Dear Pj Perez,
I read your article, Pride and Perseverance in May 26 edition. I thought it was very detailed, well-researched and contained information and opinions from many people in the community. I would have been very interested to hear from members of the GLBT community about how they feel.
However, I do feel you made one major mistake in your article, 13 Names to Check Out in the Gay Community, by naming James Healey, president, SNAPI, as the man "ultimately responsible for the success of Pride." Since a new board of directors was elected in August of 2003, there is no one man or woman "ultimately responsible for the success of Pride" as in the past.
In fact, the board of directors of Southern Nevada Association of Pride, Inc., is ultimately responsible for the success of the Pride Festival and all of the events held during Pride Week. In addition, per the bylaws of our 501(c)(3), the president of SNAPI is only allowed to vote on matters before the board of directors when a tie vote occurs.
I understand many Las Vegans and many Americans like to attach a single face to any organization for simplicity's sake. It makes the organization readily recognizable to the masses. But I am one member of the board of directors of SNAPI who insists all of the faces represent our organization. Pride Week would never happen if it were up to one man or woman. Thank goodness we have a hardworking, dedicated board of directors making sure the GLBT community of Southern Nevada is well-served.
Pj Perez replies:
Thanks for your e-mail and your comments. By no means did I mean to downplay the role of SNAPI's board in any way. As you mentioned, the president DOES serve a purpose as a public face, and fingers get pointed—for better or worse—to that public face. Unfortunately, the space constraints of the "13 Names" column required brevity. Sometimes that brevity can breed misunderstanding.
Hi Josh Bell,
I just thought I would drop you a quick line to do what I fear many other starry-eyed, hype-driven Star Wars fan-boys would have done quite the opposite to. Josh, I want to thank you. Thank you so, so much. Not just for being generally great but for reaffirming my faith in humankind and for seeing Star Wars for what it really is: a contrived, terribly written, horribly acted and boring disgrace of a movie.
You are probably wondering why the hell I am bothering to write you this e-mail. Well it's not all that crazy really. You know why? Because when I stepped out of my local cinema after viewing this movie I felt a great sense of despair. I questioned the meaning of value. I questioned the meaning of entertainment. I questioned the purpose of my own life. Oh yeah, I also dreamed that Count Dooku was in fact George Lucas and that I was Anakin, wielding those two blades ominously close to his head. You know, I don't think just taking his head would have been enough ... imagine what those things would do to his ...
Hmm. Now tell me: Why, oh why, does every planet change have to involve the view of some sort of spacecraft LANDING? I mean, seriously man, I would have trouble counting the number of times we see a random takeoff or landing that adds absolutely nothing to the story whatsoever. It's like watching a James Bond movie where every scene involves him parking his bloody BMW and THEN shooting the crap out of some innocent civilian. This is but one of the many terrible inhumanities contained in this movie, as I am sure you are aware.
When I stumbled upon your review—after many minutes of wading through pages and pages of ‘omg its SO cool the CGI is great MAN!!11!! it reminds me of when I was 12 years old and my uncle told me that after the movie he would show me what a real red lightsaber looks like!!'—my faith in humankind was reaffirmed. Once again, thank you. And remember: Someone loves you. Peace.
Regards,
P.S. Any information in this e-mail must not be taken too seriously. Should this warning not be heeded severe hemorrhaging may occur. All thoughts/rants/laughs are the intellectual property of Tim Carolan. Hands off.
Dear Nights on the Circuit Columnist Xania Woodman,
Read your article on Lure and would agree with the idiotic door policy. I've lived here for four years and know one thing: you don't turn your back on your locals, you take care of them. Wynn's a master at the gaming industry, no doubt, but that's it. It's obvious he knows zip about how to promote and manage a club and/or lounge. As soon as I heard that he wanted to have 100 percent control and no partners or straight lease deals to outside parties, I knew there were going to be problems.
He was wrong to hire people with zero entrepreneurial spirit or incentive beyond a set salary to run the nightspots. He should've at the very least done a joint venture with someone with the experience of owning and running a club/lounge who then would've had the incentive (not just payroll employee managers) to do it RIGHT. There should be lines going out to the valet to get into both joints. It's been a month since the hotel opened, and it's too late to get the draw and track record that other places already command. If you don't do it right from the get-go, forget it!
Every time I've been in there, the place is half empty, which I somewhat like as a patron because it's more relaxing and one can move around, but from a business standpoint, that's no good. The only time I saw decent numbers was this last weekend, but that was because it was filled mostly with holiday tourists.
One thing that really bothered me is that they did away with the lighting underneath the flooring and the bar countertop. I asked the staff what happened, as that was the most alluring thing that gave the place the coolest vibe, atmosphere, elegance, and upscale ambience that is missing in most of the other so-called hotspots. The answer: Management wanted it to be more "romantic."
More romantic? Hell, it was way more romantic with that unique glow. You could actually see people's faces bathed in a soft light, making the whole experience much more sensual, like a dream—a refreshing break from the other nightspots which have zero sizzle and are just dark hellholes that sell to the masses and rely on the music to dull your senses so it doesn't matter. I don't know what pull you have there, but I would love to let them know they don't have a friggin' clue!
All this does is drive home my point that you don't send a boy to do a man's job.