2014 Nightlife Awards | Vegas Seven Magazine | November 13-19, 2014

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14 | THE LATEST“To Uber or Not to Uber?” by Geoff Carter and Lissa Townsend Rodgers.As the controversial car service rolls along in the Valley, two Seven staffers ride shotgun in their own debate.Plus, Life Time Athletic’s prodigious facility gets pulses racing.

16 | Politics “A Sharp Right Turn,” by Michael Green. What can Nevadans expect now that Republicans will be running the show in Carson City?

20 | NIGHTLIFE ISSUE 2014 Portraits of the people who keep the parties going, and celebrating the trends, venues and personalities of the nightlife industry. Plus, specialty picks from four tastemakers.

33 | NIGHTLIFE“Seeking Salvation,” by Kat Boehrer.XS resident Salva just dropped a rap album—quite the change from his dance-music ascent. Plus, a Q&A with DJ Waterfall and photos from the week’s hottest parties.

57 | DINING“Second Acts,” by Al Mancini.Three popular restaurants expand their reach to new locations.Plus, Al Mancini on Cleo, Dishing With Grace and Cocktail Culture.

63 | A&E“Metal Gods,” by Jarret Keene. Judas Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton talks indie rock, tombstone epitaphs and band rapport.Plus, the Bellagio’s egg-cellent tchotchkes, The Hit List, Tour Buzz and a review of KISS in concert.

68 | Stage“One Last Song in the Rain,” by Lissa Townsend Rodgers. Debbie Reynolds gives a family-filled curtain call, Vegas style.

69 | Movies Interstellar, Low Down and our weekly movie capsules.

80 | Going for Broke Puzzling point spread for marquee college matchup could be a trap.

86 | Seven QuestionsMiss Nevada/USA Nia Sanchez on taking aim at Miss Universe, empowering women and her ultimate dream job.

DEPARTMENTS

11 | Dialogue

15 | Seven Days

16 | The Deal

38 | Seven Nights

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ON THE COVER

Photograph by Jon Estrada at Foxtail inside SLS

2020

PUBLISHED IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE OBSERVER MEDIA GROUP

Vegas Seven, 888-792-5877, 3070 West Post Road, Las Vegas, NV 89118

Vegas Seven is distributed each Thursday throughout Southern Nevada

c 2014 Vegas Seven, LLC. Reproduction in whole or in part without the permission of Vegas Seven, LLC is prohibited.

LETTERS AND STORY IDEAS [email protected]

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PUBL ISHERMichael Skenandore

EDI T ORI A LEDITOR Matt Jacob

SENIOR EDITORS Paul Szydelko, Xania Woodman

A&E EDITOR Cindi Reed

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jason Scavone

SENIOR WRITERS Steve Bornfeld, Geoff Carter, Lissa Townsend Rodgers

ASSOCIATE STYLE EDITOR Jessica Acuña

CALENDAR COORDINATOR Camille Cannon

CON T RIBU T ING EDI T ORSMelinda Sheckells (style), Michael Green (politics),

Al Mancini (dining), David G. Schwartz (gaming/hospitality)

A R TCREATIVE DIRECTOR Ryan Olbrysh

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Jon Estrada, Cierra Pedro

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Anthony Mair

V EGASSE V EN.COMDIRECTOR OF DIGITAL MEDIA Nicole Ely

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Herbert Akinyele

ENGAGEMENT EDITOR Zoneil Maharaj

STAFF WRITER, RUNREBS.COM Mike Grimala

ASSISTANT WEB PRODUCER Amber Sampson

PRODUC T ION / DIS T RIBU T IONDIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION/DISTRIBUTION Marc Barrington

ADVERTISING MANAGER Jimmy Bearse

DISTRIBUTION COORDINATOR Jasen Ono

S A L ESBUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Christy Corda

DIGITAL SALES MANAGER Nicole Scherer

ACCOUNT MANAGER Brittany Quintana

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Robyn Weiss

IN T ERNS

Cassidy Bowman, Ian Caramanzana, Akira Hernandez, Melissa Holmes,

Jacqueline Konesavanh, Brien McCrea, Natalie Odisho, Joenita Turner, Christian Wilhelm

Ryan T. Doherty | Justin Weniger

PRESIDENT Michael Skenandore

VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING AND EVENTS Kyle Markman

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Sherwin Yumul

MARKETING COORDINATOR Maureen Hank

FIN A NCEVICE PRESIDENT Rey Alberto

ASSISTANT CONTROLLER Donna Nolls

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT Linda Nash

HUMAN RESOURCES COORDINATOR Kara Dennis

LAS VEGAS’ WEEKLY CITY MAGAZINE | FOUNDED FEBRUARY 2010

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DIALOGUE

SITES TO SEE

CONTRIBUTOR’S NOTE

The People’s Nightlife Issue

➜ Sometimes you have to tear things down to build them up—a lesson I’ve learned during 13 years in a city that isn’t afraid to lay dynamite and start fresh every now and again. So in planning Vegas Seven’s fifth annual nightlife issue—my 10th in as many years—I decided to implode the pre-vious blueprint and get elemental about nightlife. The essential build-ing block of a club isn’t the casino, the managers, the owners or even the (ahem) well-paid talent. As a former nightclub and bar manager myself, I know well that a venue lives and dies by the quality and dedication of its em-ployees. So that’s who we’re honoring this year.

The MVIP Awards celebrate the “Most Valuable Industry Player” at 17 of our city’s top clubs. We asked each club’s staff to nominate three contend-ers, then we convened a committee of Vegas Seven staffers, who voted for the winners you’ll see profiled starting on Page 20. As diverse as those winners are, so too are the contributors to this feature, with dining critic Al Mancini, DTLV.com’s Geoff Carter and senior writer Lissa Townsend Rodgers joining nightlife writers Kat Boehrer and David Morris, as well as the team from our sister publication, Vegas Rated.

Complementing the MVIP Awards are the Tastemaker Awards (see Page 27). Here, we turned over the decision making to a panel of 100 fixtures in the fashion, beverage, music and nightlife scenes. These tastemakers weighed in on 25 topics, everything from Best Champagne to Nightlife Story of the Year.

Of course, some traditions are worth preserving, which is why we retained the expert insiders panel, consisting of four individuals from different corners of the nightlife industry. They told us what’s important to them (and signed their names to it). This year, we tapped Pavan Pardasani, executive director of nightlife at Hakkasan Group; Natalia Badzjo, VIP services manager at XS and Tryst; and Garrett Pattiani, creator of Garrett’s Gay Guide. New this year, we also added a Latin nightlife expert, Carlos “DJ Ocho” Ochoa of Univision Radio.

Together, they put the life in nightlife. – Xania Woodman

FACEBOOK: /VegasSeven TWITTER: /7Vegas INSTAGRAM: /VegasSeven

LET THERE

BE ROCK

Two Downtown venues are team-ing up to turn 11th Street into a live music hub. DTLV.com editor Geoff Carter outlines what will change and what will stay the same at DTLV.com/LiveMusic.

KITTY CON

A lifelong Hello Kitty enthusiast visited the mother ship, attending the first-ever conven-tion, which cele-brated the brand’s 40th birthday in Los Angeles. Read her account at Vrated.com/ HelloKitty.

HONORING

OUR VETS

If you were at the Veterans Day Pa-rade on November 11, you might have glimpsed three large statues that will become part of a new Veterans Me-morial planned for Downtown. Nicole Ely has the details, including render-ings of the project, at DTLV.com/Vets.

LIFE IS …

A LAWSUIT?

Controversial artist/possible prankster Mr. Brainwash might be suing Life Is Beautiful for copyright infringe-ment. DTLV.com editor Geoff Carter speculates if the threat is real at DTLV.com/ Brainwash.

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“For at least the next two years, Nevada Republicans

can take credit for whatever goes right—but also

blame for whatever goes wrong.”

POLITICS {PAGE 16}

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Geoff Carter: I think we agree on one thing, Lissa: Las Vegas taxicabs pretty much suck. Considering the Escape From New York nature of this town—so many ways in, no way out—you’d think there would be a lot more helpful Ernest Borgnine types driving cabs, but noooooo. I’ve been refused cab service by drivers who don’t want to go to residential addresses; have smacked down at-tempted long hauls; and on several occasions I’ve called for cabs that never showed up. While I had simi-lar problems when I lived in Seattle, it was nowhere near this bad.

Lissa Townsend Rodgers: Yes, Vegas has taxicab issues. I once missed a plane because a cab would not take me to the airport—and I lived close enough to see the airport from my house, and not in the way Sarah Palin can see Russia: I could watch the wheels coming down as they approached the runway. The unreli-ability of Vegas cabs is why I fnally got a driver’s license at the age of 34.

Carter: Y’see, that’s why I’m excited to see Uber here. If Vegas’ cabs can’t get me to happy hour on time, how can I trust them to help me make my plane? The local cab companies had their chance; now, I’m into cars that show up promptly, show me the route they intend to take beforehand and cost slightly less than cabs. I’m not turning to Uber because all the kids are using it; I’m turning to it because Vegas’ cabs have utterly failed me.

Townsend Rodgers: Well, I don’t own a smartphone, and a 5,400-word terms-of-service agreement unnerves me, so I’ll probably never be an Uber customer. During CES, people bitched about not having Uber and the long waits for cabs at the Convention Center. But was that because there were no cabs, or be-cause it took time to get them in and

out? (You know techies: If they’re not getting what they want right now, they whine more than a 6-year-old who doesn’t get a cookie.) Will Para-dise Road be perpetually clogged with Uber drivers and cabs playing bumper cars, and conventioneers running through traffc?

Actually, bumper-car Convention-eer Frogger sounds kinda fun—but only if we get double points for run-ning down techies. …

Carter: I would buy a damn car if Nevada legalized Conventioneer Frogger. Where’s Paul Bartel when we need him?

CES is one week a year. We’re talking about a permanent alternative to taxi-cabs and drunken driving that millen-

nials actually want to use. I don’t know about you, but I’m happy to have those fernet-fueled lunatics off the roads.

Townsend Rodgers: There are conventions the other 51 weeks as well, so the mayhem will be pretty constant—not to mention a similar scene at the airport, adding to the Terminal 1 clusterfuck.

Also, Uber as a company seems pretty dickish. They want customers to call politicians on Uber’s behalf, but if you want to call Uber your-self … you can’t—there’s no phone number. Send an email, and maybe someone will get back to you. Uber drivers are promised salaries in the high fve fgures, but that’s more the exception than the rule, especially

with rate cuts. Drivers keep 80 per-cent of their take, but they also have to cover gas, maintenance, insur-ance, taxes, Uber fees and candy and water for passengers.

Carter: Hell, all tech companies are dickish. Google and Apple are dickish. Facebook is major dickish, and has never offered me candy. Doesn’t mean they don’t offer a use-ful service.

Townsend Rodgers: I mean dickish like, “Our driver wasn’t trying to kidnap that girl when he drove her around for two hours/took her to a motel/locked her in the car.” Or, “Yeah, we charged you $250 for a 15-minute ride because you’ll agree

To Uber or Not to Uber?As the controversial car service rolls along in Nevada, two Seven stafers ride shotgun in their own debate

By Geoff Carter and Lissa Townsend Rodgers

By Bob Whitby

THURSDAY, NOV. 13: The surest sign that

the holiday season is under way in

Southern Nevada? The mag-

nificent Ethel M Chocolates’

Cactus Garden Lighting is on

the books. They’ll fire up this

desert holiday wonderland

tonight, but you’ll need a free

ticket to attend. You can get one

at the store, 2 Cactus Garden Dr.

in Henderson, until 6 p.m.

FRIDAY, NOV. 14: It’s called the Duel in the Des-

ert, and it’s the largest dirt-track racing event in the

country. Take what look like stock cars, send them

around a dirt track at insane speeds and you’ve got

a day of loud, intense fun. The action started Nov. 12

and continues through tomorrow at Las Vegas Motor

Speedway. LVMS.com.

SATURDAY, NOV. 15: Dig food trucks? Like to have a

good time? Then it’s off to Sunset Park, which hosts

Sunset Park’d, a delicious combination of food,

music and something called the Redneck Games that

really has us curious. (Toilet-seat horseshoes? Sign

us up.) Noon to 8 p.m. SunsetParkd.com.

SUNDAY, NOV. 16: Pretty much the entire weekend is

dedicated to running and partying, at least

if you plan on having anything to do

with the Las Vegas Rock ’n’ Roll

Marathon. The partying started

Friday with music, open bars

and a health and fitness expo

(which seems a little incongru-

ous, but who are we to judge?).

The races—marathon, half

marathon, 5K and “half of the

half”—are Saturday and today.

RunRocknRoll.competitor.com.

MONDAY, NOV. 17: One hundred years ago, women

in Nevada were finally allowed to vote and hold office.

But the latter accomplishment didn’t happen overnight;

it took about 45 years. Dana R. Bennett, a scholar

who has studied Nevada history, recounts that long

struggle in a talk titled 45 Years in the Desert, 7:30

p.m. at UNLV’s Marjorie Barrick Museum. UNLV.edu.

TUESDAY, NOV. 18: Find yourself hanging around campus

again today? Cruise over to Greenspun Hall at 7 p.m.

for another installment of the Black Mountain Institute’s

Emerging Writers Series. This evening’s speaker is

fiction writer Jennifer Pashley, author of two collec-

tions of stories: States and The Conjurer. UNLV.edu.

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 19: Michael Knigin was an artist and

lithographer who spent much of his career

doing work that paid tribute to Holocaust

victims. Some of his best pieces kick

off the Southern Nevada Museum

of Fine Arts 2014 fall season in

an exhibit titled Anne Frank,

An Historical Remembrance.

Knigin’s work is paired with

“Chai Lights,” a Jewish-focused

collection of 100 works by Las

Vegas artists. Through Nov. 26,

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doing work that paid tribute to Holocaust

victims. Some of his best pieces kick

to anything after eight blueberry mojitos.” Shit, they’ve added a $1 “safe ride fee,” which is kind of like a restaurant charging more for food that’s not spoiled or a babysitter demanding extra dough to not punch your kids.

Uber’s default seems to be “passenger’s fault.” That 5,400-word agreement you didn’t read clearly states: “You expressly waive and release this company from any and all liability, claims or damages arising from or in any way related to the third-party transportation provider.”

Carter: Passenger safety is hardly a problem exclusive to Uber. Given a fve-minute Google search, I could send you a dozen news stories about cab drivers harming passengers. And Nevada’s courts are likely to be harder on Uber than they are on the Nevada Taxi Authority, because the former hasn’t had the opportunity to populate Carson City with lobbyists.

And yeah, I’m familiar with the Ulysses-size agreement. Don’t care. I wanna get from one side of town to the other. Even with the risks, Uber’s platform of Sure, We Can Do That beats the holy living shit out of the Taxicab Authority’s You’ll Take What We Give You.

Townsend Rodgers: Uber seems to have a busi-ness model that uses a bait-and-switch on both employees and customers: You’ll make a lot of money … until we slash rates. You’ll get a cheap ride … until the surge pricing kicks in. Besides, Uber’s founder is an Ayn Rand fan. Anyone who follows her philosophy is greedy and arrogant by defnition, and anyone who thinks she was a decent writer has serious judgment issues.

Basically, I’m dubious about their practices and tired of listening to people sing their praises to aria levels. Uber, kale, Taylor Swift: I’ll leave ’em to the people who love ’em.

FITNESS GOES FABAs the holiday season ap-

proaches and health goals quietly

slip into the ether, a new fitness

club has arrived to remind us it’s

not quite time to hang up the gym

towel. Life Time Athletic opened

its second Valley location Novem-

ber 11, bringing a 171,000-square-

foot mega “lifestyle” center to

Henderson. That the facility

just west of Green Valley Ranch

Resort cost upward of $30 mil-

lion only reinforces the fact that

the health and fitness industry

continues to invest greatly in a

region historically known for all-

you-can-eat buffets and general

overindulgence.

From franchised businesses

such as Planet Fitness, Surfset

Las Vegas and iLoveKickboxing

to independent yoga and Pilates

studios, the number of new fitness

facilities has grown exponentially

in Southern Nevada in recent

years. Offering a smorgasbord of

workout options has been a big

part of the business plan—and

the latest entrant into the fitness

scene takes those options to a

completely different level.

In addition to the usual gym

features, Life Time sports eight

indoor and four outdoor tennis

courts—which during the grand

opening were endorsed by none

other than Las Vegas legend An-

dre Agassi—plus two top-of-the-

line basketball courts. There’s

also a cycling-only studio, rooms

devoted to group classes, and a

yoga and Pilates studio that’s as

tranquil as they come.

And because Life Time markets

itself as a lifestyle center, physi-

cal activity isn’t the only thing

on the menu. Members can opt

for metabolic testing (including

an assessment of such things

as liver function and digestive

health); dine at the LifeCafe,

which serves meals that are

free of trans fat, bleached flours

and preservatives (the list goes

on); or book appointments at the

Michael Boychuk salon (mirroring

the sister location in Summerlin)

and LifeSpa, which offers

micro-needling and botox, among

other regular spa services. There

are even amenities for the young

ones through the Kids Academy,

aimed for children ages 3 months

to 11 years. They can tumble,

practice their Spanish or shoot

down the waterslides at the

outdoor “dayclub”—all while you

squat, snack, then spa.

Consider the (chin-up) bar

raised in the great Southern

Nevada fitness race.

– Jessi C. Acuña

if you plan on having anything to do if you plan on having anything to do

The surest sign that The surest sign that


The surest sign that


The indoor tennis courts and lounge area

at Life Time Athletic.

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LOCAL PERKS AT SLS, BIG LOSS REBATES AND CHEAP OXTAIL SOUPIn its first 2½ months of operation, SLS ex-

perienced multiple adjustments, including a

change in command. That’s not necessarily

good news for the business, but it is for the

consumer, at least in the short run. While it’s

not clear which promotions are still ongoing

and which have been discontinued, the deals

for locals in October were amazing. They

included free blackjack and slot tournaments

on Tuesdays with $10,000 in prize money,

50 percent off select restaurants on Sun-

days, and a $100 rebate-on-loss deal. If you

have a Nevada ID, you need to get over there.

• Speaking of rebates, Cannery and Eastside

Cannery have both initiated $500 loss-rebate

deals. This is a wicked-strong free roll: Lose

up to $500 and have it returned in slot free

play, while you keep whatever you win. The

catch: It’s available to new club members only.

• Free viewing of UFC pay-per-view fights

has been discontinued at Wildfire Valley

View, while Home Plate on Blue Diamond

Road charges $10 admission for the marquee

UFC events. Filling the void is the Crazy

Horse III gentlemen’s club, which has been

showing UFC fights with no admission (and

free pizza), but only if you drive yourself or

use the CH3 bus. If you come by taxi, it's $30.

For a more traditional route, the following

Station Casinos venues have been showing

UFC cards for $10: Jack’s Irish Pub at Palace,

Club Madrid at Sunset, Centennial Ballroom

at Santa Fe and Rocks Lounge at Red Rock.

• The best new find for football viewing

is the Blind Pig bar/restaurant at Panorama

Towers on Dean Martin Road, where a bucket

of four PBRs is $10. Not impressed? These

are 24-ouncers, so you’re actually getting

eight beers for $10. At $1.25 per brew, it’s

not the absolute best beer deal in town, but

it’s pretty close—and better yet, $20 gets you

20 wings and a one-topping pizza. This deal

runs during all televised football games.

• The Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hol-

lywood is running a promotion called “Shop

& Eat.” Purchase $200 in merchandise and

get a $20 dining certificate for a Miracle Mile

restaurant. That’s a cool 10 percent giveback.

Be sure to shop at a participating store; you

can find the list at MiracleMileShopsLV.com.

• I’m beginning to think that everything

that comes from the Lanai Express snack

bar at the Fremont is just plain awesome.

The latest discovery is a monster bowl of

oxtail soup with a side of rice for $8.29. The

broth is chock-full of oxtail meat and those

giant knuckle-like bones that you can give to

your dog. Add a 99-cent shrimp cocktail, and

after tax you’re out for $10.03.

Anthony Curtis is the publisher of the Las

Vegas Advisor and LasVegasAdvisor.com. ILLU

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T A Sharp Right TurnWhat can Nevadans expect now that Republicans

will be running the show in Carson City?

NEVADA REPUBLICANS NOW CONTROL ALL six state constitutional offces and both houses of the Legislature. What does this mean for Nevada moving forward? It depends on your political attitude and their political aptitude.

For at least the next two years, Ne-vada Republicans can take credit for whatever goes right—but also blame for whatever goes wrong. Before you compare it to when Democrats con-trolled Congress and the presidency during Barack Obama’s frst two years in offce, remember: Nevada’s Legisla-ture doesn’t require 60 votes to act on a bill like the U.S. Senate.

That’s why it’s important to go beyond references to this being the frst time Nevada Republicans have completely controlled both houses since 1985. That year—with the same Assembly majority of 25-17 that it will enjoy in 2015—the party passed a retroactive pay raise for state employees but tried to block one for openly Democratic teach-ers. They also passed anti-union laws. Then in 1986, the Assembly swung 29-13 in favor of Democrats. Overreach is always an issue for ei-ther party—and at that time, the governor was Richard Bryan, a moderate Democrat.

This time it’s Brian Sandoval, but which Sandoval? During his 2010 campaign, he prom-ised, “No new taxes.” Everyone seemed shocked when he meant it. He acceded to continuing old taxes that were due to end or sunset in 2011 only after the Nevada Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional for the state to fund itself by taking money from Clark County.

And who’s to say Sandoval will even stick around? Although it’s now highly unlikely that he’ll run against U.S. Senator Harry Reid in 2016, Sandoval could still land in D.C. via a Cabinet or sub-Cabinet post (no doubt with Reid’s encouragement), or he could accept a Ninth Circuit appellate judgeship. Assuming Sandoval does remain in Carson City, his actions in this next session could suggest whether he sees his future as with a Republican Party more right-wing than he is or just more openly to the right than he is. This election provided a clue: His choice for lieutenant governor, Mark Hutchison, represented Nevada in its lawsuit against Obamacare, and is well to Sandoval’s right. Also, Sandoval provided money to and endorsed Attorney General-elect Adam Laxalt (even though Laxalt criticized the governor for not challenging the lawsuit that ended up overturn-ing Nevada’s gay-marriage ban). The governor also backed Secretary of State-elect Barbara Cegavske (who fully supports voter ID, which would most affect the Hispanic community with whom Republicans hope Sandoval can make national inroads).

Sandoval also may have to decide whether to lead or be led. More than half of Assembly Republicans will be new to Carson City, and they were elected not be-cause they like government, but because they dislike

it. When he dealt with a Demo-cratic Assembly, Sandoval talk-

ed about tax reform and ending furloughs for state employees, but he also buys into so-called education reform, which makes villains of teachers—you know, the folks behind Question 3, the education initiative that failed at the polls. That their union brethren abandoned them (as the teachers have been known to do to the union) may further encourage Sandoval and other Republicans to push education “reform.”

Meanwhile, the new legislative leadership faces similar questions. For instance, during the last ses-sion, then-state Senate Minority Leader Michael Roberson worked with soon-to-be former Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick on uniting in the best interests of Clark County rather than a political party. But as Majority Leader-elect, Roberson installed as fnance chair Washoe County’s Ben Kieckhefer, who helped build the majority. Kieckhefer actually may prove better for Southern Nevada than his Democratic predecessor, but it’s reasonable to expect him to act according to what region butters his bread. It’s equally reasonable to wonder if Roberson will keep beating the drum for the south when Ira Hansen of Sparks may be Assembly speaker. Republicans need to remember that while Clark County Democrats didn’t turn out in 2014, that could change in 2016.

In other words, we can talk policy all we want. But it’s inseparable from politics. How Republicans govern in the coming years will shape the future—the state’s and their own.

Michael Green is an associate professor of history at UNLV.

T H E M O S T V A L U A B L E I N D U S T R Y P L A Y E R S A W A R D S

Because every team has a superstar, and stars were made to shine at night

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N I G H T L I F E ’ S

Q U A R T E R B A C K

Ryan ReardenVIP Host, Drai’s Beach Club & Nightclub

HOMETOWN: Winston-

Salem, North Carolina

MOVED TO LAS VEGAS:

May 2011

Before taking on Vegas,

Rearden was busy finish-

ing two degrees and play-

ing football at the Universi-

ty of Georgia. While there,

he got into the nightlife

industry, where he plans

on staying for the next 20

years. Now a host at the

rooftop Drai’s nightclub

at the Cromwell, Rearden

functions like the quarter-

back of his team: From VIP

table assignments to price

setting, “Everything has to

go through the podium,”

he says. When he’s not

busy running Drai’s door,

Rearden enjoys dabbling

in the culinary world. He’s

participated in several cer-

tificate programs to learn

about beer and wine, and

picked up tips from such

talented chefs as Sage’s

Shawn McClain at his

previous jobs on the Strip.

Unfortunately, Rearden’s

new cooking talent has cut

into his football viewing

time on Sundays. “My boys

always make me work the

grill,” he says. “So I barely

get to actually watch the

games anymore.”

LISTEN UP, JUNIOR HOSTS:

“No matter what the

table minimum is, treat

every guest as if they’re

spending everything they

have for the best night of

their life.” – Nicole Ely

2 0 1 4 N I G H T L I F E AWA R D S

Join Vegas Seven on November 17 at 10:30 p.m. at Foxtail in SLS to honor

the Las Vegas nightlife scene’s Most Valuable Industry Players and

Tastemakers at the 2014 Nightlife Awards Party. For free admission, visit

VegasSeven.com/NightlifeRSVP. Book a hotel room for half off

with the code “PMM04.”

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H E R N A M E TA G S AY S

“ A W E S O M E ”

Autumn Bruce

Bartender, Body English

HOMETOWN:

Morenci, Arizona

MOVED TO LAS VEGAS:

April 2012

Bruce strives to make her

job fun—both for herself

as well as for her custom-

ers. “I’m playful behind the

bar, especially when it’s

slow. I want to be enter-

tained,” says Bruce, who

isn’t too shy to dance to

keep her crowd. “Even if I

look ridiculous; I’ve got the

most awkward moves.” Al-

though she’s always willing

to let the person ordering

the drink show her their

stuff as well: “Sometimes I

ask them to teach me how

to Dougie or do the Bernie.”

Her cheerful persona has

won her fans and even a

nickname: Awesome. “I

got it when I was at Blue

Martini,” she says. “It

stuck with me, and that’s

my name tag. Now when

people say ‘awesome,’ I

automatically respond.”

But Bruce also has other

ambitions: She is consider-

ing applying with the fire

department, and has just

finished her advanced EMT

training. “I’ve never had to

use it at work, thank God.”

SAME CLUB, DIFFERENT

SCENERY: “Every night is

definitely different. I like

not knowing what the night

is going to be like.”

– Lissa Townsend Rodgers

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B O T T L E ( A N D B A R )

O P E N E R

Ashley MalokBartender, Gilley’s

HOMETOWN: Bethlehem,

Pennsylvania

MOVED TO LAS VEGAS:

February 2009

Malok was there when Gil-

ley’s reopened in its new

TI location five years ago.

Actually, she’s been there

when a number of bars

swung their doors open

for the first time, including

Cadillac Ranch in Town

Square and PBR Rock Bar

in Planet Hollywood. “It

was busy and a lot of fun,”

she says. Her bartending

career began early, pour-

ing grandma a beer from

the kegerator, and she later

landed her first job at a col-

lege bar in her hometown.

“They trained me from serv-

ing to bartending, pretty

much on my 21st birthday.”

Since then, speed and

efficiency are the most

important skills Malok’s de-

veloped. “I’m taking a drink

order and I’m making drinks

at the same time,” she says.

Malok has a degree in audio

engineering, so working

in a bar with live music is

ideal: “I love country now

that I’ve been here for five

years.” And the best time to

experience Gilley’s, Malok

says, is during the National

Finals Rodeo. “It’s just

all-the-way busy. There’s

no walking room, and the

dance floor is packed!”

YOU ASKED FOR IT:

“Last night someone asked

for an Irish Trash Can. It’s a

Long Island Iced Tea, with

blue Curaçao and peach

Schnapps. Hey, it’s your

hangover!” – LTR

After visiting Nevada for his grandmother’s 70th birthday party, Reimer, a chemical engineering major, realized, “‘Wow, it’s really not what I want to do. I don’t want to sit in a lab and talk to people who don’t have outgoing personalities.’” To make ends meet he started bartending. “And that was that. I was like, ‘I like going to work more than going to school. That’s not a good thing.’” Reimer leaned on his uncle—then working at Hard Rock Hotel—to get him a job as a bartender at the property. They said if he could get to

Vegas in two weeks, he had the job. So he packed up, left Jersey and took a server position at Pink Taco. Not long after hitting town, he started barbacking at Rehab in its second year, and later helped open Tao Beach. “[My degree] helps with the analytical side of things—you defnitely look at things a little bit differently. But in the grand scheme of things, you’re putting alcohol in a cup and making sure it tastes good. It doesn’t matter what your background is.” Most recently, Reimer opened Life at SLS. “Opening a new spot can be exciting and frustrating all at once. Everyone has the same common goal. When you open a place you get to start fresh with a brand-new staff. It can be a breath of fresh air.” WHEN

THE FUN STOPS: “Waving money is annoying. Reaching over and touching me is a whole lot less annoying to me than it is to my female counterparts. I just can’t stand when people whistle. Some people whistle with the music to have a good time, and that’s amazing. But if you’re whistling toward me, that’s where I draw the line.” – Jason Scavone

P E R I O D I C TA B L E O F B O O Z E

Kevin ReimerBartender, Life

HOMETOWN: Franklinville, N.J.

MOVED TO LAS VEGAS: May 2004


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M R . L I G H T FA N TA S T I C

Colin ComerVice President of Marketing, Light and Light Group

HOMETOWN: ChicagoMOVED TO LAS VEGAS: December 2010

Comer is in the business of curating the ultimate nightclub experience. “I’ve always loved music, nightlife, hospital-ity and all the things that come with them,” says Comer, who left college his junior year to throw parties full time. Today, he is charged with marketing rollouts and launch campaigns (most recently for Light and Daylight), as well as working with host teams and talent. What this means in clubgoer terms is that Comer is constantly coming up with ideas on how to throw the best damn party in town. “Vegas is a really competitive environment, so you have to be innovative,” Comer says. To that point, he predicts that nightlife is due for a paradigm shift. “I don’t think the megaclub is going to go away, but I do think it will be supplemented by some smaller, more intimate spaces.”

EXPERT PARTY ADVICE: “You have to be open to new experiences, but [more importantly], it’s always a good idea to drink lots of water and stay hydrated.” – David Morris

W O R L D - C L A S S S E R V I C E

Jeff TomastikDirector of Customer Development, 1 Oak Nightclub; Director of European Marketing, Light Group

HOMETOWN: Fairfax, VirginiaMOVED TO LAS VEGAS: March 2011

Tomastik boasts a world-class hospitality and nightlife education: He earned his master’s degree in France, and he’s the hospitality services adviser for the Consulate of Monaco in Las Vegas. With the Light Group, he’s progressed from VIP host to his current position at 1 Oak, as well as overseeing European marketing for parent company Light Group. “Vegas is the mecca for nightclubs, and it’s grown even more since I came here three years ago,” he says. “Vegas is an amazing place where everybody visits: I see my college friends, high school friends, people I grew up with, people I traveled with. It’s a perfect city to see everyone you spend a little part of your life with.”

DOING VEGAS RIGHT:“Plan ahead! Get advice from online forums or call someone who’s been here before. Going into Las Vegas blind is the biggest mistake people make. Use one of the many people who do this for a living, and you’ll have the best trip possible.” – Kat Boehrer

T H E H U M A N FA C T O R

John “JT” ThomasonDirector of Marketing and Entertain-ment for The Bank (and other Light Group venues at Bellagio)

HOMETOWN: Pueblo, ColoradoMOVED TO LAS VEGAS: January 2006

It took just one trip to Las Vegas with his college roommate for Thomason to get hooked. A self-described social butterfly, Thomason was drawn in by the city’s dynamic energy. Soon after graduating from Western State Colora-do University with a degree in business administration, he moved to town and scored a job as a server at Roadrunner, later becoming a promoter at the origi-nal Beacher’s Madhouse in Hard Rock Hotel. “I originally got into nightlife to be the ‘cool’ host and make the big bucks,” he says, laughing. “As the years went by, I realized I was ready to take my life and career to the next level. When I was approached to become director of marketing for Jet Nightclub, I jumped at the chance.” Now he oversees the ex-ecution of marketing and advertising, as well as talent and entertainment, at The Bank. Thomason loves his job for the human factor: “I have been fortunate to have a great team around me, from staff and hosts to promoters and manage-ment, which has helped keep it relevant and fun.” – Melinda Sheckells

T H E W E L L - R O U N D E D A P P R O A C H

Kim Martin-WoodAssistant General Manager, Tryst and XS

HOMETOWN: Marshalltown, IowaMOVED TO LAS VEGAS: September 2004

Infuenced by her two older sisters, Martin-Wood made Las Vegas her home after spending the summer months during her college years working as a cocktail server in town. That was 2004, and Martin-Wood soon found herself at Ra Nightclub in Luxor. Not only would she meet her to-be husband there, it shifted her path from a degree in in-dustrial manufacturing engineering to ultimately fnding herself in nightclub operations. “I consider myself a fre-fghter, and I try to put out the situa-tion as fast as possible,” Martin-Wood says. “Figuratively, of course. We don’t want any real fres there.” That includes keeping a line of open communication with the marketing, security and opera-tions teams, to name a few. JILL OF ALL TRADES: “Being from a small town in Iowa, I’ve worn a lot of hats,” Martin-Wood says. “I grew up in a heavy machinery shop with my father; I’ve farmed; I’ve raised Holsteins and live-stock; I’ve been a cocktail server; I’ve even fipped burgers. I was in a lot of academic organizations and on boards throughout my entire education.” – Jessi Acuña

Left to right: Light Group’s Tomastik, Comer and Thomason.


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W O R K S W E L L W I T H O T H E R S

Keith WhiteDirector of Marketing, Hakkasan

HOMETOWN: Farmington, Maine/BostonMOVED TO LAS VEGAS: September 2004

On the three-year anniversary of his joining Hakkasan Group, White says he’s realized that his best work is done behind the scenes rather than in the club every night. “I focus better, and I prefer to stay out of the limelight,” he says. As marketing director, his job is to put others into that limelight, creating the branding plan for each artist booked in the club. A background in management information systems makes him a formidable one-stop shop, but he also understands the necessity of teamwork; he provides support and leans on others, “but it causes problems when one department is more needy than others,” he says. “I know it’s easy to say that Hakkasan has amazing artists and that’s why everyone goes, but this is a very competitive market, and it takes more than just being a club with an artist.” Laughing, he adds, “I work well with others.” After a year of living in Manhattan and working at the group’s Atlantic City outpost, HQ Nightclub, White had the opportunity to open Hakkasan in MGM Grand. And he made a beeline for Downtown. “The last thing I wanted was to move to the suburbs and have to drive.” Over the last year and a half, White has witnessed the highs and lows of his adopted neighborhood. “There was a lot of growth really fast, and I think now there’s some pulling back,” he says, “Sometimes just having a good idea isn’t enough. It takes time.” A little more teamwork would go a long way Downtown, too. – Xania Woodman

After serving as a nuclear weapons guard in the Air Force, Lyttle took a trip to Las Vegas and never looked back. “[The military] was sucking the youth out of me,” Lyttle says. She quickly landed a job with Tao Group, which took her from being a rare female in a squadron of men to a world of high heels, makeup and false eye lashes among

a legion of ladies.“Tao Group promotes fun. They helped me to loosen up a bit and not be so uptight.” Still, Lyttle carries a bit of her military mentality with her at all times. “As much as I would like to go out with my hair in a bun and a bare face, I can’t.” When Lyttle makes time for herself, she takes solo beach vacations to sun-drenched places such as Mexico and the Dominican Republic. She also plans for the long term. “I’ve always been interested in the law, so I’ve been contemplating going to law school. It’s definitely been a dream of mine.” – Jessie O’Brien

F R O M B A R R E T O B A R

Liz OlkerBartender, Revolver

HOMETOWN: Metuchen, New JerseyMOVED TO LAS VEGAS: October 2009

As a child, Olker spent eight years as a competitive dancer in the fields of jazz, tap, ballet, lyrical dance and pointe. “My parents spent a fortune on dance shoes and costumes,” she recalls. That early training served her well when she moved to Las Vegas to escape New Jersey’s snowy winters, and landed a job that includes line dancing on the bar. “[Formal dance training] gives you a sense of balance,” she says. As a bartender, her other duties include mixing drinks, creating drink specials and ordering liquor. Despite having gone to school for a culinary degree, Liz says she believes she’s found her true calling, and wants remain in the nightlife industry as she moves forward in her career.

“I’m more of a nighttime person,” she says.

GUYS, YOU CAN LOOK, BUT:

“Don’t stick your hands between my feet. I might fall off the bar!” – Al Mancini

T H E E V E N T S E X E C U T O R

Tiffany MatthewsEvent Sales Manager, Hyde Bellagio

HOMETOWN: Alberta, Canada/Irvine, CaliforniaMOVED TO LAS VEGAS: January 2013

Matthews was living in Los Angeles when her boss asked if she wanted to relocate to Las Vegas. “Sure,” she said, and was on a plane the next day. As the events sales manager for Hyde Bellagio, she handles the sales and logistics for everything from weddings and birthday parties to red-carpet bashes such as the Billboard after-par-ty. Not only does she help in the planning process, she’s there for the execution, which means a lot of long days and nights. “I could have five events per week, but every client needs to be treated like they’re VIP,” Matthews says. “No one is more important than the other one, from a 15-person party to a 700-person party.” Putting in time beyond the usual 9 to 5 has its perks, too, as the Canada-born Matthews gets to build her celebrity clientele, including a growing list of superstar DJs. And moving forward? “I would love to oversee a lot of different venues,” she says. But for now she’s pleased to make do with “getting a nice feedback email or a big hug at the end of the night.”

KEEP CALM AND PARTY ON: “When an event starts, 100 different things can change from how you planned it. The client can walk in [the day of] and be like, ‘I don’t want any of this.’ You have to go with it, and always with a smile on your face. The No. 1 thing is not to get stressed out. Everything is going to fall into place as long as you’re organized.” – JA

B A D A S S B E A U T Y W I T H B R A I N S

Kristina LyttleCocktail Server, Marquee

HOMETOWN: Englewood, New JerseyMOVED TO LAS VEGAS: January 2008

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R E B E L R I N G L E A D E R

Madi StrattonSpecial Events Manager, Surrender

HOMETOWN: Anchorage, AlaskaMOVED TO LAS VEGAS: August 2005

In her time as the special events manager for Surrender Nightclub and Encore Beach Club, Stratton has received some pretty interesting requests, including one for a 6,000-pound elephant to add atmosphere to a private event. “Trying to ask the other departments of the hotel and figure out all the different things I would need to coordinate that was definitely a learning experience, and the responses, stares and looks I got were pretty funny.” The trunk show never did happen. But, at the end of the day, Stratton maintains that her job is all about providing a service and ensuring that guests consistently have ‘OMG’ experiences, whether it be a posh birthday party, corporate event or bottle presentation. Outside of work, ‘OMG’ gives way to DIY. “My garage is full of power tools. I love to give old furniture new life,” Stratton says. “Last weekend, I disassembled the dining room table I made two years ago and turned it into a sofa table.” – DM

T H E U N S H A K A B L E M A R T I N I

Nick MartiniMarketing Manager, XS and Tryst

HOMETOWN: Youngstown, OhioMOVED TO LAS VEGAS: December 2012

Martini is a busy man. He leads the creative team at XS and Tryst, juggling sponsors and staffers (and their disparate schedules) to provide guest ex-periences like no other. “It’s non-stop work,” he says. But he’s not complaining. Martini led the Alec Monopoly graffiti takeover on La-bor Day, and is always develop-ing fresh concepts for the clubs. He’s most proud of XS Night Swim, the nighttime summer pool party, for which he starts planning in the winter. “I can’t say I pictured myself in the night-life industry,” Martini says, “but it was always a goal of mine to work in entertainment.” Outside of his nightclub responsibilities, Martini is also a husband, soon-to-be-father and a student at the Academy of Art where he’s going for a master’s degree in web design and new media. “These days,” Martini says, “a night out means dinner and a movie.”

ABOUT THAT LAST NAME: “During college, I was a bartender for two years. It was brutal. Now, I like it. People say they wish they had my last name.” – Camille Cannon

A R E A L L I F E S AV E R

Nicole LionakisCocktail Server, LAX

HOMETOWN: Las Vegas

In a fast-moving industry with high employee turnover and pushy clientele, it’s rare to find someone as loyal and lively as Lionakis, who’s spent the last five years at LAX. “I know people tend to hop jobs and go to the fresh new place, but I find that if you and your co-workers are like a family, then there’s no need to leave,” says the former lifeguard. “Most of the time when I go to work I’m in the middle of someone else’s vacation. I always try to keep that in mind so I can make sure they have the best vacation possible,” she says. And while she might ensure you have the time of your life tonight, she also might save it a few years from now: Lionakis has plans to enroll in nursing school. “You can’t wear a cocktail wait-ress uniform forever, “ she says. “It’ll be a nice transition. And I’ll still be working with people, just in a much different atmosphere.” But don’t worry, even as a nurse Lionakis says she’ll still try to pick up a cocktail shift every now and then. “I love the service industry, and I can’t imagine myself never doing it.”

ADVICE FOR PARTYGOERS: “Guests worry too much about what everyone else is doing and thinking, and they sometimes let it get in the way of them having a good time. This is your night out, and you should live it up exactly how you want to.” – Zoneil Maharaj

A P E R S O N A L T O U C H

Paul GilroyBartender, Tao Nightclub

HOMETOWN: TucsonMOVED TO LAS VEGAS: June 1992

Gilroy doesn’t let Tao’s intense volume get in the way of making a real connection with each of his customers. “I know it’s quite loud in the nightclub, but talking to [guests] just a little bit goes such a long way,” he says. Of highest importance to Gilroy are family and friends, so in his off time, he enjoys unwinding with a hike at Red Rock with his fiancée and his dog. At work, Gilroy does all he can to show each patron that he truly values their business, and that often includes at least a quick chat with every visitor. “It’s an easy way to bond with your guests and form a little bit of trust.”

GET YOUR FILL: “Check out the whole club. Visit each setting so you can really get the gist of it. You’re the whole reason everything is going on, so you should check everything out.” – KB

Some people have tattoos. Quach has a scar, a big one, the result of a 2005 operation to fix her scoliosis.

“The curvature of my spine was at 40 percent,” Quach says. Two titanium rods and 12 screws later, Quach

and her new spine began a campaign of self-improvement (she’s Level 1 certified in CrossFit, and is an

avid hiker) that’s benefited not only her posture, but Las Vegas’ nightlife culture, too. Coming to town with

a degree in business marketing and management from the University of Houston and the invaluable experi-

ence of already having served as vice president of sales for Blue Label vodka, Quach approached her work

as a server with the perfect mix of charm, friendliness, professionalism and flat-out gratitude. “I love the

fact that I get to meet new people every night,” she says. “If they’re at your nightclub, you have to be sure to make them feel special for being there.”

Such enthusiasm will serve Quach well in her future endeavors, which include the dream of opening a fresh-pressed juice bar somewhere, and con-

tinuing to honor the commitment of that life-changing scar. DEAR OVER-SHARERS: “To all the people who are on their phones the entire night either

taking photos, recording or sending Snapchats: Please take a moment to enjoy yourself!” – Geoff Carter

C O M M I T M E N T A N D E N T H U S I A S M —

S T R A I G H T U P

Niki QuachCocktail Server, Chateau Nightclub

HOMETOWN: HoustonMOVED TO LAS VEGAS: May 2014


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mBEST PRE-PARTY VIBE DINING

Dapper, thirsty and carnivorous Tastemakers agree that STK is the best place to eat some meat before you make your way to the party. The restaurant that prides itself on being “Not your daddy’s steakhouse” even provides a DJ to prime you for the next move. On Magnum Mondays, there’s no need to fnd the after-party; industry members happily settle in for the night with magnum-size bubbly for standard-bottle-size prices, sounds by DJ M!ke Attack and 25 percent

off chef Stephen Hopcraft’s modern steakhouse cuisine. In the Cosmopolitan, CosmopolitanLasVegas.com.

BEST UNDERGROUND LEADER

After Afterhours made a national splash when a list of “DJ Rules” for the after-hours event—launched Febru-ary 1 in the former Empire Ballroom space—went viral. The initial excite-ment over those anti-commercial commandments was supported by rare bookings, a dedicated following

and a move to Holly Madison’s 1923 Bourbon & Burlesque. Now follow-ing a brief hiatus, After is looking to expand again at a new location. Several warehouse parties are already in the works, and we can expect a new residency launching New Year’s Eve and continuing Saturdays there-after. Of the change, manag-ing partner Thom Svast says, “We’re trying to bring house music back to its roots.” So, will the “DJ Rules” still apply? Svast says, “Absolutely.” AfterLasVegas.com.

BEST CHAMPAGNE

TO PARTY WITH

That Brother Pierre Pérignon, upon allegedly “discovering”

Champagne, actually spoke the words, “Come quickly, I’m drinking the stars,” is now generally accepted as apocry-phal. But you’re swallowing it, along with lots of Dom Pérignon Champagne: Each year, Las Vegas’ on-premise (non-retail) accounts pur-chase more Dom than every

We asked, they answered. Vegas Seven polled 100 Las Vegas tastemakers from the nightlife, spirits, culinary and fashion industries—as well as respected socialites—asking them to weigh in on everything from the bottles they’re popping to the beats they’re dropping. Here’s how they voted.

By Kat Boehrer, Camille Cannon, Jessie O’Brien and Xania Woodman

and a move to Holly Madison’s 1923 Bourbon & Burlesque. Now follow-ing a brief hiatus, After is looking to expand again at a new location.

BEST CHAMPAGNE

TO PARTY WITH

That Brother Pierre Pérignon, upon allegedly “discovering”

Champagne, actually spoke the words, “Come quickly, I’m

Snoop Dogg: The host with the most at Tao’s

Snoopadelic Cabaret.

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TA S T E M A K E R

Pavan PardasaniExecutive Director of Nightlife, Hakkasan Group

Before moving to Las

Vegas in 2013, Par-

dasani consulted for

leading nightclubs in

New York City and the

Hamptons, including

the Pink Elephant. He

simultaneously started

his own company,

where he produced top-

tier events for promi-

nent clients, including

BCBG, Saturday Night

Live and Esquire. Later,

with EMM Group, he

oversaw operations for

a number of successful

venues. And now, with

Hakkasan Group, Par-

dasani uses his diverse

background to lend his

nightlife expertise and

management skills to

new projects on Hak-

kasan Group’s horizon.

BEST NEW FACE

IN THE DJ BOOTH

In my time in the in-

dustry, I’ve never seen

a DJ with the career

trajectory of Martin Gar-

rix, who is our newest

resident at Hakkasan.

At just 18 years old, the

kid is playing all the top

major festivals, was

just ranked No. 4 by

DJ Mag’s Top 100 list,

and headlining the main

room of Hakkasan when

he’s in Las Vegas. It’s

no surprise that Scooter

Braun is the brains

behind this act, demon-

strating that his hit-mak-

ing abilities extend into

electronic music as well.

BEST CLUB GEAR

FOR GENTLEMEN

The best advice I can

give to any of our

guests is to make sure

they dress the part.

Nothing gets the atten-

tion of a door staff like

a well-dressed gentle-

man. John Varvatos (in

the Hard Rock Hotel,

702-693-6370) has a

way of offering up style

that’s edgy, but classic

and appropriate to get

you through any door

in Las Vegas.

BEST BASE OF

OPERATIONS FOR

TAKING ON THE TOWN

There isn’t another

property in town that

makes you feel like

you’ve “arrived” quite

like Bellagio. The hotel

speaks to luxury the

moment you step on

property, with great res-

taurants such as Jas-

mine and Prime Steak-

house, a pool that rivals

any on the Strip and the

signature fountain show

that captures the awe of

locals and tourists alike.

If you imagine yourself

as George Clooney in

Ocean’s 11, this is the

right place for you.

BEST PLACE TO BE

ANONYMOUS

The Mansions at MGM

offer some of the best

real estate in Las Vegas,

but it’s the element of

privacy that attracts our

top clients these days.

At a time where social

media is so pervasive,

features such as the

Mansion’s dedicated

driveway and atrium,

24-hour butler service,

private pools and dis-

creet entrance to the

hotel’s high-roller room,

make it ideal.

BEST HANGOVER MEAL

On Saturdays and Sun-

days in particular, I drag

myself Downtown and

wait patiently for a table

at the no-reservation

Eat (EatDTLV.com) on

Carson Avenue. The

cinnamon biscuits are

a must, and you can’t

go wrong with the iced

coffee to kick things

back in gear. Another

plus is that Eat is ser-

vice-dog friendly, which

means I can make a day

out of it and explore

Downtown with my

Yorkie, Savannah. – XW

bar, hotel and restaurant in California com-bined. From the humble 750-milliliter and the 6-liter Methusalah of 2000 Rose Gold rosé (at more than $100,000, the largest and most expensive Dom bottle available in Las Vegas right now) to the way-cool light-up Luminous bottles, Brother Dom is the life of the party. DomPerignon.com.

BEST PARTY PARAPHERNALIA

Handheld cryo guns, toy laser shooters and glow sticks of varying sizes are among the bounty of props that turn up at Lavo Party Brunch. Attendees are lavishly adorned in souvenir necklaces and sunglasses to remind them of that one time in Vegas when they danced on the tables of a high-end Italian restaurant and stomped confetti into their om-elets. In the Palazzo, LavoLV.com.

BEST CLUB FREEBIE

In addition to the aforementioned props and novelties, some clubs offer foam glow sticks, branded hats and tees, and even swag bags for the ladies. But it’s free entry for locals that Las Vegans appreciate most. The rules for this perk vary depending on the club, the night, the scheduled talent and sometimes even the gen-der. Promoters and VIP hosts submit guest lists nightly, so getting in touch with one of these nightclub employees is usually the simplest route—Facebook is a great place to start.

FASHION TREND THAT’S

OVERSTAYED ITS WELCOME

We’re not entirely sure why anyone thought that neon was OK to bring back at all, but according

You never know what’s going to happen—or who you’ll meet—at Lavo’s Party Brunch.

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TA S T E M A K E R

Garrett Pattiani

Creator of Garrett’s Gay Guide at Gay.vegas

With more than 14 years in the hospitality industry and a strong local and tourist fol-lowing, Pattiani has built his career around nightlife and hosting. Pattiani created Gar-

rett’s Gay Guide as a social

media tool to connect people with events and activities. As moderator for the “Las Vegas Gay Mafia” Facebook group, Garrett’s Gay Guide now ap-pears online, in social media, and in print through a partner-ship with QVegas Magazine.

BEST GAY CLUB NIGHT

Every Sunday, Revolution in The Mirage goes gay! Revo

Sundays (Facebook.com/Light-GroupLGBT) hosts some of the biggest celebrities and artists, with sexy male and female go-gos, and music by the best local and award-winning DJs. Contact a friendly VIP host (Gay.Vegas/RevoSundays) to get on the guest list, or to get the VIP treatment with bottle service, a personal server, elevated tables with seating

for large parties and even bottle-delivery presentations that allow you to party like a rock star.

BEST GAY BAR

Vrooom! Start your engines at The Garage (1487 E. Flamingo Rd., 702-440-6333, TheGa-rageLV.com). The popular neighborhood bar is open 24/7 with an automotive theme and bartenders dressed as me-chanics. Pool, shuffleboard and a jukebox keep you entertained. It’s definitely the Cheers of the LGBTQ community.

BEST GAY LOUNGE

Nightlife staple 8½ Ultra

Lounge (4633 Paradise Rd., 702-791-0100, PiranhaVegas.com) has spanned the decades in Las Vegas’ “Fruit Loop.” The

swanky 8½ Lounge features indoor and outdoor seating that is conducive to socializing. Attached to Piranha Nightclub, 8½ lets guests enjoy a low-key atmosphere that can easily lead into a high-energy night.

BEST LGBTQ COMMUNITY

CHEERLEADERS

When you think of a cheer-leader, Bears Las Vegas (BearsLasVegas.ning.com) might not be the first group to come to mind. However, their strong commitment to the LGBTQ community, and their advocacy of inclusion, makes Bears Las Vegas stand out among the newest nonprofits in the community. The Bears produce events and gatherings that help raise funds for other organizations, including the

Sin Sity Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and the Gay & Les-bian Community Center of Southern Nevada.

BEST BACHELOR/

BACHELORETTE PARTY SPOT

With Nevada’s ban on same-sex marriage struck down, Las Ve-gas is poised to become the Gay Marriage Capital of the World. But before the weddings and settling down start, visit Share

Nightclub (4636 Wynn Rd., ShareNightclub.com) to get that one last wild Vegas night out of the way. Share is home to some of the hottest male and female go-gos and offers a jam-packed dance floor, EDM DJs and VIP bottle service—everything you need for a night you will never forget, assuming you can actu-ally remember it! – XW

to our Tastemakers, y’all can cut it out now. A nightclub is not a rave, and layering multiple obnoxious neon garments really shouldn’t be done outside of a costume party. Oh, but on Wednesdays, we still wear pink.

BEST HEADLINER

RESIDENT DJ

Choosy Tastemakers choose … Calvin Harris! The Grammy winner, Hakkasan resident and Forbes’ highest paid DJ for the last two years was also the frst artist to place three tracks on Billboard’s Top 10 simultaneously. Yes, the Scottish DJ has some solid credentials to back up his status as a crowd favorite. And he’s pretty much guaranteed to sell out the house for every one of his performances. So, it’s no wonder the clubs love him, too.

BEST LOCAL

RESIDENT DJ

In addition to being a crowd-bouncing open-format DJ, Bree DeLano (a.k.a. DJ88) is the brand and entertainment director at Insert Coin(s) on Fremont Street. Under DJ88’s direction, and with her dope sounds, the video-game-themed bar has successfully kept up with all of the new kids to move onto the block over the last few years. In addition to a fair amount of travel gigs, DJ88 plays at her home venue on the regular, making Downtown even more of a Tastemaker destination.

BEST BOTTLE

PRESENTATIONS

If a high-roller is going to spend big bucks on a bottle of alcohol, there better be some bells and whistles along with its delivery—literally. Hakkasan is one of the largest and most extravagant clubs in the world, so it’s expected that its bottle presentations also live up to those standards. Whether it involves spelling out the big spender’s name in fashing lights above the head of a famous DJ, trotting out an entire marching band or creating a personal light show with confetti and hot dancers, Hakkasan delivers grand presentations to match its grand prices. In MGM Grand, HakkasanLV.com.

BEST NIGHTCLUB RIPE

FOR REVISION

It’s last call for LAX in Luxor—or a least it should be, according to our Tastemakers, who say they are ready for a fresh new experience from par-ent company Hakkasan Group. The group will understandably be busy for a while, transforming Pure in Caesars Palace into megaclub Omnia, which is slated for a spring opening. But perhaps once all the confetti has settled there …? (Another club Tastemaker-tagged for a facelift is 1 Oak in The Mirage. Light Group is a little busy right now, too, what with its shiny new Aria casino bar, Alibi, and the imminent renovation of Haze nightclub, also scheduled for a spring debut; rumor has it Aria’s Gold Lounge is on the docket, too.)

Calvin Harris.


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TA S T E M A K E R

Carlos “DJ Ocho” OchoaOn-Air DJ, Univision Radio Las Vegas 99.3-FM

Behind a microphone has always been a natural place for Phoenix native Ochoa, who first envisioned himself working in the radio industry

while mixing and emceeing at high school events. He broke into the biz at 19 with Univision Radio, and got hisfirst chance on the mic in 2010, on Radio Phoenix KHOT La Nueva 105.9. He quickly progressed to a full-time weekend DJ position on sister station KQMR La Kalle 100.3.Working under the moniker DJ Ocho, bilingual Ochoa connects with his listeners. You can catch him 3-7 p.m. Monday through Saturday on 99.3-FM’s Latino Mix.

BEST LATIN NIGHT

Saturdays at Señor Frog’s

in T.I. (702-894-7777, Se-norFrogsLV.com), you can find hot young Latinos and couples, dancing the whole

night to a variety of Latin music: reggaeton, banda, hip-hop, EDM, Top 40, salsa, merengue, cumbia and much more. It’s a fun environ-ment with two-for-one yard drinks specials, balloons and streamers at the peak of the night, and there’s even hoo-kah service available. The fun starts at 10:30 p.m. and goes till 3:30 a.m.

BEST LIVE LATIN BAND

Volumen 1 (Facebook.com/ Vol1Music) covers all the cumbia, salsa, merengue and rock en Espanol hits: “Juana La Cubana,” “Oye Mi Amor” “Vivir Mi Vida.” Not only do they sing, but they will also pull you onstage and dance with you!

BEST LATIN DJ

It’s a tie! DJ Beto (Facebook.com/RobertoDJBetoOrtiz.Ortiz) has been playing for almost 15 years, all in Las Vegas. You can find him Friday and Saturday evenings atRhumbar in The Mirage and Tacos & Tequila in Luxor, andSaturday nights at Señor Frogs in T.I. He also mixes with me at 99.3-FM. DJ Gil Barba (GilBarba.com) has been playing for nearly 10 years in Las Vegas, and you can find him Thursday and Saturday nights at Blue Martini in Town Square and Wednesday nights at Luna Lounge.

BEST LATIN VIBE DINING

Not only can you get your dance on at Noche Azul

Thursdays at Blue Martini in Town Square (Facebook.com/NochesAzul), you can also enjoy some good food. Try the lemon-pepper chicken, and be sure to get there early to take advantage of the drink specials.

BEST LATIN

NIGHTLIFE PROMOTER

It’s always a party with Pepe Ortiz from BP Brothers En-

tertainment (702-604-9836). Working in the Vegas Latin nightlife scene for nearly 15 years, Ortiz consistently books the best DJs and emcees for his events, and recently brought Mexican rock band Rostros Ocultos and Mexican comedian Platanito to a sold-out, standing-room-only crowd at Señor Frog’s. – XW

BEST NIGHTCLUB

VISUAL DISPLAY

Boasting a massive LED wall and Cirque du Soleil performers dangling from the ceiling, Light Nightclub takes the cake when it comes to visu-als. The vast box-like room seems to envelop you in darkness, providing a stark contrast to the glow from the oversize visuals on gargantuan screens surrounding a central DJ booth. It also gives you something to look at in the club other than your phone. In Manda-lay Bay, TheLightVegas.com.

BEST DJ ROSTER

Hakkasan Group is killing it where music is concerned, boasting a roster of elite DJs and performers who play Hakkasan nightclub and Wet Republic dayclub at MGM Grand. Exclusive contracts with the likes of Calvin Har-ris, Tiësto, Steve Aoki and Afrojack mean that Hakkasan can count a number of its affliated artists on Forbes’ 2014 list of the world’s highest-paid DJs. HakkasanGroup.com.

BEST INDUSTRY NIGHT

Sunday Night Swim at XS pops off weekly during the warm summer months. Industry folk love to take ad-vantage of having access to one of the best nightclubs in the game, and XS provides the perfect night for locals to gather under the stars. But this is no off night: The DJs on these nights go hard, with past acts including Ma-jor Lazer, Zedd and Avicii gracing the

stage. Sunday is also the only night partygoers can hop in the pool dur-ing club hours without being swiftly kicked out. In Encore, XSLasVegas.com.

BEST DJ DUO

Liv and Mim Nervo not only make a darling DJ duo as residents who rock the decks at Hakkasan, but they’re also twins. Who better to work to-gether on foor-bumping beats than sisters so in-sync they practically know which song the other plans to play before it’s even queued up? They also each have a rad fashion sense that perfectly balances the other. Mim’s lady-hawk and edgy style in contrast to Liv’s long locks and feminine taste make them a couple of very sexy si-rens, both to behold as well as to hear.

BEST UNDISCOVERED

VODKA FLAVOR

Proving that, despite their common-alities, our Tastemakers are a diverse crew, there were nearly as many unique responses to this question as there were Tastemakers. Of those, an-swers ranged from juniper (thus: gin) and beer to abstinence and money, while others—such as avocado, chamo-mile and cigar—show more promise for marketability. But above all, our Taste-makers have a taste for spice; they’re holding out for wasabi and sriracha.

BEST AFTER-HOURS

Drai’s After Hours is the reigning champ—and by a landslide. Other post-

party venues have come and gone or just not reached the bar that Drai’s sets with its late-night shenanigans. Party-goers look upon it fondly because of the memories that have been made—or forgotten—in its notorious basement. Whether during the Barbary Coast, Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall or Cromwell eras, Victor Drai’s red-lit parlor and old-school, supper club-style nightclub has turned many a long night into day. In the Cromwell, DraisLV.com.

BEST DRINK FOR GOING ALL

NIGHT LONG (AND BEYOND…)

OK, we get it: Red Bull gives you wings. But seriously, no other bever-age (except water) even made a dent in this category. Why? Two words: Tony Cordasco—the local Red Bull king has Vegas’ nightlife scene on lock, and his industry ‘feld trips’ are the stuff of legend. Plus, it tastes like Sweet Tarts and (if you must) it mixes with spirits. Moving on. RedBull.com.

BEST JUICE BAR

If you haven’t noticed, most night-club staffers are in pretty good shape (see Page 20). If they’re not hefting large-format bottles over their heads at the club, they’re doing snatches and thrusters at CrossFit. But when they’re not doing either, they’re at Juice NV, undoing the effects of whatever happened the night before with this “urban farm stand’s” most popular juice blends: Jump Start, Beets by Waits and Uni-corn’s Blood. 9500 S. Eastern Ave., Suite 110, JuiceNV.com.

Nervo.


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BEST CELEBRITY

CLUB HOST

Gin and juice, hookers and weed—who wouldn’t want to party with Snoop Dogg? Ironically, the hip-hop legend has cleaned up his act for Las Vegas, launching Snoopadelic Cabaret this past summer, a speakeasy-inspired residency at Tao. The emcee and head-liner blends his DJ sets with live performances. If you haven’t had a chance to party with the Lion himself yet, the Snoop D-O-double-G-man will bring back the next in-stallment of his 1920s-themed party on New Year’s Eve. TaoLasVegas.com.

BEST NIGHTLIFE

SIDE JOB

When Las Vegas nightlife peo-ple feel the tug of responsibil-ity, they have any number of day-job choices from which to choose. Historically, however, most seem to fall into one of four camps: commercial real estate, sneaker boutique, street-wear line or starting a gym. But the newest and most preferred Tastemaker day job is, well, just see the award for Best Juice Bar.

BEST SPLURGE

EXPERIENCE

It’s easy to splurge in Las Vegas, but the $800 per per-

son private lift to and from Electric Daisy Carnival is on every Tastemaker’s wish list. The 15-minute trip for up to seven ($5,000 total) departs from Maverick Helicopters headquarters, affording an aerial view of both the Strip and the lights of EDC. (Not to mention the whole avoiding traffc thing.) Unfortunately your ticket doesn’t get you entrance into the festival, but you still look like an extrava-gant badass upon arrival. So if you have six friends and an extra fve grand lying around, you’ll know what to do with it next summer. ElectricDaisy-Carnival.com.

BEST DATE-NIGHT

DINING

Don’t take a seat by the win-dows if they’re open—you’ll have to text each other to converse—but by all means do secure a reservation at Giada’s for that big date-night dinner. This place is dressed to impress, with seats that you can’t help but pull out for your date (hint: there are han-dles on the backs) and soft,complementary lighting in which everyone looks better. With small plates and whole chicken cacciatore for two, you can work on your sharing skills before spoon-feeding chocolate amaretti cake to one another. In the Cromwell, TheCromwell.com.

BEST POST-CLUB GRUB

Drunk munchies are a Las Ve-gas tradition. And our highly regarded Tastemakers prefer the rainbow sugar and throw-back vibe of the Peppermill, which is within wobbling dis-tance of many Strip clubs, and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner 24/7. After a sobering meal and restorative cuppa,

you can then swing by the cheesy-yet-charming Fireside lounge and start Round 2. 2985 Las Vegas Blvd. South, PeppermillLasVegas.com.

BEST HANGOVER

REMEDY

Resqwater’s guerilla market-ing must have worked. Taste-makers love the little blue bottle now found on hotel-room nightstands, in mini-bars and all over a certain Vegas Seven bev-erage editor’s home. Resqwater

contains organic prickly pear extract, organic cane sugar, B vitamins, N-acetyl L-cysteine and milk thistle, which is said to metabolize acetaldehyde, the compound that makes you feel crappy the morning after imbibing. Aside from teetotal-ing, there’s no better way to beat a hangover. Resqwater.com.

BIGGEST NIGHTLIFE

STORY OF THE YEAR

True, Marquee Dayclub’s experiments in drone bottle service are pretty cool. But the aforementioned news that the Las Vegas nightlife mother ship, Pure, will be remade over by Hakkasan Group as Omnia is what’s on the tip of Tastemakers’ tongues right now. Designed by the Rockwell Group, Omnia will be “a com-pletely different experience from Hakkasan,” Hakkasan Group president Nick McCabe says. “The new nightclub is not about eclipsing Hakkasan; it’s about satisfying our guests’ desire for a second Hakkasan Group nightlife experience in Vegas.” HakkasanGroup.com.

TA S T E M A K E R

Natalia BadzjoSenior VIP Services Manager, Tryst and XS

The Estonia-born

beauty is so much

more than just a pretty

face. After earning a

degree in international

marketing and finance,

Badzjo began her

career in 2002 as a

VIP server at Tabu

in MGM Grand and

worked her way up,

first as operations

manager at Studio 54

and then as nightlife

marketing manager

for Station Casinos

before making the

move to Wynn Resorts

to assume her current

position as the senior

VIP services manager

at Tryst and XS. She

also has the unique

distinction of being the

highest-grossing VIP

host on the team.

BEST WINE BAR FOR A

GLASS (OR TWO)

La Cave Wine & Food

Hideaway (in Wynn,

702-770-7375) is an

intimate and cozy

spot ideal for an

evening with a group

of friends. The mantra

“In Vino Veritas”

above the entrance

archway says it all.

The wine selection is

fantastic (more than

340 options), and

the knowledgeable

sommelier is happy

to offer suggestions

to go with your food.

The tapas-style small-

plates menu is perfect

for sharing with your

group—or not.

BEST LADIES POWER

CLUBWEAR

I like to look

professional, yet

feminine and sexy at

the same time. BCBG

fits my style very well,

and without breaking

the bank. I love the

versatility of the

designs: You can dress

for a business meeting,

gala event or an after-

party—all in one place.

BEST OLD-SCHOOL

VEGAS EXPERIENCE

There is something

about Hugo’s Cellar (in

the Four Queens, 702-

385-4011) that makes

you feel like you have

traveled back in time.

It’s not just a dinner,

it’s an experience! The

ambience has a very

special Old Vegas feel,

and the food is always

phenomenal (I swear

by the salad prepared

tableside and the sea-

food trio). Definitely a

hidden gem.

LADIES CHOICE FOR

FAVORITE DJ IN LAS

VEGAS

Tim Bergling—better

known as Avicii—is

one of the top DJs

in the industry, and

undoubtedly the most

popular one with

the ladies. Legions

of women make it

a point to come see

him perform, and

the guys follow, of

course. So the club

is always at full

capacity when he is

here. His hits resonate

with our young, hip

demographic, and

he always seems to

have fun on the stage.

Bergling also reads the

room very well, and

plays for the crowd,

not himself.

BEST NIGHTCLUB

ELEMENT DESIGNED

WITH WOMEN IN MIND

Even eight years later,

Tryst’s beauty cannot

be surpassed. I love

seeing the astonish-

ment on faces of first-

time guests walking

down the stairs. The

wow factor—the 90-

foot Tryst Waterfall—

has yet to be outdone.

It is a perfect place

to take your girl on a

romantic date, or for a

ladies night out. – XW

mention the whole avoiding traffc thing.) Unfortunately

but you still look like an extrava-gant badass upon arrival. So if you have six friends and an extra fve grand lying around,you’ll know what to do with it

Resqwater’s

A rendering of Omnia, debuting in spring in the former Pure space.

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NIGHTLIFEYour city after dark, photos from the week’s hottest parties and DJ Waterfall makes a splash

Seeking Salvation

XS resident Salva just dropped a rap album—

quite the change from his dance-music ascent

By Kat Boehrer

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GETTING TIRED OF THE REPETITIVE buildup-and-drop, big-room sounds that dominate the Strip’s super-clubs? Some savvy clubs are catching onto clubbers’ waning atten-tion, and they’re program-ming accordingly. The line-up at XS’ Movement Sundays has primarily consisted of artists who make club-worthy music, but aren’t afraid to step outside EDM boundaries—artists such as Green Lantern, Slander and

Salva, the latter of whom is credited among the dance community as being a con-tributor to the rise of trap music. He frequently plays festivals alongside rave-cul-ture icons. Recently, though, Salva released Peacemaker, a 13-track rap album he’s offering for free, which his fans might find perplexing. We spoke with Salva about his genre-bending antics in advance of his next XS ap-pearance November 16.

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You made your name in

the dance-music scene.

Why make a change?

The thing that put me on the map a few years ago was my Kanye remix of “Mercy” with RL Grime. That pro-pelled me into the festivals and the big-room clubs in Vegas. I definitely will con-tinue to do stuff like that, but [Peacemaker] makes a statement: I come from hip-hop, and I come from rap. It’s not rappers rapping over house music. It’s my vision of what real rap music should sound like. There are a cou-ple of R&B joints on there, too. It’s a statement piece.

And what’s the goal?

My goal is to get A&R [artists and repertoire representa-tives] and the big rappers and labels to know about me. A lot of people just know me

as “the EDM dude,” so it’s to paint that picture that I come from another side. And [the album has] already done its job in that respect. I worked with a lot of big rappers.

Why are you making the

album available for free?

I just wanted as many people to hear it as possible. I put a year into it, linking with Young Thug, E-40, School-boy Q—you know, some of the biggest rappers in the world. I didn’t want a label getting in the way. I just want people to hear what I put down.

Why did it take a full year

to complete?

What took so long was chas-ing a lot of these cats who are constantly touring the world. It was worth it, though, because regardless of how successful it is, I’m proud to

have done it. Some names are on there that I grew up listen-ing to, and I’m proud of being able to pull it off.

Where can we find the album?

It’s on my SoundCloud page (SoundCloud.com/Salva) and on all the boutique sites, such as DatPiff, LiveMixtapes, Hot-NewHipHop—basically any-where rap heads fnd their rap music.

What’s the story behind

the album name?

One of the frst big tracks released was with Young Thug, A$AP Ferg and Fred-die Gibbs, called “Old Eng-lish.” That did really well on a street level. Those three artists are a really unlikely pairing, you know? It’s a rap-per from A$AP crew in New York, Young Thug in Atlanta and Freddie Gibbs from Gary

[Indiana]. I did another track with Schoolboy Q, Kurupt, Problem and Bad Lucc. [The album’s] like a peacemaker: I’m bringing together artists who shouldn’t be together, styles that shouldn’t be to-gether. Whether it’s rival gangs or rival political outfts, it’s just making peace out of all of the chaos. It’s also a slang term for a Colt revolver, [B-36] bomber and various ar-tillery, so it’s got an explosive quality to it as well.

What was the recording

process like?

I wanted to organically make all these relationships. So, save for like one or two verses, I recorded in the studio with all these guys, myself. Nobody was paid. It was just all on the low. I bartered and gave them beats for their records in return.

What was the coolest studio

experience?

Getting in with Schoolboy Q was cool, because Nicki Minaj was recording next door. It was a star-studded environ-ment. We were in, like, a mul-timillion dollar studio.

Will house make peace with rap

at your November 16 show?

When I’m at XS, I play all kinds of things; the nights they book me are like their alternative nights. There are big-room house records that I actually like. That wasn’t the case for a while; I thought a lot of that shit was corny. I play a bunch of big records that will set off those fog ma-chines and confetti machines. I’ll play DJ Mustard tracks and YG, and I’ll do a dope half-hour block of just straight rap after an hour-and-a-half of banging out the house.

H I P A S I A N D I N I N G

MAKE A RESERVATION TODAY | T: 702.770.5340 | WYNNLASVEGAS.COM | / A N D R E A S E N C O R E

E N C O R E A T W Y N N L A S V E G A S · D O O R S O P E N A T 1 0 : 3 0 P M W E D - S A T · D R E S S C O D E E N F O R C E D · 7 0 2 . 7 7 0 . 7 3 0 0

S U R R E N D E R N I G H T C L U B . C O M · 7 0 2 . 7 7 0 . 7 3 1 3 F O R P R I V A T E E V E N T S · M U S T B E 2 1 O R O L D E R · M A N A G E M E N T R E S E R V E S A L L R I G H T S

TM

/SURRENDERVEGAS/SURRENDERNIGHTCLUB

INDUSTRY NIGHT

WED. NOV. 19 FRI. NOV. 21 SAT. NOV. 22

SAT. NOV. 15FRI. NOV. 14

DJ SET

#TD4W

SAT. NOV. 22

SAT. NOV. 15SAT. NOV. 15

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THU 13Where do you picture yourself on your 50th birthday? If you’re like hip-hop icon Rev Run, you’ll be raging at a nightclub—Hakkasan, in this case. He’ll be joined at the turntables by DJ Ruckus, who told Vegas Seven in a recent interview that he likes to drop TLC's “No Scrubs” and Soulja Boy's “Crank That" in his sets. Get hype! (In MGM Grand, 10:30 p.m., HakkasanLV.com.) But don’t miss AraabMuzik at Body English. Pitchfork has lauded him as “Master of the MPC,” for the way he ferociously pounds out samples of familiar songs to create new beats at ridiculous speeds. We fully expect the dance foor to go still in bewil-derment. (In Hard Rock Hotel, 10:30 p.m., HardRockHotel.com.)

FRI 14In case you missed it, Lil Jon few from L.A. to Atlanta just to rock the vote in his registered district of Fulton County, Geor-gia. (According to an Instagram post, he never received his ab-sentee ballot in the mail.) Cheer on his strong sense of civic responsibility when he votes “Yes”—err, “Yeahhh!”—at Sur-render. (In Encore, 10:30 p.m., SurrenderNightclub.com.) Cravin’ bacon? Commonwealth hosts the Downtown Cocktail Shakedown, during which six mixologists will be challenged to incorporate bacon into an alcoholic concoction. You’ll receive complimentary entry and samples from 8-10 p.m. with RSVP at CocktailCityVe-gas.com. (525 Fremont St., 8 p.m., CommonwealthLV.com.)

SAT 15Today is what would have been Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s 46th birth-day, also coinciding with the 10-year anniversary of the rapper’s death. I.S.I Group invites you to pay homage with live Wu Tang Clan-inspired art and music during Shimmy Shimmy Ya at Beauty Bar. (517 Fremont St., 9 p.m., TheBeautyBar.com.) Rid yourself of Top 40 earworms at Hard Hat Lounge. Artists collective Behind City Lights brings you an arsenal of under-the-radar grooves at the hands of locally raised DJs Low Sodium, Promeethus, Night Rumors, Diatone and Dskovr. Wear your dancing shoes. (1675 S. Industrial Rd., 10 p.m., Behind-CityLights.com.) Then head over to Brooklyn Bowl for a late set by electronic duo MSTRKRFT.

(At the Linq, 11:30 p.m., Vegas.BrooklynBowl.com.) Fun fact: One-half of MSTRKRFT is part of rock band Death From Above 1979, which plays a full concert earlier in the evening. Coincidence? (8 p.m., Vegas.BrooklynBowl.com.) Finally, the folks behind After bring their “proper after-hours” favor to the Artistic Armory for Afterworld with sets by Halo and Dance Spirit and residents Spacebyrdz and Justin Baule. (5087 Arville St. Suite E, 11:30 p.m., ArtisticArmory.com.)

SUN 16Facial hair is a good idea this time of year. In addition to adding warmth to your mug, a mustache will earn you a MovemBEER discount at Sin City Brewing through Nov. 30. The more hirsute your face, the steeper the markdown, and end-of-the-month proceeds will be donated to the Movember Foundation, dedicated to men's health. If your lip broom is lack-ing, you can still reap rewards by tweeting a “fnger stache” and tagging @SinCityBeer and #MovemBEER. (Multiple loca-tions, SinCityBeer.com.)

MON 17Join Vegas Seven at Foxtail as we honor the best in Las Vegas nightlife at our 2014 Nightlife Awards. (Meet the MVIPs—Most Valuable Industry Players—on Page 20, and check out the Tastemaker Awards on Page 27.) Receive complimentary entry when

you sign up at VegasSeven.com/NightlifeRSVP before 3 p.m. today, and score a hotel room for half off with the code “PMM04.” Cheers! (In SLS, 10:30 p.m., SLSLasVegas.com.)

TUE 18Alibi Lounge recently opened in the former City Bar space in Aria. The 24-hour cocktail cave promises libations and a soundtrack of indie tunes. See it all in full effect at tonight’s grand opening. (In Aria, 7 p.m., AlibiLoungeLV.com.)

WED 19Insert Coin(s) residents Cutso, Chuck Fader, Charlie Darker and Crykit lead you into Flux, a night of bootlegs and rarities to tickle your eardrums, plus drink specials to coat your throat. What more could you want from a Wednesday? (512 Fremont St., 9 p.m., InsertCoinsLV.com.)

ByCamilleCannon

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Rev Run.

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DJ WATERFALL WILL DO ANYTHING TO BECOME a household name. The Australia-born writer and producer has hired his own entourage, cursed out nightclub bounc-ers and hawked energy drinks in his quest for fame. And he broadcasts it all in a web series on YouTube. Similar to comedy-folk duo Flight of the Conchords or satirical journalist Ali G, Waterfall (who prefers not to reveal his born identity) is a persona of parody. He is outrageous and boisterous and, at times, kind of a diva. But he’s seri-ous about his music.

Waterfall is so serious, in fact, that he recently moved to Las Vegas—“the mecca of EDM,” as he calls it—to focus on club bangers full time. Previously a resident of Los Angeles, Waterfall supplements his DJ career as a ghostwriter. He was working anonymously and exclusively for other art-ists until about a year ago. “My manager ripped me off for a lot of money,” he says. “That’s why I’m doing my own stuff now.”

Although he has yet to DJ in Las Vegas, Waterfall has recently spun several gigs in smaller cities. But none have been more infamous than his frst, which took place in Australia 20 years ago. It’s when he received his moniker. “I was burning up the dance foor so bad, I thought, ‘The shit I’m playing may catch fre,’” he remembers. “My friend handed me a sprinkler and I sprayed [the audience]. Everyone was saying ‘Waterfall! Waterfall! Waterfall!’”

Waterfall is currently working on his frst solo album. “It’s house music,” he says. “It’s big. It’s fun. And it’s exciting.” He wants to put the whole record together before touring again. That way, he won’t become “white noise,” another DJ who doesn’t produce original music. He’s in talks to collaborate with rapper Lil Uno of Bay Area hip-hop group The Pack, and his frst single, “Unbreakable,” features vocals from singer Ashleigh Teich.

“I’m not trying to get too deep, too spiri-tual,” he says. But he is ambitious. Each of his web videos is watermarked in the upper right-hand corner: “DJ Waterfall: Greatest DJ Ever.” He admires the careers of Strip headliners such as David Guetta and Tiësto.

And he’s confdent that fans will see past his comic exterior.

“I’ll keep it as funny and as out there as possible. Either you’ll love it or you’ll hate it,” he says. “But the music’s so good that you’re gonna be like, ‘I gotta respect him. Or you’re gonna listen to it and go, ‘I hate this guy for writing this. Because it’s that good.’”

Does this DJ look familiar? Find out his

identity by clicking on the YouTube

link found at VRated.com/Chasin-Waterfalls.

For more from Vegas Rated, visit VRated.com.

Chasin’ Waterfalls

This DJ’s for reals

By Camille Cannon

PARTIES

See more photos from this gallery at SPYONVegas.com

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[ UPCOMING ]

Nov. 14 Rebecca and Fiona spin

Nov. 15 EC Twins spin

Nov. 16 Mark Knight spins

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[ UPCOMING ]

Nov. 14 Kris Nilsson spins

Nov. 15 Cazzette spin

Nov. 16 Salva spins

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LAVO BRUNCHThe Palazzo

[ UPCOMING ]

Nov. 15 White Night

Nov. 22 Party Brunch

Nov. 29 November Rain ’80s Rock Party

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Restaurant reviews, news and announcing the next restaurant from Hakkasan Group

“Cleo is re-igniting Las Vegas’ interest in

Mediterranean cuisine, and one-upping

the typical neighborhood fare.” {PAGE 60}

Second ActsThree popular restaurants expand their reach in new locations

By Al Mancini

The dining room and garden at Lola’s Louisiana Kitchen in Summerlin.

AS A NATIONAL WRITER, my big Las Vegas sto-

ries this year have been

about the fact that the city is growing again—the

Cromwell, the Linq, the Delano, SLS. This is also evi-

dent in the dining scene, where, over the past several

weeks, Café Martorano, Border Grill and Lola’s Loui-

siana Kitchen have all opened second locations.

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THIS THANKSGIVING, THINK OF THE VEGANS. AND THE CARNIVORES. AND MORE TRUFFLES.While everyone else is starting to think

about turkey and ham and all the dairy-laden

goodness that comes with Thanksgiving,

don’t forget it’s also World Vegan Month

(that’s vegan as in the dietary habit, not

the local). Panevino (246 Via Antonio Ave.,

702-222-2400) has had the herbivores in

mind for quite some time, with a menu that

features organic “meatloaf” and grilled

vegetable lasagna, as well as its signature

spinach and soy-based ricotta gnocchi

that don’t make omnivores miss meat. This

month, if you order a plant-based entrée,

they’ll throw in a vegan dessert gratis, such

as the creamy chocolate gelato with warm

almond milk or the chocolate pudding,

which not only happens to be animal free,

but fat free as well.

Should the carnivores out there need the

real thing, and need it raw, Bazaar Meat (in

SLS, 702-761-7610) has a selection of car-

paccio to feed the beast. And they’re even

served wrapped around a stick. Sure, it’s a

breadstick, but the combination of tender,

paper-thin bison or Washugyu beef and

the crunchy delivery method of Parmesan

grissini are a great textural contrast. Dip

it into the caramelized onion puree for so

much umami in one bite. If you prefer your

raw meat with less crunch and more bite,

the classic tartare gets some help with a

couple of worldly condiments. Chopped

sirloin gets mixed with spicy French

Savora mustard, English HP Sauce, an egg

yolk and anchovy. And a half-dozen soft,

warm, mini-Parker House rolls accompa-

nies the mixture for DIY sliders.

I know I mentioned truffles last week,

but the season is short! Delmonico Steak-

house (in the Venetian, 702-414-3737) is

running specials November 10-16 sporting

both black and white varieties of the tuber.

You can go simple, such as the starter of

angel-hair pasta, Vermont butter and local

chives, which gets a shaving of the white,

or super French, as in the escargot, which

gets kissed with the black truffles and

served over mushroom toast with garlic-

herb butter. Feeling rich? There’s also

Maine lobster with risotto adorned with

white truffle to make you feel like two mil-

lion bucks. And for dessert—you guessed

it!—white-truffle ice cream. It might be

possible to actually have the fragrance of

the sought-after fungus emanating from

your pores by the end of the meal—a very

First World problem.

Grace Bascos eats, sleeps, raves and repeats.

Read more from Grace at VegasSeven.com/

DishingWithGrace, as well as on her dining-

and-music blog, FoodPlusTechno.com.

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Get the latest on local restaurant openings and closings, interviews with top chefs, cocktail recipes, menu previews and more in our weekly “Sips and Bites” newsletter. Subscribe at VegasSeven.com/SipsAndBites.

Steve Martorano’s blend of Italian-American food, music and ambience has earned him a loyal following at the Rio, despite the complete lack of foot traffc past his restaurant’s second-foor cor-ner location. Things are much less secluded at his new Paris locale, which opens up onto the main promenade that connects the ca-sino foor to the Paris convention area and Bally’s. “The Rio is more geared toward locals,” Martorano says. “A lot of locals don’t want to come to the Strip, so that’s a perfect venue for them. This is more geared toward the people [already] on the Strip.”

The entertainment format will remain the same: Low-volume Rat Packers dominate the sound system during the early hours. Late night, however, it’s a louder blend of old-school R&B meant to appeal to an older party crowd unimpressed with the EDM of Vegas’ nightclubs.

The dinner menu at the new Café Martorano is nearly identical to the one at the original location. But there’s a new cocktail menu, including a line of Philly Water Ice drinks (a sort of sorbet-tini). And Martorano is preparing to offer his frst Las Vegas lunch menu here.

Meanwhile, down the boulevard, Mandalay Bay’s Border Grill is arguably the city’s best high-end Mexican restaurant. But at its new location in the Forum Shops at Caesars, owners Susan Fe-niger and Mary Sue Mil-liken are determined to offer something different.

The new res-taurant includes a ceviche and oyster bar, offer-ing oysters with assorted granitas,

shooters, four ceviches and other raw seafood alongside fresh-pressed juices. It’s a frst for any Border Grill location in California or Las Vegas, and one that fulflls a longstanding dream. “When we opened in Santa Monica, we tried to make the front a cold fsh taco and ceviche station,” Feniger recalls. “But 30 years ago, people were just not there yet. They were barely used to soft corn tortillas.”

The pair have also signifcantly redesigned their dinner menu. As much as 40 percent of the food was created specifcally for the new location, including lamb albondigas (meatballs), chile-lime shrimp and one of the most interesting presen-tations of a tamale I’ve ever seen: stuffed with chicken tinga, topped with pumpkin-seed puree, squash salsa and radish slices.

Finally, Downtown’s popular Creole/Cajun spot Lola’s has ex-panded into Summerlin. So far, the menu is basically the same. But the difference in décor is astounding. While the Arts District dining room is small, casual and simple, the new spot is sprawling and lavish.

The 285-seat space includes a beautiful bar area, which allows owner Lola Pokorny to offer

cocktails for the frst time. A piano sits in one corner, New Orleans-themed artwork hangs on the wall, and the chef cooks Lola’s signature oysters on a large open grill in the center of the room. There are also more formal dining areas, as well as patio seating. That outdoor area has plenty of room for Lola’s famed crawfsh boils when the mudbugs are in season. And during football season, this may become the hottest spot in Summerlin for taking in a Saints game.

While all of the Arts District clas-sics will remain on the new loca-tion’s menu indefnitely, Pokorny is planning to roll out a Summerlin-only menu after Mardi Gras, fea-turing such dishes as chicken-fried chicken, a charbroiled romaine Caesar and a Cajun cobb salad. In the meantime, there will be plenty of daily specials featuring the kale, beets, squash and herbs she’s grow-ing in the restaurant’s front yard.

How’s that for farm-to-table?

[ A SMALL BITE ]

HAKKASAN GROUP TO BRING SEARSUCKER RESTAURANT TO CAESARS Hakkasan Group’s colonization of Caesars Palace continues apace. The group has announced that it will install an outpost

of its Searsucker restaurant brand (Searsucker.com) in the former Munchbar space this spring. The restaurant bookends

Hakkasan Group’s impending megaclub project, Omnia, also slated for a spring debut, satisfying two-thirds of the Las Vegas

nightlife trifecta: club, restaurant, pool. Helmed by celebrity chef Brian Malarkey, Searsucker joins existing outposts in Austin,

Texas; Del Mar and San Diego, where the brand launched and gained popularity in the city’s Gaslamp Quarter. Malarkey,

too, gained attention last year as a colorfully dressed judge and mentor on ABC’s The Taste with Anthony Bourdain, Nigella

Lawson and Ludo Lefebvre. Here the Top Chef: Miami alum will showcase his contemporary spin on American classic comfort

foods in a laid-back atmosphere. Already destined for the menu are Malarkey’s 38-ounce bone-in tomahawk rib eye, “Eggs

and bacon” (that is, braised pork belly with poached egg and brown butter hollandaise) and beer-braised short rib with

horseradish pan sauce. On the side, trite staples get Malarkey’s playful touch, such as the jalepeño chorizo “corn off the cob.”

As for the fried Brussels sprouts with anchovy, red wine and jalapeño vinaigrette, we’ll reserve judgment on the marriage of

those notorious reminders of childhood dinners till we can sample them firsthand. – Xania Woodman

frst Las Vegas lunch menu here.Meanwhile, down the boulevard,

Mandalay Bay’s Border Grill is arguably the city’s best high-end Mexican restaurant. But at its new location in the Forum Shops at Caesars, owners Susan Fe-niger and Mary Sue Mil-liken are determined

owner Lola Pokorny to offer

Martorano’s caprese.

CAFÉ MARTORANO

Paris, 702-946-4656.

Open for dinner 5-11 p.m.

Sun-Thu, 5 p.m.-midnight Fri-Sat.

BORDER GRILL

Forum Shops in Caesars, 702-

854-6700. Open for lunch and

dinner 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Sun-Thu, 11

a.m.-midnight Fri-Sat.

LOLA’S LOUISIANA KITCHEN

1220 N. Town Center Dr.,

702-871-5652. Open for lunch

and dinner 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Sun,

11 a.m.-9 p.m. Mon-Thu,

11 a.m.-10 p.m. Fri,

noon-10 p.m. Sat.

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FEW WOMEN IN HISTORY HAVE BEEN portrayed as being quite so exotic, in-triguing and glamorous as Cleopatra. So if you’re going to name your restau-rant after the Egyptian pharaoh-queen and lover of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, you’d better bring something special to the table. I’m happy to report that Cleo at SLS, a sister restaurant to the L.A. original, does just that.

If you’re worried about what Egyp-tian cuisine might entail, have no fear. The menu at Cleo is broad Mediterra-nean fare, with plenty of items you’ve seen at your neighborhood Mediter-ranean joint. What sets it apart is the combination of sophistication and simplicity in both food and décor.

As you enter, you’ll fnd a hand-ful of tables and booths in front of a large open kitchen in the center of the room. White Lebanese crystal-style chandeliers hang from the ceiling, while books, photos and other antiqui-ties line shelves along the walls. For a casual, more visceral experience, take a seat at the counter lined with herbs

and spices that surrounds the cooking space. From there, you can watch the chefs at work before an open oven while taking in the aromas. Or, if you’re looking for something more formal, request a table or plush booth in the back of the restaurant.

The menu begins with a selection of mezzes (appetiz-ers) that includes numerous dips, kebabs, sausages, veg-etables and specialties such as dolmades and kibbeh. They’re followed by several soups, salads, vegetables, fatbreads and a handful of raw dishes—all meant for sharing. But there’s also a healthy assortment of larger meat and seafood entrées. While the meat offerings should satisfy the most carnivorous of diners, there are enough delicious meat-free dishes to provide a wonderful vegetarian feast. (On my frst visit, we went about 90 percent vegetarian and had a great meal.)

All three of the dips I’ve sampled have been exceptional. The hummus with whole chickpeas and the cucum-ber yogurt were both extremely tradi-tional and perfectly executed. But the most interesting was the chicken liver mousse with glazed onions, butter-

roasted walnuts and a wine reduction. All of the dips are accompanied by either house-made laffa bread or vegetable sticks. Other mezzes you should try are the sweet venison sausages with pickled caulifower and the dolmades, the latter being among the best I’ve ever had. The grape leaves are fresh and crisp (not stringy like you some-times encounter), and the

rice is nicely seasoned without going overboard on the citrus.

Other highlights include kushi oysters with a chili-lime mignonette; a mixture of eggplant, fennel and

chili cooked in the wood-burning oven; and a mushroom fatbread with Gruyère. But my absolute favorite dish so far has been the lamb tagine. The tender meat is accented with silan (date honey syrup) and saffron, and falls apart at the mere touch of a fork. And the perfectly cooked couscous that accompanies it comes dotted with tiny, sweet, dried apricots.

My visits to Cleo haven’t been with-out misses, however. The duck bastilla is a rich glazed duck wrapped in phyl-lo, then dusted with powdered sugar, a clumsy and unsuccessful attempt to blend savory with sweet. The exterior of my falafel was a bit too hard and crunchy. And the spinach-and-ricotta dumplings in a pesto Parmesan sauce were too mushy for my taste. (As for the much-hyped fried Brussels sprout leaves, I can take them or leave them.)

Service on my frst visit was exem-plary—no surprise since the managers knew I am a critic. The staff was just as attentive on my second visit, however, when my wife and I snuck in unnoticed and sat at the counter (although two of our three dishes did arrive lukewarm).

That said, Cleo is re-igniting Las Vegas’ interest in Mediterranean cuisine and one-upping the typical neighborhood fare. Plus, it’s nice to see the pharaoh-queen triumphant in the former Sahara.

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Fit for a QueenCleo earns high marks for its contemporary—

and even largely vegetarian—Mediterranean cuisine

By Al Mancini

An assortment of

mezzes at Cleo.

CLEO

In SLS,

702-761-7612.

Open for dinner

6-10:30 p.m.

Sun-Thu,

6-11:30 p.m.

Fri-Sat.

Dinner for two

$40-$80.

Al’s Menu Picks

Cucumber yogurt ($7),

dolmades ($7),

venison sausage ($7)

and lamb tagine ($16).

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[ SCENE STIRS ]

MYTHBUSTERS: PATRÓNThink you know everything about Vegas’ bottle-

service darling? Davin Homan, Patrón’s Nevada

area manager, wants you to think again.

Patrón is not tequila. – False

To be called “tequila,” a spirit has to be made

from 51 percent Weber blue agave grown in one

of Mexico’s five tequila-making regions. To bear

the name “100 percent blue agave,” it of course

has to come from 100 percent Weber blue agave.

Only blue agaves from the Jalisco highlands—the

Napa Valley of Mexico, if you will—go into Patrón.

Patrón is made in Las Vegas. – False

Tequila labled “100 percent blue agave” must be

produced, distilled and bottled on site in Mexico.

Patrón is bottled at La Hacienda de Patrón distill-

ery in the small town of Atotonilco el Alto. When

agaves come in from the fields, they are quartered

and steamed at a low temperature for 79 hours in

20,000-ton capacity adobe brick ovens. However,

Patrón’s U.S. headquarters are in Las Vegas!

Patrón is made at a distillery that makes other

tequilas. – False

While many tequila distilleries produce multiple

brands, La Hacienda de Patrón only produces

Patrón. Although master distiller Francisco Alcaraz

created Patrón in 1989 at the Siete Leguas distill-

ery, when La Hacienda was built in 2002, Patrón

moved production there; its exclusive distillery

number, 1492, can be found on every bottle.

Patrón is an industrial spirit. – False

As was done in Patrón’s infancy, it’s still made us-

ing the tahona process, still fermented in 5,000-liter

pinewood vats and distilled in copper-pot stills. As

the company has grown, Patrón has added more

tahona pits and more fermentation tanks. “It’s small

batch on a large scale,” Homan says. “People see

Patrón as this massive brand, but we have less than

200 people in the company, plus the 1,100 people

in Mexico making and bottling the product. It’s a

big brand, but a small company.” That said, Patrón

is also forward thinking, using a reverse osmosis

system to handle waste pulp and water, both huge

problems for Mexico. Patrón salvages 70 percent of

its wastewater. Spent pulp fibers are composted,

watered with reclaimed water and used to fertilize

an organic garden, which yields a bag of groceries

per week for each family employed at La Hacienda.

Patrón was founded by Paul Mitchell. – False

With just $700, John Paul DeJoria cofounded John

Paul Mitchell Hair Systems in 1980 with hairstylist

Paul Mitchell while DeJoria was living out of his

car. In 1989, DeJoria, by then a successful busi-

nessman and philanthropist, launched Patrón with

the late Martin Crowley. DeJoria is still the owner.

DeJoria has a race car-driving daughter. – True

Pro drag racer and the quickest female in NHRA

Funny Car history, Alexis DeJoria was recently in

Las Vegas promoting breast cancer awareness. Her

ride? The Patrón XO Café Toyota Camry, of course!

Patrón has a secret society. – True

Well, the secret’s out! The Patrón Social Club gives

members access to private events, dinners and

contests. Sign up at PatrónSocialClub.com. – X.W.

➜ If Patrón tequila’s new Roca line tastes a little

earthier than what you’re used to shooting, it stands

to good reason. Among the brand’s newest prod-

ucts, Roca Patrón is entirely made using the tahona

method: Agave piñas roasted 79 hours in an adobe

brick oven are crushed by a tahona, a hand-carved,

two-ton volcanic rock before going into small

pinewood fermenters—all of which yields a more

complex favor and fnish: sweet and earthy with

notes of black pepper, cooked agave, light citrus and

herbs. By contrast, Patrón’s core line is 50 percent

tahona. Roca’s price is accordingly enriched, too, so

you might not see it in shot glasses as much as it is

served neat or by the bottle in nightclubs. And when

you come across it in a cocktail, the favor of the te-

quila should enhance the drink, not be covered up

by it. Lobby Bar in Aria typically focuses on vodka,

gin and Champagne, but bartender Manny Garcia

employs Roca to treat his tequila-loving guests to

an upscale twist on a margarita. His Valley of Fire

($15) cocktail combines Roca Patrón’s silver expres-

sion with mezcal, apricot liqueur, fresh lime, a little

simple syrup and Fresno chile. Sip, sigh and repeat.

Get the recipe at VegasSeven.com/CocktailCulture.

Turning up the Heat

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A&EMovies, music, stage and some eggs that go over really easy

“It was the equivalent of spending Thanksgiving with a hilarious

and eccentric family, trying not to miss a thing as you pass the

stuffng and decode the inside jokes.” STAGE {PAGE 68}

HE’S RESPONSIBLE FOR MANY OF THE heaviest, most striking metal riffs ever recorded—“Breaking the Law,” “Living After Midnight,” “You’ve Got Another Thing Co-min’,” to name a few. But Glenn Tipton hasn’t just motivated le-gions of headbangers to pick up six-string axes and form bands. He’s also earned the admiration of soft indie-folk rockers such as Mark Kozelek of Sun Kil Moon, who wrote a gentle, lovely song named after the hard-charging, leather-clad Judas Priest guitarist.

“I did actually hear that song,” says Tipton, 67, whose band will be playing the Pearl at the Palms on November 14. “I was honored by it. I’m proud to be recognized by other musicians. C’mon, if you don’t do anything in your life but inspire people, your life is worth living.”

Forty years after their frst studio album Rocka Rolla (1974), Priest continues to earn posi-tive reviews. Critics hailed the band’s recent disc, Redeemer of Souls, as yet another classic, on par with British Steel, Screaming for Vengeance and Painkiller. Tipton credits the creative infusion of guitarist Richie Faulkner, who re-placed longtime Priest shredder K.K. Downing four years ago.

“I think Redeemer might’ve progressed much like a standard Priest effort,” Tipton says. “But when Richie joined the song-writing team, we suddenly real-ized our band had a moment to really shine.”

Interestingly, Tipton insists he was less interested in Faulkner’s technical prowess than in the 34-year-old’s positive, can-do spirit.

“It’s very important to get along with the right personality. The frst thing we looked for is some-one we could get along with and collaborate. It’s OK to have the best guitar player in the world, but if that person doesn’t mesh then it’s wasted. We met with Richie and knew he was a good guitar player as soon as he walked through the door. He’s such a nice guy. The thing we needed to know is if he could write.”

No worries there. Everything Faulkner brings to the table on Redeemer is pure Priest. From the

Metal GodsJudas Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton talks indie-rock, tombstone epitaphs and band rapport

By Jarret Keene

Call to worship: Glenn Tipton (far

right) and his band.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 64

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fery riffng on “Dragonaut” to the bluesy Hendrix blasts of “Sword of Damocles,” Tipton and Faulkner comprise a ferocious sonic wail. Fans, how-ever, should expect to hear half of the tunes from the new album. It’s inevi-table for a band such as Priest, with such a trove of songs, to leave out someone’s favorite.

“With this set list, though, we almost have it right,” Tip-ton says. “We’re playing songs we haven’t played in years like ‘Love Bites.’ It’s a very enjoy-able set for us to play, and for fans to appreciate.”

People will always fock to see Priest per-form live. But how does Tipton feel about get-ting older while continuing to play rebellious music? Will his tombstone years from now provide any insight? Tipton laughs at this, saying the best thing he’s seen on a tomb-

stone is British comedian Spike Milligan’s epitaph: “I told you I was ill.” What Tipton doesn’t chuckle at is the idea of a Las Vegas residency a la Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard.

“I think if it’s done in the right way, by putting on a real profession-al show every night, then I can see the sense. Some people might frown on it, but I don’t.”

Finally, Tipton offers some wisdom for young guitarists looking to fnd careers in music.

“My advice has always been: Be yourself and bring

your own character to the instrument. The best bands are those you can instantly rec-ognize. I used to struggle for hours, days, weeks learning Jimi Hendrix riffs, until it dawned on me that it was more important to develop my own style.”

JUDAS PRIEST

with Steel Panther,

8 p.m. Nov. 14,

The Pearl at the

Palms, $69 and up,

702-944-3200.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 63

(LOCAL) VIDEOGRAPHYBy Zoneil Maharaj

1 EKOH ‘PAINTS’ HIMSELF

IN HEART-HOP

Rapper Ekoh, who performed at Life Is Beautiful,

dropped the visuals for “Paint” a couple of weeks

ago. Branded “heart-hop,” the genre-bridging MC

isn’t afraid to tackle his demons or address real

issues in his music. The song—about putting up

fronts and hiding pain—features lush production

that sounds somber and triumphant all at once,

with Avalon Landing singer Josh Rabenold

delivering the powerful chorus. The video is

equally compelling. Shot Downtown, it starts

with Ekoh spray-painting a wall before he gets

his paint stolen. He chases after the culprit and

eventually finds himself stuck in a painting.

2 HAPPY CAMPERS MAKE A

SLASHER FLICK WITH A

SHAKESPEAREAN ENDING

Vegas punk staples Happy Campers recently

dropped their video for “Bleeding Me Dry”

off their latest album, Dancing With Demons. It

features the quartet dressed as horror movie

villains. They appear to be attacking a helpless

woman in the woods, but wait for the funny/

fucked-up twist at the end. According to the

YouTube description, it’s one of four videos shot

for the song. I wonder what they’ll come up with

for the others.

3 EUROZ DELVES INTO

THE “SUBCONSCIOUS”

When I asked Dizzy Wright what other Vegas

rappers I should check for, he only mentioned one:

Euroz. One listen to Euroz’s Memories of the Future,

and it was clear why he got the endorsement. It’s a

deeply introspective record devoid of mainstream

gimmickry, and a big progression from his mixtape

offerings. While there’s nothing special about the

recently released video for “Subconscious”—just

a dude walking down cold, dark streets with his

shirt off—the song is the perfect introduction

to the artist. Staying hungry, he also dropped a

teaser of a new track over the weekend in a video

clip titled “The Lab.”

Faulkner and Tipton grind their axes.

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JE T’AIME IMPALA Tame Impala (pictured)

consistently hypnotizes audiences with their

lovely, lo-fi psychedelia. Kevin Parker’s guitar

sound is distorted, but his musical genius

(“Apocalypse Dreams,” “Mind Mischief,”

“Elephant”) is crystal clear. Tame Impala

plays Brooklyn Bowl on Nov. 13 ($33).

ON SALE NOW Maroon 5 will play two

special New Year’s concerts at Mandalay

Bay Events Center Dec. 30-31 ($99.50-

$224.50). Why not ring in 2015 with live

performances of “Maps” and “Animals”

from Maroon 5’s latest album, V?

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KISS Wanna Rock and Roll (Some of) the NiteThe Joint at the Hard Rock, November 5

I’ve always contended that one of the things that has made KISS appealing to an army of fans for four decades has been the

simplicity of their music (newsflash: Led Zeppelin, they’re not) and predictability of their over-the-top theatrical live shows. So it

came as no surprise that Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and the two hired hands not named Peter Criss or Ace Frehley chose not

to reinvent the wheel on the opening night of their three-week, nine-show KISS Rocks Vegas residency. Yes, there were fire and

explosions and eardrum-splitting sound and 12-inch platform heels and Stanley performing “Love Gun” hovering over the audience

and Simmons spitting blood while soaring toward the ceiling during his bass solo. Indeed, KISS knows what they do, and they do it

well. But there’s just one problem: They don’t do it for very long. Not that one should expect a three-hour extravaganza, what with

50 percent of the band old enough to collect Social Security. But when you’ve got a catalog of more than three dozen albums and

you’re saying your initial goodnight after 13 songs, that doesn’t exactly qualify as a full night’s work. To their credit, they played

a three-song encore; they didn’t lack for effort (at times, the quartet seemed to have more verve than the audience); and they

sprinkled in a couple of deep cuts (“Parasite,” show-opener “Creatures of the Night”) with the usual standards. But when you’re

dropping the confetti after barely 90 minutes, well, let’s just say Paul and Gene should consider retiring the closing song “Rock and

Roll All Nite” from the set list. Or at least rewrite the lyrics.. ★★★✩✩ – Matt Jacob

CONCERT Going Deep with a New Leonard Cohen BookMusic journalist Harvey Kubernik has

built a cottage industry writing about a

certain era of music.

His coffee-table chronicles include

Canyon Dreams: The Magic and Music of

Laurel Canyon (2009); A Perfect Haze:

The Illustrated History of the Monterey

International Pop Festival (2011); and

Turn Up the Radio! Rock, Pop and Roll

in Los Angeles 1956-1972 (2014). So it

stands to reason that Kubernik would

deliver a breathtaking, visual and

literal treatise on Leonard Cohen, that

legendary Canadian balladeer with the

beatified baritone.

“I was first drawn to Leonard Cohen

after hearing his Columbia Records

debut late one night on L.A.’s KPPC-

FM,” Kubernik says. “I interviewed him

in 1974 at the Continental Hyatt House

in Hollywood for Melody Maker. He was

a mensch.”

Decades of personal adoration has

manifested into this vibrant collage,

Leonard Cohen: Everybody Knows

(Backbeat Books, $35). It includes

rare photographs, memorabilia and

recollections from Cohen aficionados

such as early Rolling Stones manager

Andrew Loog Oldham; ’70s glam/punk

entrepreneur Kim Fowley; avant-garde

rocker Nick Cave; and filmmaker Curtis

Hanson, who placed one of Cohen’s

songs in his flick, Wonder Boys. Through

it all, Harvey’s goal, as stated in the

book’s introduction, is to bring “clarity

and context to this most extravagantly

lived, most solitary of public lives.”

Hallelujah, Harvey Kubernik, for

going deep. Again. – Lonn M. Friend

CONCERT

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A LONELY ROAD

In 1998, playwright Paula Vogel was

awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for

How I Learned to Drive. And the play is

not for the faint of heart. Protagonist Li'l

Bit endures years of abuse at the hands of

her family, finding her only sense of power

when her hands are on the wheel. See it at

Onyx Theatre Nov. 14-23. OnyxTheatre.com.

SIN-EMATOGRAPHY

Photographer Geoffrey Ellis’ This Must

Be the Place is an imaginative ode to the

conflict and contradictions that thrive in

Las Vegas. He describes his depiction of

our city as “a place that is as seductive as

it is repellent.” Picture money engulfed in

flames and a battered Cadillac … or see

it for yourself through Nov. 29 at Brett

Wesley Gallery. BrettWesleyGallery.com.

STAY TUNED

Opera ain’t the easiest to understand, but

it helps when a familiar tale is being told.

UNLV Opera Theatre presents the classic

Little Red Riding Hood and The Bewitched

Child (a whimsical French fantasy) Nov. 13-

15 at Paul Harris Theatre. Bring the kids.

UNLV.edu.

ON THE HUNT

Having previously staged only free

readings, A Public Fit Theatre Company

presents its first full (and crowd-funded)

production, Foxfinder, Nov. 13-22 at Art

Square Theatre. In a January write-up, the

Los Angeles Times explained the drama as

“the witch-hunting of The Crucible at the

hands of a modern Orwellian state.” We’re

intrigued. Facebook.com/APublicFit.

The

HITLIST

TARGETING THIS WEEK'S

MOST-WANTED EVENTS

By Camille Cannon

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ALBUM REVIEWS By Pj Perez

PUNK

Rancid... Honor Is All We Know(Hellcat/Epitaph)

On “Back Where I Belong,” the opening

track of Rancid’s eighth studio album,

frontman Tim Armstrong declares I’ve

been gone way too long, and indeed,

six years have passed since the Bay

Area punks’ last album. But ... Honor

Is All We Know—produced by Bad

Religion guitarist and Epitaph CEO

Brett Gurewitz—hits all the expected

notes: shout-along choruses, hints of

second-wave ska, fighting the man,

drinking, etc. The sound is gruffer and

less melodic than on previous outings,

but that somehow adds gravitas to an

album that blasts through 14 songs in 32

minutes. ★★★✩✩

INDIE ROCK

Sun Gods to Gamma RaysA Ghost To Find(Self-released)

The debut full-length from

Minneapolis quintet Sun Gods to

Gamma Rays displays the effortless

playing and songwriting of a young

band in its prime, offering 10 tracks

of downtempo, spacey rock music

that falls somewhere between

Zero 7’s breezy trip-hop and

Elysian Fields’ crunchy dream-pop.

Anchored by the breathy, ethereal

voice of Brianna Kocka, A Ghost To

Find is equal parts sexy (“Make It

Last”), dramatic (“Funeral Drum”),

chilling (“Prism Light”), menacing

(“The Darkest Part”) and just plain

terrific. ★★★★✩

AMERICANA

Devin SinhaThe Seventh Season(Self-released)

Seattle-area singer-songwriter

Devin Sinha shifts things up on his

second self-released album, adding

percussion, electric instrumentation

and layered vocals to his acoustic

guitar-based, contemporary folk-rock,

conjuring a sound equally reminiscent

of Ryan Adams and Sufjan Stevens.

The 11 songs on The Seventh

Season go down easily, with Sinha’s

surprisingly mature songs trading on

a blend of heart-on-sleeve storytelling

and poetic balladry, while his delicate

fingerpicking work anchors such

songs as “Winter Child,” “Orion” and

“The Wolves.” ★★★✩✩

Historic Beauty, Served Shiny Side Up

FABERGÉ: GLITTERY, GLITZY AND OVER THE TOP. Liberace loved the jewelry house’s lavish sensibility so much that he opened some of his mid-’80s productions by emerg-ing from a giant Fabergé egg. It’s no wonder that their jewel-encrusted, gold-leafed and diamond-spangled extrava-gance appeals to Las Vegas, where fashy indulgence is our raison d’être.

So it’s ftting that Fabergé creations have been on display at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art twice. In 2003, the gallery presented Fabergé: Treasures From the Kremlin. On November 14, Fabergé Revealed arrives (10 a.m.-7 p.m. daily through May 25). The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts created the exhibition, which has traveled to Detroit and Montreal, among other cities, and will appear in Beijing in 2016.

The exhibit showcases more than 200 works—from elaborately carved picture frames and jewel-studded cigarette cases to gilded teapots and enameled parasol handles. The house of Fabergé also maintained its focus on jewelry,

and Fabergé Revealed will include pieces such as the last Queen of Italy’s diamond tiara.

Also on display will be four of the famed Fabergé eggs, each a tiny elaborate masterpiece of adorn-ment and engineering. The Imperial Pelican Easter

Egg is a creation of intricately engraved gold, topped with a tiny, jeweled pelican in

her nest of pearl eggs, and unfolds to display nine painted-ivory

miniatures in ornate frames. Truly, it is the world’s most

exquisite and expensive tchotchke. Additionally, the exhibit will feature a selection of “Fauxbergé” objects—forgeries once

thought to be genuine pieces. They may not fool the experts, but most will fnd them every bit as im-pressive as the real thing.

The aura of decadence and extravagance is

underlined by the fact that the Russian royal family was

Fabergé’s best and best-known customers. The elite

of the elite, nibbling on caviar and exchanging ruby-studded

jade letter openers and minia-ture golden wastebaskets in their

private palace, oblivious to toil and misfortune beyond the gates. Ignoring

reality while basking in fanciful luxury? I guess that’s another reason Las Vegas loves Fabergé.

– Lissa Townsend Rodgers

FABERGÉ: GLITTERY, GLITZY AND OVER THE TOP. Liberace loved the jewelry house’s lavish sensibility so much that he opened some of his mid-’80s productions by emerg-ing from a giant Fabergé egg. It’s

diamond-spangled extrava-

p.m. daily through May 25). The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts created the exhibition, which has traveled to Detroit and Montreal, among other cities, and will appear in Beijing in 2016.

The exhibit showcases more than 200 works—from elaborately carved picture frames and jewel-studded cigarette cases to

Egg is a creation of intricately engraved gold, topped with a tiny, jeweled pelican in

her nest of pearl eggs, and unfolds to display nine painted-ivory

miniatures in ornate frames. Truly, it is the world’s most

exquisite and expensive tchotchke. Additionally, the exhibit will feature a selection of “Fauxbergé”

thought to be genuine pieces. They may not fool

and extravagance is underlined by the fact that

the Russian royal family was Fabergé’s best and best-

known customers. The elite of the elite, nibbling on caviar

and exchanging ruby-studded jade letter openers and minia-

ture golden wastebaskets in their private palace, oblivious to toil and

misfortune beyond the gates. Ignoring reality while basking in fanciful luxury? I

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IT WAS 1960 WHEN DEBBIE REYNOLDS made her Las Vegas nightclub debut at the Riviera Hotel. That same year, the Rat Pack formed, Jim Crow laws were tossed out and El Rancho went up in fames.

Fifty-four years later, Debbie Reyn-olds said farewell to the Strip and the showrooms in a weekend of perfor-mances (Nov. 7-9) at the South Point Casino. The veteran of everything—from a starring role in Singin’ in the Rain to a cameo in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas—celebrated her retirement with her favorite people: Her fans in the audience and her family onstage.

But the frst half of the show was just Debbie giving a clinic in old-school Vegas variety: a few songs, some patter, a dance step or two, a few impressions (her Mae West is spot-on) and a surplus of charisma. There were drums, piano, a cluster of lime-green palm trees and Debbie be-decked in 20 pounds of gold sequins slit to the thigh. “I just let the one leg stick out because everything else is shot,” she quipped. “I live in Beverly Hills and my boobs live in San Diego.”

Still, the lady is 82. Her phrasing was sharp, but the pipes aren’t as reli-able as they once were. By the middle of the evening, Debbie’s bottomless well of energy was running low.

Then a voice was heard off-stage singing “I’ll Never Say No to You” from The Unsinkable Molly Brown (another of Reynolds’ classic flms), and daughter Carrie Fisher emerged from the wings, black-clad, wear-ing sunglasses and ready to unleash a barrage of snark. The two joked about showbiz and family, particu-larly ex-husband/father Eddie Fisher

and Carrie’s wild youth—“That was because of the blow, wasn’t it, dear?” “No, it was the LSD.”

They were joined by Debbie’s son/Carrie’s brother Todd Fisher and Carrie’s daughter, Billie Lourd. Debbie mentioned that Carrie and Billie had been working on Star Wars: Episode VII–The Force Awakens with “Harrison Ford… and the other boy-chik.” It was probably the most tepid applause ever evoked by mention of a Star Wars movie—say that to a room of fanboys with Princess Leia right there and the howling might cause permanent hearing loss.

Debbie urged Billie to sing. After some mother-daughter side-eye and “hold the mic up, dear,” Billie launched into “At Last” as her grandmother beamed. (Billie has grandma’s voice and mom’s wit, a winning combo.)

Old home movies were screened (and commented on) and old stories told. Then the whole Reynolds-Fisher family—down to the dog—joined together in a rendition of “There’s No Business Like Show Business.”

The evening had begun as the archetypical glitter-and-patter Vegas act, but it morphed into the equiva-lent of spending Thanksgiving with a hilarious and eccentric family, trying not to miss a thing as you pass the stuffng and decode the inside jokes.

At the close, Debbie returned to the stage solo to sing “my one hit.” As she crooned “Tammy,” her voice seemed stronger than it had at the begin-ning, the song more sincere than its saccharine tone. Audiences may have motivated Debbie Reynolds for al-most 70 years, but her family gave her the fuel for one last performance.

ONE LAST SONG IN THE RAIN

Debbie Reynolds gives a family-flled curtain call,

Vegas style

By Lissa Townsend Rodgers

No business like the family business: Carrie Fisher, Billie Lourd, Todd Fisher and Debbie Reynolds.

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A KNOCKOUT ONE MINUTE, A PUNCH-DRUNK crazy flm the next, Interstellar is a highly stimulating mess. Emotionally it’s also a mess, and that’s what makes it worth its 169 minutes—minutes made possible by co-writer and direc-tor Christopher Nolan’s prior global success with his brooding, increas-ingly nasty Batman flms, and with the commercially viable head-trip that was Inception.

You can call Interstellar corny or reiterative or just plain daunting, and you’d be right. It is those things. It is hobbled by astronomy and physics seminars disguised as dialogue. But even with its vividly realized imagin-ings of journeys through a worm hole, or its depiction of the largest tidal wave in the history of water, what I remem-bered frst the following morning was this: Matthew McConaughey’s char-acter crying his eyes out as he watches years and years of backlogged video messages left by his son back on Earth. Simple, elemental human feeling. More directors should try it sometime.

Co-written by Jonathan Nolan, Christopher’s brother, the flm is caked with the dust of death and bereave-ment, yet it posits that love is stronger than gravity, relativity, and even or-dinary blockbuster imperatives. 2001: A Space Odyssey may be the director’s touchstone, but Nolan’s own galaxy quest is as warm and fuzzy as Stanley Kubrick’s vision was stoically indiffer-ent to the plight of humankind.

The starting point is conventional enough. We’re on a farm somewhere in America (played by locations in Alberta—apparently the Canadian tax breaks never end). The only crop is corn, and the so-called “blight” has ravaged the global food supply. The planet’s time is nearly up. McCo-naughey plays Cooper, a frustrated farmer trained as a test pilot who lives with daughter Murph (Macken-zie Foy), son Tom (Timothee Chalam-et) and father-in-law Donald (John Lithgow, whose stage-trained diction makes the naturalistic McConaughey drawl all the more pronounced). One of the upstairs bedrooms, lined with bookshelves, appears to be haunted by benign, book-tossing ghosts.

Surely there’s an explanation.One night, somewhere near their

homestead, Cooper and Murph stumble onto the secret underground location of what’s left of NASA, where a project headed up by the eminent Prof. Brand (Michael Caine, Nolan’s go-to purveyor of mellow wisdom) intends to fnd a home for Earth’s inhabitants before the clock runs out. Cooper qualifes as the right fyboy for this crucial space exploration mission. Destination: a wormhole near Saturn. On the other end of the wormhole, what? A new home? A new set of troubles?

The frst really good scene in Inter-stellar reminds us that Nolan can pull off dramatically famboyant tricks in style. Cooper will be lost in space for years, maybe forever. His kids, especially Murph, don’t want him to go. He does, though, to try to save the planet. The farewell on the farm is an anguished one, and cleverly pushing the time-acceleration idea, Nolan in-tercuts it with the countdown and lift-off of the spaceship helmed by Cooper. His fellow adventurers include Brand’s daughter, Amelia (Anne Hathaway), the tremulous astrophysicist Romilly (David Gyasi), the snappish scientist Doyle (Wes Bentley) and two geomet-ric widget-y robots voiced by Bill Irwin and Josh Stewart.

The flm takes the time and the nar-rative space to explore several worlds.

One is wet, dominated by inhospita-bly crushing mountain-sized ocean waves; another is pure ice, where even the clouds above are snow chunks. In one of the script’s more usefully pro-vocative notions, time on the water-logged planet proceeds at seven years per human hour. I love this bit; it’s instantly graspable, and frightening, cutting to the heart of Nolan’s obses-sion with time lost, time spent and misspent. This goes back to Memento, a feet-footed brain-scrambler from the other end of the wormhole of this flmmaker’s career.

Every temporal aspect of existence bends and twists in Interstellar. There’s not much room for the usual con-fict and resolution, and for a daring portion of the flm Nolan manages to make a sincere science-fction epic without an antagonist, only a tangle of conficting intentions. As adults, Cooper’s children are played by Jessica Chastain and Casey Affeck, and as they age back on Earth, Cooper won-ders if he did the right thing leaving them (not really a moral dilemma—the fate of the planet’s hanging in the bal-ance), or if he’ll ever see them again.

How these questions are answered in the flm’s fnal 45 minutes will likely toss half of any given audience right off the bus. I sympathize. Yet I found myself hanging on, through the flm’s several endings, and even the endings beyond those endings. This

is a movie unabashedly earnest in its intention to awe. It’s certainly the frst science-fction flm to combine rela-tivity theory with a line about burying grandpa “out in the back 40.” The Nolan brothers’ screenplay asks only that we, the awed, or the partly awed and partly confused, embrace family and our time on Earth, or wherever we end up. It’s the same plea made by writers as diverse as Charles Dickens and Thornton Wilder. While I devoutly wish Nolan had sent composer Hans Zimmer and his droning, thundering score into deep space, I’m glad we live in a world where a fabulously success-ful director can retain his ambition, even at the expense of clarity.

Sixty-six minutes of Interstellar were flmed with 70 millimeter Imax cameras; all of it was flmed on cel-luloid, as opposed to digitally, and the visual results carry a rougher, grainier quality than you typically see in space epics. The same is true of the movie’s most nakedly expressive scenes, which have nothing to do with how special the effects are (and they’re pretty special). When McConaughey breaks down watching years-old messages from his son, he weeps. And even Zimmer’s music backs down, allowing the scene to breathe, play out and—like the best of this crazy, mixed-up, heart-felt endeavor—matter.

Interstellar (PG-13) ★★★✩✩PH

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Space SpectacleChristopher Nolan expands

the fnal frontier

and blows our minds

By Michael Phillips Tribune Media Services

Hathaway and McConaughey get

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IT’LL BE A CHILLY DAY IN HELL before John Hawkes gets an Oscar nomination for his work in the cinematic memoir Low Down, given the focus on Michael Keaton for Birdman and Benedict Cumberbatch for The Imitation Game and so on.

So be it. Low Down is small, with vir-tually no marketing behind it. It’s also very good. Hawkes breaks your heart as a man struggling with addiction and disappointment. The actor, who frst came to wide attention in Winter’s Bone, has so many sure-sighted ways of bringing a fawed character to three-dimensional life onscreen, decades from now his work will be discussed, admired and—with any luck—continu-ing into its third act.

The movie is an impressive, street-level feature debut from director Jeff Preiss. It’s based on the book Low Down: Junk, Jazz and Other Fairy Tales From Childhood, in which Amy-Jo Albany, daughter of jazz pianist Joe Albany, wrote about her risk-prone, caretaking childhood, partially spent in the U.S. and abroad with her fa-ther, partially spent with Joe’s mother in Hollywood.

Joe was a longtime heroin addict

who died at 63 in New York. The flm monkeys with the chronology and events of Amy-Jo’s early teen years, but intelligently. It becomes the story of one girl’s vulnerable upbringing in mid-1970s Hollywood. Elle Fanning does the truest and best acting of her young life in this role. Low Down stays close to Amy-Jo as she watches her father and the harsh world around her through windows, or as she lis-tens at doorways for the next sign of dad’s relapse.

“It’s like God wants to take these guys ’cause they’re so good,” says Joe’s

fellow addict, the trumpet player Lester Hobbs, played by Flea (of the Red Hot Chili Peppers). He’s speak-ing of all the jazz casualties undone by heroin. And he’s talking to Joe, the next in line.

Low Down serves as a terrifc exam-ple of how to evoke a given period on a tight budget. Much of the flm, shot on 16 millimeter by the superb cinema-tographer Christopher Blauvelt, takes place in a seedy apartment complex where father and daughter live. The movie’s soundtrack is constantly alive and teeming with jazz greats on vi-

nyl, accompanied by traffc noise and screams from down the hall. Glenn Close plays Gram, Joe’s mother, never without a cig or a passive-aggressive remark. She’s formidable. Lena Headey plays Amy-Jo’s hostile drunk of a disappearing act of a mother. While the writing in her scenes feels less authentic—more like an actress speaking writerly lines than a real-life character—it’s a minor glitch in a tough-minded, empathetic portrait of dreamers on the edge.

Low Down (R) ★★★★✩

SHORT REVIEWS By Tribune Media Services

JAZZ DADA genius and

a heroin addict,

from his daughter’s

point of view

By Michael Phillips Tribune Media Services

A&E

Nightcrawler (R) ★★★✩✩Jake Gyllenhaal lost 30 pounds for

Nightcrawler, and the result is eerie, much

like the film itself. His character is Lou, a

freelance L.A. crime scene videographer.

The street scenes, lonely canyon roads

and shadowy interiors come from both the

movies and from corners of the real L.A., so

mundane in its capacity for everyday evil.

Despite the familiarity of its themes—the

bottom-feeding news media; the pathology

born of isolation; the American can-do spirit,

perverted into something poisonous—Gilroy’s

clever, skeezy little noir is worth a prowl.

Horns (R) ★★✩✩✩Ignatius “Ig” Perrish has a hangover, and the

morning after a night of unspecified “terrible

things,” he puts his hands to his temples and

realizes he has a “pair of knobby pointed

protuberances” where none used to be. A

murder mystery, Horns concerns a young

man who turns his back on the Lord and is

both punished and rewarded. It’s hard to jerk

tears a beat or two after gleeful rounds of

brutality, even if it happens to, or because of,

Daniel Radcliffe. As Ig, the Harry Potter alum

labors valiantly to stay on course with a role,

and material, that goes every which way.

Laggies (R) ★★✩✩✩In Laggies, Keira Knightley tries on a

generic American dialect. Based on the

results, the actress defines that as “nasal,

and how!” Her character, Megan, is 28

years old and a Seattle native. She has

thus far let life happen to her, and around

her. The movie is too mild to provoke much

active frustration, but Laggies never quite

gets over its credibility problems. By dint of

its on-screen talent, Laggies qualifies as a

genial, puttering indie with a starrier cast.

Big Hero 6 (PG) ★★★✩✩Here we have a robot considerably

more beguiling than his movie. The Big

Hero 6 gang first appeared in the Marvel

pages in 1998. While we’re on it: Many

Disney animated pictures succumb to the

temptation of a protracted action climax.

This is one of them. Without making a big

deal out of it, Big Hero 6 features a shrewdly

balanced and engaging group of male

and female characters of various ethnic

backgrounds. Scott Adsit (30 Rock) voices

Baymax, aptly, as a kind of Americanized

mecha-Jeeves, ready to serve.

MOVIES

Daddy’s not-so little girl: Elle Fanning

and John Hawkes.

The Good Lie (PG-13) ★★★✩✩The saga of Sudan’s Lost Boys—following

refugees who wound up in America

after fleeing the civil war there—earns

an engaging, tear-jerking retelling in this

fictionalized account of what faced them.

Reese Witherspoon plays Callie, a Kansas

City employment counselor entirely too

provincial to know what she’s getting

into when she picks up the three boys at

the airport. Good Lie rambles a bit, but its

earnestness in reminding us of this story

makes it a winner—a valuable history

lesson wrapped in a feel-good bow.

St. Vincent (PG-13) ★★★✩✩For all the boozed and abusive amusement

provided by the great Bill Murray in the

good-enough St. Vincent, the moment I

liked best was Naomi Watts as a pregnant

Russian stripper, manhandling a vacuum

across the Murray character’s ancient

carpet. Plenty in writer-director Theodore

Melfi’s slick feature debut can be accused

of overstatement and rib-elbowing. The

broader visual comedy lacks finesse.

But the actors win out. Even St. Vincent’s

climactic, full-on yank at our heartstrings

can be forgiven because, well, Murray’s in it.

Whiplash (R) ★★★★✩Whatever this ripping melodrama says about

artistic torment, or the price of ambition, or

mentor/student relationships from hell, it’s

too busy providing serious excitement—both

as an actors showcase and a confirmation of

writer-director Damien Chazelle’s cinematic

chops—to get hung up on conventional

uplift. Part of what makes it such a kick

is Chazelle’s conflicted feelings about his

young protagonist and alter ego, a first-year

drumming student (played by Miles Teller)

who’s a welter of half-hidden feelings and

insolent insecurities.

The Book of Life (PG) ★★★ ✩

Endlessly inventive, warm and traditional,

this film serves up Mexican culture in a riot

of colors and mariachi-flavored music. A

museum tour guide (Christina Applegate)

recounts a love story built around Dia de

los Muertos. Producer Guillermo del Toro’s

Pan’s Labyrinth touch is felt throughout.

The film is adorned with all manner of

clever jokes, gorgeous sight gags and little

flourishes. This sometimes riotous, always

charming film suggests the studio has taken

its own movie’s message to heart. You can

“write your own story” and have it pay off.

Birdman (R) ★★★✩✩Birdman proves that a movie—the grabbiest,

most kinetic film ever made about putting

on a play—can soar on the wings of its own

technical prowess, even as the banality of

its ideas threatens to drag it down. Its star,

Michael Keaton, is a beloved actor who

made millions on Batman and settled for a

smaller level of fame. Keaton plays Riggan

Thomson, a fictionalized version of Keaton

himself, right down to the shared number of

syllables in both names. The viewer can take

Birdman as capital-M Meaningful or else as

pleasantly devoid of deep thoughts.

Dear White People (R) ★★★★✩Dear White People is equipped with narrative

invention, visual instincts and a story

with something on its mind. It’s a slyly

provocative achievement and a serious

calling card for its writer-director, Justin

Simien. He sets his ensemble affair on the

campus of the fictional Ivy League enclave

Winchester University, where African-

American student life is marginalized yet

marked by sharp personality distinctions.

Simien deals in archetypes and stereotypes,

but they’re freshly observed. This is the best

film about college life in a long time.

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NEWSFLASH FOR YOU KIDS OUT THERE: Once you hurdle—make that gingerly step over—the 40-year-old barrier, you start piling up losses at a rate double that of the Oakland Raiders. Among other things, you lose your patience, your memory, your energy, your hair, your metabolism, your memory and your ability to sleep through the night without waking up to use the bathroom. Twice.

Thankfully, there is one loss that is actually a net gain: You become so cynical about everything that you lose the capacity to be surprised. Really, if you’re north of 40, rare is the occasion when society throws a curveball that truly buckles your knees. I point this out not as a means to segue to the fact that this 44-year-old wasn’t the least bit stunned last week when the De-troit Lions scored a touchdown with 29 seconds left to beat Miami by four as a three-point favorite. (I had the Dolphins, and that late TD turned my winning week into a losing week.)

No, the reason I’m bringing this up is because I just experienced one of those rare knee-buckling moments, and it relates to the point spread of one of this week’s marquee college football games. Consider these blind résumés:

Team A is 9-0 this season, has won 25 consecutive games dating to November 2012 (the nation’s longest current win-ning streak) and has scored 37 points or more and surrendered 20 points or fewer in 19 of those 25 contests.

Team B is 6-3 but only 3-2 in confer-ence, and only one of those three vic-tories came against a team with a win-ning record. In fact, while Team B has won three straight games convincingly (combined score of 132-60), those three opponents are 13-13. Conversely, Team A’s last three victories were against op-ponents who are a combined 18-11.

What’s more, Team A has beaten Team B each of the last four years by scores of 45-17, 23-19, 33-20 and 41-14.

Now here comes the shocking part: Team A is just a 1½-point road favorite over Team B.

Team A is No. 2-ranked—and de-fending national champ—Florida State. Team B is Miami, which not only is un-ranked, but received exactly one vote in this week’s Associated Press poll.

How can this be? After all, when these schools met last year at Florida State, both were 7-0, yet the Semi-noles were—talk about surprising—a 21-point favorite. Despite a sluggish frst half, Florida State outscored the Hurricanes 20-0 in the second half and covered in the 41-14 victory.

Granted, the ’Noles—and particularly quarterback Jameis Winston—have been far less dominant this season than last. And after spitting out cash like an ATM during the 2013 regular season (11-2 against the spread), FSU has been a money-suck dating to the national championship game (2-8 ATS). But with this spread ranging from 1½ to 2 (as of November 11), the oddsmakers are telling us this is nothing more than a toss-up—when back in June, this line was Florida State minus-14½!

Look, I get it: Winning on the road—in a rivalry game, no less—is never a gimme (even though the road team has won six of the last eight in this rivalry, with the Seminoles winning four straight in South Beach). And Hurricanes freshman QB Brad Kaaya has been terrifc of late, with 17 TDs and fve interceptions in his last seven games (by comparison, Winston has six TDs and six INTs in his last three). And while Florida State struggled last week to beat Virginia at home—managing just two feld goals in the second half of a 34-20 win—Miami had a bye.

Perhaps this is the proverbial trap game. Perhaps Florida State is simply overdue for a loss. Perhaps Miami is on its way to becoming “The U” once again. Perhaps I should break out my worn-out copy of the The Book of Cli-chés and reread the chapter titled “If It Looks Too Good to be True …” Nah. Give me Florida State. And directions to the nearest bathroom.

Last Week: 3-4 (2-2 NFL; 1-2 college; 0-1 Best Bet).Season Record: 34-36 (18-19 NFL; 16-17 college; 4-6 Best Bets).

Matt Jacob appears at 10 a.m. Thursdays on Pregame.com’s First Preview on ESPN Radio 1100-AM and 100.9-FM.

BETTING

LUCKY SEVEN

Ohio State -12 at Minnesota (Best Bet)

Florida State -1.5 at Miami

Missouri +5.5 at Texas A&M

Texas -2.5 at Oklahoma State

Lions +2 at Cardinals

Broncos -9.5 at Rams

Chiefs -1.5 vs. Seahawks

M A T T J A C O B

LINE OF DEMARCATIONOddsmakers post a perplexing point spread for one

of this week’s marquee games. Is it a trap?

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How’s your preparation going for

theMiss Universe Pageant in Florida

on January 25?

I’ve started to try to eat healthier now. After Miss USA [in June], I was like, “I’m going to eat Nutella as much as I want.” But I’m getting back on track. I’m lucky that my roommate is the current Miss Universe, so I can ask her some questions to help me out with it.

What are you most confident about

going in?

Personality—that’s a lot of the com-petition. You have to be beautiful and physically fit, but the Miss Uni-

verse organization has to be able to work with you for a year. I’m just fun and outgoing and friendly. And that’s a good thing when you have to do lots of interviews and meet people of all different types of back-grounds.

I’m the type of person who wants to talk to everybody, but that’s going to be a problem [at the competition] because there are going to be some people who speak only Spanish or Chinese or Japanese. I’m going to be sitting there trying to use the three words of Japanese that I know to make a conversation.

What have you learned in your run

as Miss USA?

That it’s really not about you, but more about other people. We are so involved in charities and different organiza-tions; you have to really want to give back. If you go into the job and don’t want to do community service and don’t want to give back and be involved with others, it’s probably not the best job for you. I like that part of it.

I get to work with Shade Tree, rais-ing money and working with women and children. We did a Royalty Day when I had my homecoming. We’re looking at working with Walk of

Hope, a fundraiser for Shade Tree, next year. Almost every time I come back, I get to do a little bit of some-thing. I love that [Miss USA] let’s me work on the [charities] that are im-portant to me as well.

Your answer at the Miss USA competition

about colleges hiding the rate of sexual

assaults drew a lot of attention. What do

you emphasize when speaking?

Something that has been close to my heart is empowerment of women. I have been so blessed to be encour-aged by women in my life who have helped build me up and be more confdent. That’s something I want to be able to do for others, whether it’s talking about self-defense or talking to someone who got out of a really bad relationship.

There was some controversy about

whether you lived in Nevada long enough

at the time of the competition. Do you feel

like you’ve had a chance to resolve that?

Once people saw all the facts—any-body could really look at it and go, “Oh, OK, she’s lived all around the world and was in Nevada most re-cently”—it makes sense. I’ve gotten to tell my side of it. It’s all done; it’s all in the past.

What are your best tips for competing

in a pageant?

Be confdent. You can’t look at an-other girl and go, “Oh, my gosh, she’s going to win.” Know that you’re go-ing to do the absolute best you can. Be yourself. Judges can tell if you’re trying to be someone else [or saying something] you think they want to hear. The judges can tell if you’re hav-ing a good time or if you’re scared.

What about everyday beauty tips?

Sunblock, lots of sunblock. Keep sun-block on all day, every day so you look young even into your older years. Tak-ing care of your skin is so important.

What do you hope to pursue after

your reign has ended?

I want do entertainment-type host-ing—red-carpet interviews, things like that. I’ve done a national commercial, and I would like to continue in that type of feld. But long term I would be so happy if I could just be a stay-at-home mom, maybe do like a small job here and there on the side to be able to have a family and settle down. That’s down the road, though.

How did Sanchez feel the moment she

was crowned Miss USA? Read the full

interview at VegasSeven.com/Sanchez.

Nia SanchezMiss Nevada/USA on taking aim at Miss Universe, empowering women

and her ultimate dream job

By Jessi C. Acuña

MISS NEVADA USA

Sanchez will help crown her

successor as Miss Nevada at 7 p.m.

Nov. 23, Artemus W. Ham Concert

Hall, $45-$70, 702-895-2787,

MissNevadaUSA.com.

2014 Nightlife Awards | Vegas Seven Magazine | November 13-19, 2014

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Transcript of 2014 Nightlife Awards | Vegas Seven Magazine | November 13-19, 2014