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Slip on blue suede shoes. It’s Las Vegas and it’s August: What better way to spend a Friday night than under our splendid summer night sky, watching Elvis Presley’s Viva Las Vegas on the big screen, among fellow fans of the King, all with their blankets and picnic baskets and general feelings of hunka burnin’ love and happiness? Friday, August 3; movie starts at dark; Clark County Amphitheater, 500 Grand Central Parkway, 455-8239.
Illustration by Johnny Ryan
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Catch up with an old friend. A little over a year ago, dance-punk outfit Flaspar appeared poised to become Las Vegas’ next big musical export. Well, they exported all right, all the way to Portland, leaving behind a fairly gaping void in the local art-rock scene. This week, the expats return—with new singer Rebecca Carlisle-Healey in place of ex-frontman Keil Corcoran (he stayed behind to form Vulcans)—for their first show back in their former hometown. Any chance you’d consider making the move back more permanent guys? With Morgansorange, Love Pentagon, Screaming Females, A Crowd of Small Adventures. Monday, August 6 at 9 p.m., $5. Bunkhouse, 384-4536.
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Go to hell! ... ’s kitchen. Got some mad chef skills and a heaping serving of personality? Fox TV is looking for you. Producers of Hell’s Kitchen will be holding auditions for foodies who can whip up culinary wonders and wreak drama on others. Must be over 21. Tuesday, August 7, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. at Jet, in the Mirage. hellskitchencasting.com.
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Bust out laughing. As far as stand-up catchphrases go, “Wheeere’s myyy inkpen?” is an anomaly. Lacking the defining character of Larry the Cable Guy’s “git ’er done,” Steve Martin’s “wild and crazy guy” or even Tim Allen’s macho grunt, it doesn’t even mesh with Dom Irrera’s main source of material (that’d be his wide range of Italian cohorts, what with all the Little Peteys, Big Peteys, Regular Peteys and Joey Bagga Doughnuts). Yet the fast-talking modern master is no limited wiseguy. Combining character studies, social commentary and the most absurd euphemisms ever heard, Irrera headlines the Riviera Comedy Club through August 5. 8:30 and 10:30 p.m., $19.95. 794-9433.
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Get tickets now. Even if we lowball it, a ticket to see reunited Rage Against the Machine perform in concert is worth $50; a reunited Public Enemy, $45; the electronic gurus Daft Punk, as well as Iggy and the Stooges, $40; hip-hop legend Ghostface Killah, $35; Cypress Hill, $30; Muse, $30; Pharoahe Monch, $25. That alone is worth $150 more than the cost of a weekend pass to the Vegoose Music Festival this fall. Get yours now. All the other acts will be even more icing on the cake. October 26-28, Sam Boyd Stadium and Star Nursery Field, general admission $146.95; www.vegoose.com.
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Be a redneck. Put the Jack on ice, get into your cleanest wife-beater and drop the babies off at your ma’s because on Friday, August 3 at 10 p.m., Polly Esther’s is throwing a White Trash bash. Who cares about all them hoity-toity white parties Diddy and them are throwin’ come Labor Day weekend? Polly’s got all the old refrigerators and other assorted lawn decorations you could ever want to dance next to. Robert Oleysyck will be spinning in Suite 2000, and the sexy staff will don beaters and trucker hats. Budweiser 40s are only $13 each! www.pollyestherslv.com.
