LOUD

Youth is served, again

University Theatre, Southern Nevada's newest all-ages venue, opens its doors on January 22, followed by a trio of official grand-opening shows the weekend of January 26-28. But what chance does the new endeavor, located at 4737 S. Maryland Parkway, have of overcoming long odds that took down Jillian's, the Alley, the Clubhouse, Rock n' Java, Mojo Bean and a host of other recent attempts to service the area's youth?

We've long since given up predicting these things, but after we toured the site and spoke to some of the folks involved in its conversion from private-event locale Smooth C's World of Music to a 450-capacity, ticketed music hall, a protracted run doesn't appear out of the question.

"I don't want to put the cart before the horse, but we have the experience, the knowledge and the funding to make this work," says longtime area promoter Brian Saliba, who will initially do most of the booking for the fledgling venue. "When I saw this room, I couldn't pass it up."

Set in a 30-year-old building that also houses the adjacent University Bar & Grill, the University Theatre consists of a 6,000-square-foot main room, a ticketing booth (tickets will be available through Ticketmaster.com and Smashmagazine.com and at the door), a foyer for band merchandise and concessions and an upstairs level comprising an artist green room and a VIP balcony section.

Confirmed bookings include Meg & Dia, Daphne Loves Derby, Ronnie Day and House of Fools with locals The Day After on opening night and area heavyweights Fletch (January 26), The Higher (January 27) and Escape the Fate (January 28) the first weekend. Although the venue's landlord retains the right to utilize the facility for occasional private functions, Saliba intends to book double-digit shows each month.

"We need to do 12 shows a month to make rent," he says. "If we can run 25 nights a month we'll be in heaven."

Patrick Trout, of Pulsar Presents promotions, looks forward to booking his "first real venue" after bringing national and local acts to makeshift setups at Rock n' Java and Mojo Bean. "I think kids are really gonna like this place," he predicts. "The location is nice and centralized—it's a 20-minute shot from the farthest point in town."

University Theatre, which Saliba says is zoned for "theater, nonadult, paid admission," won't serve alcohol—though 21-and-over concert-goers will be allowed re-entry (sans beverages) so they can drink off-site between acts—and will not offer gaming. Smoking will be permitted only on a patio area out front.

Tim Driver, who organizes Las Vegas' annual Amplify!! music comp-fest, will serve as the venue's production manager, while longtime scenester Nicole Sligar will handle promotions.

For more information and a full calendar of events, visit www.myspace.com/universitytheatre.

Eclectically dead

A "Holy Trinity" is how indiekrush.com and lvexperimental.org's Jason Sturtsman described his vision: three shows, three nights, unlimited turning on, tuning in and dropping out. The first event, Psychedelic Bar Mitzvah: Turn On, was held December 2 and symbolized "psychedelic initiation."

The second, Freakout!: Tune In, held December 29 at Commerce Street Studios' David Zero Gallery, represented "psychedelic death." And quite the eclectic death it was. The crowd overflowed the small second-floor room at several points, and attendees sat, stood and danced as the spirit moved them beneath black lights and swirling images projected on the ceiling and rear wall. Sets from indie bands The Fringe and Ambry Underground kicked off the all-ages event, followed by contortion demonstrations by the lithe, black-clad Chris "Mr. Mantis" Erle. "Everybody seems to want to be here, and you don't always get that," said Erle, who has worked the casino circuit and recently returned from a national tour. "And it's nice to have parents coming up to you with their kids, saying, ‘My kid's flexible, what does she need to do?'" Additionally, the multitalented Mantis created the ambient beats to which he bent his appendages and passed through an unstrung tennis racket.

Local noisemakers Nameless Collective and Meat Over Moscow (featuring Weekly intern Aaron Thompson) combined their numbers—and names, performing as Meat Collective—for a visceral, experimental barrage of guitar and synth, with tambourine and saxophone thrown in for good measure. "Whatever you do, put your soul into it," singer Wyatt McKenzie advised the audience.

A dance/performance art segment by Lit Community Consciousness followed, with two flowing, flexing, barefoot performers interpreting the theme of sustainability. Said Monica Parente, "[Vegas] is a relatively new town, and [the] general audience is not a sophisticated, artistic audience. But this is catching on."

Meat Collective then backed performance group Swing Shift SideShow, whose Andrew S. took a pile of broken glass to his face, stuck a coil (on a power drill) through his sinuses, shivved his left arm with a skewer, hoisted an anvil with his eye sockets and stuck, shall we say, certain body parts clear through another body part, flaunting both local nudity laws and the laws of nature. Grace and The Love Boy Band ended the evening with an assemblage of keys, drums, synths, laptops and a quadrophonic-sound setup: speakers in the corners, band and audience in the middle, and instrumentals intense enough to rattle the framed photos.

"It's bringing people Downtown and developing the Arts District," Sturtsman said of the show's location. "It's also a way for people of all ages to experience different art forms."

The third show will symbolize "psychedelic rebirth," says Sturtsman, who envisions it including more bands and sideshow acts, as well as magic, a fashion show emphasizing sustainable clothing and a closing dance party. Freakout: Drop Out is tentatively scheduled for February 17 at the Box Office on Casino Center.

Big B's: 1996-2006

The stunning demise of one-time Las Vegas landmark Big B's CDs and Records reached its sad, inescapable conclusion on December 22, when the store shut its doors for good, five months short of its 11th anniversary. Former regulars might argue Big B's had ceased to be a year before, when the shop's entire staff of longtime employees resigned or were laid off amid (unproven) charges of financial misdoings.

Standing in the shadow of a pink "Now Leasing" sign a week after his final day on the job, Tyson White—who helped manage the store during the past year—explains that Big B's never bounced back after the employee purge. "We lost so many customers, it was inevitable after that," White says. "It's been bad on and off for the last year, but the last month was the real killer. There was never any real recovery."

In its heyday Big B's was consistently recognized as the best record store in Southern Nevada, not just by the many locals who shopped there but also by out-of-town music-lovers who made it a point to stop by the Maryland Parkway fixture on trips to Las Vegas. This development and the closure of both area Tower Records locations leaves Zia Record Exchange holding the torch as Las Vegas' primary source for independent music.