Story archive for December 2008
NYE Blog: Craziness abounds on Las Vegas Strip
Andy Samuelson | Published Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (10:42 p.m.)
OK, so it is officially Dec. 31 in the world’s craziest party city (or NYE for all 10 of you drunks who happen to stumble upon this blog), and I’m already on deadline....
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Mitchell’s Breakfast With the Beatles headed for “The Q”
John Katsilometes | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (11:41 a.m.)
Dennis Mitchell's show has been on KUNV 91.5-FM for the past three years, and now moves to "The Q," a new AM station that will debut the show Saturday morning.
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The ultimate New Year’s party guide
Xania Woodman | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (10:10 a.m.)
A head-spinning, calendar-filling, dizzying line-up of New Year's parties to satisfy every taste and party style.
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I will miss New Year’s Eve, but I won’t miss the chafed butt
New Year's Eve is easily the most profitable night of the year for Strippers, proven last year when I was hit by an avalanche of money as the clock struck 12.
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Running man
John Freeman | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
Some people have epiphanies in church, others atop mountains. Haruki Murakami’s came on April 1, 1978, on the grassy knoll behind Jingu baseball Stadium in Japan. He wanted to write a novel.
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The King James of noir
Ed Pettit | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
Ken Bruen has been perfecting his hard-boiled prose for a little over 10 years now. His finely crafted noir novels seem to get sparser, tougher and grimmer with each new one published.
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Chatting with One Pin Short
Allison Duck | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
It’s not every day a Vegas band tours with a national act of Reel Big Fish’s stature. The popular ska band handpicked local reggae/ska group One Pin Short to accompany it on an eight-date West Coast leg of its January tour.
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Reverb’s return
Spencer Patterson | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
Sagging economy be damned! So say the men behind budding Downtown music festival Neon Reverb.
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A rote book report
Josh Bell | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
It’s hard to believe that a movie whose first half is all about passionate, semi-taboo sex featuring a frequently nude Kate Winslet, and whose second half is all about bitter recriminations during and following Nazi war-crimes trials, could be so dull.
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Mini mints
Ken Miller | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
The battle of the breath just got kicked up a notch. Actually, down. We’re always excited when we get packages at Weekly, but nothing piqued our curiosity quite as much as the arrival of a six-pack of Altoids’ newest product—Altoids Smalls.
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60-second grocery shopper
Geri Jeter | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
Masala and stir-fry dishes often depend on making a ginger and garlic paste to act as an integral layer of flavor. Laxmi Ginger-Garlic Paste is one good shortcut.
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The Help Desk
Las Vegas Weekly Staff | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
- Las Vegas Philharmonic executive director fired.
- Why couldn’t it have been the guy with the cymbals?
- Fry’s former executive charged with stealing more than $60 million to pay off gambling debts.
- Wow! Fry’s has $60 million to steal? Recession, our foot.
- New building codes mean fireworks will not be launched from rooftops of Strip hotels this year.
- It’s all part of the city’s “We Can’t See Your Vegas From Here” campaign.
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Suggestion box: Enjoy free money
Las Vegas Weekly Staff | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
t’s a sorry time for our country, especially for our schools, but there’s a way to change that. If only anyone was taking advantage of it.
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The Bearded Clam
Xania Woodman | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
A verrry distant cousin of the Mojito, the Caipirinha and the Batida is the Bearded Clam, created by Frankie's Tiki Room by bartender Alice Hartling. This one gets two skulls on Frankie's five-skull potency rating.
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Can you feel the length tonight?
Steve Friess | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
My 9-year-old niece sat next to me at the Minskoff Theatre in New York City, utterly enthralled. Her widened eyes were glued to the visual feast before her, the mammoth puppets and the ebullient, multiethnic cast performing colorful, energetic song-and-dance numbers, the Elton John/Tim Rice score.
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Feeding the city
T.R. Witcher | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
On a chilly Christmas Eve morning, Julie Murray, the CEO of Three Square Food Bank, and her staff were on the job well before 8 a.m., readying their giant warehouse for its daily ritual.
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Still fab-“O”-lous at 10
Richard Abowitz | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
O quietly marked its 10th anniversary in 2008. Far from dating, however, the show remains a timeless experience; even its technology still impresses.
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Madigan, man
Julie Seabaugh | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
Kathleen Madigan boasts Midwestern upbringings, an arsenal of biting impressions, highly personal storytelling and a defiantly codependent relationship with alcohol.
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From Santa Fe, with love
Susanne Forestieri | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
Michael Costello uses photography as a starting point. From there, a complex and experimental process evolves—a way to meditate on the very nature of seeing and consciousness.
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Over the Top? Nah
Scott Dickensheets | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
Yeah, ZZ Top is a Texas mile past their hit-making years, but their best stuff has real staying power well worth the $25 ticket price.
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From courtroom to bookshelf
Stacy J. Willis | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
When Margaret Rudin was on trial for killing her husband, Ron Rudin, in 2001, she wrote a poem. It begins with what she prayed for most: to have the legal proceedings move forward in “days of unclouded truth.”
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Dream zone
Lauri Quinn Lowenberg | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
The other night I dreamed about one of my students who is seven years younger than me and a bit of a class clown. He is not someone I find attractive so it was a complete surprise to dream of having satisfying sex with him. What is going on?
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It’s tricky
Rick Lax | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
Las Vegas doesn’t have an active chapter of the Society of American Magicians or the International Brotherhood of Magicians. Las Vegas doesn’t need one. We’ve got Gary Darwin’s Magic Club.
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Some say “socialite,” others say “cheap-ass”
Jack Colton | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
As Light Group’s 2008 Las Vegas Socialite of the Year, I was excited to dig into my oversized Christmas stocking, touted to be filled with “thousands of dollars in prizes.”
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It all connects somehow
Stacy J. Willis | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
Say what you will about Las Vegas being fake. Under that, or maybe because of that, is a city of everyday people whose lives create contradictions that make this place, especially at this moment, a masterpiece of art.
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Peggy plots your planets
Peggy Allison | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
Make your travel plans. Reach for higher knowledge. Yes indeed, the red carpet flows your way.
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Desperately seeking DJ
Team Hangover | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
So you think you can DJ? Now you have not one but two chances to prove yourself to the masses. For those seriously pursuing a professional career behind the tables, Local Love is looking for a “Bad Ass House DJ.”
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Marking time
Greg Beato | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
What if eight-track tapes were a billion-dollar business today, more popular than iPods and Zunes? Would that be any stranger than the fact that U.S. consumers have purchased millions and millions of calendars in the last few weeks?
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Christmas break
Deanna Rilling | Wed, Dec 31, 2008 (midnight)
Who needs midnight mass when you can drink juice called ass? The Double Down Saloon held its annual White Trash Christmas Party on December 24, and the ultimate dive bar filled with orphans stuck in town.
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New Years by the numbers
Las Vegas Weekly Staff | Tue, Dec 30, 2008 (4:04 p.m.)
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Hard to believe we’re in Heaven
Deanna Rilling | Tue, Dec 30, 2008 (2:13 p.m.)
I was hoping for pearly gates and a scantily clad celestial choir. Instead, the roller-hockey rink where the much- ballyhooed dance party “Heaven” was held on December 20 was virtually empty.
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I am not really an armadillo breeder — I am a stripper
Strippers give all variety of answers when asked, simply, "What do you do for a living?"
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The year in hating
Josh Bell | Mon, Dec 29, 2008 (2:42 p.m.)
Tony Macklin, film historian and author of the book Voices From the Set, joins Josh to count down their respective lists of the top 10 movies of 2008.
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Frank Mir is Vegas’ own action hero
Allison Duck | Sun, Dec 28, 2008 (2:11 p.m.)
The last UFC of the year lived up to its name of “The Ultimate 2008” as the crowd of 14,103 witnessed two belts change hands and saw Quinton “Rampage” Jackson avenge his losses.
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A Red Bull Christmas with Tiesto at Jet
Jennifer Grafiada | Sun, Dec 28, 2008 (1:13 p.m.)
Listening to Tiesto’s spin at Jet on Christmas night was like chugging a Red Bull: His music provides a flood of stimuli that keeps you awake and alert for hours. Dance music fans maintain that Tiesto broke a world record in 2001 by drinking 31 cans of Red Bull in 24 hours.
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The best of everything: 2008 in lists
Melissa Arseniuk | Sun, Dec 28, 2008 (12:36 p.m.)
As 2008 draws to a close, lists of the year’s top things are popping up around the Web. Keeping with the trend, here's our list of a dozen interesting "top" lists that highlight the high and low points of the year that was 2008.
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Celebrity NFL Picks: Since Nov. 17, Cleveland has suffered a Brown-out
Sal DeFilippo | Sat, Dec 27, 2008 (9:07 a.m.)
On November 17, the Cleveland Browns scored a touchdown, They haven't scored one since.
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UFC 92: where to watch and where to party
Allison Duck | Fri, Dec 26, 2008 (8:06 p.m.)
Unless Santa brought UFC tickets you'll probably need to find somewhere besides the MGM Grand to watch UFC 92. Check out our list of places to watch the battles go down and the parties where the fighters will be frolicking until the sun comes up.
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2008: The year in comedy
Julie Seabaugh | Thu, Dec 25, 2008 (11:52 a.m.)
A whole year of laughs boiled down to 10 seriously funny CDs and DVDs. Take note.
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In the margins
Steve Friess | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (8:30 p.m.)
A few weeks ago, I was staring at Steve Wynn while he went on about his theories as to why the economy was in the shitter when I noticed something far more interesting to me. “Your eyes are sparkling,” I interrupted,
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I’ve Loved You So Long
Josh Bell | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
Sometimes a great performance can save a mediocre movie, and sometimes even the most accomplished bit of acting flounders in the face of awkward writing and direction. The latter is mostly the case in I’ve Loved You So Long.
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A low-stakes showdown
Mike D'Angelo | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
Frost/Nixon is just an entertaining clash of two oversized egos, and that’s fine by me. Just so long as 30 years from now we aren’t obliged to endure the distaff sequel: Couric/Palin.
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Valkyrie
Josh Bell | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
The one major obstacle to getting completely wrapped up in Bryan Singer’s World War II thriller Valkyrie is, unfortunately, its star, the much-maligned (lately, at least) Tom Cruise
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Calculated warmth
Josh Bell | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is full of big Hollywood grandeur, with a movie-star lead performance from Brad Pitt, yet it’s also as controlled and painstakingly crafted as any of Fincher’s past efforts.
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The Spirit
Mike D'Angelo | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
At one point, for no good reason, Mendes’ sultry jewel thief photocopies her own ass. That’s this movie in a nutshell.
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Doubt
Mike D'Angelo | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
Once upon a time, a movie set amongst priests and nuns and portentously titled Doubt might have concerned a crisis of faith. These days, however, another cause for uncertainty springs immediately to mind.
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Marley & Me
Benjamin Spacek | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
It’s a dog movie. If you’ve ever owned a dog—or seen another dog movie, for that matter—there is nothing in Marley & Me that will surprise you.
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Bedtime Stories
Jeffrey M. Anderson | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
Sandler is the reason to see this; he doesn’t exactly bond with the kids, but he plays nicely with them, and his effortless rapport makes Bedtime Stories go down easy.
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A bite to remember
Max Jacobson | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
Despite lots of glitzy local openings, 2008 wasn’t a banner year for Vegas restaurants. But in this down economy, it seems fitting that lower-priced entrees such as sandwiches and Asian dishes ranked high on my yearly list. Nothing here costs more than $20.
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Nog it up!
C. Moon Reed | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
Classic eggnog is a drink for those living on the wild side. It’s for the calorie-unconscious thrill seekers who enjoy a damned-if-I-get-salmonella rush.
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Joe Bravo—Velvet Rope Superman
A doorman who doesn't take himself too seriously? Bravo!
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Booze, schmooze and Jews
Xania Woodman | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
On a prominent VIP table, a massive menorah blazes, a first in VIP-table history, I’d imagine.
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French ‘09
Xania Woodman | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
Noir mixologist Andrew Pollard was given carte blanche by the Weekly to come up with the dreamiest cocktail possible for your big holiday soiree.
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Tiny little rant: We’re the bosses
Las Vegas Weekly Staff | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
When we heard a mortgage broker in town had to close up shop because she couldn’t renegotiate her mortgage with her bank, we thought, what hope is there for the rest of us?
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The Help Desk
Las Vegas Weekly Staff | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
- Las Vegas gets up to 8 inches of snow in biggest storm in decades.
- Just remember—it’s not global warming. It’s ’cause God hates Las Vegas!
- Schools close the day after snowstorm.
- Finally, a day on which our school system is equal to all others.
- David Copperfield’s assistant gets arm broken by large industrial fan.
- This is far worse than the assistant who suffered the acute case of shame from working on "Believe".
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Naming the dead
Stacy J. Willis | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
In 2005, 75 people died on the streets here; in 2006, 78; in 2007, 51; and this year, 48. On Thursday evening, volunteers gathered at the Homeless Memorial Candlelight Vigil to remember those who were lost this year.
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Of frozen butts and Hasselhoff
Stacy J. Willis | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
International recording and TV star and onetime Vegas resident ... wait for it ... David Hasselhoff, looking every bit as Hasselhoffy as in your dreams in a black leather jacket and combed curls, sang the national anthem; his appearance alone was worth $30.
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Union rules
T.R. Witcher | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
Admittedly, it feels like a sign of the economic times, when the Culinary Union, the 55,000-member collective of hospitality workers, decides to pick a fight with City Hall.
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The power of love
Deanna Rilling | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
On November 3, Ainjil was shot eight times in a home invasion that resulted in the death of her fiancé Jonathan “Caine” Lestelle and the loss of the couple’s unborn child. But on Saturday night at the Box Office the tattoo artist and keyboardist proved she’s recovering—physically and emotionally—from last month’s tragedy.
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60-second grocery shopper
Geri Jeter | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
Winter is here, and what better way to revel in the cold than with ice cream? Yup. Nothing like ice cream on a cold day to make you forget those 100-degree moments in July.
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An explosive import
K.W. Jeter | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
If a filmmaker such as Korea’s Kim Ki-Duk registered at all on the fickle scales of the American movie-going public, he’d probably be as detested as much as he’s managed to make himself in his home country, but for different reasons.
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The Weekly playlist: Class of ’08
Spencer Patterson | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
We say goodbye to '08 with a playlist featuring 10 of our favorite tracks by local artists.
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2008: The best & worst in movies
From the best and worst drug dealers of the year to the bet use of multiple F-bombs, Weekly give it's own film awards.
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Arts and Entertainment: The year that was
Lists, lists and more lists. We boil 2008's movies, books, music and more down to the 10 best many times over.
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2008: The best & worst in music
From men in masks to viral hip-hop videos, Weekly breaks down the best and worst of 2008 in music.
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2008 in movies: A critical dialogue between Mike D’Angelo and Josh Bell
Josh Bell, Mike D'Angelo | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
Two Weekly critics discuss the year in films.
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The ultimate New Year’s Eve guide
Xania Woodman | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
A head-spinning, calendar-filling, dizzying line-up of New Year's parties to satisfy every taste and party style.
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2008 in music: A critical dialogue between Spencer Patterson and Annie Zaleski
Annie Zaleski | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
Two Weekly critics talk music and musicians in 2008.
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My 2008 in many numbers
H. Lee Barnes | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
Change in 2008 came in the form of a lion at the dining-room table alternately looking at its empty plate and the cook at the stove while trying to decide just how hungry it is. Change was the measuring tape of the past 11 months, but it’s not mine. Mine is the mind-boggling numbers 2008 produced.
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My 2008 in the Valley of the Dolls
C. Moon Reed | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
Not unlike the three ingénues in Valley of the Dolls, all I had in September was hope and a great view of the Vegas skyline.
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Under the radar albums
Las Vegas Weekly Staff | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
The end of 2008 is the perfect excuse to clue you in on a few albums that have been appreciated, but previously un-reviewed, by the Weekly.
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Three questions with Gregg Gillis (aka Girl Talk)
Spencer Patterson | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
Gregg Gillis (aka Girl Talk) gets nostalgic for a rough Vegas show and explains just what he's doing up there on stage.
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A Maz, Maz, Maz, Maz, world
Julie Seabaugh | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
It’s like he came out of nowhere; one minute earning a Ph.D. at UCLA, the next not only touring with four Middle Eastern comedians under the Axis of Evil banner, but headlining the whole media-savvy thing as well.
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Year in Review: Current events 2008
Las Vegas Weekly Staff | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
From the mortgage-crisised suburbs to the undervisited Strip, perhaps the best that could be said of 2008 is that it wasn’t as bad as 2009. Looking back at a very dubious year.
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Hey Jo, stop playing Koy
Julie Seabaugh | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
Here’s the thing about local comedians in Vegas: You’ve got to leave to succeed.
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The Vegas Oscars
Josh Bell | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
The Las Vegas Film Critics Society (whose members include this writer) has announced the winners of this year’s Sierra Awards, representing its picks for the best in film in 2008. They're like the Oscars, only less people care.
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Dream zone
Lauri Quinn Lowenberg | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
What's the deal with a staircase that doesn't go to heaven? Our dream weaver deciphers the meaning.
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Peggy plots your planets
Peggy Allison | Wed, Dec 24, 2008 (midnight)
Holiday parties, year-end bonuses and other wonderful things that are completely controlled by the stars.
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Encore: Let there be light
T.R. Witcher | Tue, Dec 23, 2008 (5:30 p.m.)
There is, quite literally, no surface of this building, no wall, no ceiling, no floor, no pillar that has not been touched with woodwork or mosaic tile or glass or Kyoto-pleated wall coverings, or design touches like a 27-foot crystal-and-glass dragon, or hand-applied Swarovski crystal butterflies.
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Recession byproduct: Strippers aren’t picking up poop with dollar bills
The recession has hit the adult dancing industry hard, but strippers do feel safer than people in other industries.
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Steve Wynn’s multi-billion dollar baby, Encore, is revealed
Sarah Feldberg | Mon, Dec 22, 2008 (6:22 p.m.)
Like a Christmas present with a shiny bow, Steve Wynn's Encore resort opens to the public tonight at 8 p.m. The $2.3 billion dollar hotel and casino has been two years in the making.
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Boulder Highway bargains at new lounge, but will it last?
Melissa Arseniuk | Mon, Dec 22, 2008 (4:24 p.m.)
In Vegas chic and cheap don’t usually go together, but a new ultra lounge is trying to change all that.
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A post-Hef Holly Madison to grace Playboy cover
Melissa Arseniuk | Mon, Dec 22, 2008 (3:52 p.m.)
Holly Madison recently moved out of the Playboy mansion but that hasn’t stopped her from landing on the cover of ex-boyfriend Hugh Hefner’s iconic magazine.
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King’s sleight-of-hand makes Biden, not Angel, appear tonight
Melissa Arseniuk | Mon, Dec 22, 2008 (3:38 p.m.)
Vice president-elect Joe Biden has replaced Criss Angel on tonight's edition of Larry King Live.
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New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas - A Guide to the Glitterati
Melissa Arseniuk | Mon, Dec 22, 2008 (2:19 p.m.)
Here's a guide to glitterati — where celebrities will see and be seen in Las Vegas on New Year's Eve.
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Shop locally, even online
Sarah Feldberg | Sun, Dec 21, 2008 (12:02 p.m.)
Just because Vegas isn’t a town of charming boutiques and strollable neighborhoods doesn’t mean you can’t buy local this holiday season. Etsy.com, an online marketplace devoted entirely to handmade items, has a “buy local” search option that allows you to browse only what the starving artists in your own backyard are hawking.
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Celebrity NFL Picks: Paper Lions looking to pencil in a “W”
Sal DeFilippo | Sat, Dec 20, 2008 (1:43 p.m.)
Similar to the New England Patriots a year ago, the Detroit Lions have a chance to make history. Not similar to the Patriots, the Lions are winless.
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Oscar-bait extravaganza
Josh Bell | Fri, Dec 19, 2008 (8:26 p.m.)
Jeffrey K. Howard of KVBC Channel 3 and Vegas Film Critic joins Josh to chat about this week’s releases Slumdog Millionaire, Yes Man and Seven Pounds, as well as upcoming Christmas openings The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Doubt and Valkyrie.
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LAX hosts Criss and Holly’s joint birthday bash
Melissa Arseniuk | Fri, Dec 19, 2008 (1:03 a.m.)
Today the bad boy of Vegas magic turns 41. While 41 isn’t a landmark for most people, it presents Criss Angel with an interesting coincidence: He is now half the age of girlfriend Holly Madison’s ex, 82-year-old Hugh Hefner.
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Play (dirty) in the snow!
Sarah Feldberg | Thu, Dec 18, 2008 (2 p.m.)
Forget snowmen this winter. Snow art in Vegas has taken a decidedly naughty turn. In our new favorite YouTube video a few local ladies give their snow sculpture some hot action.
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Special guests
Over the years, Weekly has showcased stories from many excellent writing. Here, a few of the bigger names that have graced our pages.
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Now we’re talkin’!
Danielle Kelly | Thu, Dec 18, 2008 (midnight)
As if on cue for the holiday season, the Valley just got the best present ever: the Las Vegas Art Museum’s LA Now.
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Peggy plots your planets
Peggy Allison | Thu, Dec 18, 2008 (midnight)
Hey Aries, Santa takes to the sky on Wednesday. Should any of you out there run into Santa, please tell him where I live.
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Dream zone
Lauri Quinn Lowenberg | Thu, Dec 18, 2008 (midnight)
Dreaming of icy water? Maybe you've grown "cold" towards something.
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Christoper Kenney as Edie in Zumanity
Who would have guessed—Kenney rarely gets recognized on the street.
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Vomiting volumes in the cockpit of an F-15 fighter jet
Joe Schoenmann | Thu, Dec 18, 2008 (midnight)
It was clearly my most memorable moment in my three or so years at Las Vegas Weekly: I blacked out. I came to right away. But my body wasn’t having it. It decided to vomit out whatever it was that made me black out. And vomit, and vomit. I must’ve thrown up 20 times.
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Flexible methodology
Danielle Kelly | Thu, Dec 18, 2008 (midnight)
David Pagel’s December 11 lecture, timed in conjunction with the opening of LA Now—his newly minted curatorial effort at the Las Vegas Art Museum—was everything his writing portrays him to be: democratic, conversational and genuinely in love with art.
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Seven Pounds
Josh Bell | Thu, Dec 18, 2008 (midnight)
Relentlessly tugging on your heartstrings like a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, Seven Pounds is manipulative treacle of the worst kind.
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Next-wave comparison
Jeremy Adams | Thu, Dec 18, 2008 (midnight)
Tonight’s Beauty Bar show has been marketed as a kind of Thursday-night new-wave twin bill. On one hand, the audience can hear Close to Modern, a UNLV-bred foursome embodying the darker side of synth-pop—that stylized teen angst pioneered by Robert Smith and Ian Curtis and taken up by recent bands such as Editors and Interpol.
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The Tale of Despereaux
Tasha Chemplavil | Thu, Dec 18, 2008 (midnight)
Once upon a time, in the kingdom of Dor, soup attracted tourists from all over, and friendly rats scampered about the streets.
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Desertscraped: New Noise From the Neon Wilderness
Spencer Patterson | Thu, Dec 18, 2008 (midnight)
A noble attempt to document Las Vegas’ generally ignored experimental scene, this 13-track compilation succumbs more to logistics than to its oddball sound array. Curated by local writer Jarret Keene, Desertscraped does a solid job unearthing avant-leaning talent, but yields zero info about its chosen acts (apart from musical appellations and web addresses, the latter of which often provide no further illumination).
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Playlist: A jazzy Xmas
T.R. Witcher | Thu, Dec 18, 2008 (midnight)
This Christmas, play more jazz.
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It’s not you, it’s us
Mike D'Angelo | Thu, Dec 18, 2008 (midnight)
Slumdog Millionaire arrives in local theaters riding a veritable tsunami of audience goodwill, to say nothing of its status as the current frontrunner for Best Picture at next year’s Oscars. People genuinely seem to love it. All I can do, really, is try my best to explain why I did not.
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Fall Out Boy
Annie Zaleski | Thu, Dec 18, 2008 (midnight)
Fall Out Boy is still a scrappy live rock band, but its studio confections are now pure pop ear candy. That was evident on 2007’s glossy Infinity on High, and it’s even more the case with Folie à Deux (a title translated as “a madness shared by two”).
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My letters editor, my friend
Chuck Nowlen | Thu, Dec 18, 2008 (midnight)
Chuck Nowlen's favorite memory of his time holding the reins at Weekly? Letters Editor Buck Buffalo, the fictitious alter ego of former columnist Andrew Ramsay, who had previously messed seriously—but facelessly—with people’s minds through his eclectic and hilarious replies to readers’ letters and e-mails.
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The controversy of the decade
Kate Silver | Thu, Dec 18, 2008 (midnight)
In the five years I was a staff writer at Las Vegas Weekly I delved into all kinds of potentially feather-ruffling pieces. But it wasn’t the aliens or cattle mutilations, the suicidal safe rooms, the cults, weirdos or worm-farm schemes that generated hundreds of angry letters. It was scrapbooking.
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24 hours in Las Vegas
We picked a random day—December 4. From midnight to midnight, we sent someone somewhere every hour, just to see what was going on. Writers, photographers, even a cartoonist and a videographer. The idea: to see what an average day tosses up in this city.
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It sounded good at the time
No quantity of bleach, no amount of scrubbing, no dermatological procedure, will get the egg completely off our face from a few of the things we regret from the last 10 years.
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The raw truth
Ken Miller | Thu, Dec 18, 2008 (midnight)
It seems nearly impossible to imagine a Las Vegas without sushi restaurants. They barely existed here in the city’s formative years, but they’re now so prevalent that the biggest challenge isn’t where to find one, but which one to choose.
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Who’s washing dishes now?
Sarah Feldberg | Thu, Dec 18, 2008 (midnight)
After putting together a Las Vegan-free fourth season, Bravo’s casting team came to its senses, choosing local boy Gene Villiatora for reality cooking competition Top Chef.
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Ten years that shook the world!*
Las Vegas Weekly Staff | Thu, Dec 18, 2008 (midnight)
The highlight reel: some milestones in the life of the Weekly.
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The All-American Rejects
Julie Seabaugh | Thu, Dec 18, 2008 (midnight)
The All-American Rejects’ evolution over six years, from Alternative Press cover boys whipping emo-punks into a pogoing frenzy with “Swing, Swing” to multiplatinum-selling MTV Video Music Award-winners, proves that bigger isn’t always better.
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A Restless farewell
Deanna Rilling | Thu, Dec 18, 2008 (midnight)
The Restless dance party has been put to bed. A staple at the Beauty Bar every second Friday of the month, Restless took its final bow on December 12. But don’t retire your stunner shades yet (actually, maybe you should just get rid of those anyway), hopefully the dancing like it’s 1989 will continue in some form.
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Yes Man
Josh Bell | Thu, Dec 18, 2008 (midnight)
Yes Man is far from a great movie, but it represents the first time that Jim Carrey has been likeable onscreen in years, following his last dismal attempt at comedy with 2005’s Fun With Dick and Jane and last year’s terrible thriller The Number 23.
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Common
Ben Westhoff | Thu, Dec 18, 2008 (midnight)
Rare is the album so wretched it makes me consider another line of work, but Common’s Universal Mind Control comes close.
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An open letter from Justice to “Customer”
You see me crawling down the stage. I'm coming your way. And I'm after your money.
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Keanu Reeves still can’t act, but Van Damme can
Josh Bell | Tue, Dec 16, 2008 (12:20 p.m.)
Roger Erik Tinch, art and online director for the CineVegas Film Festival, joins Josh to chat about new theatrical releases The Day the Earth Stood Still, JCVD and Dark Streets, plus Mamma Mia! and The House Bunny on DVD.
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Of drinking at work, this stripper says, “I’m done”
When you must talk to strangers at work, while violating their personal space in a sexual manner, you often need alcohol. That "need" finally got old.
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Resurgent Reznor rocks Las Vegas
Michael Mishak | Mon, Dec 15, 2008 (10:29 p.m.)
If Saturday's show at Planet Hollywood's Theatre of Living Arts is any indication, Reznor is again comfortable in his own skin.
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Reznor melds music and spectacle in Vegas
Josh Bell | Mon, Dec 15, 2008 (1:08 p.m.)
“This is the last performance of this band,” Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor said ominously toward the end of NIN’s December 13 performance at Planet Hollywood’s Theatre for the Performing Arts. This was indeed the last performance for NIN’s mind-blowing visual set-up, a light show so technically advanced that it recently got a feature write-up in Wired magazine.
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Free cupcakes!!!
Jennifer Grafiada | Mon, Dec 15, 2008 (12:56 p.m.)
Cupcakes are like crack, only less illegal. And today at the Cupcakery they're free!
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Tao kissing contest goes to creative Canadians
Jennifer Grafiada | Sun, Dec 14, 2008 (5:47 p.m.)
You would think the schoolgirls would win. Plaid is like a double secret nuclear ingredient in hot girl contests.
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It’s underdog night at The Ultimate Fighter finale at the Palms
Allison Duck | Sun, Dec 14, 2008 (5 p.m.)
It was the night of the underdog at The Ultimate Fighter season eight finale fight at the Pearl at the Palms on Saturday night.
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British invasion at Big Damn Holiday Jam at The Joint
Sarah Feldberg | Sun, Dec 14, 2008 (3:28 p.m.)
It doesn't get much hipper than The Ting Tings. The British twosome rocked the Joint Friday night along with Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party. Somebody pass the tea.
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Carmen Electra dons bunny suit to guest deal at Playboy Club
Melissa Arseniuk | Sat, Dec 13, 2008 (2:11 p.m.)
Carmen Electra will slip into her trusty Playboy bunny suit and ears tonight to be a guest dealer at the Playboy Club, just a day after her 8-page Playboy pictorial hits magazine stands.
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Celebrity NFL Picks: For Dolphins, ‘08 season’s a flipper
Sal DeFilippo | Fri, Dec 12, 2008 (5:55 p.m.)
A year ago at this time, the Dolphins were flirting with a winless season. This year they are in playoff contention.
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Ultimate Fighter stages finale fight at the Pearl
Allison Duck | Fri, Dec 12, 2008 (1:35 p.m.)
After a season of brawls and bodily fluids, The Ultimate Fighter turns reality TV into Vegas reality with a finale fight at the Pearl this Saturday.
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The Cracked Egg cooks up breakfast in Henderson
Jennifer Grafiada | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (10:33 p.m.)
On any given Saturday morning, The Cracked Egg’s tables are cluttered with kids scribbling with crayons on their menus and getting sticky from their banana chocolate chip pancakes. Starting this month, Henderson egg-eaters can get in on the syrup and wax orgy.
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All I want for Christmas is more Sully Erna (oh wait, I got that already)
Allison Duck | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (9:33 p.m.)
It’s rare for a solo artist to take the time to revisit the same location on a tour, but Las Vegas will be the recipient of not one, but three shows this year from Godsmack front man Sully Erna.
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Thanks to cowboys, we now know how soft a stripper’s hair really is
The NFR is in town, bringing uncommon comparisons between hair texture, and mustaches that remind of Ron Jeremy.
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Finds at the Factory
Susanne Forestieri | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
Bill Fravel, whose watercolor landscapes inaugurate the new Rever Gallery, does not fit the stereotype of the prim and prissy purist who frowns upon new techniques and experimentation.
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’Tis the season
T.R. Witcher | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
We’re talking Nat Cole singing about chestnuts roasting on an open fire, or a symphony galloping through “Sleigh Ride.” And this week the place to get your fill of yuletide tunes is with the Las Vegas Philharmonic’s Christmas Pops show.
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He’s tricky
Scott Dickensheets | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
Rick Lax is a magician turned lawyer turned author. Weekly sat down with the man at his de facto workplace, Borders at Town Square.
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Winter garden
John Katsilometes | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
The tree is 45 feet tall, the reindeer made of whole pecans. That wreath is 21 feet high. The four toy soldiers would dwarf Yao Ming. And more than 2,400 man-hours are required to bring it together.
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Moving forward but standing still
Mike D'Angelo | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
The Day the Earth Stood Still, which in 1951 spoke to the nation’s anxiety about the terrible power of nuclear fission, has now gone green.
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Dark Streets
Josh Bell | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
Lavishly styled but narratively lax, Dark Streets slides by just enough on its beautiful images and sumptuous soundtrack to be worth seeing.
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Red-carpet McDonald’s
Richard Abowitz | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
When a new restaurant opens on the Strip, owners like to announce their presence to the world with a grand opening. This turns out to be true even when the restaurant isn’t at all grand, like the new McDonald’s next to Circus Circus.
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Regulate your app-etite
C. Moon Reed | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
There is a critical time between Thanksgiving feasts and New Year’s resolutions that is commonly known as the black hole of dieting.
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Oasis
Spencer Patterson | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
Fifteen years of braggadocio, buffoonery and brotherly brawling—not to mention a long string of undistinguished albums—have soured Noel and Liam Gallagher for all but their most loyal minions.And yet, Saturday night at the Pearl, it was hard not to like them.
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What really happens in Vegas …
Steve Friess | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
If I were an investigative reporter working for one of the local daily newspapers, near the top of my list for digging would be the complex, expensive and probably unprecedented relationship between R&R Partners and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
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Let it snow—at Mt. Charleston!
Sarah Feldberg | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
This is going to be the year I learn how to snowboard. I promise myself this every winter. But really, this is the year.
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Hey, he’s talkin’ here!
Julie Seabaugh | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
What do Petey, Big Petey, Regular Petey, Irregular Petey, Ortho Petey, Re Petey and Joey Bagga Donuts have in common?
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Reaching out
T.R. Witcher | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
It’s often two steps forward and one step back in the Vegas cultural community. It may seem that art has taken a step back, but UNLV’s Department of Art is trying to push forward with the announcement of plans to create an arts advisory board by next spring.
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The Help Desk
Las Vegas Weekly Staff | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
- O.J. Simpson sentenced to 9 to 33 years in prison for role in Palace Station robbery.
- Even Simpson’s longtime supporters are saying, “It’s about friggin’ time!”
- Las Vegas judge dismisses drug and battery charges against Suge Knight.
- “Hey, one has-been from the ’90s is all we can handle in one week,” the judge said.
- Oscar De La Hoya suffers beating from Manny Pacquiao.
- Luckily no one could afford the pay-per-view, so Oscar, if you don’t tell anyone, we won’t either.
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Amen Corner: It’s about time
Las Vegas Weekly Staff | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
Maybe Clark County got as sick as we were of seeing tourists taking their lives in their hands, scampering across rush-hour traffic to get to the famous “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign to take that iconic picture that’s in nearly every scrapbook around the country.
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Dream zone
Lauri Quinn Lowenberg | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
Stepping on broken shards of glass may signal a need to remove something or someone from your life.
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Peggy plots your planets
Peggy Allison | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
Full moon in Gemini, which is parked in your space of fun, love and luck.
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Miranda Lambert
Josh Bell | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
It took a little longer for her to connect, but Miranda Lambert eventually had the older post-NFR crowd nearly as enthusiastic as the teen-girl fans who held up signs in Primm.
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D’oh, Henry!
Jacob Coakley | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
Just when you think you know which way Insurgo’s going to go, they zag to your zig. Case in point: director John Beane’s traditional staging of Shakespeare’s Henry V, now playing at the Onyx Theatre.
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Presents from the past
Las Vegas Weekly Staff | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
Looking for a holiday gift for your favorite music lover? These reissues make some of 2008's best musical presents.
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Nothing Like the Holidays
Jeffrey M. Anderson | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
Simplistic and soapy, Nothing Like the Holidays nonetheless succeeds in warming the cockles.
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JCVD
Josh Bell | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
Jean-Claude Van Damme has spent the last 20 years convincing audiences that he can’t act, so the fact that he shows some vulnerability and emotional range in JCVD qualifies as a revelation.
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Eclipsed by the competition?
Richard Abowitz | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
The Solar Convention proved one thing: The future of solar is not sunny.
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Action flashback
Las Vegas Weekly Staff | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
With this week’s release of the Jean-Claude Van Damme meta-comeback vehicle JCVD, we got to thinking about our favorite has-been action stars, and the highlights and lowlights of their careers. (Bare-chested Chuck Norris just ahead!)
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Mixed vintage
Max Jacobson | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
There’s no denying that the wine bistro, a yuppified version of the gastropubs now springing up in major American cities, is having its day. Which brings us to The Grape at Town Square.
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The best ever?
Scott Raab | Thu, Dec 11, 2008 (midnight)
I saw the news of Greg Maddux’s retirement on a crawl, and I told my wife, and she asked how old he was, and I said 45, because his MLB career lasted 23 seasons.
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V is for Vegas: Tool frontman to merge variety-show concept with musical side project at the Palms
Holmes Pooser | Wed, Dec 10, 2008 (6:46 p.m.)
Maynard James Keenan, frontman of Tool and A Perfect Circle and quite the winemaker, has just signed on for what he calls a "cabaret-style" show at the Pearl in February.
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Like it or not, Britney saga a good read
John Katsilometes | Wed, Dec 10, 2008 (2:09 p.m.)
Britney Spears looks quite the adult on the cover of the of Rolling Stone magazine, dressed casually in a gray T-shirt and jeans, with a pink-and-white striped adornment slipped into her navel. She seems to be watching something fascinating out of view, and I imagine it’s a flair bartender flinging Beefeater bottles, or maybe ex-husband Kevin Federline’s video for “Lose Control.”
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At Viva McDonald’s, Big Macs and fries live on
Melissa Arseniuk | Wed, Dec 10, 2008 (12:03 p.m.)
What's so special about the new 8,600-square-foot Viva McDonald's opening on the Strip on December 11? A “media center” with a ring of televisions and during the soft opening last night catered food, beer and "vivatinis" and celeb impersonators making the rounds.
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Deals aplenty on Strip shows for locals in the know
Jennifer Grafiada | Tue, Dec 9, 2008 (6:18 p.m.)
As our holiday gift to you, we’d like to let you in on a Vegas secret: Shows on the Strip from Phantom to Ka are slashing ticket prices and offering two-for-one deals for anyone with a local ID. Learn how to cash in here.
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Where’s the love for the Vegas marathon?
Sarah Feldberg | Tue, Dec 9, 2008 (3:52 p.m.)
I have a strange love affair with marathons, and as I watched my first Vegas marathon this past Sunday a single question hung over my head: Where was everybody?
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Booze-toting Virgin Marys add spice to Santa Run
Pride overpowered good common sense as stripper Justice, Bloody Mary in hand, takes part in the annual Santa Run in downtown Vegas.
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Mirage volcano has fiery rebirth
Amanda Finnegan | Tue, Dec 9, 2008 (12:36 a.m.)
After months of the Mirage’s volcano lying dormant, the hotel and casino reignited the fiery icon in a public ceremony, showcasing a new look and a new sound.
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Criss Angel and Holly Madison play Mr. and Mrs. Claus for Southern Nevada families
Melissa Arseniuk | Mon, Dec 8, 2008 (1:09 p.m.)
Criss Angel and Holly Madison played Mr. and Mrs. Claus this morning and donated cash and dozens of toys to support Help of Southern Nevada’s holiday toy assistance program.
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Voting rocks: Pick the opener for Holiday Havoc ‘08
Allison Duck | Mon, Dec 8, 2008 (12:09 p.m.)
This year, Extreme Rock Radio, X107.5, has narrowed down the choices to five top local bands who might open for Papa Roach and Hoobastank on December 19 at the Joint. In a fit of democratic fervor they're letting you decide.
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The Lion King roars into Las Vegas
Sarah Feldberg | Sat, Dec 6, 2008 (3:07 p.m.)
With her face painted a deep red and wide yellow circles framing eyes accented in blue and white, Tshidi Manye sang the first trembling bars from The Lion King musical.
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Celebrity NFL Picks: Roadies put the hurt on home teams last week
Sal DeFilippo | Sat, Dec 6, 2008 (10:36 a.m.)
Oddsmakers didn't seem to be convinced that the Atlanta Falcons were real entering last week's game against the Chargers. After the Falcons' win, they were sold.
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Attacks of the biopics
Josh Bell | Fri, Dec 5, 2008 (5:50 p.m.)
Filmmaker and comedian Jason Harris of the Frat Boys of Comedy joins Josh to talk about new releases Milk, Cadillac Records and Punisher: War Zone, plus The Dark Knight on DVD and top picks for movies now in theaters.
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Rodeo queens are dumb, well mostly
Melissa Arseniuk | Fri, Dec 5, 2008 (3:33 p.m.)
Rodeo queens from across the country have descended upon Las Vegas, united by their love of horses, leather fringe and big curly hairdos. And the quest for world peace, of course.
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Q&A queens: Miss Rodeo America contestants falter (and occasionally shine) during current events quiz
Melissa Arseniuk | Fri, Dec 5, 2008 (3:26 p.m.)
We’re not the judges, but if we were (and the Q&A was the sole deciding factor in competition), here’s who’d get the crown in the following categories:
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$3.7 million house goes “green” and “wired” at the same time
Jennifer Grafiada | Fri, Dec 5, 2008 (2:58 p.m.)
Imagine a house in which walls disappear with the touch of a button. The barriers between inside and outside are flexible, not rigid, and sunlight enters not through windows, but through totally open walls.
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Guns N’ Roses celebrate CD release with … a Starf-ckers show?
Melissa Arseniuk | Fri, Dec 5, 2008 (1:44 p.m.)
It took 15 years for Guns N’ Roses to release their latest studio album, “Chinese Democracy,” six days for Wasted Space to throw them a CD release party and five days for me to write about it.
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Lively banter with Three Dog Night co-founder Cory Wells
John Katsilometes | Fri, Dec 5, 2008 (11:43 a.m.)
Cory Wells of Three Dog Night fondly remembers a show at a now-defunct Vegas club where the band shared a bill with Paul Revere and the Raiders.
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Get your 15 minutes of fame tonight at VooDoo Lounge
Allison Duck | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (4:53 p.m.)
Tonight, hip hop artist and recent Vegas transplant SlyKat is extending his own welcome of sorts to the Vegas community. At VooDoo Lounge, high atop the Rio, the artist will hold a casting call for his upcoming video for “Salud.”
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Too young to rock ’n’ roll? Nah
Spencer Patterson | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
Make no mistake, Jillian’s recent closing has left an all-ages void in the Las Vegas scene. But the musical landscape already appears to be regenerating, in the form of several recently opened, newly reopened or soon-to-be-opened venues friendly to the under-21—and yes, under-18—crowds.
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75 years later, America still likes the sauce …
Team Hangover | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
On January 16, 1920, the 18th Amendment went into effect mandating nationwide prohibition, essentially derailing the country’s most prevalent pastime of the era—drinking.
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Mystery Solved
H. Lee Barnes | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
It was 1975, and Larry Gandy and I were scraping mold off last week’s sandwiches and pennies off the sidewalk, another way of saying we were private investigators. Those days it was a tough line.
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Remembering Ken Werden
Jack Colton | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
The Las Vegas nightlife industry was shocked and deeply saddened by the news that one of our own, Dal Toro Ristorante apprentice bartender and longtime Body English table attendant Ken Werden, passed away on November 23.
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Playing house
Deanna Rilling | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
Located inside converted movie theaters at Neonopolis, the Las Vegas Playhouse is nearing completion. Crews are working on costumes and props for a mid-December opening of The Night Before Christmas, Theatre Las Vegas’ premiere production at the Playhouse.
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Guitar zero
Ken Miller | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
I thought I was good at Guitar Hero III … until I got royally schooled during the “friendly” competition held at Family Music Center.
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Smash Pumpkin
Xania Woodman | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
Wondering what to do with those leftover cans of pumpkin puree in the pantry, the bowl of decorative mini-pumpkins and all those seasonal spices? Then let your belt out another notch and try this sweet little number on for size.
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Raving fans
Deanna Rilling | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
Dust off your biggest, baggiest pair of pants, dig up a miniature backpack and liberate your Peace, Love, Unity, Respect (P.L.U.R.) pony-bead bracelets from the dusty cardboard box in the garage.
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Star search
Greg Beato | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
Why are so many major movie stars fleeing the screen? Apparently it’s less fun than generally imagined to spend a couple of months in an exotic locale once or twice a year, eating catered food in luxurious trailers and having your hair styled for hours on end.
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Ludacris
Ben Westhoff | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
Ludacris is mainstream hip-hop’s most entertaining personality. Strongly committed to the oft-overlooked art of lyricism, he leaves other emcees behind, often seeming to be battling himself.
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Tiny Little Rant: They won’t have the balls
Las Vegas Weekly Staff | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
Will folks like Suprynowicz and gun-show promoters (get your guns now before a possible ban!) have the integrity and, dare we say, balls to admit they overreacted? We already know the answer—no.
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The Revolution continues
T.R. Witcher | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
Clearly, the Republicans got some kind of beat-down—losing the White House, seats in Congress and control of the Nevada Legislature—although the extent of the drubbing is still open for debate.
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What do we change now?
Stacy J. Willis | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
Having cannon-balled into the vat of Kool-Aid and washed themselves free of irony and shruggishness, Obama’s fans and volunteers aren’t ready to quit. In fact, they’re exhilarated.
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The hot dog: nature’s perfect food
Brian Black | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
Hot dogs. They’re awesome. Not a part of any legitimate diet plan on the market today, but who cares? Las Vegas has a surprising array of specific choices for the hot-dog aficionado.
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Britney Spears
Annie Zaleski | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
After several years of tabloid turmoil, baby-makin’ and bizarre behavior, Britney Spears is back on track doing what she does best: crafting wholly disposable, ultra-manufactured and downright irresistible pop music.
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Home work
Danielle Kelly | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
Visiting Tarissa Tiberti’s 3% exhibition at the Fallout Gallery, the phrase “you can’t go home again” is hard to shake. Especially considering home is a landscape in constant flux.
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Dream zone
Lauri Quinn Lowenberg | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
Lauri is not a doctor, but she knows how to diagnose a bleeding face.
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Oh, Mama!
Max Jacobson | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
The new China Mama, a boxy, freestanding place with lime-green walls and garish red light fixtures that resemble Slinkys (if they had been made out of Lucite), does the best xiao loong bao in Vegas, and maybe anywhere between here and New York City.
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Cadillac Records
Josh Bell | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
Cadillac Records, the heavily streamlined and fictionalized story of influential Chess Records, is like Dreamgirls lite, a flat, bland, lifeless version of that lavish musical about the rise of another important record label (Motown).
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Battle in Seattle
T.R. Witcher | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
In actor Townsend’s directorial debut, a team of well-coordinated, nonviolent protestors take the 1999 World Trade Organization summit in Seattle by storm, outfoxing the local police and spurring them to violent means to restore order.
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A real magic trick
Steve Friess | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
Accused in October 2007 of raping a 21-year-old Seattle woman whom he allegedly picked out of his audience and lured to his Bahamian getaway for a sexual liaison, David Copperfield underwent media scrutiny, a FBI raid and grand jury investigation. The thing that happened next is the most important: nothing.
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Punisher: War Zone
Josh Bell | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
The third attempt to kick-start a franchise based on the Marvel Comics Punisher character, Punisher: War Zone is probably the best of the bunch, but that isn’t saying much.
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Peggy plots your planets
Peggy Allison | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
Mars moves to Aquarius, making it a good time for travel.
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Call + Response
Ken Miller | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
Musician Dillon abhors modern-day slavery. So much so that he had performers come in to a studio at their convenience and combined that footage with interviews with celebrity activists such as Ashley Judd and Julia Ormond, politicians, reporters and others.
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Friday on their minds
Richard Abowitz | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
At 6:15 a.m. on Black Friday the line outside the Office Max at a strip mall near Sunset Station numbered in the dozens. Do people give office supplies as holiday presents?
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The Help Desk
Las Vegas Weekly Staff | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
- Water usage down in Las Vegas.
- Everyone suddenly realized that booze was actually cheaper.
- NV Energy seeking 17.5 percent electric rate hike.
- So much for our money-saving booze solution.
- Paperboy robbed in North Las Vegas.
- “Hey, at least I wasn’t hit by an airplane,” he said.
- Clark County to look at safety at North Las Vegas Airport.
- While you’re at it, can you look into the paperboy situation too?
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Milquetoast Milk
Mike D'Angelo | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
Milk, directed by Gus Van Sant, sticks fast to moldy biopic convention and features Academy Award-winner Sean Penn as doomed San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to win elected office.
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Shiny Toy Guns
Julie Seabaugh | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
The term “unclassifiable” may have negative connotations when it comes to disease or foodstuffs, but in the case of Shiny Toy Guns, it’s an unequivocal compliment.
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Stocking stuffers
Deanna Rilling | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
'Tis the season for CD releases ... at least here on the Vegas music scene, where locals Black Camaro and The Skooners hosted a joint CD-release party at the Bunkhouse last Saturday.
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Tropicana Cinemas reborn (again)
Josh Bell | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
The Tropicana Cinemas, at Tropicana and Pecos, has reopened its doors yet again as of Friday, November 28, this time under the aegis of Regency Theatres, a California-based chain.
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Scott Weiland
Josh Bell | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
Scott Weiland is known as the frontman for two successful straight-ahead rock bands, Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver, so it’s no surprise that the best songs on his second solo album, Happy in Galoshes, are the simplest, most straightforward rockers.
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The Fireman
Richard Abowitz | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
In what fantasy rock-band league do the bass players of Killing Joke and The Beatles form a band? Yet The Fireman is unquestionably the sound of Youth and Paul McCartney working together.
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Godfather of the Gulf
Josh Bell | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
Chronicling the rise and fall of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, House of Saddam is remarkably akin to a cinematic gangster saga, like Goodfellas.
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Country cavalcade
Josh Bell | Thu, Dec 4, 2008 (midnight)
Vegas isn’t getting any arena-filling superstars this year, but these acts are just about at the top of the genre, and could easily attract audiences with or without the rodeo.
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Libby Lumpkin leaves Las Vegas Art Museum
Danielle Kelly | Wed, Dec 3, 2008 (12:54 p.m.)
Libby Lumpkin’s unexpected resignation as director of the Las Vegas Art Museum has dealt a shocking blow to the arts community. In three short years, Lumpkin turned a relatively conservative, if not provincial, institution into a vital contemporary art museum.
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Girl on girl kissing contests a bit, uh, much?
Melissa Arseniuk | Wed, Dec 3, 2008 (12:22 p.m.)
I blame Katy Perry. Her song has sparked the proliferation of girl-on-girl kissing contests in Las Vegas nightclubs. All of these girls-kissing-girls contests seem a bit, oh… what’s the word? Much.
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Firefighters calendar heats up 2009 for a good cause
Melissa Arseniuk | Wed, Dec 3, 2008 (11 a.m.)
While pin-up calendars featuring half-naked models may be considered “sexist,” “degrading” or even “offensive” in our increasingly sensitive, neutral and politically correct workplaces, here’s one you can hang with pride.
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You’ve come a long way, kid: Nightlife diplomas go to 20 industry pros
Sarah Feldberg | Tue, Dec 2, 2008 (4:56 p.m.)
Last Sunday, The Bank and Jack Colton took a look back at where 20 nightlife industry pros got their humble starts and rewarded them with masters degrees in nightlife entertainment, giant pats on the back and one killer graduation party.
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Hey Mom, check out the action in the VIP room
Justice rarely talks to her mother, but a trip to a Vegas strip club is worth a thousand words.
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Real Deal! live poker show pegs pros versus Joes
Allison Duck | Mon, Dec 1, 2008 (4:37 p.m.)
New this fall, The Real Deal! is part crowd participation, part gambling with celebrities (well, poker celebs at least) and an experiment that just might have a niche in the Vegas entertainment scene.
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Stripped of sound reasoning on Black Friday
Strippers pore over coupons like wading through a good book on huge shopping days like Black Friday.
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