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By his fnal four years, he was publicly feuding with Steve Wynn over an old friend of the gaming mogul. That isn’t a criticism of Moran, but it does suggest that sheriffs, like most of us, can stay too long at the fair. • He’s run into a roadblock on what he considers a make-orbreak issue. Gillespie has been trying to win passage of a salestax increase that would help him hire more officers and retain the ones he has. Lawmakers had left the matter to the commissioners, and the commissioners stalled, to Gillespie’s obvious displeasure. He has said he wants to be able to focus more on this particular issue. He may just be telling the truth, but he also may be thinking, “Do I want four more years of a citizen Legislature that meets for a couple of months every other year, county commissioners who seem always to be plotting next elections and a public that tolerates both?” We citizens tend to disdain “career politicians,” presumably because we dislike competence. But a non-politician announces he won’t seek re-election, and speculation immediately begins about the “real” reason he isn’t running. Maybe Gillespie just doesn’t want to. Could it be that simple?
The big news that no one seems to know about is that a new casino has opened. The former Lift bar was transformed in about three weeks into Wildfire Valley View, the fifth in the Wildfire chain. If you know The Lift, you won’t see much that you don’t remember, right down to the same good bartenders. Most noticeably, Barley’s craft beers have been added for $3.50 a pop, and the kitchen has been leased to Tacos El Tenampa. In fact, that’s where the deal is here—nothing on the menu is more than $8, and they serve a pretty mean huevos rancheros for just $4.95. • One thing that’s lost from the Wildfire switch is the great UFC viewing parties that used to run there. Whereas you’ll pay $20$50 to watch pay-per-view telecasts at other venues around town, it was just $10 at The Lift. Not to worry. The baton has been picked up by Home Plate on Blue Diamond Road, where you can also see the UFC’s PPV events for a $10 admission. Home Plate also happens to have one of the best bar kitchens in town. Be sure to try one of the 20 specialty pizzas; the half-pound burgers ($6.99 weekdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.); the fried shrimp, clam, or oyster baskets ($8.99); or the Major League ham & eggs ($10.99) that delivers one of the biggest ham slabs you’ll ever encounter. • Is there a restaurant in town that serves tacos of any sort and hasn’t tried a Taco Tuesday promotion? Probably not, but this one’s different. Naked City Pizza Shop in Moon Doggie’s bar runs its version with a selection of about 20 different tacos, tortas, and “street food” for $6 to $7 each. There are no tame tacos here. Get ready for slow-braised goat, in-house chorizo and cage-free eggs, and Aquachile shrimp. • Here’s one for the gamblers: Get some of the best video-poker advice at any price at Bob Dancer’s free classes on Tuesdays at South Point. Sessions run at noon and 2 p.m. in the showroom (more on this in a future column). • And here are two on the anti-deal side: After several years of holding the line on the excellent $7.77 Gambler’s Special in Mr. Lucky’s, the Hard Rock now requires that you buy a beverage to partake. And while it’s not 100 percent confirmed, it looks like the dollar beers and dogs at Station and Fiesta casinos during football games are half gone: Dogs were a buck, but Budweiser products were $3.50 during the first week of college football. • Good thing Vegas has options. At Mermaids Downtown, a Hamm’s draft is $3. At Fred’s Tavern, a Rolling Rock draft is $2. At the Bighorn Casino, all beers are $1. I feel much better.
Michael Green is a professor of history at the College of Southern Nevada.
Anthony Curtis is the publisher of the Las Vegas Advisor and LasVegasAdvisor.com.
Take This Badge Off of Me, I Can’t Use It Any More
September 5–11, 2013
Why isn’t Sherif Doug Gillespie running for re-election?
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MANY SOUTHERN NEVADANS were shocked—shocked!—by Sheriff Doug Gillespie’s recent announcement that he wouldn’t seek reelection, and among the chattering classes the speculation began almost immediately as to why he was putting down the badge. Here are several possibilities: • He may just be tired of politics. After rising through the ranks, he became undersheriff for his predecessor and friend Bill Young in 2003. His record may have revealed a talent for offce politics. But retail politics—gladhanding and lobbying—are different and require different skills. Gillespie certainly never looked like he enjoyed that part of the job. Indeed, he didn’t even get into his frst race in 2006 in the usual manner: Young had decided to run again and suddenly announced a change of heart, as Gillespie recently did. • It was going to be a long, hard campaign. Gillespie and Metro have been through some rough times, sometimes of their own making. Gillespie overturned the Use of Force Review Board, which gained power after considerable fak about Metro’s record on that issue. (The board wanted an offcer fred after shooting an unarmed man in the leg.) Critics saw him, rightly or wrongly, as doing the police union’s bidding or as too loyal to his troops. In turn, several
board members resigned and one of them, former Metro offcer Ted Moody, made noises about challenging him. None of this may have inspired Gillespie’s decision, and he knows criticism comes with the territory, but as he told George Knapp, he didn’t see himself wanting to go full-throttle for another four years. • Perhaps Gillespie is a little tired of Metro, however much he loves and wants to protect his fellow offcers. Even if he didn’t give a helicopter ride to a member of Guns N’ Roses, among other embarrassments, the buck stops with him, and he may have had a bellyful. As both a professional and an elected offcial, he faces standards and expectations that a legislator or county or city politician wouldn’t have to meet. • Term limits are bad, but two terms may be the reasonable limit for a sheriff. Ralph Lamb had the job for nearly 18 years (1961-79). While television shows and longtime residents often are nostalgic for the tough sheriff who ruled the town, he also faced a lot of explicit and implicit attacks. His successor, John McCarthy, lost his race for a second term to John Moran, who had been Lamb’s top aide. Moran served three terms.
ILLUSTRATION BY JESSE SUTHERLAND
TACOS, UFC PARTIES AND WATERED-DOWN SPECIALS
THE LATEST
Cultivating a Dream District An architect redraws an urban neighborhood as the Las Vegas Food District— and reminds us of the power of thinking big
September 5–11, 2013
by Nora Burba Trulsson
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WHEN DAVID BAIRD thinks about revitalizing central Las Vegas, he doesn’t have the usual visions of shiny condos or craft breweries flled with hipsters. Instead, he thinks farming. As in growing food to create jobs, foster a sense of community and feed people. Baird’s no bar-stool philosopher, nor is he simply espousing a community garden on an empty Downtown lot. He’s an architect and the leader of a team that has proposed a massive speculative project that would—if approved, funded and built—replace a faltering area with a high-density, transit-oriented, walkable, ecofriendly and socially conscious development that has foodcultivation at its core. The multibillion-dollar vision, dubbed the Las Vegas Food District, would cover 110 acres just north of the Las Vegas Country Club that the Clark County Redevelopment Agency has declared a blighted, underutilized area. It’s dotted with old, low-rise apartment buildings, the Commercial Center District, fast-food outlets and a smattering of empty lots. The project was born a year ago when Nevada Community Foundation President Gian Brosco visited several nonprofts clustered in the area and was struck by the transformative possibilities of the space. “There has to be a paradigm shift in community giving,” says Brosco, whose organization houses approximately 150 charitable funds created by local philanthropists. In a lightbulb moment, he thought of Baird, the director of UNLV’s School of Architecture and a neighbor whose private practice specializes in innovative green architecture. Brosco asked Baird to generate a proposal to address not only redevelopment, but also social needs. “David’s a blank canvas, without preconceived notions,” Brosco says. “He
A rendering of the proposed Las Vegas Food District, which would include a 750,000-square-foot rooftop farm.
doesn’t come from a social services background.” With funding from JP Morgan Chase, Baird’s team completed the Food District proposal this summer. The plan includes one long, four-story building that angles its way through the site, creating park and open spaces, bicycle and pedestrian pathways, courtyards and a marketplace. The frst foor is designed for retail and civic spaces, the second for a mix of offce and residential, and the third and fourth foors for residential units. Parking and service areas are tucked below ground. Solar arrays, geothermal systems, natural ventilation and lighting strategies, and passive solar design are part of the package. The plan’s most remarkable element, though, is its 750,000-square-foot rooftop farm. It would address both Downtown’s food desert (lack
of easily available fresh foods), and residents’ need for social engagement, learning and jobs. Baird envisions residents both volunteering and being paid to grow food on the farm, and food being shared or sold to the community, or even marketed to restaurants on the Strip. “Food and farming provide a range of job and training opportunities,” Baird says. “You can employ skilled and non-skilled workers.” The rooftop farm is far more than a handful of tomato and pepper plants. The designers envision a 21st-century, climate-sensitive, regenerative operation, complete with aquaponics, tilapia ponds, water harvesting and composting. Baird sees the Food District as more than just a green development; to him, it’s a social experiment. Standing staunchly against gentrifcation, he prefers instead to fold the existing
population into the project. The housing component mixes market-rate and subsidized units side by side to avoid pockets of high-end or cheap spaces. The units are fexible, allowing simple construction to morph studios into multibedroom dwellings. Baird describes it as the only place in Las Vegas where he could imagine the elderly, UNLV students, returning veterans and those who want the urban experience living together. In addition, the retail and offce spaces would include social services already available in that neighborhood. In the proposal, the most prominent retail space belongs to the Goodwill store. Before the proposal was even complete, the project won an American Institute of Architects Nevada chapter Unbuilt Design Award. Now that the design is done, it’s in the hands of Brosco and the Nevada Community
Foundation, which will begin presenting it to private and governmental entities. At present, there is no funding to build the project. Brosco says the real victory was getting the proposal done so that it can spark community discussions. “If lightning strikes, and one of our donors says they’ll give us the money to build this,” he says, “then of course we’ll do it. But it’s not about the building per se; it’s about looking at every community project through this lens: How do we help the whole community?” Baird acknowledges his ambitious dream may never be realized, but he’s happy to expand the bounds of the community’s imagination and provide a template to borrow from and build upon. “This is not that far-fetched, though,” he adds, “and, of course, we’d love to see it built. But then, again, we have to think, ‘What is possible?’”
September 5–11, 2013
THE LATEST
STYLE
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The Anderson family enjoys Downtown living after relocating from Summerlin. Their home offers contemporary design and furnishings while staying true to its midcentury-modern style neighborhood.
***** Collaborating with builder Trinity Haven Development, Palacios sketched out an Hshaped foor plan that followed the home’s existing foundation, placing bedrooms in one wing and the great room/kitchen in the other. He expanded the original 1,900-square-foot plan by 800 feet, adding a TV room behind the master suite and Shanna’s offce (which doubles as guest quarters), as well as a bathroom and laundry off the great room. The original carport became the garage. Part of the task was to transform the house while respecting its roots. “We didn’t want to build a two-story McMansion in this one-story neighborhood,” Ian says. “We wanted the house to be modest and respectful of the area.” Palacios, in turn, made it a priority to stay true to the original house and the midcentury-modern style of the neighborhood. He raised and angled the roofine, adding a sense of volume to the interior and capturing morning light with clerestory windows. Toward the street, the home is serenely modern, giving away nothing except an interplay of wood fencing, honed block cladding and smooth, gray-blue stucco walls. Inside, window walls and doors open to courtyards and the backyard, fooding the interior with light. Porcelain tile fooring and deeply hued walnut millwork provide a backdrop for the Andersons’ collection of classic, midcentury furniture, lighting and modern artwork, including pieces by Ian’s father, Arizona artist Michael Anderson.
September 5–11, 2013
*****
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Since moving into the house on Valentine’s Day, the Andersons have come to love the lifestyle their home affords. Mornings, the couple and their children— Ryder, 3, and Sloan, 1—hang out in the airy kitchen and great room. Ian drives less than fve minutes to work, and Shanna works from her bright home offce. Weekends, the house is usually flled with family and friends, who come for barbecues and pool parties in the grassy backyard. “This house is really great for family and for entertaining,” Ian says. “I’ve met more of my neighbors here in a few months than in 12 years in Summerlin. We don’t fnd many reasons to leave Downtown these days.”
NIGHTLIFE
Let’s Get Digital
Digitalism’s Isi dishes on the record store days, touring as a band, commercial success and the truth about big labels By Sam Glaser
ISMAIL “ISI” TÜFEKCI and Jens “Jence” Moelle form the German house duo Digitalism. They’re signed to the infuential French multi-label Kitsuné and have an impressively evolving body of original productions that bridges indie- and electro-house alongside offcial remixes for giants including Daft Punk, Depeche Mode and White Stripes. See Digitalism live September 14 at Body English and listen to their new EP, Lift, which dropped August 26 on Beatport.
September 5–11, 2013
Isi, you and Jence met 10 years ago when he was working at a record store and you were a frequent customer. What’s most memorable from those early days? Actually, it was really exciting because this record store was popular for house music. Me and Jence got quite bored fast, so the most exciting thing was when we got Crydamoure and Roulé Records [labels founded by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter, respectively, both of Daft Punk fame], all the French sounds. Then DFA Records came out with all of the indie stuff, and we just said, “Wow, that’s a really big moment.”
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You guys record out of a World War II-era bunker in Hamburg, Germany. What’s unique and special about that setup? The special thing about the studio is we don’t have any windows, so we don’t know what’s going on outside. You can go during the day or during the night, and you don’t have the time pressure—it’s totally timeless. You jump between DJ sets as a duo and live shows as a band. How do you decide which is appropriate? Everything was learning by doing. We are DJs and we can play as a full band, and I think both things are important. When we are going to the studio and have these short loops, we can go to the clubs to DJ and try it out. If you are playing live, that is a bit more
diffcult. When we are DJing we are playing our favorite tracks. If we are playing live we are playing our own songs, no other tracks from other people. But you need both things to get this vibe that makes it much, much more exciting than just to be playing live or just to be playing DJ. We’ll go back into the studio, then put out an album and then back to playing live. You have tracks featured in ads for FIFA and BMW plus video games and TV shows. As a big FIFA fan yourself, what does it mean to have this (literally) commercial success? Video games are like a new radio channel, and producers are creating music for the games. It’s an honor to be there, because these guys have really good taste. You’re getting another chance to get new listeners. It’s an honor that someone is picking up your tracks for advertising and you’re growing as a band, because you’re getting some attention you might never get. It’s also really good advertising for the band itself. Your debut album was released by several different brands: Kitsuné, Toshiba, EMI, Astralwerks and Virgin. Describe the process for selecting record labels. A lot of people think that it’s many different record labels, but in the end it’s not. Astralwerks is a part of EMI Music. You get some artists who like independent labels, so they go to Astralwerks but then have the same power as EMI. What
Meet Digitalism: Ismail “Isi” Tüfekci (left) with Jens “Jence” Moelle.
we did was all the tracks were licensed from Kitsuné to EMI, because the major labels have this major power to reach more people, put you on the radio, or to place you in some certain places you would never get the chance to be. These days dance music is so big that these labels open up again with the same names. The labels are almost 20 years old and nobody knows about this. Can you explain the story behind Kitsuné’s multiformat label?
When I started in distribution at the record store they had records with this amazing style artwork. Then we met [Kitsuné founders] Gildas and Masaya. They said they were not only doing music, they were also doing fashion. I said, “Wow that’s interesting; it’s a kind of lifestyle.” Lifestyle means fashion, music, art and magazines, and Kitsuné
had these already. Fashion is a part of music, and music is a part of fashion, and art is the same. Without any art background you would never design something nice, and I think music helps to develop these things. It was interesting to see how Kitsuné grew fashion and music with the same label, everything with an artsy side.
”Right now is the best time to put out music.” Find out why at VegasSeven.com/Digitalism.
NIGHTLIFE
Mighty MAKJ
XS’ newest resident could very well be the Next Big Thing By David Morris
MACKENZIE “MAKJ” JOHNSON is the latest addition to the XS roster. “He’s someone who’s getting a lot of buzz and putting out some amazing content,” says Robbert van de Corput (better known as Hardwell) of the young DJ who closed for him following a recent L.A. show. MAKJ’s also been working in the studio with David Guetta and Nicky Romero. The 23-year-old up-and-coming producer (also a Tryst resident) is set to open and close for Avicii’s next four dates at XS (someone at Wynn really loves “LE7ELS”) on September 7, 15, 21 and 28. You started DJing at 15, right? I was living in Macau, China, at the time while I was racing cars professionally.
So that was the early 2000s? Yes, there was a whole group of us starting out: Jesse Marco, Marshall Barnes and Paul Purman [DJ Politik]. I
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You worked with the late DJ AM early on. With Adam? Yes. It was cool because I used to do a lot of edits, and we worked on a few together. This was right as the whole DJ thing was starting to take off, but I never really thought that this could become a career until Hardwell frst played one of my mashups on his radio show. I thought that was really cool, and I hit him up after getting his contact information and sent him some more stuff. I got really lucky in that some of these major DJs were like, “Oh, let me hear some of your stuff.”
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Wait—what? I was really, really intense with racing from age 8 until 17, 18. My stepdad [Steven Ferrario] has a pretty solid name in the racing industry, and he’s won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France three times. He kind of wanted someone in the family to go into racing, and what kid doesn’t want to drive a fucking gokart? So he took me go-karting and the rest was history. But with the economy it was really expensive to race in the states, so moving to China was the next best thing.
actually used to be a hip-hop DJ, and played at 1 Oak in New York with Jesse. Not a lot of people know that I used to play hip-hop, and that’s why I feel like the stuff I produce is so accessible and it’s so friendly for DJs to use. I try to make music that is quick and to the point, so that the crowd doesn’t get bored. Sometimes I feel that everyone who goes to a club has ADD; they want to hear more and more, and that’s why someone like Diplo has progressed so quickly. Because a majority of these people who go to the clubs love to hear everything, and he does that so well. People don’t want to just hear a fve-minute trance song. They get bored. How do you make a lasting impression on the crowd when you are only dropping shorter samples? I play for the crowd, I don’t play for myself—it’s as simple as that. You go to a place and you have to cater to the crowd. One person could have a bad day, one person could have stepped on dog shit when they walked into the club, and that just sets their mood for the whole night. So if you cater to the crowd and they enjoy themselves, then they’re going to walk out the door and be like, “I had a great night after I stepped in dog shit.” The majority of these big DJs don’t do that. But only the biggest headliners can get away with that. I don’t want to degrade myself, but I’m still a no-name when it comes down to the
general-market masses. And when I go to XS, I still have to play for the crowd, and I enjoy that. I enjoy taking risks. When I started at Tryst, every time I played there I thought how I could best engage the crowd. I looked at it like a challenge, and I think [XS and Tryst managing partner] Jesse [Waits] saw that. He came and saw me on Thursday nights and was like, “You’re not playing for yourself, you’re playing for the crowd, and I love that.” I play to the crowd, and I want them to leave knowing they had a great time. Hardwell has been dropping your new single “Hakaka”
a lot. What does the name mean? It’s a weird story about the name. You’ve seen Ace Ventura, right? Somebody goes “Hakaka laka.” I was just watching it one day and needed a name for a song and saw that. I think the term actually means “a good fght” in ancient Hawaiian or Polynesian. I really did the track as a producer track to show people that I can produce something other than the typical hard-style songs that are big nowadays. It’s simple
and has a big kick with a really basic lead, and I’ve received a lot of support from Thomas Gold, Hardwell, Axwell, the Nervo girls and even Michael Woods! “Hakaka” was actually released on Michael’s label, which is really cool because he doesn’t release a lot of stuff on his label. It’s very boutique, and Michael has a really, really picky ear about what he releases. It has to kind of sound like his stuff, but when I played him the track he said he was blown away!
“I couldn’t have picked a better person to walk through that door that day.” Find out who MAKJ is talking about at VegasSeven.com/MAKJ.
NIGHTLIFE
PARTIES
REHAB
Hard Rock Hotel [ UPCOMING ]
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See more photos from this gallery at SPYONVegas.com
PHOTOS BY TEDDY FUJIMOTO
September 5–11, 2013
Sept. 6 Summer Camp Fridays Sept. 7 Nectar Saturdays featuring Cafe Con Leche Sept. 9 Relax Mondays
NIGHTLIFE
PARTIES
MARQUEE DAYCLUB The Cosmopolitan [ UPCOMING ]
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See more photos from this gallery at SPYONVegas.com
PHOTOS BY POWERS IMAGERY
September 5–11, 2013
Sept. 6 Digital Lab Spins Sept. 8 Mord Fustang Spins Sept. 13 Feenixpawl spins
NIGHTLIFE
PARTIES
DAYLIGHT Mandalay Bay [ UPCOMING ]
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See more photos from this gallery at SPYONVegas.com
PHOTOS BY BOBBY JAMEIDAR
September 5–11, 2013
Sept. 7 Otto Knows spins Sept. 8 Nathan Scott spins Sept. 14 Thomas Gold spins
The Beer NuT The fabulous Banger boys: Fischella, Quiogue, Beaman, Longwith and Mendoza.
September 5–11, 2013
for a late-October opening, offering fresh draft beers, growler flling and keg sales, as well as guest taps for fellow local brewing companies. At the 10-seat bar, you can munch on gourBy Xania Woodman met popcorn while sipping Banger’s year-round portfolio, recipes they’ve road-tested at beer festivals, including The SLoTZiLLa ZipLiNe project is bearing the fagship Perfect 10 Pale Ale, Sandia down on the east portal to the FreWatermelon Wheat, Session Blonde, El mont Street Experience canopy, but Heffe Jalapeño Hefeweizen, A Hoppy that’s not the only new construction Ending IPA and an unnamed brown on the block. Adjacent to that steel ale. Beer being one of the most opentower, Banger Brewing Co. is making source of alcoholic beverages, free good on its plan (“The Banger Gang,” daily tours will keep the conversation Sept. 9, 2011) to bring fresh, locally fowing. “People love to drink it, but made beer to Downtown. And it not everyone knows how it’s made,” doesn’t get any fresher than this. Fischella says. When I recently visited the NeoA three-barrel brewhouse and fve nopolis location, all fve of the Banger seven-barrel fermenters are set to arBrewing guys were on hand, as was a rive later this month, and construction parade of electricians, inspectors and is moving at a brisk pace, but as the contractors. Roberto Mendoza (marBanger boys are fnding out, it’s not all keting), Nick Fischella (fnance), Marc beer and roses. The property they have Longwith (distribution leased is still tied into the and brand development), plumbing and electrical Michael “Banger” Beagrid of neighbors Krave BaNger BrewiNg Co. Massive, Drink & Drag man (head brewer) and Eddy Quiogue (operaand the Heart Attack 450 Fremont St., Suite tions) met while working Grill. Turn on the Grill’s 135, BangerBrewing.com. in Bellagio restaurants, bathroom light and and have remained tight, something at Banger fips home-brewing from on—surprises have lurked Longwith’s home and saving personal behind every surface. The brewery sits funds as well as bringing on investors, atop a parking garage, so they don’t including the Downtown Project, to technically own their foors, and they help bring their collective dreams of don’t own what’s above it either. owning a brewery into reality. That But they’re not going it alone. it’s actually happening might surprise Consultant Jim DiFiore spent more a few local skeptics, but if any of the than two decades as business license guys is shocked or intimidated, he’s manager for the City of Las Vegas, not showing it. “I’d like to have the responsible for oversight of the mayor pour the frst pint!” Fischella administration and enforcement declares. Hiring begins at 10 a.m. of business license codes. And he’s September 8 and 9. helping the guys navigate Las Vegas’ Banger Brewing Co. has signed a often-changing business licensing fve-year lease for 3,000 square feet waters. “He’s been like an uncle along on the ground foor of the former the way for us,” Mendoza says. “But Jillian’s entertainment complex with not the crazy uncle, the cool one,” two fve-year extension options. The Fischella counters. “And whatever we glassed-in working microbrewery and don’t know,” Longwith says, “we’re industrial-feeling barroom is on track just going to learn.”
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Photo by Anthony MAir
BaNger BrewiNg: Too LegiT To QuiT
Zumanity host to the audience: “You want to fuck my wife? It’s OK. Everybody does. Everybody has.” •••
VEGAS SEVEN
September 5–11, 2013
Well, OK, maybe some trashiness. We said Zumanity didn’t ZUMANITY wallow in trashiness. We didn’t say New York-New it excluded it. There York, 7:30 and is simple screwing 10 p.m. Fri-Tue, and there is making $69 and up, love, and in its tone, 740-6815, Zumanity acknowlNewYorkNewedges both. York.com, Offcially openCirqueDuSoing September 20, leil.com. 2003, Zumanity marked Cirque’s third entry on the Las Vegas Strip (now up to eight). At the time of its creation by René Richard Cyr and Dominic Champagne, Cirque CEO Guy Laliberté noted that he envisioned a concept that would depart from the Cirque formula so as not to cannibalize the acts and appeal of Mystère at Treasure Island and O at Bellagio, both of which preceded it. Structurally, the production plays like a risqué cabaret rooted in the European decadence of the 1930s, in a theater constructed with intimacy in mind and featuring less of Cirque’s trademark sky-high balletics. 74 Yet in its naughty, bawdy, sumptuously mounted celebration of sex—peppered with distinctly “adult” audience interaction not found at other Cirque productions—it is, metaphorically, all
Characters including Faun (left) and Molinere get the sensual juices flowing.
about soaring via the pleasures of the fesh. Unlike Cirque’s familyfocused entries, Zumanity (restricted to theatergoers 18 and older) features several topless female performers, while most other cast members are either semi-nude or trussed up in provocative costuming, including fshnets, corsets, cone bras, velvet, leather and feathers—and prosthetic genitals. Entering a theater encased by red velvet walls—creating the aura of the world’s plushest redlight district—patrons are eased into the amorous atmosphere by characters who wander the front rows, their leering comeons and blunt sex spiel making for a hilariously lewd warm-up. In this show element, Zumanity does resort to sexual bluntness. Flirting relentlessly, a gigolo named Antonio invites women to spank him, while married “sex therapists”—suave Frenchman “Dick” (’natch) and his dizzy wife, Izzy—make the rounds, he shopping around his assets, she in search of a boyfriend. (This is where Dick facetiously offers up the missus for guest copulation.) Wielding twin dildos, he hands one to another man and engages in “cockfghting.” Subtler eroticism unfolds
around them, though, as other characters wander wordlessly behind them to enhance the mood, including a woman draped in furs, striking a Marlene Dietrich-like pose as she prowls the stage. Formally kicking off the festive foray into the erotic arts, drag queen Edie, the show host and “Mistress of Sensuality,” schmoozes bawdily with the crowd. “Sex is beautiful, isn’t it?” she says. “Well, it is if you’ve got a partner. Or two.” Spotting a gay contingent in the crowd, she quips: “Was Donny & Marie sold out?” Consider this foreplay before Zumanity sensuously makes love to its audience. Among the riveting expressions of passion: “Hand 2 Hand,” in which two acrobats, male and female, intertwine, powerful athleticism transforming into lust; “Midnight Bath,” in which another couple in a tub use cascades of milk in a luscious, liquid caress of each other’s bodies; and the gay-oriented “2 Men,” as the male acrobats circle and embrace each other in a hot tango, escalating in sexual tension. Highlighting Zumanity are two breathtaking sequences. In “Waterbowl,” two female acrobats splash around in a giant
champagne glass, contorting into erotically charged forms that seem to challenge the limits of the human body. And in “Straps,” a female performer bound in bondage gear ascends higher and higher in a frenzy of self-inficted pleasure and pain, teasing and torturing herself to the soundtrack of her own ecstatic moans. Climaxing Zumanity, “Orgy” brings out the entire cast for a sensual buffet of writhing and faux-lovemaking on a lazy Susan-style platform, as two audiences members are coaxed onstage to join the carnal romp. ••• Daring and nonconformist, Zumanity boldly addresses much of the sexual spectrum beyond mainstream heterosexuality, treating grownups like grownups, and sex as a gift in all its stimulating, satisfying permutations. Yet in its abstract, idealized presentation of sexuality as if in a fever dream, it removes the frank reality of those “alternative” elements. Curious but less adventurous showgoers can be titillated by sexual predilections that extend beyond their own experiences, while not driven to discomfort. Call it safe entertainment sex.
Not that Zumanity whitewashes the down-and-dirtier Vegas. Recent news reports detailing how the Las Vegas Sands Corp. is trying to evict the nightclub The Act, alleging onstage vulgarity—including performers simulating urinating and defecating on each other, as well as bestiality—reminds us of that. Absinthe at Caesars Palace overfows with low-brow, freewheeling sex antics, such as co-host Penny Pibbets’ hilariously obscene sock puppets. Porn videos are still a signifcant export for us, and that industry’s climactic night—the breast-baring, profanity-polluted AVN Awards—still invades Vegas annually. In fact, Zumanity, in an unfortunate decision, performed a segment at the last one. Even so, it was the televised show’s only moment of genuine eroticism. Treating sex as the foundation for artistry, Zumanity isn’t about “sin” in this city. It’s about pleasure. One decade in, this highly stylized production can still—pardon the euphemism— rise to the occasion. Like an experienced lover, it still surprises and satisfes, turning you on without grossing you out. When it’s over, cuddle with the memory and enjoy the afterglow.
PHOTOS BY MATILDA TEMPERLEY
A&E
in a country that has—in entertainment terms—long been moving toward the nickname Sin Nation. Remember, America: Countries that live in glass houses … Given its scope and longevity, combining carnality and artistry via Cirque’s resources and imagination, Zumanity has earned status as Las Vegas’ signature representation of sex-based entertainment. Leaping beyond our erotic-revue teases (Crazy Girls, Fantasy, the just-closed Peepshow, etc.), it has proven that Vegas can do no-blush, big-scale sexiness without wallowing in trashiness, yet still thrill the pants and pantsuits off of us. Sexiness—even sprinkled with coarseness—is not necessarily sleaziness, and can be much more, as exhibited by the exhibitionists of Zumanity. After all, sex is, in itself, an art. (Well, if you do it right.) •••
Music
Minus the Bear brings their ear-friendly math-rock to the Cosmo.
September 5–11, 2013
Punk radio, BriTish GoTh, seaTTle MaTh
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TiMe flies when you’re corrupting listeners with Vegas punk and raunchy segments that involve guests guzzling hooch from the anuses of blow-up dolls. For Double Down Radio co-host Steve “The Producer” Fodor, it’s all in a half-decade’s duty. Double Down Radio celebrates its fiveyear anniversary with a live-music lineup at—where else?—Double Down Saloon at 10 p.m. September 6. Bands include Geezus Cryst & Free Beer, Stagnetti’s Cock, Pet Tigers and Tiger Sex. LIVE! From the Double Down Saloon podcasts 8-10 p.m. Fridays, with a 24/7 online stream of local music mixed in with established artists. “When I started, I didn’t know what I was doing,” Fodor says. “It’s been like a college education, and the show has grown into a nice little weed.” With 7,000 unique listeners tuning in every month from all over the world, Double Down Radio, co-hosted by Ron Mione, continues to sprout. The show spawned a separate podcast by musician and Vegas reality-TV star (and early DDR co-host) Rob Ruckus. I’ll raise a shot of sex-doll liquor to that! LVCS hosts a showcase night at 9 p.m. September 7 with a lineup of Vegas and California hard-rock bands—Permacrush, Gorilla Head, Crazy Cole & the Bar Flyz, Missing Blind and Nothing More. The headliner, however, is L.A.-based industrialmetal act Madlife, who sound, to my ears, like a cross between Ministry and Linkin Park. In other words, Madlife is aggressive yet unafraid to deliver hooks. The band’s latest single, the catchy “Just One Gun,” deserves to be played on what’s left of ter-
restrial rock radio, and I’d bet Madlife is a lively bunch in the flesh. Their just-released album, 21st Century Megalomaniac, is also ideal music to cathartically blast while watching bad things develop on the geopolitical stage (Syria, etc.). English goth-rock legend The Mission UK usurp LVCS at 9 p.m. September 11. The band formed in 1985, comprising ex-members of Sisters of Mercy. While Sisters and its album Floodland went on to find commercial success in the late ’80s, The Mission UK stayed closer to the underground. Its best CD remains its first, God’s Own Medicine, with hard-charging anthem “Wasteland.” (Interestingly, the members of The Mission UK remain pals and still tour with The Cult, which changed styles to become a hard-rock act. See this week’s Tour Buzz on Page 91 for details on The Cult’s show.) The Mission UK disbanded in the ’90s, re-formed, disbanded again, then reunited in 2011 to celebrate their 25th anniversary. The group releases a new album this month. Seattle-based math-rock band Minus the Bear adds its powerhouse guitar sound to the Boulevard Pool at the Cosmopolitan at 9 p.m. September 12. The Bear is touring in support of its released-this-week Acoustics II EP, which offers two unplugged songs and eight reimagined classics from a group that’s been around for a dozen-plus years. This band is a very sophisticated indie ensemble, bordering on prog-rock at times. But lead singer Jake Snider always keeps things melodic and engaging, so you needn’t worry about any prolonged hippie-dippie jams. Your Vegas band releasing a CD soon? Email Jarret_Keene@Yahoo.com.
concerts a&e
MGMt
This was the first time MGMT played Las Vegas, and the psych-pop duo treated it as such. “Tonight we are showbiz men, here for your entertainment,” frontman Andrew VanWyngarden told the crowd early on. Aided by Ben Goldwasser on keyboards and four other musicians, MGMT played 16 songs over 95 minutes, pulling the best tracks from their first two albums, as well as four songs from their upcoming selftitled release. The new songs—such as the playful, cowbell-thumping “Your Life Is a Lie,” the trippy “Alien Days” and the dark drone of “Mystery Disease”—were more in line with their acclaimed 2007 debut Oracular Spectacular than follow-up Congratulations, which was less poppy than its predecessor. Playing the Cosmo pool one night after the band’s appearance at Los Angeles’ FYF Fest, MGMT explored the full breadth of their sound, from the slow, spacy “I Found a Whistle” to the funky groove of “Electric Feel” to the meandering 12-minute “Siberian Breaks.” A video backdrop behind the band provided colorful images both frantic and soothing, texturing songs such as the galloping “Of Moons, Birds and Monsters” and the harpsichordfueled “Weekend Wars.” Hits such as “Time to Pretend” and “Kids” were greeted with a sea of camera phones, held aloft as the songs’ swirling, hypnotic melodies penetrated the crowd. While MGMT has often been criticized for being disengaged during their live performances, on this night they were indeed showbiz men. ★★★★✩ – Sean DeFrank
Black saBBath September 5–11, 2013
MGM Grand Garden Arena, September 1
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Maybe these guys really are some sort of sorcerers. That has to explain how Black Sabbath can still sound this beautifully menacing and innovative nearly 45 years after laying the foundation for heavy metal. From the imposing opening riff of “War Pigs” to the closing frenzy of “Paranoid,” they covered 16 songs over two hours—12 coming from their first four albums, and three coming from new release 13, Sabbath’s first album featuring Ozzy Osbourne since 1978. Ozzy was flanked by original members Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler, all of them dressed entirely in black, rallying the crowd with his constant shouts of “I can’t fucking hear you!,” still emitting his Prince of Darkness persona at age 64, even if he occasionally fell out of tune or had to rely on a teleprompter. There was no such slippage from Iommi or Butler, though. You surely couldn’t tell Iommi has been battling lymphoma since early last year as the guitarist excelled on “Into the Void” and “Behind the Wall of Sleep,” while Butler’s bass propelled songs such as “Under the Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes” and “N.I.B.” A lengthy solo by touring drummer Tommy Clufetos—replacing original member Bill Ward, who is absent from the tour because of contract disputes—late in the show allowed the old guys to take a break, but they returned refreshed for a finale that included the iconic “Iron Man,” new track “God Is Dead?” and “Children of the Grave,” sounding as timeless as ever. Maybe you just can’t kill evil. ★★★★✩ – Sean DeFrank
MGMT PhoTo by Erik kabik/ rETna/ Erikkabik.coM; black SabbaTh PhoTo by WaynE PoSnEr
Boulevard Pool at the Cosmopolitan, August 26
stage
to persuade me it was the greatest evening of theater since Sophocles awaited opening-night reviews at Sardi’s. Debuts of Rock of Ages, Million Dollar Quartet and Priscilla Queen of the Desert were so streaked with roars of rapture from local promoter types that I suspected they were recording audio loops for porn videos. Perhaps not. Porn sounds are subtler. Most publicists/promoters are dignifed and professional, and suffering the few yahoos goes with my job, for which many would kill. No doubt their braying subconsciously suggests to some theatergoers that what they just saw was better than they thought, and that their post-show raves should be passed along to the guy one slot machine over. Fortunately, I cannot be swayed by calculated fakefan frenzy. Rest assured of the integrity of this column’s reviews. However, after decades as a critic, my cynicism goes deeper than Coco Austin’s cleavage, so take that with a mountain of salt. STRIP POSTSCRIPT: Speaking of which … Vegas is suffering partial mammary loss. One of the Strip’s breast shows, Planet Hollywood’s Peepshow, emptied its tankers of silicone and vamoosed on September 1. Rumors persist, however, that it will resurface elsewhere. Not to cheer its departure—it improved via star Coco’s bosomy charms, personally and anatomically. Yet we must congratulate her costumes, which strained to contain her basketball-size orbs and rollercoaster curves. Had her costumes been people, they’d be in traction. Got an entertainment tip? Email Steve.Bornfeld@VegasSeven.com.
September 5–11, 2013
HaHaHaHaHa! Woo-Hoo-Hooooo! Go! Go! Go! Oh my Gaaaawd, that is absolutely hiLAR-ious! YEEEEAAAAH!!! Pardon my impertinence, but would you kindly SHUT THE HELL UP? No, I’ve never had the stones to say that to a production’s publicist or various show personnel at a performance, their attempts to juice up audience energy—and media enthusiasm—sometimes revealing them as better actors than those onstage. Yes, this is an inside-the-media-bubble gripe. Yes, rather than being paid to see Strip shows, I could be making widgets (not the phone-app icons). Yes, I’m a spoiled brat who wouldn’t know a great gig if it bit him in his overprivileged ass. Even so … SHADDUP YOU FACE! Everyone’s been bugged by overly enthused fans, but at least that rahrah-ing is presumably genuine. Yet if you score a ticket to a Vegas show on its offcial opening night—often doubling as “media night” with all us ego-infated scribes present—then take the orgasmic audience response with a mountain of salt. Recently, at the unveiling of The D* Word—A Musical (* Ditched, Dumped, Divorced and Dating) at LVH, a show partisan next to me urged customers at a nearby table to tuck in their legs as she knew actresses would descend from the stage to dash through the row, then cackled wildly at every clichéd punch line like a hyena on laughing gas with a feather up her butt. Over at the Flamingo for a 30th anniversary celebration of Legends in Concert, a gaggle of female cheerleaders near me screamed and swooned over the ersatz superstars with such breathless ardor that paramedics should have been standing by with oxygen canisters. Afterward, one attempted
83 VEGAS SEVEN
IllustratIon By rIck Quemado
Don’t you just (fake) love tHis sHoW?
A&E
MOVIES
Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall play ex-lovers and attorneys who hide their past to work together.
Short ‘Circuit’ Plot holes mar this terrorism thriller and meditation on the surveillance state
September 5–11, 2013
By Michael Phillips Tribune Media Services
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CLOSED CIRCUIT, STARRING Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall as a pair of sleek English defense attorneys who make those Old Bailey wigs look positively haute, opens with security-camera screens, frst four, then eight, then 12, then 15, dispassionately recording street activity and anonymous passers-by in London’s Borough Market neighborhood. A truck appears on one of the screens. The music signals trouble. A bomb explodes. More than 100 people die. The rest of this confdently mounted exercise in omnipresent insecurity concerns the accused Muslim terrorist, who has ties to an earlier bombing in Munich, and the lawyers assigned to defend the apparently indefensible. There is, of course, a conspiracy afoot. If there weren’t,
you wouldn’t be here, in paragraph two of a review of a British paranoia thriller. As spun by screenwriter Steven Knight, who wrote the very good Dirty Pretty Things and Eastern Promises, that conspiracy comes with a certain air of familiarity and a few plot holes. The thing about plot holes is that they’re a pretty dull discussion point, because they involve what’s missing, not what’s there. Directed unfussily and well by John Crowley, Closed Circuit has enough on the ball in terms of atmosphere and crafty performances to take your mind off the gaps in logic. The serious point inside this semiserious diversion is this: What happens behind locked doors, in the name of national security, has a way of giving
character actors such as Jim Broadbent (as the attorney general) and Ciarán Hinds (as the protagonist’s faithful sounding board) reasons to lower their voices lest someone overhear what they’re muttering about. The suspected bomber, a haunted presence in the hands of actor Denis Moschitto, acquires not one but two defenders. Bana plays Martin Rose, who works with his client in a closely watched public trial. But the state, Rose is told, has unearthed evidence so sensitive it must be revealed only in private, and for this separate trial, special advocate Claudia Simmons-Howe, played by Hall, is assigned to defend the bomber. Rose and Simmons-Howe were lovers once and therefore are ineligible to proceed with
their state-appointed duties. They proceed anyway, hoping to keep their past liaison a secret. The movie builds its case on vignettes designed to unsettle without being too crushingly obvious about it. To wit: Hall’s character, at home, alone, spies a book slightly askew on her shelf, indicating the recent presence of an intruder likely armed with sophisticated bugging equipment. Meanwhile in a wittily realized parallel, Bana’s character steps into the same London taxi twice (or maybe more often; he’ll never know) in an improbably brief time span. “We’re being managed,” he tells his former lover. It’s so much nicer than saying someone’s on your tail. Yes, there are holes where better bits of plot wouldn’t have hurt. Early on, when Closed Circuit establishes the mysterious suicide of Rose’s predecessor, the arrows point in too predictable a direction. And late in the game, after all sorts of threatened or actual violence and an hour of their every word and movement being tracked, there’s a scene in Rose’s apartment where the characters temporarily forget all that, simply because the story requires it.
The satisfactions of the flm are in seeing what a screen full of excellent players can do to steer you around the holes. Bana never quite seems enough to anchor a picture for me; all the same, he acquits himself sharply here. And Hall is one of the best actors in contemporary movies, able to leap past horsy expositional monologues in a single bound and humanize a forbidding character. The BBC and Channel 4 have excelled at this sort of narrative labyrinth for decades, and director Crowley consciously echoes certain American conspiracy thrillers of the 1970s. The difference here, mainly, is the overlay of insidious technology. It’s frankly hard for filmmakers to get audiences to care about surveillance abuses these days. Young and even middleaged audiences may be too busy being ad-targeted by Facebook to listen to screenwriter Knight bemoan the death of privacy. Simpler and less nuanced than Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Closed Circuit (drab title) keeps its head down and does its job like a reliable midlevel secret agent. Closed Circuit (R) ★★★✩✩
A&E
movies
One directiOnal stOry Morgan Spurlock’s boy band documentary doesn’t deviate from the company line By Roger Moore
Tribune Media Services You could be forgiven for rolling your eyes last summer at the news that last summer’s fashy pre-fab pop phenomenon One Direction would be releasing a concert documentary this summer. Forgiven by everyone save their fans, who might pout at the suggestion that one summer’s boy band craze is the next summer’s old news. But One Direction: This Is Us still has a popularity wave to ride a full year after “What Makes You Beautiful” and “Live While We’re Young” dominated the airwaves. So stop the eye-rolling. This film captures the five lads hand-picked by Simon Cowell to go where NKOTB, Boyz II Men, Backstreet Boys and ’N Sync have gone before—up the charts and into arenas around the world. Caught at their peak, they come off as the clean-cut fulfillment of millions of teen and tween girl fantasies.
It’s not that different from the Justin Bieber doc or the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus concert flms—sanitized, packaged—presenting these British or Irish boys, ages 1921, as paragons of pop virtue, while others vouch for what “rebels” they are and that they have “edge.” Yeah, they’ve got vast tattoo collections, and they’re not shy about losing a shirt and yanking each other’s trousers down onstage in choreographed bits of tomfoolery. We see Harry, Liam, Louis, Zayn and Niall bonding on a tour bus across Europe, a camping trip in Sweden and the occasional stroll down a public street—until they’re recognized and mobbed. They marvel at their sudden fame, don disguises and work as ushers at a venue here and there. “One Direction?” Irish prankster Niall Horan, in fake nose, beard and wig, tells a couple of fans he’s escorted to their seats. “I think they’re [garbage]!”
Tween girl fantasy fulfillment, now captured on film.
They travel to Africa to show their charitable side. Harry Styles goes back to the Cheshire bakery where he used to work the counter to serve a few customers. And being all of 21 or so, they reminisce: “Remember when we met at Boot Camp?” That was where they were brought together, rehearsed and trained to be pop stars by Cowell and company. Indie flmmaker sellout Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) shows us how the band members were recruited by Cowell on Britain’s X Factor talent show, how a cadre of hard-core frst-generation fans amped up enthusiasm for them
in the U.K. before they even had a record out, how much they’ve changed their parents’ lives (buying them houses, etc.) and how much fun they have together as mates on what one describes as a “Benjamin Button” journey—peaking at 20, realizing it’s all “backward” and downhill from here, lads. It’s a chipper, cheerful portrait with nary a discouraging word in it. And after Katy Perry’s much more revealing and dramatic Part of Me flm, it’s disappointing that Spurlock didn’t have the access, the footage or the spine to depict any of the cynicism behind such creations, which are manufactured by pop Svengalis
September 5–11, 2013
short reviews
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Getaway (PG-13) ★✩✩✩✩
Brent Magna (Ethan Hawke) is a former professional race car driver living in Sofia, Bulgaria. His wife (Rebecca Budig) gets kidnapped on Christmas and held in a warehouse so that a criminal mastermind known as The Voice (Jon Voight) can blackmail Hawke’s character into a series of tasks behind the wheel of a custom Ford Shelby GT500 Super Snake. At one point, Selena Gomez jumps into the passenger seat and attempts to steal back her car. The rest is more of the same weak effort. It’s awkward and pretty lame.
The World’s End (R) ★★★✩✩
The latest genre mashup from the Shaun of the Dead team is highly enjoyable. Forty-ish London bloke Gary (Simon Pegg) struggles with his alcohol addiction while reuniting his old gang (Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan and Paddy Considine) for another go at the 12-pub crawl that defeated them when they were 19. Upon their return, everything’s slightly off. While it starts as a buddy drinking movie, it ends in robot-alien action mayhem. And it’s awesome.
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (PG-13) ★★✩✩✩
Based on the series of novels, this latest fantasy film is a stilted, silly mishmash of earlier franchises. Clary (Lily Collins) finds out that she is actually a Shadowhunter, a descendant of a warrior angel who showed up a thousand years ago to battle demons. Her unsuspecting admirer (Robert Sheehan) finds out. And a mop-topped explainer Jace (Jamie Campbell Bower) has the tedious job of explicating every single thing throughout the movie. There are five more of these planned, probably none of them amounting to much.
such as Maurice Starr (New Kids on the Block, et al.), Lou Pearlman (Backstreet Boys, ’N Sync) and Cowell. The tunes are catchy, and the boys have charm, a little wit about them and some stage presence, even if their shows have all the spontaneity of a McDonald’s menu. Not that their fans want to hear that, or hear that they have a limited shelf life. Oh, no. They never let us forget that it’s a teenage girls’ world. We’re all just wearing earplugs in it. One Direction: This Is Us (PG) ★★✩✩✩
[ by tribune media services ]
The Butler (PG-13) ★★★✩✩
Lee Daniels directs this historical drama in which the fictional Cecil Gaines (played by Forest Whitaker and loosely based on Eugene Allen) served several presidents as a White House staffer before, during and after the Civil Rights movement. His wife (Oprah Winfrey) raises their two boys while her husband spends too much time at work. Their oldest son, Louis (David Oyelowo) becomes a disciple of Dr. King and then Malcolm X. While Whitaker does great with the material he’s given, the film is a bit heavy-handed.
Marketplace
7 QUESTIONS
MY MOST BIZARRE CLASS WAS A REUNION OF WIDOWS, LADIES AGED 60 TO 85. ANOTHER WAS A DEAF AND MUTE PARTY. AND I HAD A GROUP OF GUYS IN BONDAGE GEAR ONCE.
Why do you think the pole has branched off from strip clubs to health clubs? The Internet. I made seven instructional DVDs. Women started fnding them online, and then the frst home pole came out. So it’s not just a fad. Now, 90 percent of my clientele are regular women— and some men. They come because it’s a great workout, and it’s a lot more fun than the gym.
September 5–11, 2013
Fawnia Dietrich
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The pole-dancing instructor on the growing ftness trend, why lotion is a no-no and the one action star she’d love to see work the pole By Cate Weeks
THREE DAYS AFTER HER then-boyfriend took her to a Canadian strip club for her birthday 19 years ago—and encouraged her to take up the profession—Fawnia Dietrich found herself up on the pole for the frst time. Although she quit the business after just 18 months, she never quit the pole entirely, becoming one of the frst—and eventually foremost—pole-ftness experts. Dietrich and her husband, an American citizen, relocated to Las Vegas in 2005, and soon after she opened Pole Fitness Studio (4265 S. Arville St., 878-7653). Now Dietrich takes center stage as the organizer of the Pole Expo, a convention set for September 5-8 at the Palms, where she expects about 1,000 attendees for workshops and vendor demonstrations, culminating with a competition.
In addition to a full lineup of classes, your studio hosts private parties. What are those like? We just did 32 parties this past weekend, mostly bachelorettes and birthdays. We teach a couple of basic pole moves and a chair-dance routine that they can do at home. My most bizarre was a reunion of widows, ladies aged 60 to 85. Another was a deaf and mute party—they wanted the music really loud and needed to read my lips. I had a group of guys in bondage gear once. We also do feld trips to local strip clubs. It always gives my clients an ego boost, because they’re usually better on the pole than most professional strippers. They’re pretty shocked to fnd that strippers don’t dance much. They’ll walk around the pole,
do a spin and then just crawl to collect tips. What man would you most like to see up on the pole? Jason Statham. He’s hardcore, dangerous, sexy, masculine, so it’d be an interesting combination on the pole. I don’t think it will happen, but I can dream! We have 10 coed classes and get about one new guy in here a month. We’re working to get it into the 2020 Olympics as a demonstration sport. If we’re successful, I think we’ll see a lot more men interested. Let’s say a husband wants to get his wife a pole as a gift. What should he look for? It’s like shopping for cars. You have to think about how you’ll use it. If it’s for a home studio—or your bedroom— you’ll need to check your ceiling height. For outside or to move around, you’ll get an X-pole with a built-in stage. Fortunately, there are now some great manufacturers for home use. Just make sure you invest in a good brand. More painful: climbing up or sliding down? Falling off. Pole dancing is extremely dangerous, because we don’t give the pole enough respect. It’s vertical. There’s nothing to stop you from falling, which is why we use crash mats in the studio. Oh, and don’t wear lotion—that’s another reason strippers don’t do many moves on the pole. They’d slide right off. Are there moves you can’t do? The Rainbow Marchenko. It’s a really beautiful move: The girl is holding onto the pole upside down in the splits. I am OK with never being able to do that. My back fexibility will never be there. If you’re young, go for it—with a spotter.
PHOTO BY ANTHONY MAIR
What did your family think when you started on the pole? My mom was very nervous that I would be drinking, doing drugs and getting into prostitution. I was like, “No, mom, I don’t even drink coffee.” I’d kept some of those traits from growing up Mormon. So I invited her down to the show. In Canada at that time, it was different. It really was exotic dancing. We did 18-minute shows, usually with a theme and costumes. I loved the performance and ftness aspects.