We prefer to call it SINdance
For a third consecutive year, the cream of the Vegas nightlife crop packed its bags, threw on funny hats and headed north to snowy Park City, Utah, for the Sundance Film Festival. Whether you were there for the films, the gourmet swag or the Patron shots, aspirational marketeers insured you had your fill of all three, and sometimes all at once.
For the first time ever, Hard Rock Las Vegas got in on the action, transporting Body English’s popular Smashtime Saturdays up to Sundance on January 19. E!’s The Daily 10 team super-scooper Sal Masekela and movie expert Ben Lyons came with, as did DJ Clinton Sparks. Not forgetting that at Sundance the parties start at 11 a.m. and go till a tad past Utah’s regrettable 1 a.m. last call, Rehab’s DJ Scotty Boy represented the landmark pool party sans pool, while celebrities like Jack Black, Justin Timberlake and Kim Kardashian were ushered around the daytime gifting suite receiving Havaianas flip-flops, Frye boots and the Hard Rock’s Rock Royalty cards (like an Amex Black Card) and creating custom Puma sneakers.
But not just anyone could get into the daytime festivities or the nighttime party. Said one bouncer, “If ever there was a case for name-dropping, this is it!” Even in Utah, the velvet rope was manned by Vegas’ own Adam Nixon, Richard Wilk and Mike Myers; senior Sundance/CineVegas programmer Trevor Groth also popped in to check out the newcomer’s party. Rehab go-go snowbunnies danced, surrounded by posters touting the coming of Rehab: The Movie, which is as much a marketing plan for Rehab’s imminent fifth season as it is the Hard Rock’s honest-to-goodness intention to film a semi-scripted reality movie in the coming summer months. The thought alone oughta keep us warm till then. Who knows? Maybe it’ll screen at Sundance 2009!
Tabu does it again!
Most nightlife venues are well into their twilight years by their fifth birthdays, but not Tabu, which just nabbed its fifth consecutive nomination for Best Lounge in the annual Club World Awards held during the Winter Music Conference in Miami; Tabu took those honors its first three years, a hat trick that has yet to be duplicated. “This is a tribute to the hard work of a terrific group of men and women who make Tabu a one-of-a-kind experience night after night,” said Steve Zanella, vice president of entertainment for MGM Grand.
While not outright inventing the word “ultralounge,” Tabu is still widely credited as the place that introduced the term into the Las Vegas nightlife lexicon. Since 2003, it hasn’t been uncommon for other lounge owners to use Tabu as a benchmark for size and vibe, perhaps describing a venue as having “a very Tabu feel,” or being “about one and a half Tabus in size.” So when the awards ceremony takes place in March, perhaps the original Vegas ultralounge will take home its fourth Club World Award—an act that may as well be called “pulling a Tabu.”
Spin already on the move
DJ Masterweb hoped his new Spin Nightclub at the Alexis Park Resort would be a success, of course, but he wasn’t counting on the sheer numbers the hip-hop club would attract to the hotel lobby since opening on New Year’s weekend. The 1,000-2,000 people who have been showing up Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays to hear resident DJs Dre Dae and Big Dee will just have to drive just a little further now to reach the new 1700 E. Flamingo location, formerly known as Club 702, and before that SRO. Of that venue’s checkered past, Masterweb says, “We’re going to put all our efforts into renovating it and turning it into the opposite of what it was before.” Spin remains closed during the venue’s $300,000 transformation and is scheduled to reopen on February 2 with a performance by E-40.
Celebrate Cinco de Taco
On Friday, February 1, the Hard Rock hotel-casino invites patrons to enjoy a $5 pink margarita and celebrate at the grand reopening of the Pink Taco. The popular Mexican restaurant is celebrating 12 years with a newly expanded bar and the launch of a new event called Cinco de Taco (which roughly translates to “the fifth of ... taco”).
Beginning on February 5 and returning on the fifth of every subsequent month, Cinco features a live mariachi band beginning at 6 p.m., as well as reduced prices on Coronas, Corona Lights, Sauza Hornitos shots and Sauza Hornitos margaritas. The affair will also include lingerie-clad women bashing on piñatas filled with Love Jones lingerie. It’s an ingenious combination of two of the greatest things ever: lacy underwear and brutal violence against colorful, papier-mache animals.
I don’t think we’re in Vegas anymore, Toto
“What’s up Salt Lake City?!”
–Jeff Beacher of his eponymous Madhouse greets the crowd and introduces Maroon 5 at Harry-O’s nightclub Friday night during the Sundance Film Festival, hosted by Tao. Except Sundance is held in Park City, Utah, not Salt Lake.