Desert Companion - June 2023

NIGHT NIGHT! YOUR GOING-OUT GUIDE TO THE CITY

SOMM WOMEN WHO RUNS THE WINE WORLD?

RAIL RIDE A REPORTER’S TINY TRAIN MEMOIR

THE 11 ANNUAL FOCUS ON NEVADA

PHOTO CONTEST

WE SEE YOU L

ook at you, Nevada. All full of curious wild animals competing for your attention, dusky landscapes defying the elelments, haunting scenes of banal actuality, and shape-shifting people darting in and out of the light. We see you. Through the eyes — and lenses — of the 590 photographers who submitted 3,240 shots of you in our Focus on Nevada photo contest this year (more than ever!), we get to appreciate your nuance, humor, struggle, and beauty.

Unlike the challenges I’ve faced in my first year as editor of this magazine, the photo contest was not only out of my hands; it was also pure pleasure from start to finish. “Out of my hands,” because Art Director Scott Lien and the rest of the photo contest team get all the credit for the heavy lifting (shout out to Stan and Marlies!). “Pure pleasure,” because I got to show up when the judging started, look at hundreds of cool photos from every imaginable nook of Nevada (and a few unimaginable ones), and talk about them with the other judges.

And speaking of judging, the process produced results that surprised and delighted Scott, the rest of the team, and me this year. The COVID pandemic caused photo contest judging, like so many formerly in-person group activities, to go online; each judge got access to a set of photos to consider and score remotely, on their own. It created a space where people had time to sit with each image and reflect on its impact, originality, and technique — a moment of quiet intimacy in a world of loudest guys in the room. Don’t get me wrong; I like crowd-sourcing as much as anyone (as an incurable extrovert, probably more). But there’s something magical in unveiling a set of winners that no one expected, yet everyone can totally see — something you don’t get when “voting” means shouting your opinion into the cacophonic deliberation of a panel.

And by the way, I misspoke when I said “start to finish” before. Focus on Nevada has just started, in a way. Now that we’ve announced the winners, here and in our awards presentation, you can catch the Focus on Nevada Photo Showcase on tour. Find it at desertcompanion.com.

I’ll be seeing you, Heidi

People must be feeling pretty comfortable with the new team, because they’re starting to talk back! In response to Heidi’s Boulder, Utah, story in our “Take the High Road” feature (April, 2023), Jim Lane and his wife wrote, “Thanks for the piece! It reminds me that whenever we talk about moving to Tucson, Arizona, because Vegas is getting too big (with traffic and reckless driving approaching L.A. standards), we have to remind ourselves how we would be adding significantly more driving time to our beloved south-central Utah ventures.” A sentiment that we share, Jim.

Another DC reader, Roger Reid, submitted his list of additional museums he felt were unjustly omitted from Mike Prevatt’s “You Oughta be Among Pictures” mini-guide to L.A. museums (also April). A few of those he listed: Petersen Automotive Museum; The Getty Center and Getty Villa Museum; and Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Arts & Culture.

“When my niece joined me in California last fall,” he wrote, “I made a point of taking her to some of the above. She greatly enjoyed this, and the high point of her visit was the Cheech, which allowed her to take pictures to bring back to show and entertain her friends.”

We wholeheartedly endorse Roger’s motivation for writing to us: “I feel it most important to help make others, and particularly younger people, aware of art and culture as valuable and worthwhile.” Preaching to the choir, Rodge. Preaching to the choir.

CORRECTION

Regarding “Better Call Paul”: The Southern Inyo Fire Protection District does have some paid part-time staff; one Tecopa resident is known as Ross the Miner (not “Russ,” as previously stated); the Tecopa Community Center offers Inyo County services; and multiple fire crews responded to the fire at the China Ranch Date Farm. Desert Companion regrets the errors.

Editor’s Note

PRESIDENT & CEO Mark Vogelzang

COO Favian Perez

EDITOR Heidi Kyser

ART DIRECTOR Scott Lien

ASSISTANT EDITOR Anne Davis

DESIGN INTERNS Alyssa Noji, Ryan Vellinga

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Allison Hall, Markus Van’t Hul, Britt Quintana

REVENUE SYSTEMS SPECIALIST  Marlies Vaitiekus

WEB COORDINATOR Stanley Kan

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Nicholas Barnette, Jennifer Battisti, Josh Bell, Meg Bernhard, Richard Boland, Miles Brady, John Curtas, Kirsten DeSilva, Eric Duran-Valle, Jason Harris, Jana Marquez, Mike Prevatt, Alec Pridgeon, Heidi Knapp Rinella, Gabriela Rodriguez, Lissa Townsend Rodgers, Emma VandenEinde

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

Ronda Churchill, Gregg Carnes, Olga Minkevich, Jeff Scheid

CONTACT

EDITORIAL: Heidi Kyser (702) 259-7855 heidi@desertcompanion.com

ART: Scott Lien (702) 258-9895 scott@desertcompanion.com

ADVERTISING: Favian Perez (702) 259-7813 favian@desertcompanion.com

SUBSCRIPTIONS: Marlies Vaitiekus (702) 259-7822 marlies@desertcompanion.com

WEBSITE: www.desertcompanion.com

Desert Companion is

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While you’re making other home improvements, add Sunburst Shutters & Window Fashions for the perfect finishing touch. We’ve been transforming homes beautifully for over 45 years.

Desert Savvy Design

BOARD OF DIRECTORS OFFICERS

DON HAMRICK chair

Chapman Automotive Group

RICHARD I. DREITZER, ESQ. vice chair Fennemore

ROBERT C. GLASER treasurer

BNY Mellon Wealth Management

MARK VOGELZANG secretary

Nevada Public Radio DIRECTORS

NEHME E. ABOUZEID

Madison Square Garden Entertainment

STEPHANIE CAPELLAS

CYNTHIA A. DREIBELBIS

Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber, Schreck

WILLIAM GROUNDS

Burraneer Capital Advisors

GAVIN ISAACS Consultant

FRED J. KEETON

Keeton Iconoclast Consulting, LLC

GENE LEVERTY

Leverty & Associates

AMANDA MOORE-SAUNDERS Live Nation

DERIONNE POLLARD

Nevada State College

ERNEST STOVALL

Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino

DIRECTORS EMERITI

CYNTHIA ALEXANDER

Dickinson, Wright, PLLC

DAVE CABRAL Business Finance Corp.

LOUIS CASTLE

Amazon Games Seattle

PATRICK N. CHAPIN, ESQ. Patrick N. Chapin, Ltd.

ELIZABETH FRETWELL Switch

JOHN R. KLAI II

Klai Juba Wald Architects

CHRIS MURRAY Avissa Corporation

JERRY NADAL

WILLIAM J. “BILL” NOONAN

KATHLEEN M. NYLEN Retired

ANTHONY J. PEARL

MARK RICCIARDI, ESQ.

Fisher & Phillips, LLP

MICKEY ROEMER

Roemer Gaming

TIM WONG Arcata Associates

LAMAR MARCHESE president emeritus

Schilling Horticulture Group landscape

WHERE DID YOU GO THIS WEEKEND?

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Vehicle shown: 2023 Land Rover Defender 110. © 2023 Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC

PHOTO

ALL THINGS

STRIP DISPATCH

Rail to Nowhere

A reporter rides the monorail in search of how far it’s come in 20 years

BY Eric Duran-Valle

● SAHARA LAS VEGAS Despite my repeated efforts, the gate at the Sahara monorail station refused to accept my rightfully paid-for 24-hour ticket. The pass, which costs $15 and can be dispensed at any stop of the Las Vegas Monorail, did not appear to have any defect or conditions that should have barred me from the boarding platform. Having no confidence that the intercom would connect me to a living being at 9 p.m. on a Friday night, I hurdled over the plastic fins. This trespass triggered about five seconds of a faint, high-pitched beeping and no other punishment.

I’m one of the few lone riders on this journey, as most seem to take the trip in pairs. Also waiting at the station were two middle-aged men wearing baseball caps and flannels, two women speaking Tagalog and

carrying their platform wedges in their hand, and a couple of French-speaking teenage boys trying to decipher the monorail’s transit map. Soon, the train arrived, and I stepped onboard with no particular destination in mind.

The Las Vegas Monorail began its life in 1995 as a mile-long track connecting the MGM Grand and Bally’s, now the Horseshoe. To learn more about its history, I talked to Richard Velotta, who has reported on Vegas traffic for many years. “It was something new, and people viewed it as a modern mode of transportation,” he says, “even though it actually wasn’t.”

In July 2004, the monorail expanded to seven stops. Two months later, it was temporarily shut down after two separate incidents of pieces falling off. The first was a wheel that landed in an empty parking lot, and the second was a part of the drive shaft that hit a power rail.

● WESTGATE After the Sahara, the next stop heading south is the off-Strip Westgate. It’s the first indication that the monorail doesn’t actually put you “above the Strip traffic,” as ads claim, but simply away from it.

“There were some (casino operators) who viewed the monorail as a conveyance to take customers away from their properties instead of a means to deliver customers to them,” Velotta says. “‘Why should I

IDEAS, CULTURE, FOOD, AND OTHER WAYS TO USE THIS CITY

support something that is going to take my customers somewhere else?’”

A proper metro station gets you either to the train or back to the street as quickly as possible. A casino, with its labyrinthine layout, is designed to do the opposite. Since casinos serve as monorail stations, it’s an incongruent system.

● BOINGO STATION AT LAS VEGAS CONVENTION CENTER

The monorail suffered from declines in ridership during the Great Recession, when the Sahara closed in 2011, and during the COVID pandemic. After the Las Vegas Monorail Company suspended service and filed for bankruptcy in 2020, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority bought its assets. “LVCVA leadership agreed to take it over because it provided reliable transit to big conventions,” Velotta says. “(Conventions are) when the monorail makes the most money.”

I rode the monorail during CES 2023. It was indeed busy. And LVCVA seems happy with the purchase, according to a written statement it provided: “The Monorail consistently outperformed nearly every other rail system reported by the FTA (Federal Transit Administration) in the comparisons of revenue earned per mile and riders carried per mile of system since it began operations. This, combined with ongoing high customer service scores averaging 4.7 out of 5 the last two years reinforces the fact that (LVCVA’s) acquisition of the system and decision to continue its operation was the right choice for the destination.”

The purchase was also a big help to LVCVA partner The Boring Company, because the removal of the monorail’s non-compete zone cleared the way for the development of the underground convention center loop.

But on a Friday night with no major trade shows in town, the Convention Center stop is barren. It felt like I had gone somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be, like an abandoned mall. Before I followed my morbid curiosity into the dark stairwell, the next train arrived.

● HARRAH’S/THE LINQ This stop is the closest one to Brooklyn Bowl, which is why I started riding the monorail to begin with: The fare is cheaper than parking on the Strip. But if you plan to go anywhere that isn’t one of the stops, be prepared to do a lot of walking.

WESTGATE STATION

BOINGO STATION, LAS VEGAS CONVENTION CENTER

In 1993, the same year plans for the MGM-Bally’s monorail started in earnest, the iconic “Marge vs. the Monorail” episode of The Simpsons premiered. In it, the fictitious town of Springfield spends a large windfall on a monorail instead of fixing its derelict main street. The reorganization and expansion of the original MGM-Bally’s monorail cost $650 million and was funded by municipal bonds, which were backed by revenue the monorail was supposed to generate. Developers projected that, by 2004, more than 19 million people a year would be riding the monorail. According to the LVCVA, the system carried more than 4.3 million riders in 2022.

HARRAH’S/THE LINQ STATION

● FLAMINGO/CAESARS PALACE “A proposed subway system was unveiled even before the monorail, but the projected cost killed the idea before it was even seriously considered,” Velotta tells me. I recalled the plans for a light rail on Maryland Parkway a few years ago. That idea, too, was dead on arrival because local transportation experts calculated that bus rapid transit could provide the same service more cost-effectively. “But most of the public just viewed that as a variation on bus service, so it never really got the support it needed,” Velotta says.

FLAMINGO/ CAESARS PALACE STATION

HORSESHOE/PARIS STATION

Beneath the bridge connecting the Flamingo to its monorail station, taxi and rideshare drivers angrily honked at each other while pedestrians weaved between slow-moving vehicles. Driving alienates us from each other. It doesn’t seem like a person cuts you off — it’s just some giant hunk of metal that won’t get out of your way. When we lack proximity to another human being, our empathy for them evaporates.

As I contemplated this urban-planning ignominy, I heard the wheels of the monorail rolling away. The automated PA system informed me the next train would arrive in nine minutes.

● HORSESHOE/PARIS The LVCVA has said the train cars need to be replaced within the next decade, so keeping up with casino rebrands and name changes seems futile. In 2021, French company Alstom bought Bombardier Transportation, which manufacturers the train cars. Alstom itself has had a series of financial and regulatory difficulties.

MGM

According to the monorail’s 2010 bankruptcy filing, the company was supposed to deposit its revenue in an account at Wells Fargo, which was

SURVEY SEZ: Rando results from unscientific studies

SHOCKING NEWS! *clutches pearls* Nevada tops both the lists for 2023’s most gambling-addicted states and gambling-friendliness. (wallethub.com) ALSO FILE UNDER “DUH!” Las Vegas is No. 5 on a tally of the top 10 cities for thrill seekers. (rent.com) OUR RISK-SEEKING EXTENDS TO VIDEO GAMES, APPARENTLY Nevada has the most video gaming-obsessed population, with more than 7,500 average searches of video game terms per 100,000 people. (im-a-puzzle.com)

BUT ADRENALINE JUNKIES NEED FUEL TOO! Nevada claims 31 out of the 100 top spots to eat in the Southwest U.S. this year, according to Yelp.com — Anne Davis

SAHARA LAS VEGAS STATION

GRAND STATION

the senior trustee for revenue collection and eventual bond repayment. However, in 2009, the monorail company opened a separate account at Bank of America and began depositing its revenue there. “The Trustee,” the filing reads, “was understandably angered.”

Meanwhile, the company that insured $451 million of the municipal bonds, Ambac, lost its triple-A credit rating during the Great Recession and said that if the monorail stopped making payments on some of the bigger bonds, Ambac would be exposed to a liability of $1.16 billion.

● MGM GRAND The end of the line is, ironically, where it all began. The PA drops its friendly demeanor and informs the few of us still riding that all passengers must exit at MGM Grand. As I walk toward the casino, I see one of the French teens from earlier waiting for the northbound train. His friend isn’t with him.

Despite its flaws, what is most painful about the monorail is its wasted potential. From end to end, the ride is about 15 minutes long, which feels short compared to the stress-fueled gauntlet of driving down Las Vegas Boulevard. “The system’s operation of autonomous, electric trains results in the reduction of 2 million vehicle miles and nearly 25 tons of greenhouse gas emissions into our valley’s air,” the LVCVA reports. It’s a glimpse into what could have been — the proof-of-concept for the future of transit in Las Vegas, instead of its demise.

“The monorail’s days are numbered,” Velotta tells me. “Maybe within two or three years, the monorail will become a footnote in the city’s transit story.” Whether this does indeed happen, perhaps it can serve as a lesson that great care, consideration, and public input are needed to make an effective transit system that’s attractive and useful to riders.

We’ll see. Either way, this is my stop.✦

COMMUNITY

Cutting With Ease

People with autism get more than a free haircut at 101 Barbershop. They get confidence and life skills, too

BY Anne Davis

Walking into 101 Barbershop on a Tuesday afternoon, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was just any Las Vegas Valley hair salon. The shop is orderly, the barbers are professional, and there’s the background noise of shears snipping through hair. Yet this ordinary appearance belies an extraordinary mission: Its founders and staff aim to bring confidence (and cool ’dos) to youth on the autism spectrum.

“Everyone is welcome here,” says Stacie Skillman, the founder of 101 Barbershop in Henderson. “Just letting (clients) know, ‘You are important. I don’t care how many paying customers are sitting there when you walk in — you’re getting in the chair.’ That’s what makes us special.”

A U.S. military veteran and longtime foster mom, Skillman was inspired to start a business giving free haircuts to kids on the spectrum when she fostered her son, Jordan, who has autism. Going to a typical barber was a difficult and costly experience. So, when she met Garratt “Gee” Thomas, an autism-friendly barber, the duo knew they needed

A CUT ABOVE Garratt “Gee” Thomas, co-founder of 101 Barbershop in Henderson, cuts the hair of Shane Funn, 11. The barbershop provides haircuts to children on the autism spectrum.

to bring inclusive, affordable haircuts to the valley’s kids. In September, they opened 101 Barbershop, which offers free barber services to youth with autism from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. every Tuesday by appointment.

“Services like this are very, very important,” says Mia Fortunato, director of operations and marketing for Inclusion Fusion, a local organization that offers social skills programs to people with autism. (Disclosure: My sister is a paid staff member there.)

“The neurotypical population might not realize how challenging it can be, socially, for someone on the spectrum or who is neurodivergent to go get a haircut,” Fortunato says.

Fortunato emphasizes that programs such as 101 Barbershop’s have a positive longterm impact in addition to the

immediate benefits. “Going to the hairdresser is a common life skill, and those life skills can be translated into so many different aspects of your life going forward, and especially into adulthood.”

Skillman says she’s just getting started with providing more inclusive spaces for Las Vegans. She aims to expand into a barber school for young adults on the spectrum and other people with special needs. “Once they’re done with the school part, they can go up front to the barber floor,” she says.

Skillman’s barbers have big dreams, too, while also keeping community close to their hearts. “We like to change the stuff that we can,” says Christina Horrilleno, one of 101 Barbershop’s barbers. “We like to give back as much as we can. It’s just barbery history — we’re a platform for the community. So based off our examples (of inclusion), I feel like it goes a long way with other people. I feel like we touch lives.” ✦

Visit 101barbershopllc.com to learn more.

THE EXPERTS

Byte out of Crime

Free UNLV clinic trains students in cybersecurity while protecting business owners from threats

BY Jana Marquez

Picture this: It’s two days till your taxes are due. You dutifully boot up your computer and instantly see your hard drive has crashed. Even worse, you realize that your customers’ credentials, like their credit card numbers, have been breached. You’ve been the victim of a cybercrime.

UNLV’s Free Cyber Clinic exists to prevent situations like this. The nonprofit, student-led organization aims to educate small businesses on cybersecurity, while using real-world experience to train current students. Established in 2021, the clinic has recruited more than 20 students as fully certified members. Their message is simple: No business is ever too small to be hacked. Quite the opposite, since small-business owners are the target of 43 percent of all cyber-attacks. Despite this, many are not prepared, and thus risk serious damage to their business.

Here’s what to expect when you call the clinic:

Assessment. What’s the risk profile of your computers, iPads, or cash registers on-site? Are there any Wi-Fi routers in plain sight? Do you regularly change your passwords or update your systems? Once the clinic’s members assess how you’re currently doing, they’ll have a better idea of how vulnerable you are to any more threats.

Remediation. Next, the clinic can prepare to solve the issues you may have and recommend

courses of action to improve your security. Common vulnerabilities are exposed Wi-Fi routers or not having a password on your network.

“(Businesses owners’) hard work just goes down the drain,” says Christian Rodriguez, the clinic’s president, “all because of a simple ransomware attack that could have been prevented. What could have saved these businesses was just simple practices.”

Education. Finally, the clinic aims to educate you, since the more common cybersecurity knowledge is, the less likely you are to be attacked successfully.

“We’re relying on technology almost everywhere,” Rodriguez says. “If you use a computer, you should be educated. Especially if you’re running a business and you have people’s sensitive information.”

FAMILY BUSINESS Stacie Skillman, owner of 101 Barbershop in Henderson, spends quality time with her son Jordan.

HEAR

MORE: On KNPR’s State of Nevada, experts discuss services and education for children with autism.

Vintage Vibes

Fashion is always in frame for local photographer Chase Stevens

BY Anne Davis

What’s old is new for photographer Chase Stevens. Not interested in fashion during his youth, his love affair with vintage and secondhand clothes was sparked at a Buffalo Exchange within walking distance of UNLV while he was a student there. As the newly minted assistant photo editor at the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Stevens’ daily work in the visual arts influences the pieces he chooses to wear. “I’m such a visual person through being a photographer that when I started getting into fashion and learning more about it, it really clicked with me, because (clothing’s) just such a visual thing,” he says. “The colors and the patterns of it stood out to me, and that’s what drew my interest in it.” Here’s more of Stevens’ style, in his own words.

JACKET Vintage 1980s ($50) by Julian K., Alt Rebel

I like that it’s a midway jacket, because I can roll up my sleeves a little bit if it’s hotter in the day, and then I can pull (them) back down when it cools down. Since, you know, Vegas weather is a little tricky to navigate.

JEANS ($200) by Acne Studios

This is the one thing in the outfit that I bought new! I love jeans. They’re so great for so many outfits that I wear, and these have the perfect silhouette and cut to them. They’re a little slim, and they’ve lasted forever.

BOOTS Black suede jodhpurs ($250) by Saint Laurent, Wasteland (L.A.)

I feel like they have a really sharp sort of vibe to them … They’re very ’60s, like the Beatles’ (signature Chelsea boots), but what’s cool about them is they have these little straps on them … (which) sort of gives the boots a Western style.

BOLO TIE

Las Vegas Hilton (now Westgate) ($30), Main Street Peddlers Antique Mall

What’s cool about (this piece) is my dad worked at the Las Vegas Hilton in the ’80s as a chef, so it’s an extra cool tie into that for me.

HAWAIIAN SHIRT ($45) by Irina, Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekender vendor fair

What’s really cool about it is the textures — it’s barkcloth, which is just sort of a rare fabric. At least for me, it’s definitely more of a vintage fabric.

BRACELET ($139-169) by Totwoo

This was a gift from my girlfriend. When you press (the bracelet), it vibrates. And so, she has one that links up, too … It’s just a really cool little thing.

An Angel Comes Home

Brenda Daly’s first full feature, showing at the Women’s Film Festfival, is 100 percent Vegas-born

BY Josh Bell

At this year’s ninth edition of the Nevada Women’s Film Festival, writer-director Brenda Daly’s Rogue Angel stands out as the sole locally produced feature film from a Las Vegas filmmaker. The revenge thriller stars Jackie Gerhardy as a military veteran who returns to her rural hometown (set in Mt. Charleston) to confront dark family secrets and help her teenage sister (Sheila Krause) escape the cycle of abuse. Like Deborah Richards’ Move Me No Mountain , which premiered at last year’s NWFFest, Rogue Angel originated with the Lucky Sevens Film Challenge, a local initiative designed to support and motivate filmmakers to complete feature films in a short time. Daly spoke to Desert Companion about the challenge, the themes of her film, and the significance of NWFFest.

How did the movie come about?

I worked at Fiesta Henderson for 22 years, and I lost my job to COVID. I got cast in Night of the Tommyknockers , and when I was there, the guy who played the monster that kills me approached me with this challenge. It was to make a feature film in seven days for $7,000. I’d never made a feature before, and I just kind of got to work. I was three weeks into getting ready to film the movie, and my daughter told me, “You should really watch Promising Young Woman. It’ll give you an outline of what people are looking for right now.” I decided to make

it more of a modern-day melodrama with an action-thriller backdrop. And obviously the female empowerment is there.

Did you stick to the parameters of the Lucky Sevens challenge?

I stuck within the parameters, but because I had so many years of making short films and helping other people on their projects, I had 43 cast members in my film. We did

stunts, we got private locations. Being a bartender, I really had a big advantage. All those people, they came and saw me for 22 years, so I can still call them. It’s been three years, and I literally can call them, and they will do anything for me, and I have no idea why.

How do you balance your serious themes with a suspenseful, entertaining story? That’s why I go back to the melodrama — it’s always about overly high drama. To do the action stuff, I really got lucky with Jackie Gerhardy because that’s what she does for a living. She’s such a badass in person. Even on set, if she didn’t agree with something, she would just tell you. … I wanted it to be exciting, and I wanted to reflect the kind of movies that I always liked. The bar scene was my ode to Road House .

What was the biggest obstacle you faced?

Because it was a challenge, and it was my first feature film, there were a lot of opinions. As a director, I always listen to other people, because I work with the smartest people I know, and I try to make sure they’re smarter than I am and that they’re much better at things than I am in certain fields. I will listen, filter, and then I shoot a lot from the hip. I think “team” is the best way to describe how this movie got done, because I can’t do it by myself. And I don’t want to.

What does it mean to you to have the movie in the Nevada Women’s Film Festival?

The very first year of the Nevada Women’s Film Festival, I entered the first short film I wrote, produced, and directed, called Project 3000, not thinking I would get picked, and it did. So, I feel like I’m coming home and being part of something that I really respect. Being a woman filmmaker can be difficult, because sometimes people don’t take you seriously. When I made the film, I wanted it to be very women-heavy, because it’s my point of view. It’s a woman’s point of view.

What do you value most about the local Las Vegas film community?

All my friends are here. I did all my films here. I’ve grown up in the film community here. Yes, I grew up much later than most of them. Just getting to know the Alberto Triana and the Jackie Gerhardys and learning something from a younger generation. I see what they’re doing, and I’m just blown away. I hope I live long enough to get there. ✦

The Nevada Women’s Film Festival is June 22-25 at the UNLV Department of Film. All-fest passes: $50 for general public and $30 for seniors and students. Visit nwffest.com for more information

Where to Karaoke

Is KJ Shiela’s enthusiasm for the art of karaoke inspiring your inner crooner? Here are some of the Valley’s great spots for it.

GoGo Karaoke 4550 S. Maryland Pkwy., gogokaraokelv.com

Oddfellows (hosts karaoke every Tuesday) 150 N. Las Vegas Blvd., oddfellowslv.com

Don’t Tell Mama 450 E. Fremont St., donttellmama.com

KJ the Years Away

As Las Vegas’ ‘First Lady of Karaoke,’ Shiela Wright marches to the beat of her own synthesizer

BY Nicholas Barnette

“Can Karaoke Take Root in America?” asks a May 1992 Billboard headline. The article notes that, worldwide, “karaoke is a billion-dollar industry, but so far it’s little more than a ripple in the U.S.” It goes on to add that the novelty of the medium had nonetheless lured bar patrons to the mic.

By the year Billboard released that piece, Las Vegas’ Shiela Wright had earned herself the title “The First Lady of Karaoke” — a name Circus Circus’ marketing team had emblazoned on posters advertising the events Wright hosted. “Every single sportsbook

monitor and television was lit up with karaoke,” Wright remembers of her time at the resort. “They even built a special stage for me.” In the 31 years since, she’s been a karaoke DJ (or KJ) at a laundry list of venues across Vegas. Now, having turned 60, she still KJs nearly every night of the week.

Wright’s karaoke career began with a call from her father in 1989. He was working in a promotional capacity with the now-defunct Japanese restaurant Kabuki House on Sahara when the eatery got its first karaoke machine. “Pioneer was making American laser discs at the time,” Wright explains. “You would have 14 songs on each side. For $300, you got 28 songs.”

Well aware of his daughter’s vocal talents, Wright’s father asked her to come to the restaurant and sing karaoke. When she first went and saw servers plugging in the songs, she thought, “It needs an emcee, it needs to be hosted. The singers need to be treated like they’re superstars. It’s a show, and nobody’s paying attention.”

After Wright began hosting karaoke at the restaurant, she was spotted by entertainment managers from Ellis Island, who brought her talents on the mic to their casino.

On a recent visit to The Phoenix, where Wright has hosted a weekly karaoke night for the past 16 years, it’s easy to spot what the Ellis Island managers saw in

Karaoke Q Studio 3400 S Jones Blvd., karaok.ebarlasvegas. com/reviews/karaoke-q-studio/

Champagne’s Cafe (hosts karaoke nights Friday-Monday) 3557 S. Maryland Pkwy., champagnescafe.vegas

Badlands Las Vegas (hosts karaoke nights every Wednesday) 953 E. Sahara Ave., badlandsbarlv.com

Beat Karaoke Bar 5685 Spring Mountain Rd., beatkaraokebar.com

J Karaoke Bar 3899 Spring Mountain Rd., 702-586-1142

— Nicholas Barnette

PHOTOGRAPHY Ronda Churchill

her. First, there’s the look. “I’m known for my shoes,” she tells me, flashing a pair of black velvet, bow-topped pumps. Once a tailor for J. Riggins, Wright learned to sew from her grandmother and has used the skill to hone her image. On stage last month, she donned a pink, three-piece suit replete with more than 3,000 Swarovski crystals.

In addition to fashion, Wright is even more attentive to her singers — among whom she has dozens of disciples. “I sit back all night long playing music for people and watching these amazing singers sing their hearts out,” Wright beams. “It doesn’t get any better.”

While the occasional inebriate may horrify — or entertain — at the mic, Wright is right about the quality of the singers she’s attracted to her events, some of whom have been following the KJ around for years. At The Phoenix, I meet a local who has shown up to Wright’s karaoke nights there for the past 15 years and a New York transplant who found a home in the karaoke community during his first year in Vegas.

“You could talk to 100 people here, and not one person would have a negative thing to say about Shiela,” says the transplant (who preferred not to give their name), before slaying a performance of a Stevie Ray Vaughan song.

Wright understood what karaoke could be 34 years ago: a show. And she’s right in the middle of it, never confined to the karaoke booth. “I also want to be out here where I’m easy-access, more inviting,” she says, hovering over a bedazzled laptop on which she burned her thousands of karaoke laserdiscs, a project that took six months.

For the valley’s indubitable karaoke queen, this is a labor of love. “I have the best job,” Wright says, her smile reflected in her mirror ball manicure. ✦

OPEN TOPIC

‘A Truly Savage System’

ICWA does more than protect our children from cultural genocide. It safeguards our tribal sovereignty

BY Richard Boland

While most Americans were focused on the 2022 midterm election results, American Indians were searching for clues on how the U.S. Supreme Court might rule in a case that threatens tribes’ very existence. The case, known as Brackeen v. Haaland, was brought by a non-Indian couple (the Brackeens), who adopted two American Indian children. To the casual observer, this case probably looks like state-sanctioned racism in adoption proceedings. You see, the Brackeens claim the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) is discriminatory in granting a preference to American Indians in custody, foster, and adoption cases involving American Indian children. I totally get why anyone unfamiliar with American Indian history and the convoluted legal system that governs tribes’ relationship with the U.S. would scream discrimination.

However, getting to the heart of this case requires some of us to reevaluate what we think we know about the U.S. and its relationship with American Indians. It’s unfortunate that most people know very

LOOK AT EVERYTHING YOU GET!

little about American Indians. It is more troubling that what many do know is based on caricatures promoted by popular culture. Nevertheless, when looking at the Supreme Court’s ICWA case, it’s important to understand that most of today’s 574 federally recognized tribal governments existed long before the United States was even conceived. In their dealings with early European settlers, tribes governed themselves and their interactions with others as sovereign nations. In recognition of this fact, the U.S. continues to honor tribal sovereignty through the execution of numerous treaties, the U.S. Constitution, and centuries of federal Indian law. This is the political status that Indian Nations refer to when discussing their relationship with the U.S. government. This political status is also where tribal members derive their rights as citizens of their tribe, the U.S., and the state in which they live. As Justice Elena Kagan noted during oral arguments, “the first thing you need for self-government is, you know, a functioning polity. And Congress is very clear in this statute that it thinks that this statute is critical to the continuing existence of the tribe as a political entity. And that’s, in fact, one of the reasons it passes this statute, is the political entity is itself being threatened because of the way decisions on the placement of children are being made.”

Entering into the world of the child welfare system is, more often than not, a heartbreaking experience. The system is certainly worthy of greater scrutiny and care, but not in the way suggested by the Brackeens’ challenge of ICWA. The Indian Child Welfare Act was passed after Congress spent four years studying the forcible removal of Indian children from their families. During the height of the tragedy, up to 16 times more Indian children were in foster care than non-Indian children. Many of the problems were holdovers of the U.S. government’s abhorrent Indian boarding school policy. To this day, Black and Indigenous people see a higher rate of their children placed in foster care than non-Black and -Indigenous people. In most cases, children are removed because someone has determined they are being neglected. This makes perfect sense. But as University of Pennsylvania professor Dorothy Roberts pointed out on CBS’  Sunday Morning, “Neglect is usually confused with poverty. Neglect is defined by most states as parents failing to provide the resources that children need, like clothing or food or secure housing. And those are usually caused because parents simply can’t afford them.”

It is a truly savage system that punishes people whose socioeconomic status is largely the result of decades of discrimination and neglect. Fortunately, Congress recognized the cruelty of the foster care system, as it was applied to American Indians, along with the human rights violations involved in forcibly transferring children of one group to another group. This is why Congress passed ICWA in 1978.

So, what is this case really about? It’s about commerce. It’s another salvo in the prolonged campaign to weaken and ultimately to end tribal sovereignty. It’s about the perpetual longing of the wealthy and powerful for tribes’ ancestral homelands and especially the resources they contain. For as long as tribes have the ability (albeit limited) to protect their ancestral lands from destructive development and the independence afforded by successful economic ventures, tribal sovereignty will always be seen as an obstacle to this incessant taking. The problem exists because of the United States’ unwillingness to consistently honor its values and promises. The problem is rooted in 1871, when Congress stopped making treaties with tribes and effectively reduced them to domestic dependent nations.

Yet this new status also created a duty on the part of the federal government to protect tribes. It is this duty, as exercised by Congress through its plenary power, that the Brackeen case seeks to exploit. As Justice Neil Gorsuch mentioned during oral arguments, “This new rule would, I think, take a huge bite out of Title 25 of the U.S. Code, which regulates the federal government’s relationship with tribal members.” Gorsuch went on to say, “We’d be busy for the next many years striking things down.” This duty of protection has a spotty record, so many tribes are concerned.

I am concerned, but I am also hopeful. As a U.S. citizen, I’m hopeful that our purported values will prevail. As a tribal citizen, who was orphaned at the age of 12, I know that our tribes are resilient and that our communal values will see that we continue to raise our children in supportive communities, surrounded by the culture and heritage they know best. ✦

Richard Boland is a citizen of the Timbisha Shoshone Tribal Nation and hosted the KNPR podcast Native Nevada. This essay originally ran in Desert Companion’s Jan. 12 newsletter. Supreme Court observers expect the court to issue its decision on Brackeen v. Haaland in June.

Fringe Festival

Performances taking place outside the Gathering of Nations have all the wow — no prizes necessary

TEXTANDPHOTOGRAPHY

By Miles Brady

Albuquerque’s annual Gathering of Nations boasts the greatest attendance of any powwow in North America. Powwow dancers and guests from the U.S., Canada, and Central and South America all make the yearly journey to New Mexico to compete in and watch performances by highly skilled Indigenous dancers. These dancers vie for cash prizes and notoriety, with some making powwow a nearly full-time pursuit.

Often overlooked, however, are the parking lot performances of dancers whose traditions are not included in the competition. These dancers struck me as being among the Gathering’s most vibrant and energetic. I focused my attention (and my lens) on this underrated aspect of “North America’s Biggest Powwow.”

PHOTO ESSAY

WEARING THE CROWN

Above left: In the fading daylight of Friday, April 28, outside Tingley Coliseum, Apache crown dancers perform for a crowd of onlookers. This stirring dance has both a humor and a severity unlike any other at the Gathering.

DISTINCT BEAT

Above: Attendees stop to watch an Indigenous Mexican group dancing their traditions in the parking lot on Saturday, April 29. These dancers are famous for performing in beautiful regalia that frames the dancer as they spin. The drumbeat is also distinct from the Northern-style beats that typify traditional powwow music.

SOLO JOB

Left: An Eagle Dancer kneels in between rounds. Unlike other traditional demonstrations taking place in the parking lot, the Eagle Dance is effectively a solo job: A single dancer performs in a graceful, powerful display — and one that is uncommon at powwows across the continent. This was the only Eagle Dance I saw during the two-day event.

FOOD+DRINK

Women crush the wine scene, Stanton Social Prime serves a fresh summer dish, and cocktails hit the road!

PHOTOGRAPHY Gregg Carnes

BOOK REVIEW

Marisa’s Wine Doodles, by Marisa Finetti

“My goal,” Marisa Finetti says, “is simple — to make wine fun and approachable for everyone.”

Finetti is a sommelier and wine writer locally and for industry publications such as Wine Enthusiast and Decanter. Inspired by her son Christopher’s drawings, she recently took up the colored pencils and started illustrating her knowledge. The result is Marisa’s Wine Doodles, an 80-page book available at marisafinetti.com for $20 (which includes shipping) and Amazon for $22.

This is no random collection of doodles but, rather, a curated grouping that’s both entertaining and educational, organized by wine type and varietal. The reader will learn that Champagne bottles have three times a car tire’s pressure. You think you know Grenache? Bet you didn’t know its vines are shaped like goblets. Or that Tempranillo grapes date to Phoenician times of 1500-300 BC.

The book illustrates the aromas and flavors of varietals by equating them to human characters. Chablis, for example, is “late 30s, good energy, transparent personality, happiest with no makeup … ” There are also pairing suggestions, a discourse on research into sommelier brain development that’s been used by Cleveland Clinic scientists, and excerpts from Finetti’s magazine articles.

In her preface, she acknowledges that the playful book provides the basics, not the whole story. “But that’s good,” she writes, “because if I’ve inspired you to look further, ask questions and move out of your comfort zone to try a new wine, it would bring me so much joy.”

— Heidi Knapp Rinella

PORTRAIT Ronda Churchill

Crushing It

For the women of Las Vegas’ wine scene, it’s less snoot, more story

BY John Curtas

When Las Vegas began its gastronomic boom in the mid-1990s, a woman in the wine trade was harder to find than Dom Pérignon in a PT’s Tavern. Today there is no shortage of female tasters, sellers, and sommeliers ready to convert you to the world of Bacchus. You’re as likely to buy wine from a woman-owned online retailer such as Kelly Ford Lau’s Kellysomm.com as you are from a restaurant such as Ada’s Food + Wine, where lead sommelier Kat Thomas will guide you through an eclectic list of beautiful bottles from all over the map.

“When I started working in restaurants, I was immediately drawn to wine service as the most interesting part,” says Aya Nomoto, who trained at top Chicago restaurants before Breakthru Beverage brought her to Las Vegas 10 years ago to develop fine wine and sake accounts. Nomoto is astounded by how many female wine professionals have joined the ranks since she arrived but points out that most sommeliers are still salesmen. “They may be most of the somms,”

3 Questions for Sandra Taylor

She went from posing for romance novel covers, to starring in Garry Marshall movies, to recommending wines for Raider Nation

BY Heidi Knapp Rinella

THE YOUNG SANDRA

Taylor thought she’d grow up to be a mathematician like her father, but his untime-

ly death prompted a change in direction. Taylor’s path wound through the New York modeling and Hollywood acting worlds to her current role as a sommelier for the Las Vegas Raiders, where she interacts with suite-holders on Allegiant Stadium’s 150 level.

she adds, “but 80 percent of the people in my tasting classes are women.”

Lau came up through the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration (now Hospitality) at UNLV and got her baptism-by-fire at the Bellagio during the early aughts, when it had the largest hotel wine program in the world. New Jersey-born Thomas rose through the ranks at Michael Mina and the Aria before moving offStrip. Japan-born Nomoto uses her bilingual background to great advantage as the wine industry boom creates demand for knowledgeable international salespeople. Women aren’t necessarily better tasters than men, Nomoto says, but they are more detail-oriented and pick up more nuances. Local wine writer Marisa Finetti echoes this, saying she got hooked on wine by female sommeliers talking about it “not in a geeky or snooty way, but by telling me a story.”

Taken together, it all represents a shift in the wine world. “Women in wine in Las Vegas are a tight-knit community who really love what they do,” Finetti says. “It is much more than just a job to all of them.” ✦

How have your various careers cross-pollinated? It’s been beneficial, being in front of the camera for 30 years. A lot of sommeliers are walking encyclopedias but not particularly outgoing. I love meeting people and performing. At the stadium on Sundays, it’s the Sandy show.

You’re the head sommelier at the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills and have worked in restaurants and at private events. How is your Raiders experience different?

The fans at the stadium are so happy to have higher-tiered wines available to them for game day. It’s like they’re entertaining in their own living rooms.

How do you make wines approachable? I like to encompass the wine world and make it comfortable and fun and go to people’s levels. Wine is supposed to be shared. At the end of the day, do you like this wine? It doesn’t matter if it’s $4 billion or $4. ✦

WINE

TASTE MAKER Sommelier Aya Nomoto, of Breakthrough Beverage

Born to Cook

Fresh off his first appearance on Tournament of Champions, Adam Sobel dishes on his next move

BY Jason Harris

To paraphrase Guy Fieri, you don’t know Adam Sobel yet, but you will soon. The Mina Group chef-partner just completed his run in the Fieri-hosted Tournament of Champions, making it to the quarterfinals in his first competitive cooking television show. The native New Yorker and veteran of celebrated Las Vegas restaurants talked with Desert Companion about his past and future in Sin City.

When did you discover your love for cooking?

With my Italian grandmother, Louise Ferrara,

when I was four years old. I’d sleep at her house, wake up early, roll gnocchi, clean artichokes, stuff peppers, make the sauce. I had a natural attraction to the kitchen.

How did you end up in Las Vegas for the first time, working for Bradley Ogden?  Bradley asked Bryan (his son) and I to do some consulting for a restaurant he was going to open at Caesars Palace. Bryan and I recognized that there was a lot of room to do some amazing stuff in Las Vegas. We knew we could help Bradley create a restaurant that would be a game changer … We won a James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant in America (in 2004).

Were you excited to come back to Las Vegas?

Leaving Vegas (in 2011 to be executive chef at Michael Mina’s Bourbon Steak in Washington, D.C.) was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. The friendships, the relationships, the professional growth — this is where it all started. And

now, we ended up moving the whole (Mina Group) corporate team here.

What can we expect from you guys going forward?

We have a lot of exciting stuff happening in Las Vegas. Two awesome projects coming up in early 2024. We have some really cool stuff in store on- and off-Strip.

You’re focusing now on cuisine and concept development, but will you be in the kitchen as these

projects open?  When I’m in the restaurant, I’m cooking. That’s what I’m born to do.

Why was now the right time to get into television?

I saw the first episode of Tournament of Champions and thought it was … a fit for what I do. I’m really competitive. I’m not a household name. The timing for me to be able to commit to it was one thing, and the timing of people recognizing that I could be a great chef competitor, it just lined up that way.

Will we see you doing more of this?

I want to do TOC for as long as they’ll have me. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It’s invigorating.

The Randomizer is a major element of the show. How do you prepare when you don’t necessarily know what or how you have to cook?

I had a strategy for condiments with big flavors or techniques that are interesting or funky combinations. Then you stand in front of that Randomizer, and that thing starts spinning and you just go blank. I get butterflies just thinking about it.

Will you ever do a restaurant on your own?

People ask me why I don’t do my own thing. Yeah, I could. But I’m a part of an organization, a team that is really special, and we get to do awesome stuff together. It’s a unique situation. I have the best chef job in the world. ✦

EAT THIS NOW PRIME FILET CARPACCIO AT STANTON SOCIAL PRIME

“I FOUND A lot of sameness with a lot of tartars and carpaccios — a lot of similar riffs on the idea,” says superstar chef Chris Santos, the man behind the recently opened Stanton Social Prime.

But the carpaccio at Tao Group’s trendy new dinner joint has a distinctive wow factor, from both a taste and an experiential standpoint. Case in point: a lemon-thyme brown butter that’s added to the plate tableside.

The dish is built on a traditional foundation. Prime filet is topped with arugula, toasted pine nuts — which add a crucial textural change — lemon, and Grana Padano cheese. And while the brown butter offers showmanship, along with building layers to the flavor profile, the ingredient that ties the entire dish together is the smoked aioli: a combination of Dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, and egg yolks that have been smoked for 30 minutes. The result is a next level dish that defies the stereotype of beef carpaccio.

Stanton Social Prime inside Caesars Palace, taogroup.com/venues/stanton-social-prime — Jason Harris

Crack Open a Cold Mix

Canned cocktails are growing up

BY Lissa Townsend Rodgers

Canned cocktails took off during the pandemic, as people sought a no-hassle mixed drink. Now their profile’s been raised even further as a go-to for glass-free refreshment at parties, campsites, and the pool.

Cutwater Spirits was one of the first cans that didn’t taste like high school party punch, and now it offers more than a dozen varieties. The Bloody Mary is a solid rendition of the morning libation, while the Tiki Rum Mai Tai blends two kinds of rum with a Carmen Miranda hat of tropical flavors. The White Russian is smooth and frothy.

Dry Treat

Loads of people are discovering the joy of hanging out and having a cocktail that doesn’t alter their consciousness or make them feel like crap the next day. As someone who’s been in on this secret for years, may I recommend a few current favorites? Cheers!

REBAR

Spicy Redhead Lyre’s Spiced Cane, cinnamon, apple ’n’ ginger syrups with ginger beer; $6, 1225 S. Main St., rebarlv.com

“It’s pretty amazing where (the nonalcoholic market has) gone,” ReBar owner Derek Stonebarger recently told KNPR’s State of Nevada. “And we’re happy to be one of the leaders at least in our town with all of the selections we have of nonalcoholic drinks.”

THE UNDERGROUND

The Test Pilot Juniper berry, elderflower, cherry, soda, $7; 300 Stewart Ave., the Mob Museum, themobmuseum.org/underground

MAIN ST. PROVISIONS

No Cap Giffard Aperitif, lavender syrup, lime, mint, Peychaud’s bitters, Topo Chico, $8; 1214 S. Main St., mainstprovisions.com

For those looking for something more PG-13 than G, this mocktail includes classic New Orleans bitters — enough to add a little bite, but not enough to feel a buzz.

ELECTRA COCKTAIL CLUB

Another canned classic, Jim Beam ’s bourbon and ginger ale tastes remarkably authentic, and Mule 2.0 makes a fine Moscow mule in all its variations. There are also more trendy recipes available in pop-top format. For espresso martinis fans, Organic Mixology’s Cold Brew with Chocolate Liqueur deliciously blends coffee and cocoa flavors. And for a twist, Black Infusions ’ Dirty Shirley combines cherry-infused vodka with ginger and lime into a grown-up drink.

Ninkasi Brewing Company has expanded into the mixed drink market with a line of beverages, including the Agave Paloma (tinged with jalapeno) and the Gin Rickey (finished with mint and lime). The Bourbon Renewal cocktail has hints of berry and lemon for a subtlety like something straight from the shaker.

Two Chicks, another brand that makes cocktails worthy of a sunny summer afternoon, boasts a Sparkling Vodka Fizz flavored with elderflower and pear, as well as a Sparkling Apple Gimlet with hints of cucumber. Madre Mezcal’s Madre Desert Waters combine the liquor with an array of fruits, herbs and … mushrooms? Indeed: Flavor profiles combine for a sophisticated, earthy sip.

Stone Fruit Season Peach, pineapple, honey, citrus, hellfire bitters, $10; Palazzo, venetianlasvegas.com/ restaurants/electra-cocktail-club.html

LA STREGA

Flora Seedlip spice, grapefruit oleo, Earl Grey syrup, lavender molden balsamic, soda water, $12; 3555 S. Town Center Drive, lastregalv.com

“New life emerges with fresh florals, and bright citrus bringing forth new energy and excitement,” La Strega general manager Stephanie Torres says. The mocktail was crafted for its seasonal menu by bartender Meghann Allred. — Kristen DeSilva

Brunch Time!

So many choices for your late-morning lounge meal. Use this chart to narrow them down

BY Lissa Townsend Rodgers

WHEN Daily

VIBE Bright

An airy second-floor space with shabby-chic decor and an expansive 180-degree view of the Vegas Valley

COCKTAIL Italian Coffee with Amaretto, Irish Cream and cookie syrup — a fine way to start or finish brunch

Elegant

Red velvet banquettes, sun streaming through French windows, and live jazz on the baby grand piano

The Cocktail Explosion, a veritable bucket of booze — in tequila and vodka versions, both garnished with a bottle and a Barbie Doll

Family

A neighborhood crowd of moms, dads, babies, and friends discussing last night’s festivities

Rise and Shine, a bourbon-based bevy of espresso flavor and coconut-foam texture.

Yacht

Boats and ducks float on the lake in the picture windows or just beyond the patio.

Arts District

Tables of pink-clad bachelorette brunchers mixed with five-o’clockshadow guys grabbing a bite solo at the bar

SAVORY DISH The double-patty Juicy Lucy burger, topped with a bacon-wrapped onion ring, house-made pickles, and roasted tomato, served with a French fry/ potato chip hybrid

SWEET DISH Peach Bellini French Toast, a breakfast as a sinful dessert

The Truffle Chicken Sandwich, an eye-rolling combination of decadent flavors

Croqueta Benedict, a welcome new spin on the has-been Benny treatment, placing eggs atop a puff of goldenfried ham and cheese

Bottomless red sangrias, a switch from the usual mimosas, or go for a one-off grapefruit paloma (okay, maybe two)

The Blueberry Yum Yum, a wonky blend of blueberries, Baileys, and banana whiskey —  a unique breakfast drink that lives up to its name

The Bananas Foster Pancakes, flambeed tableside in maple rum — brunch and a show!

With toppings galore, the Pancake Tower lets you play with your food.

Lighter than the usual eggs/bacon/cheese combo, a fresh bagel topped with smoked salmon and masago roe — a flavorful change of pace

Why choose one? Order the pastry basket’s assortment of cinnamon rolls, churros, muffins, and other goodies.

Breakfast tacos with an Asian twist, served in wonton shells and topped with scallions, avocado, and Thai salsa

The Stuffed French Toast — thick slices of Japanese milk bread topped with ube cream and fresh fruit — pretty enough for a princess, substantial enough for a lumberjack

HANGOVER CURE

The Croque Madame: béchamel and runny egg coat your stomach; ham and short rib give you courage to take on the rest of your day … or a nap.

The NoMad Fruit Platter, next-level individually boozed-up offerings, such as mango soaked in rum

Comfort food with a little kick — Chilaquiles with pork belly and fried egg

Nothing sticks to the ribs or soothes the soul like shrimp and grits.

The Aztec Turkey Combo, a turkey sandwich oozing two kinds of cheese with tomato soup and fries on the side

PHOTOS: COURTESY GOOD MORNING KITCHEN

CULTURE The Guide

Local artists, galleries, and troupes light the summer on fire!

BY Anne Davis

JAZZ CONCERT  New York Voices

JULY 28-29

>>>>>> The quartet that makes up New York Voices want all prospective audience members to know: You don’t have to be a jazz fan to enjoy! While the group does center jazz classics, they also ensure they’re spicing up their repertoire with covers from other genres. Admirers of the authentic New York coffeeshop jazz vibe will find it in Myron’s lounge, the intimate cabaret that’s as comfortable as it is classy.

Friday 7p, Saturday 3p and 7p, $45-75, Myron’s at The Smith Center, thesmithcenter.com

ART EXHIBIT Modern Desert Markings: An Homage to Las Vegas Area Land Art

THROUGH JULY 8

>>>Ecological and environmental art has a long legacy in Nevada’s sprawling deserts. By showcasing the work of three pioneers of land art — a movement from the ’60s and ’70s using the land and natural materials to create sculptures — the current exhibit at UNLV’s Barrick Museum demonstrates that our local landscape is itself art. Modern Desert Markings brings together photos of great land art, while critiquing them through a modern lens of equity, environmentalism, and tourism.

Tuesdays-Saturdays

10a-5p, free, Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, nevadahumanities.org

GUIDED HIKE National Trails Day Hike

JUNE 3

>>> Hiking in June might sound a little intimidating (or, dare I say, crazy). But hear me out! This hike is guided, celebrates National Trails Day, and is through Mt. Charleston’s Fletcher Canyon Trail, where the nearly 7,000-foot elevation tempers the summer heat. If that still sounds scary, the hike itself is only an hour and a half (perfect for hikers of all levels) and features spectacular rock formations and waterfall scenery along the way. The perfect combination to help forget about sore feet!

10-11:30a, free, Mt. Charleston’s Fletcher Canyon trailhead, gomtcharleston.com

CHARITY EVENT

Las Vegas Restaurant Week

JUNE 5-16

>>> Those who love food traditions look forward each year to Las Vegas Restaurant Week, now in its 16th (!) year. The charity event enlists the services of restaurants around the city, encouraging each to come up with a prix fixe menu from $20 to $80, a small part of which is donated to Three Square to feed people in need. Attendees can nosh on three-course menus at spots such as House of Blues or the Noodle Den, while simultane-

ously satisfying their do-gooder aspirations.

$20-80, locations vary, restaurantweeklv.org

THEATER Cinderella

JUNE 7-JULY 1

>>> Classic and child-friendly is the work song for Super Summer Theatre’s first production this season. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway adaptation of the ancient fairytale is lively, nuanced, and full of fun. As a bonus, you’ll be back home before the clock strikes midnight, avoiding having your car turn into a pumpkin!

8p, $20-30, Spring Mountain State Park, supersummertheatre.org

LECTURE DRI Science at the Springs

JUNE 15

OPERA La Traviata

JUNE 9, 11

>>> Passion, forbidden love, and final tragedy — HBO dramas have nothing on Giuseppe Verdi’s timeless opera. Violetta and Alfredo’s romance is fraught with all the ups and downs you’d expect from a show composed for wealthy, 19th-century Venetians. La Traviata is perfect for first-time operagoers, since its plot will be familiar to 21st-century viewers: It inspired the films Moulin Rouge and Pretty Woman

Friday 7:30p, Sunday 2p, $25-75, UNLV’s Judy Bayley Theatre, operalasvegas.com

>>>Science isn’t supposed to be fun … right? The Desert Research Institute begs to differ. Its lecture series at Springs Preserve, running through Oct. 5, aims to educate listeners about environmental science and how it can intervene to slow climate change. June’s lecture, titled "The Art of Science," probes the intrinsic (and occasionally overlooked) beauty of the scientific discipline. Though this series is fun, a word of caution for parents: DRI’s lectures are only open to science nerds 21 and older. 5:30-8:30p, $25, Springs Preserve, springspreserve.org

COURTESY SPRINGS PRESERVE; DIANA KRALL: COURTESY DIANA KRALL

THEATER FESTIVAL  Vegas Fringe Festival

JUNE 9-18

>>> We’ve got the Dam Short Film festival for local film buffs, but for thespians, there’s the Vegas Fringe Festival. Held by community theater mainstay Las Vegas Little Theatre, the 10-day event celebrates all things theater with live productions for two weekends straight. It covers genres from good old-fashioned musical to the avant-garde,

JAZZ CONCERT  Diana Krall

JULY 20

>>> Canadian contralto Diana Krall is one of those performers who makes any ordinary standard, sung by dozens of artists before her, sound like it was written for her voice and her voice alone. Her deep, expressive tone and impassioned piano playing hypnotize audiences. Fans and the torch-song curious should snap up tickets while they last — she’s in Vegas for one night during her world tour, then on to San Diego.

7:30p, $59-170, Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center, thesmithcenter.com

with seven different companies slated to perform, commemorating the festival’s 12th year. Times vary, $15 per show, Las Vegas Little Theatre, lvlt.org

CULTURAL FESTIVAL

Las Vegas Juneteenth Festival

JUNE 17

>>> For 22 years, the Las Vegas Juneteenth Festival has been hosting the definitive celebration of African culture and contributions in the valley. It’s back this year with as much flair as ever. But, set aside multiple hours to fully explore the festival’s many vendors, such as Veronica René’s Afrocentric Fashion brand of traditional clothing, or LaShelle Whitmore’s divine all-natural

skincare offerings. The entertainment is similarly top tier, with Las Vegas favorite 702 (a girl group named after the area code of their hometown), taking the stage. It’s a great time of the year to honor the progress local trailblazers have made in the fight for racial equality, while recognizing the work still to be done.

4-9p, free, The Expo at World Market Center, june19lv.com

STAGED READING Alabaster

JUNE 30-JULY 1

>>> The intimacy and casual feel of A Public Fit’s staged readings — like watching friends act out a play in your den — suit the story of June and her pet goat, Weezy, traumatized survivors of a tornado in Alabaster, Alabama. When photographer Alice arrives in town to photograph June, they strike up a friendship based on mutual experiences with grief and determination. Despite the heavy undertone, plenty of wise cracks keep the piece fun. No word yet on whether Weezy will be played by a real goat.  Friday 7p, Saturday 2p, free, Clark County Library, apublicfit.org

CONCERT Celebrate Independence with The Swing It! Girls

JULY 2

>>> This concert runs with the patriotic nostalgia that Fourth of July invokes for so many. The Swing It! Girls, a vintage vocal trio hailing from Vegas, will perform covers of classic boogie-woogie hits, perfect for kids and families. A modern rendition of the classic World War II USO show, the performance promises to get your toes tapping and head bobbing, so wear comfy shoes and leave the American flag hat at home! 3-4p, free, West Charleston Library, (702) 507-3964

origami menagerie after the class has ended.

11-11:45a, free, Whitney Library, (702) 507-4015

MUSIC FESTIVAL  Nevada Cannabis Awards

JULY 10

>>> High times await at the Nevada Cannabis Awards, where (seriously) actually getting high is strictly prohibited. There’s still a great time to be had sober, though, with live music from various genres and convention booths to honor local leaders in the cannabis industry. Those who are not up to attending the awards can still participate in the fun by voting for their favorite marijuana-centered businesses, products, thought leaders, and media from the Silver State. 4p-12a, Area 15, nevadacannabisawardsmusicfestival.com

ROCK/ ELECTRONICA CONCERT  Groundbreaking

JULY 21

DEMONSTRATION

Kuniko Yamamoto: Origami Tales

JULY 7

>>> As loyal readers can attest, this wouldn’t be The Guide without at least one event honoring Japanese culture. Well, this is that one — and it’s a classic! Origami, the time-honored Japanese art of folding paper into 3-D shapes, has been touted as a great way to increase mindfulness and decrease stress. And creations can go beyond the traditional crane shape to encompass fauna of all types. Dinosaur-lovers and horse girls can create their own paper totems using the foundational skills that Yamamoto teaches in this course. Adults and littles alike will be able to expand their

>>> If the soothing atmosphere of Diana Krall’s Smith Center performance isn’t up your alley, there’s another concert opportunity on the opposite of the musical spectrum. Groundbreaking, a rock and electronica alternative music project known for their beat-dropping hit “LOL” and the more recent “Fire of Our Past,” is performing at The Space. As a bonus for superfans, vocalist Sean Harper will hold a post-show meet and greet. 7:15p, $20, The Space, thespacelv.com

If you'd like to browse other events, or submit your own for future editions of The Guide, please visit knpr.org/ desert-companion/ the-guide

Technological evolution has pushed photography to be exceedingly simplistic or complex, according to one’s approach. More limiting, time-consuming, and costly than digital, film photography fell out of favor decades ago. Yet, a new generation of shooters is pursuing the craft both as a hobby and professionally. Three Las Vegas film photographers sat down with Desert Companion to talk about and compare their reasons for embracing the resurgent format. Excerpts of their conversation follow.

What makes analog photography more appealing than digital for you now?

Perla Perez: It’s unmatched compared to digital because of the quality color and details. I shoot lifestyle, so I like to be quick

PHOTOGRAPHY

Dank Shot

A new generation finds the joy — and challenge — of taking pictures on film

BY Gabriela Rodriguez

with it while looking for tone, texture, symmetry, and cool backgrounds. Even then, the photos are still a surprise to me. … I mostly like to have fun and go back and

relive moments with my friends and family. I’m expressing my personality through film while basically capturing my whole life.

Alan Sabido: Like Perla said, it is unmatched compared to digital photography. If I was like a hobbyist, I would shoot more film because to me, film is my bread and butter. … I calculate it money-wise; because you spend money on the film, the development, the gas. Each shot costs X amount of money. You have to put a lot more into consideration and slow things down.

You also learn more about photography through film because it is limiting. If one thing isn’t right, it could ruin your entire shot and sometimes your entire roll.

Brenda Peralta: Many photographers have a different eye — the most beautiful thing

BRENDA PERALTA

PERLA PEREZ

ALAN SABIDO

about film is that you could be shooting something similar, but it’s never going to be the same. I love the aesthetics that different film types bring in. It’s something you can’t achieve on a digital camera.

People who shoot film understand the financial part that comes with it, but once they pick up that camera and see the results they just instantly fall in love with the image — it’s a beautiful craft to learn.

Where do you draw inspiration from?

Peralta: My recent photo shoot was a modern rendition of The Matrix, so I have creative ideas that come from movies and aesthetics rather than just portraits. I get to know my model to have an idea what they want to capture; I fit the best film to their look. It’s more of a feeling for me; you either got the shot or you didn’t.

Perez: Las Vegas is my biggest inspiration. I go through my parents’ old photos, and it shows how life was while growing up here in the 1970s. That and my love for vintage and retro styles is where I get my style from.

Sabido: I like to go through old vinyls and records and look at the artwork because a lot of it was shot on film. Back then there was limited equipment, and they were thinking about composition, lighting, natural lighting, set, and creating contact sheets. An entire process for one shot. … To me, that is truly creative and artistic because you’re putting in a live element and tying it all into music.

What’s the Las Vegas film-photography community like?

Sabido: I think competitiveness in the film community depends, because there are people who shoot just as a hobby and those who don’t. It’s fun to talk to and shoot with people who don’t view things so seriously.

Peralta: Since I’m just starting out, I don’t charge people for photos; everything that I shoot is 100 percent net loss. I’ve gotten good in such a short amount of time because photographers in the community have been reaching out, being mentors and giving me tips.

Perez: I’d say it is competitive in the digital and film community. Even though Las Vegas is small, the community of photographers is big. ✦

BOOKS

Preserving Hair-story

A new children’s book celebrates the cultural significance of Indigenous hair

BY Emma VandenEinde

Carole Lindstrom’s mom never allowed her to have long hair when she was young, and she didn’t understand why her relatives all had short hair in family photos.

“My mother had a photograph of my grandma and my two great aunts,” recounts Lindstrom, an award-winning Indigenous author of children's literature. “It sat on our TV set and it was a black and white picture of them with their dark hair short — really short — and just chopped off. And they were sort of dressed in the same kind of clothes.”

In the late 1800s, her relatives — along with hundreds of thousands of other Indigenous children over a century — were forced to attend one of the more than 400 federal Indian boarding schools in the United States. The schools were designed to culturally assimilate Native children, which meant cutting their hair, replacing their traditional clothing with uniforms, and prohibiting them from speaking their languages, among other atrocities and traumas.

“They also farmed, the children, (for) the white communities in the area, to do the work and the manual labor for them,” Lindstrom says. “My grandmother and my great aunt, they took in ironing, they did sewing, they did the clothing … and then the white families would pay the school.”

For Lindstrom, who is Anishinaabe/Metis and a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe, it wasn’t until she learned about this history that she began to understand her mom’s aversion to long hair.

Illustrations by Steph Littlebird reflect the complexities and resilience of her community and its history.

My Powerful Hair by Carole Lindstrom 48 pages, $18.99 Abrams Books

“My mom didn't allow it because it made us look Native, it made us look ‘uncivilized,’” she says. “That kind of decided it was time to tell the story.”

The story took the form of Lindstrom’s new children’s book titled My Powerful Hair. It follows a young girl who wants to grow her hair long. Over the course of the book, she talks with her relatives and sees her culture and life events woven into her hair “like a scrapbook,” as Lindstrom describes it. At the end, the girl cuts some of her hair to bury with her grandfather, and her mom decides to also grow her hair out along with her daughter.

For many Indigenous cultures, hair is not just the “topping on your head,” Lindstrom said — it’s an extension of the person that connects them to the land and to the earth.

“I wish my mom was still here so she could be with me to celebrate who she really was and is — or all my ancestors, really,” she says through tears. “For the young children today who have to endure these things … I don’t want them to feel despair. I just want to hug them, so this is my way to hug them.”

Steph Littlebird, who illustrated the book, says forced hair-cutting at Indian boarding schools was profoundly traumatic.

“It’s different when someone cuts your hair without your permission, but it’s another thing when you choose to cut your hair to honor someone,” Littlebird says. “The subtle acts of dehumanization that Indigenous people have experienced over time, like forced hair-cutting, is part of colonization … When you cut it by force, you’re essentially trying to say that we are inhuman and that that we are just your livestock, essentially.”

Lindstrom says the story was partly inspired by accounts of Native children today who still endure intolerance toward their traditional hair styles and clothing, which in one recent instance was dismissed as “faddish.”

“A fad is something that’s new,” Lindstrom says. “Our hair has been around since time immemorial, and it’s who we are. It’s just so wrong.”

Littlebird, who is a member of the Grand Ronde Confederated Tribes in Oregon, says her illustrations are meant to reflect the complexities and resilience of her community and its history.

“I felt like illustrators don’t give a lot of sophistication to children, particularly in a case like this where we have the story that is one about traumatic events,” she says.

Littlebird says her illustrations are a way to continue to represent Indigenous communities.

“Making sure that people understand that our community is alive and resilient,” Littlebird says of her motivations to illustrate. “The way that I can do that is through color and vibrancy and bold lines.”

Lindstrom’s book comes as the U.S. Supreme Court considers a challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act, a 1978 law designed to prevent the separation of Native families (see page 24). A few Mountain West states are looking to put their own laws in place to protect tribes in case the court strikes down the ICWA — a ruling that could broadly undermine tribal sovereignty.

“It’s important for people to understand that the history that we speak about is not

just something that we’re, you know, hanging on to like a grudge,” Littlebird says. “It’s literally still impacting us today … We’re fighting erasure on so many levels, and so these books make visible our community in a way that’s so beautiful and empowering.” ✦

This story was republished with permission from the Mountain West News Bureau, which is a collaboration between Nevada Public Radio and other public media outlets, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Copyright 2023 KUNC. To see more, visit KUNC.org.

POETRY

Yesco Checks the Lights — for the Huntridge Theater

BY Jennifer Battisti

At the stoplight of Charleston and Maryland a man cranes to fondle your filament.

I watch your glimmer shock for the first time in decades ache at the recognition of touch after that longtime going dark. But you seem to tell me, collapse is just another way to take your sweet time to rust in the intimacy of filling your own space.

Teach me how to be vacant of noise, to stay still even with men sleeping outside my walls. How to change hands over and over but keep my heart from liquidation. Behind that curtain of Rocky Horror and 25 cent matinees is your sunbaked sensitivity. Born in a shortage of wartime steel they gave you Douglas fir for bones, later set ablaze under your voice to empty out.

I, too, want to cave in on my assumptions, my reluctance to shed performance for the naked concession of spirit. and besides, we both know by now — the future is a midnight curveball. Go on girl, you put the rest in restoration. Tell me it’s only after the urgency of intermission that the show can really go on.

The light’s changing now, tell me, how to begin again, to belong to my own body even while they mosh on my doorstep.

I’ve always been a sucker for the cinema of neon. Teach me how to hold out for more.

THANK YOU!

To everyone who participated in the Focus on Nevada 2023 Photo Contest

WRITER IN RESIDENCE

Looking Down

What the wildflower superbloom can teach us about the world at our feet

BY Meg Bernhard

So many people flocked to the Salton Sea the first weekend of April that the Ski Inn, Bombay Beach’s infamous watering hole, ran out of bacon for BLTs. They were also out of limes and chips — except for one bag of Takis that I watched a man order, appraise, and decline to purchase. “Wait for food’s about an hour,” the waitress told inquiring diners. They were grumpy, but she couldn’t help it — peak season was ending, the bar was short staffed, and 3,000 people had stopped through over the weekend. They were in town to see the wildflowers.

I was in town to see the wildflowers, too. Like nearly everyone else living in the Southwest, it seemed, I was sucked into the

internet’s superbloom discourse. Various sources told me it may still be too early for a super bloom, per se — despite the abundant rain in California and Nevada over the winter, the temperatures were too cold for many flowers to emerge. Still, the flowers were sure to be bright and abundant, so I drove five hours south, poppies and lupines swaying in the wind along the highway. In Arizona, ocotillos bloomed red-pink. I’d see petite desert bells in California’s Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, fuzz ballshaped chia in the Morongo Basin, electric yellow chamomile in Hemet.

I knew the drill. Appreciate the flowers from a distance. No tramping off trail for photos, or even just a closer look. Wildflow-

ers are fragile, threatened by invasive species and megadrought. Aridification threatens to wipe out certain types of wildflowers, and solar, lithium, and urban development projects are endangering others, like Tiehm’s buckwheat and white-margined penstemon. In 2019, Lake Elsinore traffic snarled for miles as people drove from all over California to see a canyon covered in poppies. This year, the mayor closed the canyon for fear of superbloom congestion. Scientists are also worried that climate change is throwing off blooming cycles, leading to a potential discrepancy between flowers blooming and the pollinators arriving to pollinate. And one wildflower enthusiast told me, anecdotally, he hadn’t seen many bees this year.

I drove south because I wanted an experience in ephemerality. I wanted to see plants grow and die and disappear, but only of their own accord.

IN MID-APRIL, I made another drive, this time out to Red Rock to hike with two wildflower enthusiasts. Gareth Pearson, a retired Environmental Protection Agency hazardous waste researcher, told me to look out for two “75-plus-year-olds” and a white Toyota Rav4. When I pulled up to the Middle Oak Creek trailhead, Pearson and his friend Pete Stephenson were looking at a printed list of wildflower names. The goal for the day, Pearson told me, was to find blooming Nevada onions and straggling mariposa lilies. “Why do you want to see the lilies so badly?” I asked. “Because they’re beautiful,” he said.

I had assumed all flowers bloom every year, but turns out, that’s not the case. Joshua trees generally only bloom after rainy winters. Some species of yucca flower bloom only once and then die. The Joshua trees and yuccas were late blooming this year, Pearson told me, because of the cold spring; other flowers were more or less abundant depending on the very particular combination of water and temperature of any given year.

We set out on the trail. Less than a meter into our walk, Pearson pointed out winterfat, a muted green shrub with a puff of gray-white flower growing next to a fence post. A few steps later, a cryptantha. We would see 39 different species, most minuscule and low to the ground, stitching across alkaline sand or sprouting, nearly imperceptibly, from dirt and rock. “Usually, they’re very small and rapid to respond in favorable conditions because it’s such a

harsh environment,” Pearson said. Growing low protects them from strong wind and intense sunlight. Pearson instructed to keep my eyes to the ground.

I thought about the anthropologist Tim Ingold, who argues that walking is a way of knowing and that we perceive the world in many ways, not just one-dimensionally through the eyes. Through privileging the world at eye level, we become groundless. So, we walked, and I noticed the texture of the soil, its dryness and humidity. We’d be walking at a pace of about a mile an hour, Pearson said. We needed to slow down to see.

IN THE MOJAVE, humans are constantly reminded of our own ephemerality. There are, according to the National Park Service, both recent playa sediment deposits and 1.8 billion-year-old metamorphic rocks in Death Valley, some of the youngest and oldest features in the rock record. On a hike up a wash in the park last spring, a geologist read the landscape for me, identifying a rock with 600 million-year-old mud cracks. “We all experience time in a different way,” she told me. “One of the things I find most moving about studying the earth is to think about geologic time and how incomprehensible it is.”

Sometimes, when I’m out in the desert, standing under a vast smear of stars or at the top of a tall mountain looking out into a succession of valleys, I experience what I can only describe as temporal vertigo. I am small, this place is big. I am young, this place is old. The rocks I step on have a history millions of years deeper than mine.

And yet wildflowers bloom for just weeks at a time. Seeds from annual plants spend most of their lives — sometimes decades — dwelling under the soil, waiting for the perfect conditions for germination. Shortly after they flower, many die.

Time in the desert moves fast and slow. Death Valley’s floor slips imperceptibly. Water ferries sand and gravel down hillsides. In the morning, as I walked around Oak Creek, wildflowers’ petals wrapped in on themselves, waiting for the sun. On the way back, the flowers had opened toward the sky, hungry for light. In a few months, they’d be gone.

PEARSON GREW UP in Bakersfield, California. His father was a rockhound, and in the spring, when the family went out searching for rocks, poppies burst from the landscape. That was Pearson’s introduction to wildflowers. His work in field biology

taught him to perceive the natural world differently, to train his mind on certain colors and shapes, so he could more easily identify them. Stephenson’s background is in computers, but wildflowers help him notice, too. He pays attention to subtle ecological factors that make all the difference in where a wildflower grows. The direction the wind blows. Depressions in the landscape, where water can pool.

Pearson asked me if I’d noticed all the yellow grasses to the south of the trail. Look to the north, he told me: The landscape was darker, thick with native shrubs and Joshua trees. “This is a fire site,” he said. Twenty years ago, a series of wildfires killed off most plant life: the yuccas, Joshua trees, blackbrush. While the rain this year was good for wildflowers, it also led to the growth of invasive grasses, which increased the risk of wildfire. Though it’s unclear how the invasive grasses got there, likely humans helped spread them. It was another reminder that, in our fleeting time on Earth, humans have managed to reshape ecosystems, sometimes irrevocably.

I catalogued more plants and flowers. Desert marigold. Desert paintbrush. Wild rhubarb. Spring Mountain milkvetch. Little twistflower. Where was the onion? “It’d be nice if they’d show their face,” Pearson said. We stood before a gravelly slope, wondering why chia seems to thrive on this steep hillside. “Oh,” Pearson exclaimed, his face turned upward at a tall shrub with delicate white flowers.  “Utah Serviceberry.” I took a photo. “Sometimes if you look down too much,” Pearson said, “you forget to look up.”

An hour and a half into the walk, Stephenson stopped. A reddish-green bulb sprouted from a long, spiraling tendril. A Nevada onion. “It’s just not open yet,” Stephenson said. “The nights are still relatively cool.” Half a minute later, I spotted a blooming onion, its tiny, waxy white flowers spreading in the shape of a star. The two men laughed. “The amateur finds it first,” Pearson said.

Still elusive was the mariposa lily, but I had to head out, so I bid Pearson and Stephenson goodbye and turned back down the trail. On my way to the parking lot, I saw a group of three marvel over a plant I’d just learned to identify: a Utah penstemon, its trumpet-shaped petals a brilliant magenta. “That’s what I call my English garden,” a woman said, smiling at the Mojave’s bouquet. Wildflowers, it seemed to me then, held the potential to make people care: about conservation, the climate, the desert. Maybe flowers could move people to act. But first, we have to slow down and look. ✦

Profile FLYING FOR LIFE

“What color is your airplane?” the Brazilian radio controller asked. At first I thought she was taking a personal interest in me. Then I realized she was asking the color of my coffin.

of airspeed. Ensuing pilot errors caused the plane to crash belly-first into the Atlantic Ocean at 175 miles per hour, killing all 228 passengers and crew.

By Alec Pridgeon

ROBERT “BOB” GANNON had used more than half his fuel flying around, under, and through seven storms in the Intertropical Convergence Zone, where the trade winds of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres meet, and he was not yet halfway through his 15-hour flight from the Cape Verde Islands to Natal, Brazil. It was September 26, 2006. He remembered reading about the 2009 disaster in this treacherous region. Air France 447, flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, had encountered turbulence and icing conditions. According to the final accident report, the pitot tubes, which measure air velocity, became obstructed by ice and gave the pilots inconsistent readings

That was a technologically advanced Airbus 330. Gannon’s airplane was a 1968, single-engine Cessna 182 that seated four and lacked anti-icing equipment. He hadn’t learned how to fly until he was 42 years old. After four months in the cockpit, he’d totaled his first single-engine airplane, a Piper Cherokee Six ironically named Lucky Lady, outside of Wilson Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, but walked away without a scratch.

Eight years later, in 2000, Gannon had bought the used Cessna in California and named it Lucky Lady Too (not Two) in honor of the plane he’d crashed. In it, he would eventually set world aviation records and assist humanitarian relief efforts around the globe before finally settling in Henderson. He would fly around the world two and a half

For this former Vietnam medic, dangerous adventures led to humanitarian missions and a keen world view

times — without autopilot — in Lucky Lady Too. It would take him over the North Pole and down to Antarctica, to 155 countries, all the continents, and all 50 U.S. states in a span of 10 years and three months.

But for now, he stared at the needle on the fuel gauge. Fear was keeping him awake. His mantra, “I’d rather be lucky than smart,” was losing its sheen.

GANNON WAS RAISED on a farm outside of Mingo, Iowa, about 30 miles northeast of Des Moines. He was one of 14 children; regardless of gender, all baled hay, shoveled manure, drove tractors, cooked, and washed dishes. According to Gannon’s friend of 50 years, Cork Peterson, the local school board offered the Gannon kids their own school bus. After all, there were only 19 in their high school graduating class. Gannon attended Iowa State University in 1969 and then volunteered for the draft as a medic.

“I thought it would be easier on my head to help instead of kill,” he says. “Ernest Hemingway was a medic, and it resonated with me. ” Two of his brothers had already been injured by shrapnel or sniper bullets in Vietnam, but he was counting on the GI Bill to help defray college expenses when he returned home.

Gannon first served in an ambulance unit in Vietnam and then volunteered for Medevac helicopters to put himself, literally, in the line of fire. He was armed with an M16 rifle, which he never used, and a pocket pistol, meant only to take himself out rather than be captured as a POW.

He was trained by J. Richard Claywell in the 236th Medical Detachment out of Da Nang, nicknamed Da Nang Dustoff. Although based in Da Nang, the unit’s missions stretched all the way to the demilitarized zone and Laos, and went around the clock.

“Like most medics, Bob had the desire to help people,” Claywell says. “On every mission, you didn’t know if you were going to come back alive or not.” There was a one-in-three chance of being killed or wounded on a Dustoff mission. Each unescorted “Huey” helicopter responding to a call had a pilot, copilot, crew chief, and one medic. Under fire from the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army, “Farmer Bob” (as Gannon was known) and other medics stopped bleeding in chest wounds and severed limbs and gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until the Huey arrived at a hospital. If the helicopter couldn’t land, it would go into a stationary hover while a cable was lowered to hoist up the injured — under enemy fire — even

if the injured was also the enemy.

Most casualties were caused by land mines. Gannon says he rescued seven Marines from a rice paddy, two of them already gone. On another occasion, he saved a soldier who’d lost both legs and an arm. There had been only five days left in the wounded soldier’s tour of duty.

From 1962 to 1972, Claywell says, 496,572 missions evacuated 900,000 casualties across Vietnam. As of May, there was a bipartisan bill before Congress to award the Congressional Gold Medal to all Dustoff crewmembers for their distinguished achievements and contributions.

Back in Lucky Lady Too above the South Atlantic, Gannon’s eyes again fixed on the needle of the fuel gauge as grim thoughts reverberated around the dark cabin, the instrument gauges the only light piercing the night.

Am I going to hit another storm? Are the winds going to change? Should I tell control I might not make it? Today may not be a good day.

He couldn’t help but recall the ordeal of two pilots just the week earlier who’d been flying their single-engine plane at 10,000 feet through the Intertropical Convergence Zone. They’d hit a huge cumulus cloud that pulled them up to 20,000 feet, requiring supplemental oxygen, before expelling them again.

GANNON’S TOUR OF duty ended in the fall of 1971, and he headed back to Mingo to help on the farm until going back to Iowa State and enrolling in an agriculture business

COURTESTY ROBERT GANNON

DUSTOFF

Bob Gannon (far left) and others from the 236th Medical Detachment (U.S. Army)

program. He studied through the summers, and on graduation day in 1974 he was hired to construct a hog confinement unit for the university. The demand for more such units swelled until he eventually formed and then sold his own construction company. For the next five years, he held a seat on the Chicago Board of Trade, where he dealt in agricultural commodities, mostly grain.

After 1984, Gannon returned to private business and established another construction company, working primarily at military bases. Seven years later he sold that business and moved to San Diego, and in 1988 he was accepted into the Owner/ President Management (OPM) program at Harvard Business School, which was taught three weeks a year over the course of three years. He became a partner in a small wood-manufacturing business in San Diego.

After Vietnam, Gannon had wanted to see more of the world. “He’s the most adventuresome guy I ever met,” longtime friend Peterson says. Gannon’s seasickness tendency ruled out boat travel, so he learned to fly instead. It took him two months to get a visual flying license and, in another month, his instrument license. In 1992 he bought the Piper Cherokee Six from Peterson and flew it to an OPM reunion in Paris, but he had a bigger goal in his sights: a flight around the world. It wasn’t long after that Lucky Lady crashed outside Nairobi, losing its wings and landing gear. Cause? Pilot error — trying to take off on a short runway in a hot and humid atmosphere with a heavy load at a h igh elevation, the so-called “4 Hs” that pilots are taught to avoid.

Eight years passed as Gannon dreamed about continuing his round-the-world flight.

WILD WINGS

Gannon with a cheetah at the Harnas Wildlife Foundation in Namibia, Africa

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In 2000, he finally overcame inertia and bought the 1968 Cessna 182. To extend the plane’s flying time, he removed three of the seats and installed a 125-gallon storage tank in the rear with a hand pump to move fuel from the tank to the left wing. That gave him enough fuel capacity to fly 18 hours nonstop on the first “leg” of the flight: from Oakland, California, to Kona, Hawaii. Over the next 10 years, he continued the journey, dividing his global circumnavigation into 41 legs of one to two months each, between which he would park Lucky Lady Too and fly home commercially to manage his business.

He was on the 19th leg when he found himself in the Intertropical Convergence Zone, less than halfway to his goal of Natal, Brazil, and short on fuel. To counter the rhythmic noise of the engine that threatened to lull him to sleep, he turned his thoughts to the children he’d been able to help over the years.

Gannon’s humanitarian bent — the underlying motivation for his medic service in Vietnam — bubbled to the service as he got older. With no kids of his own, he channeled his nurturing impulses into humanitarian missions helping children

in the places where he flew. In Basra, Iraq, where childhood leukemia is especially common, he presented a check for $10,000 from a contractor’s association in Iowa and delivered nine boxes of toys to the Children’s Hospital. He also assisted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in building operating rooms at a local hospital. He made balloon animals for kids in Namibia and flew relief shipments of cracked corn and split peas into South Sudan, which, since 2014, has suffered successive droughts, food crises, and mass starvation events. He donated to the construction of a school for some of the 800,000 children orphaned by AIDS in Uganda. In August 2007 in Pisco, Peru, following an 8-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami, which killed over 500 people and injured more than 1,300, he flew three shipments of clean drinking water to residents he described as “half-crazed” with thirst.

His eyes returned to the fuel gauge and his mind to the implicit question of the Brazilian radio controller. “What color is your coffin?”

There’s no tail wind. I don’t have enough fuel to make it back to the Cape Verde Islands

through all those storms. What about that military airport on the island of Fernando de Noronha?

The island is not a port of entry for Brazil with customs and immigration officials, and so Gannon could not land there except in the event of an emergency according to aviation rules. About 450 miles from Natal, Gannon finally declared that emergency.

He arrived in the dark and mountainous terrain and loaded two jerry cans holding 10 gallons each. The accommodating airport staff directed him to a small motel to spend the night before he departed the next morning for Natal.

FOLLOWING THAT FATEFUL 19th leg, Gannon would go on to complete the remaining 22 needed to complete his first of two full trips around the world — he made it halfway a third time. As a world traveler, he has a particularly well-informed view of humanity.

Gannon has been robbed only twice: once in a hotel room in Panama while he slept, and once when he left a backpack with his money and passport in a tuk-tuk (three-wheeled open transport vehicle) on the way to a restaurant in Sri Lanka. The driver returned

the backpack and promptly left. Gannon’s passport was still there, but the money was gone. Police later located the thief … and the cash.

More sinister than either of those minor incidents was an attempt by one of Hugo Chávez’s three-star generals to steal Gannon’s plane in 2010. He’d flown from the Leeward Antilles to Isla de Margarita just north of mainland Venezuela. The general saw the large fuel tank in the back of the cabin and asked if he had a permit for it, suggesting the whole rig was subject to confiscation for being out of compliance with international flight rules.

“Yes, I do,” Gannon replied.

“Show it to me,” the general demanded.

“It’s back home in America.”

The airport manager intervened and asked if the tank was hooked into the fuel system.

“No.” Gannon had disconnected the hose from the hand pump before landing.

The manager turned to the general and explained that, because the tank was not

connected to the fuel line, it was simply considered baggage. He allowed the plane to leave as the general fumed.

Beyond that, Gannon never experienced anything that caused him fear or animosity. Regardless of where he landed around the world, he was welcomed. He didn’t encounter anti-American sentiment, even in the Middle East. Though

not a Muslim, he was allowed to say prayers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He gained the trust of people from cultures very different from his own, opening his eyes to the world’s wondrous diversity.

“Iranians knew I was American, and they were nothing but nice to me,” he says, adding that it’s frowned upon to say anything disparaging about Americans in the mostly Muslim nation of Kosovo because NATO supported it in its war for independence from Yugoslavia in 1998-99. He found Buddhist countries to be the most compassionate.

Gannon’s broad view of humanity has also affected his perspective on his homeland — particularly the recent political divisiveness and rancor.

“Of all 155 countries I’ve visited, the angriest people I ever met are right here,” he says. Still, adds the man who can fly wherever he wants, “I would never live anywhere else.” ✦

ENGINEERS, COURTESTY ROBERT GANNON

DELIVERING HAPPINESS

Gannon (center) arriving at Basra International Airport with boxes of toys

A LOCALS GUIDE TO DANCING, LAUGHING, LOUNGING, AND ROCKING IN THE COUNTRY’S MOST ENTERTAINING CITY

ANNE DAVIS KRISTEN DESILVA

ERIC

DURAN-VALLE

JASON HARRIS

MIKE PREVATT

GABRIELA RODRIGUEZ

LISSA TOWNSEND RODGERS

COMEDY

BY JASON HARRIS

Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club

» The actor/comedian has been performing in Las Vegas for decades, and his love for the city is evident every time he hits the stage. Attracting top working comics from around the country, Garrett has created a world-class club.

Inside The MGM Grand, shows nightly at 8p, bradgarrettcomedy.com

The Comedy Cellar

» The iconic New York hot spot’s only other outpost opened in Las Vegas in 2018. Using the triedand-true showcase format, with multiple comics each running 10- to 15-minute sets, the owners took a dead room and brought it back to life.

Inside the Rio, shows

The Dirty at 12:30

» A show rather than a venue, this one takes place inside the Grandview Lounge every Friday after midnight. It’s a late-night party created by legendary comedian Ralphie May and emcee Gabe Lopez

following — Dirty Birds — who flock to the anything-goes nature of the event. Celebrities pop in and perform on a regular, adding to the wild time.

Inside the South Point, Fri 12:30a, dirtyat1230.com

Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club

» An eclectic mix — a magic show during the day, residencies from stars and traveling headliners at night — plus a refined and tasty food menu make this club a must-visit. There’s

BAR BACKROOMS: AMANDA PAYAN

What celebrity would you most want to see sitting at your bar?

truly something for everyone here.

Inside the Linq, Shows Mon-Tues, Thurs-Sun times vary, jimmykimmelscomedyclub.com

L.A. Comedy Club

» Don’t let the name fool you — this club is a Vegas favorite. The move to the new, bigger room on the casino floor has been clutch to take this club to the next level.

Inside the Strat, shows 6, 8 and 10p nightly, bestvegascomedy.com

Wiseguys

» The only free-standing comedy club in Sin City is a perfect fit for the Arts District and its patrons. The room is wide but pushes all the energy of the crowd toward the performer on stage. It’s a great space to see both locals and touring comics.

1511 S. Main St., open mics Tues-Wed 7:30p, booked shows the rest of the week, times vary, vegas.wiseguyscomedy.com

We’re waiting for Nic Cage to one day make an appearance! We actually have a beer that we call Pick-olas Cage. It’s a cucumber sour that we make. Our brewers are really big Nicolas Cage fans when they are home brewing, so all of their home recipes are named after either his movies or lines in his movies. We also have a big ol’ poster of him by our merchandise (in the brewery). So every year we brew this beer for him, and it’s just a funny thing we do.

Payan and her brother, Matt, are the owners of North 5th Brewing Co., a local craft beer brewery and bar. When it opened to the public in 2021,

North 5th became the first brewery in North Las Vegas. It currently distributes its brews to 20 locations around the valley. — Anne Davis

Brad Garrett

GARRETT: MICHAEL BUSH/ALAMY; AMANDA PAYAN: NORTH 5TH BREWING CO.

CONCERTS

BY ERIC DURAN-VALLE

Artifice

» Are you one with the darkness? Drawn to the horrors that lurk in decay? But do you also like to dance? Artifice might be the right place for you. It’s a popular stop for touring and local groups alike and is known for goth dance parties.

1025 S. 1st St. #100, Tues-Sat 8p-2a, artificebarlv.com

Count’s Vamp’d

» If you yearn for the days of hard rock, leather, and hairspray, then Danny “The Count” Koker, star of reality show Counting Cars, answered your prayers. His venue frequently features cover/tribute bands paying homage to the classic rock era.

6750 W. Sahara Ave., Fri and Sat 6p-close and select show dates, vampdvegas.com

The Dive Bar

» The name tells you everything you need to know. In this dark, rough-around-the-edges joint, you can expect to get launched across the room if you’re in the pit. Pro tip: Have someone keep a lookout when you’re using the bathroom (the stall doors don’t lock).

4110 S. Maryland Pkwy., facebook.com/ DiveBarLV

Eagle Aerie Hall

» No, the name isn’t ironic. This venue is indeed an outpost for the Fraternal Order of Eagles, an organization with roots in the performing arts. Concerts here are largely DIY, so bands get creative, making for memorable spectacles. Shows are typically all-ages, so it’s a good place for aspiring rockers to cut their teeth.

310 Pacific Ave., Sat-Mon and Wed-Thurs 10a-10p, Tues and Fri 10a-4p, basiceagles2672.com

Red Dwarf

» Red Dwarf is a dive bar with a twist of punk and tiki. Not only is it home to fabulous tiki concoctions and Detroit-style pizza, but it has also been hosting amazing rockabilly DJ nights, burlesque events, and live music. Weekly events updates can be found on its Instagram. –GR

1305 Vegas Valley Dr., daily 11-1a, sites. google.com/reddwarflv.com/home

Rockstar Bar

» What’s more rock ’n roll than golf? Okay, maybe anything. Perhaps that’s the unique appeal of Rockstar Bar on the grounds of the Las Vegas Golf Center. The high ceilings and spacious layout are reminiscent of a cathedral hall. And you may need a higher power’s help to keep your car’s windshield safe from wayward golf balls.

6730 Las Vegas Blvd. S., daily 11a-close, rockstarbarlv.com

The Space

» A self-described “community-driven” arts complex, The Space is slightly more than a mile west of the Strip. Hosting acts ranging from indie darlings to Grammy Award winners, burlesque to film screenings, The Space offers something for everyone. It’s also home to Mondays Dark, an event that donates $10,000 to a

charitable organization every other week.

3460 Cavaretta Ct., days and hours vary, thespacelv.com

LATIN DANCE & MUSIC

BY GABRIELA RODRIGUEZ Embassy Nightclub

» Just before Chinatown on Desert Inn, you’re bound to drive past the mansion-like nightclub Embassy. One of the veteran Latin nightclubs in Las Vegas, this is the place

for those who want show up and show out. Fog machines, circus-like acts, and of course hours of dance music make this club perfect for your Instagram story.

3355 Procyon St., Fri-Sat 10:30p-5:30a, embassylv.com

Lucky Day

» Sounds of reggaeton, cumbias, and bachatea beckon you from the sidewalk into this intimate mezcal y tequila house on East Fremont, at dead center of the street’s hottest bars. The music draws you through gallery walls, under a canopy of glowing lights, and onto the quaint dance floor. The house DJs give plenty of opportunity to work on your merengue or indulge in the beautifully crafted elixirs at the bar.

516 E. Fremont St., Mon-Fri 7p-close, Sat-Sun 12p-close, luckydaydtlv.com

Lucky Day

Mango Tango

» For a rowdy night out without the parking hassle of the Strip or Downtown, Mango Tango is the place to go. Located on the west side, this unassuming club has ample space for dancing, booths for reserve, and a designated stage for DJs and performers. Pro tip: Check the website for bottle service and ladies nights.

2101 S. Decatur Blvd. Ste. 1, Sun-Thurs 10p-5a, Fri-Sat 10p-6a, closed Tues, mangotangonightclub.com

Oddfellows

» Oddfellows has established itself as the go-to alternative club downtown, and with its recent expansion, the secondary bar in the back is becoming known for its Sábado

Gigante (Gigantic Saturdays). Crowds of 20-somethings pack into the small space to dance and sing along to rock en espanol, latin alt, and more.

150 Las Vegas Blvd. N. Ste. 190, Tues-Sun 8p3a, oddfellowslv.com

LGBTQ+

BY MIKE PREVATT

Charlie’s

» The former gay country dance bar with the wild Sunday beer busts and drag queen bingo has pivoted to a fleetingly gay country dance bar with wild drag shows (my jaw hit the Bud Light-soaked floor when I saw one performer do Bjork’s “Army of Me” recently) and go-go-dancer shower performances. But don’t fret: The

Sunday busts and drag queen bingos remain.

5012 S. Arville St., no cover, daily 4p-5a, charlieslasvegas.com

Fun Hog Ranch

» Every gay friend in your phone has a Fun Hog story, and if this were a different magazine, I’d share one of mine. Anything goes at this fetish-friendly dive, where it’s hard to say what’s stronger: the drinks or the bears drinking them (at ridiculously cheap prices, no less).

495 E. Twain Ave., no cover, 24 hours, funhogranchlv.com

The Garage

» The Garage’s if-it-ain’t-broke approach has served it well over a very busy 12 years, as the UNLV-area bar has stuck to budget-friendly drink specials (I mean, only $13 for its import beer bust?), on-point bar game offerings (shuffleboard: actually fun), and a welcome combo of music videos and sporting events on its many TVs. In recent years, the Garage has introduced a much-needed patio and even bimonthly Saturday DJ events. What’s next, a sexy dark room? (Haha, just kidding, Gaming Control Board.)

1487 E. Flamingo Rd., no cover, 24 hours, the garagelv.com

The Garden

» With its inviting, sizeable front patio, the Garden has adopted the South Beach indoor/outdoor model to much success.

If you’re over the RuPaul’s Drag Race viewing parties dominating every gay bar’s schedule, grab a table outside. Conversely, if you need even more queens in your life, we hear its bottomless drag brunch is a must (and a must-Uber home).

1017 S. 1st St. #180, no cover, brunch prices vary, Thu-Fri 6p-2a, Sat 11a-2a, Sun 11a-5p, thegardenlasvegas.com

The Phoenix

» Inclusivity is little more than lip service at most gay bars, but not at the Phoenix, where the entire queer alphabet, in all colors and shapes,

is well-represented. The central-westside hang is so welcoming, its regulars also include straight allies, gamer/ trivia geeks, the local Burning Man community and, well, anyone else seeking a truly nondiscriminating vibe. Another selling point is its various dress-up parties — and a highly underrated bar kitchen. 4213 W. Sahara Ave. no cover, 24 hours, the phoenixlv.com

Piranha Nightclub

» It opened during the reign of pioneering gay nightclub Gipsy and Strip-adjacent danceoplis Krave. And yet Piranha has outlived them both, now unchallenged as the valley’s most popular gay dance spot for nearly a decade. Hot go-gos and coldstare queens dominate the marketing, but

The Garden

Oddfellows

you’re really there for the clientele and of-themoment bangers.

4633 Paradise Rd, MonThu free, cover varies Fri-Sun, 10pm to closing, piranhavegas.com

LOUNGES

BY KRISTEN DESILVA

Bootlegger

Las Vegas

» No cover, no minimum, and a free place to park? This south Strip staple has been a go-to old school Italian joint since 2001. From big-band to piano to a master harpist on the rotation, they’ve got something for everyone (and a full Italian dinner menu worth taking a bite of).

7700 Las Vegas Blvd. S., shows nightly at 6:30p, bootleggerlasvegas.com

Coop’s Cabaret and Hot Spot

» Coop’s recently took over the short-lived Vegas and Nevada Rooms in Commercial Center, and you’ll now find a much more eclectic mix of live entertainment here. Some nights are ticketed, so check their calendar, but there’s no cover on karaoke Fridays with Shiela (see p. 22) or Wednesdays

for Keith Thompson’s Piano Party.

953 E. Sahara Ave., prices and times vary, coopscabaret.com

Piazza Lounge

» A three-minute drive from the Las Vegas Strip, the Piazza features free live entertainment every night of the week, ranging from crooners to jazz standards to pop and rock. Get there early especially on Friday nights, as Kenny Davidsen’s Celebrity Piano Bar fills up fast.

Inside Tuscany Suites & Casino, free, show times vary, Tues-Sun, tuscanylv.com

Rhythm & Riffs Lounge

» Looking for a fun stop on date night? Take your partner dancing at Mandalay Bay’s lounge, located in the center of the casino. You can regularly see the Roxy Gunn Project, a clas-

sic rock and alt rock cover band, as well as Live Music Society, guaranteed to get you on your feet.

Inside Mandalay Bay, free, shows at 10 p, Thurs-Mon, mandalaybay.mgmresorts.com

Rush Lounge

» There are no nights off at this classic Fremont Street lounge. With rotating country, Top 40, dance, oldies but goodies, and more, they call themselves one of Vegas’ best kept secrets. Don’t let the location scare you; you’ll find a lot of locals here.

Inside Golden Nugget, free, shows at 8p nightly, goldennugget.com

Vic’s Las Vegas

» Vic’s is new to the live music scene, but walking in, you feel like you’re stepping back in time to old Las Vegas. Leather booths, an elevated menu, and

BAR BACKROOMS: RUSSELL GARDNER

Q: What’s a bar song you wish you never had to hear again?

A: I worked at Margaritaville for seven or eight years, and anytime a Jim my Buffett song comes on, I can (identify and) change it within the first like three notes … I’m not a fan of most things pop and most things country … (But at) Red Dwarf, we have a very curated playlist here … And I think that’s important for a lot of bars to have — like an identity almost.

★★★ Gardner opened punk rock- and tiki-themed bar Red Dwarf in 2021, after having been involved in the craft brewing space for over a decade. His second property, Fat Cat, is scheduled to open in the Downtown Grand Hotel and Casino at the end of summer 2023. — AD

acts prove this newbie could be here to stay. Plan to stop by next time you head to The Smith Center.

355 Promenade Place, live entertainment nightly at dinner time, vicslasvegas.com

SPEAKEASIES

BY LISSA TOWNSEND RODGERS

33 Speakeasy at Gambit

» Gambit lets you visit three distinct bars within one building: the posh Gatsby’s Supper Club, chilled-out Vault Bar, and, behind a large, gold-framed mirror near the entrance, 33 Speakeasy. The bar is decorated in Dia de los Muertos chic — unfinished wood and velvet, snakeskin, and chandeliers — and offers a menu focused on tequila and mez

RUSSELL GARDNER: DAVE CANELA/COURTESY RED DWARF

cal. Sip a spice-tinged take on the paloma, mezcal negronis, and tequila flights, secure in the knowledge that no one will look for you here.

2031 W. Sunset Rd., Thurs-Sat 6p-12a, gambithenderson.com

Easy’s at Speakeasy Donuts

» Aria’s Proper Eats Foods Hall features burgers, pastrami sandwiches, sushi, and donuts. But those

something stronger than coffee: A door off to the side of the counter leads to Easy’s, a glamorous little jewel box of a jazz club. Lean back into a tufted sofa to enjoy torch-song versions of pop hits and drinks ranging from elegant Old Fashioneds and Manhattans to Instagrammable concoctions garnished with dry ice and candy cigarettes.

Inside Aria, daily 5p2a, easysvegas.com

Ghost Donkey

» Discreetly tucked at the back of the Cosmopolitan’s Block 16 food hall, Ghost Donkey is a pocket full of confetti and a shot of Tequila turned into a bar — tiny, but festive. A mixture of pink bulbs and Christmas light bestows a perpetual glow on the bar even before the drinks kick in. The menu sticks to agave

spirits and nachos, but the limitations only seem to spark creativity. Espresso martinis are made with reposado, old fashioneds with mezcal, and nachos with truffles or steak. Step in for a quick cocktail, and you may suddenly find yourself three drinks in next to a new friend.

Inside the Cosmopolitan, Sun-Thurs 4p-12a, Fri-Sat 4p-2a, cosmopolitanlasvegas.com

Mas Por Favor

» The front is a purveyor of tacos both traditional and exotic in a bustling Chinatown strip mall. To find the “secret” bar, walk down a dim hallway toward the bathroom — and right before you get to the door, look for the hidden door in the wall to your right. It leads to a technicolor tequila treasure cave where

BAR BACKROOMS: RYAN DOHERTY

What’s the biggest tab you’ve ever seen in one of your bars?

guests lounge on vivid plush couches or under an archway of fake skulls framing the bar. The mixology is polished, such as the tequila-cucumber-mint-Proseco Jardin, or wild, such as a tequila shot served in a hollowed-out jalapeno. Pro tip: There are discounted drinks and bites during happy hour.

3879 Spring Mountain Rd., daily 3p-close, masporfavorlv.com

We’ve definitely had people that have come in and bought out the whole bar and done a party for just themselves where they paid for it … We’ve had people come in and do divorce parties like that, or even just their own birthday party like that … It doesn’t happen often, but we’ve definitely had six-figure tabs that have been handed to one person.

The Underground at the Mob Museum

» Slip down a side staircase, knock on an unmarked door, and have the right answer when the guy barks “Password?!” The Underground at the Mob Museum offers an appropriately Prohibitionesque vibe. Bartenders in vests and sleeve garters shake up Tequileros Coolers and Bees Knees in a red velvet-wallpapered room featuring a fascinating gallery of historic photos and ephemera from the ’20s and ’30s. Off to the side is the inhouse distillery, where a brass-and-glass stills drip the house brand of moonshine, available bothin cocktails and the gift shop.

300 Stewart Ave., MonWed 12-10p, Thurs-Sun 12p-12a, themobmuseum.org ✦

Doherty is the founder of Las Vegas-based nightlife company Corner Bar Management, which owns and operates Commonwealth, The Laundry Room, Park on Fremont, Lucky Day, DISCOPUSSY, Peyote, Cheapshot, We All Scream, and La Mona Rosa. — AD

The Underground

Ghost Donkey

JUDGES

GREGG CARNES owner, Truh'st Studio

ANNE DAVIS

assistant editor, Desert Companion

JOE DUMIC president, B&C Camera

CHRISTINA GHILAN photographer/professor, College of Southern Nevada

JEROME HAMILTON photographer

BRENT HOLMES artist

ALISHA KERLIN executive director, Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art

HEIDI KYSER editor, Desert Companion

SCOTT LIEN art director, Desert Companion

MARLIES VAITIEKUS revenue systems specialist, Nevada Public Radio

RYAN VELLINGA designer, Desert Companion

MARK VOGELZANG CEO, Nevada Public Radio

ANNUAL

❰❰ HONORABLE MENTION COURTNEY KNAUP AMATEUR/STUDENT

“Taken at Cathedral Gorge during a camping trip because my son had never seen the Milky Way.”

We ask a lot of a photo. That it be beautiful, surprising, technically refined, well-framed and -lit. That it delight, provoke thought, tell a story. Be artistic, be editorial, be neither of those, or both those, and more. That it represent the value of 1,000 words, as if that were possibly enough. By extension, we ask all this of photographers. Be patient, have the right lens, the right lighting, the right angle. Get rid of the rough edges, the extraneous elements, make it perfect, but for god’s sake, don’t touch it too much! All this to say, photography is hard work. The most basic aim of this contest is to recognize — and in our small way — reward that. The photographers featured on these 16 pages worked their asses off, and it shows. The judges saw it, and now you, reader, get to, too. Thank you to all who contributed. We asked a lot, and here’s how you answered.

ARTISTIC+ABSTRACT

❰❰ 1ST PLACE

CASSIA LOPEZ

SEMIPROFESSIONAL

Two sisters standing in the local reservoir.

❱❱ 2ND PLACE

NICK MENDOZA SEMIPROFESSIONAL Boulder Dam

HONORABLE MENTIONS

1 KIRK NIX

SEMIPROFESSIONAL

“Here is a color reversal of an agave plant. It is trying to entice its next victim.”

2 BRENNA JUE

AMATEUR/STUDENT

“Taken June 2018 at the Intergalactic Art Car Festival in Las Vegas. My guy stuck his head into a display, and this is what I could see from the other side of the box.”

LANDSCAPES+CITYSCAPES

HONORABLE MENTIONS

1 GAI PHANALASY PROFESSIONAL STRAT Water Reflection

2

AMATEUR/STUDENT

“Last light at the old dump just outside Tonopah. We were passing through Tonopah one summer weekend and happened to have the most beautiful sunset. We decided to go enjoy it off the beaten path and stumbled upon this old dumping ground just west of downtown.”

JAMES ROSS BISPO

1ST PLACE JAMES KONYS AMATEUR/STUDENT Outside the entrance to Valley of Fire State Park.

❰❰ 2ND PLACE LAZER LOU SEMIPROFESSIONAL

“The Spring Mountains come to life in the spring. You can find many seasonal waterfalls dotting the landscapes. This is Mary Jane Falls with a light under them to bring the water out of the background.”

HONORABLE MENTIONS

1 PETIT MONSTRE

PROFESSIONAL “Ye do I walk.”

2 KEVIN LAFLEUR AMATEUR/STUDENT

“A snowmaker at Mt. Rose near Reno fires up a snow gun at the shop, doing routine maintenance work on one of the mobile guns used at the beginning of this winter season.”

3 ANTONIO GOMEZ PROFESSIONAL Neon Itinerant

4 QUENTIN BORGSTROM AMATEUR/STUDENT

A picture with a thousand items

❰❰ 1ST PLACE BRIAN MCKEEVER

AMATEUR/STUDENT

“I was walking on the Strip and caught this guy doing his job on the side of Resorts World. I loved the huge expanse of red and the tiny man.”

❱❱ 2ND PLACE

JONATHAN NISSANOV

AMATEUR/STUDENT After Work Magic

❱❱ 2ND PLACE WESLEY TINGEY SEMIPROFESSIONAL Runaway bride at the Plaza Hotel & Casino

1ST PLACE ANTONIO GOMEZ PROFESSIONAL Charro on horse at Sandy Valley

HONORABLE MENTIONS

1 PETIT MONSTRE PROFESSIONAL My Dear Melancholy

2 MARIA CAVAZOS

SEMIPROFESSIONAL “Capturing model Erica St. Evergreen in the Red Rock environment. Shot on 35mm film.”

3 STAN SABEV AMATEUR/STUDENT Woman in Red

1ST PLACE

DAVID ANDERSON

SEMIPROFESSIONAL

Baird’s Sandpiper, Lake Mead

DIANE BEDELL

AMATEUR/STUDENT

Bee nestled in honeysuckle collecting pollen

❰❰ 2ND PLACE

HONORABLE MENTIONS

1 DAVID ANDERSON

SEMIPROFESSIONAL Desert Bighorn Sheep, Lake Mead

2 SARAH WOODMANCY

AMATEUR/STUDENT Cactus

3 MISTY EPSTEIN

SEMIPROFESSIONAL Outside Cold Creek

4 DALE KAVULA

AMATEUR/STUDENT

Phainopepla shot at Floyd Lamb Park

❱❱ 1ST PLACE MATTHEW COOPER AMATEUR/STUDENT Guardian Angel Cathedral

2ND PLACE JR MARQUINA AMATEUR/STUDENT Pond

at Floyd Lamb State Park

HONORABLE MENTIONS

1 NORM CRAFT AMATEUR/STUDENT

“Trains have been snaking through this canyon since the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. The Central Pacific Railroad laid these rails in the summer and fall of 1868 on the way to meet up with the Union Pacific Railroad.”

2 KIRK NIX SEMIPROFESSIONAL Mud Frosting. “This is what a wash looked like after a flash flood went through the area in Valley of Fire State Park.”

3 MIKE SHUBIC SEMIPROFESSIONAL House footing of old home at St. Thomas, Nevada

GRAND PRIZE

JESSICA LEE PROFESSIONAL

“End of a RiviERA — the moments after the final structures of the iconic Riviera came down.”

BRISTLECONE LOOP TRAIL

By Heidi Kyser

Oh hi, 100 degrees! Yes, summer is here, which can mean only one thing: Time to head to elevation — or, as we call it around here, “Mt. Charleston.” Less trafficked than the trails off State Route 157 (aka Kyle Canyon Road), though still popular in the summer, are those off the slightly farther State Route 156 (Lee Canyon Road). Of them, one that’s long enough to spread out the throngs of asphalt jungle refugees starts right next to Lee Canyon ski resort.

BRISTLECONE LOOP TRAIL

“This cool hike is even cooler because it ends with an ice-cold brew,” wrote resident hiking expert Alan Gegax in Desert Companion’s 2018 story, “Higher Ground.” Gegax was referring to the availability of cold beverages at the ski resort — which, incidentally, is now also a mountain biking, disc golf, archery, and axe-throwing resort in the summer. You’ll need that refresher after the stout opening climb and three-hour, highelevation walk on the Bristlecone Loop, which combines the Upper Bristlecone and Lower Bristlecone Trails. But the payoff is huge: a scenic overlook surrounded by pine trees that are thousands of years old.

HOW TO GET THERE: Take U.S. 95 to Lee Canyon Road (around 15 miles from the edge of Las Vegas), and go west, following it to the end. The Upper Bristlecone trailhead is off the ski resort parking lot.

DISTANCE: 5.9 miles

ELEVATION GAIN: 931 feet

ANCESTRAL TERRITORY OF: Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute)

STEWARDSHIP 101: This is an extremely delicate ecosystem, home to the Mt. Charleston Blue Butterfly, among other species. Do not stray from the trail, touch anything you don’t have to, or take anything other than photos. On your way home, stop by the Sawmill Canyon Trailhead picnic area and admire the pinyon pine trees, whose rich bounty has been harvested by local Southern Paiutes for centuries.

LEARN MORE: Visit gomtcharleston.com

(Sources: AllTrails.com, Native Land app, Go Mt. Charleston)

ASTONISHING. UNPREDICTABLE. MIND-BENDING.

Omega Mart is an immersive interactive experience from the groundbreaking art collective, Meow Wolf. Featuring jaw-dropping work from international and local artists, Omega Mart sends participants of all ages on a journey through surreal worlds and immersive storytelling. Discover secret portals or simply soak up the innovative art as you venture beyond an extraordinary supermarket into parts unknown.

Tickets at OmegaMart.com