2023-09-28-Las-Vegas-Weekly

PUBLISHER

MARK DE POOTER mark.depooter@gmgvegas.com

EDITORIAL

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

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

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

Sta Writer GABRIELA RODRIGUEZ (gabriela.rodriguez@gmgvegas.com)

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

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

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

O ce Coordinator NADINE GUY

CREATIVE

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

Senior Designer IAN RACOMA

Photo Coordinator BRIAN RAMOS

Photographers CHRISTOPHER DEVARGAS, STEVE MARCUS, WADE VANDERVORT

DIGITAL

Publisher of Digital Media KATIE HORTON

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ADVERTISING & MARKETING

Publisher of Branded Content & Special Publications EMMA WOLFF

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Senior Advertising Managers MIKE MALL, ADAIR NOWACKI, SUE SRAN

Account Executives MARY CHARISSE DIMAIN, LAUREN JOHNSON, ANNA ZYMANEK

Sales Executive Assistants APRIL MARTINEZ, NANCY RAMOS

Events Director SAMANTHA PETSCH

Events Manager HANNAH ANTER

Events Coordinator ALEXANDRA SUNGA

PRODUCTION & CIRCULATION

Vice President of Manufacturing MARIA BLONDEAUX

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Route Administrator KATHY STRELAU

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SUPERGUIDE

Your

WEEKLY Q&A

COVER STORY

You’ve been captivated by the new Sphere, but what’s inside that thing?

And how did Vegas get here?

ON THE COVER

SPHERE

NEWS

A behind-the-scenes look at the way international travel and tourism connects Southern Nevada to the world.

ART

An original exhibit about Debbie Reynolds and her Las Vegas legacy is just one fun piece of this year’s Duck Duck Shed design fest.

FOOD & DRINK

At long last, we know what we’re gonna eat at Fontainebleau, starting in December.

IN THIS ISSUE

Photograph by Wade Vandervort

Canelo Alvarez has something to prove in this weekend’s fight at T-Mobile Arena against Jermell Charlo.

daily events planner, starring Derek Hough, Ali Wong, Morris Day & The Time and more.

Phyllis A. James of the Foundation for Women’s Leadership & Empowerment shares her experience.

Debbie Reynolds with Liberace, from the new Neon Museum exhibition on display at City Hall.

(Courtesy)

SUPERGUIDE

THURSDAY

DEREK HOUGH: SYMPHONY OF DANCE

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

PLAN YOUR WEEK AHEAD

ALINA LINDQUIST: MUSINGS OF THE MOJAVE

Thru 10/1, times vary, West Charleston Library, the librarydistrict. org

LADY GAGA

8 p.m., & 9/3010/1, 10/4, Dolby Live, ticket master.com

THE USED

7 p.m., House of Blues, concerts. livenation.com

GAIL GILBERT: A CURIOUS QUIET

Thru 10/3, times vary, Summerlin Library, the librarydistrict. org

VICTORIA MONÉT

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

BRIAN NEWMAN AFTER DARK

11:30 p.m., & 9/30-10/1, 10/4, NoMad Library, ticketmaster. com

ROB GEE

10 p.m., Commonwealth, seetickets.us

FRANKIE MORENO

6:30 p.m., South Point Showroom, ticket master.com

NIGHT BEATS

With Pearl Charles, Los Emptys, 8 p.m., Vegas Stand Up & Rock, vegasstandup androck.com

DJ PAULY D 10:30 p.m., Hakkasan Nightclub, events. taogroup.com

BRANT BJORK

With Hippie Death Cult, Spirit Mother, 8 p.m., the Usual Place, eventbrite.com

FILM: LAKOTA NATION

VS.

UNITED STATES

We should always remember that Las Vegas is on land stolen from the Southern Paiute or Nuwuvi people. A new documentary film from IFC takes a closer look at the Black Hills and the Lakota people’s fight for their ancestral land. Like many of the state’s dealings with Native Americans, the United States violated its own treaty when it seized the South Dakota and Wyoming mountain range in the 1870s, opening it up to settlement and prospectors in search of gold. The Lakotas’ e orts to get that land back continue to this day, even after the state, by order of the Supreme Court, has been ordered to pay more than $2 billion in remuneration for the land. Presented by Black Mountain Institute and Nuwu Art, this screening will be followed by a conversation with Poet Layli Long Soldier, Black Mountain Institute’s executive director Colette LaBou and chief judge for the Las Vegas Paiute Tribal Court Kostan Lathouris. 6:30 p.m., free with required reservation, Beverly Theater, blackmountaininstitute.org. –Shannon Miller

(CFI F i l ms)

Derek Hough (Courtesy)

MORRIS DAY & THE TIME

What time is it?

Why, it’s time to receive funk pioneer and onetime Prince bandmate Morris Day, coming to Vegas just a few months after his summertime appearances at the Strat were rescheduled. The 21st century iteration of the Time isn’t the same unit you remember from Purple Rain—no Jesse Johnson, no Jam and Lewis or hype man Jerome Benton, though drummer and guitarist Jellybean Johnson remains on board—but it’s still led by the funky dynamo who gave us “Jungle Love,” “The Walk,” “Jerk Out,” “The Bird” and “777-9311,” and the cooler temperatures of September will enable you to dance to these party classics even harder than you would have last July, when it was hot enough to melt an ice cream castle even in the AC. Bonus: the Time will be joined on stage by legendary ZZ Top singer and guitarist Billy Gibbons, and perform a new band single, “Too Much Girl 4 Me.” 8 p.m., $75-$125, Strat Theater, thestrat.com. –Geoff Carter

U2 8 p.m., & 9/30, Sphere, ticket master.com

PRESEASON: VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS VS. ARIZONA COYOTES

7 p.m., T-Mobile Arena, axs.com

ADELE 8 p.m., & 9/30, the Colosseum, ticketmaster. com

CARRIE UNDERWOOD 8 p.m., & 9/30, Resorts World Theatre, axs. com

DAVID SPADE & NIKKI GLASER 8:30 p.m., & 9/30, Venetian Theatre, ticket master.com

TESLA 7:30 p.m., & 9/30, 10/4, House of Blues, concerts.live nation.com

RIO SUEÑO 7:30 p.m., Judy Bayley Theatre, unlv.edu

THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT 7 p.m., (& 9/30, 2 p.m.) Clark County Library, apublicfit.org

KALI UCHIS With Tokischa, 8 p.m., MGM Grand Garden Arena, axs.com

PAT BENATAR & NEIL GIRALDO 8 p.m., Pearl Concert Theater, ticketmaster. com

TUMUA 10 p.m., Luxor Theater, ticket master.com

BLACK PANTHER IN CONCERT 8 p.m., Water Street Plaza, hendersonsym phonynv.org

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

COREY TAYLOR With Wargasm, Luna Aura, 6 p.m., Brooklyn Bowl, ticketmaster. com

ANDREW DISMUKES 7 & 9:30 p.m., & 9/30, Wiseguys Town Square, wiseguys comedy.com

NEVADA BLUES

FESTIVAL

Thru 10/1, times vary, Pioneer Saloon, Sand Dollar Lounge, Tommy Rocker’s Mojave Beach Bar & Grill, nevadablues festival.com

SKANKFEST

Thru 10/1, times vary, Notoriety, skankfest.com

2 CHAINZ 10:30 p.m., Drai’s Nightclub, draisgroup.com

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

GREAT AMERICAN FOODIE FEST

Thru 10/1, times vary, the Orleans, greatamerican foodiefest.com

ALI WONG

7:30 & 10:30 p.m., & 9/30, Encore Theater, ticketmaster.com

BIG BOY’S FUNNY MUTHA

FRUCKAS With Tiffany Haddish, Paul Rodriguez, Michael Blackson, more, 8 p.m., Theater at Virgin, axs.com

FOR MORE UPCOMING EVENTS, VISIT LASVEGASWEEKLY.COM.

Ali Wong (Courtesy)

SUPERGUIDE

SATURDAY

SEP.

BOXING: CANELO VS. CHARLO

2 p.m., T-Mobile Arena, axs.com

MARTIN GARRIX

AUTHOR: JARRET KEENE 4 p.m., Avantpop Bookstore, avantpopbooks. com

BEHOLD THE MAN

You know this story, even if you think you don’t know this story. In 2012, amateur restorer Cecilia Giménez goes to work on the “Ecce Homo” in Borja, Spain and turns the circa-1930 painting of Jesus Christ into something, well ... something else, which then becomes a viral internet sensation. The elderly, would-be artist is first shamed, then celebrated when tourists seek out the renovated painting sometimes called “Ecce Mono (Monkey Christ).” This all really happened, folks, and this week, Opera Las Vegas presents the world premiere of Paul Fowler and Andrew Flack’s Behold The Man, a “contemporary comic opera” based on the infamous incident. College of Southern Nevada’s Horn Theatre hosts two performances of this hybrid music theater endeavor that weaves classical, Spanish folk, K-pop and Gregorian chants into a compelling musical mix, and Marisa Ibáñez, niece of Giménez, will travel from Spain to celebrate at the premiere. Only in Vegas? Guess so. 7:30 p.m. (& 10/1, 2 p.m.), $10-$50, Horn Theatre, operalasvegas. com. –Brock Radke

With Justin Mylo, 11 a.m., Wet Republic, events. taogroup.com

THE CHAINSMOKERS

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

UNLV FOOTBALL VS. HAWAII

1 p.m., Allegiant Stadium, unlvtickets.com

ALESSO

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

ESCAPE THE FATE With Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows, Point North, Stitched Up Heart, Garzi, 6 p.m., Brooklyn Bowl, ticket master.com

JOE GATTO 10 p.m., Mirage Theatre, ticket master.com

JASON BONHAM’S LED ZEPPELIN EVENING 8 p.m., Grand Events Center, ticketmaster.com

LIL WAYNE 10:30 p.m., Drai’s Nightclub, drais group.com

3 QUEENS OF MOTOWN 8 p.m., Veil Pavilion, silverton casino.com

CHRIS DISTEFANO

7 p.m., the Chelsea, ticketmaster. com

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

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

HEROES DEL SILENCIO AVALANCHA

With The Red Seduction, Flowers for Funerals, 9 p.m., Taverna Costera, eventbrite.com

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

CANELO AFTERPARTY WITH TAINY 10 p.m., Zouk Nightclub, zouk grouplv.com

THE DOLLHEADS

With Hunter’s Briefcase, Pure Sport, Switterbeet, Desert Island Boys, 8 p.m., Fergusons Downtown, fergusons downtown.com

MOTIONLESS IN WHITE With Knocked Loose, After the Burial, Alpha Wolf, 7 p.m., Theater at Virgin, axs.com

Motionless in White (Photo Courtesy/AEG Presents)

FABOLOUS 10:30 p.m., Drai’s Nightclub, draisgroup.com.

GOOSE 6 p.m., Brooklyn Bowl, ticketmaster.com.

UNLV JAZZ

DREAMLIKE

CD RELEASE CONCERT 3 p.m., Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall, unlv.edu

GLORILLA Noon, Daylight Beach Club, day lightvegas.com

LAUGH AFTER DARK COMEDY FEST Thru 10/5, times and venues vary, laughafterdark comedyfest.com

VARIALS With Roman Candle, Altars Of Arawan, Thousand Wayz 2 Die, 6 p.m., American Legion Post 8, seetickets.us

BOYS LIKE GIRLS 6 p.m., House of Blues, concerts. livenation.com

SHAKEY GRAVES With Flipturn, 8 p.m., Theater at Virgin, axs.com

DJ SOURMILK 1O:30 p.m., Jewel Nightclub, events.taogroup. com

GET THE LED OUT 7:30 p.m., Brooklyn Bowl, ticketmaster. com

BRAD GARRETT With Gabriel Rutledge, 8 p.m., Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club, ticket master.com

RIVER SPELL 9 p.m., Red Dwarf, reddwarflv.com.

TRICERADROPS With Jack Spaidz, 6 p.m., Citrus Grand Pool Deck, seetickets.us FOR MORE UPCOMING EVENTS, VISIT LASVEGASWEEKLY.COM.

Fabolous (Courtesy/Radis Denphutaraphrechar)

FOOD + DRINK

KATY PERRY 8 p.m., Resorts World Theatre, axs.com.

LAS VEGAS FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL

Thru 10/8, times vary, Soak Pool, vegasfoodand wine.com

THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM with Donovan Woods, Catbite, 6:30 p.m., Brooklyn Bowl, ticketmaster. com.

BRENT BARRETT 7 p.m., Myron’s, thesmithcenter. com

THE POSTAL SERVICE & DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE 8 p.m., Theater at Virgin, axs.com

MR. GAY AMERICA Thru 10/5, 7 p.m., Access Showroom, ticketmaster.com

DJ FRANZEN 10 p.m., Ghostbar, palms.com

ALLEYCVT 1O p.m., Discopussy, discopussydtlv.com

NOTHING BUT THIEVES 6:30 p.m., House of Blues, concerts.livenation. com

PRESEASON: VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS VS. SAN JOSE SHARKS 7 p.m., T-Mobile Arena, axs.com

CLINT HOLMES & JOI JAZZ ORCHESTRA 7 p.m., Myron’s, thesmithcenter. com

HUMAN NATURE

Thru 10/5, 6:30 p.m., South Point Showroom, ticket master.com

VARLA JEAN MERMAN

Thru 10/5, 8 p.m., Westgate, ticket master.com

CORSICANA

With Rhaina Yasmin, Audrey Brazelle, 8 p.m., the Gri n, ticket bud.com

The Postal Service (Courtesy)

Alleycvt (Courtesy/Corner Bar Management)

DEEP DIVE ON CIRQUE DU SOLEIL’S “O”

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4TH | 11AM

Bellagio Las Vegas

3600 S Las Vegas Blvd. | $100

Cast and crew associated with Cirque’s legendary “O” show invite you to a rare technical demonstration followed by a one-of-a-kind panel discussion.

FOOD THROUGH THE AGES : TASTING LAS VEGAS’ FOOD HISTORY

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5TH | 6PM

Main Street Provisions

1214 S Main St, Las Vegas | $175

Restauranteur Kim Owens, Chef Patrick Munster, and food historian Sarah Lohman join forces for an evening comparing the food history of Las Vegas.

www.duckduckshed.com

$5 Margaritas TEQUILA TUESDAY

11AM – 11PM

Live Mariachi Music | 6pm – 8pm

Last Tuesday of the Month

Must be 21 or older to purchase. Please drink responsibly. Cannot be combined with any other promotion or discount.

LEADING FOR CHANGE

Women’s leadership advocate Phyllis A. James reinforces why role models matter

Phyllis A. James (Wade Vandervort/Staff)

BY AMBER SAMPSON

Phyllis A. James, president and CEO of Las Vegas’ Foundation for Women’s Leadership and Empowerment, is a portrait of what’s possible.

Raised in a Black middle-class neighborhood in Washington, D.C., James excelled in education during a time when schools around the country were being desegregated in the wake of Brown v. Board of Education. “It was a great time,” she says, “but it was a turbulent time in a lot of places.”

That drive landed her at Harvard Radcliffe and then Harvard Law School, where she graduated and became a corporate lawyer. James went on to do impactful work, serving as the chief lawyer for the City of Detroit and the chief diversity and corporate responsibility officer for MGM Resorts for 17 years. She grew accustomed to being a leading force in those circles, but often as the only Black woman.

“I never met a woman business president in my whole career until I was about 50 years old,” she says. But through her nonprofit, and its 16th annual Women’s Leadership Conference, James is determined to change that. The conference, held September 18-19, gathered prominent female leaders—including Las Vegas Raiders President Sandra Douglass Morgan—to share how women can move into the driver’s seat of success.

The Weekly spoke with James about her personal journey, why role models that look like you matter and more.

Becoming a corporate lawyer played such a defining role in your leadership story. What made you want to pursue law in the first place? I was an avid fan of [the ’50s-’60s TV series] Perry Mason when I was growing up (laughs). That character on television is where I drew inspiration from. I found the character to be so impressive because of his erudition and his confidence, and I thought, “Gee, I’d like to be like that one day and always have the answers.”

Personally, there were no lawyers in my family. I didn’t know any lawyers, except I did have one “brush

with law.” There was a woman who was living with a family I knew, and she was a student at Howard University Law School in D.C. They were doing a mock trial and needed a witness, who was a young girl. I played the role, and that was really my first exposure [to law]. That was fascinating to me.

Even after Brown v. Board of Education, you still had to fight for the quality of your education. What was that like? I tell people, I am a child of affirmative action, which was just a few months ago reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court, which I thoroughly disagree with. … But the thing that caught my attention in law school is there were very few lawyers of color in the corporate arena. Most lawyers at the time were very much confined to their communities of color. They either did civil rights work or they did public defender type work or criminal defense law or family law.

The corporate arena, which is the most lucrative sphere of law, was virtually lily white and virtually all male. Most people in my class at Harvard Law School were joining corporate firms. So I thought, “Why do I have to be a legal aid lawyer or a criminal defense lawyer?” It’s not

that I knock those things. There’s a desperate need for those kinds of lawyers. But I was attracted to the corporate arena and decided, I’m not going to accept that I can’t do that.

How important is mentorship in a situation like that? There’s a commercial on TV for a company that uses this slogan, “If you see it, you can be it.” That matters a great deal. To be able to see somebody like yourself in a particular role is extremely important. When I was in college, the woman at Harvard Law School that I tagged around with was a Black woman like myself, who later became one of the first federal judges appointed in New York City. At the time, neither she nor I knew that’s what she would become, but she made a big impression on me. That’s such an important part of the dimension of our conference, to expose women to highly accomplished women so that they go, “I could be that if I apply myself.”

How can men support more women leaders? Our programs are open to men as well as women, because leadership skills are not restricted to any gender. We don’t want to be discriminatory, and we also want male leaders to come and

feel what it’s like to be surrounded by a sea of women leaders. That’s important.

Men need to understand that women are aspiring and ascending to leadership roles, and part of being successful is knowing how to be a team player, and a leader with people who are different from you. … It’s extremely important that leaders … make sure that their hiring policies, promotional policies and development policies are implemented in a fair and inclusive way, so nobody gets left behind, so that women have as much access, and people of color have as much access, to promotional opportunities and developmental opportunities.

As a leader yourself, what’s the most rewarding part of this?

When I was growing up, I never really thought of myself as a role model. I was always looking for role models; I wasn’t trying to be one. But if I have helped anybody else move ahead, along their journey of development, and how they define success for themselves, then I would say I’ve done a lot. That’s hugely satisfying for me.

For more of this interview, visit lasvegasweekly.com.

Phyllis A. James speaking at the Women’s Leadership Conference 2023 (Courtesy)

JOE GATTO SEPTEMBER 30

KATHY GRIFFIN OCTOBER 6

LEWIS BLACK OCTOBER 7

KEVIN JAMES OCTOBER 19, 20 & 21

OPEn MIC NIGHT

SEASON 9 begins October 4th at the shag room

HOSTED BY Shawn Eiferman

Wednesdays AT 8pm

Performances judged weekly. winner receives a Virgin Hotels Las Vegas 1-Night Stay.

Quarterly Grand Prize

paid performance at the shag room plus A 2-Night stay at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. Plus a $500 Dining Credit.

Must be 21 or older to participate. Weekly prizes and value may vary. All judges decisions are final. Management reserves all rights. Rules available at virginhotelslv.com

MAIN ATTRACTIONS

IT TOOK FAKE FRONTIER TOWNS, HOT LAVA AND MORE TO CLEAR THE WAY FOR SPHERE

(Brian Ramos/Staff)

rolling.

In 1950, Hotel Last Frontier owner William Moore created an old west town called Last Frontier Village to draw tourists to his resort. Located on the north side of the long-gone Strip property that would later be known simply as the Frontier, Last Frontier Village boasted shops, dining, a jail, a museum, a ri e range, a Chinese house of worship and—according to Je Burbank’s book Lost Las Vegas—some 900 tons of Nevada frontier town artifacts, including a real mining train. For a time, the village was nearly as popular a local tourist attraction as Hoover Dam, even appearing with Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret in 1964’s Viva Las Vegas

Vegas historian Frank Wright called Last Frontier Village “a direct forerunner” to modern-day themed retail centers like the Forum Shops at Caesars and Grand Canal Shoppes at Venetian. It’s an easy connection to make, and a strong one. But Moore’s fake Nevada mining town, which closed in the late 1960s, represents more than that: It was, arguably, the rst large-scale tourist spot in Vegas that wasn’t strictly devoted to gaming, the rst place in Vegas where you could bring the kids.

It was arguably Vegas’ rst true non-gaming, man-made attraction, an idea that would later spawn Disney-like animatronic shows, one-ofa-kind roller coasters and, eventually, Sphere, set to open this week not just as a concert venue for superstar residencies, but as a family-friendly attraction, both inside and out.

It’s hard not to look at an immense ball with a fully programmable LED skin and not wonder, just how did this happen? Even in a tourist corridor that is, arguably, one massive attraction—a river of arti cial light owing through the center of a desert valley—the

even admire it. Sphere has already become a main attraction in a city lled with them.

So, let’s attempt to draw a line from Last Frontier Village to Sphere. It’ll be a tricky and convoluted connection, and since we’re trying to cover this ground in less than the full-on book this topic deserves, we’ll need to stick to the main tourist corridors and conversation-changing attractions, which means we’ll also skip some sentimental favorites such as the Wet ‘n’ Wild on the Strip, the original MGM Grand screening room, and casino- oor photo opportunities like the Golden Nugget’s Hand of Faith and the Crazy Girls’ bronze “no ifs, ands or butts” statue.

Instead, we’ll try to group our Vegas attractions by era, beginning with the analog attractions of the 1950s and continuing through to today’s interactive stu . We may need to take some detours, but we’ll

get to that big ball.

SIGNS & FIRE, 1959-1989

Nearly 10 years after Last Frontier Village, Las Vegas debuted one of its longest-lived and perhaps most beloved attractions: The Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, designed by the great Betty Willis and installed at 5100 Las Vegas Boulevard South in 1959. This 25-foot tall, internally-lit sign—a squashed diamond shape ringed with chaser bulbs, accented by circular “coins” and topped with a neon starburst— is admired by millions every year.

“It’s certainly an attraction that a lot of people take advantage of when they come to Vegas,” says Las Vegas Advisor publisher Anthony Curtis, who relentlessly tracks Vegas hospitality trends. “It’s on the itinerary to go take a picture there.”

Even people who have never been to Vegas could probably draw a rough version of the sign from memory. It appears in pretty much every movie and TV show made in Vegas, and due to Willis’ deliberate choice not to copyright the work, it’s been

reproduced in art, in advertising campaigns and in avalanche of cheap souvenirs. Even people who’ve never been to Vegas could probably draw it from memory. The sign is a visual shorthand not just for Las Vegas the place, but for the feelings the town evokes. It makes sense that people line up by the thousands daily to get a sel e.

In October 1968, Stanley Mallin and Caesars Palace developer Jay Sarno opened a di erent kind of tourist draw, Circus Circus. It was, and still is, an odd hybrid: Its multilevel casino has a second-story carnival-style midway, and live circus acts—aerialists, clowns—perform in an overhead “big top” every single day. (Its early years were even weirder, with an elephant “hostess” who could pull slot machine handles and throw dice, and a sideshow that featured a woman transforming into a gorilla.)

Circus Circus was the rst Vegas attraction I experienced personally, back in the early 1980s. My parents would give me $20 in quarters— enough to keep a 12-year-old occupied for an hour—and I’d blow it all on arcade games, bypassing the midway skill challenges. On those occasions when I ran out of money prematurely (Asteroids, you bastar-oid), I’d watch the aerialists soar through Circus Circus’ big top, just as James Bond had in 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever.

But you can only keep a kid placated with quarters and spandex-clad trapeze artists for so long, and eventually we’d go to Vegas’ other family-friendly attraction of the period: The OmniMax Theatre at Caesars Palace, which opened in 1979 and closed in 2000. If we’re looking for the ancestry of Sphere, you can hardly get more speci c than this large-format, domed screen movie theater, which screened short lms created for museums and planetariums. Inside was a massive, curved screen which lled your entire eld

Nearly 10 years after Last Frontier Village, Las Vegas debuted one

ABOVE A trapeze act at Circus Circus (Wade Vandervort/Sta ) BELOW OmniMax Theatre (Courtesy/UNLV Special Collections)

of vision, and a surround sound system loud enough to power a nightclub; outside, it looked a bit like EPCOT’s Spaceship Earth, with a face of glowing triangles.

Returning to Circus Circus’ free acts for the moment: By Curtis’ reckoning, they planted the seeds for what he calls “the free spectacle.” Though he doesn’t exactly draw a straight line from one to the other, he considers Circus Circus as a likely antecedent to another true Vegas original: The Mirage, which opened on the Strip in November 1989. Erupted there, really.

“Steve Wynn did lot of things with the Mirage,” Curtis says. “He had the volcano, he had the indoor rainforest, the lobby aquarium—all these things were attractions. He created multiple ways to draw people in.”

Wynn conceived of the Mirage’s volcano as an antidote to neon signage: “I’m burned out on neon … I think it’s cheap,” he said to an Associated Press reporter in 1989. The volcano, which shoots up pillars of ame, blazes with hot-hued theatrical lighting and emits a low-end rumble that you can feel in your chest, pretty much remade the Strip in its image for a time, triggering an arms race of streetside set pieces:

The MGM Grand’s lion, the Luxor’s Sphinx and spotlight-topped pyramid, the Venetian’s canals, Paris Las Vegas’ half-scale Ei el Tower, and the pirate battle and dancing fountains of Wynn’s own Treasure Island and Bellagio. Neon was outmatched, at least for a while.

Some aspects of Las Vegas are so ercely admired that even after they’re lost or destroyed, we act as if they still exist. Elvis Presley, the Sands, the Stardust’s space-age sign—all these things are gone, but their images endure. The Mirage’s volcano, targeted to be leveled and replaced with a new casino tower as the property converts to a Hard Rock resort, will soon belong to that ghostly set of icons. Its in uence won’t be easily erased, considering what came next.

FOR THE KIDS, 1990-2009

The era that we’ll call “Family Vegas” began quietly in 1990 with the opening of the King Arthur-themed Excalibur, and went full power in 1993, when Circus Circus opened an indoor amusement park called Grand Slam Canyon, and Luxor, Treasure Island and the new MGM Grand opened within a two-month span. These properties weren’t just family-friendly, but

family-forward. Non-gaming attractions were built into the backbone of these resorts, to such a large degree that it would later cost millions to remove them.

The Family Vegas era is distinguished by thrill rides and “free spectacles,” and the Luxor and MGM Grand went big on both. The Luxor had not one, but three attractions with a shared storyline—a Star Tours-like motion ride, a 3D movie and an IMAX movie, all created by Academy Award-winning visual e ects artist Douglas Trumbull—as well as a short-lived canal boat ride, a replica of King Tutankhamen’s tomb and a massive, Sega-branded arcade. And the MGM Grand had a Wizard of Oz set piece, a lion habitat, a bar with a slurring Foster Brooks animatronic and, oh yeah, an entire theme park in its backyard.

MGM Grand Adventures (1993-2002) deserves a mention here, though with its Disney-but-notquite aesthetic and feel, it’s an outlier in the evolution of Vegas attractions. It wasn’t Nevada-themed, like Last Frontier Village; it wasn’t visually spectacular, like the Mirage’s volcano; and it wasn’t free, like Circus Circus’ aerial acts. It warrants mention here for its ambition and scale, both so far-reaching that MGM Grand didn’t fully reclaim its footprint until 2016, with the opening of Topgolf.

A ood of family attractions followed, though only a few remain today. Circus Circus’ Grand Slam Canyon, now called Adventuredome, is still going strong. Bu alo Bill’s, at the California/ Nevada state line, debuted one of the world’s

ABOVE The Mirage’s attractions set a new standard. (Volcano by Wade Vandervort/Sta ; Dolphin by Shutterstock)

tallest roller coasters in 1994, the 209-foot-tall Desperado. In 1997, New York-New York opened with a 203-foot-tall roller coaster—formerly the Manhattan Express, today the Big Apple Coaster—built directly into its façade. Even the Sahara found room for a launched roller coaster on its property, with the NASCAR-themed Speed: The Ride (2000-2011).

Animal habitats also proved popular. The Mirage had a glass-walled enclosure where visitors could view the white tigers who appeared in Siegfried & Roy’s show, and in 1990 debuted a dolphin habitat; both closed in 2022, and their animals were relocated. In 1995, the Flamingo ttingly introduced the Flamingo Wildlife Habitat, where visitors can still admire its namesake wading birds. Mandalay Bay’s Shark Reef Aquarium opened in June 2000 with a massive 1.3 million-gallon tank, and it showcases a picturesque variety of sharks, rays and other aquatic life to this day.

“Free spectacles” also proliferated. The Rio o ered a “parade,” the Masquerade Show in the Sky (1997-2013), with giant illuminated oats suspended from the casino ceiling that visitors paid to ride in. Caesars Palace, which introduced a free animatronic show in 1992 with the opening of the Forum Shops, debuted an even more spectacular, Atlantis-themed animatronic show in 1997. It served as the overture to a paid IMAX motion simulator ride called Race for Atlantis (1997-2004).

Though both were abundantly cheesy, the motion simulator rides of Luxor and Caesars Palace are fondly remembered, when they’re remembered at all. (Shout

out to actor and slam poet S.A. Gri n, whose performance at the villainous Dr. Osiris invested the Luxor rides with real menace, and to the late, great Michael Jeter, a journeyman character actor

The Fisher King and The . His Race for Atlantis safety spiel was antic genius, particularly the bit where he warned pregnant mothers not to ride while sporting a massive baby bump.) But they’re dim lights when viewed alongside another simulator attraction that deserves another chance to exist.

In the realm of immersive attractions, Star Trek: The Experience, which opened at the Las Vegas Hilton (now Westgate) in January 1998, was as close to the complete package as you’d nd outside of a Disney or Universal theme park. The sheer audacity of the thing was unmatched then and could stand alone now. You entered through a “history of the future” museum, a collection of Star Trek artifacts and were “transported” up to a perfect replica of the Enterprise D’s bridge, via a misdirection e ect that still dazzles today.

gotiations between the Hilton and management company Cedar Fair, the Experience closed in September 2009, just a few months after a Star Trek movie reignited interest in the franchise. Family Vegas was pretty much done by then, but the Experience closure shoveled the last bit of dirt onto the grave.

“That whole family thing was a quickie diversion. I think they were sorry they ever started it,” says Curtis. “And where did they go, right from there? They went to ‘what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,’ and a return to those adult themes. … The whole (family) attraction thing got taken over by a Strip that had been taken over by nightlife. Their attractions became, ‘Come to our pool party, come to our nightclub.’

expensively-costumed

After a short video brie ng from Riker and LaForge—Jonathan Frakes and LeVar Burton, in their prime—guests took a rollicking motion simulator ride through a Klingon/Enterprise space battle, nally landing at Quark’s on the Deep Space Nine station, a proper intergalactic bar populated by expensively-costumed Trek personalities who would stay in character no matter what.

The Experience was the pinnacle of Family Vegas, a savvy combination of beloved intellectual property, visual and mechanical e ects, set pieces and good old-fashioned Vegas hospitality. But nothing in this city is forever, and following a failure in ne-

“I think the casinos got to the point where they said, ‘We’re kind of like attraction’d out,” he continues. “Wynn was doing everything on such a big level—the volcano was a big deal, the pirate show was a bigger deal and the Bellagio fountains a bigger deal than that. And it was tough to compete. … I think they said, ‘We don’t really need to do this. We’re not making any money on this.’”

That said, Las Vegas never fully buries its ideas, even if they fail. Yesterday’s “ride on this suspended parade oat” is today’s “try out this zipline.”

ed

The next, and current, era of Vegas attractions would follow in the footsteps of Star Trek: The Experience, but also Last Frontier Village. Soon, interactivity would step to the fore, even as the attractions moved out of the resorts.

SCREEN CRUSH, 2012-TODAY

Vegas went quiet for a few years after the 2007-2008 nancial crisis, dealing with upside-down mortgages on the home front and a visitor base that simply couldn’t a ord to gamble, much less hop on roller coasters when they weren’t gambling.

2007-2008 nancial crisis, dealing with upside-down mortgages on the home front and a

no volcanoes, motion rides or “free spectacles.” Strip resorts have largely followed suit, though

The rst new resort to arrive on the Strip following that recession, the Cosmopolitan, opened in 2010 with a sleek, modern façade, a variety of restaurants and clubs, and absolutely no volcanoes, motion rides or “free spectacles.” Strip resorts have largely followed suit, though the newest, Resorts World, has dabbled a bit in temporary family attractions such as the Burning Man-inspired interactive art fair Trans x.

But the fun didn’t end; it just shifted to the fringes. The High Roller, a 550-foot-tall observa-

simulator rides of Luxor and

Trek personalities who was forever, and following a failure in ne-

parade oat” is today’s “try out this zipline.”

viewed alongside another simulator attraction that

you’d recognize from Green Mile

Flamingo (Shutterstock)

BELOW Star Trek: The Experience (AP Photo) ABOVE Canyon blaster at The Adventuredome (Christopher DeVargas/Sta )

tion wheel—the second tallest in the world, as of this writing—opened in March 2014, nestled at the rear of an outdoor dining and retail complex between the Flamingo and Linq hotels. FlyOver, a theater ride inspired by Disney’s Soarin’ attraction, opened in September 2021 at the Strip’s Showcase Mall; it evokes memories of both Luxor’s motion rides and the enveloping grandeur of OmniMax.

Several specialty museums—including the Mob Museum (opened February 2012), the Neon Museum (October 2012) the National Atomic Testing Museum (March 2005) and the Burlesque Hall of Fame (April 2018)—are now open daily in various o -Strip locations. Two mind-wrinkling attractions lled with interactive illusions, the Paradox Museum and the Museum of Illusions, opened just this year. And there are numerous smaller attractions, too many to name here—escape rooms, immersive projection rooms, museum-like displays of everything from Titanic artifacts to human remains—located here and there. And then there’s the curious case of Area15. A self-described “immersive entertainment and events district,” this sprawling complex of charcoal-colored concrete slab buildings houses all manner of cool stu , including a Willy Wonka-like distillery tour; an axe-throwing bar; several simulators, both ying and earthbound; a glow-in-the-dark art installation designed by a co-founder of Blue Man Group; a handful of venues tailor-made for music events and more. A planned expansion will add a Uni-

versal Parks & Resorts-run horror attraction to the mix, and its marquee tenant, Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart, still has room to grow.

So much has been said about Meow Wolf that I have little to add here, save for this: In creating Omega Mart in Las Vegas, with the help of local artists, the Santa Fe-based interactive entertainment producer has tied together several dangling threads. It draws on the same wild, weird western mythology as Last Frontier Village, only it does so from the perspective of the Nuwuvi people whose lives were upended by those mining towns. It employs a level of technological innovation equal to Star Trek: The Experience. And it delivers an audio-visual wow that’s nearly equivalent to the Mirage’s volcano.

That puts us, at last, in Sphere’s neighborhood. It’s a concert venue, but it’s also an attraction, one that wouldn’t be possible if not for what came before. We needed OmniMax to prime us for the large-format Darren Aronofsky production, Postcard from Earth, that will screen when U2’s not rocking the joint. We needed the Luxor, a goofy-shaped building with a light on top, to prepare us for this alien shape on our skyline. And even Circus Circus, with its aerialists and midway, played a sizable role in making a place for Sphere. It established that the Strip can be more than gambling, drinking, dining, shows and sunbathing. Like Sphere, our modern-day Vegas is a planet in miniature, onto which we can project whatever strange and wonderful things we can imagine.

SPHERE SPECS

BY AMBER SAMPSON

Some see it as the new era of entertainment. Others see it as a science- ction movie becoming reality. No matter your perspective, we can all agree that Sphere is one of the most buzzed about things on the internet right now.

Ever since it powered on (or landed, depending on what Reddit conspiracy theory board you’re on), the $2 billion Las Vegas Strip mega-venue has dazzled onlookers with its 580,000-square-foot LED exterior. Visual media artist Re k Anadol even used the fully programmable exosphere as a canvas for his art project, Machine Hallucinations: Sphere

“There’s a lot of very forward thinking technology in this build, from camera systems to processing to network devices, to audio systems to the playback of the video,” says Alex Luthwaite, senior vice president of show systems technology. “There are things in the market that take individual elements of this, but nothing that puts it all together, and nothing on this scale.”

Standing 366 feet tall and 516 feet wide, Sphere is pure wizardry, and it’s time to experience the magic. Counting down to U2’s UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere residency, Luthwaite walked us through the venue’s most impressive tech.

Drilling down into the state-of-the-art tech bringing this magical orb to life

BELOW Sphere’s exterior LED skin has created a viral sensation. (Steve Marcus/Sta )

It’s a Beautiful Display

Earlier this month, Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky showed o Sphere’s interior with a preview of Postcard from Earth, a lm that will make use of the venue’s 160,000-square-foot screen display when it debuts on October 6.

In the footage of that preview, an elephant stomps into view on the giant display. The screen itself stretches well past the stage oor and over the seated audience members’ heads. The angle is so severe, the mammoth appears to be looking down on them, its ivory tusks just missing viewers by a hair.

Luthwaite says VR headsets have historically been used to achieve that level of immersion, but Sphere uses nothing of the sort. The interior screen is custom-built like a hemisphere to perfect your sightlines. It has no corners or edges and o ers 16k x 16k resolution, the highest of any LED resolution known to date.

It’s also surprisingly lightweight. “We removed absolutely everything from it to allow for the acoustic transparency and the air ow to go through that screen,” Luthwaite says.

Sounds of Experience

Sphere’s dome shape is a game-changer for cinematics. But for audio, it had an uphill battle. “A dome is really the worst acoustic environment to play in because it just bounces the sound around,” Luthwaite says. “We’ve had to spend an awful lot of time controlling that.”

To o set the problem, the theater uses Sphere Immersive Sound, a proprietary concert-grade system powered by German audio titan Holoplot. The custom system utilizes 1,600 installed and 300 mobile X1 Matrix Array loudspeaker modules from Holoplot, sculpting a whole new sonic experience.

“A lot of people start these sorts of atmospheric spatial mixes with Dolby 5.1, Dolby 7.1, Dolby Atmos. We take that as a starting point and put it on steroids,” Luthwaite says. “The way to think about it is that it’s a laser-focused sound system. We give everybody in the building the same acoustic experience.”

With the power of more than 167,000 amplied loudspeaker drivers, Sphere can precisely control where sound goes. Forget the overblown bass in the front row, or the muddy vocals in the back. This audio’s re ned and specialized. Sphere can even play music in di erent languages for di erent sections of the audience.

And the best part? “You don’t know where any of the speakers are,” he says. “We’ve really managed to try and hide all that and keep the impression that we’re taking you somewhere.”

Sit, Rattle and Hum

It’s natural to want to stand and applaud a great concert. But inside Sphere, you may have more fun sitting this one out. Out of its seated capacity of more than 17,000, Sphere has 10,000 chairs set aside for a haptic feedback experience, where built-in drivers cause seats to vibrate to the timing of the music. A rumbling Harley, a breakneck drum solo—all of it can be felt in full.

“It contributes to you feeling like it’s much louder in the venue than it really is without your ears hurting,” Luthwaite says. “So when the whole seat is vibrating along to the kick track or the bassline or in our cinematic environments, we can use it for e ects.”

Those e ects can range from icy blasts from the Antarctic, he says, to humid tundra temps or even scents. The goal, as with everything at Sphere, is to whisk you away.

“We don’t want people just to sit there and watch something static anymore,” he says. “We want people to be more engaged and more involved.”

ABOVE Rendering of Sphere’s interior (Courtesy)

CLASH OF IDEALS

California Governor Gavin Newsom and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis may not wind up being presidential nominees for 2024, but they have agreed to a debate November 30. It will be moderated by Sean Hannity at 6 p.m. on his Fox News show.

TEACHER OF THE YEAR

The newest Nevada State Teacher of the Year is Laura Jeanne Penrod, an English teacher at Southwest Career and Technical Academy. Her students have some of the highest scores in CCSD on the English portion of the ACT.

NEW MEMORIAL WON’T REPLACE HEALING GARDEN

A new October 1 memorial is on the horizon in Southern Nevada, but the longstanding Memorial Garden shouldn’t be going anywhere, said Sue Ann Cornwell, a survivor of the Route 91 Harvest festival shooting and volunteer at the garden.

“Keeping the Healing Garden as is is important because it still gives them—the survivors—a place to go and I’ve had many people tell me that the garden is their place to heal, their place to remember and that they will always go to the garden,” Cornwell said.

Cornwell and fellow survivors have cared for the Memorial Garden off South Casino Center Boulevard since it was erected only five days following the mass shooting that immediately killed 58 people and wounded about 800 others. Two more concertgoers died from their injuries in the years following.

A new memorial will be constructed at the south end of the Strip.

At its September 5 meeting, the Clark County Commission accepted a proposed design recommended by the now-dissolved 1 October Memorial Design Committee for what many called the “permanent

memorial.”

It’s been an ongoing effort since 2019, but was stalled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and finally got off the ground in 2022 when the committee launched its design competition.

Cornwell said the new memorial, designed by JCJ Architecture, is amazing and won’t interfere with the Memorial Garden.

While the garden exists more for the survivors and family members of the victims, the memorial will “tell the whole story of that night,” she explained.

It will include more details about the excitement and stories of concertgoers, the timeline of the shooting, the aftermath and the community’s response.

But Cornwell believes both spots can be a place of healing for everyone.

“My biggest hope is that we can go inside together and people can find healing, whether it be at the Healing Garden or at the new memorial,” Cornwell said. “Because that’s what it’s all about—it’s about people going in there and taking one more step forward to heal.” -Grace

Da Rocha

RAM CAM

USHER STARS AT SUPER BOWL

Park MGM resident headliner Usher will perform at the Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show at Allegiant Stadium on February 11.

The R&B star said “it’s an honor of a lifetime to finally check a Super Bowl performance o my bucket list.”

PARADE, FESTIVAL CELEBRATE HISTORIC SCHOOL MILESTONE

Las Vegas’ longest-standing schoolhouse will celebrate its centennial anniversary with a parade and festival in the heart of the Historic Westside on September 30.

“You cannot tell the story of Las Vegas without the story of the Historic Westside School,” said Brenda Williams, president and founder of the Westside School Alumni Foundation.

“We are celebrating 100 years of Las Vegas’ first, and most historic, school, as well as all of the teachers and students who have passed through these halls and gone on to shape our city.”

The Historic Westside School opened with just two rooms in 1923 to serve local families including Native American children from the Las Vegas Paiute

Colony. Today, the school houses murals and a stained glass window wall, a design center, the Strong Future Technology Training Center and small business support center.

A Workforce Education and Training Center run by the College of Southern Nevada is under construction.

The parade will kick o at 10 a.m. on H Street and head east on Jackson Avenue before moving south on D Street to conclude at the school. A free festival with entertainment, vendors and food will ensue in the school’s courtyard starting at 11 a.m.

Among other performers, members of the Nuwu Wonumeegah indigenous dance group will be part of the celebration.

-Shannon Miller

HEALTH DISTRICT OFFERING VACCINATIONS FOR FLU, COVID

The Southern Nevada Health District is o ering updated COVID-19 vaccines at its clinics.

Everyone 6 months of age or older should get at least one dose of the updated vaccines, which are expected to protect against the currently circulating COVID strains, the district said.

Amid an increase of COVID cases and hospitalizations, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are encouraging people to get vaccinated against COVID. Flu vaccines are also recommended, the agencies said.

The vaccines should be covered by most health insurance plans, o cials said. Uninsured children and adults can get vaccines through the Vaccines for Children Program and Bridge Access Programs, respectively.

To locate a Health District clinic o ering the vaccines, go to the SNHD website at covid.southernnevadahealthdistrict. org/vaccine/distribution

-Grace Da Rocha

Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young loses the ball as teammate A’ja Wilson (22) tries to recover it during Game 1 of their 97-83 semifinal playo win September 24 against the Dallas Wings in Las Vegas. The best-of-5 series continues September 29 in Dallas. (Wade Vandervort/Sta )

Usher (Courtesy/ Bellamy Brewster)

Boulder City on August 31 began o ering a livestream channel on YouTube that shows a view of Hemenway Park, where bighorn sheep often gather. The livestream can be viewed at youtube.com/watch?v=f_u1uuxEEEs.

UP IN THE AIR

Las Vegas’ air service development team pilots toward more international destinations

BY SHANNON MILLER

Roughly 26 international destinations are reachable from Las Vegas. And the more, the better, say Las Vegas travel o cials.

“[International] visitors tend to stay longer, and they tend to spend more in the destination, because their stay is a little bit longer,” says Cheryl Smith, director of air service development with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA). “So from an economic development perspective, this is where air service development is critical to the economy overall.”

International travel continues to expand in the wake of the pandemic, but capacity still is not back to pre-pandemic levels, says Harry Reid International Airport’s Scott Kichline, managing director of commercial and business development.

“We’ve still got a lot of room to grow just to get back to the capacity that we had in 2019. We’re about 10% down at this point,” Kichline says, adding that travel from Asia is not close to pre-pandemic levels yet.

Smith and Kichline, together with Ailevon Paci c Aviation Consulting, compose the team that develops domestic and international air service in Las Vegas, a process that involves working with government o cials, tourism stakeholders and airlines over the course of years.

“It’s a courtship in many ways. The relationship has to make sense for the airline,” says Joel Van Over, senior director of Ailevon. “We like to say it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

With the LVCVA, they’re well-equipped to compete in that marathon, Kichline says.

“This is a pretty unique relationship. When we see other destinations, it’s usually the airport [that’s] tasked with not only marketing the city and the

destination, but also the details of the operations at the airport—the costs, gate availability and all that stu ,” he says. “We’re lucky enough to have this enormous marketing machine that is the LVCVA already out there, marketing the destination all over the world.”

THE PROCESS

Where do they begin? Data from Ailevon and from LVCVA’s research center comes in handy, Smith says.

“We look at the needs of the destination. We look at where demand is coming from. And then we start to look at the airline industry in particular, and say, ‘Potentially, what carriers do y from that region of the world. Does it make sense? Is it a good potential alignment between Las Vegas, as well as the air carrier itself?’” she says.

The team also works closely with hotel partners to better understand how they would bene t from international travelers. “It just fuels that entire tourism industry here and kind of keeps everything moving,” she says.

Once the initial research and consultations have taken place, the team can start getting speci c about which airline would provide the service. As a global consulting rm, Ailevon has relationships with airlines around the world.

“There’s a variety of airlines out there. Not all of them have the appropriate equipment to serve Las Vegas,” Van Over explains. “Las Vegas is a unique destination also in that it is high elevation, and it gets very hot. And that puts certain restrictions on aircraft departing Las Vegas in the heat of the summer.”

Then begins the song and dance of selling Las Vegas as a destination to the airline.

“Everybody’s heard of Las Vegas, but they may not know the details. We just

spoke with one airline who is very interested in Las Vegas, but they thought that it was all slot machines and blackjack tables. So we have a little bit of a job to do,” Van Over says. “When you’re looking at international air service, [Las Vegas is] not necessarily in a league of its own anymore on the international stage. … When airlines have decisions to make on international service, the globe is their playground.”

Van Over and the LVCVA give presentations on what the destination has to o er and visitor data. “We will spend time with the various departments inside that airline to kind of talk that same message but in their language. So revenue management, or marketing or network planning or sales, all can be involved in these meetings. … We may come back to the headquarters with a larger delegation. We oftentimes will bring them to Las Vegas to experience the destination themselves,” Van Over says.

Conferences like Routes World are another big component of the courting process. After the 2022 Routes World Conference in Las Vegas, nonstop service to Manchester, England was established.

Van Over says this is expected to boost visitation from one of the top origins of international travel to Las Vegas, helping get international capacity back to pre pandemic levels.

“Believe it or not, outside of North America, your top three originators of foreign visitation are London, Tokyo and Manchester. It’s a huge market for international visitation into Las Vegas. And without those nonstop ights, it was hardly recovered,” Van Over says.

NEW CONNECTIONS

Canada is Las Vegas’ No. 1 inbound international market, which explains why there has been a focus on augmenting existing service and adding new

destinations. Since July 2022, Canada Jetlines began service from Harry Reid to Toronto, and Lynx Air began service to Calgary and Montreal. Flair Airlines is scheduled to begin o ering its rst ights to Ottawa, Toronto and Calgary in October.

In March, British Airways started o ering service to London Gatwick, giving Londoners a more convenient way to visit Las Vegas.

“[With] the U.K. being our number one originator of foreign visitation outside of North America, growing that market is really important. And London Gatwick is a critical component of that, because it’s the airport that the locals use in London. To be able to grow both the season and the number of frequencies was a nice win,” Van Over says.

Other notable newly added destinations include Korean Air’s service to Seoul, Avianca Airlines’ service to San Salvador and Alaska Airlines’ service to Puerto Vallarta and San José del Cabo.

WHAT’S NEXT?

“You’re asking us to reveal our secret sauce,” Smith laughs when asked what destination the team is chipping away at right now. “Because it’s been pretty widely talked about in our board meetings and such by our own CEO, obviously, we would love to be able to have service from Tokyo.”

Representatives from the LVCVA will be attending the 2023 Routes World Conference in Istanbul in October after the board granted $386,000 for participation.

“We look at shows like Routes World, Routes Americas, Routes Europe, all of the other aviation conferences that are out there as opportunities to continue to build that relationship,” Smith says. “It’s going to take multiple conferences. Sometimes the dialogue spans multiple years.”

DIGGING DEEPER

The Neon Museum’s Duck Duck Shed series celebrates Vegas past, present and future

Selection from Debbie Reynolds’ wardrobe

(Courtesy/Black Raven)

BY BROCK RADKE

With a variety of events including a special performance of Cirque du Soleil’s O, the premiere of Sphere’s Darren Aronofsky-directed lm Postcard from Earth, and an exhibit showcasing entertainer Debbie Reynolds, the Neon Museum’s Duck Duck Shed may have become one of the city’s must-do arts and culture events in only its second year.

And that’s the goal, says the museum’s executive director, Aaron Berger. “Last year was the trial run to see if there is interest and desire for this kind of conversation,” he says. “Las Vegas is looked upon as America’s playground. The whole idea behind Duck Duck Shed is to give the city a little more substance, to show there is intention to the architecture and design, the artwork and all these performances that come together to create a city like no other in the world.”

The authors of the seminal design text Learning From Las Vegas developed the terms “duck,” a building that represents its function through its design, and “shed,” or “decorated shed,” one that requires signage or something else to explain itself. Sphere, which opens this week and has already changed concepts of Las Vegas architecture, is a duck.

“You don’t have to go inside this building to appreciate the impact,” Berger says. “New York-New York is the same thing, where you have people standing on Las Vegas Boulevard shooting photos of this New York skyline. The Hard Rock’s guitar-shaped building coming to the Mirage site will be the newest duck in Las Vegas. What I hope Duck Duck Shed does is allow people to help themselves to understand why they’re in awe of these properties.”

To that end, attendees can not only buy a ticket to see Postcard from Earth inside Sphere, they can also attend a lecture at the Golden

Nugget and listen to architecture critic and former chief design o cer for the city of Los Angeles Christopher Hawthorne discuss Sphere’s design and impact.

Another highlight of the four-day series actually debuted on September 5 and will continue to be available through October 26. The Persona. The Person:

Debbie Reynolds in Las Vegas is a free exhibition curated by the Neon Museum in partnership with Reynolds’ son, Todd Fisher, featuring a look into the iconic entertainer’s Las Vegas legacy. Some of her gowns and costumes are among the memorabilia, and

the exhibit also explores her time performing at the Riviera, Desert Inn and South Point, as well as her ownership of the Debbie Reynolds Hotel in Las Vegas. City Hall’s Grand Gallery is hosting the exhibit.

“It’s a very speci c slice of Debbie Reynolds’ life,” Berger says. “We talk about the person and the persona, this stage presence as well as a wife and mother, and the third character in this story is Las Vegas, how Las Vegas let her do both instead of pursuing a movie career she really didn’t want.”

He added that there’s already been interest in touring the exhibit, the rst one the museum has curated.

Other Duck Duck Shed happenings include: a performance of O celebrating the show’s 25 years in Las Vegas at Bellagio; a working tour of Downtown Las Vegas with local historian Richard Hooker; a discussion on the use of natural light in casinos with landmark Wynn Las Vegas design team members Roger Thomas, Todd-Avery Lenahan and Gillian Wynn; a mid-century movie night at the Beverly Theater; and a special dining experience at Main St. Provisions celebrating throwback Vegas cuisine. Ticket and schedule info can be found at duckduckshed.com

Cirque du Soleil’s O (Courtesy/Tomasz Rossa)

Poster for The Debbie Reynolds Show at the Desert Inn (Courtesy)

DUCK DUCK SHED October 4-7, times & prices & locations vary, duckduckshed.com.

COMEDY

BIGGER, BETTER, FUNNIER

Irreverent comedy carnival Skankfest brings more than a hundred performers Downtown

BY JULIE SEABAUGH

Comic James Mattern is known as a top NYC emcee and TV warm-up: quick, authentic, eternally unfazed. Surely, he’s a longtime vet of the emergent Coachella of uncensored comedy that’s otherwise known as Skankfest.

“They tried to book me the first couple of years,” Mattern, originally from Las Vegas, recalls. “And I couldn’t because I was working on a Game of Thrones show that would go on live right after the episodes.” Even last year, the annual festival’s first time in Las Vegas, “I was booked, but I pulled out two weeks before because I was opening for Chris Distefano in Europe.”

Mattern finally makes the lineup this weekend at Fremont Street’s Notoriety complex, joining the seventh Skankfest lineup with four spots alongside 106 A-list comedians and podcasters including Roseanne Barr, Drew Pinsky reuniting with Loveline co-

host Adam Carolla, Whitney Cummings, Brendan Schaub, Mark Normand, Tim Dillon, Jay Oakerson and festival co-founder Luis J. Gomez.

“Plus a couple of sick drop-ins” promises co-founder Rebecca Trent, “and 62 up and coming, local and new and nasty comedians performing in 134 shows.”

At least a dozen performers hail from Vegas. Presale tickets sold out this spring before lineups were announced.

Skankfest Return to Vegas runs September 29 through October 1, with an additional VIP kickoff party for presale buyers September 28 at Backstage Bar & Billiards with a special musical guest. Last year, it was Everlast. Jelly Roll dropped in later; he’s currently touring with his Skankfest Vegas discovery the Goddamn Comedy Jam as openers.

The festival’s path to Vegas has covered 3,000-plus miles. In spring 2016, Gomez emailed co-founders Trent and Christine Evans, informing them “We are doing a festival called Skankfest. That is all.”

Gomez’s NYC-based “Legion of Skanks” podcast—dubbed “the Most Offensive Podcast on Earth”—lent its notoriety to a successful DIY collaboration just six weeks later. Trent’s The Creek and the Cave venue in Long Island City, Queens, hosted early on; the third and fourth years expanded to Brooklyn Bazaar. The festival stayed dark in 2020, followed by 2021’s Skankfest South in Houston and October 2022’s debut of Skankfest Vegas.

As co-owner, executive producer and director, Trent’s responsibilities include booking, programming and logistics, plus wading through submission tapes. Her favorite moment over the years was a

SKANKFEST RETURN TO VEGAS

September 29October 1, times and prices vary, Notoriety, skankfest.com

Some Skankfest moments have fostered controversy, like 2019’s surprise guest Louis C.K. set earning both a standing ovation from attendees and a public apology statement from the venue. While C.K. eventually went on win the 2022 Grammy for Best Comedy Album, Skankfest continued creating opportunities, from the Naked Roast Battle to hero welcomes for filthy forebears Bob Saget and Gilbert Gottfried.

“Everyone says this is the greatest event for comedy now,” says Mattern. “It’s like a perfect marriage. Everyone thinks of Vegas as dirty and disgusting, whether it is or not, so why wouldn’t you have Skankfest there and play it up a little?”

Pauly Shore, who has maintained a Vegas residence “for a couple years,” performed last year and has three sets on tap. The fit between Vegas and edgy comedy, he notes, is a great one.“Downtown lends itself to the Skankfest vibe,” Shore affirms. “They got a good thing going and I’m hoping they are there for a while.”

According to Trent, “Our only goal is to make it bigger better and funnier every year,” though takeaways from 2022 include additional seating, sun coverage, tightened security and a new check-in location with extended hours. All of which only adds to a better festival experience, increased ticket sales and more opportunities for comics to let loose without regulations or notes.

“For a festival that has grown from 300 to 3,000 over the course of a handful of years,” Trent marvels, “we have had surprisingly little issues.”

2018 secret Tough Crowd series reunion with Colin Quinn, Rich Vos, Jim Norton, Bonnie McFarlane and Robert Kelly.

(Courtesy/Troy Conrad)

Victoria Hogan and Stephan Fetterusso inside one of their vintage photo booths (Wade Vandervort/Staff)

ANALOG OBSESSION

Restoring vintage photo booths is a labor of love for local couple

BY GABRIELA RODRIGUEZ

Photo booths are irresistibly nostalgic. The silliness of sitting down and rushing to think up a few poses in a few short seconds makes for some of the most fun images. But the best part is anticipating the nal results and holding onto that little strip of time.

It’s been almost 100 years since Anatol Josepho unveiled the Photomaton in New York City. His machine was revolutionary in that age and is the rst and closest to resembling the photo booths we’ve come to love. Over time, the chances of coming across an analog photo booth have decreased, given the general digital overhaul of society. But a local couple is striving to keep analog alive.

“There’s probably only fty-ish people all over the world that are still maintaining and operating these booths,” says photo booth enthusiast Victoria Hogan. “Especially with the popularity of TikTok and people putting their booths online [with apps], it’s having a moment right now.”

Hogan originally moved to Las Vegas to attend graduate school studying photography with goal of becoming a professor. Although that idea faded, her appreciation for the analog process never wavered.

Her curiosity about photo booths blossomed into business ventures. Photography was a key ingredient in Flora Pop, a pop-up wedding venue that roams Southern Nevada, and more recently as co-owner of the kitschy Sure Thing Wedding Chapel, where she knew a vintage booth would be a perfect addition. And she was right; the attering photostrips have contributed the right mood to the retro-swanky feel of a unique wedding at the Downtown chapel.

What began as a business asset soon turned into a passion for Hogan and her husband Stephan Fetterusso. Under the guidance of experts, the couple became students who dedicated their time and resources to preserving this photographic heritage. They now own, operate

and service three booths at Cornish Pasty Co., Velveteen Rabbit and Sure Thing. And with each machine costing around the same price as a nice used car, this makes for an expensive endeavor.

The developing process is especially complicated considering their booths date back from the 1960s through the 1990s. Fetterusso explains that the inside of the machine is a studio of various moving parts and arms that utilize the dip-and-dunk developing method.

“If something falls slightly out of alignment, it’ll completely mess up the photo studio,” he says. “Sometimes it’s not a big deal, or it becomes a cascading e ect where the booth has to go down for the evening.”

Apart from his occupation as a hairdresser, Fetterusso has fallen in love with the technical maintenance of these machines, and with their surging popularity, it’s possible he will become a photo booth technician full time.

This hobby that morphed into a passion took the couple overseas to the International Photobooth Convention in London in July, where they convened with fellow dip-and-dunk enthusiasts and experts.

For now, Fetterusso and Hogan are enjoying their adopted machines and have plans to propose future photo booths to other businesses and casinos.

“We want to help keep this art form alive,” says Hogan. “When you have an appreciation for analog, I think it’s that much more special, especially for the locals that actually care.”

Instagram.com/vintagevegasphotobooth/

An M14 “dip and dunk” vintage chemical analog photo booth from the 1960s at Cornish Pasty (Wade Vandervort/Sta )

(below) Film strips from photo booths

(Courtesy)

THE FOOD OF FONTAINEBLEAU

FOOD

PAPI STEAK

DON’S PRIME

KOMODO

BY BROCK RADKE

Fontainebleau Las Vegas was originally supposed to open in 2009. Its initial restaurant lineup would have included Hakkasan, which ended up at MGM Grand, and Scott Conant’s Scarpetta, which landed at the Cosmopolitan, as well as offerings from luminary chefs Alfred Portale and Jose Garces.

A new megaresort opening on the Strip is always an exciting time for the Las Vegas culinary scene, but as incredible as that first version of Fontainebleau may have been, the one that’s set to open on December 13 is even more exhilarating. Restaurant trends have changed quite a bit in the last 15 years and the team behind this project is ahead of the curve, by the looks of its lineup of 36 restaurants and bars.

“The Fontainebleau ... boasts an incredible selection of industry veterans who are working tirelessly to bring together experiences Las Vegas has never seen before,” Bryan O’Shields, executive vice president of food and beverage, said in a statement. “We have been able to unite many of Fontainebleau Miami Beach’s famed partners with some of the most culture-defining restaurants from across the globe, bringing Fontainebleau Las Vegas’ vision for a bestin-class food and beverage program to life.”

Among the lineup’s flashiest headliners are Chyna Club, a Cantonese spot from the founders of Hakkasan; a third location of Southeast Asian destination Komodo; Mother Wolf, the Italian favorite from Los Angeles chef and pasta master Evan Funke; and Masa Ito and Kevin Kim’s 63rd-floor, 12-seat omakase dynamo Ito.

But we’re most excited (so far) about Cantina Contramar, an unprecedented collaboration between Chihuahua, Mexico-born chef Gabriela Cámara, Mexico City architect Frida Escobedo (who’s creating a new wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art), and Casa Dragones Tequila founder Bertha González Nieves. This landmark will serve Contramar’s signature dishes and showcase the vast spectrum of Mexican cuisine, and will include a luxurious Casa Dragones tasting room, an experience that hasn’t been created in the U.S. until now.

Fontainebleau will have steakhouses, from the Rat Pack-themed original Don’s Prime to David Grutman and David Einhorn’s Miami hot spot Papi Steak. It will have a food hall, of course, with New York chef Josh Capon’s burger joint and more Miami transplants in El Bagel and Miami Slice. And there will be dim sum from Alan Yau’s Washing Potato, Japanese-style grilling at Kyu, and elegant French and Mediterranean fare at La Côte and La Fontaine.

Don’t expect everything to be open in December when you take your first steps into this 3,644-room resort; restaurants and bars will be unfolding throughout at least the first half of 2024. Sampling the goods and evaluating Fontainebleau’s impact on the Vegas culinary landscape will take much longer, but we’re ready to go to work if you are.

The new resort’s restaurants look like they’ll be worth the wait

Renderings of Fontainebleau’s restaurants and exterior (Courtesy/Fontainebleau, Rockwell Group)

REGRESSION?

ORRESURGENCE

Canelo Alvarez’s fi ght with Jermell Charlo will clarify his standing in boxing’s hierarchy

BY CASE KEEFER

No one would question Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s place at the top of boxing as a draw; plenty would now question his place at the top of boxing from a skills perspective. Stock has dipped on the 33-year-old undisputed super middleweight champion going into his bout against Jermell Charlo, an undisputed champion in his own right at light middleweight, on September 30 at T-Mobile Arena. Alvarez was widely regarded as the top pound-for-pound ghter in the world going into a May 2022 bout against Dmitry Bivol at T-Mobile, but he fell to a shocking unanimous-decision upset defeat in the match.

He’s won twice since then, beating Gennady Golovkin and John Ryder by unanimous decision, but has looked neither as quick nor as powerful as he has at his best. The demand to see Alvarez ght remains, as evidenced by a new three- ght deal with famed boxing adviser Al Haymon reportedly worth $100 million, but he’s now commonly rated somewhere from fourth to seventh in pound-for-pound ratings.

“I like being underestimated,” Alvarez said in a virtual workout and news conference from his training camp. “That’s what makes me excited for this ght.”

Alvarez’s decline would t with the career arcs of many boxers who exit their primes in their mid-30s, though the greatest ghters have often found a way to extend their longevity. Advances in sports science and training techniques have also progressed to the point that some can still compete at a championship level into their 40s.

The bout against Charlo should be telling on whether Alvarez is capable of extending his window as a world-class ghter, because it’s a matchup he should dominate on paper. Alvarez says he’s prepared to do just that by overwhelming Charlo in a similar fashion to the way he cruised past eight straight top contenders before the Bivol loss.

“I understand what people say and I agree—I don’t look my best in my last two ghts,” he said. “But I know why and I’m ready for this ght. We’ll see what’s going to happen. You’re going to see something di erent.”

The biggest change Alvarez has cited is his health. He said he fought through a lingering left hand and wrist injury for years, including in the Bivol bout, before it reached a breaking point in the third, and most recent, match with Golovkin.

Alvarez said he couldn’t make a st without pain against Golovkin. He then underwent surgery to repair the problem and should have allowed it more time to heal, but rushed through recovery to take another bout.

A chance to ght in his native Mexico

for the rst time in 11 years, against Ryder over this year’s Cinco de Mayo weekend, was too much to pass up. Alvarez survived the ght unscathed—winning 32 of a possible 36 rounds on the three judges’ collective scorecards—and says his hand and wrist are now back to normal. The same is true for a meniscus injury that’s hampered him in the past.

“I feel great,” Alvarez said. “This is really one of the best camps I’ve ever had. I feel great to be able to train 100% now with my left hand. That’s made me more con dent. When you train knowing that you’re healthy, you’ll be more con dent in the ght.”

Some have speculated that complacency has crept in with Alvarez considering he’s already banked hundreds of millions of dollars and secured his legacy as a de ning boxer of the era. But he’s taken steps to challenge himself this training camp, namely with the location.

Instead of ghting out of his longtime home of San Diego, he and his team decamped to a more secluded location in Lake Tahoe.

“There are times in a career where you have to change things up,” Alvarez’s longtime trainer Eddy Reynoso said. “The altitude has been great for us here.”

Alvarez admitted to getting winded quickly when he rst started training in Lake Tahoe but has since become accustomed to it and says he can go 12 rounds without breathing heavily. He’s noticeably worn down as recent ghts have stretched on, so improving his cardio could go a long way in showing he hasn’t fallen as far as some are suggesting.

The atmosphere always makes for a spectacle when Alvarez ghts, but he wants to get back to making just as large of an impression inside the ring with his performance.

“I still feel young and fresh,” Alvarez said. “I never think about the end of my career. I just train and ght year after year. I still feel that I’m at my best.”

 Saturday Sept. 30 at T-Mobile Arena

 $84.99 on Showtime pay-per-view

 Tickets: $405-$4,500 on axs.com

 Doors at 2 p.m., pay-per-view card begins at 5 p.m. with main-event ring walks beginning at approximately 8:15 p.m

RAIDERS

Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams (17) pulls in a pass in front of Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Levi Wallace (29) during the first half at Allegiant Stadium on September 24.

(Steve Marcus/ Sta )

■ Last Week: Steelers 23, Raiders 18

A midgame lull and late misguided coaching decision guided the Raiders to a second straight loss and disappointing debut in their home opener. Las Vegas scored first for its third straight game this season when Jimmy Garoppolo hit Davante Adams with a team season-long 32-yard touchdown in the first quarter, but Pittsburgh then scored the game’s next 23 points. The Raiders rallied late but settled for a 26-yard field goal from kicker Daniel Carlson on fourth-and-4 from the 8-yard line with 2:25 remaining instead of going for a touchdown to tie the game. The Steelers then got a first down on their next o ensive possession to all but seal the game, with the Raiders not getting the ball back until 12 seconds remained.

■ This Week: Raiders (1-2) vs. Chargers (1-2)

When: 1:05 p.m., Sunday Oct. 1

Where: SoFi Stadium

TV: KLAS Channel 8

Radio: 920 AM, KOMP 92.3

Betting line: Chargers -4.5, over/under 49

■ Matchup: The defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs look to have gotten back into their rhythm with two straight wins, and the loser of this game will face a giant uphill battle to threaten them in the AFC West. This matchup therefore feels like a crucial game early in the season. The Chargers and Raiders have split their season series in each of the past two years but the gap between the two is perceived wider this year in favor of the former. Third-year Los Angeles quarterback Justin Herbert sits third in the NFL with 939 passing yards through three games, having thrown for six touchdowns to no interceptions. He’ll be a major test for a rebuilt Raiders’ secondary, especially rookie cornerback Jakorian Bennett.

■ Raider to Watch: Defensive tackle/edge rusher Jerry Tillery

The Raiders’ prolonged search to find someone to complement Maxx Crosby and take attention o him on the other side of the defensive line has landed on Tillery. The fifth-year veteran, a former first-round pick by the Chargers, moved from the interior defensive line to the edge frequently in the loss to the Steelers. It didn’t result in any sacks for Tillery but he did supply some pressure. The move makes sense. Tillery is a capable pass rusher but has struggled clogging running lanes—one reason why the Chargers waived him last season, leading to him joining the Raiders. Maybe Tillery can torment his former teammate Herbert from his new spot on the line. –Case Keefer

SAUL “CANELO” ALVAREZ (59-2-2, 39 KOS) VS. JERMELL CHARLO (35-1, 19 KOS)

(left) Jermell Charlo, Canelo Alvarez (AP Photo/Photo Illustration)

RUNNING PROGRAM HELPS YOUTHS FEEL EMPOWERED

BY KATIE ANN MCCARVER VEGAS INC STAFF

Girls on the Run Las Vegas is on the move.

The nonpro t, one of more than 150 o shoots of the national, North Carolina-based organization of the same name, seeks to empower girls and gender-expansive youth in the third through eighth grade to be con dent, caring and connected through new skills, community involvement and physical exercise.

“We have found that, by having this kind of program before they hit middle school, they’re able to really appreciate how unique they are, how amazing they are, and take that into middle school,” said Kate McLaughlin, executive director. “Being con dent enough about who you are allows you to take chances and to grow in a way that you just can’t otherwise.”

The Las Vegas chapter, established in 2011, has expanded from seeing about 600 participants each year to 1,500 this year, said McLaughlin, who attributed the growth spurt to the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it emphasized a need for social and emotional learning.

The program is a 10-week “season” each semester, located at several schools and other community sites around Clark County.

There are typically about 40 teams of up to 20

girls each season, and each team has anywhere from one to ve coaches. They meet twice a week for a new lesson, and the goal at the end of the day is to “share joy,” McLaughlin said, whether that’s through games aimed at making participants laugh or everyone writing down what makes them happy while also exercising.

By the end of each season, teams complete a community service project that they design and execute themselves, as well as a 5K on UNLV’s campus.

“It helps the girls realize that they can make a di erence in this world,” McLaughlin said of the community service project. “They may be little, they may not have any money, they may not have a car or be able to drive—it doesn’t matter. They can still have an impact.”

As for the 5K, it’s not important whether a participant runs, walks or rolls, McLaughlin said. It’s not about who nishes the fastest— just that they cross the nish line.

Girls on the Run Las Vegas Program Manager Alaina Adams called the 5K a community celebration and “big party” for the girls and—oftentimes—their parents who may participate. There’s such a huge sense of accomplishment when they cross the nish line, she said.

“There’s no words,” Adams said. “Every single girl is smiling crossing that nish line,

which is overwhelming. It’s hard not to cry and get emotional at this event.”

The program is dedicated to nipping selfdoubt and negative self-talk in the bud, she said, before it can settle in during adolescence. Each lesson lends itself to helping girls express and manage their emotions in a healthy way, seeing it demonstrated and modeled for them through their lessons and other activities.

Going forward, McLaughlin said, the organization aims to serve an additional 250 girls per year, which will hopefully be made possible through the addition of Camp GOTR—a program it is piloting next summer that will include nance and robotics lessons, among other activities.

The more girls who participate, the more money the organization needs to raise, McLaughlin said. She noted that most of the girls in the program attend schools where the free and reduced-price lunch rate is 70% or higher, and the organization also has a program dedicated to serving parents of color at low-income schools.

Many participants see the cost of the program either discounted or taken care of entirely, McLaughlin said, and she pointed to a partnership with Adidas that allows the organization to provide girls with a pair of adequate running shoes.

The Clark County School District, which McLaughlin said uses some of its COVID-19 funding to pay for afterschool programming of Girls on the Run, and MGM Resorts International also provide substantial funding.

“We’re going to keep growing and serve more sites every year to reach more girls every year,” she said. “And my goal is simply to do that in a way that allows us to grow without tripping over our own feet, because I’m not going to compromise on quality. Every single girl needs to have an incredible experience.”

Kate McLaughlin, executive director of Girls on the Run (Wade Vandervort/Sta )

Check Out These Fun Fall Events At Your Library!

The Sonz Live in Concert

Fri., Sept. 29, at 7 p.m. | Windmill Library

Free Headshot Day

Sat., Sept. 30 at 12 p.m. | East Las Vegas Library

Create a Mini Tecuani Mask with Vanessa Maciel

Sun., Oct. 1 at 2 p.m. | West Charleston Library

Three Square Seniors Community Lunch & Social Hour

Mon., Oct. 2 & Thurs, Oct. 5 at 11 a.m. | East Las Vegas Library

Creative Performances - Theater Workshop for Adults

Mon., Oct. 2 at 11 a.m. | Sahara West Library

Flavio Enchanted Flutes

Tue., Oct. 3 at 1 p.m. | West Las Vegas Library

Rick Arroyo & The Latin Percussion Ensemble

Fri., Oct. 6 at 6:30 p.m. | Windmill Library

Summerlin Library Outdoor Fall Festival

Sat., Oct. 7 from 10a.m. – 2 p.m. | Summerlin Library

Las Vegas Classical Guitar Ensemble in Concert

Sun., Oct. 8 at 3 p.m. | West Charleston Library

Sofia Talvik in Concert

Tue., Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. | Clark County Library

Wed., Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. | Windmill Library

The Dollheads Teen Punk Band in Concert

Thu., Oct. 12 at 5:30 p.m. | Windmill Library

2023 Las Vegas Writes

Thu., Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. | Clark County Library

The Wonderful World of Was — A Musical Dramedy

Thu., Oct. 26 at 6:30 p.m. | Windmill Library

Fri., Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. | Clark County Library

For details on these events, or to see many more events, scan the QR Code or go to TheLibraryDistrict.org.

A Month Of Scary-Fun Events

Just For Teens In Grades 6-12!

Teentober Horror

Video Game Hour

Sun., Oct. 1 at 3 p.m.

East Las Vegas Library

TeenTober Movie

Monday

Mon., Oct. 2 at 3 p.m.

Whitney Library

TeenTober

Decorating Day

Wed., Oct. 4 at 3 p.m.

Whitney Library

Creator Space

Thursdays at 2 p.m.

Oct. 5, 12, 19

Moapa Valley Library

TeenTober Thursday

Thursdays at 4 p.m.

Oct. 5, 12, 19, 26

Sahara West Library

TeenTober Crafternoon

Thursdays at 4 p.m.

Oct. 5, 12

Tuesdays at 4 p.m.

Oct. 17, 24

Meadows Library

TeenTober Art Show

Fri., Oct. 6 at 2 p.m.

Sunrise Library

TeenTober Crafts!

Fri., Oct. 6 at 4 p.m.

Blue Diamond Library

Teen VIP

TeenTober Edition

Saturdays at 3 p.m.

Oct. 7, 14, 21, 28

Spring Valley Library

TeenTober Horror

Video Game Hour

Sundays at 3 p.m.

Oct. 8, 15, 22, 29

East Las Vegas Library

TeenTober Movie

Monday

Mondays at 3 p.m.

Oct. 9, 16, 23, 30

Whitney Library

In the Teen Zone:

Paper Doll Witches

Wed., Oct. 11 at 3 p.m.

Whitney Library

TeenTober: 3D

Pumpkins

Thu., Oct. 12 at 3 p.m.

Windmill Library

Glow in the Dark Party

Thu., Oct. 12 at 4 p.m.

West Las Vegas Library

SCAN FOR EVEN MORE EVENTS FOR TEENS!

BY VEGAS INC STAFF

The Las Vegas Rescue Mission began in 1970 when Pastor Ed Compton and his wife began serving sandwiches to the less fortunate.

It has progressively grown into a large nonprofit, serving those struggling with substance abuse disorder and providing emergency shelter for women and children, men and intact family units.

Today, Heather Engle is CEO of the nonprofit organization, which has a thrift store, full medical clinic and dining hall that serves 1,000 meals daily.

She talked with Vegas Inc about the need for the organization in Southern Nevada, the mission’s goals and how locals can help.

What is the state of homelessness in Southern Nevada, and why are the numbers rising?

The state of homelessness is critical, and the numbers are increasing due to many individual circumstances.

Currently, we do not have the appropriate facilities for those who are suffering from chronic mental illness, and there is not enough dignified safe and children-appropriate housing for families to move into

after we address the circumstance that caused their homelessness.

Affordable housing is a huge issue. Rents are so high, and when you couple that with all of the associated bills, it becomes close to impossible to afford.

What are the other ‘faces of homelessness’ that many people are not aware of?

Homeless youth ages 16 to 24, women with children, and 65- to 75-year-olds. Also, there is the working poor, which involves those who have employment but no housing.

Why are these other groups becoming more prevalent?

Homeless youth can blend in but are a large contributor when it comes to homelessness. They age out of foster care, face addictions, and some of the options for older children who are in Child Protective Services custody are not ideal.

Women with children are also becoming more prevalent. If there is a change in employment or other domestic circumstances, finding housing, daycare, school enrollment and benefits is a hefty lift for them.

Aging adults also have a very hard time. Finding senior care and senior living is expensive and not always or adequately accessible.

Additionally, the working poor are

faced with heavy deposits and first and last month’s rent. Those numbers are so high, and it’s very hard to save for when you are homeless.

How do you accommodate the individuals at the Las Vegas Rescue Mission? What shelter and services are offered to them there?

For those struggling with substance abuse disorder, we have our in-patient Light House Recovery Program.

The emergency shelter is for men, women, women with children, and single fathers.

The Intact Family Program is where we keep the whole family unit together, however they identify as a family.

Explain your capital campaign and the funding goals.

With the demand for services and our growing city, we need to expand, rebuild and remodel the Las Vegas Rescue Mission.

Our buildings are aging, and some are in desperate need of a complete remodel. We will be adding three new buildings, including a new “Shelter of Hope” for women and children, and will increase our recovery beds by 30 as well as our shelter beds.

We will be adding a new chapel, administration offices, security, an

intake building and a new medical clinic. Our funding goal is approximately $35 million.

What are the initial plans and then the long-term plans with the funding from the capital campaign?

We started the campaign three years ago and began raising money two years ago. We will build upon what each phase requires and continue raising money to complete the phases. We are grateful for the businesses and individuals who have stepped up to help us with our goals.

Why is it important for businesses and individuals to be charitable and help local nonprofits like the Las Vegas Rescue Mission?

The Rescue Mission, like many nonprofits, does specialized work. We are in many ways a foundation to the city.

We are all a few paychecks, a lost job, a health and insurance issue, or a tragedy away from a different life. This is where we step in. It is crucial that we have the funding, programming and staffing to grow as the city grows. The need for these services increases rapidly every year. Supporting us and many other agencies is giving back to what has been so freely given, as well as preparing for what you never would expect to happen to anyone.

As needs of Southern Nevada’s unhoused population become more acute, mission of nonprofit crystallizes

Q+A: HEATHER ENGLE

We are all a few paychecks, a lost job, a health and insurance issue, or a tragedy away from a different life. This is where we step in.”

To learn more about Las Vegas Rescue Mission or to donate to its cause, visit vegasrescue.org/donate or call 702-382-1766.

VEGAS INC NOTES

Southwest Medical Hospice Care

Bereavement Coordinator Jeff Long was appointed to Nevada’s Funeral and Cemetery Services Board by Gov. Joe Lombardo. The board protects the health, safety and welfare of the public by regulating the funeral services profession. Long, who will serve a two-year term, has been with Southwest Medical Hospice Care for three years.

Amari Italian Kitchen & Wine Shop is now open for lunch and dinner at UnCommons, the 40-acre urban campus at Interstate 215 and Durango Drive.

Platinum Contracting of Nevada was named to the 2023 Inc. 5000 list, Inc. magazine’s ranking of America’s fastest-growing companies. The general contractor ranked No. 1,894 with a 296% three-year growth rate. It is the only Nevada-based general contractor on the list, earning an industry ranking of 87th,

JOB LISTING

a state ranking of 20th and a metro ranking of 14th.

Ninety-five attorneys from Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck were selected by their peers for inclusion in the 2024 edition of Best Lawyers in America Attorneys from nine of Brownstein’s offices were recognized in 45 law categories ranging from bankruptcy, litigation and gaming to corporate, real estate and government relations. Three Las Vegas-based attorneys received “Lawyer of the Year” recognition, including Adam Segal in the litigation - ERISA category, Ellen Schulhofer for corporate law and Mitchell Langberg in the First Amendment law category.

SR Construction, a full-service design-build general contractor, was named the general contractor of the emergency room at Cadence, an extension of Henderson Hospital

Makers & Finders opened in Henderson at 75 S. Valle Verde Drive #260. This marks the brand’s third location following its original spot in the Arts District and its second location at Downtown Summerlin.

Gilley’s Las Vegas at Treasure Island is now an official venue of the Las Vegas Strip Circuit offering an exclusive threenight viewing package during the racing events November 16-18.

City National Bank named Punam Mathur, executive director of the Elaine P. Wynn & Family Foundation, as a member of its Southern Nevada advisory board. Mathur is a philanthropist expert, speaker, trainer, writer and leader of the Southern Nevada business community. Previously, she was an officer and senior vice president, corporate diversity and community affairs, for MGM Resorts International.

Senior Release Engineer for gaming and technology services company. Requires a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or related field and 5 years’ experience monitoring, building and deploying software release packages in Service Oriented Architecture using Perl, Python, AWS, Azure, Docker and Linux shell scripting including designing, documenting and coding build and release processes for configuration and delivery of source code using Jenkins automation server, Maven artifact management and Perforce control system; developing and maintaining continuous integration (CI) tools that automate processes for software product releases; coordinating related server-side, database and patch releases; designing and maintaining release branches; and troubleshooting release engineering problems; and coordinating production release communications. The position is with IGT headquartered in Las Vegas, NV but allows the individual to live anywhere in the U.S. and work from a home office.

Send resume to IGT by email to Sheila.shovelton@IGT.com Please

JOB LISTING

RF Engineer II sought by DISH Wireless LLC in Las Vegas, NV. Optimize end-to-end RF design, propagation modeling and prediction for deployment of Macro Cell development. Determine equipment and power configurations. Work with eNB/RAN and UE teams on RF solutions. Requires Bachelor’s degree (or foreign equivalent) in Computer Science, Electronics Engineering, or a closely related field plus 5 years Progressive PostBaccalaureate Experience in job offered or similar. 5 years experience with the following (may have been gained concurrently): Designing, Optimization or Operational roles including RF support of Site Acquisition and site construction teams; 4G/5G and NR theory; Macro and small cell nominal and RF designs including development, operations and RF KPIs; Maintenance of RF link budgets for 3GPP technologies; Setting up, calibration, utilization and data processing of various LTE design and optimization equipment and software; Knowledge of Planet or Atoll; Model calibrations; Drive test data postprocessing, map generation, frequency planning, interface matrix analysis and site database maintenance using Windcatcher, Actix or Accuver; and Equipment co-location requirements for multiple operators, performing inter-modulation and other external interference analysis. Employment is contingent on successful completion of a pre-employment criminal background check, which may include a drug test. Annual Salary: $129,771.00. Benefits information available at careers.dish.com.

Apply at careers.dish.com. Ref: [External Ref. # 2023-79967] if applying externally through careers. dish.com; Ref: [Internal Ref. #2023-79966] if applying internally. May also apply by emailing resume with (Ref: [External Ref. #2023-79967]) to tasharedservices@dish.com.

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