Thievery Corporation at Brooklyn Bowl
The D.C. duo’s recent foray into Jamaican music (see recent album The Temple of I & I) makes this a natural booking for the increasingly irie Brooklyn Bowl. But the band’s legacy as a pioneer in dubby, intercontinental downtempo music ought to woo anyone looking for a groove-laden escapade. With Butterscotch. August 4, 8 p.m., $40-$65. –Mike Prevatt
Pallbearer at Backstage Bar and Billiards
The acclaimed Arkansas doom-metal quartet spent part of 2016 touring with Baroness, but jumped off the bus when that band played Psycho Las Vegas in August. One year later, Pallbearer makes up for that near-miss, armed with March album Heartless, its third. With Spirit Adrift, Casket Raiders, Demon Lung. August 6, 7 p.m., $15. –Spencer Patterson
Neil Hamburger at Beauty Bar
If you’re not in on the gag that is Neil Hamburger’s two-plus decade career, the joke is that “America’s Funnyman” isn’t funny at all. But his lack of funny is so acute, it’s actually hilarious—the comedy equivalent of “fugly.” Also: Not his real name. See Wikipedia. August 8, 8 p.m., $18. –Geoff Carter
Davey's LGBTQ benefit party at Sand Dollar Lounge
A banner on the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada’s Facebook page sums up its message: the words “An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us” across a photo of clenched fists. The Sand Dollar Lounge stands in solidarity with that sentiment. Last month, a patron of the longtime live music venue posted a homophobic rant about the bar and its staff on his public Facebook page. The Sand Dollar swiftly responded, stepping up to throw a fundraiser for the Center, a nonprofit struggling financially in 2017.
The Sand Dollar, which opened in 1976, spent time as the Bikini Bar and then Bar 702, morphing into the latter as part of TV show Bar Rescue. But new owners have brought the Sand Dollar back, reviving its tradition of regularly hosting blues and jazz performers. August 6, 8 p.m., Free entry (drink and raffle sales benefit the Center), 3355 Spring Mountain Road, #30. –Leslie Ventura
Official Star Trek Convention at The Rio
We’re at the point in human evolution where a Star Trek convention doesn’t require explanation, right? We can bypass all discussion of attendees costumed as Vulcans or Borg drones and simply advance to who will be at this Star Trek convention—which, as it turns out, is everyone: LeVar Burton, Jonathan Frakes, Kate Mulgrew, Nichelle Nichols, William Shatner, Brent Spiner, Patrick Stewart, George Takei, Karl Urban and many more, either on stage or signing your intergalactic ephemera for a fee. Put on your damn pointy ears and go. August 2-6, $65-$479, creationent.com/cal/st_lasvegas.html. –Geoff Carter
Something Rotten at Smith Center
You’ve studied Shakespeare? Not this Shakespeare. Thrusting and gyrating like Keith Richards channeling Johnny Depp and dipped in Gene Simmons, while chasing fame like an Elizabethan-era Kardashian, ex-Rent star Adam Pascal turns the Bard into quite the card in whacked-out musical satire Something Rotten. Pascal portrays the stuffy scribe-gone-gonzo as the object of envy of two brothers hellbent for theatrical recognition in the shadow of his explosive success. Comic misunderstandings and screwball antics ensue. Pascal explains his Bard-iology:
Your Shakespeare is a rock star. How did you approach the role? There’s Tim Curry’s performance from Rocky Horror in there, there’s Freddy Mercury, there’s David Lee Roth. But he’s also an arrogant goofball, so there’s Monty Python-esque stylings, Stewie Griffin from Family Guy, Kramer from Seinfeld.
What attracted you to a role that portrays Shakespeare as a strutting peacock? Nobody knows what he was like. To humanize him where he becomes cartoonish is exciting. There are insecurities and petty jealousies driving him—not the desire to create something wonderful, but to be known for creating something wonderful.
Is your portrayal payback for having to learn Shakespearean dialogue as an actor? I didn’t grow up studying acting, so I wasn’t exposed, except having to read a few of his plays in high school. I’m a total ignoramus of Shakespeare. 7:30 p.m. (and 2 p.m. August 12-13), $29-$127, Reynolds Hall. –Steve Bornfeld
Man of La Mancha at Spring Mountain Ranch
Super Summer Theatre takes on the 1964 play-within-a-musical, which won five Tony Awards. After the show, you can discuss which longtime Las Vegan’s version of “The Impossible Dream” was better, Frank Sinatra’s or Andy Williams’. August 9-26, Wednesday-Saturday, 8 p.m., $15. –Brock Radke
