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24 NEWS
The e ects of President Trump’s tari s are trickling down to Vegas’ wedding industry.
Can the expansion of autonomous vehicles and teledriving in Las Vegas transform how we get around?
28 SPORTS
Two experienced quarterbacks face o for the top spot at UNLV’s training camp.
30 THE STRIP
The Party at Superfrico blends bold flavors and interactive performances for a showstopping experience.
32 MUSIC
The Dirty Hooks make a clean comeback at Swan Dive with the release of their first album in seven years.
La Vecindad Cantina brings family flavors and electric energy to Commercial Center.
Psych-punk rockers Frankie and the Witch Fingers take over Swan Dive, the Aces host the Lynx and the Valkyries and more this week.
La Vecindad Cantina’s Super Torta Cubanita (Wade Vandervort/Sta )
SUPERGUIDE
THURSDAY JULY 31
FRANKIE AND THE WITCH FINGERS
The undeniable power of Frankie and the Witch Fingers sucks you into their audible shapeshifting world and spits you out dazed, wired, and hungry for more. They’ve been grinding since 2013, but somehow still sound like they just crawled out of a garage possessed by the ghosts of psych and proto-punk. Their latest release, Trash Classic, doesn’t stray far from their signature bite—wavy synths, fuzzy ri age, and morphing drum sequences that feel like a nervous breakdown in real time. Frontman Dylan Sizemore commands with echo-drenched vocals and raw-eyed intensity. Don’t miss one of the fiercest, funnest DIY rock bands around. 8 p.m., $26, Swan Dive, dice.fm. –Gabriela Rodriguez
THE KING RETURNS
7 & 9 p.m., Westgate International Theater, ticketmaster.com.
POWERMAN 5000 6 p.m., House of Blues, ticketmaster.com.
OPERA ON TAP: BETTER TOGETHER 7:30 p.m., the Space, thespacelv.com.
CLOWN BAR Thru 8/17, 7:30 p.m., Majestic Repertory Theatre, majesticrepertory. com
LAS VEGAS AVIATORS VS. RENO ACES Thru 8/2, 7:05 p.m. (& 8/3, 6:05 p.m.), Las Vegas Ballpark, ticketmaster.com
VIVA LA GRAVITY
MOUNTAIN BIKE RACE
2 p.m., Lee Canyon, leecanyonlv.com
HOTBOX COMEDY SHOW
7 p.m., Commonwealth, tixr.com
YING YANG TWINS
10:30 p.m., Tao Nightclub, taogroup.com
MAD DUBZ & VKTM
With Roodboy, Bvera, 10 p.m., We All Scream, seetickets.us
FRIDAY AUG 1
EVO USA Thru 8/3, times vary, Las Vegas Convention Center, evo.gg
MONSTER JAM FREESTYLE MANIA Thru 8/3, times vary, Thomas & Mack Center, unlvtickets.com
The Blank Tapes told us to never get old, and like any good advice, we’ve been trying to live it ever since, drenched in the band’s laidback, California haze. At the heart of it all is Matt Adams, a quiet storm with a head full of kaleidoscopic sounds. Adams’ multi-instrumental mastery is a call to anyone looking for something smoother than a jolt. His dream mix of psych-soul, hippie funk and ’60s pop has just enough fuzz to keep it from floating away. Opening the night is Sarah Barlow, a Texas-bred blues powerhouse with jazzy, slow-burning style. 7 p.m., $8+, Fat Cat Lounge, dice.fm. –Gabriela Rodriguez
10:30 p.m., Omnia Nightclub, taogroup.com. DO IT ALL
SUPERGUIDE
LAS VEGAS ACES VS. GOLDEN STATE VALKYRIES 3 p.m., Michelob Ultra Arena, axs.com
JEFF DUNHAM
8 p.m., PH Live, ticketmaster.com
SONIA BARCELONA with Jan Jan, AYCE, 7 p.m., Swan Dive, swandivelv.com.
TYGA 11 a.m., Tao Beach Dayclub, taogroup.com.
DILLON FRANCIS With Charly Jordan, 10:30 p.m., XS Nightclub, wynnsocial.com.
LINSKA 10:30 p.m., LIV Nightclub, livnightclub.com.
CODY WOODS With Nancy Lee, thru 8/10, 8 p.m., LA Comedy Club, bestvegascomedy. com
EMMA WILLMANN With Steve Caouette, Steven Roberts, 8 p.m., Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club, mgmgrand. mgmresorts.com
KERMET APIO With Marsha Warfield, Jason Cheny, Jamie Wolf, 7 & 9:30 p.m., Comedy Cellar, ticketmaster.com
MONDAYS DARK 8 p.m., the Space, mondaysdark. com.
J-RAD COOLEY BAND 10 p.m., Sand Dollar Lounge, thesanddollarlv. com.
(Steve Marcus/Sta )
SUPERGUIDE
MICHAEL GRIMM
7 p.m., Myron’s, thesmithcenter.com.
KEITH THOMPSON & TONY ARIAS
6 p.m., Composers Room, thecomposersroom. com.
KATRINA BREE
10 p.m., Sand Dollar Lounge, thesanddollarlv.com.
EXHIBIT: LOOKING THROUGH A BLACK FRAME BY ABDI ALIMOND Thru 9/7, times vary, Enterprise Library, thelibrarydistrict.org
CARLOS MENCIA
10 p.m., & 8/6, Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club, ticketmaster.com
BASHFORTHEWORLD 7:30 p.m., House of Blues, ticketmaster.com.
LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL Thru 8/9, 8:05 p.m., Spring Mountain Ranch State Park, supersummertheatre. org
OFF THE RAILS 7 p.m., Sand Dollar Downtown, thesanddollarlv.com.
MACKENZIE SOL 8 p.m., Easy’s Cocktail Lounge, easysvegas.com.
JAZZ VEGAS ORCHESTRA 7:30 p.m., Notoriety, notorietylive.com.
BLUES RIVER BAND 10 p.m., Sand Dollar Lounge, thesanddollarlv.com.
DO IT ALL
Autonomous vehicles and teledriving are coming to our Valley, and they may transform how we get around
BY GEOFF CARTER
A white Kia Nero electric vehicle cautiously turns the corner. It rolls to a stop in front of the English Hotel, and I’m ushered inside, taking the shotgun seat while my hosts ride in the back. There is no one in the driver’s seat.
Today I’m riding in a car belonging to Vay, a Berlin-based company that has established its U.S. headquarters in Las Vegas. Vay is a service that rents electric cars on demand, driving them remotely to your pick-up spot and to the next driver after you’ve completed your trip. Meaning: I could summon one of these vehicles to my Downtown home via the Vay app; drive it myself to, say, the Smith Center; and then watch it roll away, remotely piloted, to its next customer, or back to its Arts District headquarters. And the cost at 35 cents a minute, approximately half of current rideshare rates, will likely encourage me to do just that.
But that’s not happening today. Today, I’m savoring my rst ride in a car with no driver at the wheel. It’s a relatively short trip around the block: we roll northbound on Main Street to Bonneville Avenue, cut over to Casino Center, head south to Hoover Street and return to Main. I lm the empty driver’s seat as if someone is about to materialize in it, but no one does: Yulieanna Duran, our driver, is in an o ce, seated in an interactive driving rig that a Gran Turismo player would stan on sight. The wheel makes slight adjustments as we roll; at one point we drive around a pickup truck and trailer that’s illegally parked in the middle of the road, no rhyme or reason. I remark to my fellow passengers that it feels good to know that someone, somewhere, is as annoyed by that nonsense as I am, and decided to drive around it.
“We’ve heard that from users several times, that it’s reassuring to know that human decision is involved in this,” says Silvia Avanzini, Vay’s head of communications. “Vehicles parked in the middle of the street, construction work, detours—these things can be easily addressed by humans, obviously. But it takes longer to train autonomous vehicles for that.”
on our roads. Amazon subsidiary Zoox has been testing its robotaxis streets
Las Vegas is witnessing the proof of that now, as driverless vehicles become increasingly common on our roads. Amazon subsidiary Zoox has been testing its robotaxis on Valley streets since 2019, and it intends to launch fully autonomous ride-hailing service in Vegas later this year with a series of local partnerships that include Resorts World and Area15. Motional, an AV collaboration between Hyundai and Aptiv, continues to test on our streets, as does Google subsidiary Waymo. Electric vehicle maker Lucid, working with autonomous technology company Nuro, is reportedly testing a robotaxi on a closed Vegas track; Uber has invested $300 million in the project. And the City of Las Vegas is working with the Regional Transportation Commission to bring an automated shuttle bus, provisionally titled GoMed, to the Las Vegas Medical District next year.
STREET HASSLES
Las Vegas, a sprawling metropolitan area seemingly built by private cars for use by private cars, is experiencing a rare blossoming of public transportation modes.
The RTC is constructing a bus rapid transit line on Maryland Parkway that will connect several important locations—Sunrise and UMC hospitals, Symphony Park, Filipino Town, UNLV, the Bonneville Transit Center, Harry Reid International Airport and more—via state-of-the-art coaches running a route with minimal stops.
We’re about to vault to the head of a line that, somewhat paradoxically, has no humans standing in it. Las Vegas has become ground zero for an explosion of autonomous and remote-driven vehicles. Our city is encouraging nobody to take the wheel in a big way.
“We chose to launch in (the City of) Las Vegas because they welcomed us with very open arms,” says Vay co-founder and CEO Thomas von der Ohe. “They loved the innovation aspect of what we do. The sustainability of it.”
–Thomas von der Ohe, CEO, Vay
The Boring Company’s underground Vegas Loop now connects the Las Vegas Convention Center with Encore, Resorts World and Westgate, and plans are in the works for a station just a few blocks north of the airport, with stops along the way at Hughes Center, UNLV and Virgin. And it’s not impossible to imagine autonomous vehicles in those tunnels someday; Tesla’s Cybercab and Robovan projects are still moving ahead.
Several years from now, the Brightline high-speed rail line (see sidebar, page 20) will begin spilling car-less overnight visitors into town. They’ll
ABOVE
Yulieanna Duran remotely drives a Vay electric car from the company headquarters in Downtown Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Sta )
go to Raiders, Aces and Golden Knights games; to concerts, festivals and events; to the Arts District, Fremont Street and Chinatown. Maybe they’ll hop onto the RTC’s double-decker Strip buses, one of the busiest routes in America; perhaps by then, the Vegas Loop will meet Brightline where it stops. But those future passengers will still need help covering that last mile—the distance between a Loop or BRT station and the door of a restaurant or Airbnb. That’s an AV job.
Autonomous vehicles may prove to be the heroes of Vegas’ increasingly unorthodox transit grid. They could handle passengers the way computer hard drives handle data—they’re constantly looking for the next task, constantly trying to maximize their efforts with minimal resources. And if integrated with Vegas’ existing bus grid, AVs could handily cover the first-and-last-mile problem: the distance between your home and an express bus stop, or the distance between a bus stop and your ultimate destination.
David Swallow, deputy CEO of the RTC, can imagine a future in which AVs are integrated with the Valley’s transit network.
“This is just talking hypothetically, but if most of our Valley is built on a one-mile grid network, you could assign an autonomous vehicle to be kind of an on-demand platform that serves one square mile, or however many square miles we set that up for that,” Swallow says. “Say you want to go to a coffee shop, but it’s mile away from your house, maybe a little too far to walk. It’s accessible by bike, but not everybody rides
bikes or wants to ride a bike. … How do you bridge that distance without someone having to have a car? This is where you can have a more micro transit service, serving that need.”
GoMed, the Las Vegas Medical District shuttle that the RTC is creating with a Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, might provide empirical proof for that hypothesis. Leaving from a stop at the Bonneville Transit Center, a group of Ford Transit vans— converted to AV by Orlando-based Beep—will begin servicing nine stops in the Medical District late next year. Swallow suggests a scenario where someone could take an express line into the city—the Centennial Express out of the northwest, say, or the Boulder Highway Express from Henderson—and hop on the Medical District shuttle to be delivered to the Lou Ruvo Center or UMC, both just within a mile of the Transit Center.
“It’s not replacing anything,” Swallow says. “It’s more complementary to the vision we have for continuing to evolve our transit network. This would just be another layer of service that we would add into it to make the larger system more accessible.”
AVs are splendidly cooperative. They won’t mind running a twomile Medical District loop all day long. They don’t care if a pickup is inconveniently located, or if a fare is too low to be worth their while. They just get the call and show up. Rideshare and taxis will still exist; they’ll just be one choice among several. Even the Mandalorian can choose between landspeeders driven by humans and droids.
And there’s another possible benefit to AVs, though it’s even more hypothetical and requires a level of buy-in Vegas may never be quite ready for. If people use AV transit en masse, forgoing their private cars, it could mean fewer cars on the Strip and Downtown. It might even spell the end of
Vegas’ ocean-sized parking lots, jam-packed street parking and massive concrete garages.
“That’s something that, in planning, we talked about for a long time. (Autonomous vehicles) could completely change the paradigm of how and where cars get stored right in the middle of the day,” says Ray Delahanty, a traffic engineer and urban planner whose 359,000-subscriber YouTube channel, CityNerd (youtube.com/@ citynerd), smartly and restlessly contemplates an America that’s less dependent on privately-owned cars. “With autonomous vehicles, that means a car drives you to the center of the city, and then it drives off. It either goes home, or maybe, if it’s part of a taxi service, it goes and finds the next ride somewhere else, or it goes to some off-site location far away.”
In Delahanty’s estimation, the ideal use of driverless vehicles is to have “fewer cars doing more work.” And though they rely on remote human drivers, Vay’s operational model fits neatly into that description. Vay CEO von der Ohe even has a snazzy way of describing it.
“What it basically is, is teleportation,” he says. “You teleport a human into one car, and that human drives that car to a customer. Then the remote driver can teleport to another car on the other side of town, or maybe in another city.
“Our vision is to create livable and safer cities, right? And livable means that we get rid of all these parked cars that are blocking our streets,” von der Ohe continues. “What we want to achieve with this new mobility category is to offer a real alternative to private car ownership, which is extremely expensive in Nevada, with its high insurance rates. … What we offer is a on-demand, kind of shortterm car rental that you don’t have to walk to, and you don’t have to park, at very affordable prices.”
Robotaxi provider Zoox would also like to serve a private car-less
Vegas, acting as an accessory to existing transport modes. “Our goal is to provide another option for those getting around Las Vegas. We’re not looking to replace rideshares or public transportation,” said Zoox’s director of fleet operations, Justin Windus, to the Weekly last January.
Reasonably priced autonomous vehicles could also be a boon to seniors, who want to get around without the hassle of parking or maintaining a car, and to anyone who’s leery of getting into a car driven by a stranger. We just need to get past the psychological hangup of getting into a car driven by no one, to convince ourselves that it’s safe. Delahanty thinks that may happen sooner rather than later.
“I feel like the technology is basically there,” he says. “There’s going to be some hiccups … but my impression that they’re much better drivers than humans.”
THE THING WE’RE AFRAID OF
When I meet Yulieanna Duran, the Vay employee who conducted me on my first driverless ride, I pepper her with questions about her remote driving station. It’s an impressive rig, with a trio of curving monitors providing a full field of vision and a secondary monitor providing navigation, lane indicators drawing a path in front of the vehicle and sensors reporting real-time conditions. Duran drives with headphones on, listening to the audio from the car, completely locked in. She’s probably paying more attention to the road than we do. We’re out there looking at our phones, eating drive-thru, taking long drags on vape pens— emphatically not watching the road.
I spot a giant red button to the left of the wheel and ask Duran what it does, even though I’ve already got a pretty good idea.
“If there’s any kind of system error— if my screen goes black—or if I feel unsafe or uncomfortable, I will go ahead and slam on the button,” she says. “It’ll bring the vehicle to a full and complete stop within three or four seconds.”
And Swallow says the Medical District AV shuttle will have a safety driver when it rolls out in 2026.
“If anything happens, the driver can just take over seamlessly, not a problem,” he says. “But also, as a public transit provider, there’s nothing that beats having a human interface. Someone who is on the vehicle, who’s aware of what’s going on, interfacing with passengers, making sure they have a good customer experience.”
That may be the biggest obstacle we need to overcome regarding AVs: fear of the unknown. I think of the relief I felt when I perceived Duran’s hand on the wheel, cutting around that parked truck and trailer. But AVs can do the same thing. They’ll continue to get smarter and more task-oriented. Perhaps more task-oriented than I’ll ever be behind the wheel.
I suggest to Delahanty that there could be 100 ride share accidents in Las Vegas every week, but the second one AV runs a curb, it’ll be headlining news.
“Yeah,” he agrees. “It’s a human psychology thing, right? Everybody feels like, ‘Oh, if it’s a human in control, at least a human can be accountable.’ … When it’s a computer driving, there’s no explaining it. It seems random, and that’s scary.”
A Tesla electric car heads into a tunnel during a tour of the Vegas Loop at the Las Vegas Convention Center. (Steve Marcus/Staff)
Zoox at Resorts World (Courtesy)
NOBODY TAKE THE WHEEL
Will Brightline ’s
Las Vegas station get travelers where they need to go?
Las Vegas was once just a stop on the way to LA on the Old Spanish Trail. And while we’ve become our own destination, our ties with Southern California continue. In fact, three in 10 visitors last year came from the region. Rail company Brightline has promised to strengthen those ties with Brightline West. The $12 billion all-electric, high-speed transportation option will link Rancho Cucamonga—which is connected to LA through Southern California Regional Rail Authority’s Metrolink train—and Las Vegas.
“With trains capable of reaching speeds up to 200 miles per hour, guests can expect a trip from Southern California to Las Vegas in half the time as driving,” Brightline’s director of public a airs Antonio Castelan wrote in an email.
Several questions have arisen about the practicality of the rail line. For one, will anyone be willing to spend the $400 that Brightline’s CEO Wes Edens told the Los Angeles Times it might cost for a roundtrip?
According to the company website’s FAQ page, ticket prices “can be expected to be priced on par with the cost of gas and parking, but without the stress and extra time in tra c and other things that can add time and money
to your trip.”
The success of the train also depends on travelers being able to get where they need to go when they arrive at the future Las Vegas station. The 110-acre parcel situated on Las Vegas Boulevard at Warm Springs Road (just south of the busy I-15 and 215 Beltway interchange) is miles away from the tourist action on the Strip and Downtown.
Castelan says travelers will have access to “a range of ground transportation options” including rideshare pick-up zones, taxi stands, limo services, hotel shuttles and connections to public transportation.
“Brightline is also working closely with local partners and hospitality groups to make sure there is an easy transition from station to resort, whether guests are headed to the Strip, Downtown or beyond,” he says.
Brightline also had in mind the station’s relative proximity to Harry Reid International Airport, the Las Vegas Convention Center and Allegiant Stadium when selecting the station site.
Construction of the rail line, which started in April 2024, is projected to be completed in 2028.
–Shannon Miller
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!
Space and school supplies are on a first-come, first-served basis and vary by branch. Quantities are limited. Please scan here for event details.
The Library is Your Back-to-School Headquarters! EVENTS
Gather up your family and friends and join us for games and tons of fun. We will also give away FREE school supplies!*
Back-to-School Fair
Sunday, August 3
12 p.m. - 2 p.m.
Spring Valley Library
Back-to-School Kickoff
Wednesday, August 6
3 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Rainbow Library
*While supplies last.
Back-to-School Celebration
Wednesday, August 6
4 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Clark County Library
Back-to-School Extravaganza!
Thursday, August 7
4 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Enterprise Library
Get ready with FREE school supplies from the Library District, August 2 – 7.*
And for Summer Challenge participants, don’t forget to bring in your final log for a chance to win awesome prizes.
Join us to slime some of your favorite librarians! Bring your family and friends to enjoy featured crafts, live music, and more. We will also give away FREE school supplies!*
Saturday, August 2
10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Whitney Library
Wednesday, August 6
4 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Centennial Hills Library
Wednesday, August 6 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.
Indian Springs Library
Thursday, August 7 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
West Charleston Library
IN THE NEWS
Protesters demand end to deportations in Southern Nevada
About 60 protesters marched down Henderson’s Water Street on July 25 demanding the abolishment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and an end to President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
As of June 23, 402 people were in a Southern Nevada ICE facility: 72 in Henderson and 330 in Pahrump, according to the Transactional Record Access Clearinghouse.
“We’re trying … to let (people
Downtown) know that the detention center is right down the street and they have their community members in that detention center,” said Crystal Cooper, who leads the local branch of anti-Trump protest group 50501. “I can guarantee you the people here do not know that.”
Stephanie Gentry—a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), which organized the protest—said it’s unnecessary to bend the knee to the Trump
administration, referring to Metro police’s new partnership with ICE.
The new 287(g) agreement enables officers at the Clark County Detention Center to serve warrants for immigration violations and hold people in the jail for up to 48 hours after their release time for ICE.
“People are scared to go to church. People are scared to go to school. I’m hearing it in the community,” Cooper said.
–Kyle Chouinard
Construction starts on Arts District parking garage
The bustling Arts District will have a new five-story parking garage and 10,000 square feet of additional retail space by fall of 2026. Construction is set to begin at the corner of Casino Center Boulevard and Utah Avenue this week, according to a news release from the City of Las Vegas.
The $25 million facility, funded by the city and Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency, will be located at the former surface lot site at 201 E. Utah Avenue. It will bring 500 parking spaces to the 18b neighborhood, which currently has at least three multistory apartment buildings under construction.
The garage will include up to 50 spots for electric vehicle charging as well as “new public art installations,” the release said. Construction is expected to be completed in August 2026. –Staff
“The governor said that we should be excited about Trump’s betrayal of (a) tax bill. … All of this to pay for tax cuts for billionaires while increasing the national deficit by $3 trillion. That’s not leadership. That’s letting us down.”
–Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford at the East Las Vegas Community Center in a July 28 launch event for his campaign for governor
ENTERTAINMENT
Las Vegas-based magician to receive ‘Oscar of magic’ award
The Composers Room Showlounge & Restaurant will host an award ceremony honoring resident magician Edgar Monárrez with the most prestigious accolade in the industry.
Monárrez, known by his stage name Mago Samed, will receive the International Magicians Society’s Merlin Award for Best Illusionist Mexico 2025. Originally from Mexico and now based in Las Vegas, he has a residency production at the Composers Room.
Past recipients of the award, frequently referred to as the “Oscar of magic,” include Siegfried & Roy, David Copperfield, Criss Angel, Penn & Teller and Shin Lim.
The ceremony will take place on August 8 at 6 p.m. Admission is complimentary and guests are encouraged to RSVP at thecomposersroom.com. –Shannon Miller
ARTS DISTRICT
(Courtesy/City of Las Vegas)
HOT SHOT
Demonstrators march along Basic Road during a protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement near the Henderson Detention Center on July 25. (Steve Marcus/
NUPTIAL NUISANCE
Following
post-pandemic recovery,
Las Vegas’ massive wedding industry battles a new wave of economic
uncertainty
BY TYLER SCHNEIDER
Las Vegas’ iconic wedding industry has weathered countless downturns over the decades, but the early pandemic period in 2020 was particularly brutal. That year, Clark County issued 22% fewer marriage licenses than it had in 2019. Luckily, the bounce back was just as swift.
It was a miraculous recovery. From 2021 to 2024, the marriage license totals regularly surpassed pre-pandemic levels, with the local industry generating $2.2 billion in economic activity in 2023, Clark County Clerk Lynn Goya tells the Weekly. Unfortunately, the rst half of 2025 has been a di erent story.
“If you see a recession like the 2008 housing crisis, you’ll see the number of weddings go down. And the economy has been so uncertain since the beginning of this year that it has impacted weddings as well as tourism,” Goya says.
Through the end of June, her o ce cites a 2.6% decrease in marriage licenses and a net loss of just under 900 weddings compared to the same period in 2024. It may not sound like much, but for a local industry that Goya says is made up of around 20,000 planners, o ciants, bakers, orists and other vendors, it truly adds up.
Local wedding coordinator and Cactus Collective Weddings founder McKenzi Taylor has seen the latest wave of economic uncertainty unfold rsthand. She attributes this moment to a mix of decreased consumer con dence and the fallout from uctuating tari rates imposed by the Trump administration.
“We didn’t really see that coming. We were starting to notice, since probably October or November of the prior year, that people were becoming a lot more cautious about their spending in general,” Taylor says. “I couldn’t really predict that tari s were coming down the pipeline, but I’d say they shocked our industry and blindsided a lot of us.”
Taylor, who is also president of the local Wedding Industry Professionals Association chapter, began her career as a wedding photographer in 2004 and went on to launch her comprehensive wedding planning business in 2017. For her, the slowdown in the rst half of 2025 is evident in fewer bookings, signi cantly more
cancellations, smaller guest lists and higher prices for supplies and services. Overall, she says, “less weddings are occurring” here in 2025.
She identi es oral studios as one sector of the industry that’s beginning to get hit by tari -driven price hikes. Because orists tend to source many of their owers from more favorable climates in other countries, Taylor says she’s seen local orists increase their prices by 10% to 20% since Trump unveiled his initial tari rates in April. Her thoughts echo a June 25 report from global marketing rm Associated Luxury Hotels International that cites orists reporting 10% to 25% price increases on “premium
blooms” from abroad.
Aside from owers, the industry relies heavily on imports. According to the National Bridal Retailers Association, China accounts for 90% of the U.S. bridal gown market.
In May, the Trump administration and Chinese government announced a 90-day trade deal lowering tari rates on most Chinese imports from 145% to 30%, but the arrangement is set to expire on August 12. On July 29, top trade o cials from both countries concluded talks in Stockholm, Sweden, but it was unclear as of press time whether President Trump would follow through on extending the trade deal past the original deadline.
Taylor fears that economic uncertainty and price increases could threaten Las Vegas’ role as a destination wedding hub going forward.
According to Goya, roughly 80% of all Las Vegas weddings involve non-locals, with about 20% of those coming from international clients. She adds that the larger wedding sector here accounts for about 4% of all visitor volume, according to data from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
Goya also labels international weddings as one area in which the local industry has made strides in recent years. But Taylor is now seeing far fewer clients from Canada, which
“I couldn’t really predict that tari s were coming down the pipeline, but I’d say they shocked our industry and blindsided a lot of us.”
are a signi cant portion of Las Vegas’ foreign wedding share.
October will be a telling month, as Taylor says it typically represents a “boom” in matrimonial activity. At this point though, her fall and winter bookings are still down from last year.
“I think consumer pocketbooks are tightening. ... They’re actually getting fearful or complaining more about nancial strains than they have historically. So that’s probably really the factor here,” Taylor says.
There’s still room for optimism, however, with Goya noting that the 80,000 or so weddings that occur here annually “still puts our wedding rate way above anybody else in the world that I can nd.”
Longtime local o ciant Brian Mills, who serves as president of the Vegas Wedding Chamber that Goya helped form in 2016, shares her outlook.
“[We] weathered COVID, and we will make it through this, too. I anticipate next year being a very big year [if] international travel returns, the uncertainty of the political landscape settles and everyone has more discretionary income in their pockets,” Mills says.
In the meantime, industry veterans like Taylor are taking proactive steps to help curb their losses, like running a summer sale and doubling down on outreach and marketing e orts. She also notes that it’s important to lean into emerging trends like a greater interest in outdoor wedding destinations like Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire State Park, plus the millennial proclivity for themed weddings.
“There’s still a place for some of those fun, kitschy, super Vegas vibes that you can’t get anywhere else. But the reality is that there are also so many beautiful, scenic places to get married here,” Taylor says. “The goal for us now is to promote the fact that, for every couple that has a vision about getting married, it can all happen in Vegas.”
A wedding at Til Death Do Us Part Wedding Chapel at Palms (Courtesy/Cactus Collective)
VEGAS IN YOUR POCKET
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PASSING PAIR
College football veterans Anthony Colandrea , Alex Orji face o for UNLV quarterback job in training camp
BY CASE KEEFER
One glance at the UNLV roster is all that college football fans should need to realize how much has changed at the program.
Recognizable names from around the sport abound, especially for those who follow recruiting. UNLV’s success the last two years under now former coach Barry Odom, who led the Rebels to a combined 19-8 record before departing for Purdue last December, has helped the program become a destination for highly touted players.
The transfer portal now rules college football, and UNLV has made good use of it. First-year coach Dan Mullen, who’s replacing Odom, built the topranked transfer class in the Mountain West and the fourth highest among all non-power conference teams this o season, according to 247 Sports.
The impact of the incoming class starts at the sport’s most important position: quarterback. Mullen lured a pair of former national top 50 quarterback recruits in the portal for the chance to succeed last year’s graduated starter, Hajj-Malik Williams.
Anthony Colandrea, who started the last two years at Virginia, and Alex Orji, who started for a stretch last season at Michigan, are familiar names in college football circles. One of them will be at the helm for the Scarlet and Gray this season as they’re locked into a training-camp battle leading up to the season opener against Idaho State on August 23 at Allegiant Stadium.
Mullen isn’t giving anything away and says both Colandrea and Orji are still in a “developmental stage” of learning his o ense. There’s a strong chance they both play against the Bengals, but the coach will need to settle on one quarterback eventually.
ANTHONY COLANDREA
AGE: 20
YEAR: Junior
HOMETOWN: Saint Petersburg, Florida
CAREER STATISTICS:
352 completions on 566 attempts for 4,083 passing yards with 26 touchdowns and 20 interceptions; 201 rush attempts for 502 yards and two touchdowns
RECORD AS A STARTER: 6-11
STRENGTHS:
Colandrea has an NFL-caliber arm, per multiple scouting reports. He can fit passes into tight windows and has excelled on both quick throws and other timing-based routes. He also has a natural feel for the
HEIGHT: 6 feet
WEIGHT: 205 pounds
247 SPORTS TRANSFER PORTAL QUARTERBACK RANKING: 36th
pocket and has been adept at buying time by scrambling whenever he feels it collapsing.
WEAKNESSES:
BEST COLLEGE MOMENT SO FAR:
HERE’S HOW COLANDREA AND ORJI STACK UP IN THEIR QUARTERBACK COMPETITION.
Colandrea can be too careless with the ball and too desperate to make a big play. Turnovers, both interceptions and fumbles, have dogged him for two straight years and contributed directly to a rash of close losses while he was at Virginia. He might be skilled at escaping from pressure, but he doesn’t always make the sharpest decisions while on the run.
In Week 2 of last season, Virginia trailed Wake Forest for the opening 58 minutes in the team’s ACC opener. But Colandrea kept fighting and ultimately led a 13-point comeback in the final 10 minutes. The Cavaliers edged out the victory 31-30 behind Colandrea’s season-high 357
skilled at escaping from prespassing yards.
TEAMMATE’S TAKE:
“He’s real mobile. He can make plays even when things go into shambles.” –Junior receiver DeAngelo Irvin
ALEX ORJI
AGE: 21 years old
YEAR: Senior HOMETOWN: Dallas
CAREER STATISTICS:
25 completions on 47 attempts for 155 passing yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions; 78 rush attempts for 392 yards and four touchdowns
RECORD AS A STARTER:
2-1
HEIGHT: 6 feet 3 inches
WEIGHT: 240 pounds
247 SPORTS TRANSFER PORTAL QUARTERBACK RANKING: 71st
STRENGTHS:
Orji is a threat to take o and make a big play in the run game at any moment. Even if a defensive lineman or a linebacker spy figures out Orji is ditching the chance to throw downfield, it’s no guarantee they can tackle him. Orji is bigger and more physical than most running backs, and frequently uses those gifts to break tackles.
WEAKNESSES:
BEST COLLEGE
MOMENT SO FAR:
Orji was part of the College Football Playo National Championship team in the 2023-2024 season, but rarely saw the field. He struggled his first career start the next season against USC, but teammates credited his leadership for helping spur a 27-24 Michigan comeback victory that included a game-winning touchdown in the final minute.
Despite spending two years under famed coach and former NFL quarterback Jim Harbaugh, Orji has shown little development as a passer. He has monstrous arm strength but lacks in accuracy and has been tentative to step up in the pocket and make throws. The longest completion in his career has gone for only 16 yards, and he’s averaging just more than three yards per attempt.
TEAMMATE’S TAKE:
“He has great tools. He can throw the ball and has a big frame.”
–DeAngelo Irvin
and Alex Orji (right)
Colandrea (left) during practice at the Rebel Field at UNLV.
THE STRIP
DECADENT DELIRIUM
The Party at Superfrico brings together bold flavors and bolder performances in one unforgettable night
BY GABRIELA RODRIGUEZ
There’s a thin line between decadence and madness. At The Party inside Superfrico’s speakeasy-esque hideaway, that line doesn’t just blur, it disappears entirely.
Enter through the reliquary, a velvet-swathed liminal space that feels like you’ve stumbled into the surreal memory of a wilder Vegas. Laurie Hagen, host and high priestess of this vivid dream, greets each guest like an old friend, or maybe an accomplice. She takes a moment to learn your name. She pours you bubbly rosé from a claw-foot tub filled with ice and bottles, apologizes for her ice-cold hands, then locks eyes like she’s already chosen you for something. Something fun. Something possibly dangerous.
“I created this extended version of myself to be brave enough to go and, you know, be more outrageous,” Hagen says. Outrageous is exactly what she delivers.
The main room—shared by a wall with Superfrico’s more traditional dining chaos—is soaked in whimsy and subversion. And for only moments throughout the two-hour experience, you can hear the clatter of the entirely different world next door.
The Party guests, just 50 a night, fill in slowly, unsure if they’re in for dinner or a circus initiation. Spoiler: it’s both.
Mark Ogge’s circus-themed paintings are impossible to ignore. They hang like wild hallucinations on the walls of the main dining room, only adding to a head-on-a-swivel motion as you try to take it all in.
The food arrives in waves, with performances strategically breaking the meal like punctuation. The chef-curated, threecourse menu costs $150 per guest and not only fills you up, it leaves you impressed with taste and presentation. One of the appetizer options, the tuna tartare, is served with puffed crackers and a dollop of truffle lime vinaigrette, which disappears in a
few decadent bites. Then the lights switch, music swells, and suddenly you’re witnessing one of nine performers doing what they do best—blowing your mind.
Back to the table. Gnocchi, petite filet, or branzino—each dish bold, precise, and worthy of its own spotlight on your Instagram story. Sip the Bossa Hova, a $24 portion of Tito’s honeydew, pineapple Strega and bay leaf—and you just might forget that you’re sitting in a small portion of a massive casino resort and not on a beachfront.
It’s difficult to pick a favorite act in Spiegelworld’s latest creation—the company continues its Strip offerings with Absinthe, Atomic Saloon and DiscoShow—but when Denis Lock’s bubble routine fills the air with shimmering orbs, I catch myself slackjawed and childlike. “It’s so magical,” Hagen says. “You can just sit back and become a child again ... I think it’s the perfect way to start a gorgeous appetizer.”
Later, you might find yourself assisting a juggler, flirting with MooNaysha the udder thrusting glam-cow, or shouting for Gypsy Wood to keep one of her many spinning plates in motion.
“That’s so much fun for us performers,” Hagen says. “We get to watch each other shine and see how the audience reacts. It’s different every single time. It’s a pretty lovely recipe for us.”
It’s a recipe that relies on equal parts chaos and communion. You arrive strangers, and by dessert—seasonal gelatos or an espresso-soaked tiramisu—you’ve laughed, gasped, maybe danced with fellow partygoers. You leave a little tipsy, a little starstruck, wishing the evening didn’t have to come to an end.
ABOVE Laurie Hagen with an audience member at The Party BELOW
Creekstone Farms petite filet, tiramisu, cocktails and more
(Laurie Hagen by Gaby Duong/photographs courtesy Spiegelworld)
(Courtesy)
CLEAN COMEBACK
The Dirty Hooks return with Western Gothic , their fi rst album in 7 years
BY AMBER SAMPSON
Shaking o the rust of a seven-year album hiatus, Las Vegas music veterans The Dirty Hooks have staged a clean comeback with their third LP, Western Gothic
“It’s got a little bit of synths in there, some 808 stu . We’ve de nitely got some Americana in there and some grungy kind of dirty rock ’n’ roll, garage-y stu ,” says Bobby McCall, lead singer and baritone guitarist. “But I think we still have a couple of tricks we haven’t really put out yet.”
chapter. And fans will get to experience it live at the band’s album release show at Swan Dive on August 2, with vinyl available for purchase.
“There’s been a lot of trials and tribulations the last couple years for us,” McCall says. “But as far as writing, I feel like we’re in our own little bubble there, a time machine.”
THE DIRTY HOOKS
August 2, 8 p.m., $10-$15. Swan Dive, swan divelv.com.
Since the early days of 2012’s Electric Grit, the Vegas blues-rock trio have forged a sound that gets indescribably better with each listen. “Naked City Colt” shifts from moody to manic, McCall’s bluesy baritone easing us in, only to decimate us on the feverishly performed chorus with Jenine Cali (lead vocals/drums). It’s all growling guitars and piercing howls. And 2018’s Kiss the Devil and Run proved just as blood-pumping and potent.
Western Gothic serves as the next, evolving
New single “Lightning on the Tracks” quivers with soul and a big chorus, while “Night Crawler” sounds bathed in synths and Anthony Ratto III’s crisp, dirty guitar ri s. It’s like no time has passed for this trio of locals who performed their rst tour with Stone Temple Pilots—and they don’t seem anywhere near ready to call it quits.
“We have a problem, we just can’t stop,” Cali laughs.
“I feel like there’s still people doing it that are our age, that are still grinding and still putting art out there because they believe in it … just like we do,” McCall says. “There’s a couple of younger bands I think are badass and kind of restoring faith in rock ’n’ roll. I want to see more stu like that.”
STATE FLOWER’S DEBUT EP CLOAKS EMOTIONAL WRECKAGE IN GAUZY GUITARS AND INDIE POP PRECISION
BY GABRIELA RODRIGUEZ
Las Vegas’ latest indie rock trio, State Flower, delivers a debut EP that punches way above its weight. Short Sweet Crushing, released on July 1, compresses emotional complexity into four tracks, each one steeped in raw, introspective lyricism and buoyed by infectiously catchy melodies. Led by Samuel Walker (Narrowed, Sunroom) alongside drummer Nick Strader (King of Heck, Speedway, Alaska) and keyboardist J (Janjan & the Gentlemen), this debut is a masterstroke of vulnerability and immediate, head nodding energy.
From the moment they step on stage— whether it’s a low-key night at Berlin Bar or their EP release show at Grey Witch—the chemistry is undeniable. Walker’s stage presence, as light and engaging as it is, allows the music to breathe and settle into its most authentic form. The trio’s songwriting feels at once personal and relatable, tapping into familiar emotions without ever veering into melodrama. Tracks like “Never,” which recounts the di cult process of breaking free from cycles of abuse and striking your own path, resonate with a depth that’s impossible to ignore.
Their bubbly indie rock sound anchors itself in clean acoustic strumming and plucking, layered with just enough fuzz to add warmth without muddying the clarity. As Walker describes it, these are “the ideal features of good pop songs”—concise structures with hooks so irresistible “you feel them in your teeth,” paired with lyrics so honest, their gravity becomes genuinely overwhelming.
ANTHONY Ruggiano Jr.
CHAOS AND
Area15’s new Nite Mode membership delivers weekly secret raves and “dance fl oor stompers”
BY TYLER SCHNEIDER
AJ Annunziata thought it was a shame when innovative former Area15 venue Lost Spirits Distillery closed its doors last year.
“They were a really creative group. It was like a walking burlesque theater experience,” recalls Area15’s vice president of creative. “We really didn’t want to lose any of that theming, and we always thought that it would make a great party space. So we started to gure out a way to honor the art that they created and then add to it.”
Annunziata and his team went on to transform the cavernous warehouse into a new, weekly dark carnival-themed rave called Oddyssey Noir. It launched in April as the rst entry in a new “ oating party” series o ered under Area15’s Nite Mode membership program.
For $25, members gain access to all four Saturday sessions during the month, plus discounted tickets and drinks at other Area15 venues. Individual tickets are also on sale.
An evening at Oddyssey Noir features a rotating mix of DJs playing crispy beats while a cast of acrobats and performers from other circus-adjacent disciplines become part of
the show. No two nights are the same, but my session in June o ered anything and everything—spicy monks holding BDSM whips, a man roaming with a glowing saxophone, neon-clad tetherers and baton twirlers, a room with swaying chandeliers and even a mock chapel where a seemingly buzzed priest performed fake ceremonies under multicolored lights.
The decor is equally enthralling, with art deco-inspired posters, murals of bipedal lizard men and pinup-style sword-eaters, hidden statues, and old-timey, string-hung cardboard cutout cartoons from the original Lost Spirits setup.
As I progressed into the space, I found a pair of burlesque dancers in glittering silver leotards, kneehigh boots and bedazzled police hats, free-forming to the techhouse, no-fusion banger that is Eli Brown’s “Diamonds on my Mind.” That energy carried through the wee hours.
ODDYSSEY NOIR
bring that vision to life.
“When I go to warehouse raves in Brooklyn or Europe ... it feels clandestine and fun and like anything can happen. We wanted to give a little bit of that fantasy with folks when they enter,” Annunziata says.
“Seeing some of the rough edges and obscuring it in darkness, fog, minimalism and light creates this space for participants to forget where they are and let loose.”
August 2, 9, 16 & 23, 10 p.m., $22+ (or $25/ month with Nite Mode membership). Area15, area15.com
Annunziata says the goal is to create alternative gatherings geared more toward locals than tourists. He and his team channeled their own experiences as clubgoers to
Annunziata notes the space will be constantly evolving while his sta works to develop additional Nite Mode parties in the future.
“This is a prequel story for us. I don’t want to give away too much, but as we start developing out more of the spaces, more of the pieces of that story will come to life,” Annunziata says, teasing that “something is happening in the fall with Oddyssey.”
Even with all the frills and intrigue, the spectacle remains grounded in the music.
“The intention is that we’re playing club music. We’re not playing Spotify, we’re playing dance oor stompers,” he says.
CANTINA CULTURE
La Vecindad’s signature
beef ribs, Super Torta Cubanita, Kiko’s Plate and more
(Wade Vandervort/Sta )
FOOD + DRINK
La Vecindad
brings a riot
of color and family flavors to Commercial Center
BY GABRIELA RODRIGUEZ
There are restaurants where you simply eat, and then there are places like La Vecindad Cantina, where every bite feels like a direct homage to the culture that birthed it.
The newest outpost from husbandand-wife duo Raul Martinez and Vanessa Barreat opened its doors in March in the historic Commercial Center. The energy is electric, and the mission is simple: feed the people like they’re family.
“Everything we do is to support the community,” says Barreat. “And I think that’s why we get it back.”
its walls bursting with striking color and nostalgia.
Then came 2020, and the world hit pause. They shut the doors for a few months, but when they reopened, they came back swinging.
Back in 2016, the couple’s humble, homemade dishes served up at the Broadacres swap meet started building a quiet following. Martinez, who cut his teeth in the taco trade back in his homeland, had the flavors down. Barreat, with her front-of-house finesse honed during her years of working in food and beverage at Caesars Palace, knew how to keep things humming. Add in Margarita Ortega, their Puebla-born mole poblano crafter, and you had lightning in a tortilla.
The nudge to go bigger came from the people who lined up weekend after weekend at their swap meet stand.
“They’d say, ‘We wish we didn’t have to wait ‘til Saturday to eat this,’” Barreat says. In 2018, La Vecindad was born, a brick-and-mortar rooted in the warmth of a Mexican neighborhood, its name and decor a nod to the TV classic El Chavo del Ocho,
The cantina, their newest and largest venture, is no quiet dinner joint. It’s a technicolor, tequila-soaked playground with drag brunches, live DJs, karaoke Thursdays, and more Instagramable corners than you can count. There’s even house-brewed beer and cocktails served in giant buckets meant for sharing—or not. But don’t let the party vibe fool you; the food’s the anchor. Handmade tortillas cradle the queso fundido that’s wheeled out in a mini firetruck. The mole poblano is still made from scratch. Carne en su jugo brings homestyle memory to the table. There’s fresh menudo on the weekends, chilaquiles with steak and eggs all day, and beef costillas that’ll leave you loosening your belt.
And then there’s the torta Cubana. Over four pounds of sandwich piled high with beans, ham, grilled chicken, grilled beef, crispy Milanesa, eggs, cheese and all the other necessary fixings. It’s as absurd as it is delightful. “We have a challenge for it,” Barreat says, laughing. Good luck.
The real victory at La Vecindad is discovering what this Vegas family has known since their swap meet days: the best meals happen when strangers become neighbors, and neighbors become family.
Here you can genuinely feel, see, and taste that everything is made with intention. And no matter how much this family business expands, they’re going to keep true to the essence of their community and honor it by showcasing its best flavors.
DINING NOTES
Durango Social Club, Tuscan Cove, Leticia’s and more
Exciting new concepts are on the way from some of Las Vegas’ most celebrated chefs. Dan Krohmer (Other Mama) has converted his breakfast spot Chamana’s Cafe into an elevated, intimate destination with Durango Social Club. This new, exclusive five-course tasting menu experience makes its debut on August 1, with reservations available on the Toast app or durangosocial.com James Trees (Esther’s Kitchen, Ada’s Food & Wine, Al Solito Posto, Bar Boheme) is developing an original steakhouse concept to replace the recently closed, 50th-floor VooDoo Steak at the Rio. It’ll be appropriately called High Steaks Vegas, set to open in the fall. And partners Steven Kennedy and Ricardo Romo have already opened Tuscan Cove Bar & Patio in Southern Highlands, serving up elevated bar fare and handcrafted cocktails. Find the menu and more at tuscancove.com
Chubby Skewers, a new Northeastern Chinese barbecue concept, has opened at 4525 Spring Mountain Road #105. Find more info at chubbyskew ers.com
Rare Society, a steakhouse from Southern California’s Trust Restaurant Group, has opened at UnCommons. The 5,000-square-foot location is open for dinner Wednesday
through Sunday and reservations and more can be found at raresociety.com
Amari Italian Kitchen & Wine Shop at UnCommons will celebrate its second anniversary on August 1 with $2 bites and drinks and other specials, available during happy hour (3-5:30 p.m.) and reverse happy hour (9 p.m.close). The celebratory deals continue through August 8.
Leticia’s Cocina & Cantina is set to open this summer at Boulder Station. Local chef and restaurateur Leticia Mitchell is expanding her company from a location at Santa Fe Station and Letty’s in the Downtown Arts District. An opening date is expected soon.
James Beard-nominated chef Chad Colby of LA’s Antico Nuovo is developing a new menu for Lago at Bellagio. The lakeside eatery remains open as the new offerings evolve through summer, with a full menu debut expected in September.
Wynn Las Vegas is primed for a winter debut for Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse, anchored by legendary chef Alfred Portale as culinary director. It will be located in an exclusive alcove overlooking Wynn Golf Club adjacent to Zero Bond and will replicate its New York flagship at The Mercer. –Brock Radke
PREMIER CROSSWORD HOROSCOPES “WORKING MADLY”
BY FRANK LONGO
Actor Bert
Land in eau
& so forth
Scooby- --
Native of the capital Chisinau 13 Certain trash can liners
"Eat -- Chikin" (fast-food slogan) 15 Title rabbit in an animated Disney TV series
Disgrace
Stuck through
Hole for coins
Half of bi-
TV series title role Lasso
the 1980s Celtics
Ho-hum
BY ROB BREZSNY
ARIES (March 21-April 19): For many bamboo species, nothing visible happens for years after the seeds are sowed. Like bamboo's "sleep" phase, you've been developing an extensive underground root system. Soon, expect vigorous growth and expansion. It might feel unsettling at first, but you'll come to adore it.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): You're close to uncovering interesting information about yourself. But you will have to be brave and strategic to actually find it, and breakthroughs may follow. Possibilities: A distorted self-image fades, an adversary’s hex dissolves, an inhibition subsides, or a strong barrier falls.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Like "organum" in medieval music, I invite you to embody both the long, sustained note and the intricate, faster melody. Hold steady in one realm while improvising in another, offering allies stability and inspirational dreams. Embrace this duality!
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian author Ernest Hemingway was adept at wielding the self-nourishing skills your sign is known for. Like Hemingway, renowned for protecting his raw creative energy, you're encouraged to establish firm boundaries around your generative process. Shelter your works-in-progress from kibitzing until they can stand on their own.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In ancient China and Greece, the lion guarded gates, asking, "Are you ready?" You may soon feel a surge of leadership radiance—a gatekeeper presence. People are on the verge of transformation, and you can be a midwife by witnessing, holding space, asking potent questions, and serving as a catalyst.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): You'll ultimately be grateful that love-fakers and promise-breakers helped clarify your goals. Reverse healers and idea-stealers, though perilous short term, will motivate you to create rigorous protections for your heart, health, and stability. It's an odd time when those with less than pure intentions can be valuable teachers.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Imagine yourself as a seed vault, like the one in Svalbard, Norway safeguarding global biodiversity. What valuable capacities are you saving for the future? Which treasures will ensure your long-term stability and security? Now's a good time to consider activating any of these promises.
Here, in Paris
Golfer Palmer, to fans
Qatari, e.g.
Actor who's speechless
Receptive to new ideas
U-Haul vehicles, e.g.
Actor Morales
Tease in fun
Three threes
Grows older
-- Schwarz (toy retailer)
Jack of early talk TV
Unruly kid
"Don't that beat all!"
Traitor
Stop flowing, as water
Yes, in Paris
Best-liked, informally
Take to court
That lady
Wapiti venison
Title nanny of a 2005 film
"My treat"
Prince, e.g. 65 Up to, in ads
Moisten, as poultry
In a tizzy, with "up"
Rarin' to go
Honored lavishly
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In the spirit of Sophia, the Gnostic Goddess of Divine Wisdom embedded in the material world, your wisdom isn't elsewhere. It's in your body, your grief and the ordinary. Refrain from thinking spirituality is about transcendence. Greet the sacred in the dust and mud.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Like my book tours, where I give equal energy whether there are 300 or nine people, you're invited to be a role model. Proceed as if every experience deserves your brightest offerings. Express yourself with panache, no matter the surroundings.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In ancient Egyptian cosmology, ka is a vital essence that walks beside you. Tune in to your ka and other spiritual presences that nourish you. Be alert for visitations from past selves, forgotten longings, and eerily familiar future visions.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): "I'm glad I’m a riddle to you," I say to an Aquarian fan. "As long as I avoid being enmeshed in people’s expectations and projections, I maintain my freedom to be my authentic self, even as I continually reinvent my authentic self." I recommend you adopt this attitude in the coming weeks.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In Norse mythology, the god Odin plucked out one of his eyes and hung himself upside down from the World Tree for nine days. Odin's self-sacrifice gained him wisdom. While you don't need such drama, you're primed for a comparable process. What discomfort will you endure for revelation? What illusions must you give up to see clearly? Engage in an
realignment for
BACKSTORY
FIRST PRACTICE OF TRAINING CAMP | RAIDERS HEADQUARTERS | JULY 23, 2025 | Pete Carroll has shown off much of his trademark energy since the Las Vegas Raiders began training camp at the Intermountain Health Performance Center in Henderson. Carroll will turn 74 years old on the day of the Raiders’ second game of the year, against the Chargers on September 15 at Allegiant Stadium, to become the oldest coach in NFL history, but that hasn’t slowed his enthusiasm. He says he’s hungrier than ever after taking last year off following 14 seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. Carroll won a Super Bowl there, in 2014, to become one of four coaches in football history to win a championship in both the NFL and college football, where he took the ultimate prize with USC in 2003 and 2004. Heading into his first year with the Raiders, he’s not done yet. –Case Keefer
