After the success of their Martha Stewart-branded community in Cary, North Carolina, KB Home announced last week that they would be developing seven more Marthavilles in other cities, including Las Vegas. The neighborhoods will feature home designs "inspired" by Stewart's own homes in Maine and New York, which may mean that New England-style architecture will be finding a home in the desert, an odd but intriguing prospect. The homes in North Carolina were priced from the low $200,000s to the mid-$400,000s, and were between 1,500 and 4,100 square feet. KB had 3,800 interested buyers for their 650 homes in North Carolina, so anyone interested in living like Martha should probably sign up right away (the local community is set to open by the end of the year). Then again, Stewart sent hand-written thank-you notes to everyone who expressed interest in the North Carolina development, so even those without a house might get a valuable keepsake. Plus, KB has announced a line of Martha-inspired accessories for all of their homes, giving even the lowliest homeowner the chance to have a bit of Martha in their kitchen, garage or bathroom. We're still waiting for her to announce her redesign of the Sandy Valley prison.
Unoriginal Sin
A new salvo has been fired in the seemingly never-ending war between original members of 1950s and 1960s groups The Coasters and The Drifters, and their knockoffs that play around the country—and here in Vegas, at the Sahara Hotel.
The Associated Press reports that the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in Sharon, Pennsylvania, is pushing "Truth in Music" legislation to halt performances by bands that don't include at least one original member (tribute bands would be exempt).
The Sahara Hotel had no comment as of press time.
"They undercut the legacy of those artists," Jon "Bowzer" Bauman (Sha Na Na), head of the hall's Truth in Music Committee, told the AP. "Almost worst of all is the way in which they steal the applause from the great veterans and pioneers that crafted rock 'n' roll music back in the '50s and early '60s."
Carl Gardner, 77, the only surviving original member of The Coasters, and Bill Pinkney, the 80-year-old sole remaining original Drifter, both support the legislation, saying their ability to get work has been damaged.
At the Sahara, the groups go by the names of Cornell Gunter's Coasters and Beary Hobb's Drifters, performing alongside the Platters. Gunter and Hobb are both dead; the Platters are allowed to keep the original name thanks to a licensing agreement, and singer Christy Brooks has connections to the original Platters.
Mary Wilson, a founding member of the Supremes, claims there are original acts that can't get Vegas bookings because venues would rather employ less expensive knockoffs.
"They're taking our history, but they don't have our DNA," she told the AP. "It really is a form of identity theft."
Sometimes a Good Samaritan Is Just Another Name For Total Idiot
Over the weekend a 43-year-old man walking his dog in Henderson found a pipe bomb in the desert. What would you do? This well-intentioned Einstein picked it up and walked the bomb into a police station. After an evacuation, the bomb squad arrived and defused the explosive. Apparently deciding that the obvious can't be overstated, authorities have issued a warning: If you find a bomb do not actually touch it.
Titus, Hickey, Harper's and Nevada in the National Eye: Our Bet For a Great Story
Can one good magazine and one good writer sway the direction of the state? The R-J reports that Harper's magazine will feature a story by Dave Hickey on Dina Titus' gubernatorial campaign trek around rural Nevada. Although the publication date isn't public, we're casting our vote for Harper's and Hickey to significantly jazz up this race with absurdly beautiful scenes of the Southern-talking, big-city, liberal Titus in the slow-talking, conservative small towns. Wish we'd have thought of that.
Hip-hop Slang Phrase of the Week
"Thoroughly Entertained"
Meaning: To get your ass whipped in a fight
Etymology: Yeah right.
Usage: Fernando Vargas got his ass thoroughly entertained in Saturday night's fight against "Sugar" Shane Mosley.