People love a struggle, whether it is in sport, war or even mixing. Such was the case Thursday night with Beauty and the Beat 4 at Baby's inside the Hard Rock.
Las Vegas isn't a stranger to the DJ mix-off. Botown Productions put one together at Utopia a few years back, and Drai's has one every month, but Beauty and the Beat is a little different. The event, co-sponsored by Dubb Productions, featured a host of DJs teamed with their favorite go-go dancers in high combat for the $1,000 prize. The line-up was: DJ Angle Emil and dancer Michell, Matrix and Violet, Miss Joy and Danille, Red Neck Bob and Tara, and Trexx and Latrise. Judges, including yours truly, voted on DJ technique and music selection, and dancers' appearance and ability. Audience response factored in for both, too.
All of the DJs and dancers performed well, but it was Red Neck Bob and Tara who stood out. Red Neck spun a crowd-pleasing set of ass-kicking breakbeats while Tara captivated the audience with ass-shaking grace.
EGYPTIAN UPS; EGYPTIAN DOWNS
It's been a few months since I've been to Ra, a rare feat considering how much I love the place. I made two visits this week to the Luxor megaclub. First up Wednesday was the DJ Divas tour with Space Girl, Valerie and the Vibe Tribe, Ariel Cybano, and DJ Elz. I have caught the galactic sounds of Space Girl and the hippie wonders of Valerie before, so I was looking forward to it. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to the hype. I arrived at Ra a little before 1 a.m., expecting to find a jam-packed, slamming club. Instead, it was a ghost town. Without a crowd, there's no vibe, and without a vibe there's no me.
But for every ying, you've got a yang. The yang came courtesy of Twizted Bizcuit Productions and its rocking extravaganza, Rush. Friday, Ra was decked out like a swinging racetrack, and the high-energy breakbeats of Tony Faline, Gumbee and Noey made for one adrenaline-pumping soundtrack.
AND WHERE THE HELL WAS BOY GEORGE?
I'm sure all of you know that Boy George's much-publicized performance Saturday at Ice was suddenly cancelled. Many of you guys that I caught out last weekend were mystified by the lack of the karma chameleon. Well gang, essentially what happened is this: Boy George is doing this wacky Broadway show that Rosie O'Donnell is producing. Rehearsals weren't moving along as planned and Rosie told George to stay put. Don't worry, though. Ice is promising that the show will be rescheduled for a later date. It looks like my return visit to Ice is gonna have to wait.