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14 | THE LATEST
“The Business of Pleasure,” by Lissa Townsend Rodgers. Led by the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon, the sex-toy industry has found a new customer base: mainstream America.
16 | Breaking Stuf & Making Stuf
“Of Arrows and Anxiety,” by Greg Blake Miller. At the Vegas Shoot, life lessons about archery, community and the training of butterflies.
18 | Green Felt Journal
“The Price of Success,” by David G. Schwartz. Gary Loveman’s strategy to turn Caesars Entertainment into a gaming Goliath worked … but did it work too well?
20 | Sports
“How Rugby Seduced Las Vegas,” by Alex Goff. Annual USA Sevens tournament has found an unlikely home in the desert.
22 | COVER
“A Hill of Beans.” The cup o’ joe has come a long way, and that’s grounds to celebrate. Plus, our guide to independent coffeehouses and third-wave coffee terms to know.
29 | NIGHTLIFE
“Don’t Tell Him to Stop,” by Zoneil Maharaj. Serial R&B hit-maker Jeremih brings the party to Marquee. Plus, a Q&A with Caked Up, Seven Nights and photos from the week’s hottest parties.
53 | DINING
“Line of Fire,” by Al Mancini. Our dining critic takes his turn in the kitchen. Plus, Mancini on Makers & Finders, and worldly coffee drinks demystified.
59 | A&E
“Shticks and Giggles,” by Steve Bornfeld. After flirting with extinction, Onyx Theatre resurrects itself as a laugh factory. Plus, The Hit List, Tour Buzz and a preview of One Night for One Drop.
66 | Movies
Jupiter Ascending and our weekly movie capsules.
78 | Seven Questions
Sam Pocker, the owner of Sin City Speed Dating, on approaching strangers, the benefits of being revealing and why showing off can be a turn-off.
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Event Seven Days The Deal Seven Nights Showstopper
ON THE COVER The cortado at Sambalatte, one of the city’s pioneer coffeehouses.
Café Darak photo by Jon Estrada
February 12–18, 2015
PHOTO BY SABIN ORR
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EVENT
AN EVENING OF FUN FOR THE PHIL
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UPCOMING EVENTS • Feb. 28
Walk With the Heart of a Child at Fashion Show [CHFN.org] • March 21 HELP of Southern Nevada’s Gown Town at Town Square [HelpSoNV.org.]
PHOTOS BY TEDDY FUJIMOTO
February 12–18, 2015
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It’s one thing to take in a Smith Center performance from the audience. But what’s it like to actually step onstage? About 400 guests found out Feb. 6 during the 15th annual Las Vegas Philharmonic’s Diamonds Are Forever gala. Attendees, including emcees Rachel Smith and Sean McAllister of Fox 5 (KVVU-TV), dined atop the Reynolds Hall stage while singer Kristen Hertzenberg and 14-year-old violinist Erika Dalton provided the musical entertainment. Also, figurative artist Graham Knuttel did a live oil painting of Philharmonic Maestro Donato Cabrera to include in the silent auction. Proceeds from the evening benefit Philharmonic educational programs, such as the youth concert series and young artists’ concerto competition.
“Mike Schloesser recently shot 60 consecutive X’s at a World Cup event. The announcer introduces him as Mr. Perfect. Mr. Perfect misses the X.” BREAKING STUFF & MAKING STUFF {PAGE 16}
News, gaming, deals and analyzing the unlikely marriage of rugby and Las Vegas
The Business of Pleasure Led by the Fify Shades of Grey phenomenon, the sex-toy industry has found a new customer base: mainstream America
February 12–18, 2015
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AMERICA MAY HAVE BEEN FOUNDED BY
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puritans, but we’ve mellowed a bit over the years, be it our stance on revealing clothing, explicit language or what the ratings board calls “adult situations.” Even with the loosening of those and other social restraints, some things stayed discreetly hidden … until recently. In case you haven’t noticed, the vibrator has come out of the nightstand drawer. Sex toys now receive exposure everywhere from premium cable to home shopping programs, and seemingly every sitcom drops a dildo joke. Even In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play) was a Pulitzer fnalist in 2010. Of course, the biggest boost has come from Fifty Shades of Grey, which has lured an increasing percentage of soccer moms into the market. “I feel like there’s been an opening up of a women’s market and a couples’ market; those have really been developing over the past decade,” says Karoline Khamis of Las Vegas boutique Toyboxx. Indeed: The worldwide adult-novelty industry has seen sales steadily increase to about $15 billion a year, with about one in four adults admitting to using sex toys. At the recent AVN Expo, one of the best-attended panels was “Fifty Shades Frenzy,” a discussion about how adult businesses can capitalize on E.L. James’ book series and the movie that hits theaters February 13. “This category is going mainstream so quickly. I call it ‘vanilla bondage,’” says Marcus West of Joydivision, a company that manufactures adult toys. He predicts that businesses like his will soon be seeing an increase in frst-time customers. “There will be a lot of newbies. They’ll say, ‘I’ve seen the movie; I want to have that experience. How do I do it?’ It’s up to your staff to guide them, to hold their hand through this process.” The goal, as with any business, is to
Karoline Khamis in her Las Vegas boutique Toyboxx.
welcome the curious and turn them into repeat customers. “We have to make it accessible, make it appealing,” says Tom Stewart of Sportsheets, a company that sells linens with Velcro, D-rings and other features not available at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Khamis concurs that to entice this
new clientele, the purchasing experience must be made more comfortable, pointing out that the stereotypical sex shop isn’t exactly inviting. “It smells like bleach, it’s painted white. The kind of places I wanted to see were friendly, more like a bookstore,” she says. “I don’t want to go into a store
and feel ashamed or out of place.” As important as the setting is the service. Khamis notes that many new customers don’t just want to be handed a dick in a box and sent on their way. “They want information,” she says. “Being such intimate products, there’s still really not a lot of intimate communication [about] it.” Further proof that the sex-toy industry has gone mainstream: You don’t even need to go into a conventional sex shop anymore to procure the goods. From the platinum dildo at high-end lingerie retailer Agent Provocateur to the “intimate massagers” found next to the condoms at Walgreens, sex toys are everywhere. “People are like, ‘Oh, I can sell that, too,’” Khamis says. And then there’s the massive online market. Search Amazon for “sex toys,” and you get more than 400 pages of results. Groupon may be best known for discounts on manicures and sandwiches, but they also recently added an “After Dark” section for items such as lace panties, scented candles and the Oh Naughty Thrusting Rabbit Vibrator. “We’re constantly expanding and evolving offers— particularly within our ‘goods’ category— and the Sexual Wellness collection is just the latest to really take off,” says Barnicus Stapleton, general manager of Senior Citizen Sexual Insights (SCSI) at Groupon. With increasing demand and expanded supply, it would seem the adult-toy industry’s sales arc isn’t going limp anytime soon. Sure, the Fifty Shades buzz will eventually fade, and those offcially licensed Fifty Shades of Grey Pleasure and Pain Nipple Rings eventually will be lost somewhere under the bed. But the stigma long associated with the business of intimate pleasure has forever been erased. “It was deep down in the closet—the dungeon, as it were,”’ Stewart says. “Now it’s coming up to the living room.”
PHOTO BY JON ESTRADA
By Lissa Townsend Rodgers
Tickets to Success By Bob Whitby
Season-ticket drive will likely determine Las Vegas’ NHL fate By Mike Grimala IT’S WAY BACK IN 2009. YOU’RE BOB-
bing to “Party in the U.S.A.” and talking Las Vegas sports with your buddy when he asks you to predict which will happen frst: the city getting its own professional hockey team, or a Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao fght. (I don’t know why he’s asking you this; just assume your friend has ridiculously accurate foresight.) Well, here we are more than a half-decade later, and Mayweather-Pacquiao appears to be falling apart yet again. But that other thing? Looks like that’s going to happen. By all accounts, the NHL is dedicated to adding two Western Conference expansion teams for the 2016-17 season, and as we noted in cover story last month (“Here’s Our Shot,” Jan. 15), a Las Vegas ownership group headed by fnance mogul William Foley is pushing hard for one of the franchises. The NHL is more than mutually interested—in fact, Commissioner Gary Bettman attended a February 10 news conference at the MGM Grand announcing the start of the would-be franchise’s seasonticket drive. Although he said the NHL could make “no promises,”
his presence spoke volumes. If you believe Foley, sealing the deal will be as challenging as scoring an empty-net goal: “I would be amazed if we don’t get a franchise,” Foley says. The infrastructure is already in place, from the ownership group (the Maloof brothers are also involved) to the venue (the under-construction arena behind New York-New York) to a marketing arm that’s ready to spread hockey fever across the Valley (they ran a local television ad during the Super Bowl). The only hurdle left to clear? The ticket drive, which will be used to prove (or disprove) to the NHL that Las Vegas wants and will support a franchise. The goal is collecting 10,000 signatures for a season-ticket waitlist. At the news conference, Foley announced that the team-to-be is now accepting deposits and has hired eight fulltime sales representatives. There are various ticket packages available, with deposits ranging from $150 to $900 and terms ranging from a single season to as long as 10 years. There will be a promotional blitz to attract fans, with more TV ads in the works,
along with billboards and radio spots. Facebook and Twitter accounts are already actively trying to rally the community. Foley says his group will know within a few weeks if they’ll hit the 10,000-ticket goal, but it’s clear he views it as a mere formality. He says he and his team have spent 20 months putting together its NHL proposal, and they’ve planned for every contingency. “Las Vegas is enthusiastic about it,” he says. “Las Vegas’ identity today is an entertainment town. People go to great restaurants, gamble and enjoy themselves. But this team will give Las Vegas a real identity as an American city. It will give the city a major league sports franchise to rally around. I’m very, very confdent it’s going to happen and that Las Vegas will support this effort.” And if that supreme confdence proves justifed and Foley gets those 10,000 signatures, then what? “Then I’m on a plane to New York to meet with the commissioner.” When he’s fnished there, maybe Foley can work on fnalizing that MayweatherPacquiao deal …
[ FOUND MATERIAL ]
BLAST FROM THE PAST Before now, if you wanted to know anything about the stop-start Las Vegas arts and culture scene of the early- to mid-1990s, you’d have to search out one of the wizened, mystical figures of that era—they live way out on the lawless frontier, where Jawas and Sand People roam freely—and ask them what Ye Olde Times were like. Were there nightclubs then? How did you communicate without texting? Thankfully, video artist Doug Jablin had cameras rolling almost constantly in that bygone age, and he’s begun to share the videos on his YouTube page: terrific footage from the defunct Fremont Street Reggae & Blues; the long-lost Club Utopia; the barely remembered Café Copioh; and— I swear to God I’ll get him for this—footage of me with long hair, a douche-y Van Dyke beard and a Lollapalooza T-shirt, imitating local artist Anthony Bondi. You’ll also find live sets from Candye Find the link, and all of our Found Material links, at VegasSeven.com/Found.
Kane, Sheep on Drugs and Tippy Elvis, plus a must-see episode of UNLV District record-store patrons being assaulted by pool-noodle-wielding thugs, led by a cackling Ronn Benway in a pirate hat. After this, you’ll probably never ask about the ’90s again. – Geoff Carter
THURSDAY, FEB. 12: Direct from a trailer park in Alabama comes Dixie Longate, the world’s most famous Tupperware lady. We’re certain you’ll never think of leftovers the same way. 7 p.m. at The Smith Center, with shows through Sunday. TheSmithCenter.com. FRIDAY, FEB. 13: Once a year, the Rainbow Company Youth Theatre puts together a musical mined from Nevada history. This year the show is called Digging Through Nevada’s Past, and it features stories of such notable characters as Mark Twain and bandit Milt Sharp. Show times are 7 p.m. today, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Historic Fifth Street School. ArtsLasVegas.org. SATURDAY, FEB. 14: It’s Valentine’s Day, meaning it’s
time to strip to your skivvies and dash through Downtown’s streets in what is certain to become a local tradition known as Cupid’s Undie Run. The milelong run starts and ends at Commonwealth, where you can grab a drink and stash your clothes. Doors open at noon, and proceeds benefit the Children’s Tumor Foundation. CupidsUndieRun.com.
SUNDAY, FEB. 15: With 16 competing
nations, 44 games and three days of nonstop action, the USA Sevens rugby tournament qualifies as the biggest spectacle in town this weekend. Games started Friday afternoon at Sam Boyd Stadium, and the champion will be crowned today. (For more on the event, see Page 20). USASevens.com.
MONDAY, FEB. 16: This desert inspires some pretty wonderful and pretty crazy things. It also inspires creative people, 11 of whom have banded together for Creating in the Desert, a showcase of work from UNLV students at the Nevada Humanities Program Gallery, 1017 S. First St., through March 27. UNLV.edu. TUESDAY, FEB. 17: Got the afternoon to yourself? Check
out Tuesday Afternoon at the Bijou, the Clark County Library’s ode to classic films. This month they’re spotlighting Gregory Peck, and today’s 1 p.m. feature in the Main Theater is Gentleman’s Agreement, a controversial film about a magazine writer assigned to pen an article on anti-Semitism. LVCCLD.org.
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 18: So you’re headed out to watch the Runnin’ Rebels crush Boise State at 8 p.m. at the Thomas & Mack Center. Why not mix in a little pre-game schmoozing at the Rebel Business Network’s mixer and pregame party at 5:30 p.m. at UNLV’s Richard Tam Alumni Center? New football head coach Tony Sanchez will be there; maybe you could pass along some coaching advice. Connect2.UNLV.edu.
Have an event you want considered for Seven Days? Email VegasSevenDays@Gmail.com.
At the Vegas Shoot, life lessons about archery, community and the training of butterfies
THERE IS AN ARMED MAN STANDING AT
the blackjack table. He has arrows in a quiver and a bow in his hand. At this very moment, there is a person on the premises with the following job title: “Director of Shooting.” A few minutes ago, these words rang out from the South Point Arena: “The range is hot.” Do not be alarmed. I am here because my son is here, and my son is here because, at some point during this, his 14th year on our great green earth, he turned left in the yellow wood, became an archer and left me little choice but to follow. Today he has led me to the Vegas Shoot, where he’s joined about 2,500 other archers of all ages and from many nations. It’s the biggest archery competition in the world. The range is indeed hot. Common interests create portable communities, bound by no territory. Las Vegas is often the lone homeland for these extended families. This is the place where people meet when they have no place else to meet: gadget lovers, comic book fanatics, vacuum-cleaner dealers. But there is something different about this gathering— the participants are bound not merely by common interest but by common discipline. They are bound by the most fundamental of creative desires: the desire to do something so much that you will suffer for it, delight in the suffering, then do it again. It’s the desire to make something of oneself—in this case, an archer. The archers at the Vegas Shoot are bound by the shared will to stare down a small black “X” in the middle of a yellow circle, which is in the middle of a red circle, which is in the middle of a blue circle. They are bound by the will to pierce the “X” from 20 yards, and then to do it 29 more times. Only a handful of people can do this—where there is a will, there is not always a way. But they practice, these arrow-slinging thousands—into their 70s, their 80s. They master stillness. They learn the uses and misuses of anxiety. They understand that a fred arrow should surprise the person who has fred it. The greatest among them, I have been told, have freakishly low heart rates when they fre. At a Vegas Shoot seminar, a legendary coach spoke of the Great Ones: “They’re
J A M E S P. R E Z A
I’M VISITING LAS VEGAS FOR THE FIRST TIME AND DON’T DRINK OR GAMBLE. WHERE SHOULD I GO?
Breaking Stuff & Making Stuff
Mad musings on the creative life GREG BLAKE MILLER
not even human,” he said. He was speaking to an audience of about 30 competitive archers, each of whom wondered if he or she, too, could someday become inhuman. During the youth competitions, the hall is murky with radiant stress and fop-sweat and the hot air of parents telling their kids to stop stressing and just have fun. The kids know better: They understand that the stress and the fun cannot be disentangled. You can have the anxiety without the joy, but you can’t really have the joy without the anxiety. Part of that joy is in the edge-of-your-seat wondering if you can do it, then do it again— whether you can “kill a spider,” as they say when you nail the X-ring. Can you be your best self on this day, at this moment, on this shot? The movie’s no damn good without the suspense. In any case, you can’t make but-
terfies fy away; you can only train them to sit still and watchfully on the branch. And they’ll only do that when they’ve seen you shoot enough and are suffciently impressed. Butterfies make a tough audience. When the scoring is complete, kids return to their parents, disappointed that they’ve dropped 15 points from their normal, non-tournament scores. But within 20 minutes, they’re begging to hit the practice range. In the evening, the top pros take over, the butterfy trainers. The other 2,480 Vegas Shoot participants look on with awe and respect. They know the gods by their frst names—Reo and Brady and Erica and Mike. Mike Schloesser recently shot 60 consecutive X’s at a World Cup event in Nimes, France. The announcer introduces him as Mr. Perfect. Mr. Perfect misses the X. He puts the next arrow on his bow. Every shot is its very own “now.” And then it’s gone. Greg Blake Miller is the director of Olympian Creative Education. OlympianCreative.com.
Utah! This query recently arrived via Twitter, and while I couldn’t resist sending that flippant response—after all, would someone who dislikes kids and crowds visit Disneyland?—I quickly realized that it was also narrow-minded and trapped in a Las Vegas of perhaps 30 years ago. These days, there are in fact a number of reasons why someone who doesn’t do booze or blackjack would vacation here; in recent years Las Vegas has significantly broadened its traveler appeal beyond the sinful staples. So, what should a teetotaler with a disdain for dice do in Las Vegas? Sorry to sound anticlimactic, but pretty much the same things tourists do in other cities: eat, shop and indulge in local culture. To satisfy the first component, our fine dining restaurants are all top notch, but I’d recommend the Peppermill for a particularly “Vegas” experience. And when it comes to shopping, you can’t go wrong with the Forum Shops at Caesars, while Downtown Container Park has a cool homegrown scene. As for local culture, I suggest jaunts to the Springs Preserve, the Neon Museum, the Mob Museum and Red Rock Canyon. If you’re into the arts, consider a trip to the Arts Factory, its surrounding Arts District and The Smith Center, as well as CityCenter, which is on my must-see list for any visitor, thanks to its art and audacity. It doesn’t stop there. We’ve got several live music venues (from tiny to huge), cool coffeehouses for chilling with locals, and sporting events that dot the calendar throughout the year. Feeling ambitious? Take a long day trip (or an easy overnighter) to Zion National Park in southern Utah or Flagstaff/Grand Canyon in northern Arizona. Or you can check out one of my favorite nearby pressure-valves: Boulder City. Just 40 minutes south of the Strip, you won’t find a single casino in Boulder City—it’s the only municipality in the Silver State that does not have gambling—but you will find a familiar small-town charm (and Hoover Dam). Sure, our primary business probably always will be vice, but you no longer have to be a sinner to enjoy a trip to Sin City.
WHY DO SO MANY LAS VEGANS HAVE PERSONALIZED LICENSE PLATES? From my vantage point behind the wheel, it appears that about 15 percent of the cars in our Valley sport personalized plates, which does seem like a lot. Our city’s peacocking car culture certainly plays a role. But the desire to stand apart in a boomtown of mostly bland, stucco boxes and look-alike cars (ever played “Find My White Camry” in a parking lot?) would seem the best answer. Seven characters convey your true self! Questions? AskaNative@VegasSeven.com.
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Of Arrows and Anxiety
Gary Loveman’s strategy to turn Caesars Entertainment into a gaming Goliath worked … but did it work too well?
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February 12–18, 2015
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CAESARS ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCED
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February 4 that Gary Loveman, CEO since 2003, would be stepping down effective June 30. While he will remain as chairman of the board for the foreseeable future, this marks the end of his time as the chief decision-maker of the gambling giant. What kind of legacy will Loveman leave? On one hand, his laser focus on player loyalty helped to build the company into a powerhouse; on the other, that triumph led directly to the company’s current bankruptcy. Some backstory: Harrah’s Entertainment, the company Loveman joined as chief operating offcer in 1998, had its roots in Bill Harrah’s northern Nevada casinos. Harrah had emphasized customer service in his Lake Tahoe and Reno casinos—everyone who walked through the doors was to be treated courteously and cheerfully. His properties might not have the fash of Las Vegas’ pleasure palaces, but they would always be clean, bright and well maintained. When Loveman landed at Harrah’s, the company had already grown signifcantly under thenCEO Phil Satre, chiefy by building from the ground up. Its Atlantic City casino was the beachhead for a national expansion that saw Harrah’s casinos in Illinois, Mississippi, Louisiana and North Carolina. These properties were the antithesis of Las Vegas glamour; instead, they focused on middle-income gamblers. Loveman was a perfect ft for Harrah’s, based on the strength of his academic interest in customer service. And he quickly solved the problem of how to take a company based on personal interactions
and scale it up into a national chain: by launching a sophisticated player-tracking and loyalty program. Total Rewards, as the program was ultimately known, was Loveman’s answer to Steve Wynn’s exploding volcano. Players might stop by a casino with an expensive attraction, he argued, but they would stay and gamble at one that rewarded them better. He was right: Humble Harrah’s became a company to watch. A program such as Total Rewards works better when there are more properties and more players. So the next natural step was to expand Harrah’s reach. However, instead of growing organically by building new casinos, the company began acquiring existing properties at a rate of about one a year: Showboat, Inc. in 1998 (Harrah’s sold the Las Vegas fagship, which foundered as the Castaways and was later imploded); the Rio the following year; Players International, a riverboat owner, in 2000; and Harvey Casino Resorts in 2001. What had been a small, focused company was now growing. And when Loveman became CEO in 2003, that growth swelled even more. Downtown’s Binion’s Horseshoe yielded the World Series of Poker (and the Horseshoe name) before the company sold it off, while
Jack Binion’s riverboat casino operator, Horseshoe Gaming, expanded Harrah’s portfolio in the Midwest. Yet all that paled in comparison to the 2005 acquisition of Caesars (formerly Park Place) Entertainment, which had its own network of regional casinos and a huge presence in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. The company subsequently doubled down on its Strip presence by picking up the Barbary Coast (now the Cromwell), Imperial Palace (now the Linq) and Planet Hollywood. That certainly was a monster bet on Las Vegas, and at the time it seemed like a wise one: Land prices, visitation and every other indicator were soaring. This big, private equity play that took the company private in 2008—and saddled it with the debt that ultimately drove it into bankruptcy—made sense because of the company’s meteoric growth, which was driven by Total Rewards. It may be the defnition of irony: The program that was supposed to help Harrah’s compete without the glamour of its Strip rivals led to it buying the most glamorous name in the industry. The company’s new priorities were crystallized by its 2010 name change to Caesars Entertainment. Clearly, this wasn’t Bill Harrah’s company anymore. It’s unclear what the next chapter of Caesars Entertainment's history will bring, but as Loveman steps aside, he will be remembered as the executive who took Harrah’s focus on customer service and turned the company into a 21st century empire—for better and worse.
To say that February started off with a bang is an understatement. By the time you read this, the Clarion Hotel will be dust, but you still have time to make it to this month’s second implosion. The dilapidated Gramercy tower on the southwest side of town will come down at 8 a.m. February 15. If watching a multimillion building—an unsightly reminder of the Great Recession—get blown up for free doesn’t qualify as a deal, I don’t know what does. What tops an implosion? Apparently, the opening of a hamburger joint at center Strip. Being from Detroit, I get the “slider” mystique, but no little burger on the planet is worth more than a 15-minute wait in my book. Thankfully, the lines for the new White Castle at Casino Royale have quelled, and there are some other noteworthy developments at the property to report. For starters, dice players will be happy to learn that 100-times odds have been reinstated at the craps tables, making Casino Royale the only Las Vegas casino that deals an odds multiple this high. If you don’t play craps, that might not resonate, but this probably will: Slot and video poker players can get a daily rebate on their first $20 in losses. This isn’t a one-time new-member offer, either; it’s a once-a-day promotion that’s as good as anything going in gambling givebacks today. And don’t forget that Michelob in the bottle is still just $1 all day at the bar. Want more free gambling? Home Plate on Blue Diamond Road will give you one $20 match play every Sunday this month, and one per day February 14-18. Combine Casino Royale and Home Plate for a nice $40 video poker head start. A couple of casinos are offering new $9.99 steak-and-lobster specials. The one at Rampart is served daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and comes with a side salad for $1.99 more. It’s a decent meal, but not as good as the Lucky Club’s. Lucky’s special runs 24/7, has superior lobster, and the side salad is only 99 cents. On the entertainment front, tickets for the female comedy series Lipshtick at the Venetian have dropped drastically from a low price of $74 to $39.50, and mid-tier seating has been reduced by almost $50 to $49.50. This is a good opportunity to see top-level female comedians such as Lisa Lampanelli, Roseanne Barr and Whitney Cummings at a distinctly un-Venetian-like price. Now that football is over, it’s gotten harder to find chicken-wing deals. The best I know of is at Babe’s Cabaret (near U.S. 95 and Russell Road), where they’re only a quarter apiece after 8 p.m. Mondays. What’s the catch? If you ask for ranch on the side, it’ll cost you an extra $1. OK, that makes it 33.3 cents for a dozen … or just go without the ranch.
David G. Schwartz is the director of UNLV’s Center for Gaming Research.
Anthony Curtis is the publisher of the Las Vegas Advisor and LasVegasAdvisor.com.
ILLUSTRATION BY CIERRA PEDRO
THE LATEST
The Price of Success
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SPORTS No matter the matchup—in this case, Kenya (red) vs. Wales—the USA Sevens has proven to be a big hit with rugby's boisterous fans.
How Rugby Seduced Las Vegas Annual USA Sevens tournament fnds an unlikely home in the desert
February 12–18, 2015
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VegasSeven.com
IN 2009, THE USA SEVENS INTERNATIONAL
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rugby tournament seemed to be doing just fne. Its crowds were approaching 40,000 for the weekend event in San Diego (one of the few American cities with a rugby culture), and it was housed in a unique setting for the sport, Petco Park (home to baseball’s Padres). So, naturally, the organizers decided to leave San Diego. Having been to every USA Sevens since its inception in 2004, I knew what the trade-offs were. The tournament had relocated from what is now the StubHub Center in Carson, California—a soulless venue that didn’t attract fans—to an oddly shaped ballpark in San Diego’s hip Gaslamp Quarter. That move seemed to be a winner. But the decision-makers at the USA Sevens’ parent company (now named United World Sports) wanted more than a winner. They wanted a gamechanger. So they changed the game by moving to Las Vegas. It was certainly a risk. After all, San Diego had more rugby fans, a stateof-the-art stadium and temperate weather that was ideal for a midwinter outdoor event. Conversely, Las Vegas had no attachment to rugby and a
stadium that was built in 1971, one with Vegas Events, which helped recruit the metal bleachers that weren’t exactly 16-nation USA Sevens tournament. comfortable to sit on in early February. “And for us, the biggest difference beBut the organizers were thinking big tween rugby sevens and other events picture, hoping to grow interest in the is the international traveler. [The insport over time. They reasoned they ternational fan base] grows every year could attract fans from states (Califorand [accounts for] a signifcant portion nia, Colorado, Utah) within driving of the fans for the tournament.” distance to Las Vegas, and they gambled Visit the Strip on Saturday night that overseas fans would when the tournament fock to Sin City if you is in town, and you’ll mixed a little rugby into a see what he means. USA SEVENS long weekend. Burly, smiling Samoans. Feb. 13-15 at Making the destination Scots in matching red Sam Boyd Stadium, city a co-star with the wigs, Tam o’ Shanters UNLVTickets.com; games themselves, United and kilts. Fans dressed USASevens.com World Sports made a calas bananas (we don’t culated business decision. know where they’re Then they closed their from). And Australians eyes tight and hoped it mingling with Fijians would work. mingling with Kenyans mingling with It did. The frst tournament at Sam Canadians (a lot of Canadians) … you Boyd Stadium in 2010 was surprisingly get the idea. well-attended, and the crowds have “If I were to have an awards show for since grown. Meanwhile, the Las Vegas visitors to Las Vegas, rugby fans would Invitational, which is a tournament for get the Most Outrageous Partying fans who like playing the game, now Award,” Christenson says. “It’s the cosfeatures more than 230 teams. tuming as well as the partying. I can’t “Our organization’s entire focus think of a fan that has as good a time as is getting more visitors to the city,” the rugby fan.” says Pat Christenson, president of Las In retrospect, it’s not really a sur-
prise that the world’s rugby fans have developed an affnity for Las Vegas. Rather, the surprise is that the city has embraced the sport. For that, a lot of credit goes to Vaha Esikia, the always-smiling former USA national team rugby player who, along with USA Sevens, has helped educate the community on rugby’s nuances. Esikia started a youth fag rugby program in Las Vegas, coaches UNLV and has formed the Nevada Youth Rugby Organization. “The USA Sevens has been a huge part of it,” says Esikia, who also runs a high school team that plays in Utah. “With the tournament here every year, interest has grown. They do the adopta-country program in the schools, and we go out there and teach middle and elementary school kids the basics. Parents learn that it’s a safe sport, and the kids have fun.” Indeed, as the USA Sevens this week celebrates its sixth year at Sam Boyd, it’s clear that leaving San Diego for Las Vegas was one roll of the dice that has paid off— for everyone involved in the scrum. Alex Goff is a longtime rugby journalist and is currently the editor of GoffRugbyReport.com.
PHOTOS COURTESY RUGBY TODAY
By Alex Goff
VegasSeven.com
| February 12–18, 2015
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A barista patiently prepares pourover coffee at Makers & Finders.
A Hill of Beans The cup o’ joe has come a long way, and that’s grounds to celebrate
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his savings) into his dream of re-creating a Confeitaria-esque place for Las Vegans that honored the behind-the-scenes work of serving a nuanced cup. He now has three such establishments. “Back in September 2010 when we frst opened, there were probably only two other coffee chains in town,” says Oliveira, recalling the European tourists who would taxi 20 minutes from their Strip-based hotel to Boca Park in the northwest part of town for Sambalatte’s more European-style coffee. “Right now there are almost 30. So we really cultivated a culture that didn’t exist.” Among his coffee-serving contemporaries, Oliveira’s attention to detail has earned him the distinction of “pioneer” for shaping Las Vegas’ taste in coffee. “I think Sambalatte, respectfully, put Las Vegas coffee on the map, and [the coffee culture] is only going to grow,” says Kalani Wright, a farmer and roaster who is a partner and founder of Downtown’s Micro Greenhouse (“The Greenhouse” to locals). He sells his company’s cold-brew coffee, Garcia’s, from what he describes as a “coffee speakeasy” on East Charleston Boulevard that is open to the community most mornings. The company is growing and will begin selling its cold-brew bottles in a few Downtown restaurants in the spring. Will bolder spirits always prevail in Vegas? Probably. But to satisfy folks who take their brew seriously, the city’s coffee culture continues to grow stronger. Tastier, too, says Walter, an espresso fan who advocates a more natural way to watch dusk turn to dawn: “You don’t have to slug a Red Bull.”
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las vegas will always be a cocktalian’s destination, but for many students, conference-goers and night crawlers craving fuel for a nocturnal buzz, there’s another drink in town that’s coveted for its power to blur night into day: coffee. Here, in the real city that never sleeps, coffee culture has long lacked alcohol’s clout and notoriety. Not anymore. Game-changing brewers are selling the freshly ground, single-serving, hand-poured cups that many tourists drink in their coffee-cultured hometowns (Seattle, Portland and New York, to name a few) and seek out when they’re in ours. And boy, is Vegas doing it in style: roasters let voyeurs watch beans turn green to brown; siphons brew, suck and drip caffeinated magic into cups; pour-overs take the hurry out of grab-and-go; and there’s something called a steampunk that just sounds rad. “In 2008, no one was doing what we call ‘third-wave’ coffee,” a term for producing coffee more creatively than drip, says Joshua Walter. Today, Walter and business partner Juanny Romero roast, brew and sell wholesale their own all-organic beans at Sunrise Coffee, a locals favorite for its pour-over method and communal vibe. Sambalatte, founded by Luiz Oliveira, was a far cry from the big-box brewers Las Vegans had been depending on. Oliveira, a Brazilian-born coffee drinker who remembers developing a taste for coffee around age 6, grew up enamored with Rio de Janeiro’s Confeitaria Colombo for both its elegance and its swank-served coffee. As an adult, he put to use his lifelong food and beverage background (and a hefty part of
February 12–18, 2015
PHOTO BY JON ESTRADA
By J E N C H A S E
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Mean, Green Brewing Machine Sambalatte’s master roaster takes us behind the scenes of making the perfect cup By J E N C H A S E
➺ we take pride in the beans we purchase,”
says Sambalatte’s founder Luiz Oliveira, and he should: Oliveira treks yearly to his home country of Brazil to buy beans from growers he meets and knows personally, and sells up to 12 varieties at Sambalatte’s three locations. Aside from buying the perfect bean, the real magic behind Oliveira’s operation happens at the Monte Carlo Sambalatte, his newest and grandest location, where roasting is overseen by the company’s head roaster, Cedric Parlade. Admired as a “triple threat” by Oliveira (“He’s a barista, a roaster and a certifed technician for the steampunk machine”), Parlade dissects Sambalatte’s process for turning Oliveira’s carefully procured beans from green to brown, and brew to cup. Sambalatte.com.
Step 1 ROASTING LAB ANALYSIS Since moisture and density determine how long a bean is roasted (and how long a bean is roasted determines what it will taste like), analyzing a bean’s makeup is important. Here, bitty batches (200-250 grams) are analyzed in Parlade’s “coffee lab” before larger orders are placed for a certain bean. The lab also includes a “color analyzer,” which shoots a laser on the beans once they’re roasted, giving Parlade a corresponding number that relates to how roasted a bean is. Parlade says this helps him ensure consistency. Step 2 SMALL-BATCH ROASTING Parlade then uses a machine not-so-cleverly called a “small batch sample roaster” to roast about 100 grams of beans for three different durations of time (roughly 6-7 minutes; 9-10 minutes; and 11-12 minutes). Each sample round produces a coffee with a different favor profle; Parlade will determine if it hits or misses in the next round.
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Step 4 BIG-BATCH ROASTING If Parlade likes what he tastes, he’ll order some eight to 10 bags of beans. Upon arrival, 30 pounds of beans at a time will roast in Sambalatte’s massive roaster. (This is the part customers can watch at Sambalatte as beans turn from green to roasty-toasty brown.) How the beans smell plays a huge role in the process as watchers follow their progress with both eyes and nose (i.e., ripe green beans smell grassy; roasted beans smell like, well, coffee). Step 5 SEPARATION ANXIETY After roasting, beans are cooled and loaded into a “de-stoner,” a machine that drops beans into a hopper and uses a vacuum to remove rocks and stray material from grind-worthy beans. Beans are then stored in 5-gallon containers. Step 6 RESTING PLACE Parlade says that seven to 10 days is the sweet spot for resting, or “de-gassing,” beans before they’re ground. Beans are poured into large containers and rested before use.
PHOTOS BY SABIN ORR
February 12–18, 2015
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VegasSeven.com
Step 3 CUPPING Parlade and a handful of tasters he trusts for their noses and palates sample those small roasted batches. After resting beans for at least eight hours, the coffee is brewed, or “cupped,” and sipped wine-tasting style as the group pays attention to various favor profles. Positive or negative reactions determine whether Parlade will place a larger order for a given bean.
Third-Wave Coffee Terms to know for the next time you engage in cawfee tawk FRENCH PRESS HOW: Ground beans swim in a water bath until a mesh plunger inside a canister separates grinds from fresh coffee. TOOLS: Presses come in all sizes. Most are glass; some are plastic. ACCESSIBILITY: A fast home brew for beginners and pros: add coffee, add water, wait, plunge and serve.
PHOTO BY SABIN ORR
At the Japanese-inspired, members-only 365 Tokyo in Downtown’s Inspire Theater building, barman Seong Ha Lee uses a Belgian balancing coffee siphon to infuse spirits à la minute with any of 12 herbs and spices, including Korean cinnamon, coriander, anise and clove. During one recent experiment, Lee heated 9 ounces of Ketel One vodka and 2 ounces water in a sealed vessel over a fame. When it boiled (after about 20 minutes), pressure forced it to transfer into another vessel with sage, rosemary and thyme, which steeped for another fve minutes. Lee cut the fre, and the pressurized vessel sucked the now-infused vodka back over. Making a Gibson from the resulting infusion—by now called “Where’s the Parsley?”—Lee added dry vermouth, orange bitters and cocktail onions, and served it up in a glass chilled with liquid
nitrogen. It’s easily the best martini that $22 and 30 minutes can buy. FRGLV.com/365-Tokyo. Vesper bar in the Cosmopolitan has a big, expensive new toy that lets gravity do all the work. The Yama 25-cup cold-drip coffee tower is nearly 4 feet tall, its delicate glass apparatus and double flters (porcelain and cloth) encased in sturdy wood scaffolding. It makes beautiful acid-free drip coffee or tea—as well as one hell of an infused whiskey. Spirit and ingredients go in the top chamber to marry for long periods— or spirit in the top, ingredients in the middle for a quick infusion—then just let ’er drip! Property mixologist Mariena Mercer plans to use the Yama infuser and Old Forester bourbon for Vesper’s take on Rock & Rye and house-made cinnamon whiskey liqueur (a.k.a. Fireball). TheCosmopolitanLasVegas.com. – Xania Woodman
STEAMPUNK HOW: Think of a machine with four or five canisters that act like siphons but look like French presses. Instead of a plunger to separate grinds, a barista uses an agitator to move around coffee to help personalize the taste of each cup. TOOLS: One big-ass steampunk machine that can cost thousands. ACCESSIBILITY: Splurge for a cup and stick with pour-over or drip at home. – JC
VegasSeven.com
Two cocktails that begin with coffeemakers
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Bean There? Drink That.
SIPHON HOW: Precise temperature and water levels create a vacuum between two glass chambers that pushes up heated water from a lower chamber, passing through grinds, and uses vapor pressure to extract coffee. TOOLS: Siphons work similarly to those Euro-style Moka cups but look nothing like them (they’re made from glass and look like Aladdin might live inside). ACCESSIBILITY: Don’t try this at home, kids. Fun for a pro, but it’ll break your coffee-drinking spirit to figure it out yourself.
February 12–18, 2015
365 Tokyo’s Belgian balancing coffee siphon.
POUR-OVER (Chemex, Hario, etc.) HOW: Picture an empty hourglass with a filter on top that holds grinds and space below that waits for fresh coffee to drip through as water is poured over the grinds. TOOLS: Chemex and Hario sell filters and brewing containers. You’ll want a swan-neck kettle for pouring water over the grinds. ACCESSIBILITY: Easy-peasy for home use and makes one smooth cup. Tinker with grind size, water amount and length of steeping to get your perfect potion.
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Makers & Finders.
February 12–18, 2015
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VegasSeven.com
By J E S S I E O ’ B R I E N and X A N I A W O O D M A N
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➺ pardon our jitters—we’ve just spent the last few weeks checking out as many independent Valley coffeehouses as our personal caffeine tolerances could handle. That means no Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, no Dunkin’ Donuts and defnitely no Starbucks. We’ve sampled single-origin pour-over, sipped low-acid siphon, tipped back draft cold-brew and, yes, thrown down a ton of dependable workaday drip coffee—all to bring you a compilation of some of our favorite ’feine scenes. And, just to keep this whole coffee thing in perspective, we give you the price of a small drip coffee at each place. THE BEAT COFFEEHOUSE | $1.99
How many Vegas Seven articles have been written at The Beat’s coffee bar? Um, if we told you that we’d probably have to pay barstool rent. Beautifully broken in is this Fremont East anchor spot that serves locally roasted, freshly brewed stimulants by day and adds craft beer and wine into the mix at 7 p.m. Note: The food menu has barely
changed since Day One, but war might break out should the Slap & Tickle ever go away. 520 Fremont St., 702-385-2328, TheBeatLV.com. MADHOUSE COFFEE | $2.50 This dependable lazy-weekend spot (no longer affliated with the 24-hour Madhouse at 8470 W. Desert Inn Rd.) just changed hands (again), so the ju-
MAKERS & FINDERS | $3.50 An urban coffee bar that’s all coffee, no attitude. Don’t let the lofty prices deter you from planting yourself in a folding chair at the communal worktable or at the coffee bar—a lot of time and work goes into each cuppa. Have it your way: siphon, Moka, AeroPress, French press or just plain drip. There should be a support group for those addicted to the Lavender Latte. 1120 S. Main St., 702-586-8255, MakersandFindersLV.com. O FACE DOUGHNUTS | $1.75
Pull up a stool at O Face’s ideal-height counter to blog and sip draft cold brew or Caffé Vita lattes surrounded by hipster gals in foppy felt hats daintily taking down orange Boston cream or Mexican chocolate doughnuts. Or, take an old-fashioned (the doughnut,
not the cocktail) out to the patio for a little shade or a little sun. When you leave, pick up a growler of cold brew to go ($12 growler, $24 flls). 124 S. 6th St., 702-476-3223, OFaceDoughnuts.com. HOLLEY’S CUPPA | $2.10 Pour-over is how it’s done at this spacious, sun-drenched neighborhood spot near Mountain’s Edge. Choose your roast (light, medium, dark), then either single-origin or a blend—the Zoom blend is popular, and it certainly got us buzzin’! Beans are ground to order. Fiends swear by the coconut sweetbread and the seasonal house-made pumpkin spice mix. Owner Holley Steeley’s second location, at the Gramercy, opens March 3. 9265 S. Cimarron Rd., 702-778-7750, HolleysCuppa.com. THE MICRO GREENHHOUSE (A.K.A. THE GREENHOUSE) | $4
This self-described “coffee speakeasy” (think of unmarked bar doors during Prohibition … now imagine coffee is behind them instead of taps) serves pourover coffee in the mornings and Garcia’s (as in Jerry; owner Kalani Wright’s father-in-law was a fan) bottled cold-brew coffee to go. Beans are from Colorado River Coffee Roasters. 4 E. Charleston Blvd.
PHOTO BY JON ESTRADA
The Coffeehouse Guide
ry’s still out on what will stay and what will go, from the comfy armchairs and tea selection to the freshly baked pastry and sweet coffee drinks available blended, hot or over ice. But what we hope will never change are the tender, chewy bagel breakfast sandwiches and the bright, never burnt espresso in the Americanos. 8899 S. Eastern Ave., 702260-0430, TheMadhouseCoffee.com.
SERENADE | $3.50
This adorable, industrial-looking Korean coffee shop (yay, K-pop!) serves all the traditional espresso-based bevvies and has ample seating and outlets inside, and a covered patio outside. Not in a coffee mood? The green tea, purple potato and Yellow Cereal latte are hugely popular—the latter being a blend of steamed milk with sweet-potato jam topped with cornfakes—as is the pistachio frappe. Scope the ‘ade’ menu, for iced drinks made with fresh-squeezed fruit juice. 7920 S. Rainbow Blvd., 702466-0616, Facebook.com/SerenadeCoffee. TIFFANY COFFEE
We loved Tiffany Coffee for its fuffy sweet-potato latte made with real sweet potatoes, steamed milk and optional espresso. And we weren’t alone. The petite shop attached to the Greenland Market has new owners and at press time was closed during renovations. We’ll fnd out if this tasty treat lives on when the place reopens as Dream Bean Coffee & Juice in April. 6850 W. Spring Mountain Rd.
SERENADE BY X ANIA WOODMAN; CAFÉ DARAK BY JON ESTRADA
COFFEE, TEA OR ME? | $1.60 The main attraction at this no-frills sandwich and coffee joint (besides the low prices, Thrifty ice cream and its being named for an exceptional tell-all book by two airline stewardesses) is the large-format coffee. Prosac in a Cup is three shots of espresso; Godzilla Prosac tops out at six. Not that you can’t whip through Starbucks and order the same, but you won’t hear the smooth Muzak renditions of your favorite pop tunes. 2600 W. Sahara Ave., Suite 121, 702-7767220, CoffeeTeaOrMeLasVegas.com. SAMBALATTE TORREFAZIONE | $2.25 This is the spot that really ushered in third-wave coffee in Las Vegas and opened our eyes to more than just caffeine’s jolt. Remote workers fock for the fast, free Wi-Fi and slow pour-over single-origin brew from Africa to South America. Lattes—and fat whites and other steamed-milk-topped specialties— are the canvas of Sambalatte’s baristas, artists who play with dairy and coffee. The Nutella latte is the business, by the way. Three locations, Sambalatte.com. THE BLACK CUP | $1.99
Serving Sunrise Coffee’s Sumatra drip, the Black Cup is a convenient walk-up window that allows you to get a quick cup of joe before you stroll though Container Park. And if the java doesn’t
INSPIRE NEWS CAFÉ | $2.31 Walk up to the window or come inside and sip a cup of Illy coffee while reading one of the newsstand’s 200-plus magazines, from Hi-Fructose to National Geographic, available to browse or buy. 501 Fremont St., 702-910-2388, FRGLV. com/Inspire-News. PERK UP COFFEE | $1.80 Choose from a long list of lattes at this independent shop in Southern Highlands while enjoying the rotating art exhibits by local and regional artists. Perk Up is currently showing Jeff Swenty’s 8 BIT WOOD, video-game character pixel art made from wooden tiles. There’s also a sunny patio outside and a gas freplace inside. 11370 Southern Highlands Pkwy., 702-473-5700, PerkUpVegas.com. CAFÉ LEONÉ | $1.50 This traditional Italian coffee shop’s menu of house-made breakfast staples is perfect for enjoying on the café’s large patio at Tivoli Village. Try it with the Nutella cappuccino, a favorite of regulars. 400 S. Rampart Blvd., 702-6845853, LeoneCafe.com. CHIETI | $1.90
For some of the freshest coffee in the Valley, head west, where Chieti roasts all of its beans in-house. Order yours drip, pour-over or siphon-brewed. All beans are available for sale, along with Chieti’s large selection of loose-leaf tea. 5825 W. Sahara Ave., 702-487-6800, ChietiCoffee.com.
3940 COFFEE & TEA | $4
Located in the Delano, caffeine lovers can indulge in exotic tastes from the world’s top coffee regions with the Coffees of the World menu. Your cup is served using the Clever Coffee system, a brewing technology that combines the best features of the French press and flter drip techniques. In the Delano, 702-632-9444, DelanoLasVegas.com. SUNRISE COFFEE | $1.85 Order quality drip coffee, pour-overs or handmade specialty drinks such as the Orange Mocha or Truffe Berry lattes each made with Sunrise’s in-houseroasted coffee beans, Mothership Coffee Roasters. If you’re hungry, check out the vegan and vegetarian breakfast, lunch and baked goods menus. 3130 E. Sunset Rd. 702-443-3304, SunriseCoffeeLV.com. GROUCHY JOHN’S | $2.15 Offering nearly 20 options of favored lattes and other coffee-based drinks—as well as cold drinks, food and stacks of board games—about the only thing grouchy about Grouchy John’s are the bloggers and studying medical students when the nearby school lets out and the place teems with ’tweens. 8520 S. Maryland Pkwy., 702-778-7553, GrouchyJohns.com.
Tipsy has a homey feel, locally bottled chai, drip and Chemex coffee and plenty of espresso drinks. You’ll also fnd house-made almond milk and tasty treats, including its signature truffes. 6496 Medical Center St., Suite 102, 702-754-1239, TipsyCoffeehouseLV.com. THE HUMAN BEAN | $1.75
Do not let Google guide you to this totes adorbs drive-through behind the Shell station at the corner of Camino Al Norte and West Washburn Road—you will end up confused and coffee-less in a residential neighborhood. But one rich chocolate macadamia breve (espresso with half and half) from the friendly baristas, and all will be forgiven. 5265 Camino Al Norte, 702399-6300, TheHumanBean.com. BAGUETTE CAFE | $1.95 It’s a family affair at this bustling offce park cafe, dependable at lunchtime for stunning soups, salads and sandwiches prepared with much amour by owner Olivier Brouillet and his parents, Claudie and Lucien. The Illy coffee menu is simple, but executed with exceptional speed and concentration by a dedicated barista. Which one is Olivier? You can’t miss him as he’s always manning the register, remarkably cheery and ready with a broad “Bonjour!” for his many French-speaking regulars. Three words for you bloggers and remote workers: $1 coffee reflls. 8359 W. Sunset Rd., 702-269-4781.
Coffee, hot and iced, with macarons and honey toast at Café Darak.
AVERY’S COFFEE | $1.50 Avery’s coffee is roasted in-house by hard-working roasters including owners Sherman and Linda Ray. The warm, comfortable space in Village Square is a relaxing place to enjoy a fresh cup with a gourmet sandwich or pannino. Sherman answers all of your burning coffee queries and gives brewing advice on the spot’s website. 9940 W. Sahara Ave., 702-476-2063, AverysCoffee.com CAFÉ DARAK | $3 Everything in this cute-to-the-10thpower Korean café is reasonably priced, from the espresso drinks and tea to the lemonade and smoothies. Each drink is served on a neat little tray with a wind-up toy and small plant to add
WHERE’VE YOU BEAN?! Did we miss a spot? Tell us about your favorite place to caffeinate at Facebook.com/VegasSeven.
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Specializing in waffes, Taibi has a long list of specialty drinks, such as Tiff’s Macchiato with cinnamon and vanilla, topped with whipped cream and, yes, a churro waffe. Everything on the menu has a vegan option, too! 3961 S. Maryland Pkwy., 702-222-1722, IWantTiabi.com.
TIPSY COFFEE HOUSE | $1.95
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TAIBI COFFEE & WAFFLE BAR | $1.75
some whimsy. For a change from the usual coffee and honey bread, try the hot grapefruit tea with honey and sip it in the Volkswagen bus-shaped tent. Just remember to take your shoes off. 8665 W. Flamingo Rd., 702-370-4657, Facebook. com/CafeDarak.naeunyun.
February 12–18, 2015
perk you up, being caught off guard by the park’s giant faming mantis will. 707 Fremont St., 702-527-7599.
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NIGHTLIFE Your city after dark, photos from the week’s hottest parties and Caked Up joins cake-thrower Aoki on the road
Serial R&B hit-maker Jeremih brings the party to Marquee By Zoneil Maharaj
VegasSeven.com
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Don’t Tell Him to Stop
R&B STAR JEREMIH is so busy he can’t keep up with his own schedule. The Chicago singer-songwriter wasn’t even aware of his upcoming gig at Marquee on February 16. “I think I already did that, right?” he says over the phone while awaiting a fight to Europe. To his credit, he did perform at the dayclub in January, but he’s back to kick off Fashion Week for Marquee Mondays. “Probably. My bad. I don’t really know.” That’s what happens when you drop one of the hottest bangers of 2014. “Don’t Tell ’Em” was infectious—and still is, as evidenced by the just-released remix with Ty Dolla Sign and French Montana. He also dropped a surprise smash with No More, his six-track EP with electronic beatsmith Shlohmo. And he’s already on a roll in 2015 with his steamy mile-high-club invitation “Planes,” featuring J. Cole. We caught up with the “Birthday Sex” crooner to talk about his highly anticipated Late Nights LP, penning hits for others and getting “clatchet” in Las Vegas.
February 12–18, 2015
PHOTO BY AL POWERS/POWERS IMAGERY
Jeremih at Marquee Dayclub Dome in January.
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NIGHTLIFE
Late Nights has been delayed a couple of times. Is there a release date yet?
It’ll be out sooner than everybody thinks. I just have to turn it in. A lot of people like to think that my label’s been shelving me or trying to push me back, but truth be told, I’ve just been doing so much—not only working on my music but with so many other people and their projects, which is what I enjoy doing the most. I’m looking forward to dropping [Late Nights] in the next two or three months. It’s an album for the year, and a good-ass album for the summer for everybody to ride to. What should we expect from it?
Picture a big-ass king bed in the middle of Marquee in Vegas at 3 a.m. That’s exactly what you should hear on Late Nights. You’ve written hit singles for other artists. Why not put them out yourself?
I’m in coach mode now. If anybody is paying attention to why I’m winning, it’s because now I’m coaching, and the plays I make win ultimately. … A lot of the songs that didn’t make the album I ended up giving to someone else that I felt would be a better ft. “Body Like a Benz” was on my album at frst, but I gave it to Wale and he used it as his single. That new Rae Sremmurd record, “Throw Sum Mo” with Nicki Minaj and Young Thug, that was on my album as well. I played it for Mike Will Made It and he said, “Yo, blood, I got this group; they’ll kill this.” Now here I am in the truck on my way to the airport and I just heard it on the radio. You know how to play a variety of instruments. Do you ever apply that to your music?
I’m leaning more toward implementing those into my performance, because I’ve never showed that side of myself to people. As far as on Late Nights, expect to hear a live sound on some of the records. Of course, I’m not done learning all the instruments that I want to learn. I want to learn how to play the violin. If I broke the violin out in the middle of my set, I think it would shock a lot of people. Speaking of performances, do you prefer concert settings or rocking the clubs?
Crazily, I haven’t been on an offcial tour. For the most part I’ve really just been clubbing. At the club dates it’s just more turnt up, more 808s, more me and the DJ vibing with the crowd. I tend to like those a little more, because I love the club and I love to keep hitting people with the hits.
Clachet is “classy” and “ratchet.” If I could describe my music as a woman, I’d describe her as a lady in the streets and a freak in the sheets. How clatchet will your Marquee party be?
I want 100 percent clatchet.
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Your first big hit was “Birthday Sex.” How many children do you think have been conceived to that song?
I kid you not, everywhere I go all across the world I witness people naming their child after me. I guess it’s not a bad thing. It’s a great thing for me to be able to say I helped populate the world.
PHOTO BY TONY TRAN
February 12–18, 2015
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You’ve called your music “clatchet.” What is that?
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Camille Cannon
SUN 15 If you didn’t receive any sweets or stuffed animals yesterday, remember: Drugstores are discounting those items like crazy today. Buy some. Then throw some fowers on your bikini for the Halfway to EDC party at Marquee Dayclub. The lineup is stacked with performances by Dash Berlin, Borgeous, Andrew Rayel, Firebeatz and more. (At the Cosmopolitan, noon, CosmopolitanLasVegas.com.) New York-based beat maker Green Lantern takes to the turntables at XS. But what will he play? He told Vegas Seven earlier this month: “I am gonna hit you with some hiphop, I’m gonna give you some dance music, and everything in between.” (In Encore, 10:30 p.m., XSLasVegas.com.)
MON 16
Marilyn Manson.
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February 12–18, 2015
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Remember that sense of accomplishment you got when your favorite music video made it to No. 1 on Total Request Live? Remember Total Request Live? Artifce throws back to the golden era of MTV with Thursday Request Live. DJ Roc will deliver any tune your heart desires. (1025 First St., Suite A, 10 p.m., Facebook.com/ArtifceBar.)
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FRI 13 We hope you’re ready for the zombie apocalypse. It’s real, it’s spectacular and it starts with the Zombie Pub Crawl at Container Park. From there, you and your undead drinking buddies will make stops at Banger Brewing, Vanguard Lounge and Atomic Liquors to sip Ninkasi Brewing Co.’s Dawn
of the Red IPA. (707 Fremont St., 8:30 p.m., NightOut.com.) Swing by Tao for a performance by rapper-singer-producer Ty Dolla Sign. Or nah. (In the Venetian, 10 p.m., TaoLasVegas. com.) Ladies in need of undies can pick up a gift bag of Heidi Klum Intimates at Girls Night Out at Body English. DJ Koko mans the decks. (In Hard Rock Hotel, 10:30 p.m., HardRockHotel.com.)
SAT 14 We’re not saying you must go out on Valentine’s Day, but we do suggest you step away from the takeout and reruns. We’ve got a string of singles activities for you at VegasSeven.com/Valentines2015 and more parties here: GBDC goes old school with a Sadie Hawkins bash—girls bring the guys. DJ Brooke Evers supplies the
beats, and couples in matching outfts receive complimentary admission. (In the Palms, 1 p.m., Palms.com.) You know that thing you Googled right before you cleared your browser history? Chances are it’s represented at Cupid’s Fetish Ball at Artisan. Check out music in the main room and patio area, and go ahead, get your freak on. (1501 W. Sahara Ave., Facebook. com/EpykEntertainment.) DJ Snake works his magic at Surrender. Our fngers are crossed he’ll drop his remix of AlunaGeorge’s “You Know You Like It,” ’cause on a scale of 1-10, it’s a certifed banger. (In Encore, 10:30 p.m., SurrenderNightclub.com.) If none of the above sounds appealing, hang with Pale Emperor Marilyn Manson at Hyde for the Black Heart Ball. (In Bellagio, 10:30 p.m., HydeBellagio.com.) And don’t say we didn’t try to help you.
In case you hadn’t heard, MAGIC Market Week kicks off tomorrow. But because this is Las Vegas, the parties start tonight. Join Jeremih at Marquee with supporting sets by resident DJs M!ke Attack and Lisa Pittman. See our interview with the smooth rhymin’ Jeremih on Page 29. (In the Cosmopolitan, 10 p.m., CosmopolitanLasVegas.com.)
TUE 17 MAGIC carousing continues with rapper Nas at Drai’s.
Mikey Francis.
Were you lucky enough to hear his new Madonna collaboration, “Veni Vidi Vici”? We hope so, because it was great, and it has almost disappeared from the Internet. Maybe he’ll tease us tonight. (In the Cromwell, 10:30 p.m., DraisNightlife.com.) Hakkasan hosts the alwayspopular Hudson & Grand Voyage Party. DJ Irie sets the soundtrack. (In MGM Grand, 10:30 p.m., HakkasanLV.com.)
WED 18 Swing by Delano for a set by Mikey Francis. You may recognize the Las Vegas local as a member of Afghan Raiders and BlackBoots. His résumé also includes coproducing remixes for the likes of Phoenix and Depeche Mode. (In Delano, 6 p.m., DelanoLasVegas.com.)
Nas.
NIGHTLIFE
Taking the Cake Las Vegas nightlife celebrities Caked Up are hitting the road with Steve Aoki By Kat Boehrer
TOGETHER, OSCAR WYLDE (a.k.a. Brandon Marstellar) and DJ Vegas Banger (Jeff Saville) make up Caked Up, the jocular Las Vegas disc jockeys who have just embarked on Steve Aoki’s nationwide Neon Future Experience tour. The duo will provide support for notorious cake-thrower Aoki on nearly two dozen tour stops, one of which will be at Hakkasan nightclub February 15. The hometown heroes sport a laid-back attitude, wild style and a sense of pride in their city. Not only have they embarked on a twomonth musical journey across America, they’ve also recently collaborated with Las Vegas street-wear boutique Knyew on a T-shirt design. DJs and fashion plates? Piece of cake. What about this Hakkasan date hasyou so excited?
wylde: Just playing our hometown. We’ve been picky about what dates we play in Vegas, so I’m excited to be at—in my opinion—the best nightclub in Las Vegas. Why did Aoki decide to take you guys on tour with him?
Oscar Wylde and Vegas Banger.
wylde: I sent him a cake in the mail, and he liked it that much. Really?
wylde: Let’s just go with that. [Laughs].
wylde: Our release [on his label] came out on February 10. It’s called “Rave Police.” Why make Las Vegas your home base when you now have the world at your fingertips?
wylde: Every [week] we’re meeting up with a friend who’s either playing at Surrender or [elsewhere locally], you know what I mean? When we go home, we’re still hanging out with other people who are visiting and playing, like, Hakkasan or Marquee.
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What do you do with free time on tour?
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VegasSeven.com
Have you guys done anything on Aoki’s record label, Dim Mak?
wylde: Most of the time, we never even have free time, ’cause we’re always fying. So we’ll get in and have to go straight to the venue and sound check. But when we do have downtime, I particularly like indulging in laser tag. I’m a Sergeant. It’s a thing. If you’re into laser tag, you know what that is. How did the design collaboration with Knyew come about?
wylde: We’re friends with the owners, who are DJs, as well. And we’ve been going to Knyew forever. I started modeling for them a year and a half ago, before Caked Up took off. They just supported us from Day One, and we just decided to do a collaboration with them.
Was it a one-off, or do you plan to put out more clothing?
vegas banger: We have some stuff in the works right now. A whole line?
wylde: You could say that—like guys and girls. vegas banger: I would say a whole set. But we’re not gonna release anything for that until after our tour. We just wanna sell our current merchandise with Steve Aoki, and after that we’re gonna do an entirely new merch line. We’ve got a ton of ideas, and all of the artwork is done for the shirts and the shorts. We just have to put it into production, which we’re not gonna do until we come back from tour.
What about your personal style—how do you decide what you want to wear to shows?
vegas banger: Basically, I’ve just been wearing Knyew for the past year. They’ve just been coppin’ us shirts and [they have] the long tees and dope kicks. We always have fresh kicks. I mean, [Wylde’s] got some custom Star Wars Vans on right now. wylde: I light nag champa [incense] and look into the mirror for about 30 minutes to decide between about seven different outfts. They all have to be pre-pressed and ironed, though. I have a digital program on my iPad that actually shows me my entire ensemble. Have you seen the movie Clueless? Cher has the same contraption.
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NIGHTLIFE
PARTIES
LAVO
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See more photos from this gallery at SPYONvegas.com
PHOTOS BY AMIT DADL ANEY
February 12–18, 2015
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VegasSeven.com
Feb. 14 Valentine’s Day Brunch Feb. 21 Red Carpet Hollywood Brunch Feb. 28 Mad Hatter Tea Brunch
NIGHTLIFE
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See more photos from this gallery at SPYONvegas.com
PHOTOS BY JOE FURY AND JOSH METZ
February 12–18, 2015
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VegasSeven.com
Feb. 16 DJ Direct and DJ Trens spin Feb. 23 DJ G-Minor and DJ Trens spin
DINING
“It’s a little embarassing to admit that there’s one thing you’ll never see me consume: coffee. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever finished a full cup of java.”
{PAGE 56}
Restaurant reviews, news and international coffee confusion explained
Line of Fire
Sure, Al Mancini can dish it, but can he plate it? Our dining critic takes his turn in the kitchen.
a junkie who had passed out in the restroom. In all, I received about an hour of training before I made my frst pizza at CBGB. And my creations were simply intended to sop up the beer in the stomachs of punk-rock fans who needed a bit of sustenance to make it to the encore. By contrast, Metro is a professionally run operation, and almost all of its pizza chefs started their careers as dishwashers before eventually learning to make dough, then later to stretch it, and fnally to assemble a complete pie. That hierarchy is infused with Arena’s Zen-like approach to pizza making. For him, no two pies should ever be the same, and each should refect what’s in the heart and
soul of the person who makes it. Think of him as the Yoda of the pizza world. After a tomato tasting and a lesson on why Metro’s dough takes up to four days to rise, Arena began to work a ball of dough into a pizza crust, frst creating the outer crust, then spreading the center by guiding it outward before massaging it between his palms or letting it stretch from his clenched fsts. It was a lot more complex and delicate than the way I used to bend a piece of dough into submission in the East Village. But it looked vaguely familiar and relatively simple. With Arena looking over my shoulder, I proceeded to desecrate dough ball after dough ball. Time after time, he was forced to rescue
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I chose Metro Pizza as the site of this challenge for two reasons: First, they offer the kind of New York-style street pizza I made in my youth. Second, owner John Arena is one of America’s foremost pizza experts. Any time spent with him is guaranteed to teach you volumes about the history and philosophy of pizza making. Of course, making a pizza in one of Arena’s kitchens is nothing like making one at CBGB. In the punk-rock pizza world, nearly every employee was nursing a beer in a paper cup for the entirety of his or her shift. Mice scampered from the stove to the counter. Pot smoke wafted in from the basement we used as a break room. And I occasionally had to eject
February 12–18, 2015
PHOTO BY JON ESTRADA
ASK A FEW CHEFS I KNOW, AND THEY’LL TELL
you that food critics are just frustrated cooks, taking out their culinary insecurities on the folks who toil in professional kitchens. I actually consider myself a decent home cook when I go all out for a special occasion. But I’ve never deceived myself into believing I could reproduce those dishes in a restaurant setting. I do, however, have a bit of professional kitchen experience. From 1991-95, I tossed a pretty mean pizza at CBGB Pizza, a New York spot adjacent to the infamous punk club of the same name. So when my editor challenged me to fip the script and critique my own cooking, it didn’t seem unreasonable to think I could still twirl some dough.
VegasSeven.com
By Al Mancini
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[ URBAN EPICUREAN ]
my monstrosities, repairing in seconds my 10 or 15 minutes worth of manhandling. While my technique improved mildly when we moved from small pies to large, after two hours of training I’d yet to demonstrate an ability to make a single pizza without my mentor’s assistance. Whatever skills I may have had two decades ago (which still wouldn’t have met Metro’s standards) had faded like Henry Rollins’ street cred. On the bright side, I did manage to toss one pie into the air and catch it, reliving
my pizza-making glory days for a second or two. After Arena assisted in the dough stretching, the rest should have been easy: Add the sauce, cheese and herbs (I never got to toppings). But even my skills there were clumsy by Metro standards. I wasn’t spreading the sauce close enough to the edge. I was concentrating my cheese in the wrong spot. I wasn’t holding my hand high enough to distribute the herbs evenly. Sure, my fnished products were better than any
pizza I’d ever made before, with a perfect crunch to the crusts. But it took me forever to get there. As the dinner rush started, it was obvious I couldn’t take a spot on Metro’s cooking line without bringing the operation to a standstill. No, it turns out, I cannot cook in a professional kitchen—even doing a job I once legitimately held. If you think you can do better, give it a try at one of Arena’s bi-monthly pizzamaking classes: MetroPizza.com/ Cooking-Classes. Me? I’ll stick to critiquing the work of others.
[ JUST A SIP]
February 12–18, 2015
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VegasSeven.com
WITH TWO HANDS, PLEASE
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It seems like at every whiskey event I attended last year, someone was handing me their business card with both hands. At first I thought, “Well, we’re talking about whiskey, a product deeply prized by Asian cultures as a thoughtful gift. These sales reps have wisely learned Asian customs, hence the two-handed handoff.” But then it spread to other spirits, to wine and Champagne, and then to other industries, such as retail, dining, hospitality—every card given and received with two hands. Not wanting to be an international oaf, lazily lobbing my credentials around with one hand, I consulted an expert. Ken Wong handles marketing for key Asian players at the Venetian and the Palazzo. He set me straight: “The business card represents you. In order for someone to respect you, you need to respect yourself first. So we give our business card in two hands to show respect for the importance of the business card,” he says. “And receiving with two hands is just a return of the respect, saying ‘Thank you, I respect what you’re giving me.’” But it’s not limited to business cards. “My team at the front office will receive your credit card with both hands, and we will give you back your credit card, your room key and the property pamphlet with both hands, because when we are giving with two hands, it shows the other person the respect that I have for him or her. So it applies to pretty much everything.” An easy custom to learn and an easier one to adopt in both your professional and personal lives, you certainly won’t insult anyone as the gesture is understood, Wong says, in “Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan.” With Lunar New Year fast approaching (Feb. 19), now would be the time to embrace this custom—with two hands, of course. – Xania Woodman
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.
When you order a cup of coffee or a meal at PublicUs (meaning “for the people”; 1126 Fremont St., 702-331-5500, PublicUsLV.com), you have a large team to thank. The group of dudes behind Downtown’s next neighborhood restaurant and coffeehouse are currently preparing for a March opening, and they’ve been working diligently to create a restaurant where the coffee is as important as the grub. Each team member is bringing his own passion and prowess to create a unique and inspired concept where the only thing that doesn’t rotate seasonally is the restaurant itself. Co-founders Kimo Akiona and Travis Landice and the rest of their team have been doing pretty much everything, from designing furniture to making almond milk. “We all really wanted to learn the process so we went through it personally rather than hiring people [to do it for us],” Akiona says. “We’ve had a lot of firsts. It took months to get a countertop approved.” Landice and Akiona’s product and industrial design company, Agent Mindfull, is directing the construction of the 3,100-square-foot building. Located on 1126 Fremont St., the space will invoke an indoor/outdoor neighborhood environment with trees and communal tables. Faucets, fixtures, furniture and the espresso bar are all being built using socially conscious materials. As for the food, think quality, locally sourced seasonal ingredients. The leaders of the culinary program, Jeremy Jordan, Adam Pusateri and sous chef Nik Pangnonis, plan to use as many Nevada-based farms as possible, such as Blue Lizard and Cowboy Trails. To keep it casual, guests will order over the counter, where the majority of the food items will be on display. Currently, they do not have any set menu items. But they will have a designer toast program. “I’ve never been more excited about toast in my life,” Landice says. Pastry designer Hemant Kishore adds a one-of-a-kind element to the team, by baking bread in-house daily. There will also be desserts, such as his brownie-meets-cookie creation with balsamic toffee jam. Of course, you need coffee to go with your sweets. Award-winning barista Cole McBride and Dylan Evans moved from Seattle to head PublicUs’ coffee and beverage program. They will be sourcing from Everett, Washingtonbased small roaster Velton’s Coffee, and will serve boutique green coffee from Café Imports, roasted exclusively for PublicUs. “We feel strong that the coffee is up there with the best of the best,” Akiona says. Along with the coffee, PublicUs will also have seasonal teas from Song Tea and Ceramics, and seasonal craft beers and wine. Some might say having so many cooks in the kitchen could cause problems, but not at PublicUs. “We are proud in an honest way that this is our project and this is us, hence the capital U,” Akiona says. “It is not about any one person. That’s what I think the best thing is about PublicUs.” – Jessie O’Brien
PHOTOS BY JON ESTRADA
DINING
COFFEE WILL GET EQUAL BILLING WITH FOOD AT NEW DOWNTOWN SPOT
DINING
Clockwise from left: chorizo Brussels sprouts with shrimp, La Paisa arepa and chicken tinga empanadas.
Found: Latin Cuisine, Well-Made Downtown’s newest cofeehouse Makers & Finders serves much more than cafeine
February 12–18, 2015
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AFTER RECENTLY WRITING ABOUT MY
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willingness to eat just about anything— from brains and testicles to grasshoppers and a scorpion—it’s a little embarrassing to admit that there’s one thing you’ll never see me consume: coffee. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever fnished a full cup of java. So that left me hardpressed for something to contribute to our coffee issue. Fortunately, I discovered Makers & Finders Coffee, and I love it—not for its coffee (be it siphon, Moka pot, French or AeroPress), but for its atmosphere and its food. Makers & Finders is on Main Street, just south of Charleston Boulevard, a Downtown corridor that appears to be developing much more organically than Fremont East. Neighboring businesses include thrift shops, antique stores and other urban mainstays. And along with Hop Nuts Brewing,
which recently opened next door, about half of the menu is dedicated to Makers & Finders offers a sidewalk arepas (South American sandwiches), patio perfect for people watching and empanadas and other “Latin comfort soaking up the local vibe. food.” The latter includes such dishes as The interior of the café chorizo Brussels sprouts has the kind of bright, with shrimp and mushfunky, minimalist décor rooms, as well as a garlicMAKERS & you would expect in a lime chicken breast with FINDERS COFFEE Downtown coffeehouse. chimichurri sauce. 1120 S. Main St., The staff is laid-back and Most of the dishes I’ve 702-586-8255. friendly. And customers’ had have been simple Open for breakfast laptops dot the tables, barand well prepared. My and lunch 7 a.m.–4 top and communal workshrimp ceviche was p.m. Mon–Sat. space. Yup—it’s all fairly about as straightforward Lunch for two, standard coffeehouse fare. as it gets: large shrimp $20–$40. The food, however, is a lot segments heavily marimore interesting than the nated in citrus juice and standard-issue croissants, spices. My chicken tinga pastries and simple sandwiches of Starempanadas were packed with spicy bucks. While those very items are availshredded chicken, and topped with a able (thanks to Lulu's Bread & Breakfast lime avocado cream sauce and cotija and Henderson's Gimme Some Sugar), cheese. And a trio of sofrito-spiced
Angus beef sliders came with a perfect char from the grill. If you want something a bit more over the top, check out the La Paisa arepa, piled high with carne mechada (shredded beef), crispy chicken skins, avocado, plantains, black beans and a fried egg! If you’re a coffee fan, Makers & Finders offers a number of specialty lattes, including one that’s Mexican spiced and another that’s lavender infused. Other choices include a cortadito (see Page 57), café au lait and cappuccino. But if you share my dislike of the bean, opt for one of the delicious chai or green-tea lattes. Regardless of whether you view Makers & Finders primarily as a coffee shop, or as a quaint little Latin American restaurant, there’s no denying it makes a nice addition to one of Downtown’s dynamic, up-andcoming neighborhoods.
PHOTOS BY JON ESTRADA
By Al Mancini
DRINKING
CAFFÉ LATTE/ CAFÉ CON LECHE/ CAFÉ AU LAIT
These are all variations on the theme of strong coffee with hot or steamed milk: espresso for an Italian caffé latte and either strong coffee or espresso for café con leche (in Spanish-speaking countries) and café au lait (French-speaking countries). Depending on where you are, this could be a milky breakfast staple or—especially in America—a canvas for fancy latte art. $4.50 single, $5 double, Makers & Finders, 1120 S. Main St., 702-586-8255, MakersAndFindersLV.com.
DISTRICT ONE PHOTO BY SABIN ORR, MAZA GRILL PHOTO BY JON ESTRADA
CAFECITO/CAFÉ CUBANO
In the Cuban tradition, demerara sugar is added right to the grounds before the shot is pulled. “What you get is a really creamy, sweet, strong coffee,” Republic Café owner, chef Beni Velazquez, says. Similarly, a café Cubano is just the espresso, no sugar. $2.85 single, $3.15 double, Republic Café, opening in March, 2620 Regatta Dr., Suite 118, 702-925-8333, Facebook/LatinFishVegas. CORTADO/CORTADITO
Ca phe sua da from District One, and kahve (right) from Maza Grill.
A European-style cortado (a.k.a. Gibraltar, noisette)—like that as served at Sambalatte—is espresso that is “cut” (get it?) with 120-degree steamed milk, bringing out the milk’s silky sweetness. In Cuba and Miami
CAFFE CORRETTO
A single shot of espresso “corrected” with a little booze—usually grappa, brandy, sambuca or rum. “It’s very personal,” Italian beer distributor Massimo D’Arrigo says. Cost depends on your choice of spirit: correttos average $18 at Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare, for example, but can go up to $100 or more with a pricier booze selection. In Wynn, 702-770-3305, WynnLasVegas.com. CA PHE SUA DA
Vietnamese iced coffee is made using an individual metal drip flter placed over a glass. Coarse grounds are brewed and dripped over a generous serving of condensed milk, then poured over ice. Sweet and strong, and not bad with a little booze added, either! $3.75, District One Kitchen & Bar, 3400 S. Jones Blvd., Suite 8, 702-413-6868, DistrictOneLV.com. KAHVE
Sure, it starts with a K, not a C, but superstrong Turkish coffee (see—there’s the C) is made by just barely boiling superfne grounds with sugar and sometimes spices three times, and letting the brew cool between boils before serving it unstrained in a tiny cup. $3.50, Maza Mediterranean Grill & Lounge, 2550 S. Rainbow Blvd., 702-9120050, MazaGrillLV.com.
VegasSeven.com
By Xania Woodman
(or Downtown’s Makers & Finders), you might also encounter the cortadito: a café Cubano usually cut with condensed milk. $3.50, Sambalatte Torrefazione, multiple locations, Sambalatte.com.
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In which we clear up some international cofee confusion
It starts with highquality espresso: Steam is forced through the packed grounds to produce a potent, concentrated coffee shot—single or double. This is topped with hot, frothy milk foam. To make a perfect cappuccino, “Don’t scald the milk,” B&B beverage director Kirk Peterson says. “And let the foam rest for a moment.” $5, Carnevino, in the Palazzo, Palazzo.com.
February 12–18, 2015
The C Word
CAPPUCCINO
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A&E
“Playfulness and tease suffuse the moves of the attractive dancers—they’re primarily seductresses rather than bombshells—and we feel just as wooed as we do wowed.”
SHOWSTOPPER {PAGE 65}
PHOTO BY JASON OGULNIK
Afer firting with extinction, Onyx Theatre resurrects itself as a laugh factory By Steve Bornfeld
edies to Shakespeare. Other plans include space for comedy classes (where the cat o’ nine tails, restraints and genital entrapment devices were once displayed) and even a long-form improv soap opera. Though it long had a comedy presence via improv nights, stand-up, open-mic nights and one-person shows sprinkled through its schedule—many of them one-offs or weekend stop-offs—it’s now betting the house money on it. Largely, its vision is inspired by the model of Dad’s Garage Theatre, the comedy kingdom in Atlanta. “It’s not as unbelievable a change as people might see it,” says Paul Mattingly, one half of the local live-show and podcasting duo of Matt and Mattingly. Drafted by Heard, Mattingly created the recently debuted Joke Kune Do, a weekly Saturday night competition between two teams of improvisers, with winners determined by audience cheers/jeers. “Second City did shows [at the Onyx] near the end of its [Vegas] run; it’s where we had our Monday night shows,” says Mattingly, who will also be an instructor for the comedy classes. “If things continue on this track, we can make this a home base and nurturing ground for comedy in Vegas—from Vegas.” Rounding out this ongoing reboot: The GET, a weekly Friday night swirl of sketch comedy, improv and standup; and the weekly Thursday entry, Don’t Quit Your Day Job, created by Second City grads Derek and Natalie Shipman, in which guests are interviewed about their bizarre employment experiences, sparking improvisational scenes. Among scheduled guests are plus-size porn actress Kelly Shibari, ex-Jubilee! showgirl Kady Kay and comedy-magician Murray SawChuck. Last week saw playwright
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Shticks and Giggles
quell off-stage drama? How very odd, and very Onyx-y of them. Under the theory that you can’t kill it with a stick but you can save it with shtick, the Onyx Theatre—that stubborn survivalist of the Las Vegas theater universe wedged in the funky (and skunk-y) Commercial Center behind a fetish-wear shop—backpedaled from the abyss last month by literally laughing in the face of death. Amid reports of its rumored imminent closure, the venue that often preferred to zig while the majority zagged—you went elsewhere for Guys and Dolls; you went there for Naked Boys Singing!—is attempting to remake itself as a “comedy hub,” as new producing director Troy Heard characterizes it. “We’d like to become a new Second City,” says Heard, not bothering with merely modest aspirations. “Vegas has Las Vegas Little Theatre and Signature [Productions] and Cockroach [Theatre] and all these theater companies, but what it doesn’t have is a dedicated improv theater. There is a call for it because there’s so much of it in this city. When the Onyx came up—bam—I thought it would be a great match.” Once it was a showcase for everything comic to tragic that you could variously label offbeat, gay-friendly, even outrageous—after all, it opened in late-2005 with a production of The Vampire, the Virgin & the Very Horny Night—and had recently tipped more mainstream. Now, under Heard and minus the Rack (the sincevacated sex shop), the Onyx has cleared the decks of drama—no more One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest or Hamlet (both fabulous productions, by the way). Instead, it has begun a guffaw-only rollout of weekly improv shows and funny-bone plays from contemporary to musical com-
February 12–18, 2015
USING ONSTAGE COMEDY TO
Producing director Troy Heard is building ways to improve Onyx Theatre.
VegasSeven.com
Movies, music, art and a gal named Zola Jesus
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| February 12–18, 2015
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John Patrick Shanley’s downright nasty comedy Four Dogs and a Bone conclude its run, as well as the one-night Dr. Sexpot’s Erotic Circus, the underground variety show that pretty much defes description. Coming up starting February 13 and running through March 7 is the bonkers comedy Ed Wood’s Glen or Glenda by the Midnight Fomato Society (collaborating with Off-Strip Productions, the Onyx’s in-house production arm), in which the audience is encouraged to pelt the cast with foam tomatoes. In the bullpen are the comically macabre Welcome, Boils and Ghouls! (starting Feb. 19) and the farcical The Food Chain (beginning March 19). All this yuk-it-up stuff rose out of business Sturm und Drang when the relationship between then-Onyx coowners Michael Morse and Randy Lange fractured. “It was a split among the owners, and I’ve tried not to be privy to it,” Heard says about the tension that led then-artistic director Brandon Burk to resign in December. “I learned a lot there, but it sucked the joy out of what we do,” Burk says. “We don’t make a lot of money doing it, so there has to be something else to it. It was back and forth on whether the Onyx would close; every day it seemed the story was changing. It was tough because I was talking to these [performing] companies. Sin City Opera was doing a show there in February and another in May, and these guys are in rehearsal. What am I supposed to tell them?” After Burk parachuted out, and with the storm being calmed by Lange and Tom Conroy, CFO of the company that owns both the Onyx and the Rack, Heard came aboard January 1. “It just fell into my lap,” says the crazy-busy Heard, who agreed to assume the captainship despite also running his own Table 8 Productions. Meanwhile, he was vainly trying to rescue the doomed Pawn Shop Live! at the Golden Nugget and the Riviera (a complicated backstage mess that ensnared him), as well as producing and co-directing Joni & Gina’s Wedding at the Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel. “Did I have reservations? I did, because it’s always been kind of a fnancial roller coaster,” says Heard, who has applied for a license to serve beer and wine, initiating another revenue stream. “The directive I was given: Break even. But having been one of the most active producers at the Onyx through Table 8, I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t, and where that place can go.” Under the stewardship of Burk, the Onyx had toned down the tumult. Creative leaders before him had reigned over more theatrically gonzo periods,
including John Beane (who helmed the rebel Insurgo Theater Movement) and Sirc Michaels (whose later, bloodyfunny Evil Dead the Musical at Planet Hollywood has catapulted him from community theater to the Strip). Top-notch productions booked by Burk included the Pulitzer Prize-winning How I Learned to Drive, Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, Neil Simon’s California Suite and a widely lauded production of Sweeney Todd, directed by Burk. Yet Burk says the man-at-the-top job has been handed to the right man. “I’m really happy about Troy being there,” Burk says. “He knows how to do this. “He’s been producing show on top of show for a long time. I’m just a dumb actor. I stepped into that role having no idea what I was doing; I just love theater. Troy will bring in more but smaller projects. And he’ll bring in a different demographic. Where I was going after a general theater audience, Troy is heading directly toward comedy. That makes it easier to market. He’s very smart in that regard.” Still, Heard acknowledges that “the Onyx has its challenges.” One of those has been dealt with since the Rack—which, by the way, stood for “Responsible and Consensual Kink”—
vamoosed from the premises. “I told Troy I was jealous,” Burk says. “To be able to run that building without the store attached is really a dream.” On one hand, the Rack spiced the Onyx experience with an intriguing weirdness. Nowhere else—certainly not at Las Vegas Little Theatre or UNLV—could you examine ball gags on your way into The Insect Play, browse handcuffs before Cannibal! The Musical or admire strap-ons the night you see 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche. On the other … “For a long time, I viewed it as a plus because it sort of weeds out people who aren’t serious about coming to check out edgy theater. But you have to balance that with making it a friendly place everyone can feel comfortable with,” Mattingly says. “When we did shows there, before they changed the structure, there was a time you walked through all of it. So ‘dildo’ became every [improvisational] suggestion. You walk through that to a comedy show, all you get is ‘dildos.’ We’ll still get plenty of ‘dildos’ without it being right there in our faces.” That still leaves … the rest of the neighborhood. Never the most familyfriendly ’hood, the center surrounds the Onyx with sex outlets including
the Green Door and Fantasy swingers clubs, as well as the gay-oriented Hawks Gym and Entourage Vegas Bath House. “As an audience member, it’s a pretty large commitment to come to the Commercial Center—it’s not like you’re driving to Downtown Summerlin and it’s chichi and nice,” Heard acknowledges. “There’s an edge to it. And the narrative of the Onyx has always been that it was an offshoot of the Rack, with gay-friendly plays. But as people such as John Beane and Sirc Michaels and Brandon [Burk] changed the mission of the theater, it expanded the audience base.” Conversely, comedy complements the area’s vibe better. “It’s less of a hindrance for what Troy is doing,” Burk says. “The demographic for a play like Four Dogs and a Bone is different from people who wouldn’t come in to see Cabaret and more mainstream things because of the neighborhood. Troy’s edge is more appropriate for the area and the space.” Come this fall, the Onyx will mark 10 years—and a raucous history of staff turnover, creative U-turns and mission makeovers—in Las Vegas. As Heard attests: “The Onyx is a testament to moxie.” Enough, in fact, to laugh—evenings, matinees, late nights; parking is easy, come on down—in the face of death.
PHOTOS BY JASON OGULNIK
Scenes from Onyx’s Joke Kune-Do: (clockwise from top) Natalie Shipman and Ross Horvitz; Paul Mattingly with his slightly arbitrary scoring system; and the comedy competitors.
ONYX THEATRE
The Commercial Center District, 953 E. Sahara Ave., Suite 16-B, 702-732-7225, OnyxTheatre.com.
CONCERT
A&E
ALBUMS WE'RE BUYING 1 Bob Dylan, Shadows in the Night
2 Title Fight, Hyperview
3 Hellyeah, Blood for Blood
4 J. Cole, 2014 Forest Hills Drive
5 Marilyn Manson, The Pale Emperor (Explicit)
Zola Jesus Ascends the (Paper) Mountaintop The Bunkhouse Saloon, Feb. 7
The Bunkhouse’s compact stage was not enough for Nika Roza Danilova, a.k.a. Zola Jesus. The avant-garde songstress walked through the sparse crowd and sang and danced on the bar during the climax of her hourlong set. And she did it all in heels. “I’m getting a foot massage right after this,” she said. Danilova and her three accompanying musicians performed the majority of her latest effort, Taiga, and they delivered—giving moody electronic songs such as “Dangerous Days” and “Go (Blank Sea)” a new live energy. Danilova brought it back to her lo-fi days, offering the same energy to deep cuts “Vessel” and
According to sales at Zia Record Exchange at 4503 W. Sahara Ave., Feb. 2-8.
“In Your Nature.” Danilova’s performance was all theatrics as she grabbed a rail, whipped her hair and convulsed in front of a lit paper mountain. But the ominous glow of the set prop wasn’t as bright as the promise the 25-year-old showed in her performance that night. ★★★✩✩ – Ian Caramanzana
[ VIDEOGRAPHY ]
Austin Cain gets deep in “Dear Life” Austin Cain asks a lot of rhetorical questions in “Dear Life.” The song plays like a diary entry with Cain doing some soul searching. Hoping to inspire change and make listeners think, he raps, Why is money the root of evil?/Currency is religion and religion divides people. To hit the point home, the video features people holding “I Believe” signs as Cain wanders Las Vegas and Venice Beach. Sure, it’s cheesy, but his
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it’s delivered over Sam Smith’s “I’m Not the Only One,” either. – Zoneil Maharaj
MONEY (THAT’S WHAT I WANT) Eddie Money has a string of hits (“Baby Hold On,” “Two Tickets to Paradise,” “Shakin’”), but to get the experience, you’ve gotta see him play sax and harmonica and whip the crowd into a frenzy. Money plays the Golden Nugget on Feb. 13 ($39-$59).
EMPEROR BUILDER For The Pale Emperor, Marilyn Manson collaborated with film composer Tyler Bates, channeled the blues and nabbed some of the best reviews of his career. Marilyn Manson brings his Hell Not Hallelujah tour to House of Blues on Feb. 14 ($59.50).
ON SALE NOW He writes the songs the whole world sings, but is it really farewell for Barry Manilow? The kitsch icon (and iconic Las Vegas favorite) brings his One Last Time! tour to MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 10 ($20 $250). This might be your last chance.
ZOL A JESUS BY AMIT DADL ANEY
February 12–18, 2015
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VegasSeven.com
heart’s in the right place. It doesn’t hurt that
The
Cirque’s One Drop returns
HIT LIST
On February 6, Cirque du Soleil offered up a
TARGETING THIS WEEK'S MOST-WANTED EVENTS
sneak preview of its third annual One Night for One Drop charity gala with a
By Camille Cannon
performance by Zarkana aerial performers (and twins) Andrew and Kevin Atherton. “What we have right now is just the beginning,” creator Mukhtar O.S. Mukhtar said. “The fun part now involves putting the meat on the bones.” The show will feature more than 100 Cirque artists. This year’s theme will revolve around six women’s efforts to access water. In two years, the event has raised more than $11 million to develop water
SET IN STONE Remember hearing about the giant boulder rolling its way through Southern California? Artist Michael Heizer made international news with his clever 2012 LACMA installation. Levitated Mass is the behind-the-scenes look under the rock and an examination of its cultural resonance. See the film at UNLV’s Marjorie Barrick Museum Auditorium on Feb. 12. UNLV.edu.
Theater at The Mirage, $100 and up, OneNight. OneDrop.org. – Danny Axelrod
[ ART ]
CIRQUE BY CASHMNA PHOTO ENTERPRISES
ALL TIED UP
“Hishi Karada Body Diamond.”
Lashed about the center and crisscrossing down the middle, rope binds and embraces the nude in a corset of knots. This sensual macramé of Japanese Shibari is a key element in Sin City Gallery’s new series of erotic photographs by Las Vegas artist Marshall Bradford. The intricate rope patterns lend the figures a sculptural quality—like neoclassical scrollwork carved onto flesh. In the image “Sex and the Maiden,” the female form juts forward, the lashed mermaid figurehead cresting the prow of a ship at sea. In another image, the fading lace of lines upon skin is all that remains to trace the vestiges of recent bondage. In conjunction with the photographs, a series of rope
bondage classes ($5-$10, Feb. 24, March 7,14, 22) will be held in the gallery, illuminating the inspiring force behind the images. “Most people love the feeling of being bound and helpless,” explains rope instructor Curious Bunny. “The feel of the rope against their skin and giving control to someone else. There is … an energy transfer that happens… [a couple] can be doing a scene in a room full of people and yet to the participants there is just the two of them there.” Mentally or physically, let yourself get tied up for a while with these images. Sin City Gallery is in the Arts Factory, 107 E. Charleston Blvd., Studio 120 , 702-6082461, SinCityGallery.com. – Jenessa Kenway
BAD OMEN, GOOD MOVIE Oh hey, it’s Friday the 13th! Get the black cat off your path and stop by the Sci Fi Center for a 35th anniversary celebration of Friday the 13th. Catch a screening of the 1980 classic flick and a bonus reel of every death scene from the franchise. And good luck! Facebook.com/TheSciFiCenterVegas. BANG FOR NO BUCKS If you’re like us, you’ve got a bucket list of Vegas shows to see. Creatively knock out a few items at once by attending the Look Hear showcase at Artifice on Feb. 16. You’ll pay nothing for performances by cast members of ShowStoppers, Vegas! The Show, Jubilee! and more. ArtificeBar.com. MAGIC ACT What could make Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland better? Start with talented performers from Strip shows, mix in contemporary pop songs (arranged by former Pin Up music man David Perrico), add a sexy Steampunk motif, wild choreography and sprinkle with dialogue. That’s the spectacle in store during Alice: A Steampunk Concert Fantasy at Vinyl. The show begins its six-date run on Feb. 17. HardRockHotel.com.
VegasSeven.com
20 at The Beatles’ Love
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around the world. March
February 12–18, 2015
programs and initiatives
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MUSIC [ OLD LADY IN A MOSH PIT ]
THE BALLAD OF MARVIN & TAMMI By Lissa Townsend Rodgers ALONG WITH THE CANDY, FLOWERS AND
fuzzy handcuffs, Valentine’s Day is a time for love songs. Some of the greatest were sung by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, the duo behind classics such as “You’re All I Need to Get By” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” Happy endings are easy when you just have to get through 2:31 to the fadeout; real stories are more complicated … Marvin Gaye grew up in Washington, D.C., singing in church and trying to avoid the wrath of his abusive father. He was signed to Chess Records as part of a doo-wop group, but joined Motown as a solo artist in 1961. Initially, he was more successful as a songwriter than singer, but within fve years, his chart-topping hits included “Can I Get a Witness” and “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You).” Philadelphian Tammi Terrell began performing professionally when barely in her teens; around that age, she was raped by several neighborhood boys and also began suffering from persistent, severe headaches. She joined the James Brown Revue but, after a few years, a few singles and a rocky relationship with the Godfather of Soul, she retired to the pre-med program at the University of Pennsylvania. After briefy joining Jerry Butler’s nightclub show, she was seen and signed by Motown’s Berry Gordy. Male-female love duets were a pillar of pop music, from Louis & Keely to Sonny & Cher to Barbra & Barry. Motown paired Marvin with Mary Wells, Kim Weston and others, but nothing clicked until Tammi. The pair’s frst song was 1967’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” When the producers realized what they had, they stripped out backing vocals, leaving the voices front and center, with chemistry so potent it rang true through the tinniest transistor-radios. The pair released three albums, scoring hits on R&B and pop charts, including “You’re All I Need to Get By,” a mini-opera of unshakeable devotion, and “Keep on Lovin’ Me, Honey,” in which a raw-voiced Marvin pleads with Tammi for reassurance, which she supplies with enough tangible warmth to melt an iceberg. Their relationship became something both more and less than a romance, perhaps because both were involved with other people. Even their
personalities complemented each other: Marvin quiet and sensitive, Tammi vivacious and streetwise. He was shy and disliked performing onstage but Tammi relaxed him. In video clips, they are radiant, gazing into each other’s eyes, tossing off vocal ad-libs and improvised dance moves. But it couldn’t last. Tammi’s headaches had been getting worse. One night, she collapsed into Marvin’s arms during a concert and was carried offstage; doctors discovered a malignant brain tumor. Her last public appearance was in 1969 at Harlem’s Apollo Theater. Marvin was performing. He saw her from the stage and walked through the audience to her as the two began singing “You’re All I Need to Get By” one last time. The song played again several months later at Tammi’s funeral, as Marvin delivered the eulogy. Marvin withdrew from performing for several years, saying it was “as though she was dying for everyone who wouldn’t fnd love. My heart was broken … I could no longer pretend to sing love songs for people.” Tammi’s death helped inspire What’s Going On, his greatest work, but it also pushed him into depression and drug abuse, which ended when his father shot him in 1984. F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, “A sentimental person thinks things will last, a romantic person hopes against hope that they won’t.” “All I Need” is a romantic song because of that lingering note of the nearly was, the sound of a fairytale within reach but never grasped. Maybe somewhere, in a place free of headaches and heartaches, where there’s no dope or despair, Marvin and Tammi are raising their voices high enough to fnally reach happily ever after.
STAGE
THE RACK PACK Sexxy doesn’t reinvent the topless show, but earns its extra ‘x’ YEARS AGO, A FRIEND DECLARED TO ME:
“When you’ve seen two breasts, you’ve seen them all.” Yes, he was gay. No, I don’t share his nonchalance as a life philosophy. Even so, when you’re a Vegas critic reviewing the topless show industry—yes, it’s an industry—fatigue sets in when so many productions seem to expect that the mere sight of blessed female fesh can excuse rote, predictable grinding. Such was the fear—unfounded, fortunately—that preceded a visit to Sexxy, the bare-boobie newbie with the excess “x” at the Westgate’s Shimmer Cabaret. Sexxy features its creator, Vegas dance vet Jennifer Romas, who’s as courageous as she is gorgeous as she’s reportedly playing hurt, still nursing injuries sustained in an onstage fall during the short-lived iCandy Burlesque. Yet what she’s done with Sexxy is develop a show that, while it conceptually varies little from the standard form, purrs with a deeper, sultrier sensuality. Wisely, Romas assigns hottie hostess duties to rock singer Gabriella Versace of the band Nitro—and former star of steamy Erocktica at the Rio—who contributes a personality as formidable as her pipes (and who does doff her top at one point). When she goes all Joss Stone on bluesy belter “It’s a Man’s World” and “I Put a Spell On You,” we know the musical component is more intriguing than the predictable dance-club pummelers of these shows’ traditional recorded soundtracks. What we’re surprisingly spared are token male bump-and-grinders often inserted as a demographic leveler to attract couples, but who more often drain steam from a production built
on female hotness. Also happily missing is a comic, which is usually a midshow breather for the ladies, but also disrupts the sexy stride. Clearing the decks of those distractions, Romas lets Sexxy ramp up momentum. On the surface, Sexxy falls into some hackneyed traps, musically and conceptually: the way overused “Hey Big Spender” and “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”; the Sapphic tease; the cowgirls; the stripper pole gyrations; the bathtub splish-splash; the silkrope climb to the ceiling; the drag-theaudience-dude-onstage shtick, etc. Yet Romas’ choreography makes much of it feel fresh. While blazingly hot, it’s less in your face than in your head. Playfulness and tease suffuse the moves of her attractive dancers—they’re primarily seductresses rather than bombshells—and we feel just as wooed as we do wowed. Setting the vibe herself, Romas writhes around the pole to “Feeling Good,” seemingly fusing with it, so supple is her body and so subtle is her technique—or as subtle as gymnastics on a stripper pole allows. Ditto Romas in the tub. Production values are kept basic: On a stage curtained off behind them, the ladies enter and exit through an opening in the middle, and as usual, you can make of that unsubtle imagery exactly what they want you to. Thankfully, it’s one of the few obvious elements of Sexxy. (That, and a red-lips couch Romas slithers across.) With its reliance on the seductive arts, sexy is as Sexxy does. Got an entertainment tip? Email Steve.Bornfeld@VegasSeven.com.
A&E
MOVIES
SPACE DISGRACE Jupiter is descending in this delightfully muddled sci-f fick from the Matrix makers By Michael Phillips Tribune Media Services
IN JUPITER ASCENDING CHANNING TATUM’S
character is a “splice,” an intergalactic bounty hunter with a distaste for shirts. His genetically engineered DNA contains both wolf and human strands. He sports wee pointy ears, a lemonbrown goatee and a terrifc pair of jet boots. He’s basically Shakespeare’s Puck plunked down in a story recalling The House of Atreus, but in space. The movie doesn’t really work, but the jet boots would be the envy of Iron Man, and they allow our hero, unwisely named Caine Wise, to speedskate through the air, leaving pretty little trails of light over downtown Chicago. Mila Kunis’ character, Jupiter Jones, works as a cleaning lady, and just before the flm’s opening credits she’s shown scrubbing a toilet, looking sad. Her life lacks love and excitement. The movie takes care of business. Jupiter Jones may sound like the brand name for Tatum’s jet boots, but in reality she’s the rightful heir to planet Earth because she is a genetic ringer (reincarnated, sort of) for the late matriarch of a high-toned family of bores who rule most of the known universe.
Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis go for a green-screen ride.
Kunis falls a lot in Jupiter Ascending, from great green-screen heights, and screams even more, though with Kunis, you’re not getting a simpy, distressed damsel; she has actually learned to scream skeptically. She’s in the flm so that Tatum can swoop in and catch her, over and over, en route to rescuing a better-written Cinderella in some other galaxy. I am this galaxy’s least reliable judge of writers-directors Lana and Andy Wachowski, since I liked Speed Racer (and, more sanely, the frst of their Matrix movies, among other projects). There are plenty of design details in Jupiter Ascending worth noting. As proved by the 22nd century “Neo Seoul”
section of Cloud Atlas, the Wachowski siblings relish their van-art sciencefction landscapes, packed with scary urban development and gunfre. But visionaries often lose their way in their own visions. The majority of moviemakers and movies stick to outdated, predictable formulas and conventions. The Wachowskis, on the other hand, are not afraid to strand you early and often in Jupiter Ascending. The script struggles to tell a dull story straight. The sibling rivalry afoot in the House of Abrasax pits the sniveling Balem (Eddie Redmayne) against Titus (Douglas Booth) and Kalique (Tuppence Middleton), and when Redmayne whispers lines such as “I have
February 12–18, 2015
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SHORT REVIEWS
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Seventh Son (PG-13) ★✩✩✩✩
Legend has it that the seventh son of a seventh son is born with special powers, which, in Joseph Delaney’s Wardstone Chronicles fantasy-lit series, include the ability to see supernatural beings and kill witches. But given the long gestation period for Universal’s film adaptation, Seventh Son, which opened nearly a year later than planned, one shouldn’t be surprised to discover some pretty significant birth defects, among them a tired plot, some very unspecial effects and a pair of grotesquely uneven performances from Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (PG) ★✩✩✩✩
The new SpongeBob movie’s plot honors the series’ key themes. Plankton is still after Mr. Krabs’ secret formula for Krabby Patties. Antonio Banderas narrates the story to a flock of seagulls, and his pirate character has insidious food-truck ambitions. Sponge Out of Water doesn’t deliver SpongeBob and the gang to the “real,” non-animated world until quite late in the film, which runs a reasonable-sounding 93 minutes. Yet those 93 feel like more than enough.
Project Almanac (PG-13) ★★★✩✩
A couple of ingenious wrinkles distinguish Project Almanac from other time-travel fantasies. It’s not the best film of the genre, but it’s an entertaining ride. Science-whiz high school senior David (Jonny Weston) and his younger sister (Virginia Gardner) stumble across a camcorder with video of David’s seventh birthday party. David, as he looks now, is glimpsed in a mirror in the background of a party that took place 10 years earlier. That sends him poking around Dad’s old workshop, where he and his pals uncover plans for a time-travel device.
not crossed the vastness of space for your pleasantries,” you know you’re in for another uninteresting round of expository catch-up. Still, an image or two lingers. For one thing, Jupiter Ascending explains those endlessly debated crop circles without stopping in its tracks for a verbal explanation. More bittersweetly, at one point a starship commander portrayed by the commanding (and welcome) Nikki Amuka-Bird scolds Tatum, who’s fretting in the background, by saying: “That pacing’s not helping.” It’s a touching critique of the pretty but stilted flm itself. Jupiter Ascending (PG-13) ★★✩✩✩
By Tribune Media Services
American Sniper (R) ★★✩✩✩
Director Clint Eastwood’s latest film is reverent and slippery. You don’t have to know much about the real Navy SEAL marksman Chris Kyle to wonder if it’s telling the whole truth about him. The film is one life-anddeath sequence after another, and the filmmaking is efficient, crisply delivered. But Eastwood honors his subject without really getting under his skin. Bradley Cooper plays Kyle as a “legend” whose vulnerabilities remain a secret, even to himself, until the breaking point. Cooper is very good, as is Sienna Miller as Kyle’s wife.
Black or White (PG-13) ★✩✩✩✩
Black Sea (R) ★★★✩✩
Mommy (R) ★★★✩✩
Cake (R) ★★★✩✩
Mortdecai (R) ★★✩✩✩
The Humbling (R) ★★★✩✩
Black or White patronizes its African-American characters up, down and sideways, and audiences of every ethnicity can find something to dislike. Kevin Costner plays an L.A. attorney, Elliot, who loses his wife in a fatal car accident. We learn that his daughter died in childbirth seven years earlier, leaving a biracial daughter (Jillian Estell) in the care of Elliot and his wife. A paternal grandmother (Octavia Spencer) proposes shared custody, and the film mixes up elements of courtroom drama, custody melodrama and, in a stupid third-act turnabout, home-invasion thriller.
The first half of Xavier Dolan’s Mommy feels like a modern classic, driven by galvanizing performances. The second half succumbs to emotional excess. But see it. This wild tragicomedy of irresistible forces juggles our sympathies with devilish ease. Anne Dorval plays a 46-year-old woman who’s single, struggling and about to become a full-time parent again. Her son (Olivier Pilon) has bounced from juvenile facility to facility and has a disrupted emotional makeup. Their savior is a new neighbor who has suffered a breakdown. In French, with English subtitles.
Should the facial hair trend stall in 2015, blame Mortdecai, a perky but obstinately unfunny heist caper with a hero irksome enough to make any happily mustachioed man reconsider his life choices. The film shoots for the swinging insouciance of ’60s farce, but this story of a caddish art dealer enlisted by MI5 to assist in a theft case is longer on frippery than quippery. Only dedicated devotees of Johnny Depp’s latter-day strain of mugging—here channeling Austin Powers by way of P.G. Wodehouse—will delight in this expensive-looking oddity.
Nothing promises old-school pressure-cooking the way the sub thriller can, and while director Kevin Macdonald’s drama springs leaks in its second half, there are satisfactions along the way. Jude Law plays a recently laid-off marine salvage skipper who has given his life to the sea but destroyed his marriage in the process. Over a pint with a couple of other castoffs, he hatches a plan: There’s a Nazi U-boat at the bottom of the Black Sea rumored to be laden with gold. Black Sea is about hostile, desperate men in close quarters who want that money.
Why didn’t Jennifer Aniston get an Oscar nomination for Cake? With a best actress slot taken by Julianne Moore for Still Alice, there wasn’t room for another routine healthcrisis indie, salvaged by a strong, confident, unfussy turn from its female lead. Cake attempts to deal with a protagonist in chronic pain without becoming a chronic pain itself. Claire (Aniston) has scars on her face and body, and plenty she’s not yet acknowledging in her recent, tragic past. The film charts a progression from a dark place to a lighter place, from misanthropy to community.
We have forgotten how subtle Al Pacino could be, pre-hooah, before his Oscarwinning turn in Scent of a Woman unleashed the beast. So it’s a bit of a jolt to see him as Simon Axler, a famous, fading actor who is losing his grip and his ability to stay on script. Pacino rarely cranks up the heat here, and that’s a shame, because this sometimes funny/often sad film could use some fireworks. Instead it shambles along the way Simon does, with witty, coherent stretches and droning theatrical self-absorption that’s as dull as a sleepwalk through Shakespeare.
MARKETPLACE
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SEVEN QUESTIONS
do you generate these ideas?
Do people suggest themes to you?
Defnitely. People tell you what they want. I just run the numbers to see if there’s enough interest. If I like the idea, why not? That’s how I came up with the 50 Shades of Grey [BDSM] night. Somebody said to me, “I kinda like that, but I wouldn’t even know how to go about it. I don’t even wanna Google it, because I’m sure I’d fnd a bunch of creepy stuff.” I said, “Oh, that’s a good idea. Let’s Target-mom that up and make it comfortable for people.” I don’t even have to run the numbers on that; there’s a movie coming out! What are the most important things to try to learn about someone during a speed date?
February 12–18, 2015
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VegasSeven.com
Sam Pocker
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The owner of Sin City Speed Dating on approaching strangers, the benefts of being revealing and why showing of can be a turn-of By Camille Cannon Sin City Speed Dating is relatively new, with the first event held last month. What inspired you to start the business?
I’ve been in the event and ticketing business for about 20 years. I looked at all the events here, and it was just such an obvious thing that needed to
happen. I read a local newspaper article that considered Las Vegas to be the worst place in America for single people. The only speed dating I could fnd here was like once a week, in a casino. It was just for straight people in a set age range without anything else to it.
It was the most basic thing. I thought, “What can we do to improve on this?” I started coming up with ideas, and I took it from there. Your events have very specific themes: green passions, BBW and furry fandom to name a few. How
Their faults. You know within the frst 10 seconds if you like the person or not. I don’t know if I necessarily believe that, but that’s what the studies show. We have different tricks in place to learn people’s faults. When you reveal something extremely personal about yourself to a stranger, you’ll fnd that they’ll reveal something extremely personal about themselves. Then you’ll feel more of a connection than if you asked, “Hey, where do you work?” In fact, [at Sin City Speed Dating events] you’re not allowed to ask people where they work, for privacy concerns. We [also] don’t use anybody’s real name. One mistake I’ve learned from other companies is that most have a huge stalker problem. I don’t want anyone to feel unsafe. What do you do with an odd number of attendees?
I have a few tricks to keep that from happening, but we also
Sin City Speed Dating will host a free event 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Feb. 14 at Atomic Liquors, 917 Fremont St., SinCitySpeedDating.com.
have a thing that we can’t control in speed dating: A certain percentage of people buy a ticket, get too nervous and don’t show up. The ticket includes a Skype session with a dating coach to get them prepared so that won’t happen. People will still bail. We had a social anxiety-themed event where half the people didn’t show up. That was the nature of that event, I suppose. How would you define a successful speed dating experience?
You leave feeling that you got your money’s worth. Even though we’re competitively priced, people work so hard for their money. We don’t want them to feel ripped off for even a second. Also, if you went there feeling alone, depressed, shy—even if you didn’t meet anyone—you should leave feeling a lot more confdent and a lot more worthwhile than you did when you walked in. That’s really important to me. The ideal thing is that you go in, meet a stranger and that you start a relationship with them and it works out great. What’s the biggest mistake you see daters making?
The one mistake I see guys make here that makes me nuts is—because it’s Las Vegas and you can do this—when they go way too over the top with the frst or second date. “I got the best table at the best restaurant and we’re gonna go to Cirque [du Soleil] and we’re gonna sit in the front row.” You’re putting a lot of pressure on a complete stranger who’s supposed to be having fun. That’s not fun. That’s you showing off in a very awkward and uncomfortable way. Go get a slice of pizza and a beer and sit in the parking lot, and I guarantee you’ll both have a better time … not that that’s a great idea for a frst date. But these guys who spend $3,000? That’s stupid. How does Pocker feel about the increasing popularity of dating websites and apps? Read the full interview at VegasSeven.com/SamPocker.
PHOTO BY JON ESTRADA
Mostly from doing market research. I wrote the book Retail Anarchy [Running Press, 2009] about consumer behavior. The data’s out there. But I came up with the idea for green passions just walking through a Whole Foods Market. I noticed that they sell clothing, and I thought, “Who buys clothing at Whole Foods? God, I would hate that person.” As I’m thinking this, a woman comes up and starts looking at a pair of pants. I start talking to her, and she tells me how passionate she is about the environment and how she knows they don’t even look that great, but she wants to support this, that or the other.
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