2023-05-04-Las-Vegas-Weekly

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EDITORIAL

Senior Editor GEOFF CARTER (geo .carter@gmgvegas.com)

Editor at Large BROCK RADKE (brock.radke@gmgvegas.com)

Sta Writer SHANNON MILLER (shannon.miller@gmgvegas.com)

Sta Writer AMBER SAMPSON (amber.sampson@gmgvegas.com)

Contributing Writers GRACE DA ROCHA,HILLARY DAVIS, MIKE GRIMALA, CASEY HARRISON, KATIE ANN MCCARVER, TERESA MOSS, RHIANNON SAEGERT, DANNY WEBSTER

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CREATIVE

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IN THIS ISSUE

SUPERGUIDE

Your daily events planner, starring Reggae in the Desert, Metalachi, Gareth Emery, Cursive, a special Fargo screening and more.

32

NOISE

Lovers & Friends brings Missy Elliott, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera and many more to the Strip for Year 2.

THE WEEKLY Q&A Waste not, want not.

Ailene Pasco turns discared plastic into art, and teaches others how to do likewise.

ART

A new Las Vegas museum spotlights the vibrant work of artist Rita Deanin Abbey.

COVER STORY

The case for movie theaters, and the films that should draw you back to them this summer.

42 SPORTS

FOOD & DRINK

Martin Yan’s cuisine lands on the Strip, and Toddy Shop fried chicken pop-ups flourish Downtown.

When the Lights shine again at Cashman Field, Las Vegas’ soccer team will have a familiar face leading the scoring charge.

SUMMER MOVIES Illustration by Ian Racoma

ON

Ailene Pasco (Wade Vandervort/Staff)

SUPERGUIDE

MUSIC

PARTY

SPORTS

ARTS

FOOD + DRINK

BEER ZOMBIES’ MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU BEER FESTIVAL With Divided by Stereo, Happy Campers, DJ Day Won & more, 8 p.m., Fremont Country Club, eventbrite.com. events.

MAY

COMMUNITY ARTS ADVOCATES: ARTISTS OF THE LAS VEGAS INVITATIONAL Reception 5:30 p.m., exhibit thru 7/11, Summerlin Library, thelibrarydistrict.org.

THE HOUSE OF YES

7:30 p.m., & 5/6, Majestic Repertory Theatre, majestic repertory.com.

LOUIS THE CHILD 10 p.m., Zouk Nightclub, zoukgrouplv.com.

SAVE FERRIS

THURSDAY PLAN YOUR WEEK AHEAD

With The Kaleidoscope Kid, Scotty Dub, Isolated Avenue, 8 p.m., Rock the Block (outside Backstage Bar & Billiards), seetickets.us.

DEATH ANGEL

With Tyrants by Night, Avenger of Blood, 7:30 p.m., Count’s Vamp’d, eventbrite.com.

UNLV OPERA THEATER: LOVE& POWER 7:30 p.m., Beam Music Center, unlv.edu.

CIELO IMPURO

With Pillars of Creation, Volterrum, Excerebration, Rex VanCandy, King Fun, Euphoric Dysphoria, 5 p.m., Eagle Aerie Hall, seetickets.us.

RZRKT With Mashbit, Umbra, Volcanix, 10 p.m., We All Scream, seetickets.us.

(Courtesy)

THE B-52S 8:30 p.m., & 5/6, 5/10, Venetian Theatre, ticketmaster.com.

FIRST FRIDAY 5-11 p.m., Downtown Las Vegas, flv.org.

MARSHMELLO 10:30 p.m., XS Nightclub, wynnsocial.com.

LAS VEGAS LIGHTS FC VS. CHARLESTON BATTERY 7:30 p.m., Cashman Field, lasvegaslightsfc. com.

THE CHICKS 8 p.m., & 5/6, 5/10, Bakkt Theater, ticketmaster.com.

BILL BURR 8 p.m., & 5/6, Dolby Live, ticketmaster.com.

DAVID BLAINE 8 p.m., & 5/6, Resorts World Theatre, axs.com.

50 CENT 10 p.m., Drai’s Nightclub, draisgroup.com.

RNB BLOCK PARTY WITH JERMAINE DUPRI

With DJ Aktive, DJ Carisma, Izzy the DJ, 8 p.m., the Chelsea, ticketmaster.com.

NEVADA CONSERVATORY

THEATER: VIOLET 7:30 p.m., & 5/6 (& 5/7, 2 p.m.), Judy Bayley Theatre, unlv.edu.

ROD STEWART 7:30 p.m., & 5/6, 5/10, the Colosseum, ticketmaster.com.

DANIEL TOSH 10 p.m. (& 5/6, 7:30 p.m.), Mirage Theatre, ticketmaster.com.

MENG SU 7:30 p.m., Alta Ham Fine Arts Black Box Theatre, unlv.edu.

TIËSTO 10 p.m., Zouk Nightclub, zoukgrouplv.com.

KOOL & THE GANG 8 p.m., & 5/6, Westgate International Theater, ticketmaster.com.

METALACHI

With Diabolyk, 8 p.m., Veil Pavilion, silvertoncasino.showare.com.

BROADWAY BOUND 8 p.m., & 5/6 (& 5/7, 2 p.m.), Las Vegas Little Theatre, lvlt.org.

STEVE AOKI 10:30 p.m., Omnia Nightclub, events. taogroup.com.

BILLY CURRINGTON

With Eli Young Band, 8 p.m., Sunset Station Outdoor Amphitheater, ticketmaster.com.

JESUS TREJO

7:30 p.m., & 5/6, Wiseguys, vegas.wiseguys comedy.com.

GARETH EMERY

Area15 has seen some memorable dance music moments between its impressive roster of visiting artists and its festival-like seasonal rave-ups, but the dynamic destination steps it up this weekend with its first residency. Forty-two-year-old British trance producer and DJ Gareth Emery, known for creating eye-popping visuals and adding live instrumentation to complement his sets, launches his exclusive Invasion360 series Friday night, the first of five dates planned at various venues at Area15. This one’s at the projection-mapped Portal, while next month’s headlining set at Neon Dream will be in the A-Lot. “This is nothing like a usual Vegas residency,” Emery said in March’s announcement, and he has held enough Vegas club residencies to know what he’s talking about. “No collared shirt requirements, no tiny dance floors and no casinos— this is a proper rave at the most insane immersive destination in Las Vegas.”

9 p.m., $40-$50, the Portal at Area15, area15.com. –Brock Radke

FOR MORE UPCOMING EVENTS, VISIT LASVEGASWEEKLY.COM.

(Courtesy)

SUPERGUIDE

LOVERS & FRIENDS

With Missy Elliott, Mariah Carey, Usher, Pitbull & more, 11 a.m., Las Vegas Festival Grounds, loversand friendsfest.com.

HOLO HOLO MUSIC FESTIVAL

With Kolohe Kai, Katchafire, J Boog, Steel Pulse & more, 1 p.m., & 5/7, Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, tixr.com.

KASKADE 11 a.m., Ayu Dayclub, zoukgrouplv.com.

HOPS & HORSES

BEER FESTIVAL

2 p.m., the Portal & the A-Lot at Area15, area15.com.

LAS VEGAS

PHILHARMONIC: TCHAIKOVSKY’S FOURTH

7:30 p.m., Reynolds Hall, thesmithcenter.com.

DJ SNAKE

10 p.m., Zouk Nightclub, zoukgrouplv.com.

FEID

8 p.m., the Chelsea, ticketmaster.com.

ILLENIUM 10:30 p.m., Omnia Nightclub, events. taogroup.com.

MARCA REGISTRADA

8 p.m., the Theater at Virgin, axs.com.

DAVID GUETTA

11 a.m., Encore Beach Club, wynnsocial.com.

AVATAR

With Veil of Maya, Orbit Culture, 7:30 p.m., House of Blues, concerts.livenation. com.

THE CHAINSMOKERS

10:30 p.m., XS Nightclub, wynnsocial.com.

BROADWAY’S ROCK OF AGES BAND 8 p.m., M Pavilion, ticketmaster.com.

THE DOLLHEADS

BEAR GRILLZ

With Emorfik, 9 p.m., Citrus Grand Pool Deck, seetickets.us.

90 PROOF

With Throckmore, The Far Worst, Jaq Jaq, Sunbone, Aubrey Digital, 5:30 p.m., Taverna Costera, tavernacostera.com.

FAT JOE

With Justin Credible, 10:30 p.m., Jewel Nightclub, events. taogroup.com.

8 KALACAS

With Nebula X, Muertos Heist, Los Carajos, Eloteros, Damaged Savage, 7 p.m., the Dive Bar, eventbrite.com.

TYGA

10:30 p.m., Encore Beach Club, wynnsocial.com.

NIO GARCIA

10 p.m., Daylight Beach Club, tixr.com.

REGGAE IN THE DESERT

With Morgan Heritage, Eek-A-Mouse, The Wailers & more, 11 a.m., Clark County Government Center Amphitheater, seetickets.us.

Since arriving on the Downtown music scene, The Dollheads have been living the teenage dream. The blossoming trio of siblings, ranging from age 13 to 16, earned a spot on the Life Is Beautiful bill last year, following the release of What Teenage Angst, a full-length debut the Weekly described as “a fast-flowing ode to plucky pop-punk, evoking fond comparisons to The Donnas.” The trio also hat-tips punk and rock icons like the Ramones and Foo Fighters with their energetic and fleet-footed style, and we’re in for a whole lot more of that on Et Cetera, an EP the band is set to play in full at its release show at SoulBelly BBQ, with local support from Calamity & Joy, Hunter’s Briefcase and White Noise. “We’re all committed to writing both lyrics and music as a band, and sometimes that includes waking up a sister in the middle of the night to ask questions about words, rhythms and melodies,” drummer Austin Avery says. “Et Cetera is the result of this creative process that represents each of us individually, as well as a trio.” The EP’s tracks should also play with the crowds at Punk Rock Bowling, when the Dollheads make their festival debut later this month. May 6, 7 p.m., $10, SoulBelly BBQ, eventbrite.com. –Amber Sampson (Photo Courtesy)

Eek-A-Mouse (Courtesy)

AFAN AIDS WALK

8 a.m., Sunset Park, afanlv.org.

DIPLO 10:30 p.m., XS Nightclub, wynnsocial.com.

NELLY

With Justin Credible, 11 a.m., Tao Beach Dayclub, events. taogroup.com.

LAS VEGAS LIGHTS VS. SAN ANTONIO FC 3 p.m., Cashman Field, lasvegaslightsfc.com.

ILLENIUM 10 p.m., Tao Beach Dayclub, events. taogroup.com.

KYGO 11 a.m., Encore Beach Club, wynnsocial.com.

UNLV SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: MAHLER 3 3 p.m., Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall, unlv.edu.

STEVE AOKI 11 a.m., Wet Republic, events.taogroup. com.

BRYSON TILLER

With Joe Kay, Andre Power, Sky Jetta, noon, Ayu Dayclub, zoukgrouplv.com.

BOBBY V Noon, Daylight Beach Club, tixr.com.

MONDAYS DARK

8 p.m., the Space, mondaysdark.com.

DEBI GUTIERREZ

With Jason Love, Ronn Vigh, 8 p.m., thru 5/11, Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club, bradgarrett comedy.com.

BUBBA HO-TEP 7 p.m., Beverly Theater, thebeverlytheater.com.

CURSIVE

Cursive has played Las Vegas no fewer than six times since 2009, but even superfans who’ve caught every one of those sets haven’t witnessed the Omaha, Nebraska, indie rockers like this before—performing primo 2000 concept album Domestica all the way through. Listening back to the LP now, Tim Kasher’s strained vocals and pained lyrics—about the fracturing relationship between characters “Sweetie” and “Pretty Baby”—remain harrowing a quarter-century on, and all four musicians who combined on the disc’s muscular instrumentation will be onstage Sunday night, original drummer Clint Schnase having returned to the fold in 2018. The band also has a cello player (Megan Siebe) in its midst these days; that instrument figured prominently on 2003’s The Ugly Organ, so don’t be surprised to hear selections from that revered disc, too, rounding out a night of peak-era Cursive. With Neva Dinova, 8 p.m., Backstage Bar & Billiards, seetickets.us. –Spencer Patterson

JEREMIAH WATKINS

Thru 5/10, 8:30 & 10:30 p.m., Laugh Factory, ticketmaster.com.

THE JOHN ABRAHAM PROJECT

With Mariana Sobolat, 7 p.m., Maxan Jazz, maxanjazz.com.

FOR MORE UPCOMING EVENTS, VISIT LASVEGASWEEKLY.COM.

(Courtesy)

FARGO WITH TEAM DEAKINS

English cinematographer Roger Deakins is a king. (Well, more accurately, he’s a knight: Sir Roger Deakins received his CBE in February 2022.)

An Oscar-winner for 1917 and Blade Runner2049, Deakins has devoted the last 45-plus years of his life to making our favorite films—The Shawshank Redemption, No Country for Old Men Skyfall and many more—visually impeccable. He comes to Las Vegas this week with his wife and collaborator James (the “digital workflow consultant” on Sicario, Empire of Light and others) to promote and sign copies of Byways, his first book of still photography, featuring previously unpublished images from a lifetime of “spend[ing] hours just walking, his camera over his shoulder, with no particular purpose but to observe,” as his o cial website puts it. And once Team Deakins is done signing books at the Writer’s Block Book Shop, they’ll walk over to the Beverly Theater, for the purpose of introducing a 4k restoration of the Coen Brothers’ 1996 masterpiece Fargo—Deakins’ second Oscar nomination, by the way, among a to-date total of 16. A Q&A follows the film. Book signing, 5 p.m.; screening, 6:30 p.m., $10, the Beverly Theater, thebeverlytheater.com. –Geo Carter

COPA LIVE SESSIONS

9 p.m., the Bootlegger, bootlegger lasvegas.com.

LAS VEGAS AVIATORS VS. ALBUQUERQUE ISOTOPES

Thru 5/13, 7 p.m. (& 5/14, noon) , Las Vegas Ballpark, ticketmaster.com.

TELLTALE With Sundressed, Diva Bleach, High Sierra Club, 6 p.m., SoulBelly BBQ, soulbellybbq.com.

POTIONS & PLAYER DAVE 10 p.m., Discopussy, discopussydtlv. com.

MICHAEL DODSON: LEVITATE WEST

“Go west, young man” was a 19th-century expression of manifest destiny.

Now, Levitate West is something else. Artist Michael Dodson shows the once-frontier through his hallmark psychedelic gaze. Known for colorful murals at Life Is Beautiful, the Fashion Show mall and for the Rogers Foundation, Dodson shows paintings and prints in his latest exhibit, depicting regional flora and exploring how plant life can “align with neural connections of the human brain.”

“It is my hope that these artworks provide the viewer with the experience of an altered state of consciousness: a feeling of levitating through space, time and the Southwest Desert,” reads the artist’s statement. I’ll take Levitate over smallpox and the mule-drawn covered wagon, thank you very much. Thru July 23; Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Friday-Sunday, 10 a.m.6 p.m.; free; West Charleston Library; thelibrarydistrict.org.

–Shannon Miller

PLASTIC PASSION

Las Vegas artist Ailene Pasco turns trash into art

BY SHANNON MILLER

Ailene Pasco knows we have a “plastic problem.” “It’s not just here in Nevada; it’s everywhere,” the Filipina American artist says. So she decided to put her crochet and sculpture talents to use making something sustainable out of single-use plastic bags. That’s how the Plastic Earth Project was born.

Pasco, a home-schooling mother of three and a coordinator for Clark County Public Arts, graduated from UNLV in 2019 after studying art history and sculpture there and at CSN. Recently, she applied through a competitive process and was awarded a grant for her project from the Nevada Arts Council.

This spring, she’s been getting the community involved with plastic bag yarn—aka “plarn”—workshops, teaching folks how to make the material and weave and it into durable objects that can be used as bags, sleeping mats and even home decor. “We can upcycle them to make them strong enough to last longer than just a onetime use,” she says.

The Weekly sat down with Pasco to learn more about her art, her advocacy and what’s in store with the Plastic Earth Project’s summer plans.

You’re focusing on single-use plastic bags right now. What other materials do you like to work with? I do all sorts of mediums—

anything that can be turned into yarn. I’ve done wire, plastic yarn, paper yarn. I’ve actually tried Twizzlers, one time. It kept breaking on me. But I was onto something there.

I’ve seen crochet used in urban spaces as a form of street art— people crocheting cozies around trees or rails, for example. Have you ever done anything like that? Yes, yarn bombing! It’s when you leave crocheted items out in public. It’s beautiful. I recently participated in this organization called Liberty Crochet … about 25 of us crocheted pieces to put together as a bigger mural. And it went up at the San Francisco [School of Needlework and Design] to promote women’s empowerment and rights. That was really fun, doing it for a good cause.

I also participate in the worldwide organization Roses Against Violence. We crochet purple roses, sometimes rainbow, and we tag them with Roses Against Violence, and we leave them around town to create awareness of violence against women. It’s [an issue] I’m very passionate about.

Why do you do art? What keeps you coming back to your crochet needle? Definitely one of the biggest goals is therapy—finding something to do to help you relax, to help you destress, to help you get through the day. I am mainly a stay-at-home mom. I home-school my three kids all under

12 years old, and it gets to be a lot. One of the things that helps me destress is crocheting. It’s something that I can definitely pass on to other people, too.

How did the Plastic Earth Project begin? It’s always been something that I’ve wanted to do. I think I just never had the time to actually go out and start it. It was just something that I wanted to give back to the community. The very first sculpture that I made and actually submitted was for [Sustainable Nevada, formerly] Nevada Recycles. I crocheted a big mandala piece and won third place. That sparked something inside me. So I started drawing up this project. And I was like, it can’t just be me, I can’t do

this myself. I can reach out to the community and have them be a part of this project. I decided to go for it and apply for the [Nevada Arts Council] grant.

What’s next for the project? Closer to the end of May, I’m going to have more exclusive workshops for people who already know how to crochet, so they can help me crochet the pieces that are going to be put together and installed as a larger final piece. In June, I’ll have a reception for the final piece. Everyone’s welcome.

What are your views and priorities when it comes to conservation and the environment? Ever since I had children, I’ve educated myself a lot more. I had read up on a couple of articles, and they show that plastics don’t really degrade very well. Even if we take it to recycling centers, they don’t go away. So I figured, instead of recycling, why don’t we try upcycling things? It’s the only way that we’re going to stop the whole issue.

What’s your reward? I think it’s more of the process, really. I have a lot of unfinished projects. But the experience of going through the process to your end goal is always the most exciting part. It’s the most rewarding learning as I move along, fail and whatnot.

Follow Ailene Pasco’s Plastic Earth Project on Instagram @plasticearthproject.

(Wade Vandervort/Staff)

Fridays & Saturdays in May 7PM - 9PM

ONLY IN THEATERS

These summer movies are meant to be seen in cinemas

BY GEOFF CARTER

We’re back. The summer of 2023 is a proper blockbuster movie season, our rst in a while. We’ve endured three years of pandemic-related theater closures, unchecked superhero franchise proliferation and a streaming platform cold war that forced too many likely summer blockbusters—The Suicide Squad, The Mitchells vs. The Machines, Black Widow, Luca, The Gray Man directly onto home screens, where they often fought to hold our attention against the smaller screens in our hands.

Granted, we did go back to theaters a few times in the era of Net ix and COVID, mostly to see event lms with titles interrupted by colons—Top Gun: Maverick, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, John Wick: Chapter 4. We did it up, splurging on IMAX 3D, earsplitting DFX sound and even D-Box moving seats, which make lms into rides. And, yeah, if that’s the way we want to experience lms like Avatar: The Way of Water, we absolutely should spring for that stu . But in a way, those technological addons indicate that we’ve forgotten how movies work.

A night at the movies is entirely di erent than a night of watching television, no matter how big or loud your home theater is. I’m not disparaging series television, which is astonishingly great right now and only getting better; nor am I suggesting that TV shows can’t look cinematic, or that movies can’t feel episodic. Rather, I’m saying that the experience of going to the movies cannot be duplicated at home.

Seeing a movie in theaters is a focused, encompassing experience. You can’t look at your phone. You can’t hear someone making noise in the next room. You can’t look away from the screen, not really. You’re part of a group that has elected to have an experience together, and you’re vibing on their energy: laughing, screaming, cheering. It’s the di erence between, say, watching the Golden Knights from eight feet away on your TV, or watching them at the Fortress from the absolute top of the bowl, as I did a few weeks back. Guess which experience I’m more likely to remember.

What that means for this summer movie roundup

is that it won’t include direct-to-streaming movies. Again, that’s not a rebuke of the feature lms streaming services will have on o er: I’m as excited to see Net ix’s suspense thriller They Cloned Tyrone and the Apple TV+ stoner comedy High Desert as I am to catch many of the lms in theaters this summer. (Although I’m a little worried about the recent report that Apple demanded edits to the opening of Ghosted to better suit algorithm-shaped attention spans.) But we won’t experience those lms, only watch them—maybe on the bedroom TV while halfasleep, or on our iPads while making dinner.

Las Vegas is in a good place right now, movie theater-wise. We have a brand-new, stand-alone movie house, Downtown’s Beverly Theater, dedicated to independent, international and revival lms. (See Page 23.) And even with the recent closures, Vegas still boasts a giant number of state-of-the-art, crisply air-conditioned cinemas, along with an oldschool drive-in—one of only 300 or so still operating in America. The screens are ready, and big movies are coming to ll them up. Let’s go.

Marvel is first out of the gate with Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 (May 5), the final chapter for this beloved crew of intergalactic misfits—and also director James Gunn’s farewell to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as he leaves the fold to whip DC’s Extended Universe into shape. Universal follows, a quarter mile at a time, with Fast X (May 19), the penultimate chapter of the

Fast & Furious franchise as we’ve known it. That is, it might be; the movie’s tagline is “The end of the road begins.” (It’s precisely the sort of oil-soaked koan Dom Toretto would come up with.) May 26 brings Kandahar, another Gerard Butler potboiler. Hey, somebody’s watching ’em.

June is packed, with Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (June 9) bringing the robots-in-disguise franchise into the 2020s. (Another chapter, Transformers One, is already in production for next summer.) The rest of the month is all icons: Lucasfilm’s fervently anticipated Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (June 30), the last ride for Harrison Ford’s immortal

action hero, directed by Logan’s James Mangold; Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 (July 12), another opportunity for Tom Cruise to perform some manifestly dangerous stunts; and Warner Bros.’ long-awaited The Flash (June 16) starring troubled celebrity recidivist Ezra Miller and a raft of DC veterans—Michael Keaton, Ben A eck and Michael Shannon, among others—in a classic-meets-new crossover event reminiscent of Spider Man: No Way Home August roars into play with

Gran Turismo (August 11), a basedon-a-game racing movie from director Neill Blomkamp, who hasn’t quite connected since his masterful 2009 film District 9 and is overdue for another hit. It stars David Harbour, Dijimon Hounsou and Orlando Bloom (nice to have you back, Legolas). And on August 18, Warner Bros. delivers its second DC movie in a little over a month with Blue Beetle, featuring Cobra Kai’s Xolo Maridueña as the titular bug man. He’s the first Latino actor to headline a superhero picture, which is pretty cool.

Fast X (Courtesy/Universal Studios), Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 (Courtesy/Marvel), Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (Courtesy/Paramount Pictures), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (Courtesy/Lucasfilms)

A genre that has seen some tough sledding in cinemas since the streamers broke big, comedy makes a real comeback on screens this summer. Book Club: The Next Chapter (May 12) continues the Candice Bergen/Jane Fonda/Diane Keaton/Mary Steenburgen romcom franchise with a scenic Italian vacay. Fool’s Paradise (May 12) stars It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Charlie Day in a Being Therelike Hollywood satire that also stars Jason Sudeikis, Ken Jeong and the late, great Ray Liotta in one of his final roles. Two regular Vegas comedy headliners release dueling, semi-autobiographical father-and-son comedies on May 26: Sebastian Maniscalco in About My Father, with Robert De Niro; and Bert Kreischer in The Machine, with Corvette Summer star and real-life Jedi Mark Hamill.

June brings two comedies of the variety that Twitter blowhards

incorrectly claim “can’t be made anymore” because of “wokeness,” the phantom menace currently driving Ron DeSantis to make a fool of himself. The R-rated Strays (June 9) features cuddly talking dogs voiced by Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Randall Park and Isla Fisher, who hump lawn gnomes, take psychedelic mushrooms and possibly bite o Will Forte’s penis. And it’s been no small number of years since we’ve even heard of a comedy like No Hard Feelings (June 23), which stars Jennifer Lawrence as a cash-strapped Uber driver hired by Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti to “date the brains out” of their very awkward, extremely virginal 19-year-old son, played by Broadway star Andrew Barth Feldman.

I’m really looking forward to the road trip romp Joy Ride (July

7), the directorial debut of Crazy Rich Asians screenwriter Adele Lim, starring Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Sabrina Wu and Everything Everywhere All at Once’s Stephanie Hsu—a teaming that won the “Comedy Ensemble” award at last month’s CinemaCon Big Screen Achievement Awards at Caesars Palace. Barbie (July 21) needs no introduction—just an acknowledgment of its Oscar-nominated director Greta Gerwig, and its murderer’s row of a cast: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Helen Mirren, Simu Liu, John Cena, America Ferrera and too many more to name. Universal closes this standout comedy season with an as-yet-untitled film from Saturday Night Live sketch ensemble Please Don’t Destroy (August 18), produced by Judd Apatow.

Barbie (Courtesy/Warner Bros.), About My Father (Courtesy/Lionsgate)

There was a time, very recently, when I couldn’t say with conviction that all the films on this list would even come to Las Vegas, but the Beverly Theater has decisively changed that. (It comes at a great time, too, as one of the theaters lost in the recent downsizing—Regal Village Square— was the closest thing Vegas had to an indie theater for a long time.) No matter how big or how small, it’s likely that all the films on this list will appear on Vegas screens, so get ready with that #hotindiesummer hashtag.

May 12 brings two intriguing IFC Films releases: BlackBerry, the story of the rise and fall of its namesake mobile device, and Monica, about a woman who comes home to care for an ailing parent. Love Again (May 5) is a romance born in text messages, featuring Celine Dion as herself. Sanctuary (May 25) features Once Upon a Time In Hollywood’s Margaret Qualley as a dominatrix fighting to maintain power in a relationship that bridges sex and business. The Academy Award-nominated co-writer of 2018’s outstanding Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Nicole Holofcener directs the godlike Julia Louis-Dreyfus in You Hurt My Feelings (May 26).

Strongly recommended is A24’s Past Lives (June 2). Celine Song’s directorial debut, starring Russian Doll bestie Greta Lee and an excellent Teo Yoo, is imbued with the stillness, beauty and longing we associate with Wong Kar-wai’s films. It was the first film to play at the Beverly, and it’ll likely be fondly remembered come Oscar season. And, holy smokes, we’ve got a Wes Anderson film coming in hot: Asteroid City (June 23), a pastel-tinted postcard dream starring pretty much everyone who’s ever appeared in an Anderson feature previously.

Every Body, a documentary about the lives and struggles of intersex people from director Julie Cohen (RBG, Gabby Gi ords Won’t Back Down), releases on June 30. It’s followed by Searchlight’s comedy-drama Theater Camp (July 14), a Sundance-award winner about two friends who step in to run an ailing theater camp when its founder is critically injured in a strobe light mishap.

Finally, July 21 brings Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster drama Oppenheimer, a stylized accounting of the creation of the atomic bomb. There’s no doubt it will be conceptually impeccable and visually arresting, but I’m gonna go further and suggest that it’s likely the only film in this category that will get the D-Box motion-seat treatment.

Asteroid City (Courtesy/Focus Features)

Past Lives (Courtesy/A24)

Oppenheimer (Courtesy/Universal)

Confession: I usually can’t see scary or suspenseful movies in theaters, because my partner can’t handle those things. She will punch my leg, hard, whenever things get dicey, and she’ll often ask me urgent whispered questions about the same exact thing I’m watch-

ing for the first time. (“Does she die? Is that the killer?

What’s going to happen?”)

But this crop of chillers and blood-spillers? Too compelling. I’ll take the pain.

20th Century Studios takes the first stab with The Boogeyman (June 2), an adaptation of a classic

1973 Stephen King short story that will probably break Hollywood’s unspoken “don’t let anything bad happen to the kids” rule. The Blackening (June 16), from Barbershop director Tim Story, messes with another timeworn horror movie convention: It has an all-Black

cast. (The poster tagline: “We can’t all die first.”)

Horror stalwart Blumhouse drops Insidious: The Red Door, the fifth film in the Insidious series and the first to be directed by franchise star Patrick Wilson, on July 7. A24 throws in its grotesquely embalmed hand

with Talk to Me (July 28), a Sundance favorite about a teenaged séance that literally goes to hell. And Disney, not usually an entrant in this category, opens Bad Hair director Justin Simien’s PG-13 Haunted Mansion on July 28. It looks to be more creepily atmospheric and more star-studded (LaKeith Stanfield, Rosario Dawson, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Dan Levy, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jared Leto and more) than the studio’s last, unserious attempt at adapting its beloved theme park attraction with Eddie Murphy in 2003.

Following the muddled reception to last month’s Renfield, Universal might have a found a brilliant way to resurrect its Dracula franchise with The Last Voyage of the Demeter (August 11). Based on the chapter of Bram Stoker’s 1897 epistolary novel that describes daily life on the doomed ship that carries the hungry, hungry vampire to England, Demeter has real knife-fightin-a-tight-space potential. Hopefully, we’ll have some nerves remaining after that for They Listen (August 25), a John Cho/Katherine Waterston-starring horror flick that’s so scary, its plot synopsis wasn’t even available at press time.

(Courtesy/Disney) STORY

On May 26, Disney fishes up The Little Mermaid, a live-action version of its classic 1989 animated film and, owing to the storytelling and no-you-can’t-without-herverbal-consent problems of the original, is the first of Disney’s remakes that I’m even remotely interested in seeing first-run. Plus, casting Grammy-nominated Halle Bailey as Ariel and Oscar-nominated Melissa McCarthy as Ursula? Beyond inspired.

Several likely Best Animated Feature nominees land in June. If I were to tell you just how much I’m looking forward to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the follow-up to 2018’s groundbreaking Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, I wouldn’t have time to watch it on June 2. Following the disappointing reception to last year’s (not bad!) Lightyear, Pixar makes a likely return to form with the offbeat Elemental (June 16). Dreamworks, engaging in Shrek-like trolling, counter-programs Disney’s mermaid moment with Ruby Gilman, Teenage Kraken (June 30).

June 30 brings an adaptation of Crockett Johnson’s beloved 1955 children’s book Harold and the Purple Crayon And on August 4, our favorite half-shell heroes Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem resurface in an stop-motion-inspired animated film written by Superbad’s Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, with The Mitchells vs. The Machines’ Jeff Rowe.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT THE BEVERLY …

 Downtown Las Vegas’ brand-new indie, international and revival cinema (and literary hub, and live music venue), with what is hands down the city’s best concession counter, has an exciting summer ahead of it … though the Beverly Theater’s chief experience officer, Kip Kelly, doesn’t exactly know what that will look like. Not yet, anyway.

“We only book around six weeks out, and that’s by design,” Kelly says. “We’re trying to get data, and we’re trying not to overcommit on runs. It would be easier for us to just say, ‘Here, film, take that eight weeks.’ But we’re not doing that. So, we’re kind of figuring out what our summer looks like.”

Will you get all this summer’s indie films? Will Past Lives return? We don’t know yet. As much as (releasing studio) A24 loves us and we love them, they might commit to a bigger theatrical release than us. … Sometimes studios want to talk to one person who represents 5,000 screens, and that’s all right; that’s how it should go. And I’m OK with that. Past Lives deserves to be blown up.

The St. Patrick’s Day screening of Leprechaun 3 was terrific. Will the Bev present more underground and cult films? We’re looking at some more, yeah. That’s the stuff that excites me the most. We

have a lot of really good films that are important for people to see. But the unexpected, curveball out of nowhere, “let’s just have fun”—I really like that stuff.

The Bev’s “Come for the Sound” series, which highlights films uniquely suited to the theater’s outstanding sound system, is pretty cool. Any more special series in the offing? We have a Literature in Film series, which is a Writer’s Block tie-in and a cool matinee opportunity. I wanna do Friday and Saturday closer-to-midnight showings of fun things, some more of that horror stuff that will be part of a Beverly After Dark series—which happens to be an acronym that

spells B-A-D, although that’s not on purpose. And we’re working on a cool summer blockbuster revival—a snapshot of some of the bigger openings of the summers from the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and early 2000s.

The Bev can get Las Vegas excited about the movies again, you know? We’re seeing it happen. I’m looking forward to the day where I lose control of this whole thing—when people just forget about what I’m doing and this place is living and breathing on its own, an electric place to experience cinema and live stuff and literature, with people just showing up. I think we’re on our way there. –Geoff Carter

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Courtesy/Sony)

The Beverly Theater (Steve Marcus/Staff)

DRAWING:

SATURDAY,

Winners will be called starting at 8pm

• Swipe and print a FREE ENTRY daily in May.

• Receive another entry for earning 1,000 points daily.

• Place all printed entries into the Drawing Barrel.

IN THE NEWS

STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

COVID cases could increase over summer

A summer COVID-19 wave might be on the horizon for Southern Nevada, although local experts say it likely will be more calm than past years.

“COVID is very hard to predict,” said Kimberly Franich, a communicable disease manager at the Southern Nevada Health District. “We do see historical patterns of spikes during the July to August months dating back all the way to 2020, summer 2021 and then again in 2022. If it is reflective of the historical pattern, we may see some increases, but it’s hard to say.”

Large gatherings and close contact with infected individuals can drive transmission, Franich said, and with the summer months forcing Southern Nevadans into air-conditioned spaces, the spread of COVID could increase.

A similar trend occurred in the winter months, when people stayed indoors to avoid cold temperatures. From November 2022 to February 2023, the hospitals in the county combined to have an average of 200 patients at any given time with the virus, according to the Nevada Hospital Association.

About 56% of Clark County residents have been vaccinated with at least one dose as of April 2023, and roughly 37% have followed up with one or more boosters, reports the Nevada Health Response.

–Grace Da Rocha

WNBA champions get to work defending their title

The Las Vegas Aces opened training camp April 30 at their brand new, state-of-the-art,, 64,000-square foot facility next door to the Las Vegas Raiders’ team headquarters in Henderson. Whether they start their next season with head coach Becky Hammon became a question mark after a published report indicated the NBA’s Toronto Raptors had been granted permission to speak to her. Hammon was an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs and would become the first woman to coach an NBA team if she was offered and accepted the job. (Steve

taking plea deal, prison in fatal DUI

Ex-Las Vegas Raiders player Henry Ruggs told a judge May 2 he will admit that he drove drunk at speeds up to 156 mph, causing a fiery crash that killed a woman. The plea deal could send the 24-year-old first-round NFL draft pick to state prison for three to 10 years. Ruggs waived a long-delayed preliminary hearing with the agreement to admit that he drove under the influence of alcohol causing death, a felony, his lawyers said. A six-month sentence for a guilty plea to misdemeanor manslaughter will be folded in with the total. Prosecutor Eric Bauman told the judge the Clark County District Attorney’s office endorsed the deal. Ruggs’ lawyers lost a bid to prevent prosecutors from presenting evidence that Ruggs had a blood-alcohol level of 0.16%—twice the legal limit in Nevada—after the predawn rear-end wreck that killed 23-year-old Tina Tintor and her pet dog, Max. –Associated Press

Marcus/Staff)

“

“Elon Musk tweeted [that NPR] should be defunded. The best way to make NPR go away is for Elon to buy it.”

-President

Joe Biden, making one of many jokes during his monologue at the April 29 White House Correspondents’ Dinner

Ex-Raider Ruggs

CRIME

POLITICS

WATCH THIS

Light of the night

Kai Martinez, an 8-year-old cancer survivor, poses for a photo with his family during Star Wars Night at Las Vegas Ballpark.

Make-AWish Southern Nevada surprised Kai at the game with a trip to Disney World on World Wish Day. The MakeA-Wish Foundation is celebrating 43 years of granting wishes to children battling critical illnesses.

(Christopher DeVargas/ Sta )

Senator seeks to codify mining law

A court ruling restricting where mining companies can dispose of tons of rock waste could have significant implications for the industry in Nevada and across the West.

While cheered by environmentalists, the stricter interpretation of a 150-year-old mining law has prompted some lawmakers, including Nevada’s U.S. senators, to seek to protect mining interests.

Last year, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the Rosemont copper mine in Arizona because the company couldn’t prove it had mineral rights on adjacent land where it planned to dispose of the rock waste.

“The misguided Rosemont decision is being used in the courts to block critical mining projects in the West,” said U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., who recently helped introduce the Mining Regulatory Clarity Act. The proposed legislation seeks to codify a century of Supreme Court decisions on mining law and allow mining companies to resume processing and disposal of waste on federal lands.”

But the proposed legislation isn’t sitting well with environmental advocates in Nevada.

Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said it would “allow the mining industry to turn public lands into toxic mining-waste dumps.”

–Casey Harrison

BY THE NUMBERS

That’s the length, in inches, of Las Vegas Raiders first-round draft pick Tyree Wilson’s wingspan. The 6-foot-6 defensive end from Texas Tech had the fourth-longest recorded arm length at the NFL Scouting Combine, giving him a wingspan roughly equivalent to an NBA center.

ROMERO WAS RUNNER-UP

The Golden Knights host Edmonton May 5 for Game 2 of their playo series.

Advocating

October 1 survivors push forNevada gun safety bills

Advocating for Others

BY SHANNON MILLER

The past few years have seen an unprecedented number of mass shootings in the U.S. According to the nonprofit and database Gun Violence Archive, 2021 saw the highest total ever, 690, which was followed by 646 more in 2022, the second-highest number on record.

This year, as of April 30, more than 250 lives have been lost in 185 additional U.S. mass shootings, which the nonprofit defines as those in which at least four people are shot. Each incident represents a galvanizing moment to advocate for gun control legislation and improvements to the state of public safety across the country.

“When the Parkland shooting happened at Marjory Stoneman Douglas in February 2018, that sparked my calling to be involved in this work,” says local advocate Geena Marano, “because of high school students and elementary school students having to share their stories and advocate. I wanted to be a part of that and empower that.”

Marano, a volunteer and leader with the Nevada chapter of Moms Demand Action and a clinical social worker, says she’s met many in her field who are very concerned about gun violence, especially against marginalized groups.

As a survivor of the October 1, 2017 mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip, she has firsthand experience about the different levels of impact a mass shooting can have—physical, emotional, mental and on the community. That’s why she and other survivors feel compelled to share their stories with the public, she says.

“Five years ago, I remember running for my life with my sister and my best friend.” Marano said at an April 6 joint committee hearing for a pair of gun control bills working their way through the Nevada Legislature.

“It is painful to relive the haunting memories of texting my mom, possibly for the last time, saying, ‘There’s lots of bodies. We’re running. There’s a shooting. I love you.’ It is even more upsetting that children and teens are sending the same messages and having this fear instilled in them forever,” she told lawmakers.

Proposed by Assembly Floor Leader Sandra Jauregui, AB355 would raise the legal age to “possess or control” a semiautomatic shotgun or semiautomatic centerfire rifle

from 18 to 21 years old. The law also would make it illegal for someone to help anyone under 21 access those types of weapons.

Similar laws have passed in other states, including Florida, which passed its law after the Parkland shooting, in which a 19-year-old legally purchased the assault weapons used to kill 17 people at a high school.

During the April 6 hearing, Jauregui, another survivor of the October 1 Las Vegas shooting, emphasized that the age requirement to purchase a handgun in Nevada is 21.

“We have seen far too many mass shootings by people who are under 21, who get their hands on assault rifles and go out and kill—Sandy Hook, Uvalde, Buffalo— all mass shooters that used assault rifles and were under 21,” Jauregui said. “In the past five years, six of the nine deadliest shootings were committed by people under the age of 21,” she continued, adding that studies have shown that the age restriction can reduce suicide rates among adolescents and young adults.

AB354, also proposed by Jauregui, would prohibit guns within 100 feet of a voting site and close a 2021 law’s loophole with regard to “ghost guns” or self-built firearms. In February, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms reported that the number of ghost guns recovered by law enforcement has increased more than tenfold since 2017, from more than 1,600 guns recovered in 2017 to 19,273 in 2021.

In keeping with longstanding partisan trends, Republican lawmakers have voted against the bills, asserting that they violate the Constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens.

An April 5 statement by the Nevada Assembly Republican Caucus reads, in part: “Standing against infringements on the Second Amendment is one of the most important priorities of the Nevada Assembly Republican Caucus. This is why every one of our members will vote against Assembly Bills 354 and 355. A criminal intent on committing violent crimes will not be stopped by this law, but this law will stop, for example, a young woman who lives alone from procuring and responsibly owning a firearm for her own home defense.”

On his campaign website, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo has said he “supports the right of all law-abiding citizens to own a firearm if

they so choose.” The website also expresses his support for the “right to build a firearm for personal use,” and vows to veto any legislation that would take away that right.

The governor’s office did not return requests for clarification on his positions on gun safety legislation and comment on the proposed laws.

In response to lawmakers’ questions about whether the bill would affect families that allow children 14 and older to own or possess guns for the purpose of hunting, Jauregui said the bill would prohibit those children from accessing semiautomatic shotguns and semiautomatic centerfire rifles.

With an exception for honorably discharged members of the military and for law enforcement, AB355 has passed the assembly by a 26-14 vote. If it passes through the Democrat-controlled Senate, it will go to the governor’s desk to be signed into law or vetoed. The second bill restricting guns at voting sites is also on its way to the Senate after it passed the assembly by a 28-14 vote.

In recent years, the Democrat-controlled Legislature has passed other gun safety legislation, including child safe storage laws, red flag laws and ghost gun ban.

In a statement to the Weekly, Jauregui referenced a recent Nevada Independent/ OH Predictive Insights poll that found that 70% of 900-plus Nevadans surveyed support raising the minimum age to buy assault rifles. She also emphasized that law enforcement agencies, up to the Department of Justice, have sounded the alarm on the growing prevalence of ghost guns, which lack serial numbers in contrast to manufactured guns.

“Gun violence is an inescapable epidemic in America and has left too many of our communities traumatized and reeling. Better gun violence prevention measures for assault weapons and ghost guns are two steps in the right direction that will protect Nevadans,” Jauregui said.

“The vast majority of Nevadans agree that the age requirement to purchase an assault weapon should be raised from 18 to 21,” she continued. “And with the number of ghost guns being recovered from crime scenes doubling in 2021, more law enforcement agencies are becoming concerned about their prevalence. Keeping our communities safe from gun violence is common sense and should not be a partisan issue.”

The vast majority of Nevadans agree that the age requirement to purchase an assault weapon should be raised from 18 to 21.”

–Assembly Floor Leader Sandra

Jauregui

SEIZE THE SUN

STEP INTO PARADISE

Immerse yourself at Vegas’ Mykonos beach oasis, where toes belong in the sand and heads stay among the clouds. A new summer has begun in the Vegas pool scene – and it’s your time to shine.

AT VIRGIN HOTELS LAS VEGAS

KICKIN’ IT OLD SCHOOL

Exciting returns, reunions and revivals at this year ’s Lovers & Friends fest

BY AMBER SAMPSON

It’s still hard to process that the Lovers & Friends festival exists, let alone that a second edition is approaching. On May 6, the hip-hop and R&B throwback event of the season will return to the Las Vegas Festival Grounds, bringing 40-plus acts from the ’90s and early 2000s along with it.

Those lucky enough to score tickets to the sold-out event will get to see icons like Missy Elliott, Mariah Carey, Usher, Busta Rhymes and 50 Cent, along with a stacked undercard featuring the likes of Omarion, Da Brat, Lil Kim, Jojo and more. Here’s what we’re most excited to catch.

CAN’T-MISS MISSY

Few humans have rewritten the rules of hiphop like Missy Elliott. The generational talent defined a decade with her anomalous soundscapes, linking up with producer Timbaland on “Get Ur Freak On,” “Work It” and other genre-bending classics. For the past 30 years, Elliott has established herself as an author of eccentric expression, be it through oddball fashion or her outlandish music videos, which still hold up today.

The Virginia pioneer blazed a trail for Black female artists and created space for the sex-positive, body-confident women we see in the mainstream today. Artists who so boldly disrupt, destabilize and define an industry should be celebrated, especially considering Elliott hasn’t been a consistent live presence throughout her career. She went on a seven-year musical hiatus following 2005’s The Cookbook, and we now know that her battle with Graves’ disease significantly affected her ability to write and perform.

Since returning to the spotlight, she has released a handful of new tracks, adding to her status as one of the top-selling female rappers of all time. Elliott’s Lovers & Friends debut will mark her first non-nightclub Las Vegas performance since 2004, when she shared a bill with Beyoncé and Alicia Keys at Mandalay Bay Events Center. If there’s any Lovers & Friends artist who deserves a warm welcome, it’s Missy.

LOVERS & FRIENDS

May 6, 11 a.m.-midnight.

Las Vegas Festival Grounds, loversandfriendsfest.com.

SOUTHERN RAP TAKEOVER

Nelly’s 2000 debut album, Country Grammar, heralded the start of a Dirty South decade. The St. Louis rapper arrived on the scene with a Missouri twang (and Southern slang) that set him apart from other artists at the time. Chingy joins Nelly as a St. Louis rap protege whose Ludacris- and Snoop Dogg-backed “Holidae In” peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2003—and remains one the best free ads for a hotel chain ever. Representing for the Atlanta region is trap pioneer T.I., “It’s Goin’ Down” rapper Yung Joc, and Dem Franchize Boyz, whose “Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It” snap dance went viral way before any dance videos on TikTok took off. “Freak-A-Leek” performer Petey Pablo held down the scene in North Carolina, while “Still Fly” star Mannie Fresh and the legendary Master P helped establish New Orleans as a Southern hip-hop stronghold. It’ll be amazing to hear these regions united.

MISSY ELLIOTT

RESIDENCY REUNIONS

Dreamed of experiencing a Las Vegas residency? You should get your ll at Lovers & Friends, which will present several acts who have held down extended runs on the Strip. In 2019, Christina Aguilera memorialized her 24-year pop legacy with The Xperience at Planet Hollywood’s Zappos Theater (now Bakkt Theater), a galactic-themed spectacle that would have been extended through November 2020 had it not been for the pandemic. “Mister Worldwide” Pitbull has brought several installments of his Time of Our Lives residency to the same room, and Mariah Carey has starred in not one but two Caesars Palace engagements. Perhaps most interesting is Usher, the R&B sensation who has also headlined two Strip residencies (one of which still runs at Park MGM) and an only-in-Vegas exclusive backstage show. Usher won’t have Lil Jon and Ludacris alongside him this year as he did in 2022, but he’s more than capable of holding down a fest on his own.

THE HARMONIZERS

Their music has been the fuel behind latenight karaoke nights, wedding dances and countless romantic lms. They’re ’90s R&B groups, and Lovers & Friends has plenty of them. Known for swaying ballads like “End of the Road” and “I’ll Make Love to You,” Boyz II Men return to Las Vegas following a long-running residency at the Mirage. The Motown trio left a lasting impression on pop and R&B, and they’re in good company on this lineup with the likes of Blackstreet, the group behind “No Diggity,” and En Vogue, famous for empowering hits like “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)” and “Hold On,” one of the greatest of all ’90s R&B songs. Local group 702, known for their Missy Elliott-produced single “Where My Girls At,” are also set to play, so save some extra applause for your homegirls.

THE NEW EDITION

Summer Walker Jhené Aiko PartyNextDoor Bryson Tiller. Wait, isn’t this a throwback festival? These acts might have looked more at home on the poster for Las Vegas’ modern hip-hop festival Day N Vegas, but since that event was canceled last year and didn’t return in 2023, Lovers & Friends has stepped in to present next-generation R&B artists rubbing elbows with icons who blazed the trail. These acts cite Mary J. Blige, Brandy, Boyz II Men, Usher, Blackstreet, Jodeci and others as musical inspirations, so to play this fest alongside those sorts of legends in the esh must feel like a dream. It should be for those of us watching them perform, too.

(All Photo Courtesy)

CHINGY

CHRISTINA AGUILERA

SUITING UP FOR SUNDOWN

No matter the month or the temperature, it doesn’t truly feel like summer here until the pool parties flow into the night, when sundrenched dayclubs turn the tables on themselves and keep the energy going with these uniquely Vegas events. There are three such celebrations launching this weekend, all of which deserve your attention.

and his Billboard-charting album Now or Never, opens this year’s Neon Vibra series. Expect Garcia and his crew to take up every inch of Daylight’s giant stage and provide fabulous festival vibes. May 6, 10 p.m., $30-$40+, Daylight Beach Club, daylightvegas.com.

in with the Tide this weekend, and the series continues through the summer with sets from Fisher, Chris Lake, Alesso and more. May 7, 10 p.m., $20-$30+, Tao Beach Dayclub, events.taogroup.com.

BY BROCK RADKE

First off, Mandalay Bay’s perennial party source Daylight Beach Club brings back last year’s innovation, the Latin night swim, with Neon Vibra. The Saturday night bash is saturated with reggaeton sounds, squads of dancers and island-inspired lights and décor, and it might pop up on a few Friday nights this season, so keep those eyes open. Dancer and choreographer turned rapper and actor Nio Garcia, known for the smash remix of “Te Bote”

You’ll want to stay in bed for as long as possible Sunday to rest up for Evening Tide, one of the newest night swim parties on the Strip at the very fresh Tao Beach Dayclub at Venetian. The venue reopened last year and recalibrated the concept of a rooftop oasis in Las Vegas, raising the stakes for atmosphere, food and drink, and perhaps most importantly, superstar talent taking the stage for daytime and nighttime parties.

EDM megastar Illenium—yeah, the guy who played the first-ever concert at Allegiant Stadium—is rolling

Last but the opposite of least, we’ve got the big dog, the original NightSwim at Wynn. XS has expanded its stage and DJ booth considerably this year, pushing the artist and the performance closer to the water and encouraging those aquatic hijinks you love so much. There will be bigger pyrotechnics and other production elements, and of course, the biggest names around—starting with Diplo kicking things off Sunday night. After this weekend, you might never get in the pool again when the sun is out. Darker is better. May 7, 10:30 p.m., $30-$40+, XS Nightclub, wynnsocial.com.

NightSwim (Courtesy/XS)

Three pool parties to heat up your nights on the Strip

HALL OF CREATION

The Rita Deanin Abbey Art Museum showcases an unparalleled local talent

BY GEOFF CARTER

It looks like the work of several di erent artists. Your eye positively insists that it’s the work of several di erent artists, namely a painter, a sculptor who worked in steel and bronze, and an adventurous, inventive maker who worked with such unlikely materials as berglass and polyester resin. Everything changes from one room to the next—the scale, the palette, even the mood.

But this is all the work of Rita Deanin Abbey (1930-2021), an artist, writer and UNLV instructor who made Las Vegas her home in 1964 and remained here through her death, at age 90, in March 2021. If you’ve been to the Summerlin Library, you’ve seen her angular steel sculpture “Spirit Tower,” but it only represents a fraction of what she could do.

The Rita Deanin Abbey Art Museum, located in a residential neighborhood in the northwest Valley, embodies her legacy in multiple ways: Not only does it feature a broad-ranging variety of her works, spanning decades of restless creative endeavor, it’s situated directly adjacent to the studio where she conceived and created many of them. Because of this, the museum feels less like a collection of works than it does a visual biography of Abbey’s life in the desert, told in texture, color and shape.

“She’s a phenomenon,” says Aaron Abbey, a member of the museum’s board of directors and one of Abbey’s two sons. (Her other son, Joshua, might be familiar to Weekly readers as the founder/director of the Las Vegas Jewish Film Festival.) “She had a very restless imagination, a very vivid imagination. And she was constantly exploring and pursuing new ideas and new media; she would often try completely new things that she had never tried before. That’s why what we have in the museum now is so varied.”

Even a quick, cursory look through the museum—it features some 200 of the artist’s works, only a fraction of the thousands she created in her lifetime—bears him out. Abbey reinterprets her interests and a nities—primarily the natural and spiritual realms, though those are far from the only things that fascinated her—in unexpected ways, rarely repeating a style or technique.

“Polarity,” a textured, matte black work crafted from berglass, cloth resin and wood, evokes a craggy, moonlit desert landscape as you’d see it from the air. “Hidden Pass” twists a massive steel plate into a 22-ton, multidimensional piece of desert topography. “Crescent Cycle” seemingly nods to Las Vegas’ showy built environment, with its vibrant colors and its popart shapes cut from plexiglass.

“She wanted to learn things, and she wanted to try things,” Aaron Abbey says, noting that when his

mother grew particularly interested in one speci c artistic discipline, “she wanted to develop and grow, even within that.” Often, he adds, she would work well into the late hours of the night, driven to discover and invent.

Rita Deanin Abbey’s art compels the viewer, by turns, to lean in and step back. She delighted in applying detail—look at the braided limbs of her bronze dancing sculptures, which Aaron Abbey aptly describes as “no mortal musculature”—but could also work at a mammoth scale: Two works on display here—“Bridge Mountain,” a ve-panel painting that formerly hung in the lobby of UNLV’s Judy Bayley Theater, and “Wall of Creation,” the berglass and polyester resin piece that was formerly displayed at Vegas’ original Temple Beth Sholom—pretty much have an entire wing of the place to themselves. (Abbey created the latter piece in an airplane hangar, wearing a respirator mask to avoid breathing the toxic fumes from the heated resin.)

The Rita Deanin Abbey Art Museum is an eye-popping introduction to an artist whose work deserves to be more widely appreciated, and hopefully soon will be as visitors begin to discover the space. But more than that, the museum is—and deserves to be—a pillar of Vegas pride. While teaching at UNLV, Abbey nurtured generations of local artists. And when she wasn’t doing that, looked at the landscape, people and mythmaking of our Valley, and created a bigger, more dreamlike place from it.

“If you’re not a museum person, I think this is a place that might make you become one, just to see what one person is capable of,” Aaron Abbey says. “It’s very inspiring to see what one person, this vefoot-four person can do with her determination and her curiosity and her talent.”

(Left) “Centaurus,” bronze, 2005; (inset) “Crescent Cycle,” 1996, plexiglass relief (Geo Carter/Sta )

(Courtesy)

BY GENEVIE DURANO

On a recent afternoon visit to M.Y. Asia at the Horseshoe Las Vegas, chef Martin Yan was a blur of activity—talking to chefs in the open kitchen, checking on guests, attending to minute details at the recently opened restaurant. If you’ve seen his long-running PBS show, Yan Can Cook (and if you haven’t, you have more than 3,500 episodes to catch up on), this infectious energy is very much on brand for the 74-year-old James Beard Award-winner, whose passion and knowledge for Asian cuisine runs deep. Along with his TV shows, Yan has a chain of restaurants and has authored dozens of cookbooks.

M.Y. Asia marks his first foray into Las Vegas, and for longtime home-cook fans, it doesn’t disappoint. Like the chef himself, the energy of the space is palpable, from the noodle-pulling station to the live-fire work kitchen. The menu, though not as large as what you typically see at a Chinese restaurant, is thoughtfully crafted, informed by Yan’s extensive travels throughout Asia. You’ll see classic Chinese dishes, but you’ll also get a taste of Japan, Korea, Vietnam and beyond.

“I basically picked some of my favorite dishes and put together a menu of about 55 to 65 items, so you don’t have any problem picking,” Yan says. “My philosophy is to maintain the spirit of the indigenous cuisine, but at the same time, add a little modern twist and make it more contemporary in terms of presentation.”

Start with small bites for the table. The Beijing pork potstickers ($14) and Vietnamese spring roll ($14) are familiar crowd-pleasers, along with dim sum favorites har gow ($14) and siu mai ($12). Everything on the menu is meant to be shared family-style, so come with a group to maximize the experience.

There are two salads on the menu, and both should not be missed. The Vietnamese herb glass noodle ($14) is a visually stunning

concoction of purple cabbage, romaine lettuce, pickled carrots, red onions, cucumber, green onions, Thai basil, cilantro, peanuts, lemongrass and ground chicken with a chili-lime dressing. The green papaya salad ($12) is equally colorful, offering a nice texture and a puckery fish-sauce flavor.

The main dishes will give your palate a nice tour of Asia, which makes sharing even more fun. The Thai yellow coconut curry chicken ($25), paired with rice, is creamy and satisfying, while the wasabi walnut shrimp ($32) takes a standard dish available on every Chinese menu and adds the delightful twist of honey mayo wasabi. The Chilean sea bass ($38) is delicately marinated in honey, jasmine tea and miso, then finished with a honey ginger glaze, enhancing the natural sweetness of the fish.

And here’s a dish you don’t see often at Strip restaurants: adobo ($24), the national dish of the Philippines. Here, the protein is pork, braised in a soy sauce and vinegar mixture and served over rice. Like Thai curry chicken, it’s comfort food from the other side of the world.

Dessert isn’t always front and center in Asian cuisine, but if you need a sweet finish, there’s a lovely strawberry panna cotta ($13) or ice cream topped with mochi pieces ($14).

Food, for Yan, is a communal ritual that you share with family and friends. The experience should be joyful, but it should also be balanced, not just in flavor but in nutrition.

“The Chinese believe that food and medicine are actually at the same root because when you eat well and you have a good, healthy diet, you have balance,” he says. “The philosophy of yin and yang—you have sweet and sour, you have hot and cold, you have color contrast. When you have all these elements in one dish, that is the essence of Asian cuisine.”

FRIED CHICKEN FRIDAYS

Toddy Shop’s pop-up puts a South Indian spin on a classic

Chef Hemant Kishore has been making a name for himself for years in Las Vegas, with his Toddy Shop concept taking over various venues and popping up at special events. Now he’s leveling up one of our all-time favorite dishes with his signature flavors.

It’s all about fried chicken on the second and fourth Fridays of each month at the brunchy new Downtown spot the Parlour Coffee and Cooking, which recently took over a former taco shop space on Carson Avenue near 7th Street. Kishore launched the pop-ups in February (the Parlour is closed in the evenings), and he’s been routinely selling out just by updating followers on Instagram (@toddyshopusa) and at thetoddyshopusa.square. site, where fried chicken fans can order ahead.

“I wanted to do something a little smaller and hang in there a bit, then when the time is right, pursue Toddy Shop [as a restaurant],” he says. “Fried chicken is easier to sell than a full-on South Indian bar.”

He’s doing two styles of

bird: Trivandrum ($18), a popular dish in his hometown of the same name, marinated for 36 hours with yogurt, curry leaf, fennel, byadagi chili, garlic and ginger before a dusting in coconut masala powder and a deep fry; and tandoori fried chicken ($18), done in classic Southern style only it’s laced with those familiar tandoori flavors such as coriander, cumin, garlic, cloves, cinnamon, black pepper and cardamom.

“I’m getting really good quality birds from Red Bird Farms in Colorado, air-chilled, which means the skin gets crispier,” Kishore says. “I played around with a lot of different breading mixtures to get that really nice crust.”

Three sides also packed with flavor—ghee rice, warm black garbanzo salad and crispy fried cauliflower tossed in chili garlic sauce ($7-$8)— round out the meal, available for dine-in or takeout. Kishore typically does about 50 orders at each pop-up, and he’ll also serve it up this month at a May 16 event at Vegas Test Kitchen, with reservations available now at secretburger. com. –Brock Radke

(Wade Vandervort/Staff)

Azriel Gonzalez, left, practices with the Lights at the Kellogg-Zaher Soccer Complex in Summerlin. (Steve Marcus/Staff)

A BRIGHT HOMECOMING

The new-look Lights start the season with a Las Vegas native leading the way

BY RAY BREWER

Earlier this month, when Las Vegas Lights officials offered their players tickets for a home game, most asked for one or two. Some didn’t need any. Azriel Gonzalez, the soccer team’s star winger, requested 16.

It was the 21-year-old’s first time playing locally since leaving the family’s home in east Las Vegas before high school to chase his professional aspirations. Motivated by relatives in the crowd, Gonzalez scored a pair of goals in a 4-0 U.S. Open Cup victory over the LA Force.

In his first start with the Lights, he scored on a direct kick in the 16th minute and added a second goal seven minutes later—a dazzling debut.

“When he asked for the tickets, I could see the motivation in his eyes,” coach Isidro Sanchez says. “Managing the desire was a big challenge, but he obtained what he was looking for in a great performance. He enjoyed it.”

The Lights went on to lose in the third round of the U.S. Open Cup tournament but put up a fight against MLS squad Real Salt Lake. Now, focus can fully shift to the Lights’ main campaign, the United Soccer League regular season, including a May 5 home opener against the Charleston Battery at Cashman Field.

Much of the scoring onus will fall on Gonzalez, who says he’s motivated by the chance to play for a familiar crowd. A year ago, as a member of FC Edmonton in the Canadian Premier League, he had no ticket requests and no one to cheer him on. He couldn’t help but feel lonely. “It’s never easy being away from family for so long,” he says.

Gonzalez became a free agent after the season and sought a return to the United Soccer League, in which he had played for four seasons as a teenager with the Tacoma Defiance, then the affiliate of Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders.

The chance to join the hometown Lights was a natural fit. The team needed offensive help, and Gonzalez was drawn to the idea of coming home.

“With Azriel, everything he does is going vertical [up the field] and thinking how to score,” Sanchez says. “He’s dedicated to the attack.”

As a rising youth player in Las Vegas, many knew Gonzalez as an elite goal scorer who consistently put pressure on opposing defenses. Gonzalez remembers his first soccer game as a 4-year-old. “We won 9-0, and I had all nine goals,” he says.

That scoring ability earned him a spot with the Seattle Sounders FC Academy in 2015, when he was just 13 years old. Gonzalez made an immediate impact, posting 12 goals and six assists in 18 matches with the academy’s under-16 squad.

He wound up playing parts of four seasons with Tacoma looking to crack the Sounders’ roster. He’s still trying to catch the eye of an MLS team. “Being in MLS would be very, very special,” he says. “It’s something I am working towards. I’m just 21. That is still young.”

Gonzalez, one of three players with local ties on the Lights’ roster, is joined by Henderson native Alexander Romero and Anwar Ben Rhouma Torres, a senior at Green Valley High School.

“You want to have players from the community,” Sanchez says. “They give extra. They are committed to the culture. They were born and raised in Las Vegas and play for Las Vegas.”

Gonzalez says being in Las Vegas has even been better than he envisioned—and not just being reunited with family and friends. It’s also helping him develop as a player.

“Everyone wants to win [here],” he says. “Everyone is on the same page, and there is respect with all the players.”

STATE OF THE LIGHTS

The Lights returned to independent status for this season after spending two years affiliated with LAFC of Major League Soccer, meaning players are residing and training in Las Vegas instead of commuting in from Southern California for games.

MLS changed its affiliation model after the 2022 campaign by launching MLS Next Pro; 27 teams have their reserve players waiting in the wings in the new league.

“It’s a blank canvas to build the team how we want,” Lights coach Isidro Sanchez says. “I’m happy, because it looks like our team, and not [the lineup] LAFC decided.”

The Lights, who launched in 2018, are looking for their first playoff appearance. They posted an 0-1-4 record to open the United Soccer League season—all on the road, because Cashman Field was being used as a football stadium for the XFL’s Vegas Vipers.

The Lights played a U.S. Open Cup match in early April at UNLV. They hosted another U.S. Open Cup match April 29 at Cashman Field—after the Vipers season had concluded.

LAS VEGAS LIGHTS’ UPCOMING CASHMAN FIELD GAMES

Summer Challenge

Summer Reading & Activities Program for Kids, Teens & Adults!

May 15 – July 31

Are you ready to ‘Make Your Summer Out of This World?’ Join us at one of your favorite libraries to kick off Summer Challenge 2023! We’ll have great activities to jumpstart your way to reading, playing, discovering, and winning all summer long. All attendees will get a free pair of sunglasses!*

Tuesday, May 16

West Las Vegas Library 4-6 p.m. 702.507.3983

Wednesday, May 17

Windmill Library 11 a.m.-3 p.m. 702.507.6041

Thursday, May 18

West Charleston Library 12-6:30 p.m. 702.507.3947

Friday, May 19 Moapa Valley Library 4-6 p.m. 702.397.2690

Saturday, May 20 Centennial Hills Library 11 a.m.-12 p.m. 702.507.6115

May 23

Wednesday, May 24

Sunrise Library 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. 702.507.3905

Summerlin Library 4:30-6:30 p.m. 702.507.3865

Thursday, May 25 Rainbow Library 11 a.m.-7:30 p.m. 702.507.3712 Enterprise Library 4-6 p.m. 702.507.3764

Friday, May 26 Whitney Library 2 p.m.-4 p.m. 702.507.4015

Saturday, May 27 East Las Vegas Library 12 p.m.-2 p.m. 702.507.3517

BY VEGAS INC STAFF

John Blackmon is cautiously optimistic about Nevada’s economy avoiding a recession, when he looks at the trends in development, financing and mortgages.

“A general slowdown is probably the correct way to describe what is happening right now in the local market, and we are still seeing new projects breaking ground on nearly every corner,” said Blackmon, manager and owner of NV Capital Corporation. “I believe that the trend will stay steady.”

Blackmon discussed with Vegas Inc the prospects of a real estate bubble, affordable housing and the challenges developers face today.

Tell us about your career path and what brought you to your current position? In 1987, my family and I moved to Nevada to work for Nevada National Bank, which was soon to be purchased by Security Pacific National Bank. I stayed with that bank until 1992, when I decided to pursue the local community banking world. Community banking was much more enjoyable to me, as I have always been a people person and generating business was what I wanted to do.

A variety of my customers in the Las Vegas Valley were involved in the mortgage broker business, so it was very familiar to me. I found it

Q+A: JOHN BLACKMON

Despite market challenges, financial expert sees prosperous times ahead in Nevada

interesting that when I applied for my mortgage broker license, there was no one in the approval process who could ever recall a banker wanting to be a mortgage broker.

Do you have any recent news or updates you’d like to share? We have an application to open an office in Reno to better serve the customers of the northern part of the state as well. As we embark on new ventures and deals in other parts of Nevada, having a Reno office makes sense for us to be closer to both our client and investors, as well as new projects. It’s exciting to be covering both sides of the state as we work to expand our portfolio for investors.

Do you see another real estate bubble in Vegas’ future? I certainly do not see a bubble. There is so much equity in the current real estate market that I do not see a major crash in prices. The last bubble was clearly fueled by easy money, and there were many loans that were written with as little as 5% down payments. For the most part in the past several years, we have gotten away from that.

What are the biggest challenges a developer faces today? There is a shortage of certainty. By that I mean a shortage of materials, labor and tenants for commercial projects. Developers have a hard time knowing which rent amounts they

need to charge when they cannot pencil out the exact cost of a project. Sure, you have the glamorous projects, such as those taking shape near our office off Durango and the 215. But the generic development projects may be a bit too speculative for most developers.

If you were king of Las Vegas for a day, what’s the one thing you’d do to improve the community? Somehow fix the traffic/construction projects going on here. There are road projects and sewer connect projects and road-widening projects, and sometimes it seems that the cones and barriers stay up even when there are no visible workers anywhere in the area.

What can be done or is being done to address the shortage of affordable housing in the Valley? Not sure that much can be done here. Las Vegas has always had an income issue for the average workers and they have never been able to purchase a house, even with two incomes. Assembling a down payment is just too difficult.

What is your dream job? If this is a hypothetical question then my hypothetical answer would be a golf pro. When I moved here I couldn’t even spell golf, but once I learned how to play, it has provided me with a lot of enjoyment and I have met some amazing people on the course.

Whom do you admire and why? I admire anyone who has put service before self in our society. School teachers, firefighters, police officers—they have my utmost respect.

What do you see happening in the industry over the next six months? We will continue to see Las Vegas grow, which means we will need more housing, office space and retail space. While we are in a slowdown, I believe that there will be a boom shortly.

What is something people might not know about you? In 1987 and 1988, I spent time in the Far East helping organize a new bank in Cambodia. That gave me a different perspective on how really advanced the U.S. economy is.

What is the best business advice you’ve received? “Always tell the truth, even when it is not in your best interest.” That was from my father.

What’s the most challenging aspect of your job? Keeping everyone happy! Borrowers, lenders, employees and service companies all want to compete for time with the boss, and it is a balancing act to keep them all happy. The most difficult aspect for sure is when it is time to call a loan due and the borrower wants to keep on going. That is where we earn our money.

The last bubble was clearly fueled by easy money, and there were many loans that were written with as little as 5% down payments. For the most part in the past several years, we have gotten away from that.”

BY REED GOTTESMAN

With economic uncertainty and more people working from home since the pandemic, people in my profession are seeing a steady stream of ominous headlines about the future of office space.

While it’s one of the biggest issues facing the commercial real estate industry nationwide, I agree with our local experts from NAIOP Southern Nevada in suggesting that such fears might be overblown here.

Widespread adoption of hybrid work schedules has created a structural shift in the office market nationwide, reducing demand for office space and propelling the overall vacancy rate to a 30-year high of 17.3% as of the fourth quarter of 2022.

During the first quarter of 2023, the vacancy rate in office buildings nationwide was at 12.9%. The availability of space was at 16.4%. Both are record highs, according to a 2023 report from CoStar.

Although U.S. office-using employment has steadily increased during eight of the past 10 quarters and is 5.4% above pre-pandemic levels, occupied office space has remained relatively stagnant. Office demand has been most affected by hybrid work arrangements, as well as corporate cost containment and economic uncertainty caused by rapidly rising interest rates. Despite

Las Vegas shouldn’t feel the full impact of nationwide office space vacancies

more office-using jobs today, occupied office space is 3.5% below pre-pandemic levels. Amid a flight to quality under these tenant-favorable conditions, newer space has generally benefited while older space has suffered.

Throughout the pandemic, Northeast and Pacific coastal markets had a slower return to office than Southwest and Midwest markets. This corresponded with a rise in remote and hybrid working that fueled worker migration away from more crowded and expensive major urban areas to less dense and more affordable secondary markets—such as Southern Nevada. This likely was the main reason for occupiers utilizing less office space in the Northeast and Pacific regions.

If workers continue to work remotely at the rate they’re doing in the largest cities, it will further disrupt the ecosystem of restaurants, bars, clubs, gyms, stores, hair and nail salons and an array of other businesses in these cities. Without the steady traffic of people into our nation’s largest cities and downtown areas, mom-and-pop shops and other businesses will close, since

they won’t have enough customers to keep them afloat.

As locals, we like to say that Las Vegas isn’t like any other city. That rings true in the office market. Las Vegas is actually doing pretty well when it comes to workers returning to their offices since the pandemic began to subside—especially when compared with larger cities like New York, LA and San Francisco.

According to Colliers research, Southern Nevada’s office job market added 15,500 jobs between February 2022 and February 2023. Southern Nevada added 404,623 square feet of office space to its inventory during the first quarter of 2023, including 367,184 square feet of Class A office space. In another sign of the overall health of the local office market, most of this new office space was pre-leased before the buildings opened. As of the first quarter of this year, there was another 230,800 square feet of office space under construction here.

Demand for local office space rebounded in the first quarter, with occupied square footage increasing by 200,980 square feet. Almost all positive net absorption during this quarter was

in Class A space, primarily in the most recently completed developments.

Of course, Las Vegas is a much younger city that has grown faster than cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco. As such, our office buildings are generally newer, with more of the modern amenities that workers want. This helps lure more local workers to the office.

In addition, we benefit from a more suburban landscape. This has proven to be a tremendous advantage in a postCOVID world, rather than the more traditional central business district.

For instance, NAIOP and industry leader Cassie Catania-Hsu, the managing director of the CBRE office in Las Vegas, recently pointed out that CBRE’s Las Vegas office now has an average utilization rate of more than 50% each week, “with peak utilization around 70% most days. Of note, our previous Las Vegas office had a 36% average utilization before we relocated in the summer of 2022 to UnCommons [a new office and mixed-use development near the 215 Beltway in the southwest part of Las Vegas].”

By comparison, data from a security operations company that tracks card swipes in office buildings, recently reported that an average of 49% of office workers in the 10 large U.S. cities it tracks were actually working from the office. This has been the case since the pandemic, with Kastle reporting the average office occupancy has been below 50% in these top 10 markets during the past three years.

Add it all up, and there’s still a place—and a need—for offices in Southern Nevada.

Reed Gottesman is the 2023 president of NAIOP Southern Nevada and works as a senior vice president and Las Vegas regional manager of Schnitzer Properties.

If workers continue to work remotely at the rate they’re doing in the largest cities, it will further disrupt the ecosystem of restaurants, bars, clubs, gyms, stores, hair and nail salons and an array of other businesses in these cities. Without the steady traffic of people into our nation’s largest cities and downtown areas, mom-and-pop shops and other businesses will close, since they won’t have enough customers to keep them afloat.

GUEST COLUMN

VEGAS INC NOTES

Spotlighting the best in business

American Nevada Company expanded its accounting staff with the hiring of Emily Hammond as a senior accountant. Hammond will serve under controller Kathy Marrott and be responsible for preparing and analyzing financial statements, performing account reconciliations, maintaining ledgers and monitoring budgets and forecasts. Hammond has held various accounting positions since 2017, most recently as a property accountant for Thomas Duke Company in Farmington Hills, Michigan, working remotely while she made her new home in Southern Nevada.

Donna Ruthe, Today’s Realty Inc.

Donna Ruthe was appointed by Gov. Joe Lombardo to serve on the Nevada Real Estate Commission. She will serve a three-year term on the board that regulates the real estate profession in Nevada. Ruthe is the broker and owner of Today’s Realty Inc. She has been a licensed real estate agent in Nevada since 1981. Lombardo also announced the appointment of Gregory Gordon to the Eighth Judicial District Court, Family Division, Department C. Gordon practiced family law in Nevada for nearly three decades.

partment, taking the oath of office on May 2. A veteran of the Henderson Police Department for 21 years, Chadwick has held several leadership positions, including sergeant of the patrol and problem-solving unit, lieutenant overseeing SWAT, K9 and Armor, captain and most recently, deputy chief.

CBRE has arranged 14 office leases totaling over 154,000 square feet at Town Square Las Vegas. The leases, signed since January 2021, have taken the office space occupancy at Town Square from 55% to approximately 96%. Brad Peterson and Darren Lemmon handled lease negotiations on behalf of the owners, Fairbourne Properties, a Chicago-based real estate investment and property management company, and Nuveen Real Estate

Hollie Chadwick, Henderson Police Department

The Firm Public Relations & Marketing promoted KC Kappen to account director. Kappen leads and manages several high-profile accounts across various sectors including education, financial services, health care, hospitality, entertainment and gaming, and nonprofits.

Deputy Chief Hollie Chadwick was selected to serve as the new Police Chief of the Henderson Police De-

Optum Cancer added a new provider to help meet the growing need for health services in the Las Vegas community: Cecille Shappee, APRN, joins the office at 2300 W. Charleston Blvd. in Las Vegas, and specializes in oncology.

PREMIER CROSSWORD HOROSCOPES

“INTELLECTUAL TREAT” BY FRANK LONGO

ACROSS

1 Accord, Civic and Pilot 7 Blue toon 12 Hubbubs 16 Honorary deg. for a jurist 19 Unicellular organism 20 Subdued, with “down” 21

BREZSNY

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Before forming The Beatles, John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney performed under various other names: The Quarrymen, Japage 3 and Johnny and the Moondogs. You are currently at your own equivalent of the Johnny and the Moondogs phase. You’re building momentum, gathering the tools and resources you need. But you have not yet found the exact title, descriptor or definition for your enterprise.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Let this passage from poet Jane Shore serve as one of your prime themes the rest of 2023: “Now I feel I am learning how to grow into the space I was always meant to occupy, into a self I can know.” You will have the opportunity to grow ever-more assured and self-possessed as you embody Shore’s description in the coming months.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The painter Georges Rouault (1871-1958) bequeathed the world over 3,000 works of art. There might have been even more. But years before he died, he burned 315 of his unfinished paintings. He felt they were imperfect, and he would never have time or be motivated to finish them. Enjoy a comparable purge. Consider freeing yourself from stale energy.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi led a 24-day, 240-mile march to protest the British empire’s tyrannical salt tax. This action was instrumental in energizing the Indian independence movement that ultimately culminated in India’s freedom. Make Gandhi one of your inspirational role models in the coming months. Are you ready to launch a liberation project?

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): As crucial as it is to take responsibility, it is also essential to recognize where our responsibilities end and what should be left for others to do. To be effective and to find fulfillment in life, it’s vital for us to discover what truly needs to be within our care and what should be outside of our care. The coming weeks are a favorable time to clarify these boundaries.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Marie Laveau (1801–1881) was a powerful Voodoo priestess, herbalist, activist and midwife in New Orleans. There is evidence that she was a community activist who healed the sick, volunteered as an advocate for prisoners, provided free teachings and did rituals for needy people who couldn’t pay her. Make her your inspirational role model for the coming weeks.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): What are the best methods to exorcise our personal demons, ghosts and goblins? Or at least subdue them and neutralize their ill effects? Don’t get mad at yourself for having these interlopers. The demons’ strategy is to manipulate you into being mean and cruel to yourself. To drive them away, shower yourself with love and kindness.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): As she matured, poet Sylvia Plath wrote, “I am learning how to compromise the wild dream ideals and the necessary realities without such screaming pain.” You’re ready to go even further. You could synergize those dream ideals and necessary realities, and get them to collaborate in satisfying ways. You may even generate surprising pleasures that delight you with their revelations.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Some primates use herbal and clay medicines to self-medicate. Spend quality time in the coming weeks deepening your understanding of how to heal and nurture yourself. The kinds of “medicines” you might draw on could be herbs, and may also be music, stories, colors, scents, books, relationships and adventures.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The mythic traditions of all cultures are replete with tales of clashes and combats. If we draw on these tales to deduce what activity humans enjoy more than any other, we might conclude that it’s fighting with each other. But you will cast a wildly benevolent magic spell on your mental and physical health if you avoid arguments and skirmishes.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Is there a person who could serve as your Über Mother for a while? This would be a wise and tender maternal ally who gives you the extra nurturing you need, along with steady doses of warm, crisp advice on how to weave your way through your labyrinthine decisions. They would love and accept you for exactly who you are, even as they stoke your confidence to pursue your sweet dreams about the future.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

Congratulations on acquiring the Big New Riddle! It will inspire you to grow wiser, kinder and wilder over the coming months. Some clues to help you solve this mystery. 1. Refrain from calling on any strength that’s stingy or pinched. Ally yourself solely with generous power. 2. Avoid putting your faith in trivial and irrelevant “benefits.” Hold out for the most soulful assistance. 3. The answer to key questions may often be, “Make new connections and enhance existing connections.”

WEEK OF MAY 4 BY ROB

2020 KING FEATURES SYNDICATE