2023-06-08-Las-Vegas-Weekly

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EDITORIAL

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

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IN THIS ISSUE

SUPERGUIDE

Your daily events planner, starring Rob Lowe, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Rachel Wolfson, a Flenser showcase and more.

36

THE STRIP Chatting with actor Rob Lowe, who has brought his one-man show back to the Boulevard.

COVER STORY

Counting down the rooms that helped make your favorite Vegas concerts so memorable through the years.

SPORTS

How has the Stanley Cup Final gone for the Golden Knights for the first two games?

42 FOOD & DRINK

As Top Chef: World All-Stars winds down, we check in with previous contestants who are making their mark in Las Vegas kitchens.

NOISE

Get to know blues-rock duo The Blue Stones, making their Vegas debut at 24 Oxford.

STAGE Vegas City Opera gets regal with Cinderella to open Super Summer Theatre’s latest season.

Linkin Park, performing at the original Joint on March 6, 2008

(Courtesy/Erik Kabik)

SUPERGUIDE

PLAN YOUR WEEK AHEAD

ACE AURA

Color bass is one of the latest defined subgenres of electronic dance music—a version of dubstep that combines brighter, more melodic elements with the heavier, more aggressive stu . One of its most prominent proprietors, 23-year-old English DJ and producer Chime, says the early work of Skrillex counts as color, among other influences, and Chime’s label Rushdown has been promoting the sound as interpreted by several up-and-coming young artists.

RVLTN’s weekly Sinema party at Fremont East’s We All Scream brings one of them Downtown this week, 24-year-old Texan Ace Aura. He’s touring behind this year’s Crystal Coalition EP, which has been hailed as a prime example of this brand of bass music. And what better place for bright, colorful, futuristic music than the psychedelic ice cream dream that is We All Scream? 10 p.m., $10, We All Scream, seetickets.us. –Brock Radke

SKYE DEE MILES 10 p.m., Sand Dollar Downtown, thesanddollarlv.com.

TINA: THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL Thru 6/11, times vary, Reynolds Hall, thesmithcenter.com.

DEADMAU5 10 p.m., Zouk Nightclub, zoukgrouplv.com.

STICK FIGURE

With Pepper, The Elovaters, 7 p.m., Theater at Virgin, axs.com.

UNCLE LAZER

7:30 p.m., Wiseguys, vegas. wiseguyscomedy. com.

LIL JON 10:30 p.m., Hakkasan Nightclub, events. taogroup.com.

BARRY MANILOW

Thru 6/10, 7 p.m., Westgate International Theater, ticketmaster.com.

RAPHAELE COHEN-BACRY: THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN Thru 6/11, times vary, Sahara West Library, thelibrary district.org.

LILIAC 7:30 p.m., Count’s Vamp’d, eventbrite.com.

DJ BUZA 10:30 p.m., Tao Nightclub, events.taogroup.com.

WHEELCHAIR MOSH PIT

With Trivial Menace, Electric Sweats, Fishy Mushroom, 7 p.m., Dive Bar, facebook.com/ divebarlv.

(Courtesy)

JERRY SEINFELD 8 p.m., & 6/10, the Colosseum, ticketmaster.com.

ROB LOWE 8:30 p.m., & 6/10, Summit Showroom, ticketmaster.com.

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

VEGAS FRINGE FESTIVAL

Thru 6/18, times vary, Las Vegas Little Theatre, lvlt.org.

JAMES TAYLOR & HIS ALL-STAR BAND

8 p.m., & 6/10, the Chelsea, ticketmaster.com.

NATE BARGATZE

7:30 p.m., & 6/10 (& 6/10, 10:30 p.m.), Encore Theater, ticketmaster.com.

BUCKCHERRY

With Otherwise, Crash Midnight, 7 p.m., Brooklyn Bowl, ticketmaster. com.

MARTIN GARRIX

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

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

NORA EN PURE 11 a.m., Tao Beach Dayclub, events. taogroup.com.

OPERA LAS VEGAS: LA TRAVIATA 7:30 p.m. (& 6/11, 2 p.m.), Judy Bayley Theatre, operalasvegas. com.

THE PSYATICS With The Bitters, The Wayouts, DJ Atomic, 10:30 p.m., Double Down Saloon, double downsaloon.com.

JESSICA FICHOT 11 a.m. & 4 p.m., Windmill Library, & 6/10, 12:30 p.m., West Charleston Library, thelibrary district.org.

DILLON FRANCIS

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

SPREAD EAGLE

With Stoney Curtis Band, 8 p.m., Count’s Vamp’d, eventbrite.com.

JONAS BLUE

Noon, Ayu Dayclub, zoukgrouplv.com.

FUTILITARIAN LIBRARIES

With Destined to Fail, American Standards, Sunday Mourning, The Patterns, Werm, Ovis, 5 p.m., Eagle Aerie Hall, seetickets.us.

THE MAXIES With Wolfhounds, 9 p.m., Red Dwarf, reddwarflv.com.

SUPERGUIDE

RACHEL WOLFSON

Although she’s LA-based, Rachel Wolfson has deep roots in Las Vegas. For one, she grew up here. Also, her parents just happen to be Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson and former District Court judge Jackie Glass. “Basically, my life is just one giant Law & Order episode,” the comedian joked during a 2019 set. “My mom was actually the judge that put O.J. Simpson in prison. So basically, O.J. Simpson got sent to prison by the same woman who sent me to my room.” Rachel Wolfson is perhaps best known for voluntarily allowing her lip to be stung by a scorpion, and other stunts, in 2022’s Jackass Forever June 9-10, 8 p.m., $25, Wiseguys, vegas. wiseguyscomedy.com. –Shannon Miller

FOR MORE UPCOMING EVENTS, VISIT LASVEGASWEEKLY.COM.

SUPERGUIDE

THE DRIFTERS

LAS VEGAS LIGHTS VS. MONTEREY BAY FC

7:30 p.m., Cashman Field, lasvegaslightsfc. com.

FREESTYLE EXPLOSION

THROWBACK JAM

With Stevie B, Lisa Lisa, Taylor Dane, Young MC & more, 7 p.m., Orleans Arena, ticketmaster.com.

SEVEN LIONS 7 p.m., Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, insomniac. frontgatetickets. com.

TRIVIUM & BEARTOOTH

With Malevolence, Archetypes Collide, 5:30 p.m., Brooklyn Bowl, ticketmaster.com.

TIËSTO Noon, Ayu Dayclub, zoukgrouplv.com.

THE BLUE STONES With The Velveteers, 7:30 p.m., 24 Oxford, etix.com.

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

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

With The Cornell Gunter Coasters, The Platters, 8 p.m., M Pavilion, ticketmaster.com.

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

LUTTRELL 9 p.m., Discopussy, seetickets.us.

ESCUELA GRIND

With Spelling Hands, 8 p.m., the Dive Bar, eventbrite.com.

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

DJ PAULY D 11 a.m., Marquee Dayclub, events. taogroup.com.

A NIGHT WITH THE FLENSER

ANGELA AGUILAR

8 p.m., Pearl Concert Theater, ticketmaster.com.

FOOD + DRINK COMEDY

For adventurous music seekers, faith in a record label feels great. One can climb aboard completely, confident the folks steering the ship will pile up exciting new discoveries and potential lifelong favorites. The Flenser, a San Francisco-based, self-described “dark music” imprint, has earned that reputation from its followers, having released sounds by such notables as Deafheaven, Have a Nice Life, Chat Pile, Midwife, Wreck and Reference and Bosse-De-Nage over the years. Not on board yet? This showcase serves up a tasty sampler, a trio of acts from the current stable: Portland slowcore project Drowse; LA post-hardcore band Sprain; and LA blackgaze outfit Agriculture. Combine them with local openers Past Self (formerly Luxury Furniture Store) and Diiphen, and you’ve got all the makings of a killer Saturday-night stew. 8 p.m., $12$15, the Usual Place, eventbrite.com. –Spencer Patterson

Drowse (Photo courtesy)

SUNDAY

JUN.

LAS VEGAS ACES VS. CHICAGO SKY Noon, Michelob Ultra Arena, axs.com.

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

STEVE AOKI

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

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

TUPPERWARE PARTY WITH DIXIE LONGATE 8 p.m., 24 Oxford, etix.com.

EASTON CORBIN

With DJ Brandi Cyrus, noon, Encore Beach Club, wynnsocial.com.

CRYSTAL SKIES

With Pepe Orro, 11:30 p.m., Discopussy, seetickets.us.

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BRETT PRUNEAU

8 p.m., the Space, thespacelv.com.

NICK GUERRA

8 p.m., thru 6/18, L.A. Comedy Club, bestvegascomedy.com.

ANGEL DU$T

With End It, Close Combat, 6:30 p.m., Eagle Aerie Hall, seetickets.us.

ELEANOR KERRIGAN

With Brian Holtzman, 8:30 & 10:30 p.m., thru 6/18, Laugh Factory, ticketmaster.com.

MADYSIN

With Moses Hazan Jazz Trio, 7 p.m., Maxan Jazz, maxanjazz.com.

THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES WHO STOPPED LIVING AND BECAME MIXED-UP ZOMBIES

(Courtesy/Killer Imaging)

The late Ray Dennis Steckler was a Vegas resident for a time. The filmmaker owned a (now-defunct) video rental shop at Trop and Eastern, Mascot Video. It’s possible that some locals rented videos from Mascot without knowing that its owner made one of the most notorious B-movies of all time, the 1964 “monster musical” The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies, screening for one night only at the Beverly Theater. Many critics cite Zombies as one of the worst films ever made, but they do so reluctantly: Lester Bangs exuberantly declared it a work of trash for the ages, while Leonard Maltin praised its “gorgeously saturated color” and “haunting atmosphere” while slamming its acting and plot. In other words, with the perspective of time, Steckler’s film changed from overwhelming junk to artful excess. No wonder Vegas embraced him. 8 p.m., $10, Beverly Theater, thebeverlytheater.com. –Geoff Carter

FOR MORE UPCOMING EVENTS, VISIT LASVEGASWEEKLY.COM.

TUESDAY SUPERGUIDE

LAS VEGAS AVIATORS VS. RENO ACES

7 p.m., thru 6/17 (& 6/18, noon), Las Vegas Ballpark, ticketmaster.com.

STEVE AOKI

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

FRANKIE MORENO 7 p.m., Myron’s, thesmithcenter.com.

ALIX PEREZ

With Mesck, Lion Eyes, 10 p.m., Discopussy, discopussydtlv.com.

BRIAN KILEY

With Marsha Warfield, Michael Yo, Gabriel Rutledge, 7 & 9:30 p.m., Comedy Cellar, comedycellar.com.

THE HOT MOPS

7:30 p.m., Gatsby’s Supper Club, gambithenderson.com.

TOM RHODES

With Vince Carone, Steven Roberts, 8 p.m., thru 6/18, Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club, bradgarrett comedy.com.

THE VOICE OF FREEDOM WITH KURTIS BLOW

Hip-hop turns 50 years old this year. That’s right, the musical form that continues to reshape popular culture is now old enough to join AARP. (I hear the discounts are worth the trouble.) The West Las Vegas Library observes this milestone—and the beginning of its Juneteenth celebrations— with a panel discussion about hip-hop’s massive and enduring influence that features a legit giant of the form. Kurtis Blow was the first rapper to be signed to a major label— Mercury Records, in 1979—and recorded “The Breaks” in 1980, which was the first rap single to be certified gold. Simply being in the same room with Kurtis Blow is a big deal; to hear him talk about a culture he had a hand in shaping is a privilege. 6 p.m., free (advance registration required), West Las Vegas Library, thelibrarydistrict. org. –Geo Carter

FAED

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

THE MOONSHINERS

With Jase Naron

6 p.m., the Lawn at Downtown Summerlin, summerlin.com.

UNIQUE MASSIVE 10 p.m., Sand Dollar Lounge, thesanddollarlv. com.

LAS VEGAS JAZZ SUMMIT

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

NALA 10 p.m., We All Scream, weallscream.com.

ROBERT PLANT & ALISON KRAUSS

With JD McPherson, 7 p.m., Pearl Concert Theater, ticketmaster.com.

FOR MORE UPCOMING EVENTS, VISIT LASVEGASWEEKLY.COM.

(Courtesy/David McClister)

LAS VEGAS’ 20 GREATEST MUSIC ROOMS—EVER

BY GEOFF CARTER AND SPENCER PATTERSON

Think about the best live shows you’ve seen. Picture the band; how it looked, how it sounded. Remember the songs and moments that stood out, and the energy and motion of the crowd around you. Then think about where you were standing or sitting in relation to the stage. If you’re anything like us, that will get you thinking about other artists you’ve seen in that room—and how the room, somehow, made the show better.

Other U.S. cities can argue they’ve been home to more individually iconic rooms—the Apollo and CBGB in New York, Fillmore West in San Francisco, the Whisky in LA and so forth. But for a city as young as Las Vegas, the number of significant music spaces here through the years has been somewhat astounding. And we can think of at least 20 that helped change the history of this place, in ways great or small. Places where, at the very least, we saw a live show that changed us.

Caveats: We excluded stadiums, arenas, outdoor spaces and convention halls. Even though some great shows took place at the Thomas & Mack, poolside at the Cosmo and inside the Convention Center (The Beatles, of course), we didn’t include those spots, because they weren’t built for music. Also, know that we took these rankings seriously—in some cases putting aside our personal affinities to consider a place’s historical importance or its value to the community.

If you think another place should have made the list, or that the bottom 10 should be the top 10, that’s fine. And if one of your favorite new venues isn’t on this list, it probably has a ways to go before it becomes legendary, and we hope it gets there. Everybody experiences music differently, and that means we all experience music venues differently, too.

So here they are, the 20 greatest music rooms in Las Vegas history …

Duran Duran at Encore Theater (Courtesy/Aaron Garcia, Kabik Photo Group)

ENCORE THEATER AT WYNN

Beyoncé, Garth Brooks, Diana Ross, John Fogerty, Tony Bennett, Lionel Richie. Big names known for selling out big rooms, yet they’ve all played multi-night runs in this intimate 1,480-seat space during the past 15 years. Why? If you’ve been inside Encore Theater, you know.

It’s comfortable and cozy, with primo sightlines and sound. And promoter AEG Presents has used it to establish a new form of Las Vegas residency—the small-space version—during its relatively short existence, not to mention stage gigs by acts as wide-ranging as Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Smokey Robinson, Duran Duran, Dwight Yoakam, Sarah McLachlan, the Pixies, Maxwell, Pat Benatar, Robbie Williams and Chris Isaak, to name just a few.

The room routinely wins Billboard awards as one of the world’s top-grossing small venues, and you won’t find us arguing those results. –SP

THE RAILHEAD AT BOULDER STATION

In its early days, the Railhead made its name by presenting acts rarely seen on Strip stages. It booked bands featuring action stars (Keanu Reeves’ band Dogstar, May 1999) and basketball greats (jazz man Wayman Tisdale, January 2005). It hosted the beloved (and free!) Boulder Blues series weekly for years and years. It welcomed rock legend Brian Wilson in November 2004, performing the lost Beach Boys classic Smile in its entirety. Edgar Winter, Los Lobos and Sevendust have all played its stage.

But what truly sets the Railhead apart is its effortless bridging of the Vegas the world knows and the Vegas we live in. One night at the Railhead, while watching Branford Marsalis perform, we were struck by the almost imperceptible sound of the nearby casino’s slot machines paying out (back when they still paid in live coins) whenever the saxophonist drew a breath. We heard it because we were surrounded by an enraptured, grateful local crowd, which was actually listening to the music it had paid to see. –GC

BEAUTY BAR

Remember when we said we weren’t considering outdoor stages for this list? Here’s the exception. Because even though most of Beauty Bar’s best shows took place on its back-alley stage—not inside the Fremont East bar that lasted from 2005 to 2019—that outside space truly felt like a room, wedged as it was between walls on all sides. And if the “roof” was actually the night sky, so much the better, since no other spot in Vegas before or since beckoned quite like a night out back at Beauty Bar. The booking history reads like a who’s who of indie music from the era: The Walkmen, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Hold Steady, Screaming Females, The War on Drugs, STRFKR, Xiu Xiu, Ty Segall and so many more. Bona fide legends dropped in, Grant Hart, Shellac, Peter Murphy, Jon Spencer, Stephen Malkmus and The Crystal Method among them. And above all, it paired with the Bunkhouse down the street to present wave upon wave of locals, opening for touring acts and headlining in their own right. It wasn’t always beautiful back there, olfactorily speaking, but it was always a good time. –SP

The Walkmen at Beauty Bar (Courtesy/Spencer Burton)

17 THE CHELSEA AT THE COSMOPOLITAN

When the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas opened its doors in December 2010, the hip hotel was swimming in live music, quite literally. The Cosmo’s Boulevard Pool provided the Strip with a welcome outdoor music stage, plus the resort brought a memorable array of bands to its (free) Book & Stage lounge and a makeshift ballroom venue known as the Chelsea. The tunes have long since gone silent at those original spots, but the spirit of the spaces lives on inside one of the Strip’s best-designed rooms, the (permanent) Chelsea, which launched in December 2013.

Whether you’re standing on the (famously bouncy) floor or seated toward the back, there’s no bad spot from which to catch a show in the 2,500-cap room, site of performances ranging from The Cure, Thom Yorke and Kraftwerk (in 3D!) to Willie Nelson, Neil Young and Jack White to Lizzo, Lana Del Rey and The Weeknd. –SP

16 ICE PALACE

Most of the venues on this list were specifically designed for music, a big reason they made our cut. This one … not so much. The Ice Palace, an honest-to-goodness ice rink off East Sahara Avenue that doubled as a performance space in the late ’60s and early ’70s, makes it on the strength of its legend—and its legendary headliners. We’re talking Led Zeppelin, The Doors, the Grateful Dead (with Santana opening) and Creedence Clearwater Revival, to name just a few.

In those days, Las Vegas didn’t have a ton of permanent residents or many touring rock acts coming through, so props to the independent promoters who talked musicians into playing gigs for folks standing on plywood laid upon the ice. It couldn’t have sounded pristine, but anyone who was there will proudly tell you how righteous it sounds in their memories, and honestly, we’re jealous just thinking about it. –SP

Olivia Rodrigo at the Chelsea (Courtesy/Chelsea Christensen)

(Courtesy)

15 DOUBLE DOWN SALOON

Vegas now has several venues and a museum that could lay claim to the title, but for years—decades— before those existed, the acknowledged heart of Vegas’ punk scene was the Double Down Saloon. Specifically, it’s the tiny stage in the corner of this legendary dive bar, where countless bands—Adolescents, The Bomboras, Cheetah Chrome, Demolition Doll Rods, The Dickies, Evil Beaver, Guitar Wolf, Lords of Altamont, Man or Astroman?, The Supersuckers, T.S.O.L., U.S. Bombs and The Vibrators, among many others—have played blistering sets to enthusiastic locals and bewildered conventioneers. (The tourists are the ones drinking the house specialty, “Ass Juice.” Locals know one time is plenty.)

Is the Double Down a great place to see a band? You might not think so; it’s smoky, overloud and the bathrooms are (artfully!) disgusting. But it is, undeniably, a great place for a band to see you. The separation between stage and crowd is nonexistent; you’re both in the same tight, charged space, feeding off each other’s mania. –GC

THE

Talk about a tough act to follow.

In 2009, iconic Vegas rock club the Joint shuttered as part of the Hard Rock Hotel’s remodeling overhaul, then relaunched a couple months later in a different part of the property—with much different dimensions. The second version stretched farther back, reached higher up and doubled the capacity, from under 2,000 to around 4,000.

The “new Joint,” as locals took to

calling it—some even now, despite it having been rebranded the Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas by its new proprietors—traded the absurd intimacy of the original for augmented amenities, VIP seating options and, importantly, improved sound. And, starting with its opening weekend, when Paul McCartney and The Killers headlined, the space has carried on its predecessor’s top-booking tradition. Among hundreds of acts

to have played the room over the past 14 years: The Who, Stevie Nicks, Prince, Nine Inch Nails, Mary J. Blige, Foo Fighters, Lauryn Hill, Deftones, Soundgarden, Arcade Fire, Weezer, Imagine Dragons, Lorde, Widespread Panic and Slayer. The venue has also hosted multi-night residencies by the likes of Guns N’ Roses, Tiësto, Kenny Chesney and Santana, and served as home base for Psycho Las Vegas’ first three festival years here. –SP

13

THE SAND DOLLAR LOUNGE

Since 1976, whenever someone has piled into a Strip taxicab and drunkenly asked the driver to take him to a place with good live music, there’s been an even-money chance of them winding up at the front door of the Sand Dollar Lounge. The same is likely true today, except the driver must take the extra step of asking, “The original on Spring Mountain or the new one at the Plaza?”

A venerable hospitality industry hangout now deep into its second life—it changed its name to Bar 702 following a 2009 Bar Rescue appearance, and was even briefly known as Bikini Bar before reclaiming its birthright in 2010—the Sand Dollar is famed as an after-gig stop for touring artists like Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, The Rolling Stones and The Who. Sometimes they’ll just relax with their drinks, listening to local and regional acts jamming out, and sometimes their members will hop onstage and work off the energy they didn’t spend at their main gig. –GC

Blink-182 at the Joint (Courtesy/Erik Kabik/@erikkabik)

Bernard Fowler at the Sand Dollar (Courtesy/Erik Kabik/@erikkabik)

(NEW) JOINT AT THE HARD ROCK HOTEL AKA THE THEATER AT VIRGIN HOTELS LAS VEGAS

12

BUNKHOUSE SALOON

Joni Mitchell once sang, you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, but Las Vegans who loved catching interesting live acts up close and personal knew exactly what they had in the Bunkhouse. From the moment the dilapidated Downtown bar on 11th just off Fremont began running gigs on its barely elevated “stage” in the mid-2000s, it occupied a critical place within the scene. Those early years saw memorable bands like Monotonix, A Place to Bury Strangers and Melt-Banana come through, some as part of the Neon Reverb festival, for which the Bunkhouse served as unofficial hub.

When Tony Hsieh’s Downtown Project bought the building in 2013, hands were wrung over potential changes, but on the music front, it proved to be a mostly positive development.

An entirely remade Bunkhouse opened in August 2014 with a state-of-the-art sound system, a sprawling outdoor area for between-set hangs and an eye-popping calendar that included the likes of Bob Mould, The Breeders and Blonde Redhead in the early months and continued with Deerhunter, Drab Majesty and Deafheaven—plus outdoor sets by Television and Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst’s Better Oblivion Community Center—in the years to come.

Most importantly, the Bunkhouse was ground zero for the local indie scene, providing countless Vegas acts with a welcoming environment and reliable production. When doors shuttered on the beloved 250-capacity building near the start of the pandemic (for largely unrelated reasons), many feared it would never reopen, and to date, it hasn’t, as Hsieh’s heirs consider what to do with his former holdings. Fingers crossed they don’t knock it down, pave over it and put up a parking lot. –SP

10

SHOWROOM INTERNATIONALE AKA HILTON SHOWROOM AKA INTERNATIONAL THEATER AT WESTGATE

Kirk Kerkorian thought big when he opened the International Hotel in the summer of 1969. The property covered some 41 acres. Its tower consisted of 1,500 rooms. Its showroom boasted a massive stage and 2,000 seats—the biggest theater in Vegas at that time. And to fill that showroom, the International—later the Las Vegas Hilton, and today the Westgate—relied on a series of performers playing extended engagements; in essence, our city’s first proper residencies. Those headliners included Barbra Streisand, Little Richard, Johnny Cash, James Brown and (checks notes) Elvis Presley.

THE PEARL AT THE PALMS

“We wanted to create the most special place for music in the city,” thenPalms owner George Maloof told the Weekly during a 2006 hard-hat tour of the Pearl site, and a solid case could be made that he did just that. Though considerably less flashy than some of its casino-venue peers, the Pearl has spent its existence—from March 2007 to the present, on and off—earning a reputation as the place many Las Vegans would pick to catch their favorite act, if given the choice. From sound to sightlines to access and egress, the Pearl was smartly designed, to provide the concertgoer with an enjoyable and easygoing experience.

During the room’s first decade, the calendar placed arena-sized headliners (Jay-Z, Depeche Mode, Tool) into its 2,500-cap environs and brought acts to Vegas that likely would have skipped otherwise (Björk, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, LCD Soundsystem and a horde of Matador Records acts for a three-day festival in 2010). And though the Pearl’s latest phase has been somewhat quieter, this summer’s schedule includes the likes of Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Elvis Costello, Melissa Etheridge and Lamb of God, a sign the Pearl’s new owners, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, intend to further extend the room’s well-deserved legacy. –SP

Perhaps no other performer in history is as strongly linked with a venue as Elvis is with the Showroom Internationale. Coming into the 1970s concerned about his legacy, Elvis poured everything he had into the International shows: His backing band boasted nearly 60 singers and players, and by the time of his death in 1977, he had performed on its stage more than 600 times. The show literally transformed Elvis’ enduring image—the famous jumpsuit was a practical choice he made early on, when he realized his exuberant karate kicks were ripping his pants—and it let the world know that not only was Las Vegas interested in rock ’n’ roll, but that we could present it a scale previously unimaginable.

The showroom continued to host giants post-Elvis: Tina Turner, Liberace and Barry Manilow, who began playing the showroom on-and-off in 1985 and is now deep into a historic residency of his own. But if Elvis hadn’t warmed up that legendary stage, Manilow’s residency would look very different—if it existed at all. –GC

The Skooners at the Bunkhouse (Courtesy/Spencer Burton)

Billy Idol at the Pearl (Courtesy/Erik Kabik/@erikkabik)

9 CALAMITY JAYNE’S NASHVILLE NEVADA

The 1980s were not halcyon days for Las Vegans interested in cutting-edge live music. Local punks built a devoted scene with their bare hands, staging shows in converted warehouses and by dragging generators out to the desert, but mostly, the city’s relatively small population—and its reputation as a place where aging headliners went to die—kept it off the tour routes of all but the best-known bands. Enter Calamity Jayne’s.

From 1988 to 1992, the rock club on Fremont Street south of Charleston Boulevard—operated by its colorful, lounge-singing namesake—built perhaps the wildest concert calendar in Las Vegas history. Nirvana played its lone local show there, opening for Sonic Youth in 1990. Iggy Pop stood on that stage, as did Devo, Debbie Harry, Donovan, Nine Inch Nails, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Warren Zevon, and Primus. In a real sense, Calamity Jayne’s took Las Vegas into the modern music era, paving the way for the Joint and the House of Blues in the decade that followed. And though its ultimate seizure amid a federal investigation into charges of drug smuggling, trafficking and money laundering continues to obscure its true significance, those who were there will tell you, unequivocally, how thankful they were for Calamity Jayne’s Nashville Nevada. –SP

8 BROOKLYN BOWL

How quickly can a room become indispensable? In the case of Brooklyn Bowl’s Las Vegas location, it happened almost instantly. Since launching in 2009, the 2,400-cap space near the east end of the Linq Promenade on the Strip has ingratiated itself with locals and visitors by bringing acts to town others here have largely ignored—and presenting them in a comfortable, dependable space.

DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist spinning the music of Afrika Bambaataa. Tame Impala back in 2014. The Roots teaming with Elvis Costello. Multi-night runs from Ween and The Disco Biscuits. Indie faves like Kurt Vile and The Mountain Goats, brunch sets for kids. And lengthy lists of metal, R&B, hip-hop, pop-punk and reggae faves, to name just a few genres Live Nation regularly mixes in at the Bowl.

As other alt-leaning rooms have vanished in recent years, Brooklyn Bowl’s place in the Vegas music universe has become even more central, one of the only spots equally adroit at booking icons like Robert Plant as promoting a newcomer’s first time in town. And the titular bowling? That’s mostly a bonus experience, though we highly recommend spending at least one show with your pals on the lanes. There’s nothing else in this town, or most others, quite like it. –SP

Elvis Presley tours the International Hotel’s construction site on February 26, 1969.

(Courtesy/Las Vegas News Bureau)

Chance the Rapper’s crowd at Brooklyn Bowl (Courtesy/Erik Kabik/@erikkabik)

Iggy Pop at Calamity Jayne’s

(File Photo)

7

FREMONT STREET REG GAE & BLUES

In January 1993, Omaha, Nebraska, transplant Terry O’Halloran took over a vacant market space—located roughly where Neonopolis is now, on the northeast corner of Fremont and Fourth Streets—and split it down the middle, devoting one side of the house to live blues bands and the other to reggae artists.

Fremont Street Reggae & Blues was the first venue of its kind in the Fremont Street entertainment district, years before Beauty Bar, Celebrity and

Backstage Bar & Billiards. (It preceded even Fremont East itself.) And if you were brave enough to venture Downtown, you could step into either of its great-sounding rooms and see the likes of Candye Kane, Koko Taylor, Charlie Musselwhite, Rod Piazza and Kenny Wayne Shepherd on the blues side, or Burning Spear, Dread Zeppelin, The Itals, Toots & The Maytals and Yellowman on the reggae side.

And it wasn’t always about the genres on the marquee. Warren Zevon performed at FSR&B, as did Beat Farmers, Mick Fleetwood, Trip-

ping Daisy, The Church, Dick Dale and even Gwar. It hosted the Crap-Out, a three-day mini-festival of surf, punk and garage bands, and Soundhouse, an experimental music showcase hosted by local artist Tony Bondi.

But the good times couldn’t last. O’Halloran battled with the city pretty much from the beginning, and construction of the Fremont Street Experience parking structure reduced business to a trickle. In 1996, he gave up and returned to Omaha, but FSR&B’s big noise reverberates Downtown even today. –GC

6 COPA ROOM AT THE SANDS

The party was over long before most of us even got near it. The Copa Room, a cozy (capacity: 400) lounge opened by Jack Entratter in 1952, was destroyed in 1996 with the rest of the Sands Hotel; the Venetian now stands where it once did. And yet, the Copa is so embedded in Vegas lore that, like the Stardust’s legendary sign and organized crime on the Strip, you’re likely to meet people who

believe it still exists. The reason for this? Probably Ocean’s Eleven Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., were Copa Room regulars for a time, performing there during the filming of the original Ocean’s in 1960. (Their names can be seen on the Sands’ marquee at the end of the film). And while they’re the names most associated with the Copa—even recording live albums there, including 1966’s Sinatra at the Sands and Davis Jr.’s

1967 That’s All—they’re far from the only legends who performed there. You could walk in and see the likes of Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Shirley Bassey, Tony Bennett, Cher, Bobby Darin, Ella Fitzgerald, Quincy Jones, Peggy Lee. Liza Minnelli, Edith Piaf, Louis Prima, Smokey Robinson, Linda Ronstadt, The Staples Singers, Sarah Vaughan, Dionne Warwick, Nancy Wilson and many other musicians, comics and assorted celebs.

Rooms like the Copa still exist in Las Vegas—some smaller, most bigger. They have a vibe, but it’s nothing like you see in old photos of the Copa—couples dressed in suits and gowns, performers with heads tilted back belting long notes into an old-fashioned mic. The Copa Room was more than a place; it was a time, an aesthetic, a feel. The Copa, in its day, was peak, wild Vegas, captured alive between four walls. –GC

Sammy Davis Jr. at the Copa Room

(Courtesy/Las Vegas News Bureau)

5 HUNTRIDGE THEATER

Some years back, the Huntridge Theater’s commitment to live music crossed into the realm of the supernatural. There’s no other explanation for why this historic movie house—opened in 1944 and converted to a concert venue in the early 1990s—continues to host live bands even after multiple catastrophes that should have ended it for good.

When the theater’s roof collapsed in July 1995, the Circle Jerks relocated their set to the parking lot. When a re-roofed Huntridge succumbed to market pressures and closed in the mid-aughts, it went into a 20-year hibernation until J Dapper could buy it and bring a “we’re back” show to the theater’s soon-to-be-renovated stage in April 2023. The Huntridge is a survivor, like Vegas itself. Real history was made in that historic venue during its 1990s-2000s heyday. Smashing Pumpkins, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Fugazi, Nine Inch Nails, Tool, Pavement, Kyuss, Foo Fighters, Green Day, Hole, No Doubt, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Avenged Sevenfold, Interpol, the Beastie Boys … Literally hundreds of legendary performers took to the Huntridge’s no-frills stage, often following local bands busy building up their own legend. (Yes, the Killers played the Huntridge several times during their rapid ascent.)

In fact, the Huntridge was so fiercely com-

mitted to live music that some of it spilled into surrounding buildings. The Sanctuary, a club venue at the southeast corner of the Huntridge property, booked some great shows during its relatively short existence, including Sunny Day Real Estate, Weezer, and Jello Biafra, plus a legendary October 2000 appearance by Elliott Smith. So much energy was invested in the Huntridge over its 13-odd years that the building might not know how to be something other than what those incredible bands made of it. We’ll find out. The renovation of the property, which began earlier this year with the restoration of the Huntridge’s neon sign, is intended to support multiple uses, from plays to concerts. It’ll likely fix all the problems the Huntridge had as a concert venue, including its sometimes-poor sound, undersized lobby and dinky bathrooms. But a place that once rocked so hard probably can’t help but do it again. Those spirits are dug into the stage, the walls and the restored roof, forever. –GC

4 HOUSE OF BLUES AT MANDALAY BAY

When the House of Blues opened its doors in March 1999, some of us young and foolish scenesters harbored old and foolish doubts about its quality: “It’s part of a chain,” “it’s half-restaurant,” that sort of thing. And while all these things are demonstrably true, they miss the point of what makes Isaac Tigrett’s multilevel, 1,800-capacity music hall a legendary hang. Even though it was built from the ground up with the rest of Mandalay Bay, the feel of the place is genuinely lived-in, and has been since day one. When you descend the staircase into the venue, you feel like you’re stepping into some authenticity.

It’s not a perfect room—your view might be blocked by a giant beam if you arrive too late—but the room’s quirks only serve to enhance its magic. They make it feel more organic, more real. And every artist who has taken its stage—a mind-blowing list that includes Hall-of-Famers (James Brown, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin), influential talents (OutKast, Lauryn Hill, Queens of the Stone Age), country giants (Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Travis Tritt), rappers (Eminem, Nas, Kanye West), ravers (Underworld, Orbital, The Crystal Method), metalheads (Motörhead, Slayer, Dio), punks (Rancid, The Damned, Bad Religion) the truly inexplicable (The Residents, Spinal Tap, Rammstein) and, of course, a good number of blues legends (B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray)— has felt the history baked into the room, and added to it.

These days, House of Blues is largely about Santana, rocking away at a residency that has continued for more than a decade. But the magic remains there; the history is still piling up. Last year, Orville Peck took to its stage and played a set that nearly burned the place down. But at the end, he left House of Blues standing, for the next legends to make their mark. –GC

Bad Religion at the Huntridge (Courtesy/Mike Hill)

Ice Cube at House of Blues (Christopher DeVargas/Staff)

3 THE COLOSSEUM AT CAESARS PALACE

Solely based on its historical significance, the Colosseum at Caesars Palace would surely hold down a spot high on this list. Constructed on the site of the resort’s venerable Circus Maximus Showroom to house Céline Dion’s A New Day… residency, the majestic 4,100-seat theater opened on March 25, 2003 and immediately reset possibilities and expectations for the Las Vegas residency. Promoters and performers up and down the Strip began viewing Dion’s Colosseum concerts as the benchmark, and today’s modern multi-night-headliner landscape can be directly traced to that wildly successful combination. But the Colosseum has far more going for it than history. The Roman-themed room continues to provide one of the absolute best showgoing experiences around, with pristine sound and views available from any of its three levels. During its 20-year run, the space has hosted residencies galore, by Elton John, Mariah Carey, Usher, Rod Stewart, Cher, Reba McEntire and Brooks & Dunn, Sting, Keith Urban, Morrissey, Journey, Van Morrison, Bette Midler and more. Its promoters, originally AEG Presents and then Live Nation, have brought many other key acts in for shorter runs and one-offs,

including Madonna, Leonard Cohen, The Who, Stevie Nicks, Paul Simon, Guns N’ Roses, Christina Aguilera, Luis Miguel, Steely Dan, J. Cole and Enrique Iglesias. No matter how many shiny new rooms have popped up since it opened, a night at the Colosseum remains a special Vegas experience, as much for the unique setting as for the artists themselves. –SP

2

THE (ORIGINAL) JOINT AT THE HARD ROCK HOTEL

The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino opened in 1995. Marketing-wise, it was aimed squarely at Generation X, just as that demographic hit an upswell in purchasing power. And coincidentally, the resort opened just after the cresting of a musical wave that produced trailblazing rockers like Radiohead, unconventional singer-songwriters like Fiona Apple and pop innovators like Seal—all of whom played the Joint, the Hard Rock’s concert hall, within its first year of operation.

To be clear, this wasn’t the Joint of today, at the Theater at Virgin. This 1.0 Joint was a wedge-shaped hall with several tiered viewing levels, a second-floor balcony and a bar against the back wall. It didn’t always offer the best showgoing experience; management would pack the house to overflowing, and the noise

from the bar could be shattering. But it was a gift, nonetheless. It drew in the bands that previously skipped Vegas on their national tours, and then some.

The number of superstar acts that squeezed into a 1,200-capacity venue boggles the mind. Red Hot Chili Peppers: New Year’s Eve 2002. David Bowie: January/February 2004. The Rolling Stones: February 1998 and November 2002. Afghan Whigs, Tori Amos, Aphex Twin, Bauhaus, Big Audio Dynamite, Mary J. Blige, Blur, David Byrne, Chemical Brothers, The Cure, De La Soul, Depeche Mode, Destiny’s Child, Bob Dylan, Franz Ferdinand, The Fugees, INXS, Interpol, King Crimson, Massive Attack, Metallica, Morrissey, Ozzy Osbourne, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Ramones, Sex Pistols, Sigur Rós, Steely Dan, The Strokes, Joe Strummer, Donna Summer, The White Stripes, Neil Young—all of them performed at the Joint, a room with an attendance cap smaller than that of Brooklyn Bowl.

Oftentimes, the miracles that occurred weren’t confined to the stage. At the height of its popularity, the Hard Rock was less a casino and more a neighborhood. It wasn’t at all uncommon to encounter the band you’d paid to see relaxing poolside, playing blackjack or grabbing a post-show bite at Mr. Lucky’s 24/7. Instruments played—or objects destroyed—by the stars of the hour could travel from the stage to a display case in the casino. You felt closer to the music here than you did most anywhere else—and, sometimes, the bands felt comfortable enough with you to plunk down next to you at the Sid Vicious slot machines.

The first Joint closed in February 2009. The new, larger Joint opened two months later, and the old Joint was demolished to expand the casino floor. It was, perhaps, inevitable; the original room was simply too small to compete in a market that now has a bunch of similarly sized concert venues, thanks to the OG Joint’s outsize success. That’s the thing about miracles—they’re dazzling, but they’re not permanent. –GC

The Colosseum (Courtesy/Erik Kabik/@erikkabik)

Franz Ferdinand at the old Joint (Courtesy/Erik Kabik/@erikkabik)

The Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts (Courtesy/UNLV Special Collections)

ALADDIN THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

AKA PH LIVE

AKA THE AXIS

AKA BAKKT THEATER 1

AKA ZAPPOS THEATER

On April 27, 1998, the Aladdin crumbled to the ground, the latest in a series of scheduled, publicly viewed implosions that had also taken down the Dunes, Landmark, Sands and Hacienda. Except that this time, when the casino-resort disintegrated, a key piece stayed upright. The Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts, which had stood since the mid-’70s, was spared the dynamite.

Revisiting its history to that point, it’s understandable why. Launching with five Neil Diamond shows

July 2-6, 1976, the room served as Las Vegas’ primary concert home, to both locals and tourists, for the next two decades. Even an abbreviated list of performers for that era is absurdly loaded: Ray Charles, ABBA, Frank Zappa, the Grateful Dead, Queen, Fleetwood Mac, Rush, Radiohead, the Bee Gees, Blondie, Pearl Jam, Black Sabbath, Depeche Mode, Phish, Thin Lizzy, Loretta Lynn, Iron Maiden, Eric Clapton, The Cars, Kiss, Van Halen, Parliament-Funkadelic, Heart, Electric Light Orchestra, Oingo Boingo, Alice Cooper, Stevie Nicks, Judas Priest, the Eagles, Stone Temple Pilots and on and on and on.

Notoriously, fans of the final act

to play the Aladdin Theatre pre-implosion, Mötley Crüe, tried to take some of it with them, tearing apart seats and other elements before the end. And then the place went silent, until … a new Aladdin rose from the ashes in late 2000, and a remodeled Theatre for the Performing Arts began again, bringing Prince, Alicia Keys, Tom Petty, Mariah Carey, Bob Dylan, Kanye West, Dave Matthews and many more through in the years before new operator Planet Hollywood removed the Aladdin name in 2006.

As new venues of all sizes popped up on and off the Strip, the room’s role became less central, but through each of its iterations—

PH Live, the Axis, Zappos Theater and the current Bakkt Theater—it has retained its charm. These days, it exists as a sort of midway point between Vegas’ velvet-seat past and its LED-screen present, mostly hosting a parade of resident headliners—Britney Spears, J.Lo, Christina Aguilera, John Legend and Miranda Lambert among them. And every so often, as when Nine Inch Nails set up behind its spectacular curtain of lights in 2008 or when Peter Gabriel revisited So in 2012, the post-Aladdin version reminds us of the days when locals flocked to the room with regularity, and returned home with memories to last a lifetime. –SP

IN THE NEWS

Libraries’ new campaign stresses resources and freedom

Banners splashed in vibrant turquoise, pink and orange, with the words “Free to Be” scrawled across them, welcome visitors to Windmill Library. They’re part of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District’s new marketing campaign.

“Our goal in this public education campaign is to educate people about all the other things you can do here,” says Betsy Ward, branding and marketing director at the LVCCLD. “If people don’t know how libraries have changed and evolved and could meet needs that they didn’t know they had, they won’t come in.”

Designed in-house by the library district’s branding and marketing department, the “Free to Be” project has been in the works since late 2017, when Ward’s team began surveying staff and community members on what the library meant to them.

Kelvin Watson, executive director of the LVCCLD, says libraries have been changing during the past decade, as technology has evolved. The staff’s vision for the “new library” was one of freedom—the freedom to access information and express oneself, Ward says.

Ward says she and her team were also inspired by Librarian of Congress

Carla Hayden’s 2017 interview with The New York Times, in which Hayden said libraries are a “key to freedom” and quoted Frederick Douglass: “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”

“The library is one of the last bastions of true democracy, because anybody can use the library and the library is available to all,” Watson says. “That’s the focus and theme of being free.”

The LVCCLD features far more than books across its 25 branch locations. Locations offers after-school tutoring, job training and cultural performances. Some have green screens, recording studios and equipment, sewing machines, 3D printers and laptops capable of editing media.

Those resources are reflected on the bright new signage, with patrons shown singing in recording booths and gathering around tablets. Each sign, whether in English or Spanish, centers on one of seven words: curious, connected, captivated, fearless, inspired, trailblazer and yourself.

The updated signage and new library logo, a more “welcoming and friendly” design, will be installed at all 25 branches by June 19, Ward says.

–Grace Da Rocha

Local acts to battle for a Life Is Beautiful lineup slot

Life Is Beautiful, the Downtown music and arts festival celebrating its 10th year in Las Vegas this September, will again invite local acts to compete for a spot on the lineup.

The festival’s annual Rising Stars competition, set to take place August 4-5 and 11-12 at the Space, is accepting submissions through June 14. Past winners have included R&B singer Tanna Marie, pop-punk sibling trio The Dollheads and indie chip-tune band Decaying Tigers.

“Providing a platform to be seen and heard has been one of our biggest missions since introducing Rising Stars in 2021,” Craig Nyman, director of music, programming and development for Life Is Beautiful, said in a statement. “Partnering with the Space to bring 16 artists from our state to their stage is a really exciting opportunity as we gear up for this year’s festival.”

Judges will select four finalists, who will compete for the spot on August 18.

–Amber Sampson

“It seems safe to say that we’re bouncing back from the bottom of this recent downturn”

Lee Barrett, president of Las Vegas Realtors, reacting to May’s $442,120 median sale price for a single-family home in the Las Vegas Valley, up 2.8% increase from April

REAL ESTATE

WATCH THIS

RESTAURANT INCUBATOR COMING TO HUNTRIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD

After more than two years of chef pop-up events, Vegas Test Kitchen Vegas has said farewell to East Fremont Street. But where one door closes, another opens.

Vegas Test Kitchen founder Jolene Mannina has partnered with J Dapper, the developer behind the Huntridge Center and the forthcoming Huntridge Theater relaunch to open a restaurant incubator in the neighborhood.

“I chose the name Paladare, as it refers to the underground restaurants people opened in Cuba during the Cuban Revolution,” Mannina said in a statement. “These restaurants were a way for people to express their creativity and passion for food, even in the face of government restrictions.”

The design phase for the project will begin soon. Paladare will provide four “independent, fully

equipped commercial kitchens” to help established chefs and budding restaurateurs launch their businesses.

Mannina envisions the 2,200-square-foot space at Maryland Parkway and Bonneville Avenue providing a “supportive community” and opportunities for chefs to put their abilities to the test—similar to the model of the Vegas Test Kitchen pop-ups, which helped restaurants like Yukon Pizza get established.

“Through Vegas Test Kitchen, I was introduced to the team behind Yukon Pizza, helping them to open their first restaurant at the Huntridge Shopping Center,” Dapper said. “With Paladare, we will continue to provide the many resources restaurant owners and future restaurant owners need to be successful in their businesses.”

–Shannon Miller

Potential October 1 memorial designs unveiled by county

A series of white angel wings rise up from the earth bathed in a warm glow of light, their sweeping forms creating a long covered pathway surrounded by trees in a possible centerpiece for the memorial to modern America’s deadliest mass shooting.

It’s one of five potential designs unveiled June 5 for a permanent monument on the Las Vegas Strip, where 58 people were shot and killed and hundreds more injured at a country music festival on October. 1, 2017. Two survivors later died from their gunshot wounds. The memorial honoring victims, survivors and first responders will be built at the site of the massacre.

Renderings of each design are on display through September at the Clark County Government Center in Downtown Las Vegas, marking a major step in an arduous planning process that began more than three years ago and had been stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Survivors Sue Ann Cornwell, Alicia Mierke and Sue Nelson were among the gallery’s first visitors. The three women said they had goosebumps when they realized how much of their input had been incorporated into the potential designs: the number 58, representing the initial death toll; statues of two young horses, representing the dozens of children whose parents were killed; a bar of music notes from the song “God Bless America,” representing unity. “To see this come to life, I’m in awe,” Mierke said. “It is worth the wait.” –Associated Press

Lawmakers, resorts back proposal to ght homelessness

CARSON CITY—A new approach to serving Las Vegas’ homeless population calls for the construction of a facility that o ers comprehensive on-site services needed to rebuild someone’s life, including medical and mental health care providers and job training.

A proposal introduced June 3 in the Nevada Assembly seeks funds for the project, a public-private partnership to bring the state’s first far-reaching program aimed at reducing homelessness. Assembly Bill 528 would create a nonprofit that would be the lead partner in establishing a campus with a number of social and

economic services as well as access to hot meals, hygiene facilities and clothing.

The bill creates a program to provide matching funds up to $100 million for the establishment of such a facility and a nine-member board to govern the partnership. The project must be at least $175 million, according to the bill, and the lead partner will pay the initial $25 million.

“We feel this is a worthy project that could make a real di erence,” Nevada Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager, D-Las Vegas, told the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means while introducing the bill. “I think you’re going to hear

excitement about this concept from local governments and the private sector as well. This is really intended to be all hands on deck.”

The proposal has the undisclosed financial backing of many resort companies in Las Vegas, including Boyd Gaming, Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts International, Red Rock Resorts, South Point, Venetian and Wynn Resorts, the Nevada Resort Association said.

Legislators did not vote on the proposal before the end of the session, setting up the possibility it could be address during a special session. –Casey Harrison

Blonde Redhead performs at Schellraiser, a three-day “cow meets punk” music festival held June 1-3 in McGill, Nevada. Attendees and bands praised the festival’s relaxed vibe, picturesque location and curated lineup, which also included Asleep at the Wheel, Blitzen Trapper, Death Valley Girls, Joshua Ray Walker, The Joy Formidable and Dinosaur Jr. For more on the homegrown Nevada festival, visit lasvegasweekly.com (Geo Carter/Sta )

The Golden Knights face Florida in Game

TAKING STOCK

BY SHANNON MILLER

As President Joe Biden and leading members of Congress were in the throes of debt ceiling negotiations, Nevada was having its own partisan standoff over the state’s biennial budget. But while Washington, D.C., reached an agreement on the debt ceiling, at press time Nevada was still uncertain about its budget with just hours to go until the end of the latest session.

With just four days to go, Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo announced that he was vetoing the Appropriations Act, one of several major budget bills proposed by the Democratic-majority Legislature that would determine the allocation of $7 billion for public services.

Soon after, Democratic lawmakers introduced what analysts have described as a virtually identical bill and highly recommended the governor to sign it. After some negotiations on Lombardo’s legislative priorities, including charter school funding and election reforms, he ultimately signed the bill on the final day of the legislative session. But at the same time, legislative Republicans voted against a final budget bill for state capital improvements, meaning a special session will likely be called to work out remaining critical details.

“On this final day of the 82nd Regular Session, it has become clear that there will be a Special Session to address the needs of all Nevadans,” reads a statement in part from Nevada Senate Republicans, also claiming that their priority to fund charter schools was not addressed by Democrats in legislation.

Lombardo said he anticipated calling a special session the morning after the final day of the session, with formal proclamation and agenda items forthcoming.

Although Lombardo’s veto of the Appropriations Act got a lot of attention for throwing the final few days of the legislative session into chaos, it wasn’t the first legislation to cross the governor’s desk. Notably, Lombardo also vetoed three gun safety bills, a bill that would have allowed long-term substitute teachers to apply for health insurance and a bill that would have set rent caps for seniors and Nevadans with disabilities.

On the other hand, the governor signed a bill requiring equitable treatment of transgender and gender nonconforming people who are incarcerated. Lombardo also signed off on a bill that codifies into law abortion protections enacted by executive order by the governor’s Democratic predecessor—making Lombardo one of the first Republican governors to sign such a bill. And although every member of his party voted against them, Lombardo also approved a $12 billion K-12 education budget and a bill raising pay for state employees.

In the 10 business days following the end of session, Lombardo is expected to announce more signings and vetoes of bills. As lawmakers continue to iron out a budget and other legislative priorities—a $1.5 million Major League Baseball stadium in Las Vegas and a $190 million expansion of Nevada’s film tax credit program among them—here’s a snapshot of what was (and wasn’t) accomplished during Nevada’s 82nd legislative session.

GUN SAFETY

Lombardo sided with Republican lawmakers who made it clear even before safety bills could be heard that they would vote against them. “Standing against infringements on the Second Amendment is one of the most important priorities of the Nevada Assembly Republican Caucus. This is why every one of our members will vote against Assembly Bills 354 and 355,” read an April 5 statement by the Nevada Assembly Republican Caucus.

The governor provided a succinct explanation for his vetoes of the bills, along with Senate Bill 171, proposed by Sen. Dallas Harris, which would have made it illegal for a person convicted of a hate crime to possess a firearm. “I will not support legislation that infringes on the constitutional rights of Nevadans. … Much of the legislation I vetoed today is in direct conflict with legal precedent and established constitutional protections,” read a statement from the governor.

Assembly Floor Leader Sandra Jauregui, the sponsor of the two Assembly bills, reacted to the news on Twitter, saying that the governor “put the gun lobby over Nevadans” by vetoing the “common sense policies.”

What was (and wasn’t) accomplished during Nevada’s 82nd legislative session

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE

Abortion rights advocates celebrated the passing of one bill and one joint resolution that will be deliberated by lawmakers again in 2025 and, if passed, put on the 2026 general election ballot.

The resolution would put a question on the 2026 general election ballot, whether Nevada should have a constitutional amendment protecting abortion, in addition to the current statute that protects abortion up to 24 weeks.

Planned Parenthood Votes Nevada and the nonprofit NARAL Pro-Choice Nevada marked the occasion on social media. “It’s official—SB131 has been signed into law, meaning that everybody who seeks abortion care in Nevada, regardless of where they’re from, can safely access the care they need without fear of prosecution,” read a May 30 statement from NARAL.

The bill, originally proposed by Cannizzaro, codifies into law former Gov. Steve Sisolak’s 2021 executive order that the state not provide information or assistance to any state seeking to prosecute abortion providers or patients.

HOUSING

Lombardo vetoed a bill that would have set rent caps for seniors and Nevadans with disabilities, calling it “an unreasonable restraint on standard business activity.” During hearings for the bill, it received the support of the Nevada Association of Realtors and Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, the latter of which provides legal services and assistance with evictions.

“Since this bill is too rigid in its approach to addressing suspect pre-contract lessor practices, I cannot support it,” Lombardo’s veto message read.

Democrats said the decision to veto was “bankrolled” by real estate magnate Robert Bigelow, one of the largest donors to Lombardo’s gubernatorial campaign in 2022. “After a billionaire real estate mogul bought him the governor’s mansion last year, Lombardo is returning the favor at the expense of seniors and Nevadans with disabilities,” said Nevada Democrats spokesperson Mallory Payne.

At press time, the fate of three major housing bills still hung in the balance. SB371, which would allow local governments to impose rent control, appears to have stalled in the Assembly Committee on Government Affairs, meaning it might not

make it to Lombardo’s desk at all, after much support from the Culinary Union and affordable housing advocates.

According to the Legislature’s website, two bills seeking to reform eviction proceedings had passed both houses at press time but had yet to be deliberated by the governor.

Sponsored by Assemblywoman Shondra Summers-Armstrong, AB340 would reform Nevada’s summary eviction process, which currently requires tenants to file an affidavit in court. If the tenant doesn’t respond in court within a week of receiving an eviction notice, the landlord has the right to evict them. AB340, which has been delivered to the governor, would require landlords to file an eviction lawsuit in court before an eviction notice is served.

Sponsored by Senator James Ohrenschall, SB335 would extend a pandemic-era practice of prohibiting landlords from evicting a tenant who has filed an application for rent assistance. The bill provides that the stay of the eviction would last no longer than 60 days. A version of the bill was passed by both houses; however, it has not yet been delivered to Lombardo’s desk.

ELECTIONS

Lombardo signed into law Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar’s SB406, which makes threatening an election worker a felony offense.

The governor vetoed SB133, which would have made it a felony to act as a fake elector. During the 2020 election, six Nevada GOP members did just that, falsely signing certificates stating that Donald Trump had won the state and sending them to Washington, D.C. Attorney General Aaron Ford testified in support of the legislation, saying such a law would allow his office to prosecute those who attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

“Because SB133 does nothing to ensure the security of our elections and merely provides disproportionately harsh penalties for an, admittedly, terrible crime, I cannot support it,” the governor wrote in a veto message.

The election reform bill that Lombardo touted during his January State of the State address did not make it out of committee. SB405 would have eliminated universal mail balloting, required voter ID when casting ballots, shortened the deadline to have mail ballots postmarked and added certain requirements to disclose identifying information in mail ballots.

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‘UNFINISHED BUSINESS’

Past heartbreak has fueled the Golden Knights to within two wins of the Stanley Cup

Golden Knights captain Mark Stone celebrates a goal by Jonathan Marchessault during Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena on June 5. (Steve Marcus/Staff)

BY CASE KEEFER

Bruce Cassidy’s face turned red as he tried to scream at his team over one of the loudest crowds in T-Mobile Arena history during Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on June 5.

The Vegas Golden Knights had taken a 4-0 lead over the Florida Panthers minutes earlier, but this was not the look of a coach in the midst of a victory that would take his franchise closer to a championship than it had ever been before. Cassidy appeared generally alarmed, concerned that his players had gotten lost in the emotion of the moment and desperately attempting to steer them back on course.

“There were some parts there where we lost our competitive edge for some shifts,” Cassidy said during his postgame news conference later in the night. “You’ve got to be real care-

ful this time of the year. This is not a January game where a team is moving on to their next opponent and so are we. We talked about that in between periods.”

The Golden Knights gave up a goal 14 seconds into the third period but recovered to outscore the Panthers for a fourth consecutive period overall in the series. A 7-2 victory gave Vegas a 2-0 series lead heading to Sunrise, Florida, for Game 3 against the Panthers on June 8.

Still, Cassidy’s near-panic despite what looked like a commanding lead felt emblematic of the Golden Knights’ whole current playoff run. Vegas has fought against feeling comfortable, and tried to maintain a mentality that nothing will be good enough until it hoists the Stanley Cup.

The team declined to touch the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl awarded for winning the Western Conference, unlike when they won it the first time in 2018. After beating the Panthers 5-2 in Game 1 of this Cup Final, forward Jonathan Marchessault took borderline offense to a reporter in the locker room asking him how it felt to win a Stanley Cup Final game.

He had done that before, Marchessault said, in reference to 2018’s Game 1 win over the Washington Capitals, but that series didn’t turn out the way he wanted, with the Golden Knights losing in five games. No one dared to ask Marchessault a similar question in a postgame news conference after Game 2, but he still repeated the same message he has shared all postseason.

“We’ve done a great job so far, but we’re still pretty far from our goal,” he said.

The path for a team down 2-0 getting back into a best-of-seven championship series is pretty well established. The trailing team must come out scorching in Game 3 with a desperation its opponent cannot match, build from there and prolong the series.

The Golden Knights seem unlikely to succumb to that fate. That’s not to say that they can’t lose Game 3, or even the series; just that, if they do so, complacency won’t be a contributing factor.

Vegas is too hungry, and Cassidy has it too locked in, because of what has happened in the past. Between the Cup Final to end the Golden Knights’ inaugural season, a painful loss to San Jose in Round 1 the following year and two series upset defeats in the Western Conference Final in 2020 and ’21, they’re keenly aware of the consequences of even briefly losing focus.

“It’s unfinished business for a lot of guys,”

Cassidy said hours before Game 1. “I put myself in that category.”

Perhaps Cassidy’s drive for Cup redemption is part of the reason why he has fit so well with the Golden Knights in his first year as coach. His previous disappointment didn’t come behind the Vegas bench, but it stung just as much when his Boston Bruins’ teams fell short in the playoffs in each of the past six years.

Cassidy’s best Boston squad held a 2-1 lead in the 2019 Cup Final before getting upset by the St. Louis Blues in seven games. The coach has admitted to thinking about the defeat frequently in the years since.

Cassidy says he’s confident he did all he could schematically to give the Bruins the best chance to win, but he wonders if he handled the increased outside obligations during the series as well as he could have. Should he have been more stringent about keeping Boston on its normal routine? And did he truly realize how rarely championship opportunities present themselves?

“I think the first time around I [had] only [been] at it [in Boston] for three years, and it was like, ‘Wow, the Stanley Cup Final, it’s kinda cool,’” Cassidy reflected. “Now, I’ve been to the Stanley Cup Final, and it’s time to win it.

“I’m not saying I wasn’t prepared or trying to win it last time. I just think you have a different mindset once you go through the whole process, when you get near the top of the hill but not quite to the top.”

Cassidy’s Vegas players know that feeling, too. It would be easy for them to point out that every season features a different team, separating this year’s run from past attempts at the Cup. But players like Marchessault haven’t given that excuse any credence.

The Golden Knights have accomplished almost everything in their first six seasons, including an NHL-leading 12 playoff series wins, but there’s a void that will only grow bigger if they can’t defeat the Panthers two more times.

Hockey can be so crazy and unpredictable, it would be a mistake to discount the chances of a comeback. But Florida will have it to pry it away from the Golden Knights, whose grip is hardened after years of painful strengthening.

“Unfinished business is a good way to put it,” defenseman Zach Whitecloud said. “Everyone who follows this team knows we’ve come into this season with a chip on our shoulder and with something to prove not only to ourselves but to our fanbase and the rest of the league.”

STORIES FROM A FRIEND

Rob Lowe returns to the Strip with a more intimate show

BY BROCK RADKE

He’s back on our screens with two current TV shows, Fox’s firefighter drama 9-1-1: Lone Star and the wonderfully weird Netflix comedy Unstable, which he co-created with his son, John Owen Lowe. And Rob Lowe is back in Las Vegas, too, a place where he once spent time shooting the short-lived CBS series Dr. Vegas in Green Valley.

This week, his one-man show, Stories I Only Tell My Friends, returns to the Strip, having initially toured the country and then landed at Planet Hollywood in 2019 and early 2020. These upcoming dates at the smaller Summit Showroom at Venetian aren’t part of a tour, which got us thinking that the 59-year-old actor is exploring some sort of Vegas residency situation.

“That’s exactly right,” Lowe tells the Weekly “Between COVID and my schedule, there’s been no chance to do a tour, but I love doing the show so much. If there is a way to do that without much travel, I want to figure that out. I’m trying to see if U2 will let me move into that ball you guys are building.”

Jokes aside, the cozy, 750-seat Summit seems like a better fit for Lowe’s unique Hollywood tales than the imposing Sphere nearby.

“My plan is to make these shows more intimate and involve the audience more,” he says. “I remember seeing Garth Brooks in Vegas [at Wynn], and when he walked out, he looked like he had just gotten there from the airport, guitar in hand, and it never felt like a show. It just felt like I was spending an amazing time with Garth Brooks, who happens to be one of the greatest entertainers I’ve ever seen. That spirit is something I want to capture, and working in the smaller theater offers me the opportunity to do what I do in a more intimate,

connected way.”

Lowe already has extremely strong connections to his audience, forged through familiarity with an endless string of film roles (starting in the 1980s with The Outsiders and St. Elmo’s Fire) and some of the most popular TV series ever, The West Wing and Parks and Recreation. When he’s telling stories from his career in the stage show, it’s a bit like catching up with an old friend—just a really famous one.

“One of the things I love the most is looking out and seeing who’s shown up on any given night, and without fail, I’m just blown away,” he says. “It’s literally people in their 80s, and also teenagers, and they all have a different way that they relate to me and to my work. It’s really something.”

Fans appear to have connected in a similarly powerful way to his latest project, Unstable, perhaps because of the captivating performance of his son, who also co-wrote the Netflix comedy about an angsty son working with his father, an eccentric biotech scientist.

“It’s been a dream come true, particularly the reception of it,” Lowe says. “It all started with his trolling of me on my social media, which people really liked, and it got to the point where I couldn’t do an interview without everyone asking me about and saying, ‘I want to talk about your son.’ And wondering, is there a show around it, around that kernel of an idea? That lead us to Unstable.”

And Lowe says his fans getting to know his son through the show has been “super fun” for everyone involved. “I think it’s a bit of a look behind the curtain. There’s that added benefit of [viewers thinking], I wonder how much of this is real, and I love projects like that.”

ROB LOWE June 9 & 10, 8:30 p.m., $72-$220, Summit Showroom, ticketmaster.com.

MONSTER MASH

Canadian blues-rockers

The Blue Stones make their Vegas debut

BY AMBER SAMPSON

Singer/guitarist Tarek Jafar and drummer Justin Tessier might have polished their sound for November LP Pretty Monster, but The Blue Stones don’t want listeners to think they’ve lost their edge.

“It might look shiny, well-produced and the image is tight, but when it gets down to the nitty gritty of our music, we still have a lot of energy, a lot of beast-like emotion when we go up on stage and perform,” Jafar tells the Weekly. “That pretty monster, in a way, is our project. That’s how I see us.”

Where the Canadian blues-rock duo’s 2021 LP Hidden Gems “had more of an emphasis on ambiance, ethereal sounds, tones and a lot of reverb,” in Jafar’s words, Pretty Monster moves in a dancier direction. “This album is really reined-in tight, punchy. There’s nothing being hidden or drowned out in reverb or any kind of delay. It’s all in your face.”

The Blue Stones, who’ll make their Las Vegas debut June 10 at 24 Oxford, worked with Grammy-winning producer Joe Chiccarelli (The White Stripes, Alanis Morissette) to draw the grooves into Pretty Monster. “He’s, to put it in

the nicest words possible, a tone freak,” Jafar laughs. “We would spend maybe three hours trying to dial in the sound of a snare. Because we worked with somebody who was so meticulous about that, we ended up coming out with an album that was very focused on tones.”

The Blue Stones are also applying a meticulous approach to their live show, which Jafar says is shaping into something more theatrical. “I want you to feel like the main character in a movie, at all times, when you’re listening to our music. I want you to watch us perform and think, ‘That was one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen in my life’.

since grown up together, released three LPs, toured the world and learned many lessons.

“For Justin and I, as ambitious individuals, there really is no point where we can be like, ‘Oh, we’ve achieved exactly what we want to achieve, and there’s nothing left,’”Jafar says. “There’s always going to be that next step that you can take.”

THE BLUE STONES

With The Velveteers. June 10, 7 p.m., $22$47. 24 Oxford, etix.com.

“That’s what influenced us early on as musicians,” he continues. “We would watch The Black Keys or Mutemath, and we would think to ourselves, ‘I can’t believe how amazing that show was.’ That’s something I want to give people.”

Tessier and Jafar’s friendship dates back to their pre-teens, when they played on the same youth hockey team in Canada. They’ve

The Blue Stones explore that pursuit on the song “What’s It Take to Be Happy?” But these days, a lot of Jafar’s joy comes from motivating the fanbase and offering them “some confidence and a feeling of swagger in their everyday lives.”

Jafar says the 24 Oxford gig has been selling better than expected—“We didn’t even know if we had a fanbase in Las Vegas,” he laughs—and that The Blue Stones plan to approach the city differently than the average tourist.

“The team that I was following got kicked out of the playoffs, so I’m kind of a [Golden] Knights guy right now,” he laughs. “I would love for the Knights to be in the finals when we’re in Las Vegas. That would be awesome.”

The Blue Stones (Courtesy/Nick Fancher)

RAGS TO RICHES

Vegas City Opera’s Cinderella makeover kicks off Super Summer Theatre 2023

BY SHANNON MILLER

Nearly 50 years into its lifespan, Super Summer Theatre remains one of Las Vegas’ most underrated traditions. The seasonal treks by actors, artists and families out to Spring Mountain Ranch State Park began in 1976, and the latest season kicks off with Cinderella this month.

Although the Rodgers and Hammerstein version—which originated in 1957 and has gone through many adaptations—wasn’t written for opera, it was an ideal project for Vegas City Opera to take on and elevate, artistic director Skip Galla Katipunan says.

“We’re doing this new tour version, which is strictly and straight-up [a] musical,” he says. “There’s nothing about it that specifically suggests [that] you should have an opera company do this.

“You need some pretty strong singers to pull it off. We have [those], definitely. … With the ballroom scenes, the fairy godmother, the magic and the dresses, all of that is right up our alley. There’s nothing we love more than a little bit of sequins and jewels onstage. That’s really our

style, over-the-top opulence.”

Formerly Sin City Opera, Vegas City Opera was co-founded by Katipunan and executive director Ginger Land-van Buuren in 2010. They’re no strangers to reworking productions to better connect with contemporary audiences. The group recently staged Richard Wagner’s The Valkyrie—“probably [the] most famous piece of opera music in pop culture,” Katipunan says. “It’s everywhere, from Bugs Bunny to the movies we watch.”

production that we do. We can’t connect if we don’t have a good story.”

CINDERELLA

Through July 1; Wednesday-Saturday, 6 p.m., $23+. Spring Mountain Ranch State Park, supersummer theatre.org.

And how many costumes will it take to tell that story? “It’s not a large cast, but I think we’ve counted at least 80 costumes for the show,” Katipunan says. “The stepsisters have four dresses, Cinderella has four dresses … and [one of them] is a magic gown that … magically turns into a beautiful ballgown onstage before your eyes.”

Likewise, Cinderella is one of the best-known fairy tales of all time—so how do the 20 cast and 15 crew members maintain elements of excitement and surprise? “We lean heavily into staging and costuming,” Katipunan says.

“Ginger and I always laugh at the conversations that we have,” he continues. “She’ll say, ‘How is this wig?’ And I’ll say, ‘We need more bicycles in it.’ In the end, we have these gorgeous, ridiculous costumes. And we use them as a storytelling agent. Storytelling is the very first point of any

Super Summer Theatre typically works with local troupes for one of its productions each year (last summer it was Majestic Repertory for Matilda). Cinderella marks Vegas City Opera’s third such collaboration. “In 2018, we did Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, which I directed, and then during the strange times of the late pandemic, we did a concert called Viva Las Popera out there,” Katipunan says.

Following Cinderella, Super Summer Theatre will present musical comedy Something Rotten! in July and Kinky Boots in August.

(Left) Marshall Morrow as Topher and Kayla Wilkens as Ella (Courtesy/ Super Summer Theatre)

COMEDY HEADLINERS TAKE THE STAGE

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SERVING UP

SUCCESS

Top Chef alumni continue making their mark in Las Vegas

BY ROB KACHELRIESS

Pull out the popcorn–or the pork belly. The season finale of Top Chef: World All-Stars airs Thursday, June 8 on Bravo. As we say goodbye to Padma Lakshmi’s upside-down fork and Tom Colicchio’s pleas for “more acid,” Top Chef alumni look back on their time as contestants while continuing to thrive at some of the best restaurants in Las Vegas.

Michael and Bryan Voltaggio made history as the only brothers to compete against one another on Top Chef. Michael took the top prize in Season 6, while Bryan was a runner-up. The duo just opened Retro by Voltaggio at Mandalay Bay, putting a gourmet touch

on pot roast and other old-school favorites. “The biggest thing we learned from Top Chef is to cook for your audience,” Michael says. “Not every dish is perfect for everyone.”

Carla Pellegrino was running Bacio at the Tropicana and Bratalian in Henderson when she joined Season 10. Her outgoing personality was a hit with viewers, but the chef believes she could have gone further in the competition. “I seriously cut my right hand during the very first episode, and I could not perform well, which was not shared with the public,” she remembers. “Still, it was a fun experience.” Today, Pellegrino cooks contemporary Italian cuisine at Limoncello Fresh Italian Kitchen on West Sahara.

Elia Aboumrad, a protégé of Joël Robuchon, elevates comfort food with exceptional ingredients at Boom Bang Fine Food & Cocktails in Henderson. She made an impression in Season 2 with not only her kitchen skills, but a spur-of-the-moment decision to shave her head. “They got upset,” she says of the producers. “They felt I ruined the continuity of the show,” noting interviews are sometimes filmed out of sequence. “There was no malice. We were all just trying to make it.”

Following his stint on Season 7, Stephen Hopcraft opened STK at the Cosmopolitan as executive chef and is still there an impressive 12 years later. The steakhouse

is just steps away from Jaleo, the signature restaurant by José Andrés. “He kicked me off Top Chef,” Hopcraft laughs, recalling Andrés’ role as guest judge. “He came to dinner [at STK], and I sat down next to him. I was like, ‘Hey buddy!’” The two are cool now.

Bruce Kalman had an especially memorable Top Chef run, becoming a dad while filming Season 15. “My son’s birth was memorialized on television,” he says. “It was an incredible experience overall. Things definitely kicked up for me. It opened a lot of doors.” Kalman now serves brisket and other smoked meats at SoulBelly BBQ in Downtown’s Arts District.

Competing on Top Chef is never easy, but Jamie Tran, whose Vietnamese heritage influences the New American cuisine of the Black Sheep, had the added challenge of filming Season 18 during the uncertainty of the pandemic in 2020. She says once the competition starts, the contestants hand over their phones and have limited access to television. “They give you this one notebook,” she remembers. “You can write 30 of your recipes down and that’s about it, but for the most part you just go off the top of your head.”

Being on TV also has its perks. “Name and face recognition really helps in the real world,” says Alex Resnik, a Season 7

contestant who now backs up Matt Meyer as a consultant for 138° steakhouse in Henderson. “I make sure Matt’s supported and the guests have an amazing experience. I’m the hospitality guy here.”

Gene Villiatora was working at Roy’s when recruited at a food festival to join Season 5. He says the competition forced him to “pump the brakes and learn more,” reinventing himself as a fully realized, well-rounded chef in Southern California. Villiatora returns to Las Vegas this year with the Hawaiian street food of Ai Pono Café at the upcoming Durango Casino & Resort.

Jamie Tran (Wade Vandervort/Staff)

Stephen Hopcraft (Courtesy)

Bruce Kalman (Courtesy)

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE REVEALS NEVADA’S WORKFORCE PARADOX

BY KATIE ANN MCCARVER VEGAS INC STAFF (Shutterstock)

Though a recent report shows Nevada leading the country in unemployment rate, experts say the statistic isn’t so simple.

Nevada had the highest unemployment rate nationwide in April, at 5.4%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nevertheless, it also saw the largest percent increase in employment, at 4.2%.

“We sort of naturally think unemployment is a bad number—if there is more unemployment, that it equals more badness,” said David Schmidt, chief economist of the Research and Analysis Bureau of the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation. “I don’t think that’s necessarily always the case.”

Nevada saw employment and unemployment increase simultaneously, Schmidt said, which means the latter is not the result of people losing work.

“We have this kind of weird distinction where we have the highest unemployment rate and the fastest job growth rate,” he said. “So part of the answer to that is, these are two different surveys.”

Nevada’s rapid employment growth— despite its unemployment rate being well above the national average of 3.4%—could indicate that data from one survey is collected more slowly, and defines employment differently than the other.

For example, a survey of households might differ from a survey of employers, because it can record self-employed individuals, said Stephen Miller, UNLV professor of economics and director of research at the Center for Business and Economic Research.

Miller emphasized that seemingly contradictory unemployment and job growth rates are not abnormal, and in fact the bigger story might be a shortage of labor. There are many more open jobs than people looking for work, he said.

“That’s a very unusual situation in the labor market that came as a result of the pandemic,” Miller said.

He pointed to a phenomenon called “excess savings,” in which money that people received from the government during the COVID-19 pandemic was saved instead of spent. Now, those excess savings are still available, and have given people in the labor force more time to be selective of where they work, career changes or benefit demands.

The labor market is certainly tight, Miller said, but mostly because employers are struggling to find employees.

“As a measure of labor-market tightness, workers still feel like they have a lot more control, instead of workers holding on to their jobs with the white-knuckle grip,” Schmidt said. “It’s more like employers trying to hold on to workers with that white-knuckle grip.”

Unemployment numbers could also be skewed because of transitional periods, Schmidt said, like those of people in between jobs. He cited a survey that shows more than half of job separations being the choice of a worker who quit.

“There’s been a lot of workers saying, ‘Hey, I have the opportunity to leave,’ ” Schmidt said. “It might be they’re leaving to take another job. … For whatever reason, they feel comfortable enough in their personal circumstances that they are OK walking off the job.”

Transitional periods not well-reflected in unemployment rates could also include people moving in and out of the state, he said, noting that Nevada has seen larger population growth than many states with lower unemployment rates.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily the case that we’ve seen lots of people losing their jobs and being separated from employment,” Schmidt said. “I think it’s more people coming back into the labor force and people coming to Nevada, looking for work and looking for opportunities.”

Aubrie Jones, owner of HADCO Staffing Solutions, said the Henderson-based company hasn’t had any trouble finding workers for conventions and special events in Las Vegas.

Nevada’s unemployment rate surprised her, Jones said, because Las Vegas and its opportunities are growing so rapidly. Many people in the city, however, might choose to work in temporary positions like bartending or security, she said, because they want to retain a certain level of freedom when it comes to scheduling, or just as a form of supplemental income.

“Maybe unemployment is higher, but I also think that there’s tons of work out here,” she said. “And I think a lot of people maybe aren’t wanting to fill a lot of those positions, because they want to have that option of making the choice of where they work and when.”

VEGAS INC NOTES

Heaven Can Wait Animal Society selected its first associate executive director.

Melina Petrin brings more than 17 years of management, operations and executive assistance experience to her role. She provides support to the executive director through project management, meeting coordination, outreach initiatives and overall oversight.

NetEffect, an information technology firm in Southern Nevada, hired Jed Wallace as a tier III IT systems engineer. He will work with the NetEffect project team and handle clients in a wide array of industries with various technologies and environments. He is responsible for providing remote and on-site IT systems support and proj-

ect implementation.

Sean Zaher with CBRE’s industrial and logistics services recently achieved the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) designation, a professional achievement for commercial real estate practitioners with a strong transactional history in brokerage, fee-based services or executive management. Zaher joined CBRE in 2018 and specializes in representing occupiers, landlords and building owners in the leasing and selling of industrial real estate in Southern Nevada.

Fennemore posted the single-largest year-over-year revenue growth among all firms in The American Lawyer 2023 Am Law 200, the listing of the 200

largest law firms in the country ranked by gross revenue. Fennemore’s revenue grew by 45% in 2022 versus 2021, outpacing the 2.7 and 4.1% average among the Am Law 100 and 200, respectively. The firm is launching Fennemore Labs, an idea incubator focused on researching and implementing cutting-edge technologies. Led by firm director David McCarville and a team of partners, associates, technologists and business leaders, Fennemore Labs aims to identify and implement solutions for clients through a “sense, seek, seize” process resulting in efficient, innovative ideas.

Swim & Social pool at the Strat, 68,000 square feet on the eighth story rooftop of the resort, opened May 26.

Melina Petrin, Heaven Can Wait Animal Shelter

Jed Wallace, NetEffect

PREMIER CROSSWORD HOROSCOPES

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Here’s a theory: When people irritate us, it may signify that we are at risk of being hurt or violated by them—and we should take measures to protect ourselves. Identify two people who irritate you. What lessons or blessings could you garner from your relationships with them?

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In 1886, a woman named Sarah Winchester began a continuous reconstruction of her home, adding new elements. At one point, the house had 500 rooms. I recommend a more measured version of her strategy for you. Continual creative growth and rearrangement will be healthy and fun!

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I suspect that during the rest of 2023, you will find the willpower and the means to finally accomplish intentions that have been long postponed or unfeasible. I’m excited for you! To prepare the way, decide which two undone things you would most love to dive into and complete.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian author Denis Johnson wrote a poem expressing gratitude to the people who didn’t abandon him while he was addicted to drugs and alcohol. “You saw me when I was invisible,” he wrote. Now would be an excellent time for you to deliver similar appreciation to those who have steadfastly beheld and supported your beauty when you were going through hard times.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Visualize in vivid detail how you might summon dormant reserves of ingenuity to heal one of your wounds. And then use that same creative energy to launch a new dream or relaunch a stalled old dream. Figure out how to turn a liability into an asset. Capitalize on a loss to engender a gain. Convert sadness into power and disappointment into joy.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): At age 9, I was distraught when we moved away from the small town in Michigan where I had grown up. But it taught me how to thrive on change. The next 12 months will be full of comparable opportunities for you. You don’t have to relocate to take advantage. There are numerous ways to expand and diversify your world. Your homework right now is to identify three.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Focus on exposing yourself to fine thinkers, deep feelers and exquisite art and music. Nurture yourself with the wit and wisdom of compassionate geniuses and brilliant servants of the greater good. Treat yourself to a break from the blah-blah-blah, and immerse yourself in the smartest joie de vivre you can find.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): More than 25 countries have created coats of arms that feature an eagle. It’s a symbol of courage, strength and alertness. When associated with people, it also denotes high spirits, ingenuity and sharp wits. With these thoughts in mind, I invite you Scorpios to draw extra intense influence from your eaglelike aspects in the coming weeks.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “When I paint, my goal is to show what I found, not what I was looking for.” So said artist Pablo Picasso. I recommend you adopt some version of that as your motto. Yours could be, “When I make love, my goal is to rejoice in what I find, not what I am looking for.” Or perhaps, “When I do the work I care about, my goal is to celebrate what I find, not what I am looking for.”

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Vincent van Gogh painted “Wheatfield With a Reaper,” showing a man harvesting lush yellow grain under a glowing sun. He said the figure was “fighting like the devil in the midst of the heat,” yet, “the sun was flooding everything with a light of pure gold.” In the coming weeks, your life will resonate with this scene. Though you might grapple with challenging tasks, you will be surrounded by beauty and vitality.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Your homing signals will be extra strong and clear during the next 12 months. Everywhere you go, in everything you do, you will receive clues about where you truly belong and how to fully inhabit the situations where you truly belong. From all directions, life will offer you revelations about how to love yourself for who you are and be at peace with your destiny.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): When renowned Mexican painter Diego Rivera was born, he was so frail and ill that the midwife gave up on him, casting him into a bucket of dung. Rivera’s grandmother killed some pigeons and wrapped her newborn grandson in the birds’ guts. The seemingly crazy fix worked. Rivera lived for many decades, creating an epic body of artistic work. I bring this wild tale to your attention with the hope that it will inspire you to keep going and be persistent in the face of a problematic beginning. Don’t give up!

“ALL THERE” BY FRANK LONGO WEEK OF JUNE 8 BY ROB BREZSNY

2020 KING FEATURES SYNDICATE

THE LEXI HOTEL GRAND OPENING | JUNE 1, 2023

Never take candy from strangers, but if you see a cup of sparkle juice bursting through the wall, well, that’s different. There’s a fine line between bad decisions and celebration, and this trend was clearly inspired by the Kool-Aid Man, as are most things, if you really think about it. I’m nearly positive the Kool-Aid Man also inspired Run-D.M.C.’s video collab with Aerosmith. Everything in the universe is connected, because it’s like that, and that’s the way it is. –

Byrd

(Wade Vandervort/Staff)