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THE LATEST
@JustKramer I would have gone to EDC if Lionel Richie headlined a stage.
@JayFarber Every time I play poker I’m reminded how much I hate it. Playing the PLO and the main and quitting. Anyone for a prop bet?
@RyanRiess1 Guy at my table just asked the dealer, “What’s the longest you have gone in one day without wanting to take your own life?” #WSOP2014 @FantasyHipster I’ve had Vince Neil ranked ahead of Bon Jovi in Feathered Hair Arena Football League Owners since ’99 fwiw.
VEGAS SEVEN
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EVERYONE LOVES A MAKEOVER. That— and little else—explains why Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was on the air for nine seasons. But what are we to feel when a makeover involves one of our most venerable liquortoriums? Well, pure delight, as it turns out. Beauty Bar, itself no slouch in the Downtown renaissance, was recently snapped up by a surprising duo: Darin Feinstein—veteran of the El Dorado Cantina, Fat Bar and Hollywood’s the Viper Room—and Pawn Star pillar Corey Harrison. The duo is taking over July 1 and plans on fxing up the ol’ gal, Feinstein tells DTLV.com, giving it new booths, new paint and a new sound system. They’ll also be bringing back the manicures and pedicures the bar used to do back in the day. Harrison promises they’ll be attracting top-level talent with minimal fanfare, hinting that, for example, you could drop by the Beauty Bar and Social Distortion would happen to be playing. But there’s no way that could stay secret long enough to be a truly surprise show. Someone would fgure it out when the city’s pomade supply started drying up in the days prior.
Paris Hilton using Electric Daisy Carnival as a chance to play dress-up was no surprise. She stuck with the ruffy, sparkly outfts similar to what she sported in years past. But this year’s wrinkle was that she stuffed her poor dog, Peter Pan, into a tutu, too. This is where it’s worth pointing out that South Park did its Pariscentric “Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset” episode 10 years ago, and at no point in the last decade has it seemed more imminent that Hilton is one unhinged weekend away from buying a child and making him dress up like Mr. Biggles. Even the venerable (ish) name of the Las Vegas Outlaws is going to get a makeover. That moniker had been reserved for our dear, departed XFL franchise, but Vince Neil wants to bring it back with an Arena Football League team after the Mötley Crüe frontman earned league approval to
pursue a franchise. That would mean that the Neil-owned Outlaws would go head-to-head in 2015 with the Gene Simmons- and Paul Stanleyowned Los Angeles KISS. Ugh. Frankensteinian supergroup projects were bad enough when they were confned to easily ignored albums. (All eight Damn Yankees fans are going to be irate when they read that.) Las Vegas has twice tried to make a go of arena football, frst with the Las Vegas Sting from 1994-95, and then with the Las Vegas Gladiators from 2003-07. We lost the Gladiators to Cleveland. Cleveland. A city that couldn’t even hang on to an NFL team when Art Modell absconded with the original Browns in ’96. But Neil at least brings some experience. He already had a minor piece of the Jacksonville Sharks. And if he’s curious he can always turn to Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, who were part owners of the Philadelphia Soul from 200408. Or, presumably, the guys from Ratt, who have to be scrambling on a business plan for a piece of the Orlando Predators now that it’s apparently Hair Metal Discount Night at the AFL ownership table.
@WilliamShatner The @LAKings are at the @MGMGrand too. I wonder if they heard I was in town? ;-) @Vukizzle All the cars that have EDC crap all over them may as well have written “Please pull me over, I have drugs, officer” on the back window. #Vegas @MrGeorgeWallace 400,000 crazy kids in Vegas. Electronic Daisy Carnival. Most naked and nude and whatnot. But, they’re having fun. Cheers. @Raini_Rodriguez Ohh EDC was here in Vegas, that’s why everyone was wearing fur accessories. I thought they were dressing up for a Yo Gabba Gabba convention. @DoneTtoDeath We live in a world where Switchfoot, Kanye West, Kacey Musgraves and Lionel Richie all play a festival that also features celebrity chefs.
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ILLUSTRATION BY CIERRA PEDRO
June 26–July 2, 2014
Beauty Bar, Paris and the Outlaws
@jaymohr37 This morning in packed elevator in Vegas, I kept saying “C’mon 22 ... 22... 22.” Doors opened and I screamed “YES!!” And walked out.
BAR HALL OF FAME
With input from you, dear readers and dedicated drinkers, we’re immortalizing fve more iconic Valley watering holes. Here’s the list of 34 nominees …
GEOFF CARTER, SEAN DEFRANK, MATT JACOB, JAMES P. REZA, LISSA TOWNSEND RODGERS and JASON SCAVONE JON ESTRADA
Each bar must possess a signifcant amount of quality and/or character, and have contributed something positive to this city’s bar culture; Each bar must be at least 5 years old—opened in 2009 or earlier—to be considered (because Hall of Fame careers
Now, once again, we turn to you for help: Through July 10, we invite you to visit VegasSeven.com/BarHall2014 and vote daily for your favorite nominees in each of fve categories—Classic, Neighborhood, Pioneer, Specialty and Resort/Casino. Armed with your suggestions, our panel of experts will reconvene and select the fve bars that will join our 15 previous inductees (see Page 30). Then, in the July 17 issue of Vegas Seven, we’ll unveil the Hall of Fame Class of 2014—followed, naturally, by a huge celebration flled with food, drink and good cheer. Now, that we can agree on …
June 26–July 2, 2014
aren’t built in a day … or a year … or even three years).
23 VEGAS SEVEN
Care for a cold one? Aces & Ales (see Page 26) serves up more than 100 craft beers, 22 of which are on tap.
when we came up with the idea of creating a Las Vegas Bar Hall of Fame back in the spring of 2012, we all agreed it would put a fresh spin on the traditional bar-guide concept. It was one of the last things we agreed on with respect to this project. You see, asking a group of passionate barfies to decide which watering holes belong on a list of the city’s best bars has proven to be as diffcult as asking Congress to decide the merits of health care legislation. Unlike our elected public servants, however, we can have a royal rumble (beverages included) and come out with a consensus that’s in the best interests of our constituents. Here, then, we present the third edition of the Las Vegas Bar Hall of Fame, a list of nearly three dozen of what we believe to be the city’s foremost drinking establishments—ones that have fulflled our two main criteria:
NIGHTLIFE June 26–July 2, 2014
Julian Dzeko and Luis Torres.
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You guys met through an online message board? Dzeko: We actually met online through a club community. It sort of was something to do with music, too. It had a DJ section on the website, and we started talking on the forums. Luis was a photographer; I started promoting, and that’s how we met for the frst time. What’s it like working your way up to being recognized in the industry? Torres: It’s cool; it’s exciting. When we frst started DJing in Julian’s basement, I don’t think we would ever have a residency or a bunch of shows at Hakkasan in Vegas. Dzeko: When I was 15, I went to Vegas for the frst time and had already started DJing for fun. I always
had this thing with Vegas—that was my dream gig. Back then, I didn’t really know anything about Ultra or the festivals. So Julian, when you were 15, that was around when Paul Oakenfold was in his heyday in Las Vegas as EDM was just beginning to be a main attraction. Dzeko: Oh yeah, when were growing up, we were listening to guys like Oakenfold and obviously Tiësto. It was back more in the trance-y days; house was starting to make its way into more commercial. On the website where we met, one of the things to do on there was to share music. That’s how we discovered a lot of artists. Dzeko, when you came to Las Vegas at 15, what did you do here
since you were under 21? Dzeko: I went there with my family; my dad had a tradeshow there. I would just walk around by myself and just walk by the clubs and look at them. [Laughing] I’d look at fiers. You grew up admiring Tiësto. How did you ultimately get linked up with him and garner his support? Dzeko: The frst time we ever linked up in regard to music was when a friend of ours sent him our tracks three and a half years ago. I guess our name was on the radar, but I don’t think our tracks were good enough for him. I used to promote for Tiësto concerts just so I could try to give him a CD of ours. Then he played one of our remixes on his Club Life radio show, and we started talking and became good friends with him.
Would you tell aspiring DJs to go the traditional route of physically putting music in a big DJ’s hand or to email it to their demo addresses? Torres: It’s a combination of both. You still want to send music to demo emails, because people do check their inboxes every once in a while. But there really is nothing like a personal connection, actually being there and giving somebody your music. One of the most important things that we’ve always done: If someone starts playing your music on their radio show or live, make an effort to go to their shows and try to fnd a way to introduce yourself, thank them and give them more of your music. Follow Dzeko & Torres on Twitter @DzekoandTorres.
NIGHTLIFE
THE HOOKUP
Ladies Nightlife Fashion 101 Tips from a Model Citizen By Laurel May Bond
ATTENTION WOMEN OF LAS VEGAS: Step away from the sequins. Las Vegas native, fashion consultant, stylist, model and blogger Chelsey de Leon of BohemianBirdy.tumblr.com shows us how to hit the Strip in style, while turning up the dial on class and comfort with just a few essential, up-tothe-minute fashion tips. Is there a rule of thumb for how many articles of sequined/bedazzled items of clothing a person should wear at one time? No one likes to stare at a blinding disco ball. Keep it to one sequined item and accent around it. Less is always more. What’s the best thing to wear for getting noticed at the velvet ropes (without looking like a total skank)? Simply put yourself together in an effortless, true-to-you way. Keep it natural and cool, and don’t give it all away by wearing the most revealing thing you own. Try a sexy jumpsuit, pair it was some dainty heels, and a killer statement necklace. Add a pop of lip, throw on a cute fedora—meow.
June 26–July 2, 2014
It’s a million degrees outside waiting in the valet line, but it’s freezing indoors. Do you have any layering tips? The classic black blazer: light enough to wear outside, warm enough to fght off over-air conditioning in the club.
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It’s going to be a long night of walking and dancing. I want to look sexy, but I don’t want to end up with bloody feet. Ideas? First and foremost, sexy is being confdent and comfortable in your own shoes, literally. Remember this and I promise you will never be seen walking out of a casino barefoot. If you aren’t sure if a pair of heels is going to kill your feet, bring a folding pair of fats in your clutch. And some Band-Aids! Can you share your on-Strip go-to spot for after-dark fashion emergencies? Scoop NYC in the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace. They’re open until midnight Fridays and Saturdays. What’s the local fashionista’s must-have for this season? The ultimate clutch/handbag. Every girl needs one to defne their own style and personality. Fringe, studs or a bright splash of color, it’s the perfect way to polish off any outft. Check out Street Level Handbags, carried at Nasty Gal, Urban Outftters and Nordstrom.
Stiletto nails: Hot or not? Not. They had their glory moment. On to the next nail trend, please. Reveal one secret to looking great that models know but that we “regular” girls don’t. Here’s a cool makeup trick I learned: Try white or nude eyeliner on your lower eyelid for eyes that pop. And coconut oil. Everywhere. I’m not kidding. It’s the Holy Grail. What single item must you absolutely have for a night out on the Strip? My vintage rings. Weird, I know, but if I don’t have my best accessories on, something isn’t right! Name three Las Vegas trends that must die— and soon. Fake eyelashes, tacky bedazzled manicures and sequins for every occasion.
What are your favorite local, under-the-radar boutiques? Coterie: You walk in and instantly feel like you stumbled onto a secret gem. They carry some one-of-a-kind brands that you can’t fnd anywhere else in Vegas, plus the staff is always so much fun. Filthy Mouth Clothing, found online at FilthyMouthClothing.com: Local designer with the right idea in mind. Environmentally conscious fabrics and handmade pieces that are to die for. The Sienna Jumpsuit is my favorite. Scoop NYC: Right at your fngertips, modern contemporary brands in a boutique setting. Their on-trend, personal shoppers can locate and ship items directly to your house! Dispel a fashion myth. That Las Vegas’ locals don’t know fashion! I was born and bred in this city. I have style, I know fashion beyond the Vegas borders, and I am surrounded by individuals who are very inspiring with style themselves.
NIGHTLIFE
PARTIES
ARTISAN
VEGAS SEVEN
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See more photos from this gallery at SPYONVegas.com
PHOTOS BY TEDDY FUJIMOTO
June 26–July 2, 2014
1501 W. Sahara Ave.
NIGHTLIFE
PARTIES
LIQUID Aria
[ UPCOMING ]
VEGAS SEVEN
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See more photos from this gallery at SPYONVegas.com
PHOTOS BY JOE FURY
June 26–July 2, 2014
July 5 DJ Pauly D’s birthday celebration July 12 Scooter and Lavelle spin July 17 Calamity of Noise presents “Boom!”
FEATURING DJ WI K I
For Tickets and VIP Reservations 877.667.0585 I roserabbitlie.com I
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Doors at 5:30PM | Nightlife begins at 11PM | Late Night Dining served until 4AM | Wednesday - Saturday
CARSON KITCHEN OPENS, MORELS WELCOMES SUMMER AND THE WIENER’S CIRCLE IS A WINNER
Lorin Watada, this one with a bar focus. A market from DW Bistro owners makes up the fourth prominent corner space opening onto the lushly landscaped circular courtyard. Other units include The Cuppa, a second coffeehouse by former Strip aerialist Holley Steeley, and a medical spa with a possible juice bar by Dr. 90210’s Dr. Gary Motykie, as well as a proposed sushi bar, healthier-choice concept, gym and salon. Like Tivoli Village and the District at Green Valley Ranch—and the upcoming Downtown Summerlin—the Gramercy is looking for that justright mix of dining options that will serve its urban dwellers and workers, as well as attract a destination diner. Guevara-Leone says that while she could have snapped her fngers and flled the retail and dining spaces with the usual mix (Pottery Barn, Subway, Starbucks), she convinced her partners to seek local up-and-comers and regional proven performers instead of chains and franchises. Stratta was among the frst to come aboard. “The most exciting and interesting thing about the Gramercy,” Stratta says, “is that there’s not that much in that area, but there are a lot of people who can afford to go out often. It’s a part of their routine.” Since parting ways with Steve Wynn in 2011, Stratta has been bouncing around from the Bay Area to L.A. to a just-concluded menu-consulting gig with Las Vegas’ Marché Bacchus bistro and wine bar. He has since joined restaurant franchise company KCI Investments and plans to open Alex Stratta Italian Steakhouse (working name) at the Gramercy, while also starting
a high-end catering company and developing new fast-casual brands. “It’s keeping me real busy,” the chef reports, but he still plans to run the steakhouse full time. Despite his career highs, this is the frst time Stratta says he’ll get to be his own boss. “You can only go so far [at a hotel-casino],” the chef says, “and I think it went as far as I possibly could.” That’s exactly the kind of partner Guevara-Leone is looking for. “I’m putting it to the chefs that whatever culinary idea or dream they’ve ever had that they could not do in a casino, or it just wasn’t the right time, this is your canvas. You are the artist.” The space Stratta’s chosen in the northwest corner of the Gramercy’s central park boasts foor-to-ceiling windows and a partial Strip view, which will be reserved for the private dining room. Italian elements will include fresh pasta and fatbreads made in a wood-burning oven, plus a shellfsh and raw bar. The steakhouse menu will be straightforward American, he says, “but I’m gonna fancy it up a bit.” And pricewise, “It will be very approachable.” That’s hugely important to Stratta, who is eager to avoid the perception that he’s going to charge Strip prices. He will focus instead on building a team that can deliver the quality of service diners have come to expect from Stratta restaurants, regardless of price. “It doesn’t cost anything to have good service,” he says. “It’s just a matter of training.” The spot will have a bar, happy hour, live entertainment and occupy 5,300 square feet, including a patio. Watada’s 4,200-square-foot Bachi Bar (also a working name) will also have a heavy bar focus, with an
emphasis on craft beer, twists on classic cocktails, and original creations with an Asian infuence. He will also expand on the Bachi model with entrées, salads and appetizers. Both Stratta and Watada say they are in lease negotiations, though Bachi Bar won’t open until May 2015, as Watada is currently expanding into California with Bachi Burgers in West Los Angeles and Pasadena. Despite his brand’s growth, “I’m one of those people who can’t stand chain concepts,” Watada says. “I’ve always been a big supporter of local businesses frst.” Steeley is another local business success story, and was actually the frst to sign on to the project. “It’s a new style of business venture,” Steeley says. “This side of town is in need of a gourmet feel.” Her 2,000-square-foot brick coffee shop and patio will also be a showplace for locally made artwork. Ferraro, meanwhile, is close to signing. “We like the project, and we’re very interested,” he says. The chef is keeping the details quiet for now, but he says, it’s “defnitely not 100 percent Italian. It’s fun, hip, sexy—something I know I haven’t seen yet, at least not in this town.”
Get the latest on local restaurant openings and closings, interviews with top chefs, cocktail recipes, menu previews and more in our weekly “Sips and Bites” newsletter. Subscribe at VegasSeven.com/SipsAndBites.
Chef Kerry Simon just celebrated his birthday, and along with it, opened his newest eatery, Carson Kitchen (124 S. 6th St., 702-473-9523, CarsonKitchen.com). Called an “American gastro-lounge,” Carson Kitchen is a nice neighborhood-y departure from Simon’s slick spot overlooking the pool at Palms Place. While the view may be different, the menu is all Simon: ingredientdriven, creative and fun. Deviled eggs topped with crispy pancetta and caviar are one of the favorites from the Social Plates section, as are crunchy Spam croquettes served with jalapeño mustard. And everyone’s talking about the lamb gyro tacos, topped with the typical Greek accouterments of tzatziki, cucumber and tomatoes. Now that summer is officially here, Morels French Steakhouse and Bistro (in the Palazzo, 702-607-6333, MorelsLV.com) offers a couple of prix-fixe menus that will get you out of the house and into its dining room during the hot months. The $22 two-course meal (French onion soup or Caesar salad with romaine hearts for the first course; steak frites or roasted chicken for the second) is a prime power-lunch option. For dinner, $56 gets you four courses, including an amusebouche, a red salad with radicchio, endive, walnuts and goat cheese, a 20-ounce sirloin with ratatouille and profiteroles for dessert. Also new, the Wiener’s Circle, just off the sportsbook in Red Rock Resort (702-8237400) gets Chicago food just right. For those who have never been to the one in the Windy City, it’s a great, fast-casual spot that serves proper Chicago-style hot dogs. Sure, if the ingredients are sourced right—and they are here, with Vienna beef hot dogs, neon-green relish, sport peppers and poppy-seed buns—you can’t go too wrong with stuff like hot dogs and burgers. But the Wiener’s Circle has even perfected the char on the burgers and dogs, thanks to the super-hot grill. (True story: We had to order two cheddar char burgers, because I didn’t want to share one with my dining companion, who also happened to be from Chicago. He knew what was up.). Unlike in Chicago, the Las Vegas restaurant serves Taylor Ham rolls for breakfast, as well as an item that may as well have been born on the Third Coast: a breakfast sandwich on a Krispy Kreme doughnut. And there’s even a chocolate shake on the Red Rock Resort menu—just not the one you’d get at the original spot, if you know what I mean. Grace Bascos eats, sleeps, raves and repeats. Read more from Grace at VegasSeven.com/ DishingWithGrace, as well as on her diningand-music blog, FoodPlusTechno.com.
PHOTOS BY JEN GUEVARA
DINING June 26–July 2, 2014 VEGAS SEVEN
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The future site of chef Mimmo Ferraro’s next venture (far left) and Bachi Bar (far right); Gramercy’s nine-story condo tower (inset).
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DRINKING Clockwise from left: The Bad Beat crew (Hall, Barkley and Dominiak); “Professor” Howe with Rácz; and the makings of Mr. Fredrickson’s bitters.
By Xania Woodman
“TAKE ME TO THE BOOZE DISTRICT!”
These words are music to Las Vegas Distillery owner George Rácz’s ears. He’s the unoffcial mayor of the burgeoning neighborhood, which makes its home in the industrial complex near Interstate 215 and Gibson Road in Henderson. And he would like to see this collection of artisanal manufacturers become a destination in the way that Downtown’s Fremont East Entertainment District has. But instead of barcades and rooftop parties, this district will offer you fights of fresh, locally made beer and a growler fll-up to go; a case of your own private-label wine; chocolate bars the size of license plates; and bitters for your home bar. Walking tours of the Booze District (tagline: “We make it, we love it, we share it”) will soon guide guests from one business to the next. But until then, here’s the latest:
PHOTOS BY JON ESTRADA
LAS VEGAS DISTILLERY
Never one to sit still, Rácz just kicked the tires on the distillery’s frst cocktail menu offered at the Hooch, a wooden bar inside the working distillery. He also just debuted Nevada 150 bourbon in honor of Nevada’s sesquicentennial. But Rácz’s next project isn’t liquid— well, not for long. Inspired by his son, Rácz will get his Wonka on in September, inviting guests into the Chocolate Makery, where they can set tempered chocolate into the mold of their choosing and add any of up to 400 toppings
to their own foot-long (or 21-inchlong!) chocolate bar. Just back from a chocolate conference, Rácz says his goal is for the Makery to eventually be a bean-to-bar operation—that is, roasting its own beans, making its own chocolate—a more than $200,000 investment. Till then, visitors will have their choice of white-, milk- or dark-Belgian, organic or Madagascar chocolate. Also tucked away in a corner of the distillery is Mr. Fredrickson’s Artisan Bitters lab, where bartender Cody Fredrickson makes scratch bitters using Rácz’s high-proof grain alcohol. Expect to see them going into your Manhattan by December. LasVegasDistillery.com. BAD BEAT BREWING
Can you taste it? The district’s frst microbrewery opens with a ribbon cutting at 5 p.m. July 11 just a few doors down from the distillery. This pokerthemed brewpub (“Drink to win!”) started cooking a few weeks ago, and on a recent visit was positively hopping with activity. Owner (and former pro poker player) Nathan Hall brought on former Joseph James brewer Weston Barkley and general manager Mike Dominiak to bring his vision to life … and also to help him hand-sand, stain, frame and hang the intricate, rustic pallet-wood walls inside his 55-seat taproom. The spot comes complete with shuffeboard, darts, Nintendo and Cards Against Humanity.
Hall, also a former homebrewer, will open with a fve-beer, year-round menu ($5 per pint; $8 fight of fve) as well as one seasonal, including Ace in the Hole Basil Pale Ale, the superroasty Gutshot Dry Irish Stout, Hoppy Times IPA, Daily Grind APA, Ante Up Amber Ale and Bluffng Isn’t Weiss Hefewiezen. Hall has an immediate eye toward distribution, and has signed on with Southern Wine & Spirits of Nevada to get Bad Beat brews to your fridge. Facebook.com/BadBeatBrewing. CRAFTHAUS BREWERY
Not yet open, Crafthaus already made its contribution to Nevada history when owners Wyndee and Dave Forrest got the state to separate gaming from the Brew Pub License, allowing them to open Crafthaus without mandatory videopoker machines. All the better for downing a few pints and chatting up the new husband-wife brewing team from Australia, Steph Cope and Steve Brockman. Head brewer Cope is, to our knowledge, Nevada’s frst female head brewer. The Forrests recently got the keys to their 5,524-square-foot offce and warehouse, which will be demolished and renovated into a 48-seat taproom. Despite the fact the Forrests were the frst brewery owners to join the Booze District (they crowd-funded the project using Kickstarter to raise more than $25,000), theirs is slated to be the last of the three breweries to open, probably in late August. CrafthausBrewery.com.
GRAPE EXPECTATIONS
The Nevada School of Winemaking opened in 2007, but moved just around the corner from Las Vegas Distillery in August 2012. Happy in their new home, general manager Mike Schoenbaechler and “the Professor” KJ Howe continue to do the Lord’s work, making winemakers out of wine drinkers for whom mere appreciation is no longer enough. Students essentially buy a barrel for $2,800. Over nine months, and four fun classes—crushing/destemming/pressing, barreling, racking and bottling—they make their own red wine to fll it, yielding 240 bottles of their own private-label wine (comes out to roughly $11.50 per bottle). Try to beat that with a bottle of Two-Buck Chuck! GrapeExpectationsLasVegas.com. Follow the goings on at Facebook.com/BoozeDistrict.
June 26–July 2, 2014
The artisans of Henderson’s Booze District are poised to pour
Of the Booze District’s three breweries, Vegas Brewing is the dark horse, a oneman show. And that man is Sean Geer, a former brewery consultant out of L.A. who is currently humping lumber around himself to build a huge, 72-seat taproom in his 5,426-square-foot space. On his 10-barrel system, Geer will make West Coast-inspired brews, including his signature Zythopsychosis, Triple Nut Brown Ale and Sad World Summer Ale. Like Crafthaus, Geer also launched a Kickstarter campaign in May to offset licensing, build-out and equipment costs, but with a deadline of July 5 to raise $12,000; at press time the campaign had earned just $515. But his 100 barrels for aging and plans for a brewing school say he means business regardless. “Come here in the next two to three months,” Geer says. “This place is really going to explode.” He expects to be cooking by late July. Facebook.com/VegasBrewingCo.
69 VEGAS SEVEN
Blood, Sweat and Beers
VEGAS BREWING CO.
A&E
TELEVISION
Why does the apocalypse always hit the Strip first?
Syfy’s Dominion Over Sin City The sequel to Legion gives Las Vegas some serious tough love
June 26–July 2, 2014
By Jason Scavone
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BAD NEWS FOR MANDALAY BAY and the Luxor during the angel-led apocalypse: Both resorts were crumbling ruins during the recent series premiere of Dominion on Syfy. The protective wall that surrounds the haven city of Vega appears to start right at Tropicana Avenue. The good news is that the Stratosphere is moving on up in the world, as sort of an aerie for the archangel Michael. So, nice job, Strat. He probably went up there trying to get good Pin Up tickets and decided to stick around. Dominion is set after the events of the 2010 fick Legion, which is like Christmas for the tens of Legion fanboys. It’s a clunky, chintzy, couldn’t-be-anymore-Syfy ride—but, hey, that’s why we fy Air Syfy. Dominion was apparently blessed with a bigger budget than most Syfy fare (lookin’ at you, Blast Vegas). It’s just that that budget clearly runs out about 45 minutes into the hourlong premiere. At least they bought their clichés in bulk and saved money there. (“Everything has a price” and “You are the chosen one” in one episode? Hell of a two-for-one sale.) Here’s the Dominion world in a nut-
shell: God disappeared from heaven sometime around 2013, so the archangel Gabriel decided humans were the problem and came to Earth to wage a war for extinction. Archangel Michael intervenes as a champion of mankind, and after a long war that saw 6 billion people die, General Edward Riesen (played by poor man’s Anthony Hopkins, Alan Dale) led a last-ditch effort that defeated Gabriel’s army. He sets up the perimeter around Vega as a refugee camp that saw the hotels turn into large-scale dorms for the last of humanity. Clever. The city runs with a strict caste system, of which Alex Lannen (played by a poor man’s Matt Damon, Christopher Egan) is in the second-lowest category as a soldier of the—we’re not making this up—Archangel Corps. He’s in love with Riesen’s daughter, Claire (played by Game of Thrones’ Roxanne McKee). Which is convenient, because Dominion really, really wants to be Game of Thrones with more angels and less commitment to the subtleties of realpolitik. Riesen is the lord commander of Vega, and the head of House Riesen. His chief political nemesis is David Whele (Anthony Head), who leads House Whele. They took as their
symbols the Caesars Palace wreath and MGM lion, respectively. Really. There are probably more houses, but frankly, none of them featured Peter Dinklage, so who cares? Just as in Thrones, the political infghting ignores the more disastrous, supernatural threat. But instead of Stannis Baratheon keeping his eye on the prize in the North, we get Michael (played by poor man’s Keanu Reeves, Tom Wisdom), ready to rumble with any angels of ill-intent who cross the threshold into Vega. Like the one who suicide bombs the town’s nuclear reactor. And if nukes, apocalypses (apocali?) and Las Vegas all sound vaguely familiar to you, it’s because this was ground trod in 1978 by Stephen King in The Stand. In that end-times showdown, the bad guys held Vegas instead. So what is it that makes Las Vegas such a key ingredient in your eschatological stew? Is it just the well-trod metaphorical ground of an opulent city in a harsh landscape? Is it the party-while-the-world burns ethos? (If the cave hippies of The Matrix Reloaded could have feasibly made it above ground, there’s no way they would have spelunked to their dance-like-no-
murder-robots-are-watching rave.) Or is it that Las Vegas really is like gold? Shiny, but malleable and conductive. It’s easy to bend Las Vegas to your storytelling will when it’s a town that tries so hard to be everything to everyone. Is it the way the apocalypse brings out people’s basest instincts, and no other city has that base covered like a bottle full of lye? In a word: Nah. The secret to why Las Vegas is such a natural post-apocalyptic setting is simple: It’s the Dawn of the Dead playbook. You pick the smallest area with the most practical resources that’s easiest to defend. As long as you can keep the power on and the water pumping, the Strip is like America’s Costco during a zombie outbreak. You go a block out to include the gun ranges? You’re set for as long as it takes society to rebuild. You think you could do that in Chicago? Way too much territory to patrol with all sorts of points of entry. It may as well be Stalingrad for vampires, mummies or angry, people-hating angels. Dominion might drop the ball on a lot, but it got that part absolutely right. Now if they could just get a full episode’s worth of budget.
A&E
MOVIES
CAN TAKE MY EYES OFF YOU
A fixture on Vegas stages since 2008, Jersey Boys hits the big screen.
Jersey Boys lacks certain fair By Michael Phillips Tribune Media Services
JERSEY BOYS THE MOVIE is a different, more sedate animal than Jersey Boys the Broadway musical. Often this happens when a stage success comes to the screen, even with many of the same performers and artistic team members on board. Changes are made; ardent fans of the original are variously pleased or disappointed. And in this case, those who have not seen the theatrical edition of the tale of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons—how they found their sound and wrestled with temptations—may wonder what the fuss is about. The hits keep coming: “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “December, 1963” and that addictive gush of romantic ’60s desperation, “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.” They may be enough. Full of genial showbiz clichés and mobbed-up sweeties, it’s an easy movie to take. It is also an uncertainly stylized one, with a drab sense of atmosphere at odds with the material’s punchy theatrics. Jersey Boys labors under a case of directorial miscasting, that of legendary flmmaker Clint Eastwood at the helm of a whizbang jukebox tuner. Onstage the show was nothing if not
speedy. The musical’s librettists, Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, adapted it for the screen, retaining (though downplaying) the basic structure allowing each of the Four Seasons to relay the group’s origin myth his way. It begins in Belleville, New Jersey, in 1951 and ends with a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 1990. Valli and songwriter Bob Gaudio serve as executive producers of the flm, so you know they’re going to come off well in relation to the other two, Nick Massi and Tommy DeVito. What did the Four Seasons have that so many other groups lacked? Start with Valli’s falsetto, which in its heyday sounded like a duck-and-cover emergency siren played at 78 rpm. Jersey Boys argues that Valli’s success, like Sinatra’s in a separate, imperious corner of superstar mythology, was all about the working-class Jersey roots and a natural overlap with the local capos. “There were three ways out of the neighborhood,” DeVito says at one point, to the camera. “You join the Army and maybe get killed; you get mobbed
up, maybe get killed that way. Or you get famous. For us, it was two out of three.” The story skates through the decades. Naming themselves after a bowling alley, the Four Seasons hit pay dirt with “Sherry” on American Bandstand; Valli juggles a nagging wife and needy mistress (the women’s roles are neither central nor nuanced); DeVito nearly sinks the group with debts to the mob, represented by Gyp DeCarlo. As the kindly underworld kingpin bearing hardly a whiff of authenticity, Christopher Walken strolls off with every scene he’s in. Valli goes up, then down, then up, and the road along the way is paved by drugs, heartbreak and personal tragedy. We’re left with a sense of conficting versions of events smoothed over by the harmonic convergence of a history-making quartet. Working with his usual collaborators, chiefy cinematographer Tom Stern (king of the desaturated, slightly sad color scheme) and production designer James J. Murakami, the director plugs along, following one narrator, then another, hitting the story points and
June 26–July 2, 2014
SHORT REVIEWS
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X-Men: Days of Future Past (PG-13) ★★★✩✩
Midway into Bryan Singer’s delightfully convoluted flick, there is a prison break so exuberant and uncharacteristic of superhero movies that you sit up a bit. As much as a pricey, box-office-savvy international franchise can indulge in fun anymore, it does here. The film brings together the cast of the original X-Men films and the upstarts of the clever 2011 reboot X-Men: First Class— teaming up generations of X-Men (and ensuring that someone seated behind you will be asking, “Wait, who is that again?”).
Edge of Tomorrow (PG-13) ★★★✩✩ Insanely derivative, frenetically enjoyable, Edge of Tomorrow takes gaming to a new level of big-screen indulgence, sending Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt through the same alien-invasion scenario over and over until they learn how to win, put down the consoles and get off the couch for a little lunch and some fresh air, maybe. The climax involves Paris in flames and up to its landmarks in water, and a certain museum featured in The Da Vinci Code.
Think Like a Man Too (PG-13) ★★✩✩✩
A 105-minute ad for Caesars Palace, this passably engaging sequel allows Kevin Hart to hijack whole sections of the Las Vegas-set hijinks as he lets loose with his little verbal tsunamis of braggadocio. The gang reunites in Vegas for the meticulously planned wedding of Candace (Regina Hall) and Michael (Terrence Jenkins). The funniest scene is familiar, but it works: a series of mug shots after the strip-club melee lands everybody in jail, the morning of the wedding.
moving on. The casting of relative unknowns, many from stage incarnations of Jersey Boys, helps in some cases, hurts in others. John Lloyd Young won the Tony Award for his Valli, but onscreen he’s a tentative presence, despite a formidable vocal range and powerful falsetto. Far better is Erich Bergen’s Gaudio, a comfortable and natural personality who doesn’t get lost amid the swirl of years and setbacks and triumphs. Some scenes are frankly theatrical, such as the hardship tour of the famous Brill Building, full of hardened veterans impervious to raw talent. Other segments are stiff Hollywood soundstage artifacts all the way, such as the boys’ early smash-and-grab robberies for the local gangsters. Others still are played out more or less realistically, until we’re hit with a deliberately fakey bit of rearprojection. Eastwood never pushes his approaches too far in any one direction. Those who show up for the songs, and only the songs, probably won’t mind how they’re treated visually. Mamma Mia! turned into a blockbuster not because it was a great flm (or even a good one) but because it had irrational exuberance, and was in tune with the appeal of ABBA. Jersey Boys is rationally exuberant to a fault. The personalities feel curiously small within the story. Moderately entertaining, Eastwood’s flm marches to a more methodical drummer. Its commercial fortunes are unlikely to rival that of the stage version. “Goose it up too much, and it gets cheesy,” Valli says to Gaudio in Jersey Boys, about a song arrangement. Eastwood takes that line to heart. The unspoken B side of that warning, however, is worth heeding: No particular style leads to a movie of no particular style. Jersey Boys (R) ★★ ✩✩
By Tribune Media Services
22 Jump Street (R) ★★★✩✩
The peculiar sweetness of 21 Jump Street has taken a hiatus in this brazen sequel that’s both slightly disappointing and a reliable, often riotous “laffer.” 22 Jump Street tests the bond of this police partnership when the boy-men are assigned to work undercover, again as brothers, this time at a college where a new designer drug has claimed at least one life. Be sure to hang around for the closing credits, which imagine all sorts of Jump Street sequels to come, all of which look funnier than A Million Ways to Die in the West.
The Fault in Our Stars (PG-13) ★★✩✩✩
How to Train Your Dragon 2 (PG) ★★★✩✩
In the discreetly assaultive film version of The Fault in Our Stars there’s a scene, faithful to the one in the best-selling John Green book, where Hazel and Augustus visit the Amsterdam home of a novelist whose cancer-related novel holds great personal meaning for two teenage Indianapolis cancer patients in love. The Fault in Our Stars pushes every button. Shailene Woodley is an ace at handling laughter through tears—“my favorite emotion,” as a character in Steel Magnolias once said.
In a world of tired sequels, this DreamWorks Animation offering feels and flows like a real movie. It’s as satisfying as the initial 2010 Dragon, based loosely on the Cressida Cowell books. Now a young adult, adorkable Viking lad Hiccup (Jay Baruchel, voice) and his intended, Astrid (America Ferrera), live the good life in the remote village of Berk, ruled by Hiccup’s benevolent father (Gerard Butler). This is a coming-of-age story, and the film rewards our investment in it.
Malefcent (PG) ★★★✩✩
A Million Ways to Die in the West (R) ★✩✩✩✩
The formula works: humanizing characters formerly known as evil, so that another tale emerges from the story we know, driven by female antagonist/protagonist hybrids who aren’t bad, just misunderstood. So it goes with Maleficent, Disney’s bombastic explanation of why the “queen of all evil” from its 1959 Sleeping Beauty got that way, and why she wasn’t, really. This is Angelina Jolie’s show. Maleficent is all about second thoughts. Our anti-heroine is Aurora’s fairy godmother, her heart warming, reluctantly, to the girl under the spell.
The Immigrant (R) ★★★✩✩
This prickly period piece about hard times starring Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix and Jeremy Renner leaves you unsettled. Although it’s far more about survival than love, there is a sense of seduction in director James Gray’s ambitious film. The sepiasaturated scene evokes that vast influx of refugees in the ’20s and ’30s. The theme of compromise as the price of progress in this country is a compelling one. The film is sometimes fraught, but the ideas are so rich, the look so lovely, Ewa’s journey so heartbreakingly real, even the flaws suit it.
A Million Ways to Die in the West is a grim vanity project by Family Guy guru Seth MacFarlane, determined to carry his own movie in a romantic-comic leading role. MacFarlane plays Albert, an inept sheep farmer in 1882 Arizona. When his flighty, shallow steady (Amanda Seyfried) dumps him for a sniveling fancy man with money (Neil Patrick Harris), Albert suffers a crisis of confidence cured by the hot new gal in town (Charlize Theron). What we have here is a failure of craft.
Blended (PG-13) ★★✩✩✩
Adam Sandler is a bottle of cheap beer that’s lost all its bubbles. So let’s focus on what works in Blended, because he sure doesn’t. Drew Barrymore, in her third pairing with Sandler, still brings energy and conviction to her performance as Lauren, a mother of two thrown together on an African vacation with this lump. Jim, a widower, is raising three emotionally stunted daughters who need a mom. Every setup is an eye-roller. Sandler is aimlessly going through the motions, a character others dismiss as “a buffoon,” “a chubby loser” in need of a fist-bump.
How often do you play now living in Tennessee without an online outlet? I don’t play in Tennessee at all. I’ve picked up my travel schedule since Black Friday [April 15, 2011, when a federal indictment shut down Internet poker]. It’s that or not play, and not playing isn’t an option. Most of my travel has been out of the country.
Chris Moneymaker
June 26–July 2, 2014
The 2003 World Series of Poker champ on prepping for the Main Event, why he’ll never call Las Vegas home and how his rags-to-riches story has proven costly to others
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By Jason Scavone
How do you feel heading into this year’s Main Event, which begins July 5? Every year I’m confdent going in. The feld has gotten tougher over the last 11 years—the average player is a lot better. Eleven years ago when there were only 800 people, the feld was relatively tough. From 2004 to 2008, it got really soft; you had all these new players who didn’t know what they were doing,
which can be dangerous. The average feld is better now, which is good. You don’t have guys over-betting pots all the time, forcing you to make tough decisions. You can last a little longer and play more secure. But it’s defnitely a grind. It’s a little over two weeks to be out there for one tournament. I’m just trying to get my sleep patterns in gear, and hopefully I’ll be ready.
Have you ever considered moving to Vegas? No, never in a million years would I move to Vegas. Honestly, I only come to Vegas twice a year: for the Main Event and [NBC’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship]. Vegas was nice when I was in my 20s. Now I’m married with three kids. I’d rather just go back to my condo and get away from it all. I’m there to play that tournament and lay low. I’ll probably watch movies and things of that nature, but I won’t do the Vegas scene anymore. What’s going to be poker’s next big thing? It has to be full [online] legalization in the U.S. Once that happens, you get it back on TV. The problem with poker back in the day on TV was they saturated the market. It got to the point where you didn’t know if you were watching a tournament from four years ago. Everybody wants to say a woman winning the Main Event [would be big for poker], but I don’t think women are going to start playing poker because a woman won the Main Event. The number of women playing poker has grown a lot in the last 10 years, but it’s obviously [still] a very male-dominated sport. I think it will stay that way .
THE MONEYMAKER EFFECT BY ERIC RASKIN
is available at ShopLVA.com, Amazon.com and at the Gambler’s General Store. Moneymaker, along with several principals in the book, will be signing copies at the World Series of Poker’s main stage in the Rio from 5:30-7:30 p.m. July 7.
The Moneymaker Effect is an oral history of your stunning 2003 WSOP Main Event victory and how it led to a poker explosion. However, some of the guys quoted in the book, including fellow pro Howard Lederer, were pretty blunt in their assessment of you as a player at the time. Was that diffcult to read? Not really. I played home games. I was very inexperienced. I was playing over my head, against guys who played daily, and I literally played one day a week. Back then, online players were considered second-class citizens. We weren’t really poker players; we were playing video games. People were very critical of my game. It’s weird to hear someone like Lederer say I’ve never been very good, but whatever. It is what it is. Since you won that bracelet 11 years ago, how many people have told you they quit their jobs to go pro, or moved to Vegas because of you? There’s more than I could count. I probably ruined a lot of marriages, a lot of lives and also made new professions for people. I always tell young people I run across who have aspirations of going pro, “Don’t!” I warn them of all the dangers, of all the things that could happen even if you’re successful. You might love the game when you’re 21, but are you going to love it when you’re 31 or 41 and you have a family? Most every poker player knows being a poker player isn’t conducive to having a family. You don’t see that many married poker pros out there. How do players react when they join a poker game and see Moneymaker at the table? Read the full interview at VegasSeven.com/Moneymaker.
PHOTO BY DANNY MA XWELL
SEVEN QUESTIONS
Do you still get excited about playing the World Series, or is it just another tournament at this point? I get excited when I play any big tournament. I just enjoy the game. Poker is still fun to me, partly because I take breaks—I haven’t played a hand of poker in a week and a half since a country-club game. I won’t touch cards again until I get to Vegas. I’m taking two weeks off. … If I was out in Vegas right now and I had been grinding every World Series event for the last three weeks, I’d probably want to put a gun to my head and end it. I would not enjoy poker if I did that. I like chocolate a lot, but I can’t eat chocolate every night.