THIS SATURDAY
SATURDAY
APRIL 11
FRIDAY & SATURDAY
SUNDAY
TUESDAY
FRIDAY & SATURDAY
MAY 1 & 2
MAY 3
JUNE 9
JUNE 12 & 13
SATURDAY
FRIDAY
SUNDAY
SATURDAY
JULY 18
AUGUST 21
SEPTEMBER 6
SEPTEMBER 12
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DIALOGUE
OUR SITES TO SEE
ON THE DOWNLOAD
It can take hours of combing the Web to find all the new downloads, streams and videos from local artists. Zoneil Maharaj saves you this precious time by including all the latest and local releases—including one from Dizzy Wright (above)—in his online column Hear Now. Check out the latest edition at VegasSeven.com/HearNow. CHEW ON THIS
Whether you’re a strict vegan, an unapologetic meat devourer or you fall somewhere in between, there’s no reason our dietary preferences should keep us from dining together. Jessie O’Brien, who covers the Downtown dining scene, dishes on the best spots for omnivores, carnivores and herbivores to break bread at DTLV. com/VeganDining.
COCKTAIL 101
EASTER, VEGAS-STYLE
TALKIN’ REBELS
It’s spring, which means a whole new menu is on offer at Velveteen Rabbit. Can’t swing by the popular Downtown watering hole for a taste test? No worries—learn how to make their sour cocktail Tootie and Rhuby at home with our video tutorial at DTLV.com/Tootie.
If you’ve lived in Las Vegas longer than a fortnight, you know this city is unlike any other—even on Easter. See what we mean by viewing our gallery of social media posts from Easter services held at local churches (some of which look like nightclubs) at VegasSeven. com/Easter.
RunRebs.com editor Mike Grimala joins SB Nation’s podcast to chat about the resurrection of the Mountain West/ Missouri Valley Challenge, the addition of Wichita State to UNLV’s 2015-16 schedule and the Rebels’ roster outlook. Tune in at RunRebs.com/Podcast.
FACEBOOK: /VegasSeven TWITTER: /7Vegas INSTAGRAM: /VegasSeven
THE LATEST
THOUGHT
Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign Why Las Vegas should start embracing the art of wayfnding By Geoff Carter
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“WAYFINDING IS WHAT MAKES YOU PROUD ENOUGH OF YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD TO CONSIDER MAKING IT A BETTER PLACE. IT’S WHAT MAKES A PART OF TOWN INTO YOUR PART OF TOWN.” ing statistics. What our city needs, and has needed for a long time, is identity. Once you get outside of the resort corridors, our older neighborhoods (John S. Park, Rancho Estates) and our assorted entertainment-focused built environments (your Fremont Easts, your Downtown Summerlins, etc.), Las Vegas skews uncomfortably close to a cowtown. Most of our services, retail and dining are located in strip malls, and nearly all of our tract homes are built in the same style. There’s very little in the way of landmarks to tell you when you’ve arrived somewhere, or that you belong somewhere. Fact is, you’ve been living in Paradise, Winchester and Spring Valley for years, and you might not even know it. Or you could be telling your friends you live in Summerlin when you’re actually living in one of its outlying communities (whose names I’m not even sure I know). Putting up large, ornate “welcome” signs does more than make it easy to
give directions to your next party. The road signs that welcome you to Brooklyn are bursting with borough pride, and that feeling stays with you as you drive by. (“Believe the Hype,” one reads. “Fuhgeddaboudit,” shrugs another.) The giant neon “WALLINGFORD” sign that sits at a supermarket in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood isn’t at all necessary for wayfnding (once you’ve found it, you’re already in Wallingford), but it sure gives residents the warm fuzzies, seeing their community’s name in lights. And while Hollywood would still be Hollywood without the Hollywood sign, to be without it is unthinkable; like our “Welcome to Fabulous” sign, it’s come to mean a lot more than a gesture pointing the way in. We don’t need these signs everywhere. Summerlin has enough. Green Valley has enough. And the individual neighborhoods within those master plans have their own designations (most of them inexplicably lush or nau-
tical in theme, but whatever). But how about some nice signage welcoming us to our sprawling Chinatown, home to some of the best off-Strip dining in the city? Or around the University District, which seemingly exists only in our conversation? Or a stronger identifer for Spring Valley, whose existence I’m only reminded of when I hit up Google Maps? Surely residents would like to say “I live in Spring Valley,” rather than “I’m just off of Trop. If you pass the Dunkin’ Donuts, you’ve gone too far.” Wayfnding is what makes you proud enough of your neighborhood to consider making it a better place. It’s what makes a part of town into Your Part of Town. That brings us back to Downtown, and that “Welcome to Fabulous” knockoff. I’m going to take this opportunity to suggest something borderline blasphemous: It should be torn down and replaced with something less common. The original “Welcome” sign serves a purpose; Downtown’s baby “Welcome” sign only reminds people of the big one. I understand that we put it up before we knew what Downtown was going to be, and what kind of people were going to live there. Now that the area is becoming more distinctive, maybe it’s time Downtown created something fresh and forward-looking for itself. A Downtown sign forged by hard-won neighborhood identity? Fuhgeddaboudit.
ILLUSTRATION BY CIERRA PEDRO
April 9–15, 2015
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VegasSeven.com
EARLY THIS YEAR, THE CITY OF LAS VEGAS AND
several representatives of the architecture and design frm RTKL Associates invited a few locals to participate in a pair of brainstorming sessions at Downtown’s Historic Fifth Street School. Hundreds of us turned out for a pair of think-tank-style meetings intended to fnd solutions to the lingering problems of our urban core: a lack of housing, inadequate social services and so on. Our ultimate goal was to help the City shape a new master plan for Downtown Las Vegas, one that will guide Downtown through its next 20 years of “physical, social and economic development.” Before we got started, an RTKL associate shared some numbers from the frm’s fact-fnding efforts. That data could kindly be called “sobering.” They found that Downtown suffers 19.7 percent unemployment (Clark County’s average is 8.3 percent). Some 26 percent of Downtown’s housing sits vacant (Clark County, 8.4 percent). Only 0.2 percent of Downtown is devoted to parks and community gardens (Los Angeles, 23 percent). The $496 million of private and public money earmarked for Downtown Las Vegas redevelopment pales in comparison to the $2 billion to $3 billion that Detroit is spending to fx up its urban core (the same Detroit that went bankrupt a couple of years ago). And, on top of all that, our wayfnding is poor. Wait, what? The RTKL rep explained that Downtown Las Vegas has only one real, clearly delineated entry point: the baby knockoff of Betty Willis’ “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign, at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Fourth Street; it’s the only marker indicating you’ve arrived in Downtown. If you approach via Maryland Parkway or Charleston Boulevard, you could conceivably pass right through Downtown without realizing it. “I’m not saying you need another kitschy sign,” the RTKL associate said. “But you need something.” He’s absolutely right—and not just because I’m worried someone might drive completely through Downtown unaware. Our town is one of the easiest in the country to navigate, with a simple east-west, north-south grid. If all else fails, you can look for the Stratosphere Tower; it’s nearly a quarter-mile tall and located practically at the geographic center of the Valley. No, the reason Downtown Las Vegas—and nearly all of Las Vegas—needs more “welcome to” signs is because they might actually help to change those aforementioned depress-
THE PIANO MAN George Bugatti
entertains the dinner crowd on Friday and Saturday at the Bootlegger Bistro.
In the Belly of the Bis
BY STEVE BORNFELD
VegasSeven.com
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Singin’, swingin’, swillin’ and chillin’ (and chowing down) at the historic Bootlegger Bistro, where Old Vegas is forever young
clarification: our ex-looey-guv— for informality’s sake, let’s address her as Lorraine Hunt-Bono—isn’t technically my waitress. More like my orderadviser, before she gives the actual waiter his marching orders for the visitor’s victuals. (Splitting the pasta difference, I’ve settled on a half-cheese/ half-meat helping of ravioli, abetted by a rich meat sauce.) Now she’s pondering the role of my impromptu mom. “I’m tempted to spoon-feed you,” she tells me as she slides over the silverware. “But I won’t.” Surprising myself— given that I’ve been feeding myself for some time now—I’m slightly disappointed not to be hand-fed by a genuine Italian mama. Oh, and she owns this whole shebang. More accurately, she belongs to the Bootlegger’s four-generation ruling family, descending from Maria Perry— the 98-year-old matriarch/founding chef whom Hunt-Bono calls Mama. Follow the family tree limbs down to Perry’s grandson, Ronnie Mancuso, who is Hunt-Bono’s son and chief operating offcer of the Bootlegger complex (which includes an attached ballroom for private functions, and a recording studio on premises) and Mancuso’s son, Roman, who’s learning the operation pezzo per pezzo (piece by piece). Even Mancuso’s teenage daughter/Perry’s great-granddaughter Zia Mancuso, an aspiring ballet dancer, has logged some Bootlegger work hours. Forgive the cliché, but this clan embodies that old expression: The family
that cooks risotto together, schmoozes up Vegas legacy entertainers together, and thinks Cole Porter is the top, he’s the Tower of Pisa together … stays together. New and hot? No, this is just a 43-year-old local touchstone born of Old Vegas that New Vegas and Tomorrow Vegas can’t afford to lose. (Factor in the family’s entire Vegas restaurant history and their local presence balloons to 66 years.) Whether you’ve been a Las Vegan for six months or six decades, your residency hasn’t really been rubber-stamped until you’ve been here. Such status stems from three sources. First, there’s the Bootlegger’s longevity, underscored by the overwhelming collection of photos for public perusal. Doubling as a family album and walk of fame on the walls, they hearken back to the town’s early stirrings and stars. Browse around if you’ve got a couple of hours to spare between courses. If your fame frame of reference stretches from Jimmy Durante to Andrew Dice Clay with scores of Vegas icons in between—plus reams of family snapshots, such as the relative who hilariously posed with his ill-ftting glass eye—you’ll need every minute. “Young people stand there, look at all the pictures, and go, ‘Oh, my God, we fnally found Vegas; this is what I expected Vegas to be,’” Hunt-Bono says. Adds Mancuso: “Other places have fake photos on the walls, old Italian stock photos, but every single photo here is real, with true stories behind them.” Second, there’s the OMG!-look-who’s-inthe-house-tonight! unpredictability, with the here’s-the-mic-now-get-yer-butt-onstage spontaneity of this throwback palace.
April 9–15, 2015
•••••
PHOTO BY JASON OGULNIK
tro
y waitress, the 32nd lieutenant governor of the State of Nevada, is explaining my ravioli to me. Choices must be made. Cheese or meat? Sauces, too. Meat or perhaps the rosé? Subtle ingredient and taste variations apply. Add to this the panini bread decision vis-à-vis dipping: Do I want it sauced-up or naked? ¶ While weighing options for my festa Italiano, I’ve also got an ear trained on something so pretty that it’s not so much a song as an aural caress. Originating in the lounge, just a few feet from our well-positioned bar table— courtesy of my waitress, who has some pull here—is a live, lush soundtrack. Amplifed and piped through to the restrooms, the dining nooks and the parking area— where it wafts into Strip traffc on Las Vegas Boulevard South—it purrs with the seductive melody of “Caught Up in the Rapture,” the Anita Baker hit interpreted by open-mic-night singer Lisa Gay. Keyboards, guitar and drums provide the sensual strains beneath Gay’s insinuating vocals. ¶ Later, I realize—after an evening of sampling the tastes and the tunes—that this song title isn’t hyperbolic as it relates to the Bootlegger Bistro.
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VegasSeven.com
| Ronnie Mancuso, Lorraine Hunt-Bono, Roman Mancuso, Dennis Bono and Mama Maria Perry—four generations of the Bootlegger Bistro.
April 9–15, 2015
LA FAMIGLIA
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her mother’s hand. Making money performing with her group, the Lauri Perry Four, Hunt-Bono tapped an innate real estate savvy and purchased land at Tropicana and Eastern avenues, where she and her parents created the original Bootlegger in 1972. While the Bootlegger blossomed, Hunt-Bono moved into politics, becoming a Clark County Commissioner in 1995 and lieutenant governor in 1999, serving until 2007, the same year her father, Albert, passed away. Two years into her tenure in Carson City, the Bootlegger in 2001 hopscotched over to its current locale at 7700 Las Vegas Boulevard South, where it functions as a round-the-clock hangout. (Stop by around sunrise and try the Omelettes Perferiti—with your choice of Italian sausage, Italian ham, salami,
onions, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach, broccoli and cheddar or mozzarella cheese—for breakfast.) “We have this multigenerational situation now,” Mancuso says. “At 6:30 at night you have the older crowd coming in for an early dinner. And if you come in late at night, there will be a bunch of Cirque du Soleil performers and rock stars at 2 in the morning. In a town that tends to blow everything up and destroy its roots, in here there’s the depth of an old-school Italian family. We really are that.” And they don’t just say it. They sing it.
••••• crooning in the lounge on a recent Saturday evening, pianist George Bugatti poses some musical questions—
originally asked by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin—about whether the stars are out tonight, and whether we know if it’s cloudy or bright. Two twenty-somethings at the bar only have eyes for each other, but they get up and slow dance to Bugatti’s brandy-smooth vocals as Flavor Flav dines to the tunes and other patrons look, listen and even mouth the lyrics. “This is authentic and people want that, especially when there’s not a lot of it,” says Bugatti, who flls the Friday/ Saturday night spots on the sevennight-a-week entertainment lineup that also includes sultry lounge vocalist Laura Shaffer on Sundays. “If you look around, it’s steeped in romance. Why would some place stay around so long if there wasn’t something magical about it?”
Two nights later, at the regular Monday music/comedy open-mic night, several performers—all of whom have signed up to get up, their names placed on cards in the lounge—are trying to make magic, backed by a trio led by keyboardist Mike Clark. “It’s like living in another time,” says host Clinton-Holmes. “Everyone loosens up. We do this for sometimes four hours on a Monday night, and people stay.” On this night, there are no widely recognizable performers. Instead, it’s a steady stream of solid singers after Lisa Gay, who follows up her Anita Baker “Rapture” cover with a buttery “Lovin’ You.” Meeting the challenge of the octave-climbing Minnie Riperton classic, she leads patrons in the familiar, repetitive “la-la-la-la-la” refrain. Up next, Don Allen Hunley pulls off
PHOTOS BY JON ESTRADA
April 9–15, 2015
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Clockwise from left: Chef Stuart Luker cooks up a plate of spaghetti and meatballs; Lauri Perry (a.k.a. Lorraine Hunt-Bono) performs at the Tropicana in 1962; Luigi greets the paisanos; and one of the Bootlegger’s many walls of fame.
hear that applause, and being an entertainer that adrenaline picks your body up, and you’re 16 again. “Before Kelly, I remember [late cabaret singer] Sonny King used to run the Saturday nights. All the Vegas lounge acts, after their shows they couldn’t wait to come in there and have a ball. We’d all end the night together onstage.” Other Bootlegger memories have a touch of pathos, such as those of the woman dubbed “the queen of R&B,” Ruth Brown, who died in 2006. “Ruth Brown fnished her life and legacy at the Bootlegger,” Dennis Bono says. “She sat onstage on a throne that we built for her. She was getting older, but she could still perform the blues like you never heard. She revived her life and career here. The family takes great pride in that.”
••••• my waitress, the 32nd lieutenant governor of the State of Nevada, has left me to devour my ravioli (I do, every bite) and panini bread (I do, every crumb). After several hours of openmic-night serenades, I wipe the stray meat sauce off my chin and head off. Music trails me—into the restroom, out the main doors and into the parking lot, where I open my car window so the sounds can follow me onto the Las Vegas Strip before fnally fading from my ears. Though I’m swiftly swept back into the hubbub of New Vegas, I know that Old Vegas is always just a plate of pasta away. Paisanos, I’m-a-in-a the kitchen with-a Maria makin’ the meat-a-balls. Grazie, Luigi.
VegasSeven.com
Bob Anderson, who’s currently collecting kudos for his concert-length Frank Sinatra tribute at the Palazzo. “People, for no cost except their meals, they get to see the entertainment that’s happening today. They sit there and hope somebody will come by that’s a headliner, and they get that,” says Anderson, who’s been that Bootlegger bonus several times. “Kelly won’t insist on it, but she’ll keep looking at you,” he says. “So Clint [Holmes, her husband] and I will take the mic and harmonize for 15 minutes, then Kelly takes the mic and says, ‘Sit down you guys; you’re hogging the mic.’” Scinta, who performs with his brother, Joey, at The D, knows the feeling. “You go in for a drink or three and think, I’m tired; I’ll just sit and watch. But as soon as someone sees you—‘Look who’s in the house!’” Scinta says. “You
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some vocal gymnastics on “Route 66,” then shifts into a deeply soulful “Summertime.” Before the frst set is over, Grant Griffn has mined the Broadway vein with “The Music of the Night” from Phantom of the Opera; Toscha Comeaux has jacked up the jazz quotient with high-spirited scatting to “Almost Like Being in Love”; and Judy Garland tribute artist Denise Rose has assumed the icon’s melodramatic persona on “The Man That Got Away,” adding “Over the Rainbow” as an encore. “We’ve watched some young people come in who were just starting and seen them develop to where they’re pursuing this now,” Clinton-Holmes says. “A lot of people have gotten a lot of work from this.” Others don’t need more work, but pop up anyway, such as singing impressionist
April 9–15, 2015
PHOTOS BY JASON OGULNIK
Clockwise from top left: Hostess Kelly Clinton-Holmes; T-Fox; Lisa Gay and Don Allen Hunley; and Michael Monge take the their turns during open-mic night on a recent Monday.
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NIGHTLIFE
Whose idea was the video for “Intoxicated,” and what inspired it?
The inspiration for the video is basically surrealism—and poking fun at dance in general. Since my second or third video in 2006, I have always come up with the concept of my videos. This one has something special: I didn’t direct it. Paul&Martin directed it. It was a collaboration. What’s the story behind the lyrics?
I was in the studio with GTA, and we frst worked on the instrumental. At some point, it was, “OK, let’s drop the vocals into it.” I had a couple of melodies in my head, so I just started to sing my melodies with whatever words came to mind. What came to mind frst was, “You’ve got me intoxicated.” I had no interest in the exact meaning of that; I just liked that sound of “intoxicated.” It just makes the whole melody right. I tried 12 different sentences. I tried, “You are so sophisticated.” But nothing would sound even close to what we had with “intoxicated.” So it’s not necessarily about being intoxicated?
People can get intoxicated if they want, but it’s not a message that I want to share or whatever. The way the lyrics sound is more important than their actual meaning. Did it take you long to learn those sweet dance moves from the music video?
I’ve never been a dancer. I’ve never been able to memorize anything. There is a choreographer [on set], and I just repeat [the dance moves] on loop. We shoot it, and we skip to the next one. It is impossible for me to learn choreography. But I’m going to try to improve my choreography skills. Do you enjoy dancing?
I suck at dancing. But I love to dance—I think that is most important. What was it like to work with GTA?
We’ve known each other for a long time, and I love the guys because they are so laid back. I am a Parisian guy, so I am very, very stressed out. And they are always so cool. They [go in] late to the studio, and they order food. But eventually, the track gets done. That was my big lesson working with GTA. I stress, I wake up early, but I don’t get more work done than they do. Do you plan to release more singles soon?
I have half-a-dozen tracks in the making. I’m very excited to move on and release them one by one.
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At Coachella I’m going to unleash the things I’ve been working on the last six months. I have Vegas, where I have 10 shows this season. I have some plans in Ibiza. Then I do a couple of dates between L.A., New York, Miami, Paris and London. But it’s not gonna be, like, a world tour of 120 shows. Have you ever done any touristy things while in Las Vegas?
In Vegas, my free time is shared with a lot of music making. I also go to the racetrack [Las Vegas Motor Speedway]—I apologize to planet Earth for using gas. I play golf or tennis. There are a lot of shows. I went to see Britney [Spears] in concert. Did you like it?
Yeah, very much. I love Britney!
Martin Solveig dances like no one’s watching.
PHOTO BY RALPH MACKE
April 9–15, 2015
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What else do you have coming up?
NIGHTLIFE
By Ian Caramanzana
SUN 12 Turn a lazy Sunday into an extraordinary one when resident DJ E-Rock mans the decks at The Bank. The ex-KMEL DJ hits Vegas after a run of dates in Arizona, San Diego and San Francisco for the club’s Industry Sunday—a few days before he packs the room for Kourtney Kardashian’s birthday celebration at 1 Oak. We can’t wait to hear his festival trap version of Calvin Harris’ “Blame.” (In Bellagio, 10:30 p.m., TheBankLasVegas.com.)
MON 13 If you’ve set foot in any nightclub over the past year, chances are you’ve heard Canadian songstress Kiesza’s voice. She collaborated with Diplo and Skrillex on the monster trap anthem “Take U There,” which has rattled speakers worldwide since it premiered in August. On her hit single “Hideaway,” her soulful vocals effortlessly mingle with a beefy bassline. The 26-yearold will party at Marquee after she opens for Marina and the Diamonds at Boulevard Pool. (In the Cosmopolitan, 10 p.m., MarqueeLasVegas.com.) Dillon Francis.
April 9–15, 2015
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THU 9
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Panda Bear.
Somebody call Alex Jones; there’s a new secret society in town. This one revolves around beer. Head to Due & Proper and Park on Fremont for Aleuminati’s backto-back inaugural meetings. The craft beer cult promises to tap different limitededition kegs from partner breweries each month. This time, New Belgium Brewing Company provides the goods. Don’t tell anyone, though; the eye sees all. (2255 Village Walk Dr., 6-8 p.m., Facebook.com/DueAndProperBar; 506 Fremont St., 8-10 p.m, ParkOnFremont.com.)
South Beach dock. Nobody was hurt, but according to TMZ, it cost $30,000 to repair. That’s pocket change for three superstar DJs. Hopefully everything runs smoothly when Guetta runs the wheels of steel at XS. (In Encore, 10:30 p.m., XSLasVegas. com.) Like your music more experimental? Check out Panda Bear at the Bunkhouse. The co-founder of Animal Collective released his ffth album, Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper, in January, and we’re itching to hear the Baltimorean’s new psychedelic tunes live. Trippy, man. (124 S. 11th St., 10 p.m., BunkhouseDowntown.com.)
FRI 10
SAT 11
In late March, Tiësto and Martin Garrix crashed a yacht into David Guetta’s
Rehab kicks off its 12th season with dubstep master Flux Pavilion. Last time he played
Vegas, his hard-hitting bass shook the walls of Brooklyn Bowl. This time the party will happen outside, but we’re playing it safe and bringing earplugs. (At Hard Rock Hotel, 11 a.m., HardRockHotel.com.) Venture to Ghostbar to see Game of Thrones star Kristian Nairn work the ones and twos. On the show, Nairn plays Hodor—the simpleminded servant who refuses to say anything other than his name. We hope he stays in character during his Rave of Thrones set. (In the Palms, 10 p.m., Palms.com.) Have you checked out TRU Afterhours? The newly opened off-Strip club spins a curated mix of deep underground and tech house. Join DJ Bomb Shel for a live broadcast on Pulse 96.7-FM. Who knows? Your voice could end up on the radio. (1700 E. Flamingo Rd.,12 a.m., Pulse967Vegas.com.)
TUE 14 Future house giant Oliver Heldens makes his debut at Omnia, where he’s sure to drop his latest single, “Melody.” The song features melodramatic piano chords and an epic string section. We can’t wait to hear it mixed with his other hits “Gecko (Overdrive)”
and “Last All Night (Koala).” (In Caesars Palace, 10 p.m., OmniaNightclub.com.) Sure, clubs turn up on Tuesday, but so do lounges. Head to Vanguard Lounge for Turnt Up Tuesday when resident DJ Sucio will drop the hottest in trap and hip-hop. We hear it gets a little rowdy at times, but do us a favor and keep the "`bow throwin’" to a minimum. (516 Fremont St., 10 p.m., VanguardLV.com.)
WED 15 Are you one of the lucky few who got to leave Dillon Francis a voicemail? As part of the pranking tradition at Ultra Music Festival, Francis’ frenemy DJ Snake blasted the Moombahton producer’s phone number across multiple LED screens. Fans flled Francis’ inbox within fve minutes and continued to bombard him with text messages hours after. Comfort the Mad Decent artist when he spins at Surrender. (In Encore, 10:30 p.m., SurrenderNightclub.com.)
Kiesza.
How did you get into this field?
I always knew I had a passion and talent for hair. At age 3, I was already styling the hair on my baby dolls, and it wasn’t long after when I started experimenting on my friends … to varying degrees of success. Hairdressers must hear as much gossip as bartenders. What’s the craziest thing a client has ever fessed up to in your chair?
It’s true! Hairdressers are often therapists to our guests, and people’s secrets are whispered in my chair all the time. But I’m just there to listen, not tell. I prefer to keep the trust. What’s the most-requested celebrity hairstyle you’re getting from clients these days?
Lauren Conrad and Kim Kardashian, now that her extensions are gone. People want a more relaxed feel to their hair. How do I club-proof my hairstyle?
It depends on how you wear it, but generally, you need something that holds the style and maintains the texture. Kerastase VIP is a great place to start. It provides an amazing texture foundation that will keep your hair looking fresh all night. Top it with Kerastase Laque Noire—a spray that will stop a bird in fight—and you are ready to work that dance foor all night!
[ THE HOOKUP ]
April 9–15, 2015
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Only Good Hair Days
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Vegas-centric tress tips take you from dayclub to afer-hours By Laurel May Bond
THE RELATIVE HUMIDITY OF THE MOJAVE DESERT might be low, but there’s always the chance for an unexpected Champagne shower to wreak havoc on that ’do. Actually, factor in some smoky casino air and a chlorinated pool, and when you get right down to it, Las Vegas holds the potential for some very bad hair days. We cornered local expert Staci D. Linklater, director at Globe Salon (a Kerastase salon), and got her to share her favorite products, a few words of warning and a couple of tips to guide us to hair glory … and into a wormhole of Invisibobble YouTube styling videos.
I just got blasted with a Champagne shower. Is there anything I can do to quickly salvage my ’do, or is my night over?
Step into the bathroom, pat dry with a clean towel—the server should have rushed one to you—and whip out your Invisibobble, a unique hair tie that will let you quickly restyle into one of 12 easy looks that will keep the party going. Chlorine, sun… dayclubbing is rough on my hair. How can I protect it?
The chlorine and sun exposure will defnitely affect your hair’s color, whether it is natural or colored. Before hitting the pool, apply several pumps
of Kerastase Elixir Oil and comb through your hair. It will create a barrier between it and the chlorine. But if you’re seriously concerned, you probably should wear a hat and stay out of the pool. I just woke up, and I’m not in my own bed. Any tips for walk-of-shame quick fixes?
Again, a quick style with an Invisibobble is the answer. It allows you to do so much more than the shameful ponytail. For a little more help, use Touche Perfection; it will help tone down the bedhead frizzies. Is it true I can use vodka to lighten my hair? What about lemon juice?
Uh, no, vodka will not lighten your hair. Lemon juice, however, will. But if you decide to try it, do so with caution, because it will be very drying to your hair. It is certainly not recommended for anyone who has dark hair. What is this “tortoiseshell” trend all about?
It is a color technique similar to balayage in that no foils are used; it’s all hand painted. We blend the hair using many different tones, from blond to brunette, which gives the hair a naturally multidimensional appearance. I’m a guy, and I want my hair to look good, too. What can I do to make my hair look styled while avoiding the Pauly D look?
It’s all about the right cut, and the right product to style it. You really need to start with a cut from a salon that embraces the gentleman and appreciates his desire to look great. Whether it is the classic, barber-style fade, or something longer, the cut and the product make the look. Is there a temporary way I can jazz up, or “Vegas-ize,” my regular hairstyle for a big night out?
Shampoo it, towel dry, add some products to increase body, blow it out and add curls for glamorous headturning hair. Or, you can always schedule a blowout and let us do the work. But at all costs, avoid the banana clip!
PHOTO BY JON ESTRADA
NIGHTLIFE
Staci Linklater of Globe Salon helps you put your best ’do forward.
NIGHTLIFE
PARTIES
LIFE SLS
[ UPCOMING ]
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See more photos from this gallery at SPYONvegas.com
PHOTOS BY TOBY ACUNA
April 9–15, 2015
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VegasSeven.com
April 10 Rebecca & Fiona spin April 11 R3hab spins April 17 New World Punx spin
Four free bread services worth flling up on By Al Mancini
From top: Carnevino lardo, STK pull-apart bread and Top of the World butter trio.
WHEN I WAS A CHILD, MY
parents admonished me in restaurants not to fll up on bread before our entrées were delivered. Presumably, they didn’t want me to waste half of the food for which they were paying because I’d already satiated my appetite on a giveaway item. Las Vegas, however, has some of the fnest bread services I’ve ever experienced, many of which are as memorable as the restaurant’s entrées. For the sake of this article, I’ll omit the awe-inspiring bread carts of Guy Savoy and Joël Robuchon, because when you’re shelling out $500 to $1,000 on dinner, calling anything “free” seems disingenuous. I’m also not including the folks who charge for bread, because while that may fy overseas, it strikes me as somewhat un-American. But if you want the best freebie loaves, rolls and slices in town, here are my picks.
April 9–15, 2015
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VegasSeven.com
PULL-APART BREAD WITH BLUE CHEESE BUTTER SERVED WITH SWEET CHIVE OIL (STK, in the Cosmo-
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politan, 702-698-7990) Chef Stephen Hopcraft has his bakers arrive at 1 a.m. daily to make the bread for the next evening’s service. It’s a segmented loaf topped with a smattering of blue-cheese butter. The bread pulls apart in your hands and is wonderful. But dipping it into a cup of grape seed oil that’s been infused with blanched chives makes it even better. It’s a sweet, oniony favor that cuts through the sharpness of the cheese. FOCACCINI WITH LARDO
(Carnevino, in the Palazzo, 702-789-4141) There are many of reasons I’m glad I wasn’t raised kosher or halal, but Mario
Batali’s bread service with lardo is close to the top of the list. This beautifully kneaded pork fat, known as the “Butter of Chianti,” brings a saltiness to the crusty bread. Executive chef Nicole Brisson has plenty of history making this spread, having done it by hand while working in Italy. Given the quantity served at Carnevino, they use machines to create it there. But it retains an elegant simplicity that demonstrates just how wonderful simple peasant food can be. POPOVERS (BLT Steak, in Bally’s, 702-967-7258) The oversize popovers that come with your meal at Bally’s steakhouse are light as air, almost defying gravity as they rise from your plate like crusty helium balloons. Peeling them apart has the delightful sensation of digging into a cloud. But the mild bite of Gruyère cheese offers a bit of gravity to ground the dish. If you’re looking for an accompaniment, try the extraordinary char-grilled slabs of bacon. ASSORTED BREADS WITH TRIO OF BUTTERS (Top of
the World, in the Stratosphere, 702-380-7777) The bread selection at the Strat’s rotating restaurant varies. On one recent visit I got nothing but plain rolls, while on another I got a large selection of house-made delicacies. I’m fne either way, as long as I get all three whipped butters. In addition to a plain unsalted version, the butter comes in a pesto variety as well as an orange-ginger. The former has a bright fresh kick to it, while the other is reminiscent of marmalade. If I had to pick a favorite, I’d go with the orange-ginger. Fortunately, you don’t need to make that choice.
PHOTO BY JON ESTRADA
DINING
Rolling in Dough
A&E
Web writer-director Jonathan Robbins and The Guild, an early Web series that inspired him.
FIVE WEB TV AWARDS NOMINEES TO WATCH THE NEW ADVENTURES OF PETER AND WENDY Nominated for: Best Female Performance in a Comedy, Best Production Design. The guy who won’t grow up is now a comic book artist living in Neverland, Ohio. He secretly hopes to win the heart of his best friend, Wendy Darling. But to do so, he’ll need his friends, his fairy Tinkerbell and a dose of maturity. NewPeterWendy.com.
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The crew behind Honest Trailers is nominated for Best Comedy and Best Writing (Comedy) at the International Academy of Web Television Awards— essentially the Emmys of episodic Web videos. The awards have been held in Las Vegas since their inception in 2012. This year’s ceremony is April 15 at the Westgate. (You can purchase tickets to attend in person, or—appropriately so—stream the show online.) And while this isn’t the Emmys, it might rival those awards one day. Broadcast television has been around for eight decades. But most Web television was born less than 10 years ago. Its past is short, and its future is wide open. Is Web TV playing in the minor leagues, batting for broadcast dreams? Or is it creating a new World Series? Right now we’re still fguring out how to keep score. Certainly, the Internet allows more creative freedom than television. (And no, we’re not talking about porn.) Throughout the decades, television has developed rigid standards and conventions. Because the system is built on advertising, most networks need content that minimizes risk and maximizes ratings. Every network has to accommodate commercial breaks. Every episode of a sitcom clocks in around 22 minutes. The Web is more free fowing. Jonathan Robbins, head of this year’s awards committee, used to act in commercials and flm. He got involved with Web series when the Writers Guild of America strike started in 2007. “Television was getting stale,” he says. “Taking the lead on a [Web] project meant that I could be creative
24/7.” He began writing and directing Web series such as Out With Dad, about a teen lesbian coming out to her single father. Robbins describes the series as “too niche” for mainstream audiences. Whether or not that’s true, Web shows are able to appeal to a narrow audience. (By defnition, broadcast TV is meant for the masses.) One example of such niche success is The Guild (TheGuild.com), an early Web comedy about online gamers. The series, which released new episodes from 2007-2012, is dense with humor directed toward fellow lovers of Internet fantasy. (“Even when his uncle died, he found Wi-Fi at the funeral home.”) Its frst season was funded by fans through PayPal. Seasons 2-5 were sponsored by Xbox while the show was still independently owned, no network required. That’s the thing about Web television: There’s little barrier to entry. You don’t need the thick wallet of a network. You could be Jared Posts a Personal, one of this year’s Best Micro-Budget nominees. And you don’t have to wait until pilot season to pitch executives on your Next Big Thing. You can upload it as soon as you create it. The fip side is that so can anyone else. A network acts like a funnel, sifting through content and pushing the "best" of it to viewers. But the Web is vast, and an audience is not guaranteed. This year, the Web award shows will gain a new audience as it moves from CES to the National Association of Broadcasters Show. They’re leaving the tech-driven gadget-palooza to rub elbows with the old-timers: broadcast TV and radio. It’s kind of like being invited to sit with the seniors when
WHATEVER, LINDA
you’re a freshman … except that you’re all part of the chess club (a tradeshow in Las Vegas) and you still get shunned by the football team (Hollywood). Web television is still struggling for legitimacy. Two of the most popular online-only series—Netfix’s Orange Is the New Black and House of Cards—aren’t nominees because their producers didn’t submit for Web awards. Robbins believes that these producers would rather associate with traditional television. “Perhaps [they think that] if they won an award as a Web series, their chances at something like an Emmy might be hurt,” he says. Indeed, both of those series have been nominated for—or won—a lot of Emmys. You can’t blame Netfix’s producers for wanting major league validation. It’s likely that many Web television creators pine for it, too. As long as there’s been television, those gold statuettes have been the highest honors. (Even the Daytime and Creative Arts Emmys elicit disapproving side eye from Emmy winners.) Will the Television Academy one day absorb these Web TV awards? Will Web and broadcast shows meld into a more similar product? Or will there always be a divide? Time will tell. For now, Web television is just being brave in an old world.
INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF WEB TELEVISION AWARDS
8 p.m. April 15 at the Westgate, $30-50. Stream it at IAWTV.org.
Nominated for: Best Dramatic Series, Best Directing (Drama). Linda Thoroughbred is a divorcee working her way through Wall Street in the late ’70s. The series maps her rise from file keeper to full-on, boss lady Ponzi schemer. WhateverLinda.com. THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF HORROR Nominated For: Best Ensemble Performance (Comedy), Best Makeup, Best Comedy, Best Directing (Comedy). “My husband Deathwish is one of the greatest slashers of all time,” brags the peppy blond Heather in the pilot. “The constant fear of death really keeps the marriage spicy.” Nerdist.com/ Real-Housewives-Of-Horror. KIDS REACT Nominated for: Best Children’s Series, Best Variety Series, Best Directing/Best Writing (Non-Fiction). What happens when modern youths meet VCRs? ’80s toys? Film cameras? They freak out. Each episode is peppered with historical facts, so we all learn something! Youtube.com/user/React. LARRY KING NOW Nominated for: Best PreRecorded Host Series, Best Pre-Recorded Host. The broadcast legend’s Web show packs just as much old-guy charm as his former CNN show. Watching him make sense of youngsters such as DJ Khaled and Tyler, The Creator is quite literally … priceless. Ora.TV/ LarryKingNow. – C.C.
ROBBINS BY CHRIS FRAMPTON
April 9–15, 2015
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“IS WEB TV PLAYING IN THE MINOR LEAGUES OR CREATING A NEW WORLD SERIES?”
MUSIC
St. Paul and the Broken Bones is part of the new old school.
[ OLD LADY IN A MOSH PIT ]
THE RETURN OF SOMETHING REAL In a time of corporate pop, soul might be making a comeback
THERE ARE SOME THINGS ONE KEEPS HOPING
for, be it world peace or true love, rocket-powered skates or calorie-free bacon. Me, I’ve given up on all that, but I do still wish for factory-style EDM and corporate pop pap to be replaced with something more raw, more real, more human, more … soul. Recently, it’s seemed like we could return to the classic sound of unaltered vocals, unsampled riffs and maybe a few horns. Bruno Mars, Sam Smith and Adele have gone platinum with a big-budget, radio-friendly version of soul, but a number of acts have been taking a smaller-scale, more old-school approach to the sound. St. Paul and the Broken Bones and Vintage Trouble were throwback acts that made good in 2014. At last year’s Life Is Beautiful festival, both tore through sets that left their throats and fngers raw and their suits sweatsoaked. St. Paul and the Broken Bones come out of Alabama, with a gospelinfuenced sound. Lead singer Paul Janeway looks more like the accountant he almost was than a classic soul man, but it takes serious skills to cover Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness” and end it with the trademark James Brown fall-to-the-ground-andget-back-up without looking foolish. L.A.’s Vintage Trouble have an upbeat, dance-party take on soul: It’s no surprise that they quickly sold out a number of gigs on their current U.K. tour, because it’s the kind of music that the mods go mad for. And not just the mods—just as Vintage Trouble opened their set at Life Is Beautiful, several of the go-go dancers and DJs of the EDM outft Basstronauts came tearing up to the edge of the
stage, bopping furiously, apparently thrilled to dance to real instruments. This year, two more acts exploring the soul style have inspired buzz. Within the last two months, Oakland’s Fantastic Negrito won NPR’s Tiny Desk concert competition and played an enthusiastically received set at South by Southwest. Frontman Xavier Dphrepaulezz has a sound that evokes Marvin Gaye and Tom Waits, as well as the sort of backstory that might endow a man with a certain depth of feeling. He was born to an orthodox Muslim family, had a near-miss with rock stardom in the ’90s, was left in a coma after a car accident, settled down with kids on a farm and only returned to music a few years ago. Leon Bridges has been compared to R&B musicians of the ’50s and ’60s for his elegantly liquid vocals, vintage instruments and Mad Men-era wardrobe. The Fort Worth, Texas, musician began making hip-hop tracks but, when he wrote a song about his mother, a friend said he sounded like Sam Cooke and Bridges found his musical muse. After two of his demos got more than a half-million views on SoundCloud, he was signed by Columbia Records, who will release his debut album this summer. Bridges made his television debut on The Late, Late Show with James Corden in March. Perhaps this trend will take us back to a world of hands on guitar strings rather than a fnger pressing “play,” with frontmen who get on the dance foor and improvise instead of just turning on a pre-programmed set and striking the Jesus pose behind the decks. I’ll keep crossing my fngers and hoping for some soul.
PHOTO BY DAVID MCCLISTER
By Lissa Townsend Rodgers
MOVIES
A&E
MEAN MILLENNIALS
Stiller and Watts play a married couple in a new kind of midlife crisis.
Noah Baumbach’s latest is a funny, angsty battle between youth and middle age By Michael Phillips Tribune Media Services
THE VANTAGE POINT OF MIDDLE AGE IS
delightfully cruel, affording a clear view of the generation of hotshots coming up on the rail from behind and the generation of long-distance thoroughbreds fve lengths ahead. The opportunities for angst are limitless. This is the comic perspective—justifable paranoia, creative class division— providing the material for writerdirector Noah Baumbach’s zesty tale of two marriages, While We’re Young, the flmmaker’s ffth worthwhile (or better) comedy in a row. While We’re Young may be the most conventional of Baumbach’s successes, as well the frst one with a distinct and somewhat defating drop-off point near the end. Yet Baumbach belongs in a select group of invaluable American directors. Like his previous flm, Frances Ha, While We’re Young has a warmer tone than the movies that got him noticed. Following Kicking and Screaming, Baumbach got down to business with The Squid and the Whale, a painfully amusing fctionalization of his own divorceaddled teen years. Then came two inspired comedies, Margot at the Wedding and Greenberg. They’re his bravest so far. While We’re Young is more easygoing, yet the recriminations and resentments are everywhere. Ben Stiller plays Josh
Srebnick, a documentary flmmaker who’s been tinkering with his latest grandiose indictment of the human condition for a decade. He’s married to Cornelia (Naomi Watts). The relationship is clouded by past miscarriages and Josh’s insular, competitive nature. Then they meet Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried), two decades their junior. They are Brooklyn bohemia incarnate. Jamie is an aspiring flmmaker, Darby makes fancy ice cream and their lives are morphing testaments to doing whatever comes naturally. Their retro-chic traits include watching VHS versions of The Howling and tending to their loft-dwelling chickens. Ingratiating himself with Josh, whom he soon nicknames “Yosh” and “Joshie,” Jamie becomes his friend, protégé, hipster-hat adviser and, eventually, collaborator on Josh’s freewheeling documentary project. “They’re so respectful of us!” Josh says to a skeptical Cornelia early on. The friendship isn’t quite what it seems. As we learn the true nature of Jamie, Baumbach indulges himself in a little too much “You kids get offa my lawn!” fnger-wagging. The movie opens with a passage from Ibsen’s The Master Builder, in which an aging architect threatened by the younger set, wonders
how much to trust the upstarts. While We’re Young becomes a stimulatingly two-faced experience, with Josh learning to let go and open up and collaborate, while also learning that getting a hipster replacement doesn’t help in the long run. For better or worse, the movie contends, in the end, that you really can’t trust these kids today. Driver may be too right for the role of Jamie; chalk it up to overexposure, or certain limitations as an actor, but he tips his hand too early, regarding the character’s ulterior motives. All the same, he’s a swell scene partner for Stiller, Watts and Seyfried, who transcend familiar New York stereotypes. Maria Dizzia (a terrifc talent, lately seen on Orange Is the New Black) and Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz are wonderful as Josh and Cornelia’s friends, new parents whose lives have been upended.
SHORT REVIEWS
April 9–15, 2015
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VegasSeven.com
Furious 7 (PG-13) ★★★✩✩
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Avenging his brother’s death as depicted in the previous Furious, Jason Statham’s character is a Special Ops assassin out for blood. Kurt Russell joins the ensemble as a Mr. Big man who assembles the street racers (Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson and Chris “Ludacris” Bridges) for the heist of the surveillance device known as “God’s Eye.” Walker died in a car accident in late 2013, mid-filming. His scenes were completed using doubles And the undertow of the farewell, of friends parting, can be felt throughout the film.
Woman in Gold (PG-13) ★★✩✩✩
Helen Mirren is the best reason to see this disappointingly shallow chronicle of Maria Altmann, the Jewish World War II exile who waged a lengthy legal battle to regain rightful ownership of Gustav Klimt’s “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I,” along with other Klimt paintings. Seized by the Nazis, along with the wealthy Altmann family’s other effects, the painting ended up in Vienna’s Belvedere Palace gallery on display after the war, according to the portrait subject’s wishes. But was the Klimt really the subject’s to bequeath?
The Salt of the Earth (PG-13) ★★★✩✩
This compelling new documentary about photographer Sebastiao Salgado is a moving account of one man’s global exploration, and how ecological awareness and a desire to go home again repaired his soul after seeing and processing so much inhumanity. Codirectors Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado (the photographer’s son) linger on certain canvases of catastrophe or human suffering while darting off others. Is what we see grief porn or an epic, career-long study in the best and worst we can find on Earth?
It’s not a long picture (97 minutes), though Baumbach struggles to wrap up the plot and get Josh and Cornelia to a better place. Along the way, there are some rich moments within scenes. Josh, dealing with middle-age, goes to the doctor and fnds out he has arthritis. “You mean arthritis arthritis?” he asks. Reply: “Yes. I usually just say it once.” As Cornelia’s revered documentary flmmaker father, a crusty truthteller in the Frederick Wiseman mold, Charles Grodin provides a master class in minimalism. The frst scene between Josh and his father-in-law tells us all about Josh’s envy and insecurity. You don’t know whether to laugh, wince or cry, and even in this witty breeze of a flm, the needles stick. While We’re Young (R) ★★★✩✩
By Tribune Media Services
Home (PG) ★★★✩✩
Jim Parsons of The Big Bang Theory voices Oh, the sweet misfit alien who belongs to the Boov race distinguished by squiggly little legs and fealty to idiot ruler Captain Smek (Steve Martin). The Boovs are wimps, perpetually relocating around the universe to avoid being attacked by the Gorgs. It’s not easy being the teenage girl named Tip (voice by Rihanna) when your mother (Jennifer Lopez) is alien-abducted and relocated. Home brings Tip and Oh together; they become friends and hit the road to find Tip’s mom.
A Girl Like Her (PG) ★★★★✩
Serena (R) ★★✩✩✩
Get Hard (R) ★✩✩✩✩
Insurgent (PG-13) ★★★✩✩
The Hunting Ground (PG-13) ★★★✩✩
Seymour: An Introduction (PG) ★★★★✩
The mockumentary style is often used for either horror or comedic purposes. But director/writer Amy S. Weber has something else in mind for the format in the gripping A Girl Like Her. The conceit is that high school sophomore Jessica Burns (Lexi Ainsworth) is coaxed by fellow student and videographer Brian (Jimmy Bennett) to wear a spy camera to chronicle the harassment she suffers at the hands of the campus’ main mean girl (Hunter King). Ainsworth and King are excellent, anchoring what could have been a gimmick in a grim reality.
Hobbled by a nervous, insecure editing rhythm and a total lack of slapstick finesse, Get Hard does the people onscreen no favors. Will Ferrell plays James King, a stuffy hedge-fund wizard with a duplicitous gold digger fiancée (Alison Brie) and a lifetime of unexamined prejudices. Framed and arrested for fraud and embezzlement, King hires car wash manager Darnell (Kevin Hart), whom he mistakes for a hardened ex-con, to school him in prison survival and sexual assault prevention in a 30-day runup to San Quentin.
This documentary covers a lot of ground, not always carefully. The stories about rape survivors Andrea Pino and Annie Clark, former university students, break your heart. The on-camera subjects are dangerously light on official collegiate voices. The tension sometimes feels rigged, and the ominous scare music does not help. But Pino and Clark, and so many others, exhibit true heroism. The system didn’t do right by them, and this film takes heart from their efforts to show why it needs fixing so badly.
Bradley Cooper plays a Depression-era timber baron racing to clear-cut the mountains before the feds it into the Smoky Mountains National Park. His loyal aide (David Dencik) may forgive; his mysterious, superstitious hunting guide (Rhys Ifans, creepy) may understand. Then Serena (Jennifer Lawrence) a Westerner who grew up in timber wealth, crosses his field of view. Cooper and Lawrence get to do things on horseback, swing an ax and play intimate scenes that they’ve never had the chance to show off onscreen. They don’t create much heat.
In the second of four planned movies from the hugely popular Veronica Roth trilogy, we’ve landed once again in the miserable future and a world where everyone’s divided into rigid subsocieties. Kate Winslet returns as the icy authority figure crucial to every dystopian young adult story. Martial law rules, and the characters played by Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ansel Elgort (The Fault in Our Stars) and Miles Teller (Whiplash) are on the run, wondering how to start the revolution as effectively as possible. The actors are saving this franchise’s bacon.
This first documentary directed by Ethan Hawke grants full expression to great classical pianist Seymour Bernstein’s wise and witty commentary on his craft. Seymour is a paean to understatement—a concept made literal when Bernstein carefully tests one Steinway after another, searching for the most delicate sound possible. In his calm defense of beauty, craftsmanship, curiosity and emotional connection as vital human needs, this is one artist who knows he doesn’t have to raise his voice to speak volumes.
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SEVEN QUESTIONS
Do you typically enjoy travel or dread it as part and parcel of the profession?
I am fying from O’Hare to LaGuardia as I write this and the woman in the seat ahead has not leaned it back, which would crush my kneecaps and render me a helpless cripple for life. I’m grateful for that and for TSA pre-check and for reasonable hotel rooms with desks and adjustable chairs and accessible power outlets and beds with kindly mattresses. I dread dinners in loud restaurants and learning that an upstairs showerhead has been leaking and mold is growing in an interior wall which needs to be replaced. I travel in order to avoid dread. What can we expect from your show here?
I’ll talk about resurrection; the prostate; the goodness of life; my teen crush Julie Christensen; how my cousin Roger’s drowning lit my interest in radio; how I started A Prairie Home Companion and dumb things I did that almost killed it; cheerfulness as a guiding principle; my uncle Jack and aunt Evelyn; and the 24 Lutheran pastors on the 22-foot pontoon boat. And at the end we’ll all sing The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Do you lament the attention span of today’s audiences?
The host of A Prairie Home Companion on the annoyances of travel, the art of storytelling and why his voice resonates across generations By Paul Szydelko
April 9–15, 2015
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Garrison Keillor
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FOR MORE THAN 40 YEARS, GARRISON KEILLOR has regaled audiences in public radio with A Prairie Home Companion, featuring news from Lake Wobegon, the fctional town where “all the women are strong, all the men are good looking and all the children are above average.” The humorist, author of more than two dozen books, hosts The Writer’s Almanac and owns an independent bookstore in St. Paul, Minnesota. In advance of his appearance at The Smith Center, Keillor participated in an email exchange with Vegas Seven.
I do a two-hour solo stand-up show with no intermission, so the audience’s attention span is my business, not theirs—my responsibility entirely. People naturally fag a little around the 90-minute mark, but you simply have to work harder and toss in some racy elements to pick up the slack. So I toss in a few dirty limericks, a sonnet (very elegant) about cunnilingus or a poem about urination, something to get old men’s minds off their bladders. I don’t lament anything. I did that when I was in my 20s. I’m over it. Have you embraced the latest technology to tell stories?
What are we talking about— Algorithms? Transmedia? Podcast immersion? The use of deep-dive laser sensorization to beam linear narrative directly into the brainpan? I don’t. Those are all effective means of storytelling but also very transitory, with a half-life of 3 ½ minutes, and what endures, sometimes for decades, is frst-hand experience, which means me looking you in the eyes and telling you a
AN EVENING WITH GARRISON KEILLOR
7:30 p.m. April 16, The Smith Center, $29$99, TheSmithCenter.com
story, perhaps with my hand on your knee for emphasis. You don’t forget that. And why should I be forgettable? What are you working on now?
A Lake Wobegon screenplay about a man who comes home for his father’s funeral and falls in love with his exgirlfriend. A novel about a stand-up comedian. A 25-city tour in August. Also working on battling old age, trying to walk briskly for 30 minutes every day and give up desserts and carbs. Do you have a guilty pleasure that would surprise us?
The pleasure of seeing books by lousy, pretentious authors remaindered for $1.95 on tables on the sidewalk in front of Barnes & Noble and nobody even bothering to shoplift them. Looking back, what aspect of your career has given you the most artistic satisfaction?
I’m a writer frst, and what gives satisfaction is editing oneself at leisure, reworking a draft, cutting and pasting, rewriting, then putting it aside to be edited some more. I would be quite content not to have published any of the books I’ve published, to still be working on them, every one. I’d live in a big house with one room for each book, and every day I’d roam from room to room, barefoot, in jeans and a T-shirt, a sharpened No. 2 pencil in one hand, a cup of coffee in the other. Happiness. What’s the most memorable description of your voice you’ve heard?
A boy wrote to me saying that he listened to the show sitting in the back of the family station wagon as they drove on Sunday back to New York from their weekend house in the Berkshires and he looked forward to my monologue because when I said, “It’s been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon,” his parents stopped arguing. Why is Keillor in love with Sarah Silverman? Read the full interview at VegasSeven.com/Garrison Keillor.