NOISE

Get your blank tapes ready! The Grateful Dead Hour, syndicated weekly since September 1988, finally hit Las Vegas last Saturday, debuting with show No. 901 on KUNV 91.5-FM at 9 p.m. The program is being provided free on a three-month trial basis, with the nonprofit station in search of a local business to underwrite the endeavor long term.

Produced and hosted by Bay Area-based musician, journalist and longtime Dead aficionado David Gans, the GDH features choice live cuts from the band's 30-year touring career—many culled directly from the band's vault—along with interviews and related material from the scene.

"It's fun being able to turn people on to this music," says Gans. Listeners can check upcoming playlists at
gdhour.com and respond with feedback at
logblog.gdh.com . "It's a great privilege to be on a listener-supported station, and I hope the listeners find this and support it," he says.

Kenny "The Gambler" Rogers has a look that has stood the test of time. Or, at least, hasn't changed since time began. Naturally, when Tony Hawk Inc.'s creative director and brand manager Jaimie Muehlhausen found himself with too much spare time, he launched
MenWhoLookLikeKennyRogers.com (and thank goodness that domain name was available!) to immortalize the hundreds of men who have taken Rogers' facial appeal and made it their own. Among the luminaries present are Harrah's Kenny, Slot Machine Kenny, Tropicana Kenny (September's contest winner!), Caesars' Security Kenny, and our favorite, Papa Smurf Kenny.

Kenny Rogers performs at Buffalo Bill's on January 13.

You guys are in the midst of 31 shows in 43 days, all at House of Blues venues in Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Diego and Las Vegas. Does that start to feel like you're commuting from your Orange County home to a regular job after a while?

Yeah, it's like, "Where's the time clock?" It's nice to not have to travel, but at the same time, with just one day off here, one day off there, you've really got to get your rest to make it through, especially during flu and cold season. So it's a challenge.

For this tour the band is performing its first album, 1983's Mommy's Little Monster, in its entirety as part of its nightly set list. What's it been like to resurrect songs you wrote when you were 20 at age 43?

It's been neat to do this because it's kind of reflective for me to look back and get back to that place where I was when I started this band and did our first record and remember what society's reaction to us was back then. A lot of the lyrical content of that album is about that. I think the old-timers appreciate it because they remember it too, and the new kids kind of get a perspective of like, "Oh wow, punk rock wasn't always an accepted format of music and style and fashion."

Some of these songs feel like they could have been written right next to our last album. I feel that the band has evolved, but at the same time there's definitely signature stuff that's remained intact.

You've referred to these 31 shows as being for the "home fans." So you feel like Las Vegas is an extension of your home base in Southern California?

Absolutely. In the early years, we were not a national touring act. That wasn't until the late '80s. But for the first few years it was San Francisco, San Diego, Phoenix and Las Vegas. Those were about the furthest we could get. And Vegas was one of the few places that would have us.

Staind front man Aaron Lewis will play one of his select solo acoustic gigs this week at Rain inside the Palms, performing some of his band's biggest hits, as well as "covers from his favorite artists." Past shows have included Pearl Jam's "Black," Guns N' Roses' "Patience" and the Smashing Pumpkins' "Disarm." Here are a few more unconventional tunes we'd like to hear the angst-ridden Lewis tackle.

"Feelings"

"I Will Survive"

"Walking on Sunshine"

"Danke Schoen"

"I Feel Pretty"