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THIS IS YOUR CITY Julian Kilker AS GEOFF CARTER WROTE IN
his December 12 cover story (VegasSeven.com/ DowntownReckoning), the transformation of Las Vegas’ urban core from grit to hipster glam is sure to accelerate in 2014. The changes seem inexorable, and one can’t help wondering who will be left out in the new order. But perhaps Las Vegas can defy the gentrifcation playbook: This has always been the most malleable of landscapes, a place where it’s never too late to dream differently, speak passionately and play a role in the shape of things to come.
Have you taken a photo that captures the spirit of Las Vegas this week? Share it with us at VegasSeven.com/Moment.
Who Saw This Coming? Not only are the Rebels playing in a New Year’s Day bowl game, but our betting expert likes their chances
December 26, 2013–January 1, 2014 VEGAS SEVEN
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Here are Matt Jacob’s seven top plays for bowl games played between Dec. 28-Jan. 2: Louisville (-3½) vs. Miami (Dec. 28): Because Louisville QB (and potential No. 1 NFL draft pick) Teddy Bridgewater will have a field day against a Miami defense that allowed 37.6 ppg over its last five contests (losing three of them).
NAACP NAMES PAULA DEEN Woman of the
Year … Psychological Tests Prove Kanye West 100 Percent Sane … Blaine Gabbert and Brandon Weeden Share 2013 NFL MVP Honors … These are among the headlines I fgured I would’ve seen long before this one: UNLV to Play in New Year’s Day Bowl Game. Wait … what? The same UNLV that won a grand total of six games in the previous three seasons? That hadn’t been to a bowl game (or produced a winning season) since 2000? Those Rebels are playing on New Year’s Day? Turns out it’s true: On January 1, UNLV will play in something called the Heart of Dallas Bowl. OK, so it doesn’t have quite the ring (or prestige) of the Rose Bowl or the Sugar Bowl or, heck, even the Outback Bowl. And the opponent (North Texas) will never be confused with Notre Dame or USC. And, sure, the game is kicking off at an hour (9 a.m. PST) when most bleary-eyed Las Vegans will be lying in bed, resolving to never, ever drink again. Still, getting a chance to play on New Year’s Day is a big deal—especially for a football program that’s usually “looking forward to next season” before Halloween. Certainly, appearing in the Heart of Dallas Bowl gives fourth-year coach Bobby Hauck some juice on the recruiting trail. And he’ll have even more should the Rebels (7-5) win. Which begs the question: Can they? The oddsmakers say it’s unlikely, installing North Texas (8-4) as a solid 6½-point favorite. But limited history suggests otherwise: UNLV is 3-for-3 in bowl games, winning the 1984 California Bowl (which the NCAA later made the school forfeit), as well as the 1994 and 2000 Las Vegas Bowls. Combined score in those three victories: Rebels 113, Foes 51. UNLV is also 4-0 all time against North Texas, winning the last two meetings (in 1999 and 2000) by a 64-3 margin. Of course, the players and coaches responsible for those successes left the building long ago. What suggests Hauck’s current squad can keep the school’s bowl record unblemished? Well, for starters, UNLV fnished the regular season with a fourish, pounding Air Force (41-21 on the road) and San Diego State (45-19 at home), part of a 7-3 closing run after an 0-2 start. Over that 10-game stretch, the offense was consistently productive, averaging nearly 34 points per game while producing 24 points or more nine times. More importantly, the defense improved dramatically, allowing
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Kansas State (-3½) vs. Michigan (Dec. 28): Because K-State went 5-1 to close the regular season (and 6-2 ATS in its last eight). And because Michigan will still be thinking about that lastsecond 42-41 home loss to hated Ohio State (part of the Wolverines’ season-ending 2-5 slump). BEST BET: Oregon (-14) vs. Texas (Dec. 30): Because Oregon’s unstoppable offense (573 yards per game) vs. Texas’ pisspoor defense (402 ypg allowed) dwarfs the sappy, overplayed Mack Brown’s-last-hurrah factor. UCLA (-7) vs. Virginia Tech (Dec. 31): Because UCLA’s shaky defense will be just fine against an impotent Virginia Tech offense—and because the Bruins have been waiting 369 days to avenge last year’s ugly 49-26 Holiday Bowl loss to Baylor.
Quarterback Caleb Herring helped turned around UNLV’s season after an 0-2 start.
an average of just 24.8 points over the fnal fve games after yielding 36.3 ppg in the frst seven. In other words, the Rebels—to borrow a betting term— have the look of a “play-on” team. Problem is, so does North Texas. The Mean Green are 6-1 in their last seven (all as a favorite), including three straight blowout road victories. And while UNLV’s defense was stout down the stretch, North Texas’ D was stout all season, yielding just 18.1 ppg, which ranks ninth nationally. From a wagering perspective, UNLV does enter this contest on an 8-2 run against the spread, including 6-1 ATS as an underdog. But North Texas has also covered in eight of its last 10, including six of its last seven as a favorite. And against opponents that made a bowl game, UNLV was 1-4, while the Mean Green went 3-3. Ah, but here’s why that last stat is as misleading as a push-up bra:
North Texas faced just one quality bowl team (Georgia); the others were Ohio, Ball State, Tulane, Middle Tennessee and Rice. Conversely, UNLV played Minnesota (which beat Nebraska and Penn State this year), Arizona (which beat Oregon), Fresno State (which is 11-1), San Diego State (which beat Boise State and took Fresno to overtime) and Utah State (which went on the road, with a thirdstring quarterback, and gave Fresno all it could handle in the Mountain West Conference title game). Translation: If Hauck can eliminate the “we’re just happy to be here” attitude—and enforce a New Year’s Eve curfew—the Rebels absolutely have a shot against North Texas. And while I’ll stop just short of calling for an outright upset—if only because UNLV defeated just one team (San Diego State) that fnished with a winning record—I’ll snatch the 6½ points in what fgures to be a low-scoring contest. That’s right: The Rebels are in a New Year’s Day bowl game and I’m betting on them. Looks like the Mayans were about a year premature with their end-of-the-world prediction.
Duke (+12½) vs. Texas A&M (Dec. 31): Because Johnny Manziel will be much more worried about the NFL Draft and his postgame party spot (Johnny Football in Atlanta on New Year’s Eve!) than he will be playing a motivated Duke squad in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Iowa (+7½) vs. LSU (Jan. 1): Because without starting QB Zach Mettenberger (torn ACL), LSU’s offense will struggle against a very underrated Iowa defense, one that held eight of its final 11 opponents to 21 points or less and didn’t surrender more than 34 points all season. UNLV (+6½) vs. North Texas (Jan. 1): Because the most explosive player on the field will be UNLV wide receiver Devante Davis, and because Rebels QB Caleb Herring knows how to find the 6-foot-3 Texas native, who turned 77 receptions this season into 1,194 yards and 14 TDs.
PHOTO BY STEPHEN R. SYLVANIE/USA TODAY SPORTS
THE LATEST
BETTING
THE LATEST
Reno GOP state senators, Greg Brower and Ben Kieckhefer, and Scott Hammond, Joe Hardy and Mark Hutchison from down south— to support the 2014 ballot initiative to increase taxes on mining. The initiative was the baby of Sheila Leslie, the former Washoe County lawmaker and a liberal Democrat. Why did Republicans support it? Well, there’s some debate. Roberson proposed to raise $600 million for education programs, and his plan clearly was designed to head off the education initiative that the teachers union has gotten on the same ballot to raise taxes on business. So the GOP might—might?—be up to something. But that’s ultimately less important than Republicans agreeing on the need for taxes on an industry that has too long benefited from a sweetheart deal in the Nevada Constitution. And while mining is undeniably important to the state, these actions show that urban areas have grown weary of a major rural industry continually having its way. All of this, of course, could come unglued. But if Clark County Democrats and Republicans continue to recognize that where they live matters more than their party affliation, this could be a turning point in Nevada history.
I love creative gambling deals, and a good one is running through December 29 at Station Casinos’ newest Wildfires—one in Anthem and another on Valley View Boulevard. Here’s how it works: Hit any four-of-a-kind in video poker and you’ll be put on the clock for 10 minutes. Hit another quad during that time and get a 100-coin bonus. The only requirement is that you’re a Boarding Pass member playing with your card inserted. This promotion is a blast to play. You don’t have to do anything special until you hit the first four-of-a-kind, then it gets wild as you try to knock off a second one for a $25 bonus when playing quarter machines, $50 on 50-cent machines and $100 on dollars. As you’ve probably guessed, those 10 minutes are good for you. Using 7/5 Bonus Poker as an example, the 100-coin bonus changes the game’s 98 percent return to 102.75 percent, so getting in as many hands as you can during bonus time is the prime objective. Before you start, be sure you have enough money in the machine so you don’t run out, then just play fast! Interestingly, 10 minutes of bonus time isn’t enough to give you an advantage on the game overall—unless you get creative yourself. Since the rules allow you to switch your denominations, the best strategy is to qualify by betting quarters, then play the bonus period for dollars. The value of this deal depends on how fast you play, but a $10 expected profit per bonus session is well within reach. Careful, though; if you’re not used to playing dollars, you might not realize just how much money you can lose in 10 minutes if you don’t run well. Jumping from 25 cents to 50 cents is another option that puts the whole play at about a break-even expectation, which also isn’t bad. Since my office is close to the Valley View Wildfire, I’m much more familiar with that location—and I can tell you there are a lot of good things going on there. After experimenting with a Mexican menu, the kitchen is again close to what it was in its former incarnation as The Lift bar. This place has some of the best 24/7 food specials in town, including a $1.99 breakfast, a $2.99 burger & fries and an awesome $5.99 steak & eggs. If you’re looking for a good time to try it out, the Valley View Wildfire is showing the big Anderson Silva-Chris Weidman UFC fight for free on December 28. Have a happy new year!
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.
Marilyn Kirkpatrick and Michael Roberson.
The Year the South Rose
December 26, 2013–January 1, 2014
In 2013, Clark County legislators from both sides of the aisle fnally fought together for Southern Nevada
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THE MOST IMPORTANT development for Nevada politics in 2013 may have been that Southern Nevada politicians of both parties discovered that they represent Clark County— and did something about it. Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick and State Senate Majority Leader Mo Denis pushed harder than at any time in memory for Clark County’s legislative delegation to work together. After the session, Kirkpatrick worked with various political and business groups to hold a series of meetings where Southern Nevadans would get together and discuss issues affecting them. Kirkpatrick knows she can’t do it all. But she’s well aware of two salient facts: Most of the state’s revenue comes from Southern Nevada, and more than 70 percent of the Legislature serves Clark County—and if you don’t take care of your constituents, you aren’t doing your job. Nor would she expect Northern Nevada to go gentle into that good night; you wouldn’t give up your money or power, so why expect it of anyone else? Some critics have branded Brian Sandoval the governor of Reno, and statewide leaders long have had a northern tilt. Projects such as the Reno-Carson City highway helped inspire efforts to change how the state highway department operates. Meanwhile, the Nevada System of Higher Education, for which I work, has long
favored northern schools over southern ones, and recent changes that will bring more money to Southern Nevada have caused predictable screaming. Making her push more signifcant, Kirkpatrick has support from leading local stakeholders. For example, the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce is unlikely to demand major tax hikes, but its leadership is taking the “Las Vegas Metro” part of the organization’s name more seriously and grasping that business benefts from at least some government action. At the nadir of the Great Recession, some thoughtful folks said that the time was ripe to look more seriously at our problems as Nevadans— and as Southern Nevadans. Dealing with rapid growth makes it diffcult to stop and think; it’s hard to decide what to do about a hurricane when you’re in the middle of it. The slowdown was an opportunity to re-examine both our needs and our approaches to fulflling them. Kirkpatrick and other Democratic leaders weren’t alone in this. Republicans have been involved, and state Senate Minority Leader Michael Roberson struck a blow for Southern Nevada. The Henderson Republican led several members of his party—two
ILLUSTRATION BY RYAN OLBRYSH
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Nightlife
scEnE
The Death of the Auto-Gratuity?
A new tax ruling has cocktail servers fearing the worst
December 26, 2013–January 1, 2014
By Brian Sodoma
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EvEry Las vEgas nightclub server knows the beauty of the automatic gratuity. That $500 bottle of Grey Goose that gets a 20 percent auto-grat is the key to a far better living than pushing crab specials at Red Lobster. But an IRS ruling going into effect January 1 may have some nightclubs considering doing away with auto-grats altogether. In 2012, the IRS came to the conclusion that many automatic gratuities are not really gratuities, but rather service charges, largely because the customer doesn’t really have a “choice” whether to leave the gratuity or not. So as of January 1, that common auto-
matic tip for bottle service in a nightclub or for large parties at a restaurant will now be considered a service charge. Kelsey Canepa, a local nightclub server, is very curious about the 2014 changes. “People in the industry have been mentioning it, but no one really knows the details,” she says. So what does this really mean for servers? First, they will need to wait for that money to come on a paycheck instead of taking the cash home that night. The money will be taxed as a wage instead of a tip, which brings no added tax burden for the server. But there is a behindthe-scenes impact from this
seemingly small change that could get ugly. Because a service charge must be recorded as a wage, restaurants and clubs lose out on Medicare and Social Security tax credits that came from money that was logged as a tip. Plus, payroll paperwork gets complicated, as this new wage money needs to be factored into an hourly wage that will fuctuate weekly based on the number of these new service charges reported. These changes are already creating a headache for large restaurant operators. In a September Wall Street Journal report, Darden Restaurants Inc., which owns Olive Garden, Red Lob-
ster and LongHorn Steakhouse, said it was testing a “suggested tip” system by including the fgures for a 15, 18 and 20 percent gratuity, but leaving the actual gratuity line blank. The company will make a fnal decision by the end of the year as to whether it will do away entirely with automatic gratuities at its 2,100 restaurants. Some New York restaurants are even working to do away with tips entirely, instead simply slapping higher prices on plates that include a service fee to cover a higher hourly wage for servers. Similar moves have been made by restaurants in California to cover costs associated with the Affordable Care Act, says Jeff Breeden, a partner with local accounting frm Stewart, Archibald & Barney. Changes like these in Las Vegas nightclubs would surely have an impact on income for servers heavily reliant on these high-dollar auto-grat scenarios, Breeden says. “If [automatic gratuity] is a large percentage of your income, then it would mean something. Some people just don’t
want to [voluntarily] leave a $40 tip.” Locally, nightclub operators have been quiet on the issue. Representatives for the Light Group, Angel Management Group and the ONE Group didn’t respond to inquiries, while Tao Group issued the following statement on the matter then declined any further comment: “Tao Group will of course follow all IRS regulations and do our best to be as fair as possible to all involved while complying with the law.” Although tight-lipped, club operators are clearly weighing the impacts. But cocktail server Canepa is more concerned about clubs doing away with automatic gratuities. “That would be huge. That’s a game changer for a lot of people,” she says. “Those servers would go from making good money to making the same [as] at any restaurant.” With no disrespect to Darden Restaurants, 2014 may be the year some local nightclub servers end up looking for the seafood lover in us after all.
Nightlife
Aoki New Year!
Hakkasan’s resident DJ on Bruce Lee, singularity and caking By George Peele
December 26, 2013–January 1, 2014
Being Steve Aoki is a danger-
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ous job. But paparazzi and stalkers are the least of the music celebrity’s worries. The Japanese-American DJ is the Evel Knievel of the EDM world, stage diving and crowd surfng on the regular. A trampoline leap gone wrong in Puerto Rico earned him a trip to the emergency room. Aoki’s video team documents the incident in “Puerto Rico Stage Dive Trampoline Fail: On the Road with Steve Aoki #37” on YouTube. Even though he’s in obvious pain, Aoki insists on playing one more song for his adoring fans before being whisked away in an ambulance. Dim Mak Records, the imprint Aoki
founded while still in college at UC Santa Barbara, took its moniker from an allegedly lethal attack technique that some believe may have been responsible for the death of Aoki’s childhood hero, Bruce Lee. Lee may have infuenced Aoki’s daredevil behavior to a degree, but the long-haired DJ credits his risk-taker and tastemaker traits to his fesh and blood. Read on to fnd out what else we gleaned about the cake boss when we Skype-chatted with him in India. What is your earliest music-related childhood memory? It was less about the music itself and more about the cul-
ture it creates. I grew up with an older brother who was a Vespa-driving mod. So when he was 16, hanging with his mod friends, listening to the Jam, I had no idea what I was witnessing, but I knew it was the coolest thing ever. Were you always a daredevil? Is your childhood hero, Bruce Lee, to blame? My father is to blame. He was the real daredevil, breaking world records with hot air ballooning, racing offshore speedboats and driving Gumball rallies every year. Where did the name for your label Dim Mak come from? It means “touch of death.”
It has a mystery behind it that I really liked. A strange mysterious connection with how Bruce Lee died and what he could harness. What’s Dim Mak got on deck? Fuckloads of insane music that’s all across the board, extremely interesting artists: Kenna, Dirtyphonics, Clockwork, R3hab, myself, Borgore, Botnek, Garmiani, Deorro, Autoerotique, Coone, Felix Cartal, Keys N Krates, Infected Mushroom and others. How fexible do you have to be as a songwriter and producer when working with so many collaborators? Nothing is fxed, especially in music. New inspirations will lead you to different ways to comprehend, create sounds, fnd new ways to expand yourself as a producer and songwriter. When I work with vocalists, I try my best to stay as fexible as possible, and
I have no choice but to work with the tools and craft that I already know, but fnd that medium that fts in between my world and theirs. If you can’t bend much, the process can be diffcult or impossible. You eat well, and you don’t drink or smoke. Would you consider yourself a health nut? Are you trying to live forever or something? Let’s just put it this way: If and when singularity does happen, I do hope it happens in my lifetime. Did ‘caking’ used to be a once-per-show stunt? I feel like the number of cakes per show has been on the rise. It all varies per show, but sometimes, even 15 is not enough; sometimes one is enough. Steve Aoki headlines Hakkasan on Dec. 27. Follow him at SteveAoki.com.
NIGHTLIFE
PARTIES
MARQUEE
The Cosmopolitan [ UPCOMING ]
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See more photos from this gallery at SPYONVegas.com
PHOTOS BY JOE TORRANCE AND TEDDY FUJIMOTO
December 26, 2013–January 1, 2014
Dec. 27 Dash Berlin spins Dec. 28 Sander van Doorn spins Dec. 30 Vice spins
NIGHTLIFE
PARTIES
HYDE Bellagio
[ UPCOMING ]
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See more photos from this gallery at SPYONVegas.com
PHOTOS BY TONY TRAN
December 26, 2013–January 1, 2014
Dec. 30 Eva Simons performs Dec. 31 Paris Hilton spins
Tender Steak & Seafood
Fazel uses various game meats seasonally in his housemade charcuterie and sausages. But the best way to experience it here is in his wild game tasting ($36), available year-round. It features antelope osso bucco, medallions of venison and a wild boar loin served with farro, fg chutney and a reduction of venison and seasonal berries. The delicious antelope is one of the most interesting game presentations in town, and well worth a visit on its own. In Luxor, 262-4852. Alizé
Tender’s Wild Game Tasting.
December 26, 2013–January 1, 2014
Are You Game?
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It’s time to explore how the wild things taste By Al Mancini
➧ THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT the holiday season that always gets me craving game—meats such as venison, elk, pheasant, boar and even alligator that were traditionally hunted rather than ranched. I admit part of it is the twisted kick I get out of telling my friends I ate Rudolph for Christmas. (Yes, I know venison isn’t reindeer, but it’s close enough for the joke.) But game meats have long been associated with cold-weather months since that’s when hunting seasons usually occur. And even in an age when game is farm-raised year round, many chefs prefer to serve it this time of year to incorporate the seasonal ingredients traditionally associated with each meat. ¶ If you’re new to game meat, you need to realize it’s more than just an exotic novelty. Animals that live free in the wild (even farmraised game animals usually live free-range lives) are leaner and healthier than those that are factory farmed. And as Tender Steak & Seafood executive chef K.C. Fazel explains, they offer unique favors that can vary subtly based on where they come from. ¶ “You’re experiencing nature through the animal,” Fazel says. “They’re eating wild berries. They’re eating wild grasses. Depending on which animal it is, [the food they eat] is going to infuence their favors.” ¶ Plenty of game meat is available right now in Las Vegas. Here are seven places to try it:
Chef Andre Rochat is offering pheasant on his seven-course Fall & Winter Tasting Menu ($135). It’s one of the available choices for the fourth course, and consists of a breast served with brioche and sausage stuffing, root vegetables, chestnut milk and jus. If you’ve never had pheasant, don’t let people tell you it tastes like chicken. In actuality, it tastes like chicken should! In the Palms, 951-7000. Eiffel Tower Restaurant
While apples are technically in season in the fall, the fruit lends itself well to holiday recipes. So this is a great time of year to try Jean Joho’s pairing of venison and apples ($48). The deer itself is crusted in spices and charred. It’s then served with the sautéed apples alongside red cabbage. Throw in the amazing view of the Bellagio Fountains, and this is easily the most romantic game meal in town. In Paris Las Vegas, 948-6937.
Restaurant Guy Savoy
For the next few weeks, Guy Savoy and his staff are offering three game dishes. Marmite of pheasant, squab and duck ($120) features the three birds cooked with foie gras and cabbage in a traditional French casserole dish known as a marmite. The venison tenderloin ($115) is prepared with pear and cranberry jus. And pan-seared quail ($80) comes with spinach puree and roasted hazelnuts. In Caesars Palace, 731-7110. The Barrymore
For a taste of wild boar in an old-Vegas atmosphere, head to the Barrymore, which offers it yearround in a Bolognese sauce, served over stozzapreti pasta, then topped with caciocavallo cheese and bread crumbs ($16). 99 Convention Center Dr., 407-5303. Fix Restaurant & Bar
One of the best items on Fix’s new menus is also one of the most creative duck dishes in town. Duck & Waffes ($36) is a spin on an American classic that forsakes fried chicken in favor of duck conft, fried egg and maple bourbon syrup. In Bellagio, 693-8300. STK
The Cosmopolitan’s steakhouse recently added venison chops to the menu ($58). Chef Stephen Hopcraft prepares them with sweet-and-sour red cabbage herb polenta and cherry gastrique. I’ve yet to try them, but if they’re half as good as Hopcraft’s steaks, Santa will likely get lost in the fog next year. In the Cosmopolitan, 698-7990.
PHOTO BY ELIZABETH BUEHRING
DINING
SCENE
A&E
MUSIC
Reynolds (second from right) and the band found more success in 2013 than they “imagined.”
Band on Fire
Frontman Dan Reynolds refects on the ‘Year of the Dragons’ By Camille Cannon
December 26, 2013–January 1, 2014
DAN REYNOLDS IS on tour in Italy when he picks up the phone. As the frontman for Las Vegas breakout act Imagine Dragons, he’s traveled the world and ascended the charts. The band’s full-length debut, Night Visions, has sold 1.7 million copies since its 2012 release, and the band was named Billboard’s Top Rock Artist of 2013. While Reynolds says his band doesn’t feel rushed to follow up, they do plan to record their next album here in their hometown, where they proudly played in October at the Life Is Beautiful festival, and will return to play at The Joint on December 30. Here, Reynolds discusses the band’s banner year and what’s still to come from the Dragons.
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This show is scheduled between your European tour and upcoming U.S. tour. What inspired you to do a one-off? It was a no-brainer for us. We’ve been away for a year and a half on tour, and we just want to be home for the new year. It feels right. We told our management, “We want to play Vegas for New Year’s, whatever it takes.” It came together and we’re just so excited. This year, Night Visions was the most-streamed album in the U.S. on Spotify, was one of Billboard’s top Rock and Alternative Albums, and the single “Radioactive” received two Grammy nominations. How does it feel?
Is there a Las Vegas stage you haven’t played yet that you’d still like to conquer? Honestly, for us, that was The Joint. We opened for Weezer there. We opened for Interpol. It’s a really special place to be playing there again. It’s pretty awesome. I hope one day we go back and play the Beauty Bar, do a little private show there or something. I think that would be awesome. I’m sure we’ll do it one of these days.
It’s just shocking. We think it’s crazy. I think that’s how we’ve felt about this whole year. We’ve been a band almost fve years now and it’s Will you ever reveal the anagram been a long time coming, but this last to “Imagine Dragons?” year has just been shocking. None I think we will. There will come of us really understand what’s going a day when we’ll know it’s time. on. We haven’t had time to For now, it’s been fun to even think about it, really. have that to ourselves. Every day we’re either in a When you reveal so IMAGINE new city, around the world much about yourself DRAGONS playing a show or on a tour and expose so much bus, on a plane or doing an about yourself as a mu8 p.m. Dec. 30 interview. We don’t really sician, it’s nice to have at The Joint in have time to get perspecsomething that we hang Hard Rock Hotel, tive. … We feel really on to together as broth$79.50 and grateful that we have Vegas ers, that we’ve held onto up, 693-5000, HardRockHotel. luck on our side. We hope for years. We will soon com. to represent Vegas well probably, but not too because we love this city. soon.
CHRISTMAS IS OVER, which means the posttraumatic stress from having endured countless canned holiday jingles has begun. I shall dress the snowman-shaped wound in my soul with homegrown shows. Local-boy-done-great Franky Perez (whose songs crop up in TV’s Sons of Anarchy and flm’s The Avengers) plays a handful of gigs this week. His music is getting tougher and darker (compared to the early pop albums he recorded for Atlantic Records). Maybe it was his time spent in metal band Scars on Broadway, but Perez is unleashing some awesomely hard-bitten tunes—my favorites being blues-rocker “The Level” and bleak, acoustic story-song “Die in Vegas.” Perez plays Green Valley Ranch Resort on December 26, Palace Station on December 27 and the Lounge at the Palms on December 28. Las Vegas funk-rock jamband Moksha will heat up Downtown venue LVCS at 10 p.m. December 28. Moksha is still riding high from having played the High Sierra Music Festival this summer and a rooftop gig at Binion’s in October. This is a band that knows how to get a crowd on its feet and dancing, so you’d better be ready to move your body at this show. The groove-powered “Blind to the Time” and reggae-infused “Island Thyme” induce maximum sway. Imagine Dragons’ music is played everywhere these days, but the reason you’ll fnd me at their 8 p.m. December 30 homecoming show at The Joint in the Hard Rock is because of opening act Parade of Lights. This L.A.-based band has Vegas roots (see Vegas Seven’s November 28 Q&A with the band for proof) and has signed with the Astralwerks label, with a debut disc out in February. First single “We’re the Kids” is scintillating synth-pop, and this is a good opportunity to catch the band before they blow up and become the next, well, Imagine Dragons. Also on the bill: SoCal indie-folk octet the Mowgli’s, who sound like Mumford & Sons on Prozac. Where am I spending New Year’s Eve? At the Lounge in the Palms to see Sin City Sinners at 10 p.m., of course. Here’s a band that, this holiday season, released an album of rocked-up, punked-out Christmas tunes, A Sinners Christmas 2. (The Sinners recorded “Let It Snow” with Tiffany!) But I’m more excited to see the band deliver cuts from their recent covers disc Divebar Days Revisited. Few groups can take on Iggy and the Stooges’ “Search and Destroy” and Black Sabbath’s “N.I.B.” in the same set. Your Vegas band releasing a CD soon? Email Jarret_Keene@Yahoo.com.
PHOTO BY ANTHONY MAIR
LOCAL LIVE MUSIC FOR THE HOLIDAY-RAVAGED SOUL
ART A&E
BOOK-SMART ART English playwright Alan Bennett once said, “A bookshelf is as particular to its owner as are his or her clothes; a personality is stamped on a library just as a shoe is shaped by the foot.” In Portraits Through Books, artist and Downtown Contemporary Gallery owner Walter Jacques Taieb offers a peek into the libraries (and psyches) of local notables such as gallerist Brett Wesley and the Mayors Goodman. Visiting the homes of his subjects, Taieb curated each owner’s collection—manipulating the order and arrangement for composition before capturing it in a photo. Taieb’s lens reveals volumes about his subjects, while simultaneously documenting that most endangered of household species: the bookshelf. The show runs through February 5 at Downtown Contemporary Gallery in the Art Square, 1025 S. First Street. For more information, call 358-7022 or visit Downtown-Contemporary.com. – Laurel May Bond
The Liberace display includes his Fabergé suit and Habsburg boots.
Got That in My Size? Liberace’s outrageous outfts make a public return in Cosmopolitan exhibit
December 26, 2013–January 1, 2014
By Steve Bornfeld
VEGAS SEVEN
80
DRIPPING WITH DELICIOUS grease, four pizza slices—two plain cheese, two with meatballs sliding exquisitely off said cheese— are consumed mere feet from garments worth, more or less, the gross national product of a Caribbean nation or two. Not to mention so uber-gaudy they make anything worn by Elton John and Lady Gaga look like off-the-rack at The Gap. Had Liberace not died in 1987, the sight of this impromptu lunch might have killed him. Yet this interviewer and his interviewee—Deirdre Clemente, curator of this exhibit of Liberace-wear at the Cosmopolitan—are chowing down carefully, and at a relatively safe distance from the famed frocks. “It was kitsch and famboyance to a degree that you could
only laugh at it, and I think Liberace laughed at it and thought it was fun,” says Clemente, a UNLV history professor who studies and teaches about clothing as cultural history. “But in the same breath, it demanded such meticulous construction.” Titled Too Much of a Good Thing is Wonderful: Liberace and the Art of Costume—and excepting a modest memorabilia display to promote HBO’s Behind the Candelabra—this new assemblage is the frst exhibit of Mr. Showmanship’s outrageously excessive accoutrements since the Liberace Museum on Tropicana Avenue shuttered in 2010. “Liberace is the perfect ft at the Cosmopolitan,” says Brian Paco Alvarez, chairman of the Liberace Foundation, about the collection mostly gathered
in the casino’s “pop-up” space by the Strip-side entrance and billed as the elaborate entertainer’s Strip return after a 30-year hiatus. “Just walk into that casino and look at the enormous amount of rhinestones.” Even 26 years after his death in a city that grows exponentially glitzier each year, Liberace’s belongings are so over the top they’re practically in low-Earth orbit. Right by the entrance, thousands of jewels are encrusted on the Rhinestone Roadster that was onstage during his fnal Radio City Music Hall shows in 1986. Similarly shimmering inside the exhibit room is its rhinestone twin, Liberace’s Baldwin grand piano, fanked by a dozen of his showiest outfts—“showy” being an almost insulting
understatement—includwas as an individual and ening sequined jumpsuits and tertainer,” Alvarez says. “I wish highlighted by his virgin fox fur the movie [based on Thorson’s coat with a 16-foot train. Such memoir] wouldn’t have been opulence demanded names: so much of Scott’s perspective. “King Neptune,” “The Phoenix It was only a fve-year period Suit,” “Matador,” “The Christand didn’t look at his entire mas Suit” and the “Piano Key life and what he did for the Suit.” Accenting the exhibit are entertainment industry. The bejeweled, custom-made boots, movie did its part, but now shoes and bow ties, as well as the foundation has to tell the Liberace performance footage rest of the story.” on wall-mounted monitors— (Next month, the foundaand two European-designed tion is set to open new offces at candelabras that were meticuNeonopolis. A new attraction, lously cleaned by Clemente’s the Liberace Entertainment students with wet Q-Tips. Experience, is in the works.) “The reason the costumes “We’re moving forward to are kept so well is the capes are the next phase of LGBTQ, with on them, but some don’t have cultural and social acceptance,” capes because it would have Clemente says, noting that gay been so heavy it would have Americans are embracing gay pulled the mannequin over,” icons of yesteryear. Clemente says. “[Liberace] never came out, “It’s fascinating from a but his clothes created a smoke historical view. Who made screen. It could be written off as this stuff? There’s a costume showmanship if you were the designer, then a costumer little old lady who didn’t want to who decides on the weave and see what was right there. But if cobbles together what’s needyou were part of those cultural ed, then sends it to others to times, post-Stonewall but do the beading and applique. I pre-AIDS, the costumes let it be love the craftsmanship.” OK to be famboyantly gay and Resurgence of interest in all wear pink ostrich feathers. If things Liberace was you put the costumes sparked by Behind the in the context of his Candelabra. Earnyou get TOO MUCH sexuality, ing an Emmy for an amazing cultural OF A GOOD his portrayal of the ripple.” THING IS famboyant pianist, When you put WONDERFUL: the costumes near Michael Douglas costarred opposite Matt meatball pizza, you get LIBERACE Damon as his lover, AND THE ART an amazing anxiety Scott Thorson, who Assuming OF COSTUME attack. sued the performer in Liberace’s spirit hov1982 in a $113 million ers amid the beads, 3-10 p.m. lawsuit, including a jewels, cuffs, collars, daily through palimony suit. Feb. 28, the trains and capes, the Cosmopolitan, “It started the thought of it is likely 698-7000, free. conversation again, turning his pink ostalking about who he trich feathers pale.
stage
See Blue Man Group, Jabbawockeez and Recycled Percussion. Then pass the pot.
You SaY You Want a ReSolution
* Brave the syrupy, faux-blood “splatter zone” at Evil Dead the Musical if they distribute OxiClean stain-remover pens. Because it’s not clean unless it’s OxiClean. * Attend more topless revues. I’d provide specifc reasons except they would all amount to “DUH.” * Get invited to the AVN Awards. Which equals a year of topless revues. * Show up at more glad-handing, fake-friendly, bullshit-swapping opening-night after-parties. I need to increase my effciency at making pointless small talk with shameless self-promoters. * Be more willing to engage in “audience participation” at shows. Except hypnotist shows. Unless I can hypnotize the hypnotist to do the chicken dance in his skivvies. How does it feel, asshole? * Be mindful in a new relationship not to base my behavior on Defending the Caveman if my signifcant other doesn’t base hers on The D* Word. * See Absinthe while stoned. So what if it’s redundant? * Keep writing about the phabulous Phat Pack until they reach the pinnacle of show business—singing the Top 10 List on Letterman. * Never again have a reason to write about Donny Osmond’s ass, broken or otherwise. * See the Jersey Boys movie about Frankie Valli and his compadres when it’s released in June, directed by Clint
Eastwood. Because the story of a guy with the world’s greatest falsetto should be directed by a guy with a voice three octaves below sea level. Hey Clint, could you sing “Sherry” over the closing credits? * Resist spearheading a new religious cult based on the divinity of Criss Angel. Though if I did give in, it would naturally be called “Crisstianity.” *See Jabbawockeez, Blue Man Group and Recycled Percussion all in one day. Then get a brain scan to prove the effect is roughly equivalent to smoking a pound of pot. * Not see any guest strippers at Chippendales unless it’s the cast of Divas Las Vegas. * Bone up for my Chippendales audition by taking Stripper 101. * Get rejected by Chippendales and audition for Zombie Burlesque, for which I’m told I have the perfect look. * Prep Zumanity audition by memorizing the Kama Sutra. * Convince “clean comic” Carlos Oscar to open for Eddie Griffn. Should happen around the time you can get a drink on the rocks in hell. * Sneak in cutlery to eat the meal at Tournament of Kings. Just to be subversive. * Loudly break into “Disco Duck” at Rock of Ages. That subversive thing again. * Campaign for a Sweeney Todd Vegas residency. VIP package to include post-show buffet. All meats guaranteed fresh, carved from people in the cheap seats. * Prowl the audience at Menopause the Musical to fnd my next age-appropriate girlfriend. Got an entertainment tip? Email Steve.Bornfeld@VegasSeven.com.
83 VEGAS SEVEN
Lose weight? Be kind to all creatures of the Earth, great and small? Clear my garage of crap I’ve owned since Nixon resigned? Worthwhile resolutions, all—and all thoroughly irrelevant to an entertainment column. Therefore, this columnist resolves in 2014 to …
December 26, 2013–January 1, 2014
Here are a few likely to last as long as a New Year’s hangover
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7 QUESTIONS
that’s where it will continue to be. This is where everything comes to blow up; Dutch house comes here to blow up. You had collaborations with Deadmau5, Skrillex and Tiësto before collaborations were trendy. Your thoughts on the explosion? It’s interesting because it’s crossing the border even more so out of dance music in rap—every single song on [a rap] album, whether its Lil Wayne or Jay Z or The Game or whomever, has at least one [collaboration]. Some have four dudes featured. And if you look at a rap album from 10 years ago, it was not like that at all. It’s the same thing with dance music: The more names on a song, generally, the more it’s gonna sell. Because each of those [artists] has their own fan base and their own marketing reach. But ultimately the best music comes from when you collaborate with someone you really respect, look up to or can learn from.
Wolfgang Gartner
The always-candid DJ shoots straight on the Strip sound, touring with Tommy Trash and the keys to success in the absence of talent
December 26, 2013–January 1, 2014
By Sam Glaser
VEGAS SEVEN
94
SIX YEARS AFTER releasing his frst single, Wolfgang Gartner is at once a house-music veteran, one of its freshest innovators and one of its most outspoken critics. The Grammy-nominated American producer with eight Beatport Top 10s now shuns the chart’s redundancy. The DJ commonly credited with helping to create the “complextro” genre now rejects the pigeonholing of genres. The prolifc festival headliner also denounces the prevailing monotony in his peers’ festival sets. Good thing Gartner, who returns to town January 4 to spin at XS, is a change catalyst who leads the industry by example. In October 2012, you told Vegas Seven how your sets have adapted from the underground Godskitchen days at Body English to a mainstream Strip-friendly sound. How is Las Vegas’ palate one year later? There’s a new situation. It’s not like it was years ago when Vegas was starting up [as a
nightclub destination], when it was a little more naïve, not tuned in with what the scene was really about—and DJs really had to appease them. It happened really fast. But these clubs now, people know what to expect. That takes a lot of weight off our shoulders as DJs, takes off the pressure to cater to a certain type of crowd.
As a leading American producer, how do you describe the American house sound? The American house sound is whatever is going on in the world, because America is a mecca for it, especially right now. If I had to say America has a sound, it’s house—like straight-up house. That’s where it was born and bred,
How does hip-hop ft into the EDM-dominated nightlife landscape these days? I don’t think it really fts in at all. Occasionally there’s a rapper featured on a dance track, but generally the two worlds are very separate. Where it shows the most is really just the culture. Look at rap/urban culture versus dance and EDM culture. The style, clothing, the way people talk and the music—it’s so completely polar opposite. I’m a big fan of hip-hop; I’ve listened to hip-hop all my life. It’s like my other love aside from dance music. So I always play at least two hiphop drops in all of my sets. I started doing it as a selfsh thing. But it turned into a situation where it got the biggest response of the night. You did the Hounds of Hell tour with Tommy Trash. Any funny stories come from that? It was the last show of the tour in Mexico City, and I think Tommy was drinking backstage. He comes out toward the end of my set and stands up at the front of the stage. The crowd is going crazy, and he takes off his shoes and holds them up—they’re these really nice Nikes, brand new—and he throws them both into the crowd. I fnish my set, and we get into the car. He literally just
dropped his only pair of shoes into the crowd, and he had to fy to Australia with no shoes. I love telling stories of Tommy’s drunken shenanigans. You mentioned being on the same page as Tommy and Deadmau5, “bitching about the same parts of the industry.” What parts? The stuff that is popular right now is so simple to make, it requires basically no talent. Success basically comes down to marketing yourself, image, profle, how you look, your logo, how you present yourself, social networking numbers, your personality on social networking. There’s an article about it in Forbes that I’ll paraphrase: When you take something that is essentially creative—music and festivals—and you put a price tag on it, and you put it in the stock market so that investors are controlling it, that’s where creativity goes to die. The music is becoming less and less of a thing, and the pretty lights and the names and the haircuts and the faces and the pictures and all these aesthetic things become the focus. It’s just like what happens to any style of music that becomes super popular, and it becomes all about the money. And the creativity and the music generally suffer. How do you personally push the envelope, and how do you want the industry overall to move forward? It’s not enough for me to make my own unique music and not do what everybody else is doing. Nothing is going to change unless a lot of people make it change, and a few very important talented people execute it fawlessly. If you look at Avicii’ s album True, I see that as somebody trying to make a change. Whether you like it or you don’t, that dude just went completely like, “I’m not gonna make anything that anyone else is making right now.” And it worked, and it charted; it’s huge in the U.S. If a bunch of us did that we’d have the potential to change dance music. … The only way to move away from what’s happening is for a number of people to do something really big and really different. I’m trying to direct dance music in a different direction, or at least do my part.