Stories published May 21, 2009
As Danny Gans is remembered, we’re reminded to grasp the moment
John Katsilometes | Thu, May 21, 2009 (10:34 p.m.)
“There never could be a better moment, than this one,” Paul McCartney sang and said. The sudden passing of Danny Gans reminds us how true that is.
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Love Festival 101: Your guide to this weekend
Deanna Rilling | Thu, May 21, 2009 (6:02 p.m.)
Once upon a time in a former Long Beach swap meet, people came to party. They called it Love Festival, and it was good. Now the dance music event is coming to Vegas and bringing Paul van Dyk, Carl Cox, Robbie Rivera, DJ Reza and more.
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Sweating it out with Dave Kaplan
Allison Duck | Thu, May 21, 2009 (1:21 p.m.)
Local UFC Fighter Dave Kaplan hopes to beat down fellow reality show alum George Roop this Saturday. Either way, their joint afterparty is a sure bet.
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The price we pay for having nightlives
Team Hangover | Thu, May 21, 2009 (12:30 p.m.)
Partying all the time is hard work. Team Hangover makes some serious sacrifices in their personal lives to keep the booze flowing through their veins.
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Searching for Little Green Men
Rick Lax | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
According to the Roper Center, most Americans believe extraterrestrials have visited our planet in UFOs and that the U.S. government is covering it up.
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Is a promise a contract?
Richard Abowitz | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
Developer Jim Rhodes and his wife, Glynda, probably count the past couple of months as one of the worst periods in their lives.
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A chat with Tiesto
Melissa Arseniuk | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
"The Vegas crowd is always a very beautiful crowd. There’s lots of hot girls everywhere, and guys are all pimps with lots of money ..."
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Eminem
Ben Westhoff | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
Using a variety of half-crazed-sounding vocal styles and accents, Em describes drug overdoses, revenge plots, celebrity crushes and twisted sexual fantasies.
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Peggy plots your planets
Peggy Allison | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
As the week moves forward, you may notice a change in your thinking. You will land on a positive note.
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Jarvis Cocker
Annie Zaleski | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
After spending two-plus decades fronting reigning Brit-poppers Pulp, debonair beanpole Jarvis Cocker emerged as a solo artist in 2006.
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Broken pencils
T.R. Witcher | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
Architects across the state are trying to stay afloat. No one's building - not offices, not hotels, not condos.
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AM’s reign, A.M. at Rain
Xania Woodman | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
Oh, DJ Adam Goldstein, I’ve come to Rain nightclub to pray at the foot of your booth, to rock out and lip-sync along with whatever tidbit of a song you deign to play before yanking it out from under me like a rug.
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Cheese-free music, now with less la-la?
Deanna Rilling | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
Memorial Day weekend. Las Vegas. Famed German producer/DJ Paul van Dyk. ’Nuff said.
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Time is (not much) money
Ken Miller | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
The good news: Las Vegans are stepping forward and offering to volunteer for the various charities around town. The bad news: Those same Las Vegans are being turned away in favor of donations.
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Gimme shelters
Susanne Forestieri | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
Many cities have commissioned artists to enhance bus shelters; now, it’s Las Vegas’ turn.
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The Day After
Josh Bell | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
Stalwart local band The Day After returns from a dalliance with indie label Gotham Records to self-release its latest album, Black Heart Symphony, the first with new drummer Daniel Kloza.
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Diary of a mad Greek woman
Jacob Coakley | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
At the risk of spoilers on a 2,500-year-old play, a recap: lovesick, psychotic sorceress Medea does horrible things to help Jason capture the Golden Fleece.
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Brewing up terrific flavors at BJ’s
Ken Miller | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
Seeing two police cars parked in front of BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse somehow gave me a real sense of comfort. After all, if cops are dining here, the food must be pretty good.
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Not so Goode
Josh Bell | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
Judge’s latest animated series, The Goode Family (ABC, Wednesdays, 9 p.m.), co-created with Hill writers John Altschuler and David Krinsky, is a heavy-handed satire of political correctness that makes Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head look like a paragon of subtlety.
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The Help Desk
Las Vegas Weekly Staff | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
- Holly Madison joins cast of Peepshow.
- Or as Hugh Hefner and Criss Angel will now call it, Old Home Week.
- Las Vegas hosts world’s largest bikini parade to boost tourism numbers.
- In addition, we’re immediately changing our nickname from “Sin City” to “Silicone Valley.”
- Analyst improves MGM’s rating to “overweight.”
- Only in America would that term be a sign that things are improving.
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Vegas’ Best 2009
Las Vegas Weekly Staff | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
The Weekly’s annual list of what’s really important— with a bunch of your own choices thrown in.
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Ten shows that you absolutely have to see (or send your visitors to see)
Steve Friess | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
One show that everyone should see? I get this question a lot. I get it from Facebook friends when they’re about to visit and you readers ask about once a week by e-mail.
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Make time for the King
John Katsilometes | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
The artistic power of Disney meets the notoriously short attention spans of Vegas audiences: two acts and an intermission, clocking in at two and a half hours—an eternity for Vegas audiences.
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No more doubts about No Doubt
Josh Bell | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
At the kickoff of its first tour since 2004, pop-rock band No Doubt was in perfect form, showing no signs of atrophy from a five-year break.
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Just terminate it already
Josh Bell | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
James Cameron has long since departed this lumbering sci-fi franchise, and the vision clearly went with him. What we end up with instead is two hours of characters flailing about, with little resolution and even less sense of purpose.
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Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
Josh Bell | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
The sequel to the midly amusing 2006 family film suffers from a common follow-up ailment, so focused on upping the stakes that it loses most of the charm it had in the first place. Stealing plot elements from the Mummy franchise doesn't help either.
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This class is a joke
Sal DeFilippo | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
Bonkerz offers budding stand-ups a place to get started via a six-week workshop, where aspiring comics learn to write, develop and hone a five-minute routine.
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All swine, no flu
Pj Perez | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
In the 1990s, “doom groove” quintet A Pig Named Jodi was a fixture on the Las Vegas metal circuit, playing just about every venue in the area and opening for national headliners such as Suicidal Tendencies, Social Distortion and Fuel.
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Amen Corner: “What happens here stays here” slogan is back!
“What happens here stays here” is being removed from the mothballs to further cement Vegas’ reputation as the Dirty Little Secret of America.
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Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band
Julie Seabaugh | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
On his 2008 self-titled “solo” album, Bright Eyes mastermind Conor Oberst (and a ragtag band of wandering indie-folk minstrels) sought out south-of-the-border trails less traveled.
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Sink your teeth into some movies
Josh Bell | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
The Sci Fi Center in downtown’s Commercial Center has been running its cult-movie nights for a while now, and this week comes up with a pretty ingenious double feature.
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Bex Marshall
Spencer Patterson | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
Advertised as a guitar hero in the Stevie Ray Vaughan mold, this British export reminds more of singer-songwriters like Melissa Etheridge and (early) Sheryl Crow.
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Dream zone
Lauri Quinn Lowenberg | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
"I am in the lobby of a large, fancy hotel with my friends. I go to find the restroom, but there are no signs for any. I am getting really angry as I go looking for one."
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NOMO
Spencer Patterson | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
Call NOMO a party band if you want, but the nine-man “post-afrobeat” gang proves it can do more than jam on its latest studio effort.
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Leaving Springfield
Jeremy Adams | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
Springfield is the home of Abraham Lincoln (Illinois), the Basketball Hall of Fame (Massachusetts) and the Simpsons. Yet apparently, it’s also a place where grown men make whiny punk-pop for the teenage masses.
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Go ahead, rough the passer. Please!
Greg Beato | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
Hot women, clad in little more than panties, knee pads and a hard protective shell of spray-on tan. What’s not to like?
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Dude City
Jeremy Adams | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
It’s always nice when artists try new things. In the case of Jack E. Johnson and Grant Turner’s Dude City, however, experimentation sometimes leads them astray.
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The Mapes
Spencer Patterson | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
This is easily the dumbest disc I’ve ever heard … which the members of The Mapes will no doubt be ecstatic to read.
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Reggae Sunsplash
Xania Woodman | Thu, May 21, 2009 (midnight)
I used to cringe when my Nana would add ice cubes to her wine, but in this heat, I can’t imaging anything more refreshing. Saturday night I caught up with Progressive Bar’s Mark Kiyojima, about his Reggae Sunsplash, which he custom built around Rock ’n’ Roll Wine’s own Reggae Rhapsody Napa Valley white-wine blend.
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