3, 8 p.m., $45-$274+, Venetian Theatre, ticketmaster.com. –Geoff Carter

(Courtesy)

SUPERGUIDE

DJ DIESEL

10:30 p.m., EBC at Night, wynnsocial.com.

WALK THE MOON

Walk the Moon’s meteoric rise can be summed up in four simple words: “Shut Up and Dance.” The 2014 track—a synthy bout of energy Billboard called a “New Wave throwback”—took the Ohio power pop trio from chart-topping hopefuls to radio-dominating dancefloor conductors. You couldn’t escape “Shut Up and Dance.” Heck, it was on the Hot 100 for 53 weeks, and there’s still TikTok routines tied to it. So if there’s any reason to get your tail down to Fremont Street Experience’s Downtown Rocks concert series, it’s to experience this song in all of its excitement and glory. Oh, and did we mention it’s free? Walk the Moon’s performance continues the series, with acts like Soulja Boy, Live, Switchfoot, The All-American Rejects, Young the Giant, Neon Trees, Dashboard Confessional and the Gin Blossoms all set to play over the summer at no charge. 9 p.m., free, Fremont Street Experience, vegasexperience.com. –Amber Sampson

KASKADE Noon, Ayu Dayclub, zoukgrouplv.com

JAMES TAYLOR & HIS ALL-STAR BAND 8 p.m., & 6/4, 6/7, the Chelsea, ticketmaster.com

ILLENIUM 11 a.m., Tao Beach Dayclub, events.taogroup.com

BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT With Plague Doctor, 8 p.m., the Usual Place, eventbrite.com

VEGAS KNIGHT HAWKS VS. TUCSON SUGAR SKULLS Noon, Dollar Loan Center, axs.com

KYGO 10:30 p.m., XS Nightclub, wynnsocial.com

ESLABÓN ARMADO 8 p.m., Theater at Virgin, axs.com

KING LIL G 7:30 p.m., House of Blues, concerts. livenation.com

ALESSO 10:30 p.m., Omnia Nightclub, events. taogroup.com

MARSHMELLO

11 a.m., Encore Beach Club, wynnsocial.com

ROCK THE ROOF

With Luzred, Queen High, Sun Veneno, Desmother, Didi West, 7 p.m., Taverna Costera, tavernacostera.com

FASTER PUSSYCAT

With Jason Charles Miller, Kaos Bender, 7 p.m., Count’s Vamp’d, eventbrite.com

TCHAMI 11 a.m., Daylight Beach Club, tixr.com

BREAK CHECK

With Mercy Music, Sweet Gloom, 9 p.m., Red Dwarf, reddwarflv.com

SANDBOX BULLIES

With Strange Imperial, The October, 10 p.m., Double Down Saloon, doubledownsaloon.com

MIKEY LION & KEVIN KNAPP 10 p.m., Discopussy, tixr.com

PASSION NOUVEAU 9 p.m., Sand Dollar Downtown, thesanddollarlv.com

(Courtesy/Mike Kirschbaum)

TYGA 11 a.m., Encore Beach Club, wynnsocial.com.

BOOSTIVE

With Scotty Dub, 8 p.m., the Griffin, eventbrite.com.

STEVE AOKI 11 a.m., Wet Republic, events.taogroup.com

THEE SWANK BASTARDS

Noon, Red Dwarf, reddwarflv.com.

DON TOLIVER

Noon, Ayu Dayclub, zoukgrouplv.com

VANDOLIERS

With Lennon Roach, Opal & Turq, 6:30 p.m., SoulBelly BBQ, soulbellybbq.com.

LUMIÉRE NOIRE

7 p.m., Maxan Jazz, maxanjazz.com

EARTHGANG

Daylight’s Lit Sundays provide some of the strongest hiphop programming on the Strip, and it’s Earthgang’s turn to cap off another weekend. The Atlanta-based duo has thrived on J. Cole’s Dreamville Records, and the group’s second studio album, Ghetto Gods, signals a significant leap for Southern rap. It’s racially reflective, soulful and dedicated, in many ways, to Earthgang’s hometown, from which other Atlanta acts like OutKast and Future hail. There’s a distinct flavor to Earthgang’s music, a polished, trap-filled fusion of funk and head-bobbing hooks, creativity that seems to grow with every release. Earthgang’s live performances have an electric reputation, and you never know when other members of Spillage Village—a musical collective of Southern-based artists like JID, Jurdan Bryant, 6lack and Mereba—might drop in. Noon, $50, Daylight Beach Club, daylightvegas.com. –Amber Sampson

05 JUN.

LAS VEGAS RESTAURANT WEEK

Thru 6/16, various restaurants, restaurantweeklv. org.

MONDAYS DARK 8 p.m., the Space, mondaysdark.com.

MICKI FREE’S VEGAS JAM 8 p.m., Backstage Bar & Billiards, eventbrite.com.

DJ SHIFT 10:30 p.m., Jewel Nightclub, events. taogroup.com

VEGAS IN SPACE 9:15 p.m., Beverly Theater, thebeverlytheater. com.

MIKE MERRYFIELD

Thru 6/11, 8 p.m., L.A. Comedy Club, bestvegascomedy. com.

SECRETS With Outline the Color, Of Virtue, Nerv, 6 p.m., Eagle Aerie Hall, eventbrite.com.

FOR MORE UPCOMING EVENTS, VISIT LASVEGASWEEKLY.COM.

SUPERGUIDE

TINA: THE TINA TURNER

MUSICAL

Thru 6/11, 7:30 p.m. (& 6/106/11, 2 p.m.), Reynolds Hall, thesmithcenter.com.

LOUD LUXURY 10:30 p.m., Omnia Nightclub, events.taogroup.com.

TV BROKEN 3RD EYE OPEN

Ft. Katie Skene, 10 p.m., Sand Dollar Lounge, thesanddollarlv.com.

JENNY ZIGRINO

With Dustin Ybarra, Michael Yo, John Joseph, 7 & 9:30 p.m., Comedy Cellar, comedycellar.com.

CLAUDE BOURBON

6 p.m., Sahara West Library, thelibrarydistrict.org.

DIE HARD

8 p.m., Beverly Theater, thebeverly theater.com.

NATE BARGATZE

8 p.m., Encore Theater, ticketmaster.com.

SKIITOUR With N2N, Roger That!, 10 p.m., We All Scream, weallscream.com.

VTECH 10:30 p.m., EBC at Night, wynnsocial.com.

STEVE LAWLER 10:30 p.m., Marquee Nightclub, events. taogroup.com.

BRYSON TILLER

The trap-soul pioneer’s Back and I’m Better Tour is living up to its name. Tiller returns to Las Vegas this week for a sultry slowjam session at Brooklyn Bowl, after his trip to the Strip last month to perform at the Lovers & Friends fest and at Ayu Dayclub. And he must be better, because his first tour in six years was just extended with eight more concerts including stops in LA and Toronto. The 30-year-old Louisville native struck again with his uncanny ability to choose just the right familiar R&B and hip-hop samples and construct something that sounds undeniably fresh with September single “Outside,” borrowing from the Ying Yang Twins’ “Wait (The Whisper Song).” It’s another catchy club banger from Tiller, whose seemingly e ortless flow typically translates to short, energetic live performances. Here’s hoping the ever-cool environs at the Bowl will keep him onstage a little longer this time around. 7:30 p.m., $124+, Brooklyn Bowl, ticketmaster.com. –Brock Radke

MUSIC

FOOD + DRINK

SATURDAY, JUNE 17TH AT 2PM

SENSORY FRIENDLY PERFORMANCE

BENEFITTING GRANT A GIFT AUTISM FOUNDATION

Slight modifications will be made to the Blue Man Group performance including reduced sound and light levels at various moments in the show. The Blue Men will limit their audience interaction, and their approach to the audience is more subdued. Earplugs will be available upon request, and quiet zones will be available in the lobby for anyone seeking a sensory break from the high-energy show. Please note: Strobe lights will be used in this performance.

This sensory friendly performance is full length at 90 minutes and is specially priced to be accessible to people and families with sensory sensitivities.

$36

FOR EVERY TICKET SOLD, BLUE MAN GROUP WILL DONATE $20 TO GRANT A GIFT AUTISM FOUNDATION

For Tickets and more information, visit: www.blueman.com/las-vegas/buy-tickets/ sensory-friendly

Mark Wahlberg (Courtesy/Denise Truscello, Getty Images)

LEADING MAN

BY AMBER SAMPSON

Some will always remember him as Marky Mark. Others think of him as the award-winning actor from Boogie Nights, The Departed and The Fighter. And a few lucky Las Vegans recently got to know him as their neighborhood bartender.

For Cinco de Mayo, Mark Wahlberg hopped behind the bar at On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina in the northwest Valley, where he served up the restaurant’s signature Marky Margs, made with his liquor brand, Flecha Azul Tequila.

Elated locals bumped fists and shot glasses with the star, who relocated from Hollywood to Summerlin last fall. And between bar duties, Wahlberg weighed in on his spirit. “I prefer it neat, clean. I love sipping it,” he said. “Only problem is, it’s so smooth, especially compared to other tequila, you have to really be mindful about how much intake you have.”

Wahlberg’s connection to Southern Nevada runs far deeper than booze. His family’s burger chain, Wahlburgers, opened a second Strip location at Mandalay Bay in March. And his F45 training facilities—which offer what the actor calls “the greatest workout on the planet”— also have expanded across the Valley, with locations in Summerlin, Henderson and Downtown’s Arts District.

The Weekly caught up with Wahlberg between shots at On the Border to talk Vegas living, Hollywood 2.0 and the Oakland A’s.

How are you and the family settling in here? We’ve been here now about eight, nine months, and it’s amazing how quickly we were welcomed with open arms. It’s such an amazing community. When people think about Las Vegas, they tend to think about the Strip, but there’s such a sense of community and families and faith. It’s wonderful.

We’re excited about all the opportunities. Obviously, Vegas has so much to offer, but we don’t want to come expecting anything. We want to be able to create opportunities as well. We’re hoping to bring a film studio, a shoe factory and lots of things to create lots of jobs.

Have you had a chance to immerse yourself in any shows or sporting events since you’ve been here? I’ve been to quite a few shows. I’ve been to quite a few restaurants, but also visiting local restaurants, whether it’s up in Summerlin or different parts of the community. We’ve met lots of locals, and everybody seems to be from somewhere else and they’ve come to call Vegas home. Hopefully, I’m

encouraging lots of other people to make the move as well.

I haven’t been to a Knights game yet, but I’ve been to a Raiders game. They beat my Patriots. I wasn’t that upset; we’re still in the rebuilding phase. Josh McDaniels was the offensive coordinator for the Patriots for quite some time. There’s lots of pieces and feelings of home here.

Was there anything in particular that surprised you about Las Vegas when you first moved? The weather. It’s four real, full different seasons. We’ve had heat, we’ve had snow, we’ve had a little bit of everything. It’s just such a chill, cool place. I feel much more relaxed here. I don’t feel the need to be involved in all the hustle and bustle. I can relax and unwind and just be myself, which is nice.

Being from Boston, you’re a die-hard Red Sox and baseball fan. How do you feel about us potentially getting the Oakland A’s? I think it’s fantastic. I’m surprised that it’s taken this long. You see

how well the Raiders are doing. You see how well the Knights are doing. And if you’ve got to make a splash, you have to be in Las Vegas. You’re gonna have Formula One, you’re gonna have the Super Bowl. You’re certainly gonna have a basketball team as well soon. This is the place to be.

What’s the impetus behind Hollywood 2.0 and what’s your vision for it here? In the movie business, they don’t make films in LA anymore. They’re making them everywhere else. The last films I made were in Australia and Croatia. I want to be able to make films here. I think there’s so much to offer. There’s so much exterior landscape. I would love to be able to make films in my backyard. There’s a great pool of creative and talented people here, and it’s just very relaxing. I know people are excited about the idea of creating business outside of gaming. Hopefully I can continue to push that forward. It’s my goal. I feel very fortunate to be here … and I want to be able to continue to bring lots to the table myself.

Chatting with actor Mark Wahlberg about laying down Vegas roots and ushering in a new film phase

BY CASE KEEFER

Jonathan Marchessault swung his left leg out after the first goal, yelled staring down at the ice following the second, and launched an uppercut through the air on the third.

And the veteran Golden Knights’ forward apparently wasn’t done celebrating his natural hat trick—three straight goals in the second period of a 5-2 Game 6 victory to eliminate the Edmonton Oilers. He saved some more emotional outbursts for the visiting locker room at Rogers Place in Edmonton after the contest.

“Good for [Marchessault, but] we’re going to have to hear it for the next four or five days,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy joked during in his post-game news conference. “That’s the unfortunate part, but we’ll live with that.”

Four or five days? Try another couple of weeks, because there’s been no reason for Marchessault to tone down his bravado so far.

The 32-year-old brought the redhot form he found against Edmonton into the Western Conference Final against Dallas, during which he had

four goals—and at least one point in each of the final five games.

Throughout the playoffs, Marchessault has arguably been Vegas’ most valuable skater, tallying nine goals—second on the team behind only William Karlsson’s 10—and 17 points, second on the team, behind only Jack Eichel’s 18.

“I like playing this time of year,” Marchessault said after dispatching Dallas. “Regular season, yeah, it’s fun, but it’s like more of a routine. The passion is there, and the want to score goals is there. But in the playoffs, it’s another animal. That’s what fuels me.”

If this all sounds eerily familiar, it’s because it has indeed happened before. Marchessault similarly raised his game to a lethal level during the Golden Knights’ expansion-season Stanley Cup Final run five years ago, with the accompanying moxie to match.

In that year’s Western Conference Final against Winnipeg, he was showing up for home games at T-Mobile Arena in a customized Golden Knights’ Lamborghini—and

getting then-coach Gerard Gallant to affectionately refer to him as “a cocky little guy.”

Marchessault set the NHL record for most points by a player for a team in its first playoff appearance with 21, eight goals and 13 assists.

“There’s Marchy again,” Cassidy said of Marchessault’s ability to come through in the biggest moments. “I don’t know the entire history. I delved into it and read into it, but now I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”

The only material Cassidy needed to read to realize what Marchessault has meant to the franchise overall is the record book, where No. 81 sits first in the vast majority of career offensive categories. That includes regular-season goals (150), regular-season points (348), postseason goals (30) and postseason points (63).

Not bad for a “little guy” the Panthers willingly gave away in the Golden Knights’ Expansion Draft, reportedly because of concerns over his 5-foot-9, 174-pound frame and his ability to contribute as an allaround player.

Marchessault isn’t the only “Origi-

nal Misfit” still on the roster—Karlsson, Reilly Smith, William Carrier, Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore were all also acquired through the expansion draft—but no one better represents what the Golden Knights have stood for since the beginning.

And no one has been more impactful in Vegas. Marchessault might not be as naturally talented as Eichel or Mark Stone, or even as beloved as original goalie Marc-André Fleury, but he has accomplished more than anyone during his time here.

“It’s been a roller coaster six years for sure, a lot of ups and downs,” Marchessault said. “I’m definitely really proud of that term [Original Misfits]. That’s something we started. We were a bunch of nobodies … and we still have a chip on our shoulder. We’re going to keep going until our organization wins the ultimate goal.”

Jonathan Marchessault ranks as a full-fledged VGK legend amid another dominant playoff run

GOLDEN KNIGHTS

Photo by Wade Vandervort

Photo Illustration

STANLEY CUP FINAL SCHEDULE

Saturday, June 3

Florida at Vegas, 5 p.m., TNT

Monday, June 5

Florida at Vegas, 5 p.m., TNT

Thursday, June 8

Vegas at Florida, 5 p.m., TNT

Saturday, June 10

Vegas at Florida, 5 p.m., TNT

Tuesday, June 13

Florida at Vegas, 5 p.m., TNT (if nec.)

Friday, June 16

Vegas at Florida, 5 p.m., TNT (if nec.)

Monday, June 19

Florida at Vegas, 5 p.m., TNT (if nec.)

Times & TV networks subject to change.

For as much as teammates and coaches like to joke about Marchessault’s brash personality, he hasn’t shown that side of himself in front of the media much lately. He has largely credited his playoff success to others, describing multiple goals as “lucky” and a byproduct of playing alongside “an amazing player” like Eichel.

He has also continually resisted looking forward, emphasizing staying in the moment no matter how promising things have looked for the Golden Knights. Marchessault said

he wasn’t as grounded during the Golden Knights’ 2018 Stanley Cup Final run.

He was so sure the team would win the championship, he was left shocked when things began to go wrong against the Washington Capitals, who beat the Golden Knights in five games.

“It’s one of those things that kind of slipped away from us that year,” Marchessault said. “I know I’ve learned from my mistakes.”

Still, don’t be surprised if Marchessault’s calm crumbles should the Golden Knights capture the Stanley Cup. And it could evaporate in even grander fashion if he’s named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the postseason’s most valuable player—an honor for which he’s certainly in the running.

Who knows what type of celebration the greatest Golden Knight of all might think up, should such triumphs materialize.

“I always try to keep the momentum up, keep everybody happy,” Marchessault said. “To be honest, it’s been one of those years that we have fun every day.”

Johnathan Marchessault (AP Photo)

BY DANNY WEBSTER

O cially listed at 6-foot-4, 215 pounds, Adin Hill moves more gracefully than many goalies a fraction of that size. His side-to-side game looks e ortless as he reads pucks with the calmness of a grizzled NHL veteran.

But though the 27-year-old British Columbia native has six years of experience in the league, he has appeared in just 101 games—and most of that action has been unremarkable.

Hill spent his rst ve seasons as a reserve on poor Arizona Coyotes and San Jose Sharks teams that never came anywhere close to the Stanley

Cup Playo s. Yet somehow, he has gone from mediocre to marvelous with the Golden Knights this year, especially during the team’s current postseason run.

Beginning June 3, Hill will be in the starter’s crease for Vegas’ Stanley Cup Final series against Florida—and he won’t look out of place. The Golden Knights have reached the pinnacle of playo hockey in large part because of what he has accomplished.

“You grow up dreaming of making the Stanley Cup Final as a kid,” Hill said in Dallas after leading the Golden Knights to a series-clinching 6-0

victory over the Stars in the Western Conference Final on May 29. “It still hasn’t quite sunk in yet.”

Hill will take center stage for the Golden Knights, looking to out-duel Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky, who has drawn rave reviews for his hot play in the Panthers’ series wins over Boston, Toronto and Carolina.

Hill is scorching in his own right. He made 23 saves in Vegas’ decisive Game 6 victory over Dallas, his second shutout of the series.

“We kept them to the outside all night,” Hill said, de ecting praise to his teammates. “It was probably my easiest game of the playo s.”

The Golden Knights went into the postseason with Laurent Brossoit as their starting goalie. He helped Vegas to a ve-game series win over the Winnipeg Jets in the rst round, followed by a victory in Game 1 of the second round against the Edmonton Oilers.

But Brossoit went down with a lower-body injury during the rst period of Game 3, forcing Hill into action. Hill went on to stop all 24 shots he

faced to help Vegas secure a win, and he hasn’t slowed from there.

Hill won two of his next three starts to eliminate the Oilers, then stymied the Stars as the Golden Knights forged a 3-0 series lead they would ultimately nish o in Dallas.

Hill’s 2023 playo record stands at 7-3 with an NHL-best .937 save percentage and an average of 2.07 goals allowed per game. Bobrovsky, who has made 13 starts to Hill’s nine, is the only other goalie with comparable numbers.

“It’s pretty crazy, but it’s what I’ve dreamed about as a kid,” Hill said. “We have a great team here.”

The Golden Knights acquired Hill in a trade with the Sharks shortly before the season. With Robin Lehner (double hip surgery) out for the year, Vegas headed into the season with Logan Thompson and Hill as its primary goalies, while Brossoit recovered from o season hip surgery of his own.

The unproven duo was widely considered the biggest weakness of an otherwise strong team. But Hill and Thompson proved to be a tremendous tandem, helping Vegas jump to the top of the Western Conference standings and stay there for most of the year.

Hill, who has won a grand total of 45 regular-season NHL games during his career, won 16 of those this year, including a vital 5-2-0 run after the All-Star Break, when Thompson suffered a lower-body injury to virtually end his season.

Hill then had his own setback in March, a lower-body injury that kept him out for the nal month of the season. Brossoit stepped in and claimed the starting role, but Hill stayed ready once he got healthy near the start of the playo s in case an opportunity emerged. When it did in Edmonton, he made the most of it.

The Golden Knights’ goalie has been an unlikely playo hero

Golden Knights goaltender Adin Hill (AP Photo)

He hasn’t played poorly in any postseason game, including back-toback losses to Dallas in Games 4 and 5. And instead of dwelling on those defeats, he came back stronger for Game 6, making several key saves as the Knights built their lead.

“The thing that’s impressed me the most is [Hill’s] poise in net,” Golden Knights captain Mark Stone said. “He could have crumbled after two losses, but he realized he was playing well, so he didn’t change much.”

Hill has bene ted greatly from his reunion with Vegas goalie coach Sean Burke, who coached Hill during his time in Arizona. It also helps that head coach Bruce Cassidy’s scheme has consistently kept opponents to the outside, limiting dangerous chances.

One of the only times that defensive setup failed the Golden Knights came early in Game 6 in Edmonton. The Oilers scored two goals on their rst three shots on goal, but Hill turned away the next 38 attempts to preserve the victory.

The Golden Knights have relied on depth all season long, from their forwards and defensemen to their goaltenders. Hill is one of ve netminders to record a win for Vegas this season, with Jonathan Quick and Jiri Patera also seeing action amid a rash of injuries.

Now Hill and his teammates stand four wins away from hoisting the Stanley Cup.

“He’s given us a chance to win every game,” forward Jonathan Marchessault said. “At this time of year, if you don’t have a good goalie, I don’t think you get through to the nals. You look at Bobrovsky and Hilly, they’re at the top of their game. It’ll be a good battle.”

Jack Eichel

BY DANNY WEBSTER

The Golden Knights have spent all season relying on their depth. They roll 18 skaters at all times, and they’ve done so e ectively. The fourth line of forwards has consistently produced o ense, and the third defensive pairing has been highly e ective in limiting opponents’ chances. It’s the biggest reason they’ve reached the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in franchise history.

For Vegas to hoist the Stanley Cup for the rst time in franchise history, it will to take a collective e ort. Everyone will need to chip in, but here are ve players who’ll have to headline that e ort.

The Vegas center’s first taste of playo hockey has been a savory one. Eichel has been incredible at times throughout the playo run, posting a teamhigh 18 points in 17 games.

Eichel has always been a dynamic player o ensively, but under Cassidy’s direction, he has noticeably upped his defensive contributions. Against the Panthers, he’ll square o against star Aleksander Barkov. Based on what Eichel has shown all season, he should be ready for the task.

William

Karlsson

Many wondered what happened to Karlsson’s electric goal-scoring touch after his career-high 43-goal season in 2017-2018. Well, it’s back for this playo run.

Karlsson leads the team with 10 postseason goals. Meanwhile, he continues to be exceptional on the defensive end—a major reason opponents’ top lines have produced below their usual clip at even strength against the Golden Knights in the playo s.

Few players in the NHL have been as valuable on both ends of the ice as Karlsson has this postseason.

Chandler Stephenson

Stephenson needs to get back to his All-Star level to give Vegas the best chance to defeat Florida. The center had a quiet Western Conference Final, with only two goals and two assists in six games against Dallas. A Stephenson surge could also help get Mark Stone going, after the captain/linemate chipped in just one goal and two assists against the Stars.

Stephenson has shown an ability to take over games this season. When he’s clicking and raising the play of those around him, the Golden Knights are tough to beat.

Mark Stone

The Golden Knights were unsure their captain would even return for these playo s after he underwent back surgery in January, and he has shown flashes of brilliance since coming back. Stone didn’t have huge statistical production against Dallas, but he was more prolific against Edmonton and Winnipeg. As importantly, his presence in the lineup and the locker room continues to provide a major boost.

Stone’s history suggests the o ense will come at some point, but either way, he’s a twoway impact player. And if the Golden Knights get four more wins, he’ll be the first player on the roster to hoist the Stanley Cup.

Shea Theodore

The Golden Knights need more out of their star defensemen in the final series. It’s been an uncharacteristic playo run for Theodore, who has yet to score a goal. He has also struggled defensively at points and hasn’t looked as explosive or engaged on either side of the ice, leading to speculation he’s playing through an injury.

The Panthers have two tremendous defensemen in Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour. The Golden Knights need to be able to counter with Alex Pietrangelo and Theodore. They’re getting everything they can out of Pietrangelo but need Theodore to edge closer to his usual form.

These Golden Knights could determine the team’s success in the Stanley Cup Final

Five things to know about the Eastern Conference champion Florida Panthers

BY DANNY WEBSTER

The Panthers are on one of the most improbable runs in NHL history considering where they sat late in the regular season.

It looked like Florida, a year after winning the President’s Trophy for most regular-season points, would narrowly miss the playo s. The Panthers didn’t claim their spot until the very last day, and needed some upsets elsewhere to clear the way.

Their odds remained long in round one against Boston, which had posted the best regular-season record in league history, and the Bruins surged to a 3-1 lead in the series. And then …the Panthers became nearly unbeatable, posting an 11-1 record since.

After dispatching Boston with three straight wins, Florida ousted Toronto in ve game and then swept Carolina. That run through a trio of Eastern Conference powers sent the Panthers to their second-ever Stanley Cup Final, and rst since 1996.

Here are ve things to know about the Golden Knights’ next opponent.

HELLO, BOB

Once upon a time, many considered Sergei Bobrovsky the best goalie in hockey. A two-time Vezina Trophy winner with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Bobrovsky cashed in on the acclaim by signing a seven-year, $70 million contract with Florida in the summer of 2019.

But that quickly started to look like one of the worst contracts in the NHL. The Russian known as “Bob” struggled through his first four seasons with the Panthers before unexpectedly breaking out this postseason.

The 34-year-old Bobrovsky now appears to be in vintage form with an 11-2 record in the playo s, including a 2.21 goals per game allowed average and a .935 save percentage.

MATTHEW TKACHUK, SUPERSTAR

Tkachuk led the Eastern Conference playo s with nine goals and 21 points, but his value hasn’t just been about scoring. It’s about when he has scored.

Tkachuk has been part of fivegame winning goals this postseason, scoring four of them, including the game-winner with five seconds remaining to clinch a Stanley Cup Final berth in the sweep of Carolina.

Tkachuk arrived in Florida following a blockbuster summer trade with the Calgary Flames, in which the Panthers sent out Jonathan Huberdeau, their leading scorer in 2021-2022, and defenseman Mackenzie Weegar. Moving on from Huberdeau was a risk, but it paid o . Tkachuk is one of three finalists for the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player.

Aaron Ekblad (5) and Vegas center Chandler Stephenson (20) battle for the puck during a January game between this year’s Stanley Cup Final opponents. (AP

BIG GAME CARTER VERHAEGHE

Verhaeghe has a knack for scoring when it matters most. He emerged in last year’s playo s, chipping in six goals and 12 points in 10 games, and went on to show that was no fluke by scoring a career-high 42 goals in the regular season.

The 27-year-old forward has 15 points in 16 games this postseason, with a plus/minus of +11 during 5-on-5 play.

BEHIND THE BENCH

Paul Maurice stepped down as Winnipeg Jets coach after eight seasons in 2021, citing what amounted to burnout. But he got the inch to return to the bench less than a year later, taking over a Florida team seeking the same thing—redemption.

The Panthers had struggled for years, going 26 years between playo series wins (1996-2022), while Maurice could never fully get over the hump in Winnipeg. His best Jets team lost to the Golden Knights in five games in 2018’s Western Conference Final.

Maurice has been to the playo s in five of the past six years, but this will be his first Cup Final appearance since leading the Hurricanes there in 2002, losing to the Detroit Red Wings in five games.

OH, RATS

– VGK captain Mark Stone, after his team’s series-clinching Game 6 win over Dallas

If you go see the “Cats,” you’re also bound to encounter some rats. Panthers’ fans have a long-standing tradition of throwing plastic rats onto the ice after victories. It started in October 1995, when Panthers’ players noticed a rat in their locker room.

Legend has it Florida captain Scott Mellanby smacked the rat with his stick before going on to score two goals that night. Now, after every win, toy rats get thrown onto the ice.

Think of it as the Panthers’ version of the Golden Knights’ plastic flamingo celebration.

We had one goal at the start of the season—get better every day and [give] ourselves [an] opportunity to play for the Stanley Cup, and now we have that chance.”

Florida defenseman

Photo)

Players (NHL.com); Paul Maurice (AP Photo)

Know the Odds

into the playo s.

The Panthers followed the opposite trajectory. They were a 10to-1 fourth-choice coming into the year—behind only the Avalanche, Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs—but quickly shot up odds boards for months as a disappointing regular season commenced.

BY CASE KEEFER

The Stanley Cup Final winner is traditionally the toughest champion to forecast out of all major American professional sports leagues, with a long history of surprise, underdog victors.

This year’s pairing between the Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers is therefore a return to form following a three-year run of mostly juggernaut teams ultimately hoisting the Cup. The 2019-2020 Tampa Bay Lightning, 2020-2021 Tampa Bay Lightning and 20212022 Colorado Avalanche all spent the entire season near the top of future odds to win the title.

Neither Vegas nor Florida followed that path this year.

The Golden Knights came into the season at as high as 25-to-1 odds to win the Stanley Cup. They opened more commonly around 16-to-1 at the end of last year, but prices raised amid a tumultuous o season that included the announcement that injured goaltender Robin Lehner would miss the entire season and the ring of coach Pete DeBoer.

Vegas got o to a fast start under new coach Bruce Cassidy, though, and its future odds to win the Cup mostly oated in the midrange of 10- to 12-to-1 for months leading

The Panthers got as high as 70-to1 to win the Cup in early April when it looked like they would miss the playo s, and were still 30-to-1 after grabbing the Eastern Conference’s nal seed. They pulled the single biggest series upset of the postseason by knocking o the Boston Bruins as +350 (i.e. risking $100 to win $350) underdogs in the rst round.

The betting market didn’t perceive Florida’s chances of beating Toronto in the second round as much stronger; the Panthers were around +175 underdogs. They were +115 underdogs to Carolina in the Eastern Conference Final, so series prices implied only about a 4% chance Florida would beat all three opponents to make it this far. Vegas is a comparatively expected Stanley Cup Final participant. The Golden Knights were a series underdog to the Edmonton Oilers in the second round at around +150, but otherwise slight favorites against the Winnipeg Jets and Dallas Stars.

It’s no surprise, then, that the

Golden Knights are the betting favorite in the Stanley Cup Final at consensus odds of -130 (i.e. risking $130 to win $100), with the Panthers coming back at +110. That calculates out to a 54.5% chance that Vegas wins the championship.

The Golden Knights were actually bigger favorites in their rst Stanley Cup Final appearance ve years ago, at -150 ahead of an upset series loss to the Washington Capitals.

Like the 2017-2018 Capitals, the 2022-2023 Panthers are perceived to have the stronger top-end players by the current betting market.

Despite being an underdog in the series, Florida has the top two players in odds to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Stanley Cup Playo s’ most valuable player—goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (+200) and forward Matthew Tkachuk (+360).

The two stars have built a gap between themselves and their teammates, unlike the Golden Knights, who have reached the nal series with more balance.

Jack Eichel is Vegas’ leading Conn Smythe candidate at +380 with Jonathan Marchessault (+600), William Karlsson (+600), Adin Hill (+1100) and Mark Stone (+2200) all bunched closely behind.

Everyone beyond those seven players in the series are listed at 80to-1 or higher.

The Conn Smythe doesn’t typically produce as many unforeseen winners; superstar Alexander Ovechkin’s nod in the Golden Knights’ last Stanley Cup appearance t the usual pro le.

These were neither the players nor the teams most predicted to see in the Stanley Cup Final, but in a way, that makes them t perfectly with historical norms.

The betting market’s take on the Golden Knights and Panthers leading up to their Stanley Cup showdown

Vegas winger Reilly Smith (19) and Florida center Anton Lundell (15) jostle during a March 2023 meeting between the teams. (AP Photo)

IN THE NEWS

STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

GOVERNMENT

Titus pushes for humane horse wrangling

BILL SEEKS TO ELIMINATE USE OF HELICOPTERS

Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nevada, was among a bipartisan group of lawmakers who introduced a bill May 24 to change the way the federal government rounds up wild horses.

Titus and Reps. David Schweikert, R-Arizona, and Steve Cohen, D-Tennessee, introduced the Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act of 2023.

If passed, it would compel the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to achieve more humane and cost-effective methods to gather equine populations.

“My legislation would eliminate the use of helicopters in BLM wild horse gathers and require a report to explore the benefits of alternative aircraft for humanely gathering horses and the workforce opportunities for traditional cowboys,” Titus, a member of the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus, said in a statement.

Since 2006, more than $57.4 million in taxpayer funds has been spent to assist in horse roundups, including $6.5 million since last year, according to Titus’ office.

Research has shown alternatives like fertility control are equally effective in controlling equine populations, Titus’ office said. But the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program spends less than 1% of its budget on such methods.

–Casey Harrison

Nevada Legislators weigh stadium plan

Lawmakers are considering a proposal to finance and incentivize construction of a Major League Baseball stadium on the Las Vegas Strip. The plan would authorize up to $380 million in incentives for the potential $1.5 billion retractable-roof stadium, mainly through state transferable tax credits and county bonds to help provide a home for the Oakland Athletics. The state would forgo up to $180 million in transferable tax credits, with a cap at $36 million per year. The $120 million in county bonds would help with construction costs and be paid off gradually.

The proposal’s price tag and behind-the-scenes negotiations have sparked debate about public subsidies and equity in state economic development efforts. The bill was introduced after more than a month of speculation. As of May 29, it was already the most-commented on proposal this session with over 1,500 opinions—nearly three-quarters of which were in opposition. Opponents say the stadium is not worth hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies to bring another large corporation on the Strip, especially as A’s management has switched proposed locations and drawn out negotiations for how much public assistance they are requesting. The plan in the Nevada Legislature would not directly raise taxes, meaning it can move forward with a simple majority vote in the state Senate and Assembly. Lawmakers have until June 5 to act on the proposal. –Associated Press

Stay tuned to lasvegassun.com for the latest stadium developments.

Artist rendering (Courtesy/Oakland Athletics)

“ We are still in the middle of a drought, even though we had an incredible snowpack year. As you can see, Lake Mead is still at 30% of its capacity.”

-Rep.

Susie Lee, D-Nevada, referring to the rocky shores of the lake and exposed intake valve visible from the scenic overlook during a recent visit

WATCH THIS

Resorts World resident headliner Katy Perry cruises above the crowd at the Fremont Street Experience on the Slotzilla Zipline on May 27. The superstar singer went Downtown after her performance on the Strip to help debut a new Viva Vision music and light show featuring her biggest hits. (Courtesy/Black Raven Films)

PUBLIC HEALTH

Hillary Clinton tours recovery center

Rob Banghart estimates overdosing on heroin or opioids more than a dozen times while living on the streets of Las Vegas. “I’d be lying if I gave an exact number [of overdoses],” Banghart told the crowd May 24 at the Foundation for Recovery, a community nonprofit led by volunteers and sta in recovery from mental health and substance abuse disorders. Banghart, who says he’s sober and now serves as the outreach director Foundation for Recovery, shared his fight with addiction with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her visit to meet with 30 volunteers assembling overdose distribution kits.

Each kit comes with three vials of naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, along with individually packaged syringes, alcohol wipes and latex gloves. Since 2019, the Clinton Foundation has supplied more than 20,000 doses of naloxone to the Foundation for Recovery and more than 720,000 doses to additional community organizations across 21 states.

Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, told the Las Vegas Sun after the event that the Clinton Foundation had worked closely with the Foundation for Recovery since launching an overdose awareness campaign in 2011. She said the Foundation for Recovery had become a model for other states because it o ered services like one-on-one counseling and job training under a single statewide initiative.

“They’re a great example of a statewide e ort and was one of the first brick-and-mortar support centers,” Clinton said. “To tackle this crisis, I think we’re going to need the public and private sectors to come together. I really do.” –Casey Harrison

RECREATION

PARK RESSIES

Online booking at Nevada State Parks’ new website, Reserve Nevada, will roll out September 1 for Valley of Fire State Park. Big Bend of the Colorado State Recreation Area and Washoe Lake State Park will follow in October, and online reservations will go live for all other sites by December 31. Regular admission will still be available, but o cials are hoping online booking will cut down on crowding, lines and other environmental hazards. For more info, visit parks.nv.gov/reservations.

The undefeated Las Vegas Aces play at Atlanta on June 2 at 5 p.m.

COVID QUESTIONS CONTINUING

Southern Nevada o cials clarify changes following the public health emergency

BY SHANNON MILLER

(Shutterstock/Photo Illustration)

Just one year ago, the COVID-19 omicron variant was spreading in communities across the United States. That meant increased hospitalizations and deaths, which is why public health o cials recommended updated vaccinations along with masking, social distancing and the other pandemic steps we’ve been taking since 2020.

Although the federal COVID-19 public health emergency o cially ended on May 11, o cials say the dangers of contracting or spreading the virus aren’t over. But personal measures, including testing and staying updated on vaccines, will remain important to prevent future case surges or the spread of new variants, o cials and experts say.

“The end of the declaration of the public health emergency doesn’t mean that there is an end to the pandemic, and it doesn’t mean the end of our commitment to provide services to protect this community from a COVID-19 infection,” Dr. Fermin Leguen of the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) said in a virtual press conference on May 11.

Dr. Cortland Loh , chief medical o cer with SNHD, said the end of the public health emergency—a federal declaration that had made programs and funds available to state and local governments to combat the virus’ spread and economic impacts—brings changes to vaccination recommendations.

“We’re sort of moving away from this idea of a booster dose, in that booster doses are generally provided to someone who received a primary vaccination series,” Loh explained to members of the media. “What we’re moving to now is this recommendation that everybody who has yet to receive a dose of the so-called bivalent mRNA vaccine should receive a single dose of that mRNA vaccine.”

The bivalent mRNA vaccines—now known as “updated vaccines”—were granted emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and became available in Southern Nevada in September 2022 for ages 12 and older. In contrast to the original monovalent COVID-19 vaccines, the updated P zer and Moderna vaccines (which we called “boosters”) provided additional protection against strains of the omicron variant that emerged in late 2021. By March 2022, the updated vaccines were given emergency use authorization to administer to children 6 months to 11 years old.

In April, the FDA announced amendments to the emergency use authorizations of Moderna and P zer’s updated vaccines “to simplify the vaccination schedule for most individuals.”

“As a result of that, the current bivalent vaccines were authorized to be used for all doses administered,” Loh explained. “And what this meant is that monovalent vaccines that have been in place for the last two years are no longer authorized nor available for use.”

While the o cial recommendation is for everyone older than 6 months to receive at least one dose of the updated vaccine, guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says people older than 65 and those who are immunocompromised can get an additional dose of the updated vaccine four or more months after the rst updated COVID-19 vaccine.

“In certain instances, … there may be an indication that they received a second dose of that bivalent vaccine just for added protection. It’s not necessarily considered a booster dose although in some ways, it does act in that way,” Loh said.

COVID-19 vaccines from the federal government “will remain free to everyone regardless of insurance coverage,” Loh added. After the federal supply is depleted, vaccinations will be covered by public and private insurance. “And as always, the Health District remains a safety net for those who otherwise lack access to vaccination.”

Testing and data reporting

Southern Nevada Health District o cials have assured the public that COVID-19 testing and treatments will remain available in the community, despite the end of the federal public health emergency. But there will be some changes to insurance coverage and to where testing is available in the Valley.

“While the Health District testing clinic will no longer operate after July 31, its two clinics at the College of Southern Nevada, Charleston and Cheyenne campuses, will o er PCR testing until March of 2024,” said Health District o cial Dr. Cassius Lockett.

The Health District is also providing free self-test kits via six vending machines in Southern Nevada. Four are in the Las Vegas Valley—at the RTC Bonneville Transit Center, the RTC South Strip Transit Terminal, the East Las Vegas Community Center and the Fremont Public Health Center. (The others are in Laughlin and Mesquite.)

Lockett said test kits are free, up to ve per month—for now. Most insurance plans will adjust their coverage policies for COVID-19 tests, vaccines and treatments, he added.

Although vaccine and testing resources are being scaled down, that doesn’t mean they don’t still serve an important role in early

detection and preventing further spread, Lockett warned. O cials encourage people to test as soon as they have symptoms, if they’ve had contact with someone who has COVID or if they will have contact with someone who is at higher risk of severe illness. Those who test positive are advised to notify close contacts and seek further PCR testing for con rmation, if needed.

“SARS-CoV-2 continues to circulate in U.S. communities … and as of May 10, in the United States we are averaging around 11,000 cases a day and about 160 deaths a day,” Lockett said at the virtual press conference. “Cases are undercounted. … The primary reason is due to the expanded use of at-home test kits. … Relying solely on metrics like daily case counts and [test] positivity rates may no longer provide a comprehensive understanding of COVID levels in the community.”

While testing and isolating remain the tried and true methods for keeping community spread under control, Lockett also discussed a pandemic response that hasn’t aged as well—data collection. The Health District will update its methods to adhere to federal standards. “Like u season, we acknowledge that many individuals experience mild symptoms and may not seek medical testing or treatment. Therefore, we may rely on alternative metrics such as hospitalizations and deaths to assess the impact of the season,” he said.

Lockett added that wastewater surveillance, which has been conducted in partnership between government agencies, UNLV and the Desert Research Institute, will continue to be used to track new and emerging variants in the community.

Epidemiologist Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove of the World Health Organization said during a May 4 program that, because immunity from vaccines and natural immunity wanes over time, some countries continue to report rising cases of COVID-19.

“There are a number of reasons why we’re seeing increasing cases in a number of countries. First is that the virus continues to evolve,” Kerkhove said. “While we are seeing an increase in case reporting in a number of countries around the world, we are not really seeing an increase in hospitalizations and deaths. … Because we have access to diagnostics, early clinical care and the use of antivirals and safe and e ective vaccines, people who are infected or reinfected with SARS-CoV-2 are not dying as frequently in the beginning of this pandemic when we didn’t have treatments and we didn’t have vaccines.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE MARCUS AND CHRISTOPHER DEVARGAS

GAZING INTO THE ABYSS

Life changes fuel

Blackwater Holylight ’s ethereal doom-psych

BY AMBER SAMPSON

The tight-rope tension between light and dark helps what makes doom-psych outfit Blackwater Holylight so enticing. The riffs run heavy. The convergence of melodies spider along. And the loneliness can dog-pile like a mound of bricks, but that musical weight also serves as a release valve of sorts for its listeners—and the band itself.

“I heard someone say that ‘the only way out is through,’ and that just resonated with me so much,” vocalist Allison “Sunny” Faris tells the Weekly. “That’s so f*cking true to everything that we’ve been doing the last couple years.”

Faris, who also plays bass and guitar, Sarah McKenna (synths), Mikayla Mayhew (guitar and bass) and Eliese Dorsay (drums), have channeled their vulnerabilities into three albums, most recently 2021’s Silence/Motion. The band, which performed at last year’s Psycho Las Vegas festival, will return to town for a June 3 show at Downtown’s the Usual Place with new songs in hand.

What lessons did you take away from Silence/Motion that you’re applying to your latest music? Silence/Motion was a vulnerable album to make in general, because we wrote [and record-

ed] it during COVID. There was a lot of processing that happened in that record. There was a level of feeling a little nervous about that, because … it felt a little bit more raw and a little bit more personal. After it came out and we toured it a lot, people really noticed that, and they really appreciated it. I think the biggest lesson with that record was that it’s OK to do you, and it’s OK to feel like what you’re doing isn’t going to speak to everyone, because there’s a lot of people that are going to connect with it.

Have you had time to heal from what you were going through during that time? Yeah, we’ve gone through a lot of changes as a band since then. We’ve moved to LA [from Portland, where the band was born]. We’ve done some tours, and the world has opened back up. Sarah, our synth player, had a child, and there’ve been a lot of breakups and deaths and births and moves and changes. Making that album and touring it, and singing those songs for people … helped us through all those transitions. It’s a group effort. We needed the crowds, [and] the crowds needed us.

BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT With Plague Doctor. June 3, 8 p.m.,$15-$20. The Usual Place, eventbrite.com.

Does the vulnerability ever come at the cost of becoming emotionally exhausted? You’re totally right. It’s been interesting for us, because we’ve never really tried to put on the face of some band that we’re not. You come to LA, and there’s so many musicians here, and with that comes a lot of dressing like you play rock ’n’ roll. Yeah, it’s about the music and yeah, it’s about your art, but it’s also about looking cool and all of this sh*t. … It takes a level of courage to stand up and be yourself, not try to make it extravagant or extra, and let your art speak for itself.

What’s the dynamic like in the band? Is it a sisterhood at this point? At this point, we know each other so well. We’re so tapped in, and it’s extremely familial. You wear so many different hats with each other. They’re your best friends, your sisters, your creative partners, your travel partners, your business partners. But … we’ve got our flow down pretty hard.

Read more of this interview at lasvegasweekly.com

Blackwater Holylight (Courtesy/ Olivia Jane La’Roche)

BURNING INTEREST

Transfix brings a playa-inspired assortment of interactive art to Resort World

BY GEOFF CARTER

A Seattle friend of mine visited Vegas recently and inquired about Transfix, the large-scale experiential art experience showing at Resorts World through September 16. “It’ll be nice to see some of that artwork again,” she texted. “I doubt I’ll go to TTITD again anytime soon, and [my husband] has never seen anything like it.”

“Oh, no doubt,” I replied, while surreptitiously looking up TTITD on Urban Dictionary: “Acronym for ‘That Thing in the Desert,’ aka Burning Man.”

(Photo Courtesy/Transfix)

I’ve never been to Burning Man. I have nothing against the idea of the weeklong festival, but visiting that “ecosystem of artists, makers and community organizers” would directly contradict my lifelong aversion to alkaline dust and chemical toilets. And thanks to Transfix, we don’t have to go to Black Rock City to see its epic-scaled, interactive artworks, because those candy-colored marvels have come to us.

Perusing Transfix’s 50-plus collected works is an unparalleled exercise in dreamlike distraction. You can’t turn a corner without seeing something incredible, whether it’s Christian Ristow’s enormous, grasping “Hand of Man,” Pablo González Vargas’ lightand-sound pillar “Ilumina” or Marco Cochrane’s serene,

45-foot-tall nude wire mesh figure “R-Evolution.” Nearly every piece invites the viewer to touch it, or at the very least, to pull up a cushion and simply stare at it, aptly transfixed.

But while this art exhibition has a few things in common with Burning Man—Transfix’s founder/CEO Michael Blatter and co-founder/chief revenue officer Tom Stinchfield met one another at the festival 10 years ago—its ambitions are bigger. Transfix aims to introduce the world to a new kind of art exhibition, one previously locked to festivals.

“Only about 50% of the art shown at Transfix has ever been shown at Burning Man. Fifty percent of it is just coming from different places all over the world,” Stinchfield says. “For us, it’s the fact that these creators are really building their art for art’s sake. It’s very different than what you might see in galleries or museums, or more mainstream art events like Frieze or Basel or Miami Art week.

“We always were kind of like, ‘This stuff should be experienced by more people’,” he continues. “It’s very difficult to get out to Burning Man or Coachella; it requires travel; it requires a lot of effort. We always felt that it was a shame that those barriers to entry were in place. So this idea really started as us

wanting to get this work seen by more people.”

Transfix also fills a need for artists, Stinchfield adds. Once these pieces are completed and displayed—whether at Burning Man or a similar one-off gathering—their long-term prospects are limited; they can sit around waiting for another event, go to private collectors or simply vanish into storage. Transfix leases the art from the artist, maintains it and gets it seen by a massive audience, while freeing up space in the artist’s studio “to go and create more things,” Stinchfield says. “We’d love to help these artists to actually fund some of the works that they may have been dreaming of for years but just never had the means to create.”

That said, you can also explore Transfix for a solid hour and not think about any of this stuff—all on the Las Vegas Strip. You can twirl the interior-lit rhombic zonohedrons of Hybycozo studios’ “Point of View,” putting yourself at the center of a giant snowflake. You can sit inside Tyson Ayers’ “sound cave,” “5 Elements Tea House: Ether,” assembled from deconstructed pianos. Or you can lie underneath Christopher Schardt’s LED-illuminated spinning wheel “Paraluna,” watching it morph and melt and change.

TRANSFIX

Friday-Saturday, 7 p.m.-1 a.m.; Thursday & Sunday, 7 p.m.-midnight; $29-$59. Resorts World, transfixart.com.

“I’ll walk by and see some a family or a couple sitting there [watching “Paraluna”], and I’ll walk by an hour later and they’re still there, just watching,” Stinchfield says. “That speaks to the dynamic nature of Transfix, where there are these spaces to just kind of hang out. You could probably slip through and see a lot of things within an hour, an hour-and-a-half—or you can really take your time. It’s one of those things that you get out of it what you put into it. The more that you go exploring, the more that you will see.”

A TRIBUTE TO TINA

A Smith Center musical honors its central figure’s vast legacy

BY AMBER SAMPSON

Editor’s Note: The interviews in this story were conducted prior to Tina Turner’s May 24 death.

Tina Turner’s story is a resounding song of perseverance and triumph. From her humble beginnings in rural Tennessee, to suffering years of domestic abuse at the hands of her husband Ike, to establishing herself as a barrier-breaking queen of rock ’n’ roll, Turner truly lived a life.

She appeared on the second-ever cover of Rolling Stone magazine in 1967, one week after it launched with a John Lennon image out front. In 1988, she performed to 180,000 people in Rio De Janeiro, breaking the Guinness World Record for the largest paid concert attendance for a solo artist. And Turner, who died on May 24 at age 83, remains one of the top-selling recording artists in music history, having sold a reported 100-million-plus records during her lifetime.

From June 6-11, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical will celebrate that legacy at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts. The critically acclaimed show, directed by Phyllida Lloyd (Mamma Mia!) and based on a story by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Katori Hall, showcases Turner’s classic material—and much more.

“We get to see more of her personality. We get to see more of her sassiness,” says Naomi Rodgers, who shares the lead role with fellow performer Zurin Villanueva. “She found fire inside of her, and she built that and she rocked it out.”

Rodgers and Villanueva both mention What’s Love Got to Do With It?, the 1993 biopic, as their point of entry into the world of Tina Turner. “I love the way that Angela Bassett takes on a role and not

so much tries to emulate the person but brings herself into it,” says Rodgers, who previously toured with Frozen: The Musical. “She’s not doing everything Tina, but she’s bringing herself into it and Tina. It’s like a marriage.”

Villanueva, a Brooklyn native whose projects include Broadway productions of The Lion King and Mean Girls , studied YouTube clips of Turner in concert for the role. “I started performing as a dancer, so everything was physical first,” she says. “I like to look at the way somebody moves … and that’s generally my way into the rest of it.”

Both performers, who belt their way through major hits like “Proud Mary,” “River Deep Mountain High” and “Shake a Tail Feather” during the 160-minute musical, say they were also drawn to the role by the challenge it presented for their voices.

“I fell in love with the freeness that I felt in my voice, the ability to be able to go outside of myself and not sound like the perfect musical theater girl,” Rodgers says. “I reached for this role because it brought me back to the church, it brought me back to my roots, it brought me back to who I am as a Black woman.”

Villanueva says one scene in the musical hits especially close to home for her—when Ike attempts to convince Zelma, Tina’s mother, to allow her daughter to sing for his band. “And Zelma’s like, ‘I always thought she sang loud.’ That is exactly what people used to say to me when I was singing,” Villanueva laughs. “It was a whole lot of loud. And he responds with ‘Nah, she sang pretty.’ Having that be the first time someone responded to my voice with pretty or nice was different.”

That singing with reckless abandon helped make Turner an unparalleled talent. It also reflected her personal hardships. Rodgers points to the song “A Fool in Love.” “It has so much pain, and so much of a growl and a grit to it,” she says.

The musical doesn’t shy away from Tina’s toughest times, perhaps because those times ultimately fortified her the most.

“You can just look at her and know: This woman’s powerful,” Villanueva says. “We tend to put her power in a physical representation—the muscles and the voice. But the reality is, she’s powerful in her mind. Her spirit is powerful.”

Zurin Villanueva (top) and Naomi Rodgers in Tina: The Tina Turner Musical (Courtesy)

TINA: THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL

June 6-11, 7:30 p.m.; June 10-11, 2 p.m.; $40$155. Reynolds Hall, thesmithcenter.com

SERVICE ON THE STRIP

Vegan falafel sandwich

Chipotle cheeseburger

Beef kabob wrap

Chicken shawarma sandwich

BLVD Eats food truck satisfi es Vegas visitors

BY BROCK RADKE

You just wrapped up an ATV ride up and down the sand dunes that overlook the Las Vegas Valley, and you’ve been dropped back on the Strip, across the street from Mandalay Bay. You’ve worked up a mighty appetite, but you’re in luck: There’s a food truck parked in the motel parking lot next door, and the guy inside is cooking up super-stacked fried chicken sandwiches and two-handed chipotle burgers for $14.

Besides the fact that this truck has a rare station on the Strip—mobile vendors can usually only serve for four hours in one spot—you won’t nd food like this for these prices inside those big casino-resorts. And another stroke of luck: The cook was actually an executive chef for some very fancy hotels for nearly three decades.

BLVD Eats was created by Alon Hershkovitz, who has been in the culinary industry since the age of 18, moving to Las Vegas in 2020 when his chef gig ended at the historic Queen Mary hotel in Long Beach, California, due to its pandemic closure. Originally from Israel, Hershkovitz decided he didn’t want to return corporate cuisine, and his wife, a longtime hospitality worker for the Ritz-Carlton, felt the same way.

earned its name. Hershkovitz says he had to apply for a special permit to become a permanent vendor and quickly began serving hotel guests, four-wheelers coming from and going to the Las Vegas Dunes ATV Tour outlet nearby, and tourists strolling down the south Strip.

“It’s a good setup,” he says. “I’m changing the menu with the clientele. I was having a lot of visitors from New Orleans, so I did shrimp and grits one week, barbecue ribs the next. It’s a lot [to do] on a food truck, but if everybody goes crazy for the ribs, I have to keep it up. And I’m trying to get out of the truck and do videos with customers to put on TikTok, trying to have fun with it and be di erent, unique.”

MAP IT OUT

Hot spots to try during Restaurant Week

BLVD EATS

Even a permanent vendor isn’t permitted to set up tables and chairs, but the lounge in the Nirvana has become a makeshift dining room for hotel guests who want a serene place to sit and eat.

Nirvana Hotel, 702-308-7938.

Thursday-Tuesday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

“She didn’t want me to go back, and we’re in our 50s, so we thought, we have to do something that will allow us to be home more,” he says. “We’d never see each other with those jobs. Now, I can open at 11 and close at 5 and go home.”

Hershkovitz’s food truck endeavor started slow; at one point he staked out a spot at the Nelson Ghost Town attraction in Searchlight. But earlier this year, his brother bought the Nirvana Hotel on Las Vegas Boulevard and renovated it—and BLVD Eats

That synergy has Hershkovitz conceptualizing a private chef’s table experience in the back of the hotel, one with its own garden. He envisions Mediterranean meals with fresh pita bread from a 700-degree wood oven, “all the air and avors from Israel, the herbs, meats and vegetables they used to cook with 2,000 years ago,” her says. “I’m trying to get something going this summer, do food and wine and have a little story behind each course.”

Even con ned to a tiny truck kitchen in front of a souvenir shop, a lifelong chef can’t help but express his creativity. Hershkovitz credits his new home as a main source of inspiration, especially since he and his wife recently moved to Lake Las Vegas. “I love it here. I feel like I’m always on vacation.”

 Locals love to use the special, a ordable menus available during Las Vegas Restaurant Week (June 5-16, restaurantweeklv.org) as an excuse to indulge in the culinary wonderland on the Strip. And that’s a smart move. But you can also double down and take advantage of the opportunity to sample some of the Valley’s newest restaurants—hot spots you haven’t yet checked o your list. And of course, it’s all in the name of helping Three Square food bank feed those in need throughout Southern Nevada.

In Henderson, the meat-centric 138° (138restaurant. com) has been making noise with special event dinners, but this one ($60) is ready when you are with creative dishes including grilled beef carpaccio, aged beef short ribs with white polenta, rabbit cavatelli with asparagus and fermented berries, and the eatery’s signature “Snickers bar” dessert. Nearby, the charming new Pink Duck Kitchen (pinkduckkitchen.com) makes its Restaurant Week debut with brunch ($20) and lunch ($30) o erings, tempting us all with ube pancakes, chilaquiles, a smashburger with herb-roasted tomatoes and grilled onions, and a coconut-pecan ice cream sandwich on house-made Pandan and white chocolate chip cookies. If you are hitting the Strip, check out Balla Italian Soul at the easy-access Sahara (saharalasvegas.com) for a dinner ($80) that could include burrata with roasted peppers, agnolotti with oyster mushrooms and a flat iron steak with bone marrow gremolata. Flanker Kitchen & Sports Bar (flankerlv.com) opens at Mandalay Bay during Restaurant Week armed with pigs in a blanket, skirt steak frites and fish and chips for dinner ($40).

Out in the west, the exciting new Naxos Taverna (naxosredrock.com) at Red Rock Resort is stacked with Greek flavors and lots of options on its special dinner menu ($60), from chicken keftedes with chili and mint to Faroe Island salmon with roasted pumpkin and the Morrocan relish chermoula. And now’s a great time to finally visit the energetic and scene-y Dolce & Chianti (dolcechianti.vegas), where dinner ($60) should end in creamy tiramisu and could begin with favorites like eggplant Parm or calamari fritti. –Brock Radke

Balla Italian Soul’s burrata (Courtesy/Sahara Las Vegas)

(Wade Vandervort/Sta )

MESHING WITH MEYERS

BY CASE KEEFER

The ball hardly ever touched the ground when the Raiders’ o ense passed during full-team drills in their third o season practice of the year, on May 25, the rst session open to media.

That’s no small feat considering the absence of new starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo—who’s recovering from foot surgery—left journeyman backup Brian Hoyer, rookie draft pick Aidan O’Connell and second-year undrafted player Chase Garbers rotating in to take snaps. That set of reserves therefore became the rst players to bene t from what might be the most sure-handed and best route-running pair of top receivers in the upcoming NFL season.

The Raiders signed former New England Patriot Jakobi Meyers this o season to line up on the other side of superstar Davante Adams, who led the NFL with 14 touchdown receptions last year.

“I didn’t see him featured as much as maybe he should have been based on what I saw when [the Patriots] came here and we practiced against them [last summer], and so far what I’ve seen from him now,” Adams said of Meyers after the practice. “He’s a pro. He’s got a lot of tools on the eld, and the way he thinks about the game as a relatively young player is impressive to me, so I’m excited to work alongside him.”

The biggest competition going into training camp a year ago was which receiver would primarily earn the No. 2 spot next to Adams. Mack Hollins was ultimately the answer, but he has since left for the Atlanta Falcons in free agency.

There will be no such question going into training camp this year in late July, after a couple more weeks of voluntary practices and a minicamp from June 6-8. Meyers, a 26-year-old, fth-year pro, was brought in expressly to ll that role.

Josh McDaniels previously worked with Meyers as his o ensive coordinator with the Patriots and jumped at the chance to reunite with him. The coach cited

the work ethic of Meyers, a former undrafted free agent out of North Carolina State, as a reason why the Raiders didn’t hesitate to extend a three-year, $33 million deal to him.

“It doesn’t matter how you get somewhere, it just matters what you do once you get there,” McDaniels said. “Jakobi had a great attitude from the moment I was able to work with him … and he’s just continued.”

McDaniels will look for Meyers’ determination and story to in uence a locker room that has gotten signi cantly younger since the last time the Raiders took the eld at the end of last season. Las Vegas currently has 20 rookies on its 90-man roster, including 11 who were undrafted.

It’s rare for players—especially at the skill positions—to be immediately impactful as undrafted rookie free agents, but Meyers showed it was possible in 2019 behind McDaniels’ direction in New England. He led the NFL in receiving yards in the preseason to earn a spot on the season-opening o cial 53-man roster, then became a linchpin for the Patriots over the next four years.

Meyers doesn’t know if he would have excelled as quickly without McDaniels, whom the receiver recently told NFL Network “is the kind of guy that gives you the answers to the test, and it’s up to you if you want to use them or not.”

During a news conference at the Raiders’ headquarters after signing his contract, Meyers said, “When I rst met Josh, he was just pushing me. Maybe at the time I wasn’t his biggest fan, but looking back on my career, he helped me grow as a football player and as a man, so it de nitely played a big part as far as me choosing to come here.”

Meyers looks like a perfect t with Garoppolo and Adams. Garoppolo has traditionally been among the least aggressive quarterbacks in the NFL throwing down eld, more often leaning on his accuracy with short passes around the line of scrimmage.

Catching those types of throws is Meyers’ specialty; he’s typically una ected by tra c and can outmaneuver defensive backs on quick routes even though he lacks elite speed to create signi cant separation. Adams can do the latter, leaving Meyers to act as a safer option underneath for Garoppolo.

In a similar setup in New England, Meyers led all Patriots receivers in receptions for each of his nal three years, with a combined 209 catches.

“Coming out of college, I was still a young kid who thought I had all the answers, who just knew I was going to be a Hall of Famer, didn’t matter what you said to me,” Meyers said. “But I’ve been humbled a lot. I’ve lost a lot. And at the end of the day, I just want to be better. I have to appreciate the people who are trying to get that out of me.”

Ironically, the most trying moment of Meyers’ career came at Allegiant Stadium as a visitor last year. With the Raiders and Patriots tied at 24-24 and no time left on the clock in regulation, Meyers made a decision that will be replayed on NFL blooper reels for decades to come, when he attempted to lateral a ball across the eld.

Raiders edge rusher Chandler Jones easily snatched it out of the air and raced 48 yards for a game-winning touchdown. Meyers teared up after committing the blooper, which he still can’t explain, but he was comforted by encouraging words from teammates and at least one opponent—McDaniels.

The bond between McDaniels and Meyers was well-established by then, and now it could be a big reason for optimism in the Raiders’ new-look passing game.

“His thing is just ironing out all the details,” Meyers said of McDaniels. “I feel like if you take care of the little things with Josh, he’ll make sure of the big things.”

New Raiders receiver Jakobi Meyers already looks

like a worthy complement to

Davante Adams

Jakobi Meyers

(Steve Marcus/Sta / Photo Illustration)

TATTOO PARLOR OWNERS STRESS QUALITY OF WORK OVER QUANTITY

BY GRACE DA ROCHA VEGAS INC STAFF

From the front desk to the last bed in the back, clients are met with a chorus of greetings from the staff as they walk through the Gold Soulz Tattoo shop off South Maryland Parkway.

The greeting is one of co-owner and lead piercer Nick Gennarino’s most important business tenets—make everyone feels like family.

Gennarino is known in tattoo circles by his artist name, Nick Mastermind.

Gennarino and his business partner, tattoo artist Daniel “Mister Tattoo D” Sandoval, met early in their careers 20 years ago at Diversity Tattoo in Las Vegas.

“That’s home, man,” Sandoval said. “It’s our crew from before where we started. We’ve all been through thick and thin, we’ve all been in bad situations and good situations, and we’re just a family.”

The men remember struggling early in their careers after meeting in 2003, saying they barely slept or ate while working odd hours in the industry. Gennarino didn’t even own a car.

The pair eventually went their separate ways, working at other shops in the city—from Mastermind Tattoo to the Nevada Tattoo Company under Cleen Rock One, winner of the 11th season of tattoo competition show Ink Master Sandoval said he was still working at the Nevada Tattoo Company when he got the call from Gennarino pitching the idea for Gold Soulz. Gennarino had already gathered most of the original crew from their days at Diversity Tattoo, and Sandoval was “the only one missing,” in his eyes.

To create the perfect studio, Gennarino specifically curated the design floor-to-ceiling, from the dark walls of New School-style art to the name.

“It’s two different things, like the soul part [is] us being good people having goals, holes [piercings] kind of just made it sound good,” Gennarino said of the inspiration behind Gold Soulz. “[And] Golden Knights and gold, you know, all the stuff that has to do with gold out here. It just kind of fell in place, then we just put it together.”

They debuted the shop on December 1, 2022, during the industry’s slow season. The team tried everything to get clients—basically “giving away” tattoos, Daniel said.

But their luck changed a month later, January 13, the first Friday the 13th of the year. It’s a significant day in the tattooing and piercing industry, because many shops offer discounts and flash tattoos, Gennarino said.

Their Friday the 13th deal attracted nearly 200 people to the budding shop, and the next month, another 100 for the Valentine’s Day specials. Sandoval attributed those two events for the business’s boost in clientele.

Gold Soulz Tattoo now sees roughly 10 people

a day for tattoos or piercings, and that’s just appointments, they said. Recently, the pair have seen around 20 walk-in clients a day.

Their business model is simple: Do good work, and let the product speak for itself. Instead of rushing a design, they emphasize the quality of a person’s tattoo or piercing over the quantity of customers who walk through the doors on any given day.

And their work starts at $80, which the pair said is inexpensive for Las Vegas.

“We don’t want to rush people in and out,” Sandoval said. “We have a strong belief that one person will tell 10 people about you, and you don’t want them to talk about us in a bad way.”

Many of their clients come from referrals, but social media—such as Yelp and Instagram— also helps, the pair said. Sandoval’s Instagram account, where he posts his tattoo designs, has almost 9,000 followers.

“[Gold Soulz] is the best thing that has happened to us in a very long time,” Sandoval said. “We strive forward … and now are rising together.”

Tattoo artists Nick Gennarino and Daniel Sandoval, aka Mastermind and Mister Tattoo D, owners of Gold Soulz Tattoo (Christopher DeVargas/Staff)

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BY KATIE ANN MCCARVER VEGAS INC STAFF

Joanne Vitale-Lenzie opened her online boutique, Whiskey Skies—named after her favorite pet goldendoodle—just as a way to sell clothes and make some extra money.

Three years later, Vitale-Lenzie now runs the viral retail shop from a 7,000-square-foot warehouse south of the Strip, and has served more than 100,000 customers across the country. She buys and sells a vast inventory, from clothes to home decor, often doing so via livestream with her thousands of followers on social media, modeling products herself.

Vegas Inc sat down with Vitale-Lenzie to talk about Whiskey Skies and what makes it stand out.

Can you walk me through the retail process for Whiskey Skies?

I’m always looking for other small businesses to support, so a lot of our products are from other women-owned businesses, other small businesses from the U.S. that are handmade. … As far as clothing and finding our decor, the best way to describe it is, you go on a shopping spree. Like if somebody just gave you all the money in the world, and they’re like, “Go spend it. You have three days to shop till you drop.”

That’s literally what I do at markets.

Q+A: JOANNE VITALE-LENZIE

Using an influencer’s mindset, professional shopper navigates the business ownership learning curve

You launched in 2020 just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. What was it like overcoming challenges caused by the crisis?

Looking back, I never want to say that was a great time—but to start an online business, it was a really great time, because people who did not shop online were forced to. And so that was really good.

There were definitely challenges, because product lines, delays, not being able to touch and feel things in person, and to go off a photo on a website and not know the quality, especially being new to the boutique world, I didn’t have my preferred vendors yet. … So there were a lot of learning curves through the first year and a half. … This next year is going to be the first time I’ve been able to operate my business like a business should be run.

You’ve recently moved into a new warehouse. Talk about the growth your business has experienced.

We came here in February 2021, [and] I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into. During COVID, you were at home, and then I was at home with all the clothes and all the boxes, and I couldn’t access my house anymore. And I needed something different for my sanity. I never thought I needed this space. … We went from literally me and my husband packing and shipping every single item to having seven employees now. … We’ve grown, and

I feel like a lot of it is due to our staff. I can’t operate a business without our staff. I give a lot of credit to them.

What do you think draws customers to Whiskey Skies?

For clothing, we carry all sizes, and we have decor. So maybe you’re not looking for clothing, but we have decor or fun gifts or shoes or whatnot to offer people. And then also the personalized shopping experience— live selling, I get to know my customers. They recognize me, they see my face every day. I don’t see theirs, but I know everything about them. I know where they live. I know their kids are graduating college again, or I know their dog’s sick this week.

We have a great community. It starts with me, but it’s the girls who shopped with us as well, who create that, and it’s very uplifting.

You’re also a content creator. What has that experience been like?

It’s almost like I have an influencer mindset, but for my own products. When I’m watching people online, I really don’t want that company that is trying to hard-sell me on something, but you resonate with those influencers, or those celebrities who are just talking about a product, and you’re like, “Oh, I want that. She seems cool. I would get along with her.”

Your company accommodates women of all sizes. Why is it im-

portant to make that a priority?

The average size of a woman is—it varies year to year—it’s a 16W or an 18W, but so many stores stop at a size 14. But the average woman isn’t even that size. So including more is amazing [and] really important for me.

I’m still plus size, but when I was in high school, I was like 300, 350 pounds at a point. So finding clothes sucked. I was really good at makeup. I could find cute shoes, but the outfit and everything in between was like, it’s black, because that’s all I could find. Can’t go wrong with black.

So being able to offer more options to everyone of all sizes is just huge. We live in a social media world, too, where so many people are just so cruel online to people, and people might be ashamed to go in a store and try something on—that it won’t fit or maybe a salesperson is judging them. So having an online experience where they can get their own clothing at home, try it on—they’re surrounded by other people of all shapes and sizes who are super uplifting—is huge for me.

What’s your favorite part of the job?

Shopping. I get to shop for a living—how freaking cool is that? And not just for me. I get to shop for everybody and pick out their next season or that outfit they’re going [to wear] to a concert. I get to shop for a living—that’s wild to me. That’s what it really comes down to.

We live in a social media world too, where so many people are just so cruel online to people, and people might be ashamed to go in a store and try something on—that it won’t fit or maybe a salesperson is judging them.”

VEGAS INC GIVING NOTES

Learning Education & Achievement Foundation, in partnership with the Accelerated Learning Academy, raised $12,700 during the LEAF Autism & Acceptance Month Open House to help children with autism and developmental disabilities reach their full potential. All proceeds were dedicated to providing children with disabilities scholarships for services. SilverSummit Healthplan and Pinkbox Doughnuts were event sponsors.

Twenty-six teams consisting of hundreds of volunteers picked up paint brushes, shovels and rakes to beautify 19 homes in unincorporated Clark County and the cities of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson as part of Rebuilding Together Southern Nevada’s commemoration of National Rebuilding Day on April 22. Volunteers completed maintenance work, exterior painting, xeriscaping, property and

yard cleanup at zero cost to low-income homeowners including veterans, seniors and individuals with disabilities. Volunteers come from local businesses and organizations, including: the Penta Building Group, Sherwin-Williams, KHS&S Contractors, NV Energy, Innova Technologies, Stewart Title, Southwest Gas, JS Products, Caesars Entertainment, Raymond Group, U.S. Bank, Keller-Williams, MMC Contractors West, Aqua Plumbing Service & Repair, Dignity Health, JP Morgan Chase, Nevada State Bank, Construction Leadership Council and Nevada Contractors Association

Members of the Commercial Alliance Las Vegas, Las Vegas Realtors and other local real estate organizations teamed up April 22 to help Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth by delivering donations and volunteering to renovate residences that house local teens. Among the organi-

WALLET-SMART CANNABIS

zations supporting the effort were the Nevada Appraisal Institute; Building Owners and Managers Association; Southern Nevada Certified Commercial Investment Member; Commercial Real Estate Women; Institute of Real Estate Management; NAIOP Southern Nevada; Nevada State Apartment Association; and Society of Industrial and Office Realtors

After an eight-month grant application process, vetting, tours and in-depth analysis, St. Jude’s Ranch for Children was selected as Nevada Women’s Philanthropy’s impact Grant recipient. NWP members granted $500,000 to fund a 2,450 square-foot welcome center and emergency shelter for children and youths 18 and under who are victims of sex trafficking. The welcome center will be part of a 6,350 square-foot administration building on a planned $25 million, 10-acre Healing Center campus.

Local philanthropy making a difference

PREMIER CROSSWORD HOROSCOPES

“FROM ALABAMA TO LOUISIANA”

BY FRANK LONGO

WEEK OF

1 BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (March 21-April 19): After his death, Albert Einstein’s brain was saved and studied for years in the hope of discovering why it produced so many great ideas. Science writer Stephen Jay Gould said, “I am less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.” I hope this will inspire you to pay closer attention to the unsung and underappreciated elements of your own life—both in yourself and the people around you.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Human life sometimes features sudden reversals of fortunes. As an adult, I was indigent for 18 years—then my horoscope column got widely syndicated, and I began to earn a decent wage. I predict a comparable turn of events for you in the coming months, Taurus—not necessarily in your finances, but in a pivotal area of your life.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I am weary of gurus who tell us the ego is bad and must be shamed. I designate June as Celebrate Your Ego Month for you Geminis. You have a mandate to unabashedly embrace the beauty of your unique self. I hope you will celebrate and flaunt your special gifts. I hope you will honor your distinctive desires as the treasures they are.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): If your relationship to your wardrobe is lukewarm, Cancerian, it’s a favorable time to cull unused, unliked and unsuitable items. You would also benefit from a comparable approach to other areas of your life. Get rid of possessions, influences and ideas that take up space but serve no important purpose and are no longer aligned with who you really are.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Neil Armstrong was the first human to walk on the moon. But he almost missed his chance; his application to become part of NASA’s space exploration team passed the deadline. Armstrong’s NASA buddy, Dick Day, sneaked it by. I foresee the possibility of you receiving comparable assistance, Leo. Tell your friends and allies to be alert for ways they might be able to help you with either straightforward or surreptitious moves.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Great shearwaters are birds that travel a lot, covering 13,000 miles every year. I am tempted to make this globetrotting bird your spirit creature for the next 12 months. You might be more inclined than ever to go on journeys, and I expect you will be well-rewarded for your journeys. At the least, I hope you will enjoy mind-opening voyages in your imagination.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): One of the central myths of Western culture is the Holy Grail, a precious chalice with magical qualities. Many scholars say that the Grail is a symbol of a spiritual awakening or an enlightening epiphany. I suspect you are gearing up for an encounter with a Holy Grail. Be alert! The revelations and insights and breakthroughs could come when you least expect them.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): June is Dare to Diminish Your Pain Month for you Scorpios. Be dynamic in treating your emotional and spiritual pain. Spend as much money as you can afford on skillful healers. Solicit the help of empathetic friends. Pray and meditate. Seek out in activities that make you laugh.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You have a huge capacity for whatever you feel like absorbing and engaging with. But I suggest you choose carefully what you want to absorb and engage with. Be open and receptive to only the most high-quality stuff that will enrich your life and provide a lot of fun. Don’t get filled up with trivia and nonsense and dross.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In the coming weeks, Capricorn, I hope you will consistently find a middle ground between telling the brazen truth to those who need to hear it and protecting your precious goals and well-being.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): When faced with important decisions, most of us benefit from calling on all forms of intelligence. We are most likely to get practical clarity if we access the guidance of our analytical mind, gut feelings and sparkly intuition. This is always true, but it’s extra relevant now.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): If you have resisted the flow of life’s guidance, please take corrective measures. Maybe start by reorganizing the decor and furniture. Clean up festering messes. Say sweet things to your housemates and family members. Manage issues that may be restricting your love of home.

JUNE

2020 KING FEATURES SYNDICATE