FREE March 2-8, 2017 « ONE NIGHT FOR ONE DROP / TREASURE HUNTING AT LUXE RUST / THE MANIA OF MARCH MADNESS »
POWER POWER COUPLE COUPLE WWE’S DEAN AMBROSE + RENEE YOUNG
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ON THE COVER
MAR 8-25
BILLY IDOL
7PM | 18+ *SELECT DATES
MAR 16 7PM | 18+
JASON ISBELL
MAR 19
UFO & SAXON
7PM | 18+
MAR 11
12PM - 3PM
NO REGRETS BRUNCH
FEATURING: PAUL CHARLES BAND & ALL-YOU-CAN-DRINK MIMOSAS
HOPPED UP: CRAFT TAKEOVER FT. JOSEPH JAMES
MAR 14
11:30AM - 11PM
MAR 17 & 18 ALL DAY
Pictured DEAN AMBROSE & RENEE YOUNG
ST. PATRICK’S DAY
IRISH FOOD & DRINK SPECIALS! LIVE ENTERTAINMENT (6PM – 12AM)
MAR 3
6PM | 21+
Photography KRYSTAL RAMIREZ
BREW INSPIRED MENU & LIVE ENTERTAINMENT (5PM – 11PM)
GRAHAM FUNKE
10PM | 21+
MAR 4
Read Vegas Seven right-side up and then flip it over and start again with (7) SEVEN NIGHTS, featuring after-dark entertainment and the week’s nightlife happenings.
UFC 209 FIGHT VIEWING PARTY
MAR 4
10PM | 21+
HOUSEOFBLUES.COM/LASVEGAS @HOBLASVEGAS
SEVEN NIGHTS Pictured DAVID GUETTA
DEE JAY SILVER
702.632.7600
Correction to the February 23, 2017 issue, page 29: Dr. Debora Barney's office practice is the Center for Emotional Health. She is not affiliated with Camp MakeBelieve Kids.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
MARCH 2-8, 2017 TO DO
CONVERSATIONS
11 24/7
41 Hérculez Gómez
What to do around the clock. BY SHANNON MILLER
14 Basketball Bash
Where to watch the drama unfold. BY HEATHER PETERSON
Las Vegas' most decorated soccer player has a broadcasting deal with ESPN. BY ROB MIECH
42 Like Mother, Like Daughter
PLUS: The
Deal
Singer-songwriter Molly Bergman forges a path in music. BY GENEVIE DURANO
FEATURE
16 Dean & Renee
The WWE and Total Divas stars on their rise to fame and reality TV. BY DAVID G. SCHWARTZ
Ask a Native Insights on Blue Diamond Hill and the fight for Red Rock. BY JAMES P. REZA
44 Lucky No. 7
Our favorite sports bars in town. BY WENDOH STAFF
TASTE
27 Like That? Drink This! Wines that suit your palate. BY KIRK PETERSON
ON THE FLIP SIDE
Seven Nights What to do after dark. BY MARK ADAMS
SOCIAL INFLUENCE
David Guetta Missed You, Too
31 One Drop at a Time
The Wynn headliner talks new music and how he learned to love the Strip.
Cirque du Soleil foundation changes lives.
BY JASON R. LATHAM
BY GENEVIE DURANO
32 Will the Rebels
Club Tour: Marquee
Run Again?
Inside The Cosmopolitan's nightclub and dayclub.
5 steps to the NCAA tournament.
BY KAT BOEHRER
BY TYLER BISCHOFF
33 March (Money) Madness
The tournament's impact on the Strip. BY DAVID G. SCHWARTZ
34 30 Years of Tribal Gaming Casino competition increases opportunities. BY DAVID G. SCHWARTZ
SPACES & PLACES
37 Treasures From Trash Downtown's Luxe Rust fills a niche in the antiques market. BY JASON R. LATHAM
38 Time to Reboot
A new video-game lounge embraces nerd culture.
Drive This The lasting impression of 15 minutes in a $200K sports car. BY JASON R. LATHAM
OUR SITES TO SEE
VegasSeven.com Hear Now We take the first bite on restaurant openings around town. Head to vegasseven.com/ nowserving for a sampling of New York import Papaya King, California Hotel’s Redwood Steakhouse and the west side's Hawthorn Grill.
DTLV.com A Public Fit's Latest Production The setting and tone of Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane are distinctively Irish, but the tale of family conflict and life’s many disappointments is universal. Read more about the play on DTLV.com.
RunRebs.com Weekly Recap In the aftermath of UNLV’s ninth-straight loss, Marvin Menzies hints at a plan to fix UNLV basketball in the coming years.
SpyOnVegas.com The Hookup Find upcoming events, see highlights from the hottest parties, meet the DJs and more.
BY JARRET KEENE
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PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Photography KRYSTAL RAMIREZ
Ryan T. Doherty | Justin Weniger President Michael Skenandore Chief Financial Officer Sim Salzman Vice President, Marketing and Events Keith White Creative Director Sherwin Yumul Graphic Designer Javon Isaac Technical Director Herbert Akinyele Controller Jane Weigel
Letters and Story Ideas Comments@VegasSeven.com Advertising Sales@VegasSeven.com Distribution Distribution@VegasSeven.com
VEGAS SEVEN 701 Bridger Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89101 702-798-7000 Vegas Seven is distributed each Thursday throughout Southern Nevada. Š 2017 Vegas Seven, LLC. Reproduction in whole or in part without the permission of Vegas Seven, LLC is prohibited.
Publisher
Michael Skenandore Editorial EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Melinda Sheckells MANAGING EDITOR
Genevie Durano SENIOR EDITOR, LIFESTYLE
Jessi C. Acuña ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Mark Adams EDITOR AT LARGE
Lissa Townsend Rodgers EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Shannon Miller EDITORIAL INTERNS
Daphne-Jayne Corrales, Heather Peterson Senior Contributing Editor Xania Woodman (Beverage) Contributing Editors Michael Green (Politics), David G. Schwartz (Gaming/Hospitality) Art CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Benjamin Ward SENIOR DESIGNER
Cierra Pedro STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Krystal Ramirez VegasSeven.com DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL CONTENT
Zoneil Maharaj EDITOR, DTLV.COM
Jessie O’Brien WEB EDITOR
Amber Sampson CONTRIBUTING WRITER, RUNREBS.COM
Tyler Bischoff Production/Distribution DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION/DISTRIBUTION
Marc Barrington ADVERTISING MANAGER
Jimmy Bearse Sales BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
Christy Corda DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL SALES
Nicole Scherer ACCOUNT MANAGER
Brittany Quintana ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Robyn Weiss, Matt Iles DIRECTOR OF SALES, BILLBOARD DIVISION
John Tobin
TO DO
What to do around the clock in Las Vegas By Shannon Miller
THURSDAY 2
Hugh Jackman in Logan.
Described as heavy, groovy, psychedelic and headbanging, Meatbodies brings their own style of music to the Bunkhouse Saloon. 9 p.m., $10–$12, 124 S. 11th St., bunkhousedowntown.com
PHOTO BY BEN ROTHSTEIN/MARVEL/20TH CENTURY FOX
Artist Robert Beckmann discusses his 40-year career and his current Transmutations exhibit at Sahara West Library, which focuses on human impact on the environment. 6 p.m., 9600 W. Sahara Ave., lvccld.org Han Valen plays Count’s Vamp’d with music to honor the rock
hits of Van Halen. 10:30 p.m., 6750 W. Sahara Ave., vampdvegas.com
FRIDAY 3
Visit the Arts District for the March for Art installment of First Friday, where the World Freerunning Parkour Federation will entertain with city-scaling moves. Catch featured artist Tanya Michelle, owner of Galerie Miscre8 inside the Juhl, painting a mural, performances by Las Vegas Academy students, dance workshops, live music and more. 5 p.m., facebook.com/firstfridaylasvegas More than 40 of Wine Spectator’s top 100 wines will be available to sample with selections such as lionfish ceviche tacos, raclette fondue and cheesecake from Aureole’s tasting table. Enjoy live music and mingle with chef Charlie Palmer, direc-
tor of wine Harley Carbery and a number of winemakers at the recently revamped wine haven. 6:30 p.m., $126, inside Mandalay Bay, reservations required at 702-632-4760 It’s nowhere near Halloween or Christmas, but the spirit of the holidays lives on year-round. Check out The Nightmare Before Christmas group art show at The Bubblegum Gallery. 6 p.m., 1800 S. Industrial Rd., facebook.com/thebubblegumgallery Rx Boiler Room hosts a four-course dinner featuring Petrus Sour Beers by Brewery de Brabandere. Chef Rick Moonen’s specially prepared menu with Belgian brewery pairings will make your epicurean dreams come true. 6 p.m., $65, RSVP required (search “Petrus Beer Dinner” at eventbrite.com), inside Mandalay Bay, mandalaybay.com SATURDAY 4
See Southern rock jam band Gov’t Mule with support from L.A. rock and blues trio The Record Company. 8 p.m., $32.50– $35, at The Linq Promenade, brooklynbowl.com/las-vegas UNLV Dance department presents Movement & Tides at Judy Bayley Theatre. 2:30 and 7:30 p.m., $10–$18, unlv.edu It’s time to get funky to the R&B jams of Tower of Power at South Point’s Showroom. Through March 5, 7:30 p.m., $55–$65 , southpoint.com
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24/7
TO DO
THE DEAL BY ANTHONY CURTIS
An Unlikely Bargain KENO GETS A BAD RAP. ALTHOUGH IT’S A
Ekoh
Walk it out to support New Vista Community, a local charity that supports intellectually challenged individuals’ equal opportunities and quality of life. Taste a variety of food and 15 different wines as you stroll around Town Square during another installment of the organization’s Wine Walk series. 7–10 p.m., $25–$30 per person, winewalklv.com Bark in the Park holds contests and demonstrations for
you and your furry friend to enjoy. If you don’t already have a pooch and are fit and ready to be a pet parent, the event will have pet adoption available. Don’t forget to bring canned pet food to benefit the Meals on Wheels Pets program! 10 a.m.–2 p.m., Cornerstone Park, 1600 Wigwam Pkwy., cityofhenderson.com
You are likely familiar with the theme music from Jaws and Star Wars, which the iconic composer John Williams wrote. Experience the musical drama live when the Las Vegas Philharmonic performs The Music of John Williams. 7:30 p.m., $30–$109, The Smith Center’s Reynolds Hall, thesmithcenter.com SUNDAY 5
See Portland-based hip-hop artist Sapient with support from local rapper Snap Murphy at Backstage Bar & Billiards. 8 p.m., $10, 601 Fremont St., backstagebarlv.com William Singe of Australian boy-band fame and singer-songwriter Alex Aiono bring their YouTubefamous R&B/EDM mashups (worthy of hype—see the Black Beatles, Confessions & No Problem mash-up) to Brooklyn Bowl. 7:30 p.m., $25–$125, brooklynbowl.com/ las-vegas
Local rapper Ekoh takes the stage at Vinyl, with support from Donnie Menace, Luck Factor Zero and Austin Cane. 8 p.m., $8–$20, inside Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, hardrockhotel.com
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Nominated for 14 Oscar awards in 1950, All About Eve shows the brilliant, backstabbing world of theater. Catch the flick on the big screen at a Turner Classic Movie screening. Times, prices and theaters vary, fandango.com
potent “house game,” it’s often labeled the worst gambling game in the casino, and it’s dying in Las Vegas. Once a staple on every casino floor in the city, keno lounges have closed steadily over the years, a fact highlighted in a recent study on live keno conducted by Dr. Robert Stauffer Jr. and two of his students at Trinity International School in Las Vegas. Stauffer did a similar study in 1993, so he had data from nearly 25 years ago to compare against. In 1993, there were 46 casinos in the Las Vegas area with live keno games; today there are only 27. Also interesting is that keno’s bad odds have gotten even worse. In 1993 the range of the house edge for the games studied ran from a low of 21.37 percent to a high of 33.14 percent. This year the range was 25.10 percent to 36.78 percent, indicating that casinos that continue to deal keno are charging more for the privilege of playing it. So given the high casino edge, where does the deal come in? It’s buried in the way the game is played—slowly and for very low minimum bets. Even at a 30 percent disadvantage, which is about the average in live keno, your expected loss per hour is under $5 if you’re betting $1 a game. That’s a fraction of the cost to play other games that have lower house edges, but play many times faster. Additionally, all keno games are not created equal, which means you can cut losses further by playing higher-returning games. In the Stauffer study, the casino with the lowest hold was Jerry’s Nugget at 25.10 percent, followed by Gold Coast and The Orleans at 25.23 percent, El Cortez at 28.05 percent and The D at 28.57 percent. Bringing up the rear were Fremont and California, both at 36.78 percent. That’s a decent barometer, but it’s important to keep in mind that the study compared only 10-spot tickets. And while it’s reasonable to expect that each casino’s 10-spot will be representative of most of its games, it won’t apply to all of them. That is, there are definitely keno games that beat Jerry’s number, especially when progressives are involved. For example, even though the Fremont finished last in the comparison, it has a long-running 95-cent 5-spot “catch-all” that progresses $25 every day until it is hit. Starting at $1,000, the Fremont game becomes better than Jerry’s Nugget in five days, when the jackpot reaches $1,125. It takes some analytical skills to determine which keno games are better than others, but the bottom line is live keno played for small stakes is a gambling bargain. Get a comped drink while you play, and you’ve got this one beat. One more thing: This idea doesn’t apply to video keno. There, speed takes over and the deal evaporates. More on that soon. 7
Looking for more stuff to do? Go to vegasseven. com/calendar.
Anthony Curtis is the publisher of the Las Vegas Advisor and LasVegasAdvisor.com.
MONDAY 6
Spring is in the air. Get ready to shed those winter layers with Moroccan oil–infused treatments from Costa del Sur Spa and Salon. Specials valid Mon.–Fri. through March, 6 a.m.–8 p.m., $115–$185, inside South Point Hotel, spacostadelsur.com Take the edge off your Monday with $5 appetizers and 2-for-1 cocktails at Parlour Bar’s happy hour. Happy hour 4–6 p.m. and 11 p.m.–1 a.m., inside El Cortez Hotel & Casino, elcortezhotelcasino.com TUESDAY 7
See both the ass-kicking and sensitive sides of Wolverine in Logan, the ultimate chapter in the antihero’s cinematic story, now in theaters. Times, prices and theaters vary, fandango.com The Smith Center celebrates with its 5th Anniversary Concert, emceed by Adam Kantor and Betsy Wolfe
of Broadway fame. 7:30 p.m., $29–129, Reynolds Hall, thesmithcenter.com
WEDNESDAY 8
Ventriloquist and comedian Jeff Dunham and his infamous sidekicks bring their Perfectly Unbalanced world tour to the Colosseum. 7:30 p.m., $50–$80, at Caesars Palace, thecolosseum.com Warm up for March madness with some conference-tourney play. The PAC-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament kicks off at T-Mobile Arena today. Doors 11 a.m., $225–$535, t-mobilearena.com
TO DO
BASKETBALL BASH Downtown Summerlin kicks off March Madness with a Block Party By Heather Peterson Hold on tight, Las Vegas—the madness is coming! Downtown Summerlin is a perfect place to jump-start the extravaganza that is the men’s NCAA basketball tournament on March 16 from 2–10 p.m. The suburban neighborhood hub has partnered with Red Rock Casino, Resort & Spa and Dave & Buster’s to host the Tip-Off Tailgate, a free, family-friendly block party. Between start times, attendees can enjoy oversize yard games, giveaways and shoot-out challenges. And for the kids (and maybe those who are kids at heart), face painting; photos with Summerlin Sam; performances by UNLV Rebel Girls, UNLV cheer team and Palo Verde's High School band; appearances from UNLV's mascot Hey Reb! and Bishop Gorman High School band and basketball team; and a cheerleader braid bar will be available. The extravaganza, hosted by Chet Buchanan of 98.5 KLUC, also includes meet-and-greet opportunities with UNLV national champion greats Larry Johnson, Anderson Hunt and Moses Scurry—so don’t forget that camera! Serious sports fans can kick back and enjoy the VIP treatment inside the Dave & Buster’s tent, where they can view the games on big-screen TVs, partake in mobile betting and enjoy a stogie at the cigar lounge. While admission to the family-friendly area is free, tickets for the VIP tent are $50—but that'll score you three drink tickets and all the tailgate food one can eat. downtownsummerlin.com 7
Bets, Bites and B-Ball Where to watch the NCAA drama unfold By Seven Staff The Valley is also playing host to a number of other NCAA tourney parties, with a little something for everyone—from sports fans to bettors to those wanting to fill an afternoon with some fantastic food and drinks while watching a game. Here are our picks.
FOR THE HOOPS FANATICS: Blondies Sports Bar & Grill is hosting 10 days of games on more than 60 TVs starting March 16. Beer pong will not be going on during the games but, after that final buzzer, it’s all fair game. Don't forget to reserve your table! blondieslasvegas.com The D Las Vegas wants you to celebrate March Madness in its newly remodeled Mancave rooms. Food and beverage and a private cocktail serve are included with the room rate, with sports betting and table games just steps away. Rooms can be reserved for four-, six- and eight-hour blocks by calling 702-388-2200. thed.com Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino features food and drink specials in its International Westgate Theater March 16-19, but doubles down on the NCAA excitement with an appearance by retired NBA player Thurl Bailey, of the Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves, on March 16. westgatevegas.com Score $8 pitchers of beer at Borracha Mexican Cantina inside Green Valley Ranch, which features full surround sound during all games March 16-April 4. borrachavegas.com
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FOR THE GAMBLERS: Make your way to the The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas Race & Sports Book March 16-17 for Hoops and Hops, a luxury viewing experience where fans can watch the action on stadium-style screens. Tickets ($200-$350) also gain attendees access to an open bar, satellite betting stations and interactive activities (including the option to ball on a hardwood court). cosmopolitanlasvegas.com Get cozy at Caesars Palace’s revamped sportsbook, where hoops enthusiasts can take in the games with the book’s 138-foot video display and its personalized ListenWifi technology, allowing attendees to stream the sound from the game of their choice through their smartphones. Don’t want to download the app? The book also boasts four sound zones, apparently the most on the Las Vegas Strip. caesars.com Enjoy a selection of solid craft brews and inventive burgers and dogs while watching the tourney action at Umami Burger, Beer Garden & Sports Book. The SLS venue hosts parties March 16-19, with open bar tickets starting at $50 per person. slsvegas.com South Point kicks off the madness March 16-18 with a free weekend bash in its ballroom, complete with on-site wagering stations, select $3 beers and complimentary chair massages. What more could a balling bettor ask for? southpointcasino.com
FOR THE PARTY-HEARTY CREW: The ladies of iconic pool party Rehab are throwing a viewing party March 16-18 at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, featuring betting stations, party games and giveaways. Tickets are $100–$300 and include unlimited select draft beers and a buffet. hardrockhotel.com
Topgolf is putting on a weekend of parties March 16-18, offering guests a multi-option viewing experience with its massive video screens and more than 300 HDTVs. The open-air venue features an on-site sportsbook, satellite betting stations and, of course, the opportunity to play a round of its target-oriented golf game. Tickets, which don’t include golf play, are $50 per day. topgolf.com/lasvegas Video-game enthusiasts eager to keep up with their brackets should consider watching the tourney at Level Up, as MGM Grand’s new gaming lounge is putting on March Madness parties throughout the tourney ($100 food & beverage minimums begin March 16). Get your game on while you watch the game and grub on menu items from the nearby TAPS Sports Bar. leveluplv.com PBR Rock Bar at Planet Hollywood kicks off its madness mania on March 14, offering half-day ($125) and full-day ($200) open-bar packages through April 3. Or, if you just want to pop in for a bite to eat and catch your team on the screen, download the Cityzen app and use the NCAA17 code to score your first drink on the house. Did we mention you can sink your own shots on the beer pong tables, with 2-for-1 PBR pitchers 11 a.m.-9 p.m.? pbrrockbar.com Guarantee a seat at the Hard Rock Cafe from March 16-18 for just $175 a day. Enjoy the open bar alongside an all-you-can-eat buffet while keeping up with your bracket! hardrock.com/las-vegas Take in the games at Treasure Island’s free Madness in March viewing party, where a cash bar, concessions and betting stations will be available at the TI Ballroom March 16-18. treasureisland.com The Orleans Hotel & Casino is hosting its March Hoopla viewing parties inside the Mardi Gras ballroom March 16-18. Grub on $2 hot dogs while washing 'em down with select $3 beers. Did we mention the $3 Jameson shots and cocktails? orleanscasino.com 7
DOWNTOWN’S
MARCHING ORDERS THUR. MAR. 2 I 5:30pm
USA SEVENS RUGBY
PARADE OF NATIONS RALLY
SAT. MAR. 11 I 8pm
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MAR. 9 - APR. 3 DOWNTOWN HOOPSTOWN
GAME VIEWING • LIVE ENTERTAINMENT INTERACTIVE CONTESTS & MORE
MAR. 16 - 19 4 DAYS • 3 STAGES • 23 BANDS 53 HOURS OF FREE LIVE MUSIC
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TASTE
Caption goes here
G-STAR RAW in Fashion Show jacket and jeans HANES white T-shirt BOOTS Ambrose’s own Styling Kris Kass Kris-Kass.SquareSpace. com. Hair and makeup Whitney Bansin OneLuv Agency. Location Lawrence Creative Group lawrencecg.com
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LAS VEGAS RESIDENTS AND WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT POWER COUPLE
DEAN AMBROSE + RENEE YOUNG SQUARE OFF ON THE REALITIES OF LIFE INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE RING
By David G. Schwartz Photography Krystal Ramirez
YOU
MIGH T H AV E T UNED IN T O E!’S TOTAL DIVAS T O SEE T HE INNER WORKINGS OF T HE WOMEN OF WORL D W RE S T L ING EN T ER TA INMEN T. L A S V EGA S RE SIDEN T RENEE YOUNG, A POPUL A R A NNOUNCER A ND IN T ER V IE W ER , IS ONE OF T HOSE F E AT URED, A ND HER BOY F RIEND, W W E SUPERS TA R DE A N A MBROSE , SEE S HIS SH A RE OF SCREEN T IME .
Five years ago, it was improbable, to say the least, that Ambrose—then wrestling under the ring name of Jon Moxley—would be on a show called Total Divas. Ambrose had dropped out of high school to pursue his dream of wrestling professionally, training at Les Thatcher’s Heartland Wrestling Association. He made his in-ring debut in 2004, finding success in several smaller “indie” promotions. In 2009, he started wrestling for Combat Zone Wrestling, an indie that features “death matches” in which, although no wrestlers have actually perished, thumbtacks, barbed wire, cutlery, fluorescent light bulbs and even the odd power tool are fair weapons. Ambrose excelled at CZW’s bloody mayhem, winning the championship twice and establishing himself as fearless. Then the biggest wrestling promotion in the world called. Ambrose signed with the W WE in April 2011. After a stint in the developmental Florida Championship Wrestling, he debuted on the main roster as part of a faction called The Shield. Since splitting with The Shield, Ambrose has been a fan favorite in the W WE, bringing intensity to a number of feuds. At last May’s Money in the Bank pay-per-view, held in T-Mobile Arena, Ambrose did what many thought was impossible: He captured the W WE World Heavyweight Championship, the top accolade in the wrestling business. He’s since dropped that title, but is currently featured, alongside Young, on Smackdown Live, where he is the reigning Intercontinental Champion. It’s a path that shows the world really does work in strange ways. Six years ago, Ambrose was getting forks jammed into his forehead until he was streaming blood and powerbombed on thumbtacks in front of a few hundred fans. This year, he won the business’ biggest prize in front of 19,000 Las Vegas fans and hundreds of thousands watching on the WWE Network. But what probably means more to him is that the intensely private Ambrose snared something even more valuable: a rewarding life and someone to share it with. Ambrose and Young talked with Vegas Seven about what he does and why he does it, with Young sharing her own perspective.
Top: Dean Ambrose during WWE WrestleMania 31 at Levi’s Stadium in front of 76,000 fans. Bottom: Total Divas
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What’s it like being where you are now? DEAN AMBROSE: I made a pretty good name for myself before I got here— hustling and working every single possible indie promotion and all over the world for years, and through YouTube, creating the biggest buzz I could for myself. I figured then that W WE wasn’t something I was destined for; I was gonna be a little cult hero in my own little niche. And at the time, I was totally happy with that, even though I always knew in the back of my mind that I wanted to be over there. So I think it’s a cop-out when you go, “Oh, well, I don’t wanna go there.” Back then, nothing came of it materially, but I felt like I was as good as anybody in the world and I’d never get to prove it. Once I got here, it was about climbing the ladder. But that was all just icing on the cake. By then, I wasn’t seeking validation or approval from anybody. The successes for me aren’t championships or any of that kind of shit. It’s that I get to do what I love and get paid for it, and it’s fun. And we get to do Make-AWish, meet kids and be an inspiration to people, and that’s such a blessing. How many people would love to be in that position? I was able to pay my mom’s house off, I have a home for myself, and another bonus was I was able to meet the one woman on planet fuckin’ Earth that could ever put up with me. I feel like all the stars aligned. I’m one of those “I think the whole universe has a plan” kind of guys. And if you put enough good karma into the can, it’ll come back to you in the end. I feel like I’ve been able to put enough in by doing enough of the right thing … YOUNG: Your karma can is looking good.
TASTE
TOPSHOP in Fashion Show blue track pants HELMUT LANG top and ALEXANDER WANG shoes from Neiman Marcus in Fashion Show JEWELCULT. com corset choker
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What do you have to do to get to where you are? AMBROSE: When I was a kid and first started wrestling, I would go to practice—they gave me a key to let myself in—I’d go in there and lift weights for a couple of hours and then roll around and practice. It’d be three hours of conditioning, wrestling, running, and then I’d stick around for another hour and wrestle. Then I’d go to my job and work at this factory from 11 at night till 7 in the morning Sunday through Thursday, which was the perfect indie wrestler job, because you got the weekends off. I’d get off at 7 in the morning from lifting these metal things onto hooks or whatever. Then I’d get home and just put in wrestling tapes. I’d have guys make me tapes, like, “Give me a six-hour tape of the Rock ’n’ Roll Express,” and I would sit there and watch wrestling all the time, trying to learn. I’d see somebody do a move, and I’d head to the school and I’d try the move. I feel like I’ve watched every match that ever happened anywhere, ever. But still, you’re constantly looking at it and surrounded by it. My first two years on the road, I did Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday—every single week for two years. I was home for 36 hours a week, if that. A lot of times I wouldn’t even go home, ’cause it just didn’t make any sense to fly from Allentown, Pennsylvania, or Philly or whatever on a Wednesday morning just to fly back on Friday morning to New Jersey. So I [would] just kick it in New Jersey for a couple of days.
G-STAR RAW jeans and bomber jacket HANES black tank BOOTS Ambrose’s own Opposite page: EXILE BOUTIQUE on Main Street Viper Room T-shirt
I’M ONE OF THOSE ‘I THINK THE WHOLE UNIVERSE HAS A PLAN’ KIND OF GUYS.
I [WAS] EXCITED FOR PEOPLE TO SEE DEAN AND I AND THE SHIT THAT WE GET UP TO.
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RESTAURANT REVIEW
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CHASER T-shirt, reptile-eye necklace and rings from Exile Boutique TOPSHOP red vinyl pants and boots
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RESTAURANT REVIEW
gonna take a shot at this wrestling thing.” You won’t have the urgency to really go for it. YOUNG: It needs your full focus. I read that in a Janis Joplin book one time, and it stood out to me so much when she was saying that she didn’t want to have a fallback plan. I was like, “Oh, yeah, of course.” AMBROSE: I never looked at this as a job or a career until I got to the big-time. Then it was, “Oh, this is how I pay my bills.” Before that, I didn’t really have any bills. Maybe some rent, because I did a lot of couch surfing and being a vagabond; wrestling was just what I did. Now it’s a job because now I actually make money out of it. You gotta have that mentality.
What about people who say wrestling is fake? AMBROSE: We let everybody go behind the scenes and we make no effort anymore as a business to make it seem real. I don’t take myself too seriously. It’s 2017, [and] if you say wrestling’s fake, I’m not gonna flip out or whatever— you’re just uninformed. To me, there’s nothing fake about the miles that I’ve put on my body or the actual work that goes into perfecting this as a craft. I put in the same hours to get good at this as a surgeon who went to college. It’s just a much less important job in the realm of society. But as far as the man-hours you put in, it’s hard to do. And there’s nothing fake about the injuries, the risk and how dangerous this is. It’s extremely dangerous. But I won’t be offended by [the comments]; people say it all the time. How about fan fiction? YOUNG: You know what I saw the other day—it must’ve been on my Instagram or on Twitter or something, but somebody tagged me in it—it was a shirt that was a picture, obviously a fan-drawn cartoon thing of just you and Roman [Reigns, a fellow WWE Superstar] in ... a deep embrace. I wanted to buy it. [Laughs] It was a thing on Etsy, a real thing that I could’ve bought. It was hysterical. AMBROSE: There are psychotic fans. YOUNG: Insane. AMBROSE: Especially, like, I think I draw a certain … I think a lot of my particular— YOUNG: Fan base? AMBROSE: I have a particular demographic. I think I appeal to a lot of people who might have problems of their own [and] they relate to me. It’s cool when you can help and inspire people and stuff, but sometimes people just attach to you for strange reasons, [and] their behavior is not the best. Like what? AMBROSE: I’ve been stalked, I’ve been— YOUNG: I get many a death threat. Death threats? YOUNG: Well, I mean, there’s a lot of anti–Renee Young pages out there.
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AMBROSE: It’s actually good to make this point. But without going into too much detail, I’ve been stalked on the phone and my home and hotels, to the point where it’s a little Single White Female scary, though I’m pretty sure I’m not gonna get beaten up and kidnapped by a 15-year-old girl. YOUNG: I don’t know … there are a lot of steroids in foods now. AMBROSE: I’ve been stalked fairly regularly for the last two years. I have to go to great lengths to keep that shit at bay. What if you hadn’t become a wrestler? AMBROSE: I have nothing to offer you. I can’t remember a time when wrestling wasn’t the only thing that I thought about or cared about or did or had any intention of doing. But if I would stop wrestling now and had to do something else, I think I can make a hell of a park ranger. YOUNG: Or a private eye. AMBROSE: I like getting into stuff; I like investigating. I’m a big outdoorsy person who fell in love with Vegas, and I’m huge into mountain biking, hiking and rock climbing. I love being outside. I love being able to see the mountains every day. So to work here … that’s not a bad job. Sit out in Red Rock all day just saying hello to people. That ain’t that bad. I’ve Googled this before, actually. That seems like a decent job, just hanging out in the park, going around, counting flowers, freeing raccoons from traps and stuff. YOUNG: Check out the flora and the fauna. I think that there’s definitely something to be said that when you don’t have a fallback plan, you have to just do it. It does really require all of your attention to get it off the ground, right? AMBROSE: Having a fallback plan isn’t a bad idea, but if you ain’t got one, fuck it. Just go for it and see what happens. Because if you don’t have one, that probably means you’re so single-minded that you’re gonna have the drive necessary to make it happen for yourself. YOUNG: You have to make it work. AMBROSE: Because if you’re like, “Well, you know what, my fallback plan is to be a nurse, but I’m
And now you’ve starred in a movie. What was that like? AMBROSE: I knew nothing about acting or how movies were done. I had no intention, but for whatever reason, they thought I’d be good in this movie, the 12 Rounds franchise, which John Cena and Randy Orton—two of the biggest stars of this generation—had done. For the third installment, they asked me. I said, “Hell, yeah, I’ll be in a movie. Are you kidding me? Let’s do it.” And it was hard work. I got off the road, went straight to the set—14-hour days, every day for five weeks. And I got off the set, got right in a plane and was back in the ring the next day. It was a cool deviation, something new. I found the fight scenes were so much fun. “OK, punch, kick, punch, throw him on the ground, pick him up, duck the knife, hit him in the gut, grab the glass bottle, hit him over the head.” And it was a 10- to 12-move thing; I picked it up instantly. Because I’m a professional wrestler, a choreographed fight scene might come easier to me. The thing is, W WE performers are the Navy SEALs of entertainment. You might go out there on Smackdown Live with no net, talk for five minutes and then wrestle for 20 minutes, and at the end of it, plummet off a 20-foot ladder and through a table. You might have to do dialogue, a 20-minute fight scene and a stunt that you do yourself, all in the span of 30 minutes, all live, one take, on TV. YOUNG: Like entertainment boot camp. AMBROSE: We’re doing all these things live on the fly and bing, bam, boom, we’re so used to the high pressure of it. YOUNG: When I came to W WE, I was almost an outsider because I don’t wrestle, and I did TV shows prior, but I think the stigma that comes with W WE, of people thinking that they’re bad actors or whatever, it’s bullshit, because they have to go out on a drop of a hat. There’s no rehearsal. There’s nothing even close to it anywhere else. It’s crazy. What about when you have to do something you don’t necessarily believe in? AMBROSE: I’ve gotten asked to do things that, sometimes, I think, “That’s stupid.” If you do anything a hundred percent, if you commit to it, even if sucks, it’ll at least suck a hundred percent. One my favorites was when Vince [McMahon, the driving
force behind WWE] wanted me to carry this little red wagon full of weapons around the ring in Brooklyn, the hardest audience that we have. And I’m getting ready for a fight with Brock Lesnar. So I’m like, “I’m about to go into a match that will be a fight to the death with the beast incarnate, who’s going to probably kill me—this is not a time for laughs. If I come out there with a little red wagon, they’re gonna laugh at me.” But he’s like, “No, you’re not even gonna look at Brock. You’re just gonna pull that wagon, put your weapons in it, walk around, go to the back.” YOUNG: And it was great. AMBROSE: He said, “Because it’s not a joke to you. This wagon is serious”—and in Vince’s mind, he saw it a certain way, and I went, “All right, fine, OK. I’ll drag the little red wagon, and I’m gonna drag the shit out of that little red wagon.” And I went out there, was mean-muggin’ with this little red wagon, and it was so ridiculous, but I took it seriously. They loved it, and I was like, “I cannot believe that worked.”
ment. It’s fun.” So I was like, “I’m gonna have some fun with this.” And it turns out Total Divas is superfun. You do fun activities. I act like a goofball on TV, and even if they tried to sneak up on me and film me when I didn’t know they were there, I’m like a ninja. I can sniff a camera; I’m like a freakin’ bighorn sheep in the desert. I can sniff a camera from a hundred yards away. Nobody’s filming me when I’m not allowing it. So I don’t feel like there’s an invasion of privacy or anything weird like that. Why do wear a shirt when you wrestle? AMBROSE: I said, “What I’m going to do is dress as plain as humanly possible.” I’m not going to wear anything fancy, I’m not going to have fancy music, I’m not going to have fancy pyro—I’m literally just going to be a dude walking into the ring. I’m going to look like I just got off
work from a construction site and I am now punching you in the face. That was my goal—be as simple as humanly possible. I pretty much stick to Hanes or Fruit of the Loom. You can wear large, you know, but you like to make it a little snug sometimes, shape the contours. It’s best to leave a little bit to the imagination, then at a certain point in the evening, in the match when the intensity is high, you get to rip off the shirt. YOUNG: He is a secret stripper. AMBROSE: You get a big pop for that. And then you can throw the shirt to somebody. It gives you another prop to work with. You can get your shirt ripped off or halfway ripped off, and then you look like you’ve been beaten up a lot more than you really have. YOUNG: You’re just a piece of meat. 7
What’s the reality of reality TV? YOUNG: Doing reality TV is a different beast. He and I, we’ve always been very private about our relationship for the most part, so for us to have that on a reality show. … I’ve been doing television for over a decade. I’ve never been nervous for something to air. And I [was with Total Divas]— you’re so vulnerable. I [was] excited for people to see Dean and I and the shit that we get up to. There [were] nine cast members [and] a lot going on, but I think just delving into the relationships of so many of the people at W WE [was] really cool. AMBROSE: I hated it at first—hated the idea of it, hated the thought of it. I was like, “Hell, no.” But it’s just like any other television show. It’s entertainment. YOUNG: If I’m at a TV broadcast, the cameras are gonna be there and they’re following you. They’ve come to our house and filmed. We’ve been lucky enough to go on really great vacations with Total Divas. They will catch you in your moments, definitely. I think the biggest thing that tripped me out when I first started doing the show was that I would fall asleep and I’d wake up and still think that the cameras were on me. It was a very bizarre experience of always being on camera—I got over it, but it took me a couple of weeks. AMBROSE: I did a 180 on it. Once I saw how it works, I was like, “Oh, well, this is just entertain-
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Like That?
Drink This!
By Kirk Peterson, Certified Sommelier Photography Krystal Ramirez
SUBSTITUTE ONE FLAVOR PROFILE FOR ANOTHER AND FIND YOUR NEW FAVORITE BEVERAGE
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IPA ⇨ Sauvignon Blanc
If you love the fresh, herbaceous and citrusy aromas of hops, then sauvignon blanc—especially from New Zealand or the Loire Valley of France—will be right up your alley. Both share a similar class of terpene and pyrazine, the flavor compounds that are responsible for the pungently pleasing aromas of grapefruit, grass and pine that make Stone Ruination Double IPA 2.0 and Sancerre so refreshing. Luckily, sauvignon blanc doesn’t contain any of the bitter compounds present in highly hopped beers, making it all the more food-friendly.
Bourbon ⇨ Tawny Port
If you need something to ease the pain of a limited supply of Pappy Van Winkle, it’s time for you to try tawny port. Tawny port is ruby port that has been left to age for extended periods in barrels, where it is transformed into an intentionally oxidized (think nutty flavors) style of medium dry to fully sweet wine. Like bourbon, tawny port is most commonly made in a house style reflective of the philosophy of each individual producer. Unlike bourbon, however, tawny port’s age statement is not an absolute declaration of age, but rather an equation to reflect the flavor profile of the stated age for the sake of consistency (i.e., an 8-year-old wine is blended with 12-yearold wine to replicate the flavor of a 10-year-old wine year after year). You might as well get accustomed to this practice now—most major producers of Scotch, Japanese and bourbon whiskeys are adopting this method as demand for their products increases globally.
Green Smoothie ⇨ Red Wine
If health is a main priority, then you’re going to want to look for red wines that have high levels of resveratrol, which is thought to have a range of beneficial health effects, including a reduced risk of cancer and heart disease. Red Burgundy— touted as a curative for hundreds of years by everyone from Napoleon Bonaparte to Louis XIV—is loaded with the stuff. Pinot noir (the grape from which red Burgundy is made) has notoriously high levels of the antioxidant, particularly when grown in cooler climates such as the Burgundy region of France.
Soda ⇨ Moscato
Whether it’s Diet Coke or Mountain Dew that’s your weakness, Moscato is soon to be your new favorite wine. If you haven’t tried it yet … sorry, have you been living under a rock? Moscato consumption has increased in the United States by more than six times in recent years, thanks in large part to shout-outs from artists such as Kanye West and Drake, who champion its consumption in their songs. Fresh and peachy, fizzy but not fully sparkling and an exceptional value for the money, Moscato is proving to be a great gateway for the uninitiated in the wine game.
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Coffee ⇨ Madeira
If you’re the type who’s happy to wait the few extra minutes at the pour-over bar for your Ethiopian heirloom, then Madeira, from the Madeira Islands of Portugal, is for you. The islands were happened upon in 1419 by a Portuguese explorer named Zarco the Squinter (absolutely true—Google it). Wine production became one of the principal industries because of its ideal location for restocking trade ships headed to the Cape of Good Hope. During these long trips, it was discovered that the time on board not only improved the wine’s flavor but also made it impervious to spoilage because of the slow process of cooking and oxidizing, as ships sailed through the hot equatorial oceans in a process now called estufagem. The result is a ghostly apparition of wine: dark and rich, slightly bitter with delicate nut, toffee and citrus aromas. In fact, Thomas Jefferson was an enormous fan (both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution’s completion were toasted with Madeira), and there are still bottles from his collection dating back to the 1800s that have survived and are perfectly drinkable. So even if you don’t try Madeira, it at least makes for an interesting story to tell over coffee. 7
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Water
Works
One Night for One Drop March 3, Zumanity Theatre inside New York-New York, 7:30 p.m., $100-$325, onenight.onedrop.org
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL CHANGES LIVES ONE DROP AT A TIME By Genevie Durano
W
e in the desert are probably more cognizant of our water consumption than the rest of the country, but we don’t even come close to really understanding what certain parts of the world go through in search of clean water. Consider these stunning figures: 663 million people around the world lack access to safe water. In Asia and Africa, a woman walks an average of 3.7 miles to retrieve water. A child dies every 90 seconds from a disease caused by contaminated water. This global crisis is the reason for One Drop Foundation, a charity arm of Cirque du Soleil. For the fifth year, the foundation is staging One Night for One Drop, an evening of performance that includes 61 Cirque performers and guest entertainers—this year’s celebrity cameos include William Shatner, America’s Got Talent winner Grace VanderWaal and The Tenors. It’s a star-studded event that has one mission in mind: to raise money so people around the world can have better access to clean water. The foundation focuses on the most vulnerable areas, says Jerry Nadal, senior vice president of Cirque’s res-
ident shows division and a board member of the One Drop Foundation. “The entire African continent is one,” he says. “There [are] huge swaths of South America, regardless of the rainforest, and big parts of Asia that have severe water issues. And then, up until this winter, it was right here in the western part of the United States. I can’t say one winter is enough to cure the drought, but there’s a lot more water that’s needed to get everything back to where it needs to be, particularly to support the population growth that’s happened, not just in California, but right here in Vegas.” While One Night for One Drop may last for just a few hours, production of the show takes nearly a full calendar year to implement. “This year’s One Drop performance is on March 3. We’ll let everybody breathe for a week and then we come back, do a bit of a postmortem and assess if everything went the way we wanted. [Then] we start laying the groundwork for the following year.” Nadal says. The foundation has an even longer view on how the dollars raised at the event are used to make an impact on people’s lives. It’s a commitment that takes many years to carry out success-
fully. “Over 70 percent of [water-related projects] fail within one year of being implemented. ... Companies and organizations drop in, either drill a well or fix a well, and get out. There’s no sustainable effort put behind it,” Nadal says. “Our goal is to go in with a sustainable program. We do two years’ worth of work … drilling wells, laying in the irrigation piping and cleaning wells. Then we spend the next two to three years educating the local population and training them on how to maintain all of that equipment.” Once a system is in place to bring clean water into remote villages, women and girls who would walk miles each day to better the village people’s lives are freed of such hardship, Nadal says. “These women [are then able to apply for] microloan programs and start companies. It’s a multipronged approach, not just solving a water and sanitation issue.” Consider these other figures: $24 million have been raised since One Night for One Drop’s first performance in 2013. The ticket price for the show is $100, which is all it takes to significantly transform someone’s life forever. 7
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SOCIAL INFLUENCE
Will the Rebels Run Again? 5 steps for UNLV to return to the NCAA tournament
M
arch Madness is here, and barring a miraculous run by UNLV in the Mountain West Conference, UNLV will not be in the NCAA tournament for the fourth straight year. So how can Marvin Menzies turn one of the worst seasons in UNLV history into an NCAA tournament team by next season? We have a few ideas. 1. CONTINUE ACQUIRING TALENT
Recruiting is the key to any program. Menzies will need to keep adding high-level talent each year. UNLV won’t need to bring in top 10-caliber classes to compete successfully in the Mountain West or make the NCAA tournament, but the Rebels do need to upgrade the roster. Even before Menzies’ 2017 class shows what it can do, next year’s team has already seen an immediate upgrade, as Jordan Johnson, a transfer from Milwaukee who was second in the country in assists last season, and Dwayne Morgan, who should get a medical redshirt after seeing his season end due to injury, take the floor. 2. KEEP SCHEDULING TOUGH
This season UNLV was overmatched in games against Duke, Kansas, Oregon and Arizona State. But those are the games the Rebels need to keep playing. The Mountain West has fallen off the national scene and doesn’t provide many opportunities for quality wins in conference play, so UNLV will have to pick up key wins in its nonconference games. Next year, the Rebels will host Arizona and play in the MGM Grand Main Event with Rice, Ole Miss and Utah. Despite the highlight games this season, UNLV’s nonconference itinerary ranked outside the top 250 in strength of schedule. That’s due to the likes of Incarnate Word and Northern Arizona showing up on it. The school needs to play the top teams, and the entire schedule needs to be improved to impress the NCAA tournament committee. 3. WIN IN THE MOUNTAIN WEST
Dave Rice kept up tough scheduling and even managed to knock off highly ranked teams in nonconference play, but his teams fell flat in conference play. If Menzies can grab high-end talent and beat some ranked teams early in the year, he’ll need to follow it up with a solid performance in the Mountain West. 4. DEVELOP TALENT
Top players such as Johnson and Morgan need to be stars for UNLV to make the NCAA tournament, but some of the current Rebels will need to grow into consistent
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By Tyler Bischoff
players. Can Cheickna Dembele become a threat on both ends of the floor? Will Jalen Poyser return to his efficient form from early this season? Can Troy Baxter Jr. improve his shot selection and find his way into the rotation? There is talent on the roster, but it hasn’t performed consistently. 5. PACK THOMAS & MACK
UNLV’s budget deficit is largely due to lagging attendance at UNLV basketball games. The Rebels will likely end this season in the top 50 of attendance across the nation, but the crowds have seriously declined. Getting people back to the Thomas & Mack will go a long way in helping the athletic department reverse its deficit.
Attendance will come with winning, but next season will provide a new challenge for UNLV, as the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights will begin to play at T-Mobile Arena. UNLV is now in a major league town, where fans will often have another option for sports entertainment. Next year may be too soon to expect Menzies to put the Rebels into the NCA A tournament. But the roster will be better, which should lead to more wins and the start of the rebuilding process. The main issue will be how quickly Menzies can end that process and turn UNLV into a consistent power player in the Mountain West—and a yearly NCA A tournament contender. 7
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March (Money) Madness The NCAA tourney’s economic impact on the Las Vegas Strip By David G. Schwartz
It is the biggest sports betting event of the year, bar none. True, the Big Game in the first week of February generates more excitement and action than any other single sports event, but the collective wagering on the March Madness tournament is far bigger than anything else in Nevada sports betting. As is usually the case, though, the real impact extends far beyond the betting window. Last year, for example, Nevada sportsbooks accepted about $132 million in bets on the Super Bowl, and won $13 million. The college basketball total for March—mostly made up of tournament wagers—was about $296 million, with $15 million kept by the books. That’s quite a bit of money, to be sure, but it’s far less than the $500 million or so that slot machines bring in each month to the state. And if that $15 million was split up equally among the state’s 191 licensed betting locations, we’re talking a total of under $79,000 each—enough to keep the bills paid, probably, but not exactly windfall profits. In the past decade, the amount bet on the tournament has almost doubled. That’s more about the expanding popularity of sports betting itself, though, since the percentage of money bet on the tournament has remained close to 65 percent of all money bet at the books in March. Last year saw the biggest total bet on March Madness yet, and this year’s will likely be even bigger, but betting in general is increasing. So why do casinos put so much effort into promoting the tournament if it makes so little money for them? A little money is better than no money, but more importantly, the deeper answer is that gambling is increasingly becoming a lure to sell hotel rooms, rather than being the moneymaker itself. Visitors in March typically fill about a half-million more room nights than February and slightly more than April, and while visitors making the trip to bet aren’t the only reason for this increase, they do contribute. Even if the games themselves aren’t significant profit centers for casinos, the tourism they inspire is. Further, sportsbook directors like March Madness because there are a number of decisions to bet on—67 total games, each with a point spread, over/under and halftime numbers. That’s a better bet than the Super Bowl, which, with everything riding on one game and sometimes one play, can swing either way. The percentage of bets won by sportsbooks on the Super Bowl has swung from -2.8% (the New York Giants’ disastrous upset of the New England Patriots in 2008) to 16.5% (the Seattle Seahawks’ 2015 stomping of the Denver Broncos). Bouncing between 5% and 7%, March Madness has always been relatively reliable for books. The key to casinos’ increasing buy-in to March Madness, then, is a dependable but not exceptional gaming revenue stream, and fuller hotels and restaurants. As long as the tournament continues to deliver those, expect college basketball to remain a springtime focus in Las Vegas. 7
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SOCIAL INFLUENCE
GREEN FELT JOURNAL
30 Years of Tribal Gaming Las Vegas’ greatest casino competitor cuts the bottom line but increases opportunities
By David G. Schwartz
FEBRUARY 25, 1987, was a milestone date for gambling
in America. On that day, the United States Supreme Court handed down its decision in California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, a verdict that paved the way for the rapid expansion of casino gambling on tribal lands in the decades to follow. Thirty years on, the Court’s decision still reverberates throughout the casino industry and Las Vegas. First, an important note: Neither the Cabazon decision nor the following year’s Indian Gaming Regulatory Act created or legalized tribal gaming. On the contrary, tribes had been offering various kinds of gambling for years, which is how the Cabazon Band ended up in court in the first place. A small tribe of Cahuilla Indians located between Indio and Palm Springs in Riverside County, California, the Cabazon offered bingo games to the general public, as did the nearby Morongo Band; the Cabazon also opened a card room. The state of California and Riverside County sued to shut down these gambling operations, arguing that the tribes’ bingo games flouted state bingo betting limits. After a lengthy legal battle, the Supreme Court found that, although the state had legitimate concerns about possible organized crime infiltration of high-stakes bingo, any state regulation would “impermissibly infringe” on tribal government. The decision affirmed a ruling previously enunciated by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Butterworth: If a state permitted gambling, tribes were allowed to offer that type of gambling without state regulation or interference. Unless a state made gambling illegal, it could do nothing to prevent tribal gaming operations. It is worth saying that government figured deeply into California v. Cabazon. In his majority decision, Justice Byron White specifically noted that California, far from barring gambling, operated a lottery and “daily encourage[d] its citizens to participate in this state-run gambling.” The state, far from exercising police powers to restrict undesirable behaviors by its citizens, was in the gambling business. Since the state was a promoter of gambling, the Court held that it regulated rather than prohibited gambling, with a few enumerated exceptions. It is also worth pointing out that this decision did not come from an envelope-pushing activist court. As White noted in his decision, President Ronald Reagan’s 1983 Statement on Indian Policy had endorsed bingo as a method of reducing tribal dependence on federal funds, and that the Department of the Interior had promoted tribal bingo. Public-interest gambling had been expanding in the United States since 1925, when Florida legalized racetrack pari-mutuel wagering, and successive waves of racing, bingo and lottery legalization have made gambling an essential contributor to many state budgets. California v. Cabazon’s impact was immediate. The following year, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act provided a framework for tribal gambling operations and for the compacts (treaties) between tribes and states necessary for Class III gambling, which included Las Vegas–style casinos. These compacts allowed for revenue sharing between tribes and states, which greatly incentivized states to broker deals with tribes. By 1996, tribal casinos nationwide were earning more than Atlantic City or the Las Vegas Strip, and tribal casinos have grown even as commercial casinos have multiplied. Today, Indian casinos make about $30 billion annually in revenue, about three-quarters the total of their commercial rivals. Tribal gaming has had a twofold impact on Nevada casinos. Its spread in California, the Pacific Northwest and Arizona has slowed revenue growth from Lake Tahoe to Laughlin, although Las Vegas has proven more resilient. With California’s total revenues estimated near $7 billion, it’s easy to see Indian casinos as the winner of a zero-sum game: Every dollar wagered in the Golden State is a dollar not bet in Nevada. But there’s another dimension to that growth. Tribal casinos offer career opportunities at every level, increasing the value of job skills specific to the
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TIME HAS PROVEN THAT A MATURE TRIBAL GAMING INDUSTRY AND LAS VEGAS CAN NOT ONLY COEXIST, BUT CAN BOLSTER EACH OTHER.
gaming industry. It used to be that casino employees and managers would face a substantial career readjustment if they wanted to move outside of Nevada or Atlantic City. Now, leaving Las Vegas doesn’t necessarily mean exiting the casino business, as tribes from California to Connecticut have hired line employees and managers with Las Vegas pedigrees. In the early years of tribal gaming, it didn’t seem that way—industry attitudes were more likely to be hostile or dismissive—but time has proven that a mature tribal gaming industry and Las Vegas can not only coexist, but can bolster each other. Back in 1987, few Strip pit bosses could have imagined that a Supreme Court decision about tribal bingo might create an alternate career path for them, but today it’s taken for granted. Thirty years after California v. Cabazon, there might be fewer people coming to Nevada to gamble, but there’s a little bit of Las Vegas planted in the most unlikely soil. 7 David G. Schwartz is the director of UNLV’s Center for Gaming Research.
SPACES & PLACES
Luxe Rust 1300 S. Main St. 11 a.m.–6 p.m. luxerust.com @luxerust
Treasures From TRASH
By Jason R. Latham Photography Cierra Pedro
Downtown’s restoration shop Luxe Rust fills a niche in the Las Vegas antiques market
F
rom their corner shop in Downtown’s Arts District, Daniel Bennett and Carolyn Wright are out to prove that everything old can be new again, long after they’ve served their original purpose. The couple recently opened Luxe Rust in the space previously occupied by Medusa’s Antiques, and have been hitting up scrap yards and landfills in their quest to find rustic, industrial and mid-century fixtures to transform into modern heirlooms. That includes everything from discarded dental cabinets and steel lockers to casino art installations, like the one likely from Caesars that Bennett converted into a 14-foot curved sofa. “All of these parts and pieces that have been forgotten about, there’s so much craftsmanship in those [items],” he says. “They’re from this time frame that people want to hold onto.” Bennett began repurposing and selling old furnishings while running a cabinet shop in Bend, Oregon. He owned the business for a decade before selling it and joining Wright in Las Vegas. Together, they have an eye for
seeing potential in pieces that others have tossed in the trash. On a recent trip to Beatty, Nevada they pulled over to collect “a bunch of rusty stuff” someone had left on the side of a road. “I was like, ‘We’re taking it,’ because you just never know,” Wright says. Sometimes a single item just needs a polish to restore its shine; other times it can inspire a larger piece such as an old oven that was once used to make dental molds. After finding 10 of those ovens in a scrap yard with other dental fixtures, Bennett reworked them into a line of cabinets and found no shortage of buyers willing to take them home. Luxe Rust, Bennett says, was born out of not only the couple’s shared passion for preserving antiques, but also their belief that people still value custom furniture over mass-produced, easily disposable items that will “fall apart after two moves.” “It’s the idea of having pieces like our parents did and their parents did, having value in those pieces,” Bennett says. “We can build something or take something that is sentimental and convert it for you, and it will still have value.” 7
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SPACES & PLACES
By Jarret Keene Photography Cierra Pedro
Game on REBOOT COMMANDS A NEW NICHE IN VIDEO GAME LOUNGES esse Short is an afternoon tutor, prepping high schoolers across the Valley for admission into universities. He has had success securing the educational future of many teenagers who would rather be playing video games. So the fact that Short, once he’s through helping a student comprehend the laws of exponents, stays up late besting opponents online is a delicious irony. Of course, these nights, Short, 32, isn’t online much. That’s because he has been busy unveiling a dream of his: a place where people can relax with snacks and play favorite home console video games from their youth. We’re talking Pitfall!, Altered Beast and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. And so many more. The idea of a social, retro-themed video game lounge came to Short nearly a decade ago when he was living in Boston. Back then, he worked a job, went home and played games for hours with dozens of people online—but the feeling he enjoyed as a child was gone. He was isolated, even while being digitally connected with others. “It wasn’t like going home after the school bell, turning on Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo, whooping your best friend, sticking your finger in his face and laughing,” he says. “Sounds mean, but that’s what we did. And it was fun.” Short and his gaming buddies missed gathering around the Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis systems. So he started tinkering with the idea of a retro-video game salon. The economy crashed in 2008, just as he got a plan together. Many expressed interest in the project; however, there wasn’t a bank or investor willing to support such an endeavor. Short shelved the project to focus on his tutorial business, and then met Reboot co-founders Brian Newman and Pat Hamilton at a local anime convention last summer. The three began meeting to, well, pong ideas off each other. The result is Reboot, boasting four decades’ worth of home consoles, everything from Intellivision (which debuted in 1979) to the current PlayStation 4—and many (if not most) of the games you can play on them. Indeed, 80 percent of the games in the lounge are from the pre-2000 era. And the price of playing all of them seems crazy low: $6 for two hours, or $14 for an all-day pass. “We offer the retro, the nostalgia, the old school, the social games,” says Short. “We offer Street Fighter on Super Nintendo, which you can play together and scream when your combination attacks don’t work.” Reboot’s three-day grand opening was crammed with screenings of movie adaptations
J Reboot Video & Tabletop Game Lounge 2950 S. Durango Dr., Suite 100, rebootgaminglv.com Clockwise from top: Gaming lounge; manga library; anime toys
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of video games—1982’s Tron, 1993’s Super Mario Bros., 1995’s Mortal Kombat. In the lead-up to the event, Reboot was in a soft-opening phase, with customers in their mid-20s to early 40s coming in strictly for the powerful nostalgia factor. And that’s still happening. A middle-aged parent dropped in with her kids during the opening event. Once she heard the lounge offers Joust on the Atari 2600 (1977), she was cranking a four-directional, orange-buttoned black joystick for more than an hour. We wonder: Will her children have to drag her away for dinner? Who can blame her? Reboot boasts 35 consoles hooked up to 20 TVs and comfy, Mountain Dew-proof, custom-made bean-bag chairs for guests to game in. There’s a giant Mortal Kombat mural, a Ms. Pac-Man stage, plus art from Sonic the Hedgehog, Kirby’s Adventure and Star Fox, as well as random Metroid and Mario imagery. The game environment here is cozy and complete. “Wherever we’re at in our lives, we always feel a longing to go back to what we remember and what we loved,” says Short. “I feel our offerings give people an opportunity to travel back in time for a moment and relive the pleasure of early gaming.” There are places in town where you can play board games for a few hours with family and friends. There are places where you can play brand-new video game systems. But there aren’t many places where you can play board games, indulge in old and new video games, and peruse a vast manga library. Reboot is a onestop pop-culture shop for nerds. “Nerds,” says Short, “is a term I’m OK with. It used to be derogatory. People today have embraced it. Thankfully, we live in a time and place that allows you to be interested [in] what you love and you can do your own thing. We’re trying to combine all the aspects of nerd culture under one roof.” 7
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CONVERSATIONS
Still
Scoring PROFESSIONAL SOCCER PLAYER
HÉRCULEZ GÓMEZ RETIRES WITH A BROADCASTING DEAL AT ESPN
Hérculez Gómez (left) and Severo Meza.
By Rob Miech
THE MOST DECORATED L AS VEGAS SOCCER PL AYER could not afford the $100 youth fee to partake in the Olympic Development Program, and no colleges recruited him out of Las Vegas High. But throughout his professional career, Hérculez Gómez tallied 85 goals in 345 matches over 16 professional seasons. A 5-foot-10 striker, he also scored 6 while wearing the U.S. national-team kit a total of 24 times. The 34-year-old announced his retirement on January 17. He has moved with his wife, Elsie, from Southern California to Bristol, Connecticut, embarking on a television career for several ESPN platforms. He took a break to chat about his journey. What do you recall about moving with your parents and four younger siblings from Oxnard, California, to Las Vegas when you were 9? The economy was sour. My parents
wanted a change. We got into an Astro van with everything we owned and drove up I-15. I remember going through the Mojave Desert. We got to Vegas; it was 124 degrees—insane. I got my first sunburn.
Is it bad to underestimate you? I’m stubborn. I
refuse to be told I’m not good enough, that I can’t make it. I’m very working class; it’s what I was shown growing up. Like many immigrants who come to this country, both of my parents had to work hard to make something of themselves, to help the family.
How thrilling was scoring your goal—the only one—in the World Cup qualifier on September 11, 2012, against Jamaica in Columbus, Ohio? A
very significant date in U.S. history. A must-win for us. It was a free kick from 30 yards … but I felt very confident. The crowd went nuts. Not the prettiest goal I ever scored, but one that meant the most.
In June 2010, you made your first World Cup start in South Africa in the final Group C match against Algeria. Was it just another match? No.
It hit me as I sang the national anthem. I realized, “Holy shit! I’m starting in a World Cup [game]!” I had built up that moment in my head my whole life. I could hear my own heartbeat! My first ohwow moment. And we won [1-0].
Were you still floating six months later at the Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates (with the C.F. Pachuca team)? I thought, “Wow,
soccer has really taken me here? Not many get to play in a World Cup, and now I’m playing in a Club World Cup in the same year?” Very special. To be in a place on Earth I could never think of visiting? To see that culture? I was in disbelief at Abu Dhabi International Airport. Surreal. What was the other big double take of your career? The LA Galaxy had an exhibition with Real
Madrid in July 2005. On a counterattack, I pushed the ball by a defender; another one was behind him, so I pulled up and crushed a 35-yarder. [It] almost went in. I backed up, stepped on a player
Photograpy Allen Kee/ESPN Images
and put my hand out. “Sorry.” I look again; it’s Zinedine Zidane. I [said], “Awwww, I’m so sorry!” One of the best players in the world! [Laughs] What do you recall about your first professional contract, a $40-a-month pact with Águilas Blancas in the Mexican second division?
Well, next was [the] MLS Development [Academy]; I think my first developmental contract, with the LA Galaxy, paid me $125 a month, and that was gross [not net]! I had some rough moments, but it’s because of those [times] that, when these good moments came by, I really cherished them, and it felt so much better.
You spent almost six seasons, with seven teams, in Liga MX in Mexico, and 11 with five MLS squads in the U.S. Is there a big difference between the two leagues? They are very
different. It’s like comparing the British Premier League, in England, versus La Liga, in Spain, in terms of style. There’s more money, in general, in Mexico; it’s the most in the Americas, behind Brazil, but [Liga MX] might have overtaken [Brazil] by now.
Has your affinity for Las Vegas increased with the possible relocation of your beloved Raiders here? It’s where I was taught life lessons. It’s
where my family still is. I enjoy coming back, [to] see how much it’s growing. This is the perfect opportunity … I hope they can piggyback an MLS team into it. 7
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ASK A NATIVE
CONVERSATIONS
By James P. Reza
Should we allow the Blue Diamond Hill gypsum mine to be redeveloped into a housing tract?
Like Mother, Like Daughter Singer-songwriter Molly Bergman forges a path in music By Genevie Durano
Photography Chris Ameruoso
Like most girls her age, 14-year-old Molly
Bergman has a strong opinion on the trajectory of Taylor Swift’s career. “I liked the old Taylor Swift. Her first album is more singer-songwriterly,” she declares. But Bergman, unlike most other 14-yearold girls, knows of what she speaks. An aspiring singer-songwriter herself, she’s been performing since she was 11, appearing in charity events and opening for her mother, comedian Rita Rudner. Her first EP, California Girl, was recently released— and she does song covers and posts them on her website (mollybergmanmusic.com). If you’ve ever seen a performance by Rudner, whose comedy career has spanned more than three decades, you’ll know that her source material draws on the foibles of marriage and the seemingly unbreachable planetary distance between the genders. But sitting with her at a Starbucks in Chinatown one afternoon with her talented progeny, it is clear that Rudner, for all her enjoyment of being a funnywoman, relishes the role of mom even more. She and Bergman have a playful rapport, with Mom’s sense of humor a wellspring of teasing and affection. For example, when asked what her songwriting process is like, Bergman replies, all businesslike, “Well, I do lyrics first. It’s mainly based on what it’s like being [a] 14-year-old. It’s about what’s going on in my life. Or, if I see my friends having a problem, I write about anything that’s happening, and then I work on the tunes.”
Proceeds from Bergman’s California Girl EP ($7 on iTunes and Spotify) benefit the Marty Hennessy Inspiring Children Foundation, a local mentoring, education and tennis organization.
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“But mostly, she says ‘I want,’” Rudner interjects. “A lot of sentences begin with ‘I want.’ So when she says, ‘I want to have a sleepover this weekend,’ I say, ‘If you want to have a sleepover this weekend, finish the song you’re working on, and you can have a sleepover.’ And she does that and she finishes the song. She’s never written a bad tune.” “There’s always [room for] improvement,” Bergman says modestly. “You say, ‘This is a little too repetitious,’ or ‘This could be in a higher key.’ You never stop working through something. But I write jokes through desperation and [the] fear that I’m never going to do it again, and she writes because of threats,” Rudner says, laughing. “But nothing comes if you’re happy and you’re doing well, so I try to make her as unhappy as possible. Because creativity comes through pain.” “Mommmm!” Bergman says, in the voice of mortified teenagers since the beginning of time. But in all seriousness, Bergman’s preternatural poise is most likely a result of being in the entertainment world all her life. She is also a gifted tennis player, beginning lessons at age 3—“She had a lot of energy and I had to get her out of the house,” Rudner deadpans. Bergman readily admits that she still gets nervous before she performs, but once onstage, she loves it. She sees herself having a solo career, though she doesn’t necessarily rule out being in a band. “I sing with my friend now, and it’s really fun singing with someone else,” she says. “As long as she enjoys it, I want her to keep doing it,” Rudner says. “[If] you find a passion and something you love to do, you’re set.” Mom would know. And with this kind of guidance, Bergman’s future is as bright as that California sun. 7
Almost from the moment developer Jim Rhodes purchased the 2,000-acre mine in 2003, this has been a charged issue. Located adjacent to Red Rock Canyon, the 92-year-old active mine is one of the largest in the country. It was born of a mining claim once held by Peter Buol, the first mayor of Las Vegas, when the site was an hour's haul from any concentrated population. In fact, Blue Diamond Road was only a two-laner from Interstate 15 to the Red Rock turnoff until the fairly recent development of Mountain's Edge, whose homes stretch almost all the way to the mine. Couple that with Summerlin homes abutting Red Rock Canyon's northern side along Charleston Boulevard, and it's understandable why conservationists and outdoor enthusiasts are jittery. Red Rock Canyon in general, as well as its 195,819-acre National Conservation Area, have long served as a pressure-relief valve for Las Vegas residents, combining nature with the living memory of what the west once was. Working ranches, the Spring Mountain Ranch State Park, shooting ranges, campsites, hiking and horseback riding trails, the fringy residential villages of Calico Basin and Blue Diamond—all make up the character of Red Rock Canyon, one that helps balance the glitz of the Strip. But Red Rock is a pastiche of public and private land, and therein lies the rub. Commercial and residential development already exist, so halting additional growth will always be a challenge. However, keeping zoning intact should not be a challenge. Current mine zoning permits the development of one residence per 0.75-acre, or roughly 1,200 homes; Rhodes has requested a zoning change that would permit 2.5 homes per acre, equaling 5,025 homes. Homeowners and concerned citizens should always carefully consider nonconforming zoning requests—slippery slope and all that. Given the choice between 1,200 zone-conforming homes versus an abandoned mine? I lean toward the homes. But 5,000 homes? That would turn Red Rock into a de facto urban park, and while there are urban nature-park success stories, 14,000 residents staring down from Blue Diamond Hill seems counterintuitive to the historic use and character of Red Rock Canyon. Perhaps ideally, the mine would be swapped with a less controversial parcel, creating a buffer as Summerlin did at the north end. Either way, if (as some say) this is a case of The Man vs. The People, we must acknowledge that the cost of the mine's environmental remediation will be enormous, no matter who pays it. Depending on our unpredictable economy and the outcome of various legal challenges from both sides, it's possible the land will never be developed, instead continuing on as a gypsum mine. Note: Gypsum makes drywall, and drywall builds houses. Ironic, isn't it? Have a question or comment about Las Vegas past, present or future? Send them to askanative@vegasseven.com
CONVERSATIONS
LUCKY NO. 7
We asked the WENDOH Media staff:
What is your favorite sports bar in town? Not a traditional sports bar per se, Topgolf’s jumbo screen offers one of the best ways to watch sporting events in Las Vegas. Swimming pools, driving-range golf bays and the open-air space make viewing games an experience unlike any other in the city. –Jessi C. Acuña, senior editor, lifestyle TAP Sports Bar is our spot every year for March Madness. Not a bad seat in the house and a fantastically short stumble to the sportsbook at MGM Grand. –Sim Salzman, chief financial officer
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The best sports bar in town is The Garage. I saw many of the last World Cup games there. Crown & Anchor is great and all, but you feel like a sardine when there’s a big soccer match. It felt great to be able to go to The Garage to watch all the games without having drunk, gross men hit on me or try to mansplain soccer to me. –Krystal Ramirez, staff photographer My couch. –Adam Smith, Life Is Beautiful production coordinator
Crown & Anchor on Tropicana, hands down. It’s a great place to enjoy a Carlsberg, a plate of chicken fingers and fries (the classic sports bar meal) and an interesting conversation with the people sitting next to you. –Matt Iles, account executive Born and Raised on Cimarron. I don’t even watch sports, but this is my favorite sports bar—so the place must be doing something right. I love the UNLV regalia on the walls; as an alumnus, it fills me with a sense of pride. There are
also so many TVs that you can’t not see the game. Oh, and the food is quite tasty. So many sliders! –Amber Sampson, web editor We like to go to Sapphire Las Vegas for UFC sporting events. They set up the showroom with large screens, food is available and there are raffle tickets and bottle service. Management and operations are stellar (shout out to Dave Wachs!), plus I got my picture taken with Miesha Tate there. Good times! –Kara Dennis, payroll/human resources manager
Photography Jon Estrada
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