JUST ANNOUNCED SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21
ALESSIA CARA
BAD RELIGION
UP NEXT FRIDAY, JULY 22 NEON COWBOY COUNTRY CONCERT SERIES
JOE NICHOLS
UPCOMING SHOWS
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4
ROGER CLYNE
AND THE PEACEMAKERS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16
BOYCE AVENUE
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18
LUKAS GRAHAM
CONTENTS
JULY 14-20, 2016
A dark story in a city of bright lights, actress Dana Plato in 1992.
T H E LAT EST
12
“Water Parks Offer Summer Relief”
14
“Just the Right Amount of Care”
16
“A Hecht of a Race”
The heat is relentless. Here’s where to cool off. By HUBBLE RAY SMITH WestCare offers hope to those who need it most. By AMBER SAMPSON Hardy is reminiscent of another underestimated Republican. Politics by MICHAEL GREEN
Plus … Storm was reminder of vulnerability of homeless, Style, Seven Days, Ask a Native and The Deal.
NIGH T LIF E
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“Teen Dream” Florida’s Landis LaPace can’t legally go into a nightclub, yet he can still rock the decks. By KAT BOEHRER Plus … Seven Nights and photos from the week’s hottest parties.
DINING
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“Mixx & Match” Bryan Ogden’s new Boca Park spot presents a mélange of experiences, cuisines and price points. By AL MANCINI
Plus … Dish & Tell, toast that goes beyond just avocado and our 2016 Bar Hall of Fame inductees.
A &E
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“We Were So Money, Once” Revisiting Swingers and the Cocktail Nation, 20 years on.
“Mischief Meeting, Managed” Leviosa Con proves that Las Vegas is both muggle- and wizard-friendly. Fandom by DAVID G. SCHWARTZ
FE AT URE
SEVEN Q U EST IONS
66
“L.V. Confidential”
Gangsters, gamblers and child stars: Sin City’s most notorious crimes. Cover design by Ryan Olbrysh.
VegasSeven.com
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20
Plus … Seven’s 14, big band with seashell, a lazy day in the world of The Was and why Geoff Carter is swearing off the cult of Apple.
UNLV biological anthropology professor Debra Martin on helping the coroner’s office, Bones and studying ancient violence.
July 14–20, 2016
ARCHIVAL PHOTO FROM AL AMY LTD.
By GREGORY CROSBY
9
L AS VEGAS’ WEEKLY CITY MAGAZINE
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FOUNDED FEBRUARY 2010
PUBLISHER Michael Skenandore
EDITORIAL Nicole Ely Genevie Durano DEPUTY EDITOR Paul Szydelko SENIOR EDITOR, DINING, BEVERAGE & NIGHTLIFE , Xania Woodman SENIOR EDITOR, A&E Geoff Carter ASSOCIATE EDITOR Hubble Ray Smith SENIOR WRITER Lissa Townsend Rodgers STAFF WRITER Emmily Bristol CALENDAR COORDINATOR Ian Caramanzana EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
MANAGING EDITOR
SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Melinda Sheckells (style)
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Michael Green (politics), Al Mancini (dining), David G. Schwartz (gaming/hospitality)
ART Ryan Olbrysh Cierra Pedro STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Krystal Ramirez CREATIVE DIRECTOR SENIOR DESIGNER
VEGASSEVEN.COM Herbert Akinyele Zoneil Maharaj SENIOR WRITER, RUNREBS.COM Mike Grimala WEB PRODUCER Jessie O’Brien ASSISTANT WEB PRODUCER Amber Sampson TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
ENGAGEMENT EDITOR
PRODUCTION/DISTRIBUTION Marc Barrington Jimmy Bearse
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION/DISTRIBUTION ADVERTISING MANAGER
SALES Christy Corda Nicole Scherer ACCOUNT MANAGERS Brittany Quintana, Steven Kennedy ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Robyn Weiss DIRECTOR OF SALES, BILLBOARD DIVISION John Tobin BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR DIGITAL SALES MANAGER
INTERNS Jasmina Salas, Ally Tatosian
Ryan T. Doherty
| Justin Weniger
Michael Skenandore VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING AND EVENTS Keith White CREATIVE DIRECTOR Sherwin Yumul CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Sim Salzman CONTROLLER Jane Weigel PRESIDENT
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PUBLISHED IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE OBSERVER MEDIA GROUP Vegas Seven, 702-798-7000, 302 E. Carson Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89101 Vegas Seven is distributed each Thursday throughout Southern Nevada c 2016 Vegas Seven, LLC. Reproduction in whole or in part without the permission of Vegas Seven, LLC is prohibited.
Flood Damage
Homeless population vulnerable during storm
J A M E S P. R E Z A
By Emmily Bristol
and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas (Huntington Press, 2007) and whose group called Shine a Light works to help homeless people in the Valley, took to Facebook immediately after the storms to share the stories of people hurt and killed during the flood. On July 1 he wrote, “The coroner hasn’t spoken, but the streets have. RIP, Sharon.” He has since given regular updates about the people who live in the tunnels and knew those who died during the storm, sharing that Shine a Light has provided lodging and help with final expenses for at least one victim’s family. Clark County coroner John Fudenberg confirmed that
“was it murder/was it an accident” nature of the “crime” is explored through different versions of the same incident, often with groovy split-screen effects. The 2006 program also features an interview with onetime suspect Sandy Murphy, who can only be described as aggressively demure. Another high-profile case was that of bodybuilding couple Craig Ryan and Kelly Titus, who murdered their friend Melissa James in 2005. Snapped, long the gold standard of cable true crime shows, did the sordid only-in-Vegas tale in a 2011 episode with plenty of tale-telling talking heads and a nonstop melodramatic soundtrack worthy of a Tom Cruise movie. If there’s anything we can learn from this story, it’s that from Walmart to gas station to traffic light, the surveillance cameras will doom you. “Black widow” Margaret Rudin murdered her husband, local real estate mogul Ron Rudin, in 1994, but that was just the beginning of a long, convoluted saga. Rudin went on the run for 2½ years, starred in a sensational trial replete with attorneys, secret recordings, younger lovers and headless corpses. Not what you’d expect from a demure grandmother who ran an antiques shop. In a 2002 American Justice retelling, Bill Kurtis’ bombastic narration does justice to “a cunning and savvy woman with a long list of ex-husbands and a knack for espionage.” –Lissa Townsend Rodgers
PITTMAN WASH BY JULIE VAZQUEZ/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
The Ted Binion case on True Crime Scene.
[ FOUND MATERIAL ]
TRUE CRIME CITY
➜ The city of Las Vegas and its denizens have been a boon
for true crime television. Whether it’s kidnapping a casino mogul’s daughter or famous rappers going down in a hail of bullets, a professional poker player getting stabbed by his wife or a reality TV bro marrying and murdering a Playboy model—it happens here, but it doesn’t stay here. The 1998 death of casino heir Ted Binion has been recounted by several television shows, but National Geographic’s True Crime Scene has the most of what we watch true crime shows for: cheesy re-enactments. The
there were three deaths during the flood, but could not release information about whether or not all three people were homeless because next of kin had not been found for one person. He added that this flooding event was particularly deadly. “This is the most [homeless deaths] we’ve ever had from one flood,” Fudenberg said. According to the annual Clark County Homeless Census, the number of people living on the streets has dropped by 17 percent since last year. The number of homeless people counted during the census, taken earlier this year, was 6,208. An estimated 2,477 of those live in shelters.
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Pittman Wash during the recent storm.
Last week, I mentioned David’s Place, a restaurant near Rancho Drive and Charleston Boulevard that suffered a destructive bombing in 1976—reportedly the strong-arm result of a culinary union dispute. Reader @steverhames tweeted to ask if David’s Place wasn’t actually at the current site of Davis Funeral Home, just two parcels west from the empty land I indicated. Digging into the details of the location, I found Steve was correct. David’s Place was at 2127 W. Charleston Boulevard. Clark County records show the parcel as initially owned by Lee & S M Fong, then sold to Frank Sala in May 1974. Sala, a former president of the Las Vegas Board of Realtors, and the one who brokered the sale of the Thunderbird Hotel to Howard Hughes, flipped the property a year later to David and Bonnie Silverman. Thus, David’s Place was born. Its socialite success was short-lived, however. According to a Las Vegas ReviewJournal article, “On the morning of Jan. 12, 1976, a bomb blew up David’s Place, a nonunion gourmet restaurant ...” It was one of a series of bombings (or attempted bombings) at nonunion eateries, including the Alpine Village Inn, the Village Pub and the Starboard Tack. The latter two devices failed to ignite, which, according to testimony, ultimately led to the desert execution of union leader Al Bramlet, who had refused to pay for the duds. David’s Place owner Silverman held on to the Charleston Boulevard property until December 1980, almost a year after losing a Nevada Supreme Court appeal (case #11929) of the insurance settlement appraisal. The property went to Ajax Inc. in December 1980, then in December 1981 it was sold to Gary and Heather Davis, of Davis Funeral Home. While Davis Funeral Home Inc. still shows as owner of the property, a new operator, Affordable Cremation, remodeled the buildings in September and has taken over the business. If you are a history geek like me, uncovering all these streams and eddies is incredibly rewarding. But even if you aren’t, the information offers Las Vegans a sense of place in a city that for so long suffered the tiresome accusation of having none. It’s there; you just have to go looking for it, and for that reason, I appreciate all those readers who send me on missions like this one. Keep them coming! Have a question about Las Vegas, past, present or future? Send it to askanative@vegasseven.com.
July 14–20, 2016
an hour and rain beating down, the Valley was momentarily stopped and stupefied by an intense, fast-moving thunderstorm on June 30. But as residents and tourists took to social media to post pictures of lightning and backyards thick with hail, at least three people lost the fight in torrential floodwaters. Considering that Las Vegas gets an average of just 4 inches of rain a year, the 1.18 inches of rain that fell in 30 minutes on June 30 was, as Erin Neff of the Regional Flood Control District called it, “impressive.” Rushing water levels rose from zero to 3 feet in the Duck Creek wash at Sunset Road within eight minutes. “We’ve been trying to reiterate how dangerous washes are during flood events,” Neff said. The Clark County Fire Department rescued eight people, three dogs and a cat during the storm, but some did not make it. Six of the eight people rescued were homeless, Neff said. Matthew O’Brien, who wrote the book Beneath the Neon: Life
VegasSeven.com
Digging Into David’s Place
➜ In winds gusting to 66 miles
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Just the Right Amount of Care WestCare offers hope to those who need it most By Amber Sampson
➜ WESTCARE, A COLLECTIVE OF nonprofit health and human service organizations, opened its second community triage center Downtown in December (323 N. Maryland Pkwy.). Since its inception more than 40 years ago, WestCare has been a lighthouse for those suffering from alcohol and drug addiction or mental disorders. “The whole idea behind a triage is [it’s a place where the] community can find safety, sanctuary and a full continuum of [services] to meet their needs,” says Bob Vickrey, director of the triage center. For the men and women struggling with addiction, WestCare’s triage center offers a lifeline. It keeps its doors open and its lights on 24/7 for those in need of drug or alcohol detoxification. While many of the clients Vickrey sees are walkins, some are brought in by first responders such as Las Vegas Metro and Fire and Rescue. “We actually have a separate contract with Metro under Civil Protective Custody [in which] officers can lawfully offer a person who is inebriated on the street, or anywhere for that matter, the choice to come to WestCare detox or face charges of public drunkenness and go to jail,” he explains. This is similar to the dilemma Vickrey found himself in when he was younger and addicted to heroin. “I couldn’t do anything but look for the next balloon of heroin. And that took me to places I couldn’t imagine,” he says. “WestCare reached out to me [when] I was in a jail cell.” Through the facility’s intervention, the director says he “became the person that could suit up and show up for life.” Upon arriving at WestCare, patients are stabilized and assessed by a fulltime medical staff and prescribed necessary medications for withdrawal management by a psychiatrist. After that, they’re encouraged to relax. “Keeping in mind that a lot of our clients are coming from the 89101 ZIP code, they’ve been out there. They’ve had a hard go of it. … So their first 14 to 16 hours, we really want them to rest,” Vickrey says. Patients recuperate in rooms encased in glass, providing a 360-degree view of the area for 24-hour monitoring. The triage facility’s Maryland Parkway location has 51 beds and provides medical detox services, while the one on Fourth Street has 49 beds and offers what is known as “social model detox,” which Vickrey says is for people who just need a bed to sleep off alcohol
Bob Vickrey, director of WestCare’s triage center.
intoxication. Fourth Street’s location doubles as a “step down” for the center when patients complete medical detox, but need a few extra days to see a case manager and find a safe and suitable place to go. The goal is to have medication protocols completed within 48 hours so a discharge plan can be implemented. “Once the client is stabilized, almost immediately we have that [case manager] in the room … [asking], ‘Where are you going to go next? What’s your next step? How can we provide some wrap-around services that’ll help you with where you are right now?’” Vickrey explains. It’s easy for many of WestCare’s case managers to build that rapport with clients because most went through some vein of the program themselves. Case manager Jantz Luna is one such example. His struggle with methamphetamines began after he lost his job during the recession. Luna says with so much time on his hands, searching for a new job, he fell in with the
wrong people and started to use. “When I finally got to that point where I knew I needed professional help, there [weren’t] that many options available because I didn’t have health insurance,” he says. “WestCare was one of those few facilities, and the only one that I still know of, that will take anybody whether they have insurance or not to get them detoxed.” Upon hitting the two-year mark of his sobriety, Luna applied as a behavioral health tech for WestCare. He was later promoted to case manager, where he now helps patients figure out the next step, whether that’s connecting a homeless individual with in-patient and residential treatment programs or helping a recovering mother rebuild a bond with her kids through WestCare’s partner, Healthy Families. Luna makes sure to follow up with patients, too, after they are discharged. In treatment, WestCare takes patients’ well-being just as seriously. Two glassed-off rooms separate the facility’s main doors from the lobby
area. This is where walk-ins wait to be brought in by staff. For safety purposes, Vickrey advises against bringing anything into the facility for patients. Vickrey says sometimes they keep female patients who’ve been domestically abused longer than a few days. “We don’t want to send the person back out there for a chance encounter with the person who’s violating them in that way,” he explains. WestCare works with numerous organizations such as Safe Nest to intervene in such circumstances. Vickrey sees some of the same patients return for the same reasons. But sometimes they return just to express their gratitude. The director recalls a former patient who visited the facility with 90 days of sobriety under her belt. Well into her 12-step program, the woman was asked by her sponsor to return to the rehab center to show her appreciation. “She brought flowers and a card,” Vickrey says. “We put it up in the front. The card said, ‘Thank you for saving my life.’”
PHOTO BY CIERRA PEDRO
THE LATEST VegasSeven.com
| July 14–20, 2016
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ABOUT TOWN
L.V. CONFIDENTIAL Bugsy Siegel.
Gangsters, gamblers and child stars: Sin City’s most notorious crimes
Dana Plato’s tragic life is a story for the ages
July 14–20, 2016
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VegasSeven.com
By L I S S A T O W N S E N D RODGERS
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➜ like so many who come to las Vegas, she was hoping to change her luck. Dana Plato’s life had already been a series of spins of the wheel, the terrible and the wonderful happening in rapid succession. Families, fortunes, fame—all won, all lost. And the roll she was on in 1991 was perhaps the worst yet. Her mother dead, husband and child gone, her days hazed with liquor and pills, all of it culminating in a robbery of such ineptness it would’ve made a great Punk’D sketch. Dana held up a video store with a pellet gun and the clerk called 911, declaring, “I’ve just been robbed by the girl who played Kimberly on Diff’rent Strokes.” Her crime was simultaneously banal and bizarre: Petty stickups happen every day, but how often is the perp a notorious ex-child star? Plato’s first unlucky roll came the day she was born. Her teenage mother already had one child and, unable to handle a second, she put Dana up for adoption. Fortunately, the cherubic little girl was quickly taken in by Florine and Dean Plato, a middle-class couple living in the San Fernando Valley. The happy family unit held together until Dana was 3, when her parents divorced. Mom got custody and Dad drifted away—until his return years later to sue his daughter for financial support. Florine dedicated herself to her daughter … and her daughter’s blossoming acting career. With her golden hair, wide smile and smattering of freckles, Dana was the perfect allAmerican girl to sell Kentucky Fried Chicken or Wrigley’s gum or Dole bananas or more than 100 other products. Of course, eating 82 bananas in the course of numerous takes could make a little girl sick but, well, that’s showbiz. The big break came when Dana auditioned for that paragon of ’70s schlock, The Gong Show. She didn’t get the part, but a casting director felt the teen was just right for a new sitcom about a wealthy white widower who adopts his black housekeeper’s two sons. Diff’rent Strokes became a phenomenon—high ratings and big paychecks, magazine covers and fan mail. As the boys’ new sister, Dana became a role model for girls and a pinup for boys. She also began experimenting with liquor and drugs and quickly moved past wine coolers and weed to stronger substances.
boy—that and a bit in a Frank Stallone straight-to-video seemed to be the fizzle at the end of her Hollywood career. It wasn’t just teen-queen stereotyping that held her back: The ebullient girl who did cartwheels down the hall had become a hysterical woman who ran screaming and half-naked down the street. Her husband left, taking her son—so much for “I will never be alone again.” Dana followed the path of so many blondes who’ve burned out in Los Angeles and headed for Vegas. Dana got a job as a cashier at Al Phillips dry cleaners—people sometimes recognized her as they handed over wrinkled shirts or a stained comforter, but she bore it graciously. (Vodka helped.) She got a small apartment in one of the thousands of beige buildings far from the Strip and tried to hold it together. But somehow, the $5.75-anhour day job slipped through her fingers just like that $20,000-a-week hit
The cast of Diff’rent Strokes; Plato in 1984; mug shot after her arrest in 1992.
two rushed to Vegas for a wedding, like countless other blond actresses and rock guitarists, countless other pregnant teens and semi-employed 21-year-olds. Three months later, Tyler was born and a few months after that, Diff’rent Strokes sent “Kimberly Drummond” to “Paris” and another of Dana’s families was gone. The show had explored controversial topics from racism to child molestation (the infamous “The Bicycle Man” episode) to drug addiction (Nancy Reagan herself showed up to help the kids “Just say NO.”) But “a very special episode” about knocked-up Kimberly? Nope. Fired. After a few guest spots in Strokes spinoffs Facts of Life and Hello, Larry, Dana struggled to find work and struggled in general. In 1989, she posed for Play-
TV show. And Dana became like so many others in Las Vegas: slumped on a stool in a strip mall bar, playing the nickel slots, hoping to win a jackpot that will pay the rent—and maybe have enough left over for a bottle. And so one February afternoon, she walked into the Lakes Video Store, wearing black clothes and dark shades, waving her prop gun like the bad girl she never played on screen. Even if Dana hadn’t been familiar from television, the clerk would have recognized her when she returned to the scene of the crime—to pick up the sunglasses she’d dropped. Wayne Newton posted her $13,000 bail, saying he understood the difficulties and pressures of being a child star. Lucky. And then lucky
again—only five years’ probation. But less than one year later, she got busted trying to fill a forged prescription for 1,000 Valium. Once again, she scored probation and rehab rather than serious jail time. The break carried over to her career, as 1992 found Dana working in front of audiences for the first time in years—nothing that would win a girl an Oscar, or even a Golden Globe, but it was work. She got a “showgirl” gig in a comedic production at the Rio, Tropical Heat, and a role in an ’80s parody comedy, Bikini Beach Race. She also appeared in Night Trap, an interactive movie/video game that was the first of its kind, with her as the first “name” to appear in a game. Dana could have kept going, continued to sell herself with a mixture of nostalgia, irony and cheesecake—instead, she tumbled even deeper into addiction, going from cocaine to crack like prime time to reruns. She got a boob job and scored a few gigs in sleazy softcore flicks—if you dug Kimberly Drummond in junior high, you’ll really dig her all grown up and writhing topless on the hood of a sports car. She went back to Oklahoma, met a guy in a bar and, within weeks, declared him to be not only her fiancée, but her manager. And this was not her worst decision. A story appeared in the National Enquirer about Dana’s drug use: She decided to refute it by going on the Howard Stern show. Stern opened up the lines to callers and rather than support or sitcom snark, Dana found herself the real-time, live object of an internet comments board, a barrage of strangers jockeying for the best takedown—“hasbeen,” “druggie,” “ex-con.” Even Stern seemed struck by the magnitude of the vitriol: “It seems like everyone’s attacking you.” Dana left the interview shaken and miserable. She couldn’t put those voices out of her head. Or could she …? The day after the interview, Dana Plato was found dead in the RV she called home. The Oklahoma deputy medical examiner ruled her death a suicide, because of her “past history of suicidal gestures” and because the sheer amount of Valium and Lortab in her system could not be a mistake. Not bad luck. Not this time. The lady took her chips and left. Like other stars who died young and sad, Dana’s memory lives on in online tributes and chat rooms, video montages of Dana looking perky in side-ponytail and capris or pensive in an offthe-shoulder top, edited to songs by the Cranberries or Richard Marx. The belated appreciation makes sense: If Dana had been born a little later, lasted a little longer, made it into the days of sex-tape scandals and reality TV, things might have been different. Shift her context a little and she’s Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Nicole Richie. “I feel lucky to have experienced everything I have,” Dana told the TV cameras after one of her arrests. Lucky? Maybe not. Or maybe Dana Plato just had a tragically vague fairy godmother who blessed her with abundant luck but forgot to specify that it should be good.
ARCHIVAL PHOTOS FROM AL AMY LTD.
Fallen Star
But midway through the series’ run, Florine Plato’s health took a turn for the worse, as a longtime illness turned terminal. Yet another parent was abandoning Dana: She partied harder, showing up on set late or drunk or both—doing a guest spot in a roller boogie scene on CHiPs, she glides toward the camera blank-eyed, Diff’rent Strokes co-star Todd Bridges visibly holding her up. At 14, she overdosed on Valium and had her stomach pumped. Within days, she was back to shuttling from her mother’s deathbed to another 12-hour day on the set, being the perfect girl with the perfect family, who never had a problem that couldn’t be solved in 30 minutes—22 if you don’t count the commercials. Dana met Lanny Lambert, an aspiring musician, and the two moved in together shortly after her 17th birthday. She soon got pregnant, reportedly telling TV dad Conrad Bain that “when I get the baby, I will never be alone again.” The
NIGHTLIFE
Florida’s Landis LaPace can’t legally go into a nightclub yet, but he can still rock the decks By Kat Boehrer
| July 14–20, 2016
Teen Dream
➜ AT 18 YEARS OLD, Landis LaPace is pretty much a typical American kid. He graduated from high school in May 2015 and lives with his mother in Florida, where he still has chores. LaPace is not a typical kid, however, in that he’s already DJ’d festivals such as Splash House in Palm Springs, Electric Forest Festival in Michigan and EDC in Las Vegas. LaPace returns on July 15 to play SoundYard by MomentUS Entertainment at Place on Seventh Street alongside DJs Gerry Gonza, LondonBridge, Type3 and DJelani. So much better than taking out the trash and mowing the lawn.
VegasSeven.com
Your city after dark and photos from the week’s hottest parties
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NIGHTLIFE July 14–20, 2016
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VegasSeven.com
It seems like many of the younger people in the music industry are more into the EDM bangers and the really commercial stuff, and it takes awhile for them to find and catch on to actual house music. What attracted you to house and techno?
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I discovered Skrillex, who obviously everybody knows. I started listening to music, and I discovered dub music. Then I got into the BS, commercial EDM, for just a short time—not too long. I remember hearing my first tech house track and I was like, “Wow, this is crazy.” It’s just so different, and very funky and groovy, and I fell in love. A big part of getting into the more underground type of music was when I went to Ultra [Music Festival] when I was 15 or 16. Carl Cox was there, and a friend told me, “You have to go see Carl Cox at least one time,” and I was like, “All right, whatever.” I went and saw him, and I was blown away by the music he played, the way he played it and the whole kind of feeling. It was really cool. That played a big part in me getting more into the underground side of things. House music has a long and rich history going back some 40 years. Have you looked into the older stuff, or are you more into the modern house music?
I definitely listen to older house music; I know the sound and everything. It’s really cool. Lately, I’ve been into a lot of Drumcode techno. I don’t like to limit myself or pigeonhole myself to
just one thing, so I play what I believe sounds good. I don’t really care what genre it is as long as it sounds cool, and I think other people will like it. What does your ideal workspace look like?
I live on a lake, so my bedroom has a perfect view. It is my bedroom, but at the same time, it feels like a natural place to be creative. I never take my production laptop on the road with
maintenance with the trees and everything. I’ll maybe do something on the lake like take the kayaks out or go fishing, then I always cook dinner. I love to cook. Whenever I’m home, I try to cook almost every night and hang out with friends throughout the day.
tutorials and tons of hours spent toying with everything. I never took any formal classes. I guess you could say I’m self-taught.
I would totally live with my parents still if they lived near me.
She’s very supportive and very proud that I’ve even made it to where I am, even though I’ve almost just got my foot in the door. She’s really happy to see that I’ve had some success.
I still live with my mom at home, but I
“I don’t like to limit myself or pigeonhole myself to just one thing, so I play what I believe sounds good. I don’t care what genre it is so long as I think it sounds cool.” me; I’ve never taken it anywhere. I go out on a weekend and then play a couple of shows. I’ll get really inspired, come home and just nail a couple of tracks down throughout the week. I get really inspired by a lot of big festivals, as well. I get to see multiple acts that I like. That’s how that process works. What does a typical day at home look like for you when you’re not touring or working?
I go for a run or work out. I’m always working in the yard; it’s kind of a lot of
am self-sufficient. It’s not like I’m freeloading off my parents. You were making music in high school. How did you pick up that skill at such a young age?
I had a friend, Bradley, who did a lot of stuff on the computer. He had FL Studio [production software] on his computer. Because he knew I was into electronic music at the time, he would tell me, “Hey, man, come over. Let’s make some music.” We messed around and he taught me a little bit of the basics. I learned from tons of YouTube
What does your mother think about your music blowing up and you flying all over the country, doing these shows?
Is she surprised, or has she always known that you were going to be successful in music?
I don’t know. I never really planned to do this, so my whole family was probably a little surprised when this happened. When I was 18, I was not at all paying attention to a career or the rest of the world. I was just screwing around at home trying to figure out how to get beer. What do your friends think?
They are also really proud of me. A lot of my friends love techno and house music, so they think it’s really cool that I’m able to travel the country and make money off it. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I’m actually starting EMT. school soon while also doing music! It’s hard to tell what the future will look like in this industry, but hopefully I can include both of those things in my life.
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PARTIES NIGHTLIFE
NIGHT-LITES
DON’T PASS UP ON RISING STAR POUPON, JULY 29 AT AZURE POOL ➜ It takes a special kind
The Cosmopolitan [ UPCOMING ]
July 14–20, 2016
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VegasSeven.com
July 14 The Social Hour (6 p.m.-7 p.m.) July 17 Sunday Brunch Club July 18 The Social Hour (6 p.m.-7 p.m.) and Magnum Monday
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See more photos from this gallery at SPYONvegas.com
STK BY BOBBY JAMEIDAR
STK
of artist to sign onto the record labels of both house icon Mark Knight and gritty bass music architect Skrillex. Toronto-born and Amsterdam-based producer Poupon (Soundcloud.com/ Poupon) will show us why he’s in such demand when he plays the Azure Pool at the Venetian on July 29 (free with RSVP at PouponLV. SplashThat.com). While dance music works well in arenas, megaclubs and vast desert festivals, there is something to be said for an intimate venue. Perched above the Strip, Azure Pool is a compact but entrancing space tucked in a corner of the Venetian’s lush pool complex, allowing DJs to crank the sound systems up just a touch louder than usual. It features cabana options typical of a dayclub and a bar that offers a scenic view west that begs for a photo op with friends. Poupon’s music will pull you from the bar to the dance floor (yes, there’s one of those, too), with the proper house bass lines to make a crowd move and unique vocal samples. His latest release, “Ain’t Your Girl” with Bixel Boys got a spot on Skrillex’s OWSLA Worldwide Compilation. While blockbuster acts grace the decks of Las Vegas’ largest clubs nightly, here’s a chance to see an artist who is on a clear path to headlining them. –John Carr
NIGHTLIFE
PARTIES
DAYLIGHT Mandalay Bay [ UPCOMING ]
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PHOTOS BY THOMAS TRAN
July 14–20, 2016
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July 14 Eclipse with Pusha T July 15 Captains of Industry spin July 16 Morgan Page spins
CONRAD SEWELL THURSDAY, JULY 14
BEBE REXHA
FRIDAY, JULY 15
N I G H T C L U B
A T
E B C AT N I G H T
THURSDAY, JULY 14
FRIDAY, JULY 15
R E S E R V A T I O N S
NGHTMRE
7 0 2 . 7 7 0 . 7 3 0 0
SATURDAY, JULY 16
E N C O R E
E B C AT N I G H T
MARSHMELLO
JESSE MARCO
DJ SET BY JUSTIN CREDIBLE
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FLOSSTRADAMUS SATURDAY, JULY 16
W Y N N L A S V E G A S . C O M
ZEDD
KASKADE
FRIDAY, JULY 15
NIGHTSWIM
RL GRIME
FRIDAY, JULY 15
F O R
T I C K E T S
SATURDAY, JULY 16
ZEDD
SATURDAY, JULY 16
A N D
MARSHMELLO
M O R E
SUNDAY, JULY 17
SKRILLEX
SUNDAY, JULY 17
I N F O R M A T I O N
V I S I T
FLOSSTRADAMUS MONDAY, JULY 18
NIGHTLIFE
PARTIES
XS
Encore [ UPCOMING ]
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PHOTOS BY DANNY MAHONEY
July 14–20, 2016
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July 15 RL Grime spins July 16 Zedd spins July 17 Sunday Nightswim with Skrillex
DINING
It’s not surprising that the fancy toast trend has moved beyond the humble avocado that launched it.
Restaurant reviews, news and a taste of Libertine Social A chef prepares fresh market ingredients.
TONY TOASTS | PAGE 48
Mixx & Match
ing numerous cultures. There are more than a dozen sauces, with options as diverse as alfredo, barbecue, chimichurri, béarnaise and soy-ginger vinaigrette. Noodles and grains include buckwheat noodles, fettucine, quinoa and basmati rice. As for those proteins, there are nine included in the basic price structure: rib eye, wagyu short rib, pork loin, chicken breast, chicken thigh, shrimp, Maine diver scallops, Alaskan cod and Pacific salmon. You can mix and match them however you choose, with a server adding them to a small, medium or large bowl as you move down the line. Prices range from $11.77 for a solid singleperson portion to $22.77 for a family-style helping. Or, you can choose premium meat or seafood such as Angus rib cap, Colorado lamb, A5 wagyu, spot prawns or lobster for single-serve portions that run from $19.77 to $65.77. There’s also a selection of 28 social plates that are prepared in the main kitchen, along with the orders for anyone with food allergies. Like the market concept, the appetizer menu is diverse, refusing to be pigeonholed into a single style. Get a cheese plate, charcuterie, truffle fries or various sliders and tartare preparations. All of these dishes are served in a gorgeous and spacious restaurant (formerly the Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant), the design of which pays amazing attention to detail, from the chairs and iPad beverage menus to the barware used in an am-
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mixed success in Las Vegas. He was an integral part of the dream team that earned his father Bradley’s eponymous space at Caesars Palace the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant and a Michelin star, and was himself named a Star Chefs Rising Star in 2005. On his own, he tackled more casual food at the late Sugar Factory and the short-lived Munch Bar in Caesars Palace. And Hops & Harvest, which involved both Ogdens, was one of many victims of the Tivoli Village curse, becoming Made L.V. and now being transformed into a PKWY Tavern. But Bryan Ogden’s back and looking to make his mark in Boca Park with a concept unlike anything the town has seen. The Mixx Grill & Lounge cherry-picks elements from fine dining, inexpensive Mongolian barbecue, sexy lounges and family-friendly eateries. Joining with him on the project is JP Teresi, the former general manager at Bradley Ogden, Sugar Factory and Gordon Ramsay Steak. At the center of the Mixx concept is the “Fresh Market” menu. It involves walking a buffet-style line of potential ingredients while a staff member creates a bowl with your choice of proteins, vegetables, pastas, grains and sauces. You then bring them to a chef who combines them for you on a large circular show grill in the center of the restaurant and hands them back cooked and plated. Mixx takes the live-action cooking concept further than most places by embrac-
July 14–20, 2016
PHOTOS BY JENNA DOSCH
➜ BRYAN OGDEN HAS HAD
VegasSeven.com
Bryan Ogden’s new Boca Park spot presents a mélange of experiences, cuisines and price points By Al Mancini
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DINING
DIANA EDELMAN
The Mixx dining room and a Chile Bang cocktail.
bitious cocktail program. Servers present the premium meats and seafood tableside like jewelry in little handheld black cases. DJs and live music nurture a social scene in the lounge and on the patio. And since the buffet setup is a bit tacky for some, you can avoid it by simply asking your server to create a plate to your specifications. Most of the food I’ve had at Mixx has been great. The steak tartare is bursting with the flavor of Parmesan, capers and mustard vinaigrette. A trio of quality cheeses came with roasted almonds, grapes and an intriguing spicy/sweet pear mustard. Bacon-wrapped dates were traditional, but solid. The salmon in a fresh market combo was cooked to wonderful mediumrare. And the create-your-own desserts—which let you select a pastry, ice cream, fruit, sauce and topping—are downright sinful. I’m curious, however, why the chef buries the delicious crab cakes
in bready sliders. And the $21.77 single-serving premium spot prawns aren’t all that much better than the basic shrimp at onethird the price (which is good news for those on a budget). At the show kitchen, cooks need to interact better with their audience if they want to keep our attention. And if you choose not to oversee the preparations, the cooks need to better communicate that they might be adding some toppings to the combination you put together to avoid unpleasant surprises. Finally, Mixx needs to get the basics right before obsessing on smaller details. Because while complimentary bread with two types of butter is a welcome, unexpected touch at this price range, it means little when some of the breads is stale and hard as a rock. This dichotomy between chic sophistication and extremely affordable family dining is how
[ AL A CARTE ]
July 14–20, 2016
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Libertine Storms First Friday, Fried Twinkies on the Strip and Chef Beni Opens Essence & Herbs
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➜ Principal owners Shawn McClain and Tony AbouGanim weren’t on hand, but their Libertine Social team manned a rented food truck at First Friday on July 1, hosting a cooking demo and offering samples of the Mandalay Place spot’s developing menu. Crowds in the Arts District were treated to a lamb merguez sausage sandwich topped with chickpeas and the Middle Eastern condiment chermoula; oxtail with sweet-and-sour onions, arugula and citrus gremolata on a hearty ciabatta roll; Bavarian pretzels with Alpine cheese sauce; and Belgian fries with garlic aioli. I tried them all and found it to be a promising effort from a team still working out the details on a sweltering day in a parking lot. Unfortunately, none
Mixx’s owners are hoping to capture the neighborhood’s sometimes fickle tastes. My advice to these guys is to concentrate on the basics while they’re working out the kinks. Because what they have— particularly in the family-friendly category—is already quite good.
THE MIXX GRILL & LOUNGE
Boca Park, 750 S. Rampart Blvd., 702-550-6070. Open for late lunch, dinner and snacks 2:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. daily. Limited menu after 10:30 p.m. Dinner for two, $30-$75.
of Abou-Ganim’s cocktails were available for sampling. For those, and for the rest of the menu, you’ll have to wait for the opening later this summer. If the closing of Mermaids Downtown left you craving fried Twinkies, the folks at Double Barrel Roadhouse have come to your rescue. The Monte Carlo’s Strip-side Southern barbecue joint has created its own version of the Fremont Street classic featuring the cream-filled sponge cakes deep-fried in a raspberry tempura batter and topped with powdered sugar and chocolate sauce. OK, it’s not an exact replica of the original, but it should still hit the spot. Finally, chef Beni Velazquez—formerly of Bar+Bistro and Isabela’s—will throw a grand-opening party for his new Lake Las Vegas tapas restaurant Essence & Herbs on July 22. Open to the public, the shindig will feature a free signature drink, a brand-new tapas menu and live music. If you can’t make it on that date, the restaurant is currently open on the resort’s Via del Canto with a limited menu that features, among other things, the chef’s famed paella and a Sunday brunch on the lake with bottomless mimosas. A full menu will be rolled out next week. –Al Mancini
Get the latest news 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.
➜ For those toying with the idea of transitioning to a cruelty-free lifestyle or plant-based diet, a free resource group can help. Peace Begins on Your Plate: The Dish on Why Plant-Based Eating Is on the Rise, founded by Jodi Paige of Las Vegas-based Virgin Cheese, features a 25-minute program with five presenters speaking for five minutes. The program is designed to “harness the vitality of the Las Vegan plant-based network and share it with the community at large,” and to help others jumpstart their health and wellness goals. The Peace panelists are Sari Dennis, a board-certified health and wellness counselor; Luke Hoffman, a vegan from birth; Joanna Blad, vegan educator, nonviolence specialist and World Peace Diet facilitator; Nick Brannigan, non-GMO advocate and host of the new Non GMO Kitchen Cooking Show; and Paige, speaking about how peace can begin on your plate. This event is made possible in part by community partner Violette’s Vegan Organic Eatery and Juice Bar. You can schedule a free booking by emailing JMBlad@gmail.com. If you have never tried the plant-based offerings at Panevino (246 Via Antonio Ave., 702-222-2400, PanevinoLasVegas.com), now’s the time. In addition to his ultra healthy (and ridiculously tasty) menu that includes an organic “meatloaf,” organic “ricotta” and spinach ravioli and even a grilled veggie lasagna, Panevino general manager Vincenzo Granata has a bonus for guests in the know (that’s you). A new secret menu features a gluten-free, whole-food ravioli filled with lemon “ricotta” and walnuts in a creamy vodka tomato sauce, as well as a gorgeous low-fat, creamy porcini, shitake and thyme sauce to complement the pasta. The catch? You have to ask for Granata to cash in on the secret items. There’s been a bit of buzz among the vegan community surrounding the opening of Owl (3990 W. Russell Rd., 702-659-9762). This vegan-friendly restaurant has been the subject of many food pics as the tofu-based deviled “eggs” have spread through social media forums. Owner Stephan Galdau tasked executive chef Daniel Schneider to create a unique vegan menu with those faux eggs as well as poutine, special dishes such as vegan chicken parm and more. The goal? To “constantly create and push boundaries,” Galdau says. He’s also said that he plans to open a full vegan restaurant built on Nevada craft beer, classic cocktails and fresh juices in the foreseeable future. In the meantime, Galdau has committed to a whopping 50 percent of Owl’s menu being vegan by the end of the year. Even if that number is a stretch to achieve, sometimes it’s the thought that counts.
Diana Edelman aims to make living a vegan lifestyle in Las Vegas accessible to everyone. Check out the latest vegan news (complete with all the places to eat) on her website, VegansBaby.com.
PHOTOS BY JENNA DOSCH
PEACE ON PLATES, SECRET DISHES AND THE NEXT BIG VEGAN MENU
MARKETPLACE
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JUL 17
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DWEEZIL ZAPPA
SUN 10/2 PLAYS WHATEVER THE F@%K HE WANTS THE CEASE + DESIST TOUR
THU 7/14 FRI 7/15 FRI 7/15
BIG FREEDIA CRAIG ROBINSON + THE NASTY DELICIOUS (OF THE OFFICE + HOT TUB TIME MACHINE ) EMO NIGHT BROOKLYN LATE SHOW
SUN 7/24
THE OFFSPRING
FRI 7/29
COWBOY MOUTH
SAT 7/30
PROTOJE + THE INDIGGNATION
FRI 8/5
THE CLAYPOOL LENNON DELIRIUM ANDRE NICKATINA
FRI 8/12
40oz. TO FREEDOM - SUBLIME TRIBUTE BAND
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SUN 7/31
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SEVEN QUESTIONS
really need those victims identified. I’m producing Ph.D. students who are trained in that duality. I call them hybrids. They’re part bio-archaeologists, and they’re part forensic anthropologists. And they can, with great ease, move between the ancient world, the historic world and the contemporary modern moment. If your students are getting experience with newer bones at the coroner’s office, where are they getting experience with older bones?
Most of them go off in the summer and study skeletal remains all over the world to start to get that feel for cultural differences. I want the students to get experience from seeing different skeletal collections of humans from all over the world so that when they get a single bone, they have some reference point. “Is this bone small and very graceful, or is this a person who’s larger and robust?” If you don’t have that comparative database and you get one bone, you really can’t say anything. It takes years for that kind of expertise. There’s been a push to get more girls interested in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. How does anthropology do in that regard?
The UNLV biological anthropology professor on helping the coroner, Bones and studying ancient violence By Emmily Bristol
July 14–20, 2016
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What drew you to anthropology?
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I was originally interested in women’s health and pediatrics as an undergraduate, [but] a medical-anthropology course just blew my mind. I fell in love with this notion that to really understand people and how they’re doing, you need to understand them in this broad cross-cultural perspective. I took more anthropology classes and decided that pre-med wasn’t what I wanted. What sunk in was that I was more interested in the past, because a lot of our problems today are rooted in the past. That shifted me from medical anthropology to what I am now—bioarchaeology, looking at the biological remains in the ancient past to figure out [what happened]. You and your students work on modern-day crimes, using forensic anthropology and assisting the Clark County Coroner’s Office. How does anthropology, with its focus on the past, help solve crimes today?
We can take human remains where
the soft tissue is long gone and we can read from the bones all kinds of things—their age, their sex, their disease, their pathologies, the ways that violence had affected their health. Being able to analyze skeletons is [a skill] that the coroner’s office sometimes needs. Its pathologists are trained in soft-tissue analysis, but they may not know what to do with one long bone if they find it in the desert. That expertise of reading the bones may or may not come into play if the body’s intact. It’s those non-intact bodies or the remains like what happened on 9/11—that’s what we’re experts at, because that’s what we find in the archaeological record. It’s sort of like Bones. I was just thinking that.
Well, her character is based on a real forensic/bio-archaeologist, doing exactly what we do, except they enhance a lot and they take a lot of liberties. Almost every week there’s something fabricated and not quite right about
what they present, but that’s the general idea. It’s all the same skills. We’re asking the same questions of the bones when we read them. We can almost give you a life’s history of a person, because encoded in bone and teeth are indicators of what your health was like as a kid growing up, what your nutrition was like as a teenager, what your health was like as a young adult. Bones are this incredibly rich database from which [you learn] something about people that you don’t have a record for and you really want to know about. Are your students more interested in helping solve crimes?
I’m more interested in the past. My grad students want to study the past to understand the history of things like violence and disease, but they really want to be of service to the coroner’s office. They want to get jobs at universities where they can also then work part-time and help real people who
You won the 2015 Harry Reid Silver State Research Award earlier this year for your accomplishments, and you’re in New Mexico this summer. What are you working on there?
This is the biggest project that I’m involved in. We’re interested in non-lethal violence [in the ancient Southwest]. We’ve been collecting data from skeletal [remains] from all over the ancient Southwest, trying to get a feel for differences across adult ages, differences between [genders] to see if there’s a pattern of non-lethal violence. When people migrated to other places, that’s where we start to see some of these head wounds show up. It’s really hard for migrants to enter into new locations. Migrants are highly stressed populations and are the subjects of more violence today, as we’re seeing in Syria. We have this catchphrase in my grad program, “If violence is the answer, what was the question?” Violence is just part of the human repertoire of behaviors. We can start to get these bigger-picture ideas about when violence is used, because it doesn’t just fall from the sky and people decide to be violent. And we’re also going to build that out from the Southwest to thinking in general about why people might use violent means, versus nonviolent means, to an end.
PHOTO BY A ARON MAYES/UNLV PHOTO SERVICES
Debra Martin
More female scientists are going into bio-archaeology than males. In the program at UNLV, I’ve consistently had [about] 80 percent females and 10-20 percent males. We need strong role models in women being in science. When I teach bio-archaeology, which is a 400 level course for any anthropology major, it tends to be dominated by females. Forensic sciences, though, interestingly, are still very male-dominated.