A Memorial Day to remember
Take American Idol global, substitute some emerging DJ talent for Sanjaya and the rest of the bubblegum brigade, replace Paula, Simon and Randy with Paul Oakenfold, Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden (aka Gabriel and Dresden) and Ian Jordan from Pioneer, and you get Heineken’s Thirst Studio. This Memorial Day weekend, top DJs and producers from Denmark to Dubai will be recognized with an exposition and a search for the finest grassroots talent in the industry. That gives us all a great reason to come together for the long weekend. DJs from around the world have submitted tracks, and at long last the winner will be announced on Friday, then immediately chauffeured to the Palms recording studio with Gabriel and Dresden to remix the winning track, which will be performed later that night at Tao. Not that you need to give an aspiring DJ much more than a chance to work with some of the best in the business, but the winner also takes home a prize package from Pioneer, including two DVJ-100 decks and a list of worldwide Heineken Music events at which to spin. But the party in no way ends with the announcement of the winner—it begins! Heineken keeps things going the rest of the weekend with a party at Tao Beach on Saturday night, hosted by Kanye West and featuring performances by Gym Class Heroes, Erick Morillo, Oakenfold and many others. Sunday, at Sunset Sessions, return for a repeat performance with Oakenfold, Cosmic Space Monkeys and Steve Aoki. There’s also a People’s Choice Winner where you can vote for your favorite at www.ThirstStudio.com.
Strike a lucky hour
The folks at Lucky Strike Lanes inside the Rio know that a bowling game only gets better when enjoyed with a good beer or a quality cocktail. That’s why they have introduced a happy hour every weekday from 6-9 p.m., offering two-for-one on all well drinks and domestic draft beers. Not that we need another excuse to wander over to the coolest bowling alley in town, but this definitely eases the pain of getting your ass handed to you at a fierce game of 10-pin.
And over at Caesars, PMG is making the headlines. According to a recent list in which glitterati hounds Extra.com ranked where the paparazzi hang out to catch the celebrity elite, Las Vegas took the No. 2 spot for Pure nightclub, which came in just below the holiest of holy Hollywood celebrity dining destinations, The Ivy. LA’s Arena came in at No. 3, with the trendy neighboring boutique Kitson at No. 4 and Mr. Chow’s Beverly Hills eatery at No. 5.
Big pimpin’
Hip-hop mecca OPM Nightclub is turning 4 years old, and we just want to send a big happy birthday shout-out. It’s not always the biggest or the loudest in terms of marketing, but stop by this weekend to see just how deafening this Caesars Forum Shops hot spot can get. Blowing out the candles along with owner Michael Goodwin will be a whole cadre of special guests, including R&B sensation Bobby Valentino, UFC fighter Terry Martin and DJ Mad Linx, host of BET’s Rap City.
Sending up a Red flair
The Red Room keeps the competition spinning the last Tuesday of every month, but all that is coming to a head on May 29. The Flair Vegas Finals, sponsored by Skyy Vodka and Finest Call, is a culmination of a year’s worth of monthly championships. It brings together the 11 finalists—and one mystery bartender who bid on the spot at a charity auction earlier in the year—to square off in the exciting bottle-flipping event. Add to this the finalists from London’s famous Roadhouse competition and 15-time world champion flair bartender Christian Delpech and, in all, 15 competitors will vie for $7,000 in cash prizes, along with the first annual Flair Vegas World Championship bragging rights. The bottles fly at 9 p.m.
We bet you’ll go
Seeing that we won’t be getting bumped from our table for party queen and Vegas nightclub addict Paris Hilton for quite some time due to her incarceration, we figured you might need another venue to obsess about Sin City’s favorite love-to-hate-her heiress. GottaBet.com has provided everything from the line on whether or not Paris will “pull a Britney” and chop her locks to whether she’ll release a steamy prison sex tape. Granted, you are betting with peanuts (no, really), but the odds are great. We know you’ve got better things to do, but we’ll bet you 2-to-1 you’ll still check it out.
Just don’t look down
“I’ll either faint or there’ll be an international incident.”
—Across the pond to conquer his fear of heights, London’s Matthew Bush enjoys a somber last beer at Empire Ballroom before visiting the Grand Canyon Skywalk in the morning.