Desert Companion - April 2018

STYLE. 04 APRIL

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Fashion, flair, and design merge in the lives of these stylish Las Vegans

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VOLUME 16 ISSUE 4 D E S E R T C O M P A N I O N .V E G A S

April

job #: 33607

client: The Smith Center

title: Upcoming Shows BLV

Desert Companion April ______________________________ run date: April 2018

release date: 3/12/18 release via: email ______________________________

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23

technician:

SOCIETY

CULTURE

software: InDesign CC

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pub: Desert Companion

THOUGHT EXPERIMENT

HOT SEAT

What would gutter poet Charles Bukowski think of Sin City?

By Lee Mallory

16 Q&A

Ian Zabarte on Native American resistance to Yucca Mountain

By Nadia Eldemerdash

18 SENSE OF PLACE

When the airport means ... home

By Sonja Swenson

20 OPEN TOPIC

A slogan isn’t action

By Nicholas Russell

LIVING IN STYLE

For these Las Vegans, personal style is about more than clothes or furniture — it’s an encompassing vision of life

By Andrew Kiraly

( EXTRAS )

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THE GUIDE

Here we are now, entertain us — exhibits, concerts, shows, events, and miscellaneous hoo-ha to pack your calendar .

28 DINING

Mix Japanese cuisine and hip-hop, and you’re Paid in Full

By Lissa Townsend Rodgers

30 DINING

In the pizzerias of Good and Evel

By Kristy Totten

34 SHOP

Record stores — still a thing!

By Jacob Lasky

DEPARTMENTS 38 HISTORY

Remembering Caesars Palace’s not-so-grand Grand Prix

By Ian Whitaker

44 Q&A

Screen capture: UNLV professor Simon Gottschalk’s new book is a warning about the excessively digital life

By Jarret Keene ESSAY

55

EDITOR’S NOTE

bleed: 8.875” x 11.25”

Music, art, and brainy trim: 8.375” x 10.75” talk — this month’s live area: 7.625” x 10” recommendations HI-RES MECHANICAL

50

FEATURE

08

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APRIL 2018

Time and again in Nevada, public money is spent with little or no public input. Perhaps this isn’t a good thing

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( COVER ) Farhan Naqvi PHOTOGRAPHY

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Post-Parkland, these students are creating dialogue

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08 PUBLISHER

Flo Rogers

ADVERTISING MANAGER Favian

Perez Kiraly ART DIRECTOR Christopher Smith DEPUTY EDITOR Scott Dickensheets SENIOR DESIGNER Scott Lien STAFF WRITER Heidi Kyser GRAPHIC DESIGNER Brent Holmes EDITOR Andrew

Editor’s note

LIFE, STYLES I

’m basically the worst house party guest on the planet because the hosts are usually half-convinced I’m side-hustling as a cat burglar, the way I (apparently, obviously!) indiscreetly ogle their stuff and spam them all like: Wow, where’d you get this, ooh, what’s the story about that, etc. It’s an impulse I have to actively stifle. But it’s an innocent impulse, promise: Your stuff is your story, your personality. (No wonder the so-called life-changing magic of minimalism befuddles me. It’s like an act of concealment or deliberate erasure, not to mention: boooring!)

So, getting to write this month’s feature, “Life, Style, Soul & Design,” (p.

55) was a boon; I got to snoop people’s stuff under the auspices of journalism.

Seriously: Of course, it’s about much more than just stuff. It’s about how the things we put on our bodies and in our homes express and shape our personality, tell our story, and lend our lives an added coherence through beauty and pleasure. The seven Las Vegans we showcase are each stylish in their distinct way, but in every case, their thoughtful home design and personal aesthetic suggest the attainment of a higher value that mere stufffor-stuff’s-sake can’t offer: an elevated and enriched sense of self.

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WEB ADMINISTRATOR Danielle

Branton SALES ASSISTANT Crystal Jepson C O N T R I B U T I N G W R I T E R S

Jakub Cernoch (intern), Cybele, Nadia Eldemerdash, Melanie Hope, Jarret Keene, Jacob Lasky (intern), Lee Mallory, Casey Morell, Julie Seabaugh, Sonja Swenson, Lissa Townsend Rodgers, Greg Thilmont, Ian Whitaker CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

Stavros Damos, Anthony Mair, Aaron Mayes, Sabin Orr, Lucky Wenzel

Andrew Kiraly

CONTACT

editor

Andrew Kiraly, (702) 259-7856; andrew@desertcompanion.vegas

EDITORIAL:

FAX:

(702) 258-5646

Favian Perez (702) 259-7813; favian@desertcompanion.vegas

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Desert Companion is published 12 times a year by Nevada Public Radio, 1289 S. Torrey Pines Dr., Las Vegas, NV 89146. It is available by subscription at desertcompanion.vegas, or as part of Nevada Public Radio membership. It is also distributed free at select locations in the Las Vegas Valley. All photos, artwork and ad designs printed are the sole property of Desert Companion and may not be duplicated or reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. The views of Desert Companion contributing writers are not necessarily the views of Desert Companion or Nevada Public Radio. Contact Tammy Willis for back issues, which are available for purchase for $7.95.

NEXT MONTH Roooaaad triiiiip — for your mouth!

We sample diners and eateries of the Southwest and beyond.

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APRIL 2018

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D E S E R T C O M PA N I O N

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Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive. And Subaru is Kelley Blue Book’s 2017 lowest 5-Year Cost to Own.* Love. It’s what makes a Subaru, a Subaru.

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Subaru, Forester, and SUBARU BOXER are registered trademarks. *2017 model-year vehicle’s projected cost to own for the initial five-year ownership period is based on the average Kelley Blue Book 5-Year Cost to Own data which considers depreciation and costs such as fuel and insurance. For more information, visit www.kbb.com. Kelley Blue Book is a registered trademark of Kelley Blue Book Co., Inc. †MSRP excludes destination and delivery charges, tax, title, and registration fees. Retailer sets actual price. Certain equipment may be required in specific states, which can modify your MSRP. See your retailer for details. 2018 Subaru Forester 2.0XT Touring shown has an MSRP of $36,090. Vehicle shown with available accessories.

A LL IN

9 PEOPLE, ISSUES, OBJECTS, EVENTS, IDEAS, AND

CURIOSITIES YOU SHOULD BE AWARE OF THIS MONTH

Their Turn ONE | A C T I V I S M

Galvanized by Parkland, these student leaders aren’t waiting for someone else to drive the conversation on school shootings

F

ollowing the February 14 murders of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the national mood was distinctly different than after previous school shootings. From the local level to the White House, there was talk of the possibility of change (though later walked back by the president), the culpability of the National Rifle Association, and maybe some common-sense gunlaw reform.

What was different this time? In large measure, it was the PHOTOGRAPHY A aron Mayes

LET’S TALK Conversation starters Faryn Duncan, Connor Leeman, and Taylor Lane

involvement of aggrieved and grieving Parkland students — charismatic, media-savvy, and willing to stand their rhetorical ground. Motivated by their example, students nationwide quickly organized protest events: a March 14 school walkout; a March for Our Lives event 10 days later.

Will these actions have any impact? Will adult policymakers take them seriously? Will this create a momentum felt at the ballot box in November? Desert Companion talked to three local student leaders about their very different plans to drive change in this possibly new era.

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side of the issue, surrounded only by those they agree with, leaving no avenue for conversation with those they don’t.

However, he is hesitant to say that this dialogue will impact the elections this fall.

The momentum has to carry beyond the March 24 protest in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. If apathy sets in, particularly over summer, he believes Parkland will become like all the other shootings, which resulted in little, if any, change. Jakub Cernoch

TAYLOR LANE Silverado High School

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FARYN DUNCAN UNLV

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVISM Students at Palo Verde participate in the March 14 walkout to protest gun violence.

CONNOR LEEMAN Palo Verde High School

As student body president, Connor Leeman is working to open a dialogue among his peers. While many high school students opted for walkouts in response to the Parkland shooting, Leeman, a senior, tried to steer his school in a different direction. He worked with Palo’s administration to use the half-hour of mentoring period on March 14 to permit student-led debates addressing gun violence. It’s better, he argues, to use this time getting different sides to talk to each other.

“It’s a student-led discussion on gun violence, where people can take it any direction they want to,” he says. “We’re going to empower kids to lead a discussion on their own.”

He says he notices this problem on all government levels: People in power, who have the capacity to make change, can’t seem to sit down and compromise. He wants his peers to understand that civil dialogue can be had even when there is a disagreement.

“You can go and protest, but it’s not gonna do anything unless you can sit down at the table and say, ‘We want to compromise on this issue. We won’t take away all of these things, but we can compromise,’” he says.

“One of the things I want to focus on as a student leader is making people see that people who hold a different perspective, they’re their friends, they’re fellow classmates, they have similar interests in a lot of different things, they’re the same people.”

He says walkouts have a purpose, but ultimately they separate people on either

UNLV junior Faryn Duncan read news of the Valentine’s Day shooting in Parkland, Florida, with disbelief. It hasn’t even been six months, she thought. How could this be happening again?

Her reference point — like that of countless other Las Vegans — was the October 1 shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival.

Duncan had been near the stage where country singer Jason Aldean was performing when the first round of gunfire hit people nearby. She escaped physically unharmed, but forever changed.

Scrolling through Parkland updates and watching the number of victims rise, Duncan was transported back to October 2. She called to check on the friend who’d been at the concert with her. She thought about the haunting vigilance that now prompts her to plan escape routes and hiding places wherever she goes.

“Not that I’m much older than those kids,” the 20-year-old Duncan says, “but now they’re going to have to feel that, too, every time they walk into a school or a mall or anywhere there’s a large crowd. … I hate that other people have to feel that, especially kids.”

But her sadness and anger gave way to hope and resolve after she watched the video of Parkland student Emma Gonzalez speak passionately about gun control, during a rally three days after the school shooting.

Duncan read up on gun laws. She donated to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas kids’ GoFundMe campaign. She decided to show her solidarity with them by joining the March for Our Lives protest. She’d have joined the school walkout, too, if she had class that day. She intends to stay involved until something changes for the better.

“I don’t know much about politics,” she says, “but with this movement, I know what I’m talking about because I lived it. I have the facts. With this issue, I think I can make a difference.” Heidi Kyser ✦

WA L KO U T: B R E N T H O L M E S

A senior, Taylor Lane has become a gun-control activist. She was at the forefront of the localized #NeverAgain movement as the main orchestrator of Silvera d o ’s M a r c h 14 w a l k o u t , a n d t h e community outreach organizer for the Las Vegas March for Our Lives.

This isn’t a new issue for Lane. From hearing about Sandy Hook as a middle-schooler to the close-to-home October 1 massacre, she’s always been concerned about the horrors of mass shootings. However, Lane truly became inspired to take a stand after seeing videos of Parkland student and activist Emma Gonzalez speaking against the NRA. “I just want people to continue to be aware of the gun violence in our country, and remember that it isn’t normal, and that it’s not okay that this continues to happen,” Lane says.

Following Parkland, Lane made an Instagram page titled “CCSD Walkout” to encourage local students to participate in the national school-walkout movement and March for Our Lives, and educate them about their rights to free speech.

Coming from a family of firearm owners, Lane believes lawmakers should strengthen background checks and regulations rather than ban guns.

In addition to fellow classmates, she’s received support from her mother. “I think it’s important that parents support the kids,” says Sandi Lane. “All change starts with one person having the courage to stand up and voice their opposition or their opinion.”

Taylor Lane turns 18 in May — she’s been accepted to the journalism and communications school at Arizona State University — and plans to persuade others to head to the polls in November to keep NRA-friendly candidates out of office.

Lane spoke to more than 100 students — some carrying 17 signs featuring the faces of the victims at Parkland — who congregated under Silverado’s flagpole during the walkout. She talked not only about the importance of protesting, but also of participating in future elections.

“If (politicians aren’t) going to change their mind, one letter isn’t really going to make a difference,” Lane says, referring to Nevada Senator Dean Heller. “That’s why voting is the strongest power that constituents can hold over their incumbent.”

Jacob Lasky

D E S E R T C O M P A N I O N .V E G A S

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10.

Rachael Ray publishes Zombie Stroganoff, & Other Recipes for Petrified Ruin Scraps!

Russian hackers manipulate election for Clark County assessor; later realize they, like Americans, have no idea what county assessor does

11.

13.

Someone actually opens an ax-throwing business

8.

Russian hackers fill media with glarnig tpyos

19.

As self-driving cars get depressed by pointless, repetitive motion, Big Pharma hikes prices on Turtle Wax Prozac

Netflix lists Hunger Games under “Documentaries”

20.

As humans prepare to merge consciousness with technology, technology has second thoughts, slowly backs away

9.

12.

Sinister AI resequences traffic lights so no one ever gets to donut shop

21.

Preserved head of Sheldon Adelson still complaining about LVCVA

15.

It’s harder to find locally sourced Soylent Green

One percent of the population controls 90 percent of the barter-worthy junk

23.

Netflix lists V for Vendetta under “Documentaries”

TWO | L I S T

You’ll Know We’re in a Dystopia When …

3.

BY

Civilization is saved by enlightened teenagers

Downtown smells like robot urine

2.

Wayne Allyn Root strips down to metal codpiece, straps self to Stratosphere, and demands to be called “the Humongous”

4.

Super-expensive gene sequencing means only the elite can afford chupacabradoodles

29.

Netflix lists Wall-E under “Documentaries”

Postapocalyptic cockroach survivors relieved to make final payment on Raiders stadium

24.

25.

Life is so Orwellian everyone recognizes previous item as a reference to 1984

27.

Sunlight blocked by hurricane-force tweetstorms covering Earth

5.

At Vons, two shoppers enter produce aisle, one shopper leaves

16.

6.

More buildings use zombie spikes to keep sidewalks free of droppings

1.

17.

22.

The robots give our jobs back​

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The internet is two megaphones and a Mattel walkie-talkie

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Turns out we’re all Russian bots

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The Second Amendment achieves sentience, angrily demands whereabouts of well-regulated militia

28.

Bellagio ad campaign touts fountains as family-friendly water stop for car-driving desert marauders

18.

Populace cowers as theocratic government enforces biblical injunctions against eating owls and wearing mixed-fiber clothing

30.

You look back wistfully on 2017

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THREE | A P R I L I S P O E T R Y M O N T H

Barfly in Paradise

What would Charles Bukowski have made of Las Vegas? An old friend speculates Lee Mallory

O

ne windy night a guy in polyester stumbles into P Moss’ Double Down Saloon, near Paradise. Slurping his soupy Ass Juice, the bar’s signature drink, he whispers — á la Brando — “I coulda been somebody.” Even famous. Though he already was.

I met Buk, poet Charles “Hank” Bukowski, in the ’70s. Time called him the “laureate of American lowlife.” Jean-Paul Sartre dubbed him “America’s greatest living poet.” Buk wrote 50 poetry books, novels, and screenplays, saying, “The first goal of writing is to save your own ass.”

Though world-wise, he overlooked Vegas.

Surprisingly, with the women, writing, betting, and booze, I find only one Bukowski poem about this place ...

There was a frozen tree that I wanted to paint but the shells came down​ and in Vegas looking across at a green sunshade at 3:30 in the morning, I died without nails, without a copy of the Atlantic Monthly ... and without more Vegas poems, it’s hard to know how he felt. Fighting or drunk, he claimed to not like people. So what might he have liked (or hated) about Vegas?

Channel the hard-mouthed poet over to Champagne’s on Maryland Parkway, former nest of the Rat Pack.

Absorb the ’60s ambience without the gloss. (Hank hated gloss, seeking the gritty underbelly of the streets.)

He moves in on a lanky blonde in a short skirt — imagine his movie Barfly, starring Mickey Rourke. Buk buys her lots of drinks, then leans in, but she rejects him. Angered, he pulls back: “Okay, hon, you still look like an angel … takin’ a crap.”

Head north now. From Janco Books o n Charleston to the Writer’s

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Block and slam-poetry hangout PublicUs on Fremont, there’s this Lit zone, where poetry, books, good writers, wannabe writers, and “pretenders to poesy” hang. Talent and imagination abound.

Enthusiasm. Hope. Though Buk, the skeptic, stormily warns in an unpublished letter to me: “(What works) against almost all poets is sitting down thinking, I am going to write a poem.

The (young) become romanticized by it. (But) it’s a suck. I get many literary mags and poetry books.

It’s almost all waste. One thinks it would be easier to create than not create. The idea is simply to put words down and do it simply. We’re tired of profundities and brisk riddles.” For Buk, who never retreats, there goes the neighborhood!

And the rest of Vegas? He’d likely have hated the Strip for its money-grubbing glam. But given his love for Jeffers’ nature poetry, he’d probably cherish Red Rock. Near my place, Buk would smile at the Stratosphere rising like a giant phallus. (Though he might’ve jumped.) Then, for his love of the track, he’d move back up Paradise to the off-Strip Silver Sevens casino for the sportsbook. Maybe swing by Luxor long enough for him to jot a wry poem about our garish city hosting a symbol of a refined ancient civilization.

Though conjecture, the thoughts above are an estimable bet. Whereas the Ass Juice never lies. Back at the Double Down, Buk leans back and lights up, smoke curling towards the ceiling festooned with $1 bills. He’s back here in Paradise — lost and found. The sign reads “Hangover insurance,” though for him with a high deductible. Then, pondering women and words, he orders two beers. Bukowski leans into Cactus, the bouncer and house poet, saying, “Keep the keys clean, and on mornings of doom have a drink or two and wait.

Wait. Wait on the word. She’s more faithful than any woman. It’s our final love.” ✦

Poetry Playlist “A Poem on the Underground Wall” by Simon & Garfunkel, from Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme (1966): They may take liberties in saying a word can be a poem, but hey — one man’s art is another man’s Damien Hurst.

“Sun in My Mouth” by Björk, from Vespertine (2001): The Icelandic chanteuse adapts e.e. cummings’ “I will wade out/Till my thighs are steeped in burning flowers” into a haunting, stirring orchestral track that makes you reconsider just what cummings was writing about.

“Cemetry Gates” (title sic) by The Smiths, from The Queen is Dead (1986): If anyone accuses you — as they did Morrissey — of writing derivative drivel, just remember this: His “weird lover Wilde” always said, “talent borrows; genius steals.”

“Your Cover’s Blown”

by Belle & Sebastian, from the EP Books (2004): This song, in quasi-haiku: Ought I write a poem to / get the girl? Ehhhhhhh, nope.

“Under Your Spell” by Desire, from Desire (2009): “What’s the difference between obsession and desire,” our nameless narrator asks behind a slinky synthesizer riff, wondering where the red line is in pining for her muse. Casey Morell ILLUSTRATION S tavros Damos

S I M O N , B J O R K : A S S O C I AT E D P R E S S

BY

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On The Strip across from The Venetian, Wynn and TI. 702.369.8382 | thefashionshow.com APRIL 2018

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Ian Zabarte FOUR | Q & A

Western Shoshone, secretary of Native Community Action Council BY

Nadia Eldemerdash

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ast year, President Trump announced he would seek to restart the licensing process for the Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste repository. In the aftermath of the vicious battle over the Dakota Access Pipeline, the project took on new significance as opponents, including Democratic Representative Reuben Kihuen and Republican Senator Dean Heller, emphasized the environmental hazards to Nevada. But one voice was noticeably absent: that of the Native Americans for whom Yucca Mountain is home.

Yucca Mountain is part of the lands claimed by the Western Shoshone, which extend from northern Utah through Nevada and into Southern California. In 1993, members of the Western Shoshone and Paiute peoples founded the Native Community Action Council to commission Native-focused research on the adverse effects of nuclear fallout and to address those effects. Today, the NCAC is drawing on its communities’ experiences in the crosshairs of nuclear testing to fight Yucca Mountain. In 2014, it intervened in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s licensing of Yucca Mountain, using the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley, which recognized the Western Shoshone as an independent nation, to contest the Department of Energy’s claim over the land. Sure enough, that year the NRC found that the DOE did not have land or water rights in Yucca Mountain.

Still, the fight is far from over for Ian Zabarte, spokesman for the Western Shoshone and secretary of the NCAC. Zabarte has conducted ethnographic and historical research in the area for years, and in 2015 contributed to a report developed by the governor’s office to the NRC. The report argued that the NRC and DOE’s impact assessment for Yucca Mountain was too narrow and failed to take into account the climate conditions and potential climate change in the area, and that, along

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with erosion and other factors, put the area’s groundwater at risk. Zabarte’s report represented an ethnographic study of the lifestyles, beliefs, and traditions of the Shoshone people of the area, arguing that even the slightest possibility of groundwater contamination poses an attack on their religious beliefs.

Zabarte has long sought to expand the education of Native Americans on the impact of nuclear radiation on themselves and their way of life. He spoke to Desert Companion about this struggle.

You argue that the impact of a nuclear waste repository will be much higher for Native Americans because of lifestyle differences the government has not researched. What are those differences, and how do they affect the Shoshone?

We brought researchers to study Shoshone exposure to radiation from nuclear weapons testing, in one of the first collaborative research projects assessing impacts based on Shoshone lifestyle. Researchers came hunting, and gathered pine nuts and medicine, as we demonstrated how each was prepared and used. … We identified the uses and practices that increased our risk of exposure, including consumption of foods that absorbed radiation during the time of full-scale nuclear weapons testing (1951-1994). Traditional foods, such as rabbit, antelope, deer, and ram, absorbed radiation, concentrated in the thyroid, that the Shoshone people then ate, resulting in a significantly higher exposure. Shoshone communities downwind, including my own, had no other food to eat after the fallout poisoned every garden.

We know radiation exposure is cumulative, and because of our past exposure to radioactive fallout, the Shoshone cannot endure any increased burden of risk from any source, including a transportation accident or mishandling of high-lev-

el nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.

Your work discusses the effects of nuclear radiation on water in detail.

How will radiation impact water supplies in the region?

Radiation released from Yucca Mountain will flow down into the groundwater, polluting the Death Valley regional groundwater along the 180-mile-long Amargosa River, increasing risk of exposure to the Shoshone people and making Shoshone country uninhabitable.

What are the broader implications of this on Native American customs and religious practices?

Pooha-Bah is a Shoshone word that means a place of pristine water and a vision or faith in its healing power along the Amargosa River. Our places of worship have diminished and are increasingly threatened by contaminaPHOTOGRAPHY B rent Holmes

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tion. We need clean water to take care of the Shoshone people. Our spiritual belief is harmed when our land and water are tainted or contaminated by pollution, because the people must believe that the water is clean if it is to help them. Protecting water is who we are as a people.

The Creator put Shoshone here in the Great Basin with conservation lifeways, instructions of how to live in harmony with Mother Earth. When the government destroys our land, it is like tearing a page out of our bible — we don’t know what we were to learn from the land, or how it may touch, heal, or enlighten us.

This has been an ongoing issue between native peoples of the Yucca Mountain region and the government.

What do you think is at the crux of the issue, and why has it been so difficult to resolve it?

Shoshone history at Yucca Mountain is 10,000 years old. The Shoshone were never conquered, and in 1863 won peace by treaty with the government. After spending $15 billion in taxpayer dollars, the government cannot prove ownership to Yucca Mountain because of ongoing treaty-reserved rights, title, and interests of the Shoshone people in the Yucca Mountain region. Legislation by Congress to designate Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste repository is legislative malpractice and a treaty violation. … The Shoshone are vulnerable because we rely upon the strength of America’s promise to protect us. We prepared contentions and made our case without government funding. We are the only party asserting ownership of Yucca Mountain, a disqualifying condition. Supporting human dignity and protecting basic human rights is the right thing to do when confronting government oppression. ✦ APRIL 2018

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f all the in-between places I’ve been in the world, McCarran International Airport is my favorite in-between place because it’s mine. LAS has become a welcome constant after growing up on the move all the time. There’s a saying my parents had framed on our wall growing up: Home is where the Air Force sends you. In the summer of 2002, the Air Force sent us to Nellis, and we became official Las Vegas residents. Later, my dad retired here, and wherever I went after, McCarran was the gateway to home.

Before there was Terminal 3, there was Terminal 1, with its notorious “McCarran mauve” palette and neon-rimmed pillars.

Everything about Terminal 1 reminded me of walking through a casino circa 2002: The low, dense carpet; the faint smell of popcorn; the Strip celebrities making appearances on that safety video (I’ve watched Carrot Top try to shove a comiSense cally oversized backpack into of Place the X-ray machine so many A series in which writers times it’s the only mental find meaning in specific sites around town image I have of him). There wasn’t much sunlight, clocks were few and far between, and whatever sense of the time of day you got from the airplane windows was thrown off again inside. The slot machines were a particular novelty, flashing their colorful lights and burbling their autotuned greetings.

Back in those days, I’d see people come party-ready off the planes, wearing their

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Almost Home

When you move around a lot, the airport takes on an unexpected significance BY

Sonja Swanson

feather boas and cowboy hats, tipsy already.

Every so often a guy might try to get a head start on his weekend hookups by asking where you were staying (“my parents’ house” is not a sexy answer, FYI). Once, when I came home from working at a summer camp in Lake Tahoe, a guy in a too-tight button-down pointed to my beat-up 80-liter backpack as it passed him on the baggage carousel. “What the hell?” he said while his buddies laughed, then cringed when my dad and I heaved the pack off the line.

I can see why he’d forget that Vegas locals use the airport, too. The travelers far out-

number the locals: 43 million of them and 2.2 million of us in town last year. Maybe it’s the tech scene or just a sign of the times, but lately it’s felt like the party vibe at the airport has changed: fewer feather boas, more athleisure and Apple products. The slots don’t make as much noise because they don’t take coins anymore. Terminal 3 is a beautiful, bright space with gleaming floors and sunlight streaming in beneath vaulted ceilings. I don’t have strong feelings about these particular shifts — getting to see a place change is part of the privilege of belonging to it.

Whichever terminal I’m landing at, when the plane shudders over the Spring Mountain Range, when the pilot tips our wing in salute to the Strip, when I hear the familiar chirps and burbles of the slot machines as we disembark, I feel a sense of relief. I’m going to eat my mom’s home cooking. My clothes are going to smell like home again. ✦

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JAZZ MONTH Not So Cruel

Considered America’s greatest cultural contribution to world (All month)

GRILLED CHEESE DAY

Second greatest (April 12)

UNLVino

Funds scholarships — we’re down with drinkin’ for thinkin’ (April 14)

TAKE YOUR CHILD TO WORK DAY

Alternate title: Inflict Your Brats on Co-workers Day (April 26)

TAX DAY

Alternate title: Fiscal Colonoscopy Day (April 17)

ARBOR DAY

Come @ me, birches!

(April 27)

Totes Cruel

M C C A R R A N : S I M P S O N C O U LT E R S T U D I O ; H O U S E : C O U R T E S Y C J H O O G L A N D

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Home Views Subtle design lessons from a very fancy house

Not long ago we visited “Cloud Chaser,” an inspiration home in Henderson’s swank hillside Ascaya neighborhood, to get design insights from its architect, Henry “CJ” Hoogland. The learning began in the front courtyard. (1) It’s defined by a dramatic opening that recalls the sky view in a slot canyon. It’s not a perfect oval, either; it’s comfortingly asymmetrical in the manner of erosion.

Note, too, how it tapers toward the front door, leading you gently in. Inside, the gazillion-dollar view (2) is maximized by the curved roofline, which leads your eye right to the premium sightline. And the glass wall embodies the airiness of the home’s elevated perspective. In the master bedroom (3), a deftly located fireplace means the occupants can’t place their bed against that wall; they can only put it in a position that ensures they’ll wake to that view. Smart design. Scott Dickensheets

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8 BOOKS BY THE YARD Adirondack chairs adorn the white sand near a firepit. Water trickles nearby, and a radio plays staticky music. Hundreds of books pack eight bookshelves, from romance and sci-fi to political commentary to sheet music for Hootie and the Blowfish. Welcome to Gary Solomon’s front yard. • Deep in the east part of the valley, on Hollywood Boulevard near Stewart, Solomon set up a free outdoor library on his property. “I just had the idea of putting a bookcase out there and seeing how people go with it,” says Solomon, a retired CSN psychology professor. • However, this library isn’t about lending, but taking. If you stroll up and spot a book you want, take it home. No questions asked. • “This is something people truly appreciate,” he says. “This isn’t just a library, rather it’s, Gosh, somebody’s gonna do something for me? For free?” • In November, he put a lone bookcase with about 100 books in his driveway, intending to give them away. Shortly after, someone left a box of books. Then it happened again. And again. All of them adding to his library. • “People have boxes of books in their house,” he says. “And they don’t wanna throw ’em away, and they can’t probably give them away, but I’m prepared to take them and put them on my property and give it my best shot.” • As the number of books expanded, so did his vision for the library. He created a path connecting the shelves to the chairs, in case you can’t wait to get home to read. He installed a water feature, with a bridge. A working piano sits along the deck, with a beyond-repair wooden organ near the firepit, for aesthetics. Lights are set up to allow night reading. He says some appreciative fans volunteer to help maintain the library by ensuring neatness or even making minor repairs to the furniture. • He just has one rule: “You can take a book, you can leave a book, but you can’t spend any money here.”

Jakub Cernoch

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NINE | O P E N T O P I C

Is Strong Enough?

After October 1, we adopted a slogan.

What we didn’t get was a conversation BY

A

Nicholas Russell

s of this month, Route 91 is half a year behind us. We have memorialized the victims and mourned their absence. We have conjured up the slogan “Vegas Strong” to put focus on the city’s resilience in the wake of tragedy, to fortify our civic hardiness as residents of a tireless town, to honor our first responders and law enforcement, to seemingly never forget what happened here. We have ushered in a new year and carried on as best we can.

The problem is that carrying on necessarily means leaving something behind.

The week of Route 91, Callum Patton from

Newsweek wrote, “Nevada has some of the most relaxed gun laws in the country, a legislative condition that is sure to come under renewed scrutiny in the wake of the worst mass shooting in U.S. history on Sunday night in Las Vegas.” That scrutiny seems to have done little to inspire any action here — or anywhere. Since January, there have been more than 30 shooting incidents across the country, one of which occurred here at the Las Vegas Lounge, the city’s only transgender club.

Post-October, the city, county, and state have made no push for new legislation, exhibited no renewed sense of urgency, and PHOTOGRAPHY B rent Holmes

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definitely engaged in no real conversation.

It may be that Nevada practically invites residents and tourists to legally purchase and carry a firearm: No registration is required, just a permit, which is good for five years. You don’t have to notify a police officer that you have a weapon in the car if you’re stopped.

Plus, Nevada’s reciprocity agreements, which honor the concealed-carry permits of other jurisdictions, cover 30 states.

We moved past the tragedy born of these choices, instead opting to emblazon our cars and billboards and clothing with a reminder that we are part of this city and somehow stronger for it. What exactly does this do for us?

The combination of “city name + strong” is not original to Las Vegas or to October 2017.

After the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016, “Orlando Strong” circulated on social media.

The same is true of Sutherland Springs, where a mass shooting took place one month after Route 91. And Umpqua Community College in 2015. Aurora and Sandy Hook in 2012.

And now, Parkland. This is understandable because the phrase’s message is a simple one.

It does not seek to specify anything other than a location and an attitude.

Because of this, Vegas Strong is open to everyone who lives here. It would also seem to belong to everyone who doesn’t live here, seeing as we sell shirts with the slogan at gift shops around the city. This mass appeal, generated by an ease of use, is by design.

Buying a product meant to be seen, like, say, a sticker of the Strip skyline with “Vegas Strong” in bold capital letters, represents action or a statement to many people. And the more people, the better. As a consequence, Vegas Strong can be co-opted because what’s being said isn’t complicated. Consumption takes the place of conversation.

Meanwhile, in the months since Route 91, a national conversation has been taking place, with Las Vegas as a footnote.

The city has become another stop on the ever-lengthening timeline of mass shootings that initially came into the country’s consciousness with Columbine in 1999. This legacy continues today with Parkland, but the reactions have been vastly different.

In October, after the shock dissipated, Las Vegas went into the scab phase of healing.

The focus lay on two primary agents: the shooter and the victims. On a broader level, gun control came to the fore as a talking point, but not by much. By comparison, Parkland’s timeline has been far more condensed. A visible, vocal, and persistent campaign against the possession of auto-

matic firearms, such as AR-15s, along with a call for an overall increase in restrictions to gun access, was launched within days of the tragedy. Why? It may be that the two groups of victims are too dissimilar: one a concert made up primarily of tourists, the other a school of young people whose lives are tied to their place. The majority of Route 91’s victims were over 30, while Parkland’s were mostly under 20. There’s also the nature of “Las Vegas.” Ours is a liminal space, marked by transience.

There is a temptation to ask if we adopted the slogan “Vegas Strong” in lieu of having a real conversation about the issues that led to its creation. The problem of gun control and the mass violence that can result from a lack of it is sprawling and seemingly unsolvable. The least we could do is visibly mark the tragedy, with an item of clothing or a sticker, and soldier on.

Except I’m inclined to think there are a fair number of people who don’t see that there’s any issue to solve. The creed for those who believe strongly in their interpretation of the Second Amendment is that these incidents are isolated, sporadic, perpetrated by “crazy” and “stupid” amateurs. If a concealed-carry citizen with a real sense for gun safety and training had been present, things would be different.

Never mind that these outcomes, involving a shooter and an armed bystander, are rare and often result in disaster. See 2014’s Walmart shooting off Charleston and Stewart, where a married couple on a shooting spree shot and killed an armed bystander who tried to intervene.

Our specific issue seems to be both an aversion to dealing with October’s complexity, mixed with a measure of hubris when thinking about these shootings as a whole.

“Vegas Strong” is about as far removed as possible from even broaching the subject.

In March, in reaction to the shooting in Florida, and no doubt spurred by the persistence of those students who have been speaking out, Oregon passed a new gun-safety law preventing convicted stalkers and domestic abusers from purchasing/ possessing firearms. It would seem the scope of Parkland’s reach is far wider than Vegas’.

Again, we might ask why, but, frankly, the time for speculation has passed — more speculation would be anathema to productive action. And dialogue is action. We need to be serious about how we conduct ours.

Right now, Route 91 is half a year gone, and we have nothing to show for it. ✦ APRIL 2018

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Much in common. No two alike.

Cancer takes many forms. Each is as individual as you are.

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A LL OUT FOOD, CULTURE, STYLE, AND OTHER PULSE-OF-THE-CITY STUFF

Reasons to Believer C U LT U R E | Q&A

Talking with Black Mountain Institute boss Joshua Wolf Shenk about its groundbreaking literary festival BY

Scott Dickensheets

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TRUE BELIEVER Joshua Wolf Shenk wants the two-day Believer Festival to feel like a journey.

PHOTOGRAPHY A nthony Mair

our first question when you see the promo material for this year’s Believer Festival (April 13-14) might be, Where are the headliners? All the talent, famous or obscure, is listed alphabetically. This may rub against Vegas’ marquee aesthetic — put the stars in big type! — but it’s in keeping with the quirky, egalitarian spirit of The Believer, the festival’s namesake magazine, now housed at UNLV’s Black Mountain Institute. “What we convey is that this is about a variety of people coming together to do something bigger than any one of them,” says Joshua Wolf Shenk, BMI director, Believer editor, and the festival’s curator.

Still, if you did want to build a mental marquee, these are some of the names that might leap out: Oscar-laden filmmaker Barry Jenkins (Moonlight), authors Mohsin Hamid, John Hodgman, Rachel Kushner, Leslie Jamison, and Nick Hornby, rapper Jean Grae. But doing that would shortchange a roster whose diversity and wide-ranging experience ought to be the real draw.

Last year’s debut festival established a durable template: offbeat venues, unexpected modes of presentation. “No panels,” Edited for length and clarity.

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Pertinents

NOT ENTIRELY RANDOM BELIEVER FESTIVAL DETAILS

Shenk quips. He intends the weekend’s events to build on each other “so it feels like you’re exploring something, that it accumulates.”

“This whole thing is this kind of audacious bet on Las Vegas,” Shenk says, meaning The Believer and its festival, and the notion that a funky, literary sensibility can take root here.

“The invitation is not to consume a cultural product,” he adds, “it’s to come out and be part of something.”

NOT JUST WRITERS

lure: The Believer has a physical home, come be part of it.

Were there things you learned last year that informed this festival?

Big ger venues.

(Laughs.) Last year, (State of Nevada host) BUT ALSO WRITERS Joe Schoenmann took Meg Wolitzer, Lawme to coffee and said, rence Weschler, Kanchana Ugbabe, Vogue “I’m going have you on Robinson, Tayari the show. First thing Jones, Dave Eggers, I’m going to ask you Zinzi Clemmons, more is, ‘Is Las Vegas ready for this?’” I answered THE VENUES him honestly, which is, Red Rock Visitors “I hope so.” And then Center, the Writer’s tickets went on sale, This must be a busy Block, Las Vegas Academy, Fremont and we sold out within moment for you.

Country Club a couple of days. We Oh, it’s so close, so had a plan for national close. It’s challenging, Info: blackmountainadvertising that we did in part, because we want institute.org not enact because our to represent literary problem was managing writers from all genres all the people we had and all backgrounds. to say no to. So we’re in bigger venues But we also want to edge into popular this year. territory (with film, music, comedy) to The one thing we’re doing identical convey that we’re not cloistered. And to last year is starting at Red Rock. We we also want to represent Las Vegas were all just floored by that — this feelwriters, UNLV writers and artists, so ing of sinking into the quiet, a stunned, we’re not dropping a cultural spaceship grateful awareness about where we are. in the middle of town and opening up A quality of this region I cannot get over is the hatch. I think this kind of culture is the juxtaposition of the manmade and the like a vine — you can introduce it into an kind of man-defying. It’s like the height of environment, but it’s got to catch onto chutzpah and the height of humility right something solid and substantial that’s up against each other. And I wanted to begin (already) there. That’s how culture really that way because I want to root the festival grows. One of the things we were most in a surprising sense of place. proud of last year is that we were able to strike that balance (by involving many What guided you in choosing the feslocal writers). tival’s lineup?

There’s kind of a loose Believer aesLast year’s theme was American thetic, which is quality work that has a Dreams. Is there a theme this time? lot of life, that’s not self-serious but is American Dreams was a really vigorous meaningful. We’re looking for people theme, and we talked about doing that who will be generous in spirit. You know, again, (but) came down on just calling it there’s a certain kind of diva who you know The Believer Festival. I feel some sadness will do something meaningful onstage, because I thought American Dreams was but who will just go back to their hotel so potent. But there are good reasons to afterward. And we’re 180 degrees from make The Believer itself a centerpiece. that, because part of our job is to convey Ideally, The Believer becomes, for Las an opportunity of arts and culture in Las Vegas, to use a cliche, like a big tent of Vegas to these guests. arts and culture. It’s something that Then, yeah, just diversity, diversity, diwe send out to the world, and it’s also a

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Moonlight director Barry Jenkins, Muslim speaker Wajahat Ali, comedian Aparna Nancherla, rapper Jean Grae, more

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versity, in terms of geographic background, racial background, but also the kind of work people do. This is in the spirit of The Believer. It has its roots in the literary arts, but it is omnivorous, curious about visual art, music, comedy. There should be a smile on your face, even when you’re grappling with the most solemn things.

I’m curious how you see The Believer’s sensibility meshing with Vegas’.

Vendela Vida, the co-founder of the magazine, has often referred to Las Vegas as the spiritual home of The Believer. She says before there was any prospect of it living here, they would talk about Las Vegas and The Believer as having this weird kismet, and I think it owes to Las Vegas being kind of outsidery, eclectic, to it not being afraid of being showy. But also weirdly earnest ... like, yeah, we’re going to put on the neon outfit, but we’re really trying to connect with you.

So, does the festival relate to our political context?

Our primary contribution to politics is articulating the reality of an environment of free, artful expression. And if we are political, it is about the potential of art to open the human heart and help us see and feel each other.

I mean, I remember when I was in high school and my brothers and I would make jokes about gay people, because we didn’t know any. Then I went to college, and my best friend came out. That changed everything for me. So I really believe in the power of the encounter, and what is the impact of actually encountering a Nigerian novelist who might literally be dead if it weren’t for the asylum work done by this network of people we’re proud to be connected with? What is the potential there? That, I think, is what we can offer, not any particular argument about any particular position.

Anything else?

I will just say that none of this has any permanence except to the extent that it catches — it goes back to that original image.

And so at all levels we’re really looking for people to connect and contribute. It could be by volunteering. It could be by writing a small check. It could be just by being in the room. A presence like that is a huge act of service. ✦

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THE

Hot Seat Conversation

JULIE BUNTIN AND SAM QUINONES CLARK COUNTY LIBRARY

The opioid epidemic gusting through America — it caused more than 20,000 deaths in 2016 — figures partially in Buntin’s novel Marlena, and is the subject of Quinones’ nonfiction Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic.

The authors will talk not only about the crisis, but about how storytelling can help us understand its causes. April 26, 7p, free, Clark County Library, lvccld.org

Music

JARABE MEXICANO WEST LAS VEGAS LIBRARY

A five-man Latin-music dynamo, Jarabe Mexicano performs traditional Mexican song forms on traditional mariachi instruments — but also mixes in their take on rock and reggae, too. Something for everyone. Two shows: April 28 at West Las Vegas Library and April 29 at West Charleston Library; 2p both days, free, lvccld.org

The Politics of Republican Governors. Brookings Institute fellow Molly Reynolds maps the fault lines between the actions of Republican state governors and their national party. Hoo boy! April 11, 6p, free, UNLV’s Greenspun Hall, unlv.edu/calendar

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Visual Art

ENGRAVING ON LAND CSN GALLERY

These large-scale prints

by Yoshiko Shimano deal with, among other things, the marks humans leave on the Earth — a topic that’s forever timely. Through April 28; artist’s talk 6p, April 18, csn.edu/artgallery

Home + History Las Vegas. In honor of “Art, Architecture and Design Month,” the local AIA chapter will host three days of home tours and lectures that focus on home design here. Get your Mid-Mod on. April 27-29, aialasvegas.org

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Room for Laughter

A legendary New York comedy club brings its funny business to the Strip BY

Julie Seabaugh

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ate last year, after searching nearly three years for the perfect comedy space in Las Vegas, a team of New Yorkers, including Noam Dworman — owner of Greenwich Village’s famed Comedy Cellar — founder Bill Grundfest, GM Liz Furiati, and comedian Robert Kelly took to the Strip and finalized plans for a new venue. The Cellar finally made it official, announcing in a recent Instagram post, “The worst kept secret is finally out! We are opening an amazing comedy room at @riovegas!”

Though the NYC home club of Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Amy Schumer, Ray Romano, and Jon Stewart has expanded in recent years from one to three rooms, April 5’s opening weekend at the Rio marks the Cellar’s first venture outside of New York. The Comedy Cellar replaces Eddie Griffin. As it has since 2001, the Rio will remain the home of comedy-magic duo Penn & Teller.

(And the continuing Chippendales residency should provide Cellar comics with a wealth of material.)

The Cellar’s 300-seat venue mimics the original’s brick walls, acoustically pleasing low ceiling, and eye-catching stained glass. Rather than employing a “headliner” format, with a host introducing a feature comedian, then a longer set from the biggest name on the bill, the Cellar’s “showcase” for-

C O M E DY C E L L A R AT T H E R I O

Thursdays-Sundays, 7p and 9p, plus 11p Saturday; $42-$62 (entry is 18-plus) comedycellar.com

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mat will offer performers 20-minute sets across the board.

“Even in New York, we feel that the headliner format is inferior to the showcase format,” Dworman explains.

“Except for a very, very few (headlining) comedians, most people enjoy a show with four or five comedians rather than one. We’ve experimented with longer sets and headliners at the rooms in New York, and we always reverted back to shorter sets and more comedians.”

Of lineups at competing Strip and off-Strip comedy clubs, Dworman adds, “In Vegas, the people typically headlining are not really headliners in the sense of someone who would really headline a New York room, anyway.”

The Comedy Cellar at the Rio’s initial lineup includes New York regulars Marc Cohen, Mo Amer, Kyle Dunnigan, Jessica Kirson, and Nathan McIntosh. “I am so excited to be performing opening weekend,” Kirson says. “The Comedy Cellar is the best club in the country. They have the best venues, the best comics and the best audiences. I feel honored to be asked. It’s going to be a blast.”

And similar to the original Comedy Cellar, on any given night audiences might catch surprise sets from some of the most famous names in the business. “I know that a lot of very, very important comedians have already expressed their desire to play the room … and to drop in,” Dworman teases. “Just like in New York, we don’t schedule those — and I wouldn’t be able to tell you, anyway — but we’re confident that we’re going to have a show that blows away anything that Vegas has seen in terms of consistency of stand-up comedy.” ✦

Hot Seat Music

TY SEGALL

BUNKHOUSE SALOON

Prolific indie rocker loved by critics plays intimate show at local venue. We’re streaming his album Freedom’s Goblin.

Raucous stuff! “That guy’s pretty wild,” says Desert Companion intern Jacob Lasky, who (a) is young, and (b) whose band opened for Segall a couple of Neon Reverbs ago, meaning his enthusiasm should be trusted. “It was a pretty fun show.” April 3, 9p, $15-$17, bunkhousedowntown.com

Theater

THE COLOR PURPLE THE SMITH CENTER

This Tony-winner (best musical revival, 2016) reimagines the previous musical based on Alice Walker’s Pulitzer-winning novel about AfricanAmerican women in Georgia in the early 20th century.

It’s been edited down to its essence in a way The New York Times termed “a miracle.” April 24-29, $36-$127, thesmithcenter.com

Volunteer

THE GREAT AMERICAN CLEANUP DAY LAKE MEAD

It’s the 20th anniversary of this salutary annual trashpicking effort.

Removing litter from the heavily trafficked national recreation area is a vital act of community stewardship.

April 7, call 702-293-8711 to register

Wine, Women & Shoes. Fundraiser for St. Jude’s Ranch for Children, honoring Stations Casino veep Lori Nelson, and featuring designer David Tupaz. Plus: wine! April 15, 1p, Green Valley Ranch Grand Ballroom, stjudesranch.org

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EAT THIS NOW: FRENCH DIP MORELS STEAKHOUSE & BISTRO

in the Palazzo, morelslv.com Usually, the French dip is a relatively simple meat-breadbroth combo. But Morels Steakhouse & Bistro takes the lunchtime classic to new heights. It starts with the main filling — slices of slow-roasted prime roast beef. Next comes a layer of sweetly caramelized onions and buttery, nutty Emmental cheese, topped by a slather of zesty horseradish cream, all inside a nicely crusted hunk of bread. Then there’s the extraordinary jus.

In most eateries, this means a thin sauce, but not at Morels.

Instead, it’s more of a rich beef gravy that lacquers your sandwich with savory goodness. The plate arrives with hand-cut fries or a light salad. I prefer the salad; its vibrant vinaigrette helps balance out the luxurious, nearly decadent sandwich. If a table is open on the patio overlooking Las Vegas Boulevard, dip away with a daytime view of the Strip. Greg Thilmont

DINING | REVIEW

Kitchen Remix

Where hip-hop spirit meets Japanese tapas, that’s Paid In Full BY

J

Lissa Townsend Rodgers

apanese tapas restaurant Paid In Full is named for the 1987 album by hip-hop originators, Eric B. & Rakim. The sound system often plays the New York City duo, as well as a little Run DMC, a little Public Enemy, a dash of De La Soul. And the chefs at Paid in Full are creating their own culinary beat, taking Japanese street food and throwing in a sample from Mexican cuisine, a hook from a French bistro, a riff from a Midwest county fair.

Takoyaki are traditionally dough balls filled with minced octopus; Paid In Full

does it old-school style, but also offers a few other renditions. One that pops in an escargot with salsa verde and garlic aioli is like biting through a bubble to a center of heat-hinted creaminess. Their Kurobuta corndogs are peppery, piquant pork sausages wrapped in fluffy batter to dunk in spicy mustard and sweet bulldog sauce, while panko-crusted crab croquettes are moist little clouds well-accented with shishito peppers. Sweet corn with miso butter and farmers cheese is reminiscent of Mexican street corn, but chunks of Netsue bacon adds salty-sweet richness — I wanted

Cocktail SANGRIA OF THE MONTH

AT A L E X X A’ S In Paris Las Vegas, alexxasbar.com Depending on timing and traffic, the vantage at Alexxa’s offers you either an Instagram-worthy view of the Bellagio fountains in full balletic spray or a GIRLS DIRECT TO YOUR ROOM mobile flashboard drilling into your soul. But you’re here for their menu of sangria, the official spring drink of Las Vegas as of me writing this sentence. The Blanco (albarino wine, citrus, peach schnapps) is perky and tangily sweet; the Moonshine (zin, blackberries, currants) is dusky, heady, rich.

There’s also one called The Modern, which lists “chef’s whim” as the ingredients.

What is that? I don’t know. Which is why I’m going back. Andrew Kiraly

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to devour the whole bowl, like Goldilocks’ most-right porridge.

Paid In Full offers a solid selection of beers and wines — the Yoho Brewing Tokyo Black Porter is a standout, with a smooth hint of coffee — which include Colt 45 Malt Liquor and Mad Dog 20/20 fortified wine “for real G’s.” There are also a few festive, non-alcoholic cocktails, including the addictive Wu-Tang punch, which is sparkling Tang with a hint of Thai basil syrup, garnished by a swizzle stick topped with a gold-painted rhino. It’s another example of the thought and care that’s been put into every aspect of Paid In Full, from the disco ball in the tiny, bubblegum-pink ladies’ room to the sparkly gold $ medallion on the good luck cat by the register. If this place was Downtown, it’d have a line of hipsters out the door, but, in the wilds of the southwest, it’s a mixture of couples and families, lingering over a procession of small plates beneath the vivid mural of a tattooed Geisha girl flanked by a squid with a spray paint can and a wolf in a hoodie.

Paid In Full’s wide-ranging flavors may be accessible to those unfamiliar with Japanese food, but it’s also appreciated by fans. I took a friend who had lived in Japan, and, after taking her first bite of the Triple Garlic Yakisoba, a heap of noodles with mushrooms and pork belly, she threw down her chopsticks and clapped like a girl at a birthday party. When Eric B. rhymed “put it together/it’s simple, ain’t it/but quite clever,” he could have been describing Paid In Full’s kitchen remix. ✦

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For Goodness’ Sake D I N I N G | PIE VS. PIE

Hey, look, two pizza shops with names possibly suggesting moral character.

Let’s compare and contrast!

BY

Kristy Totten

The Good Pie When a restaurant is named the Good Pie, and its menu is sliced into sections called The Goods, The Really Good Stuff, and Other Good Stuff, you expect it to be, well, good.

This place is great. The space feels like a New York kitchen, if the kitchen belonged to an apron-wearing Italian grandmother who loved family portraits and heirloom kitchen tools. Which is fitting, because all the pizzas are “grandma-style,” meaning the dough is only given a short time to rise, so it gets to your mouth sooner. Cheffed

by Evel Pie expat Vincent Rotolo, the Pawn Plaza eatery Downtown specializes in Brooklyn-style round pies, Detroit-style Sicilian squares, and veggie-heavy vegan options that forgo the gluey fake cheese.

Instead, the shop plays up high-quality ingredients like flour and tomatoes from Italy and locally sourced toppings. The attention to detail is evident in pizzas like Dats That Good $hit ($27), with wild mushrooms, truffle oil, and ricotta piped into perfect rosettes. Honestly, it should come with a cheek-pinching. 725 S Las Vegas Blvd #140, 702-844-2700, goodpie.com

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Evel Pie Stepping into this East Fremont spot feels a little like being invited into your cool uncle’s off-limits garage. It’s rad. Sure, he was a little eccentric, excessive even in his love for Evel Knievel, but the dude is still living his glory days through trophies, arcade games, and a soundtrack he definitely acquired before The Big Haircut. The gnar is only part of Evel Pie’s appeal; there is, of course, the pizza. Cheesy Rider ($24) and pepperoni ($26) are solid staples, and the specialties refer back to racing culture. Take Balls to the Wall ($28), with generous dollops of ricotta and crumbled homemade meatballs, or the World Famous Snake River Special ($27), with sausage and red peppers, an homage to the time Knievel attempted to blast over an Idaho canyon by rocket — but only because he couldn’t use his bike.

Pair a slice with a beer, and you can practically hear a guitar solo in your head. Your uncle would approve. I favor Good Pie’s quality ingredients and richer flavors, but if you’re out causing late-night trouble on Fremont Street, you can do worse than refuel with a little Evel.

508 Fremont St.,702-840-6460, evelpie.com ✦

PHOTOGRAPHY B rent Holmes

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STAMM’S FAVORITES PROSCIUTTO FROM CESARE CASELLA Cured & Whey brings in many of its suppliers to demonstrate their food, such as acclaimed butcher Cesare Casella, who was in town in March. He produces prosciutto hams in rustic Upstate New York that rival any from Europe or elsewhere in North America. It might be sliced thin, but it’s packed with umami sensation. Another noted cured meat is Hudson Valley applewood-smoked duck ham, which makes its way into a sensational Reuben sandwich along with puckery sauerkraut from Mrs. Klein’s Pickle Co. of Phoenix.

AQUARELLO CARNAROLI RICE When home cooks see the word “risotto,” the picture of continually stirring a pot for 30 minutes might come to mind. Dispel that notion with Stamm’s favorite grain, Aquarello Carnaroli rice grown in Italy’s Piedmont by the mighty Po River. Dry-aged for 16 months, the flavor-laded gems can be cooked to creamy completion in 11 minutes. Nearby on the

F O O D | STOREFRONT

The Gourmet Life Cured & Whey’s J. Michael Stamm makes a mark in culinary culture — and shares favorites from his shelves BY

Greg Thilmont

shelves, find gluten-free pasta from Pastificio Caponi.

TRUFFLE PRODUCTS BY SAVINI TARTUFI One of Stamm’s favorite product lines is from the Savini family of verdant Tuscany.

He’s been importing their fragrant truffle butter, sauce, and salt for decades. They’re luxurious and elegant ingredients, but a little goes a long way, making for upscale bargains. He’s also

O

n weekdays around lunchtime, hungry Las Vegans in the know make a turn off Valley View Boulevard at Post Road. There, in the vast warehouse district west of the Strip, J. Michael Stamm’s Cured & Whey offers upscale deliciousness, from Andalusian quince paste to andouille sausages handcrafted in Temecula, Calif.

Originally from Heidelberg, Germany, Stamm first made his way to the U.S. as a chef at the 1984 Summer Olympics after university studies and military service. Eventually, a booming Las Vegas beckoned, leading to stints in hotel kitchens including Treasure Island. Then, in 1999, he began a wholesale supply business for Sin City chefs looking for niche ingredients.

Eventually, in late 2016, he decided to open a retail storefront carrying all the charcuterie, rare cheeses, and beyond that chefs serve in their eateries.

“We had so many chefs walk through here buying foie gras, bacon, and cheeses,” says Stamm, sitting at one of Cured & Whey’s communal tables. “I just wanted to make the same products available to non-chefs.”

Cured & Whey, 6265 S. Valley View Blvd. #K, 702-429-3617, facebook.com/ curedandwhey ✦

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an evangelist for DeCarlo extra virgin olive oil, also from Italy.

BOSKA CHEESEMAKING KITS While it’s certainly convenient to pick up a few pounds of aged curds like espresso-rubbed “Barely Buzzed” from Utah’s Beehive Cheese Co. or rind-washed “Red Hawk” Cowgirl Creamery at Cured & Whey, there’s also satisfaction in handcrafting cheese at home. Stamm carries a selection of kits from Holland’s Boska for making fresh mozzarella and chèvre. Other cooking implements include Himalayan salt slabs for roasting meats and vegetables.

PHOTOGRAPHY B rent Holmes

CHEF SCOTT CONANT INTRODUCES

OSTERIA OSTERIA

soulful yet refined italian cooking in a convivial setting

CURED & WHEY 6265 S. Valley View Blvd. #K, 702-429-3617 facebook.com/ curedandwhey

NOW OPEN @conantnyc @massoosteria www.massoosteria.com

11011 West Charleston Boulevard / Las Vegas / 702.797.7777

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© 2018 STATION CASINOS. MANAGEMENT RESERVES ALL RIGHTS.

T

he old-fashioned, non-streaming, grooved-vinyl record has experienced a renaissance lately, with many artists putting out vinyl LPs for a new generation of audiophiles, as well as older listeners seeking analog nostalgia. Whether you’ve just bought your first turntable or have been spinning for decades, here are some local record stores that stuck it out in the age of Spotify.

ZIA RECORD EXCHANGE: Zia is a good place for beginners — vinyl newbies can browse a lot more than records — and collectors alike. The Arizona-based pop-culture emporium has thousands of new and vintage records at prices ranging from a few bucks to $30, as well as new and used turntables, CDs, cassettes, and more. Its loyalty program means you can earn points toward discounts, and the stores often have weekly specials. 4503 W. Sahara Ave. and 4225 S. Eastern Ave., ziarecords.com RECORD CITY: Established in 1988, Record

City is the oldest record store in Vegas.

Both locations carry thousands of new and used records, including local releases. You can also find select 45s and LPs ranging from $1-$3. The Sahara location is geared

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SHOP | CLASSICS

The Vinyl Countdown

For Record Store Day (April 21), we’re going old-school BY

Jacob Lasky

more toward worldly vinyl — stocked with harder-to-come-by imports and rarities — whereas the Charleston shop is more community-based, featuring local music and artwork. 300 E. Sahara Ave. and 4555 E. Charleston Blvd., recordcityonline.com MOONDOG RECORDS: At 800 square feet, Moondog might feel small, but its record collection is quite the opposite. Owner Clint McKean estimates that he has around 20,000 vintage records in his shop, tucked away below the Campus Village Plaza, across from UNLV. Records here can go for anywhere between $15-$60. Also on hand: a notable collection of rare Beatles albums,

including an original, unpeeled “Butcher Album” version of Yesterday and Today, as well as some Russian Fab-Four imports to really take you back to the USSR. Other rare items include a set of original Elvis Presley vinyl from Sun Records. The store also has occasional storefront sales where prices drop to as low as $1. 4440 S. Maryland Parkway, moondogrecordslv.com WAX TRAX: Come only if you have a whole day to kill. With more than 500,000 vintage and rare records to choose from, this three-story house-turned-record-store is mostly slanted toward serious collectors.

(Elton John is a regular.) When you walk PHOTOGRAPHY S cott Lien

YOU REALLY LOVE OUR MAGAZINE. NOW YOU CAN LOVE IT VIRTUALLY, TOO. Visit us at desertcompanion.vegas and check out our website.

Between editions of our Maggie Award-winning magazine, you’ll get web-exclusive stories, breaking cultural news and fresh perspectives from our writers.

ON THE RECORD You could set a scene from High Fidelity in 11th Street Records, left, or Wax Trax, above.

Start Early.

Start Right.

in, you’ll be greeted by Brooklynite owner Rich Rosen — who’s been selling records for more than 50 years — and a strong aroma of aging paper record sleeves. The store is a labyrinth of tagless vinyl, which Rosen matches with online prices. Prices tend to be higher here, but the collection will make any collector drool. Among the rarities: original copies of the coveted 1967 Velvet Underground & Nico, with its original banana stickers still in place, plus other rare master-recording LPs from artists including Led Zeppelin and The Doors.

2909 S. Decatur Blvd., waxtraxonline.com 11TH STREET RECORDS: This is great stop for anyone wandering Downtown before a show at the Bunkhouse or drinks at Atomic Liquors. The store carries new and used records spanning genres, but has a strong collection of post-punk and alternative LPs and 45s. You’ll also find a small selection of local records. Prices can be a little steep here, but 11th Street has a loyalty program for regulars. The back of the store houses the impressive National Southwest Recording studio, in which The Killers recorded their album Wonderful Wonderful. 1023 Fremont St., 11thstreetrecords.com VEGAS VINYL: With a few exceptions, this

is a record store with thrift store and garage sale prices. In this hidden gem you’ll find close to 15,000 used records neatly organized in milk crates, with an average price between $2-$8. There’s also a selection of rare items, including an autographed copy of Elton John’s autobiographical 1975 album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. 1641 E. Sunset Road, vegasvinylrecords.com ✦

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Time for Design S H O P | HOME

Numbers? Ugh! The Qlocktwo is just what the design-conscious word lover ordered.

Comes in several colors. $1,490, qlocktwo.com

Functional and stylish, wall clocks add personality to any room. Here are some of our favorites BY

Scott Dickensheets

The Titi CuccĂš Clock is a sharp minimalist take on a classic. Multiple colors. $254, us.amara.com Zap your home with retro-pop pizazz with a Kitty Cat Clock. The eyes and tail move, of course. Multiple colors. $39.99, clockway.com

Typography is front and center in this earthy Ornament Clock from Heath Ceramics and House Industies. Available in birch or museum black (shown). $350, heathceramics.com.

As a designer, George Nelson helped create American modernism, which would explain the appealing lines of his Fan Clock. $463, hivemodern.com

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The World Clock is elegant, with just enough personality to upgrade, but not clash with, any room. $59, store.moma.org

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Safety is our focus at the SNWA, and we know not everyone likes the taste of naturallyoccurring minerals or the chlorine added to protect your water. That’s why we provide free, objective information about in-home filtration systems. To learn more, visit snwa.com.

The SNWA is a not-for-profit public agency.

HISTORY

OFF TRACK Nearly 40 years ago, Formula One racing roared into Las Vegas. The result was a spectacle — just not the one racers were hoping for BY

Ian Whitaker

F

ormula One’s 1981 season was a strange one. A leader failed to emerge for most of the seven months, despite fierce competition during more than a dozen races around Europe and South America. But in the final third of the season, just as the sport’s traveling circus of mechanics, journalists, and racing-inclined glitterati was preparing to make the trip across the Atlantic for the final two races in Canada and America, three contenders emerged: Carlos Reutemann from Argentina, the Frenchman Jacques Laffite, and Nelson Piquet, a notoriously prickly Brazilian. In the rainy penultimate round, held on a

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NEED FOR SPEED The gentlemen started their engines for the Caesars Palace Grand Prix on October 17, 1981.

lush island in Montreal’s Saint Lawrence River, Piquet managed to narrow Reutemann’s lead in the championship standings to just one point. The championship would be decided in the final race.

The plan at the start of the season was for the racing teams to travel south into New York, where the season finale would be held at the legendary Watkins Glen circuit.

But after the track went bankrupt in May, following a long struggle to afford Formula One’s pricey requirements, organizers were forced to improvise. The opening round of the season had taken place on the streets of Long Beach, and so organizers tapped the race’s American promoter, Chris Pook, to throw together a last-minute race in the United States. And so was born one of the strangest events in racing history: the Caesars Palace Grand Prix.

Carved into the casino parking lot and ringed by drab concrete barriers, the completely flat, 2.2-mile course constantly doubled in on itself, the result of having to fit a lot of track in the tight space between the Strip and Interstate 15. The start/finish straightaway sliced right through what are today the Forum Shops. The remainder wound around

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HISTORY

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empty scrubland that would later become the site of the Mirage. Organizers laid new tarmac and had taxicabs drive the circuit to smooth it out. Construction reportedly took around 45 days and cost $3.5 million.

Conveniently, the event coincided with Formula One’s ongoing pivot to television and the lucrative advertising that went with it. It was hyped more than any other race in recent memory, according to journalists who flocked to Caesars in the days leading up to the event. NBC went all out, airing a promo featuring melodramatic slow-mo footage of the drivers over Neil Diamond’s “Coming to America.” They even hired Mark Thatcher, son of Margaret Thatcher and a motorsport enthusiast in his own right, as a pit-lane reporter.

But things didn’t go so smoothly. For one, even in October the desert heat proved far less comfortable than the mild continental climate F1’s retinue of Europeans was used

to, and hotter than what drivers had trained for. Exhaustion was a common complaint in practices leading up to the race. There was something else wrong, too: Neither locals nor high-rollers were showing up.

Legendary English F1 correspondent Nigel Roebuck stayed at the MGM Grand, now Bally’s, during the race weekend. He recalled being asked by a gambler what all the fuss was about. When he explained it was the race that would settle the World Championship, the man scoffed, “I wouldn’t even care if it was the American championship.” The local response seemed to add up to one big shrug. The glamour and European chic of Formula One had met the gauche inelegance of a desert mob town, and the response was about as you’d expect.

“It was like Romanée-Conti (an expensive French wine) in a plastic beaker,” Roebuck wrote in 2012. “Most people in Vegas found racing cars a noisy distraction, far preferring

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THE WHEEL DEAL Clockwise from opposite top: A view of the pits; Mario Andretti and Sammy Davis Jr. hang with Caesars President Harry Wald before the race; also present: Cool Hand Luke; winner Alan Jones takes a corner; and mounts the winner’s stand — time for the champers!

to settle their rolls of fat on stools and feed quarters into machines.”

The race itself fared only slightly better.

Reutemann squandered pole position in the first corner, falling several places before being passed by Piquet. From there, the Brazilian just had to finish ahead of Reutemann to become world champion, which he did, but not before throwing up in his helmet due to the heat and having to be dragged out of his car.

As a piece of television, the race also fell flat. Camera operators frequently lost track of drivers, leaving viewers at home to miss key moments of the race. NBC cut from a commercial at the last minute, catching Australian Alan Jones just as he crossed the finish line to win the race. For spectators braving the desert heat to watch in person, concrete barriers were apparently so high that on some parts of the track only drivers’ helmets could be seen. To top it off, Thatcher, whose security detail followed him all across town during the weekend,

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HISTORY apparently made a fool of himself in pit-lane interviews.

Most drivers could barely contain their hatred of the track. Gazzetta Dello Sport, an Italian daily based in Milan, quoted Jacques Laffite in an article lambasting the circuit, which included the phrase “ridiculous go-kart track.” For that, the newspaper was slapped with a $10 million lawsuit from Caesars, alleging “flimsy and unprofessional journalism.” Jones, who had already announced his retirement, called it “a goat track, dragged down from the mountains and flattened out. What a bloody place to be ending your career …” And though the race stayed on the calendar for one more season, it couldn’t escape its first impression. It was dropped after 1982. In an interview with the Austin American-Statesman in 2012, Pook maintained that the fault lay not with the track but the casinos. He told the paper, “Caesars didn’t reach out. There was not a relationship with the other casinos. It’s really, really important that everyone is behind a race.”

In retrospect, some have criticized the track’s lack of sex appeal. Watching the two

Monster Energy may be a literal world races — both of which are available in full away from the likes of Longines, Parmalat, on YouTube — one only glimpses flashes of and Santander, all is not lost for Formula sand, concrete, and the occasional distant One in Vegas. Liberty Media, an American highway, hardly an advertisement for a media conglomerate, bought the sport’s must-visit international destination. At the commercial rights in 2016. One of its first very least, the affair resulted in more than moves was to renew dormant a few memorable images for plans for another street race in Vegas lore-keepers, such as FedAmerica. Vegas is back on the eration Internationale du Sport Most drivers short list, as are Miami, New Automobile (then the sport’s could barely York, and L.A. governing body) president and contain their “The U.S. is all upsides for French motorsport aristocrat hatred of the us,” F1’s new CEO, Chase CarJean-Marie Balestre on the track. Jones ey, told NBC a year ago. “We winner’s podium alongside the called it “a goat haven’t invested in it the way customary bottle of Moët and track, dragged we need to, to build the U.S. a Caesars employee dressed in down from the mountains and market.” legionnaire garb. flattened out.”

It’s an inherently fraught Fast-forward to the present, endeavor, given the checkered and Vegas has now fallen in fate of Formula One’s efforts in love with auto racing, albeit U.S. cities, but it also has the at the opposite end of the potential to be a huge untapped market as fandom. The city is firmly on board with wealth and people centralize in metropoliNASCAR, whose premier stock-car series tan areas. Look no further than Singapore, now runs two races each year at Las Vegas which hosted its first Formula One race on Motor Speedway, in addition to events the streets of glitzy Marina Bay in 2008. The from lower series. But while sponsors race is visually stunning. Taking place at like Budweiser, NAPA Auto Parts, and

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night, cars compete under the glare of lights and the city’s opulent resorts, including Sheldon Adelson’s Marina Bay Sands. It’s a great advertisement for the South Asian citystate, but Liberty is an American company with media holdings in cities that have the iconic skylines the luxury crowd is willing to splash cash in. Will Vegas again be one of them? It’s hard to say; nothing concrete has been announced, though it’s hard to imagine the factors that doomed Sin City’s race in the first place will have disappeared in 40 years. There’s also the question of traffic in a city with almost no public transport.

In 2014, prior to the Americans taking over, an effort headed by tech entrepreneur Farid Shidfar purported to sidestep these problems. Shidfar, who previously worked on the launch of The Cosmopolitan, claimed he had secured a promise of $150 million from unnamed Chinese investors in Beijing who wanted to see a race on the Strip. He was also given an official go-ahead from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, as well as Governor Brian Sandoval, who looked at the race as an opportunity for economic diversification. He was apparently so close

to a deal on a new race that Formula One’s designers had a working track layout that they claimed would not impact resorts.

“Closing down the Strip happens multiple times a year,” Shidfar told Forbes.

“For New Year’s Eve it happens, for the Rock and Roll marathon it happens, and for special events. There’s a NASCAR event with cars going down the Strip. It happens for hours.”

Supporters latched onto his words as proof the race was possible, but in doing so they tended to ignore the reality. A race itself might last only a day, but a Formula One Grand Prix goes for an entire weekend. That includes practice and qualifying sessions on Friday and Saturday, and finally the race on Sunday. And that’s saying nothing of the time it takes the city to erect barriers, set up pit-lane facilities and grandstands.

A race on or near the Strip could mean shutting down public streets for up to a month (setup for the Monaco Grand Prix lasts six weeks, plus three more for teardown). That doesn’t mean it’s impossible, but it’s doubtful in the absence of a publicly released track layout. Suffice to say, those

plans were never released and the effort appears to have fizzled.

In the meantime, a solution may have been quietly found in the lap of another big-money industry: eSports, which has close ties with Las Vegas and rakes in more than a billion dollars each year. Formula E, the all-digital racing series organized by the same governing body as Formula One, held a race between professional drivers and amateurs. But instead of shutting down public roads for weeks, they simply booked a ballroom at the Venetian during the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show.

The race was conducted on computer simulators, all on a virtual Strip circuit that stretched between Mandalay Bay and New York-New York.

The winner was a 22-year-old Dutchman named Bono Huis. Also competing: Nelson Piquet Jr., son of the Brazilian who, 36 years earlier, won his first Formula One World Championship in the parking lot across the street. ✦ Information in this story is drawn from the archives of Motor Sport magazine and crash.net, among other sources.

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44 Q&A

NOT OK COMPUTER In an era of fake news, email overload, and cyber-bullying, a UNLV prof ’s timely book asks us to resist the techno-flood BY

Jarret Keene

I

t’s fun to test a college professor. After reading a few chapters from Simon Gottschalk’s new book, The Terminal Self: Everyday Life in Hypermodern Times (Routledge), I emailed him late on a Friday to see if he’d walk the talk.

Would he instantly reply (F)? Or would he wait until Monday (A-plus) and resist our culture’s “increasingly pervasive and mandatory interaction with terminals”?

After all, according to the UNLV sociology professor, to fully be alive and human, we should avoid adjusting to “terminal logic.”

Well, he aced my informal exam.

Gottschalk has studied the social and psychological impact of our increasingly online lives for several years. His thoughts on the subject of our computer-mediated moments are gathered in a book that hinges on the double meaning of the word terminal, which means “access point” (desktops, laptops, tablets, phones, watches, etc.) and also “end of life.” As he notes in his introduction, scholars who study technology’s impact on society are increasingly reaching a similar conclusion: “We cannot realistically continue along the trajectories we are currently racing along. If we do, we will bring about the terminal phase in the life of the planet and of humanity.”

Gottschalk recently sat down, face-to-face, to talk about what it means to be alive in — and to survive — our hypermodern times.

Your book examines how we are transformed through interaction with computer terminals, and your conclusion is dour. Did you feel any emotional catharsis in highlighting humanity’s tragic embrace of terminal logic?

I’ve been reading about it and researching it and writing about it for such a long time that it was only cathartic when I finished the

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book, because it took me so long. A lot of the time, when I talk with everyday people — my dentist, my chiropractor, friends at the store — and they ask me what I’m doing, I mention my ideas, and what I notice is everyone has a story in their everyday lives that confirms what I’ve learned. And I mean nonacademic people from completely different quarters, who live completely different lives than we do in Las Vegas — I ’m talking about places like France, Belgium, Israel. The way they tend to react is this: My book makes sense to them because they see themselves and their experiences in The Terminal Self.

Let’s discuss one of your ideas, namely that we shouldn’t surrender to the expectation of instant accessibility.

The reason I wrote the book is to hopefully raise awareness about what we’ve normalized and what we take for granted, and to remind ourselves that the mind-blowing conditions in which we live are extremely recent in human history. The phone is a party at our fingertips, but we pay a price. I’m trying not to surrender. I want to control my time and space boundaries. The fact that technology functions on demand doesn’t mean people do.

Sure, anyone has the capability of contacting me Saturday night at 11, but don’t expect me to be available and accessible. What technologies bring about is the expectation of constant instant accessibility, and that’s madness. No one can live like that. I have a student doing her dissertation on how graduate students prefer to communicate when learning about academic deadlines and activities. Even though we as professors communicate with students more and more online, it doesn’t seem to work. My student’s task is to find out what works and what students want to see and what turns them away. As I wrote in my book, on an average day, during the spring semester of last year, at 9 a.m., I had received 75 emails. And it’s estimated that the average American worker spends 23 percent of the day just managing email. So if we don’t resist, the flow of information will only increase.

We should resist, not because it’s annoying or overwhelming or taking too much time, but because constant communication with faceless others is affecting us in deeper, more profound ways.

Come on, surely, you weren’t always this cautionary about being online.

There’s still so much digital utopianism out there. Were you ever on board with the belief in the internet’s liberating, equalizing potential?

It wasn’t unbridled optimism, but the clos-

est I got to optimism was when I conducted research in the social virtual space known as Second Life years ago. Back then, Second Life was booming. Everybody was jumping in. The Swedish embassy, Yale and Harvard, and the Democratic Party were establishing virtual representation in Second Life.

You could even enroll in courses at Cornell University in Second Life. And yes, it had so much virtual promise, but you could easily see how it could end up becoming a virtual playground for people who had the means and the knowledge. So I was optimistic, but I also saw it could go the other way and become nothing, or nothing liberating. Because I network with the institutes that study online behavior, such as the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project — they interview me for their yearly report — I learned that respondents are, on balance, equally optimistic and pessimistic. The research report lately suggests, however, that people are growing more pessimistic about the internet. So the tone of the book is influenced by my own psychological understanding, and by what I see experts do and think and what researchers find.

What do you think of France’s efforts to ban business emails on the weekends and holidays?

I think it’s awesome. There is a firm in Germany where, if you send a work-related email after hours, it automatically bounces back, telling you that their employees are not just out of office, but that the message you sent will not be delivered. If it’s absolutely urgent, there’s a number you can call.

But here’s my own example: Even if I don’t respond to my emails over the weekend, by Monday morning I’ve accumulated more than 20 emails in my inbox that require a response. That’s not fair. Instead, why not consider how much our lives would improve if we thought about existing in a time where we can’t send emails after-hours? Imagine you’re my graduate student and you’re on a romantic date and you’re about to settle into dinner. Then I send you an email saying to please review the exam that I plan to give on Monday. How would it make you feel? You wouldn’t like it, of course. On my syllabi I tell my students: “I’m off the grid during these times, so don’t even try emailing me after hours.”

I feel after reading your book that you feel terminals are like guns insofar as they really aren’t neutral. They’re not just tools.

Terminals are not neutral. They medi-

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Q&A ate what makes us most human, which is communication and interaction. You don’t have a choice. To accomplish anything, you need to access a terminal. You want to find a job, you want to book a plane or concert ticket, then you need a terminal. Very simple functions, where before you only needed a wallet and your physical presence, now require terminals. We have to sync our mind to terminal logic. Our minds are digested by software. The research suggests that, when we access the internet and interact with terminals, even for just a short time, it quickly changes the structure of our brains, and we really don’t know the extent to which it affects us. But I’m sure that it does. So what is the cost?

Well, we can see the cost all around us. Look at how people behave on Twitter. Look at the public shaming we conduct in the name of social justice or in the process of Making America Great Again.

Online, you can be invisible and anonymous, which lends itself to antisocial behavior. You can transmit any passing

desire or emotion without assessing how you sound to someone else. You are disinhibited, and part of growing up is learning to inhibit your impulses. But this is really the premise of “instanteity,” or living in an instant culture that offers everything you want when you want it, as long as it’s virtual.

In that way, too, it infantilizes. The internet doesn’t require us to do much. It gives us the answer before we type it. It figures out ahead of us what will please us. That way of life nurtures an infantile mindset.

It’s weird to see so many people I know, who used to claim they cherished free speech, now shrilly calling for internet censorship. It’s like they’ve regressed.

The internet is a poor medium to debate issues. Hostility flares up really quickly online. Topics can be very contentious and problematic, but they’re also, as someone I know calls them, machine-generated scandals. The terminal is really effective in spreading an emotional contagion. Everyone attacks a person who says something wrong. And so many mistakes stem from miscues. We forget about the unique power

the terminal gives us, the omnipresence.

We forget that this particular condition is completely new in society. It’s a tremendous amount of power, and we don’t manage it well. It’s a child’s game to learn how to use a terminal, but it takes incredible maturity to know how to use terminals properly so we can manage the consequences. What we write can become embarrassingly public. We communicate, but what we communicate in a particular moment, which we believe exists only in that moment, becomes locked, frozen, retrieved, recontextualized. That’s a disconnect, the experience of immediacy and permanence, intimacy and mass distribution.

How do we start to repair this?

The philosopher Emmanuel Levinas says that only in face-to-face communication can we experience the humanity of another person. A human face needs our assistance.

When we see a human face, we feel a sense of responsibility to help. Empathy tends to disappear at the terminal, where we find it easier to quickly humiliate or disgrace someone else. ✦

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ESSAY

WHOSE MONEY? When public money is flung at private companies without public input, guess who loses?

BY

Ian Whitaker

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W

hen Amazon announced a competition late last year to find a host city for its shiny new headquarters, the response was swift. Officials in more than 230 cities stumbled over themselves to cobble together flashy PR campaigns for the inevitable social-media blitz. Here in Las Vegas, they fired off tweets, lit up buildings in Amazon orange, and coughed up a schmaltzy promotional video advertising Las Vegas.

“A mecca for youthful, fresh energy,” a voiceover says, without a hint of irony, as the video cuts to a shot of the monorail.

The one thing they didn’t do, however, was tell anyone what they were actually offering the company in exchange for the new facility. The proposal sent to Amazon was concocted by public officials entirely in secret, and forwarded without so much as

a public hearing. A public-records request for the state’s offer by a Review-Journal reporter was flatly denied, though the point ended up being moot: The company revealed its shortlist of cities in January, and Las Vegas failed to make the cut. Some information about the state’s proposal has trickled out since then, including the news that city officials had offered to give the company 84 acres of public land Downtown — including Cashman Field and the Las Vegas Natural History Museum — entirely for free if Amazon met certain unspecified conditions.

This isn’t new. In recent years, Nevada lawmakers have put billions of taxpayer dollars on the line to court large corporations. The one constant, aside from the extraordinary sums involved, is a curious cold-shouldering of the public. But why?

You can follow the crumbs all the way back PHOTO ILLUSTRATION

Brent Holmes

D E S E R T C O M P A N I O N .V E G A S

to the recession of the early ’80s. Having convinced officials in South Dakota to scrap laws against predatory interest rates in exchange for building a credit-card processing facility there, Citicorp, now Citigroup, tried the same with Nevada. According to a 2015 retrospective in Vegas Inc., then-Gov. Richard Bryan returned from a meeting at the company headquarters in New York with whispers of a similar grand deal. At the urging of executives and pro-business groups, a special legislative session was called that spring. It took only a day to bulldoze the banking regulations keeping Citicorp out of the state, during which lawmakers were inundated with credit card offers addressed from the company’s newly minted South Dakota offices.

In return, Citicorp built a processing center on West Sahara Avenue, and Bryan promised the company would become “an active participant in community affairs.”

The company was so grateful that it quickly removed all traces of Las Vegas from its paperwork, preferring the more wholesome, corporate-friendly “The Lakes, NV.” The company stayed until 2014, when it laid nearly everyone off and skipped town, but suffice to say Las Vegas never became the burgeoning finance hub many claimed it would.

That was a long time ago, but what ultimately survived was the blitzkrieg political strategy that made it possible, of stuffing the public full of curated optimism and buzzwords like “jobs” and “diversification,” all while the real business is hashed out in closed-door boardrooms.

The boring name for this is economic development, but before your eyes glaze over, consider that economic development is tax policy. It’s more than government bean-counters deciding where to stick a traffic light or elementary school. It’s largely unelected business boosters — Steve Hill, outgoing chairman of Nevada’s economic development office, ran a gravel company — diverting public money that would otherwise go to creating public goods, to play a risky game of commercial chicken with other states. What’s worse, there’s no real evidence that it benefits anyone other than the recipient.

“There is a role for competition among states when it takes the form of a general tax-and-spend policy,” economists for the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis concluded in 1995. “But when that competition takes the form of preferential treatment for specific businesses, not only is it not ‘admirable,’ it interferes with

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ESSAY billion Tesla Gigafactory deal followed interstate commerce and undermines the in similar style. According to journalist national economic union by misallocating Jon Ralston’s detailed account, the initial resources and causing states to provide too idea was concocted behind the scenes few public goods.” by then-Senate Majority Leader Harry As is often the case in government, Reid, Gov. Brian Sandoval, when high-stakes wheeling and Tesla owner Elon Musk, and dealing rubs up against and hashed out in negotiations the public’s inherent distrust, As is often the with unelected state economic the result is simply to keep case in governdevelopment officers. All this affairs hidden. ment, when highbefore anyone in the public In 2012, when Apple sought stakes wheeling even knew enough to be in tax abatements for a new data and dealing rubs favor or opposed. center in Sparks, executives up against the “I feel so cheap and used,” a met with public officials in public’s inherent distrust, the political insider told Ralston secret and actively kept the result is simply following the Tesla vote. “While company’s name off agendas to keep affairs I truly appreciate the beneand public documents until hidden. fits of this deal for Northern just three hours before the Nevada jobs and revenue, it’s Washoe County Commission quite a hefty price. Does this met to consider the issue. set precedent?”

According to reporters, the discussion The list goes on, from Hyperloop 1, lasted 20 minutes before commissioners which received $9 million in tax breaks, unanimously approved $89 million in to automotive startup Faraday Future, abatements and then posed for photos which received $335 million from the with executives. state without having to prove it had so The deal-making behind 2014’s $1.3

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much as a working prototype of a car.

The company ended up giving the money back and leaving, but, as Patrick George of the website Jalopnik wrote, “(O)ne has to wonder how much taxpayer money was spent overall in this debacle that went nowhere and brought no new jobs to a region that badly needs them.”

By the time the Oakland Raiders rolled around, the “precedent” that so worried some in government had all but become standard practice. The plan for a $2 billion stadium near the Strip was sloppily workshopped into existence by a board of mostly unelected gaming executives, working off imaginary economic projections that one economist called “a catenation of optimistic assumptions,” as well as “the worst deal for a city I have ever seen.” After a rushed initial process that offered few opportunities for widespread public input, the deal was then passed during the literal dead of night in a show of brute-force lobbying so depressing that sitting legislators openly commiserated, and despite polls that showed most people opposed the deal.

D E S E R T C O M P A N I O N .V E G A S

None of that seemed to bother Sandoval, who declared it a win for Las Vegas’ “brand.”

After all, it was Sandoval himself who outlined the approach at a 2012 meeting of the business group Keystone Corporation.

Speaking to an audience gathered at the Silverton, he described economic development as a “contact sport,” arguing that Nevada needed to compete if it wanted to “be in the game.”

Which is exactly how it has unfolded.

Politicians and titans of industry duke it out for high stakes, while the public looks on from the bleachers. It all makes for a good metaphor, but hardly good democracy. As professors Alan Peters and Peter Fisher from the University of Iowa wrote in the Journal of the American Planning Association in 2004, “Continuing on the path of traditional incentive-based economic development policy will simply produce an unending merry-go-round of tax cuts and subsidies whose net effect is to starve government of the resources it needs.”

And the problem might not be solely fiscal.

Mounting evidence suggests that Amer-

In a state that consistently ranks among icans are more disconnected than ever the lowest in the country for political from the political process. According to participation, perhaps it’s time to rethink the Pew Research Center, months after our approach.

Richard Nixon resigned the presidency for Companies like Amazon may have a long his involvement in the Watergate scandal, list of demands — the company the share of Americans who used the word “incentives” 21 held trust in government hovtimes in the proposal it sent to ered around 36 percent — more Companies like states — but so do citizens. In than 10 points higher than it Amazon may Nevada, for starters: better edwas during the whole of Barack have a long list ucation and better healthcare.

Obama’s presidency. of demands — Instead of giving away the farm, A CBS poll in 2011 found the company why not make it a real negotiathat voters believed they used the word tion and demand something in themselves wielded the small“incentives” 21 times in the return? It can’t hurt; after all, est influence on politics. The proposal it sent most media outlets eliminated report concluded, “eight in to states — but so Las Vegas from the Amazon 10 believe most members of do citizens. race early on.

Congress are primarily inWe might not have landed terested in serving special the deal, but we just might have interests, not the people they come away with something arguably as ostensibly represent.” Frustrated, people valuable: our dignity and sense of commustop caring, disengage, and merely watch nity. And it might have set an example for politics play out as spectators. Obviously citizens in other states locked perpetually there’s more to this phenomenon than in the same self-defeating cycle to start secretive public-money giveaways, but making demands of their own. ✦ they certainly feed into it.

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Cocktail Time Machine R a l p h B r i n k l e y ’s P a r a d i s e P a l m s h o m e i s a s h r i n e to the swinging ’60s

TO SAY YOU enter a time machine when you step across the threshold of Ralph Brinkley’s home doesn’t quite do the experience justice, but I’m rolling with that metaphor because you really do feel a viscerally uncanny, neck-tingling suspicion that linear time is playing a trick on you.

Brinkley has turned his 1964 home in Paradise Palms into a living shrine to the swinging ’60s, from the mod couches and drip paintings of seaside scenes to plastic grapes and Bakelite rotary phones.

“I’m not hardcore about keeping to the era,” he says. “I’m hardcore about keeping to the vibe.” Brinkley bought the 2,100 square foot home in a short sale in 2012. “When I bought it, cosmetically, it was hammered. Trash. But everything worked, so I just had to make

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it look good.” That entailed furnishing and decorating the inside with items methodically bought from Craigslist, estate sales, and eBay. Other elements, like the bar in the living room, he built himself.

But this isn’t a mere museum.

Brinkley’s home has literally become the toast of Paradise Palms, hosting raucous cocktail parties whose epicenter is the

APRIL 2018

invitingly dim, cozy speakeasy tucked down a hallway, complete with a Wurlitzer jukebox and cig machine. “When I’m out, just living my normal life, I don’t think about this stuff,” he says. “I just think about shopping, paying bills, getting food, cleaning. But when the sun goes down, it’s time to put that stuff away. Then all this comes alive.”

Ralph is wearing a vintage sports coat, custom monogrammed shirt, Edwards slacks, and Stacy Baldwin Oxfords.

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Beloved Eclectic K a te A l d r i c h a n d T i m S h a f f e r ’s h o m e i s a p e r f e c t s to r m o f c u r a te d d e l i g h t

KATE ALDRICH AND Tim

Shaffer own Patina Decor, a vintage clothing, furniture and accessory store Downtown. You might think this means they have a kind of cheat code when it comes to home design, given that their livelihood is to trade in beautiful things such as Italian art-glass mushroom lamps, sleek Milo Baughman chrome dining chairs, and Cartier bronze and leather letter desks. Actually, it makes decorating harder, because it requires them to apply an even finer and more deliberate curatorial filter when it comes to beautifying their living space.

That was a hypothesis, anyway, which Tim blows out of the water with, “Oh, we just put this look together out of items we love. It’s all kind of in a modern design, but it’s not really intentional.”

Kate says, “It’s piece-by-piece acquisition of things that speak to us, and somehow they all work together. But we’re all over the board, really, when it comes to what our taste is.”

That “somehow” is magic. Each room in their 1963 Rancho Park home is an ad hoc whirlwind of beauty, history and variety in design,

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composed but not contrived, pleasingly crowded but not cluttered. I’m sitting in their cozy, wood-paneled evening room, in a handsome Florence Knoll chair, in front of a severe, slablike Paul McCobb coffee table, surrounded by bustling Mexican modernist paintings and shapely pottery; the whole scene is a pleasing dance of angles and curves.

“I need to have beauty around me,” Kate says. “I need to have that sense of aesthetic around me, and so does Tim.” She wraps herself in it — literally: Kate’s

signature look is a vintage caftan accented with striking earrings and bracelets. Tim favors a studied casual look with cotton shirts, jeans and Italian boots that smolder with rugged verve. That makes them not just the owners of Patina, but its style ambassadors — a fitting role since they’ve shifted the store’s focus to vintage clothing.

Kate’s summary of her philosophy pertains to home design as much as personal style; and, like her style, it’s simple but striking: “I don’t have things I don’t love.”

Kate is wearing a cotton linen caftan and hand-painted porcelain Dutch earrings.

Tim is wearing a chambray shirt, Levi’s 501s and Italian boots.

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PERHAPS YOU’VE SEEN

attorney Farhan Naqvi’s face beaming from a freeway billboard — the red-carpet smile, the lustrous pomp. I’m happy to report that he’s just like that in real life, and also not like that at all.

He’s like that in the sense that, yes, in person, he’s as impeccably coiffed and assembled as his image on the billboard.

He’s not like that in the sense of what such a billboard might typically imply — namely, an ego that matches the dimensions of his advertising space. Today, he’s walking around his home in The Ridges, describing his decor and clothes and overall aesthetic with a sense of flattered surprise, as though he’d been waiting a long time for someone to ask him about it.

“What’s important for me is timelessness. I don’t want to do anything with my personal style or my office or my home that’s a date-and-time stamp, you know?”

His style emphasizes fundamentals with flair. For example, the base palette for his suits is black, white, and gray. “They’re the colors you wear for significant occasions, and I like to dress like that every day,” he says.

“I’m not blessed with George Clooney or Brad Pitt-type looks, but I try to be the best

me that I can.” The details are where the flair comes in, like in the wide peak lapels on his bespoke Stitched suit — a pair of exclamation points livening up a sober, classic look — or the checked Tom Ford tie that adds some visual texture. The mandate to look good came from family, but was rooted in ideas of professionalism.

(His grandfather, a high-ranking police officer in Pakistan, took pride in his trim uniform and well-polished boots.) For Naqvi, owner of a personal injury law firm, it’s not just about projecting an image, but establishing trust.

“Dressing well says to peo-

Farhan is wearing a custom suit from Stitched, Tom Ford pocket square, Cartier watch, and Tom Ford shoes.

A Flair For the Classic Fa r h a n N a q v i ’s t i m e l e s s , modern aesthetic goes beyond me re image

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ple, ‘If this guy is willing to polish his shoes and tie that knot in a strong way, and wear a three-piece suit, it shows he cares about his style — and if he cares about his style, hopefully he cares about the way he’s going to take care of

me. And if he cares about his style, maybe he cares about this community as well, and cares about doing good things, and about making sure that things are done the right way.”

His home, designed and built

by Blue Heron, is spacious but not sprawling, and boasts clean, handsome lines. “I wanted it to look good, but I wanted it to be a home. I like modern, but I don’t necessarily like airport terminal modern. I like warm modern.”

Various elements — the glammy eggshell sculptures on the east wall, the Buddha images, the wall of family photos — soften the spaces. It strikes a similar balance to his look: simple and strong with dashes of personality. He says, “When I’m old, I want my kids to look at my photos and be like, ‘That could still be cool today.’”

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THERE’S SWEET SAGE

Old Souls Inside Candace Campbell a n d S te v e n Ta n k e r s l e y ’s f r e e a n d e a s y We s t l e i g h bungalow

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smoke wafting and Neil Young is pealing on the record player. Candace Campbell, a hair stylist, and Steven Tankersley, a bartender and musician, are in their 30s, but here they are living in 1972. “I’ve just always felt like a hippie,” Candace says.

“Even in high school, I was always ‘that weird girl.’ I’ve always felt myself in the more ’70s stuff — flowy dresses and bell bottoms always felt more natural, and not like I was dressing in an era. And you,” she says to Steven,

“as long as I’ve known you, you’ve always worn vintage Wrangler denim shirts.”

“I grew up listening to Neil Young and Crosby, Stills and Nash — you know, into that whole California country-rock kind of thing,” he explains.

It’s not an affectation; their look and feel is sort of a cosmic mode that favors of the sturdiness of tradition. Their Westleigh bungalow is stocked with estate-sale finds and vintage scores — including a monstrous, handsome console record player — that gives it all a warm, unfussy geniality.

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Candace is wearing a Fillyboo dress and Alex and Ani bracelets.

Steven is wearing a Wrangler denim shirt with pearl snaps, Levi’s selvedge jeans, and Red Wing boots.

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Happy Accidents T h e r e ’s a s to r y i n e v e r y n o o k a n d c r a n ny o f P a m e l a P e r e i r a ’s h o m e

WHO SAYS HOME design has to be serious? The Downtown apartment of 33-yearold Pamela Pereira crackles with camp and strangeness — there’s a taxidermied baby alligator sitting on the back of her couch, after all.

(Lonnie Hammargren estate auction, represent.)

Ask her about it all and she looks around the room in smiling bafflement. “It’s all kind of accidental,” she says. “I’ve been collecting for a long time.

There’s not really any rhyme or reason to it. If it stands out, I’m gonna get it. It can be anywhere from little hands to doll heads — I love doll parts, actually — but, yeah, I just like things that are kooky.”

She might be underselling her instinct for composition, which gives the thrift-store improv jazz a solid beat. “I want to come home

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and see all the things I’ve put together and curated, and feel comfortable and happy. I’m creating a space for me to survive, and I want it to be fun and inviting and colorful.” Psychedelic Jesus art. Antlers and skulls.

Head sculptures and a deliciously campy needlepoint vista of a Utah desert scene. “I mean, gosh, when you come home, don’t you want to feel like you’re in your own sanctuary palace surrounded by all your treasures?”

She dresses like a gothpunk witch — lots of black, long nails, severe bangs. “I just like to dress my body in a way that makes me feel good and sexy and powerful and unapproachable and mean-looking, I guess. I have anxiety, and I don’t really want people to talk to me,” she says with a laugh. It’s no less a sanctuary than her quirky, busy, cheerful apartment.

Pamela is wearing a vintage bell-sleeve dress and scarab beetle pendant.

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“I LOVE A cha-cha dress.

Who doesn’t love a cha-cha dress?” Erin Draper muses as she considers her walk-in closet, a happy riot of mood and persona, dresses and shoes. “I feel like everything in here is a reflection of my style. I like classics with a little bit of an edge, or a little bit of a twist. But if something’s beautiful or catches my eye, I’m not going to get too caught up in whether it matches my style or not. I’m just going to go for it.” Thus, for example, several improbable pairs of Nike Air Force 1s studding the collection like punch lines. The impulse to improvised riffing makes sense; before moving to Las Vegas two years ago for work (she manages marketing for a wine and spirit importer), Erin did comedy in Chicago.

Her principled spontaneity applies as well to the decor of her condo at The Juhl high-rise Downtown. It’s a collection of inspired, well-chosen flourishes that offer sensuous intrigue, from the curvy white twin sofas to purple velvet Brno dining chairs. Call it feminine minimalism.

“In this space, you want to

let the architecture show since, obviously, the big draw of The Juhl is the panoramic windows.

So, I try to just let that shine, and keep everything else to a minimum.” That selectivity means just about every piece has a story, from the lamp made from a repurposed funeral urn (she got it in Thailand), to a stylized painting of a woman sunbathing (it’s based on a photograph of her mother from the 1960s). One exception: her love of lilies. They burgeon from vases and fill the room with scent – another flourish, another riff. “You can probably tell I’m drunk on flowers at any given time.”

‘Go For It’ E r i n D r a p e r ’s l o o k i s a l l a b o u t sele ctive sp ontan eit y

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Erin is wearing a Delfi dress, Christian Lacroix scarf, and Loeffler Randall sneakers.

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MARKETPLACE SHOPS • DINING • GOODS

Table 34 Featuring Chef Wes Kendrick’s contemporary American cuisine including fresh fish, wild game, duck and lamb, Certified Angus Beef and comfort food classics.

Conveniently located off the 215 and Warm Springs. Lunch and dinner Monday – Saturday 600 E Warm Springs Road 702-263-0034

Priscilla Fowler Fine Art Gallery & Studio Viewing the art at Priscilla Fowler's gallery & studio at 1025 South First St #155 (ArtSquare), Las Vegas (the Arts District) can be a family affair. Here, a young fan looks at Clarice Tara's graphite-and-inkdrawings during the recent Black & White Exhibit. Printmaking is featured during April and May. Open Tuesday - Sunday 12 - 6 except for First Friday (5 to 11pm) and Preview Thursdays (5 - 9pm). Call 719-3715640 for info and appointments. Please visit priscillafowler.com or search on FB for priscilla fowler fine art.

719-371-5640 priscillafowler.com

LAND ROVER DISCOVERY: SUPREME OFF-ROAD CAPABILITY The All-New Discovery is a quantum leap forward in SUV Design. A radical and sharply focused approach to embodying Land Rover’s vision of the most versatile and capable SUV. The All-New Discovery combines the flexibility of a beautifully crafted available full-size seven seat interior, packed full of ingenious design details, with dramatic proportions, clean modern lines and a dynamic silhouette. To experience the 2017 Land Rover Discovery for yourself, visit Jaguar Land Rover Las Vegas for a test drive today.

702.579.0400 jlrlv.com

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MUSIC

Guide

APRIL 8

Welcome to the Underground

Celebrate the spirit of music discovery with featured artists Rhye, Twin Shadow, Vagabon, and Sabriel. 7P, $30–$35. Brooklyn Bowl at The Linq, brooklynbowl.com

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ART THROUGH APRIL 8

Carrying On Planned Parenthood Join our local Planned Parenthood for their 9th Annual Cork and Forks Gala on April 18th at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.

This year’s event will recognize the Honorable Jan Jones Blackhurst and feature Dr. Willie Parker as the keynote speaker. Tickets are available at bit.ly/CorksForks2018 1.800.230.PLAN pprm.org

The diversity program offers a collection of oil paintings utilizing a classical style to depict contemporary subject matter, both figurative and narrative in theme. Free. Gallery at Summerlin Library, lvccld.org

THROUGH APRIL 10

Elegant Creatures

Strikingly chromatic and scintillating paintings depict luxury fashion displays as an investigation into consumer culture.

Free. Gallery at Enterprise Library, lvccld.org

THROUGH APRIL 21

Off the Page

Nannies & Housekeepers USA Nannies & Housekeepers USA is a “boutique” household staffing agency. We go the distance to give families peace of mind knowing that every candidate has undergone a rigorous screening process which includes a personal, face-to-face interview.

Our goal is to exceed the expectations of our distinguished clients by providing fully vetted experienced candidates for full time, part time and on-call services.

702-451-3000 nahusa.com

Immerse yourself in an installation that showcases ceramic objects relating to literary works and authors. Free. Gallery at Sahara West Library, lvccld.org

THROUGH APRIL 25

Celebrating Life Masters Exhibition

This year’s juried art exhibit includes artists who were chosen based on the texture present in each of their works and the

visual similarity in the subjects each artist presents.

Free. Charleston Heights Arts Center, 800 S. Brush St., artslasvegas. org

APRIL 9

THROUGH APRIL 29

Global Villagers

Lose yourself in this dynamic installation of photographic portraits from streets around the world.

Free. Gallery at Sahara West Library, lvccld.org

APRIL 1–MAY 12

Plural

Memory, passion, voice, excess, race, gender, and intersectionality are all brought into question as viewers search for ways in which a museum collection can reflect their own multifaceted understanding of what they are. Free. Barrick Museum of Art at UNLV, unlv.edu

APRIL 1–MAY 12

Identity Tapestry

Inviting visitors to weave aspects of themselves into a participatory artwork, artist Mary Corey March gives viewers new insights into both themselves and the people they see every day. Free. Barrick Museum of Art at UNLV, unlv.edu APRIL 2018

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The Bruce Harper Big Band and Elisa Fiorillo — Live in Living Color

The band performs a set of jazz and pop standards. 7P, $20–$35. Myron’s Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center, thesmithcenter.com

APRIL 13–14

Albert Cummings with Special Guest John “Greyhound” Maxwell

Two guitar virtuosos perform jazz and blues originals and standards. 7P, $39–$59. Myron’s Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center, thesmithcenter.com

APRIL 14

Carmina Burana — Las Vegas Philharmonic

Carl Orff’s cantata will be performed along with “Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes

by Carl Maria von Weber,” an orchestral work written by German composer Paul Hindemith in America in 1943.

7:30P, $30–$109.

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The Guide APRIL 17

Las Vegas Youth Orchestras

Features five separate ensembles made up of musicians aged 8–18. 6P $12–$45.

Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center, thesmithcenter.com

APRIL 18

David Byrne — American Utopia Tour

The singer and composer performs Talking Heads classics and songs from throughout his solo career. 7:30P, $59–$184. Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center, the smithcenter.com

APRIL 19

Live & Local

Local artists from all musical genres will perform original songs and share their stories in an intimate setting. Refreshments, wine, and beer will be available for purchase. 7P, $10.

Charleston Heights Arts Center, 800 S. Brush St., arts lasvegas.org

APRIL 20

Sundae + Mr. Goessl

Sin City Opera updates the show so that it takes place on the set of the “Pagliacci Comedy Hour,” a 1950’s style television show with a “Mad Men”-esque cast of characters.

Fri–Sat 7P; Sun 2P, $20. Winchester Cultural Center, 3130 McLeod Drive, sincity opera.com

APRIL 21

Tao: Drum Heart

You will be blown away by this performance including Japanese music and choreography. 7:30P, $26–$79. Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center, thesmith center.com

APRIL 21–22

An Evening with Rhonda Vincent and The Rage

A multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter who specializes on the mandolin will be backed by her bluegrass band. 7P, $39–$59.

Myron’s Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center, thesmith center.com

Seattle’s premier vintage jazz duo features Kate Voss and Jason Goessl, who deliver a show packed with wit, charm, nostalgia, and serious chops!

12P, free. Lloyd D. George Federal Courthouse Jury Assembly Room, 333 Las Vegas Blvd. S., vintage jazzduo.com

APRIL 26

APRIL 20–29

Music through the Decades

Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo

A twist on a classic,

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Spotlight 3: Windsongs — Las Vegas Philharmonic

Orchestra members perform small ensemble pieces

by Haydn, Beethoven, Gabaye, and Brahms. 7:30P, $70. Troesh Studio Theater at The Smith Center, the smithcenter.com

APRIL 27

The Musicmakers’ spring concert features some of

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the best and most popular songs in history. 2P, $10.

Starbright Theatre at Sun City Summerlin, scscai.com

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APRIL 27–MAY 6

THEATER & COMEDY

APRIL 27–28

The Father

This Rainbow Company Youth Theatre production shares the adventures of Sara Crewe as she begins her journey in Miss Minchin’s Select Seminary for Young Ladies. Fri– Sat 7p; Sun 2p, $6.

Charleston Heights Arts Center, 800 S. Brush St., artslasvegas.org

Brubeck Brothers Quartet The sons of legendary artist Dave Brubeck have been musicians in their own right for over 50 years.

Their quartet performs jazz infused with funk, blues, and world music.

7P, $39–$59.

Myron’s Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center, thesmith center.com

APRIL 29

Jazz Combos

CSN’s Vocal Jazz students present a rhythmic production of classic and contemporary selections. 2P, $5–$8.

Jay Morrison Recital Hall at CSN, csn.edu/pac

MAY 3

CSN Spring Choral Concert

CSN’s College Singers, Chamber Chorale, Jazz Singers, and students of CSN’s Voice Classes present an evening of festive choral music in this semester-ending concert. 7P, $5–$8.

Nicholas J. Horn Theatre, 3200 E. Cheyenne Ave., csn.edu/pac

MAY 4-5

Kurt Elling

A leading jazz vocalist, Elling is touring behind the release of his new album, “The Questions.” 7P, $39–$65. Myron’s Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center, thesmithcenter. com

THROUGH APRIL 15

The play is a tragicomic look at the world through the eyes of a man experiencing dementia. Thu– Sat, 8P; Sun 2P, $15–$25. Cockroach Theatre, cockroachtheatre. com

APRIL 12-14, 19-22

The Flick

While a movie theatre undergoes changes, audience members discover the inner need for change in experiences, perspectives, and dreams of the three diverse characters who work there.

Thu–Sat 7P; Sun 2P, $10–$12. CSN’s Backstage Theatre, csn.edu/pac

APRIL 21

Tom Foolery with LVIP

The Las Vegas Improvisational Players make up the show on the spot based on the audience’s suggestions with hilarious results. 7P, $10; $5 kids, seniors, and military. Show Creators Studio, 4455 W. Sunset Road, lvimprov.com

APRIL 24–29

The Color Purple

The acclaimed novel is reimagined as an award-winning Broadway musical.

Tue–Sun, 7:30P; Sat–Sun, 2P, $36– $127. Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center, thesmith center.com

A Little Princess

APRIL 27–MAY 6

Pippin

Heir to the Frankish throne, the young prince Pippin is in search of the secret to true happiness and fulfillment. Fri–Sat 7:30P; Sun 2P, $27.50–$33. Judy Bayley Theatre at UNLV, unlv.edu

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DANCE APRIL 26–29

In Stride

The season ender is a collection of works choreographed by the bachelor of fine arts majors in dance, performance, and choreography.

Thu–Sat 7:30P; Fri–Sun 2:30P, $18.

Alta Ham Fine Arts Dance Studio One at UNLV, unlv.edu

APRIL 27

Verba Shadow Theatre

Hailing from Ukraine, these performers bring worlds to life using only their bodies, props, and light.

7:30P, $20–$40.

Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall at UNLV, unlv.edu

APRIL 27–28

Spring Dance Concert

This production

will be accompanied by an storyline to create a vocabulary of movement intended to resonate with 21st century audiences. Fri 7P; Sat 2P, $5–$8.

Nicholas J. Horn Theatre, 3200 E. Cheyenne Ave., csn.edu/pac

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DISCUSSIONS & READINGS APRIL 7

Poetry 'N Motion …

Yesterday & Today

Salute the language and skill of black master-poets featuring artists expressing their gifts through poetry, scripture, music, song, and dance. 2P, free.

West Las Vegas Arts Center, 947 W. Lake Mead Blvd., artslas vegas.org

APRIL 14

Sankofa: Chattel Slavery Symbolizing the people’s quest for knowledge and their beliefs that the past must never be forgotten, this presentation asks what the future holds after surviving chattel slavery. 2P, free.

West Las Vegas Arts Center, 947 W. Lake Mead Blvd., artslas vegas.org

APRIL 20

National Poetry Month Celebration

This poetry super-sampler features open-mic performances by some of the best in local talent. Ages 16+. 7:30P, free.

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APRIL 27

28th Annual AIDS Walk Las Vegas

Story Slam

In the tradition of The Moth, participants tell true five-minute stories, live. April’s theme is “Spring Break”. 8P, $10. Center for Science and Wonder, 1651 E. Sunset Road, #A111, lasvegas storyslam.com

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FAMILY & FESTIVALS APRIL 8

Peppa Pig’s Surprise!

The kids will love this live musical, based on the popular British animated series, featuring life-size puppets and costumed characters. 12P and 4P, $25.50–$62.50.

Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center, thesmithcenter.com

APRIL 14

The Las Vegas Valley Rose Society’s Annual Show

Enjoy hundreds of competing roses on display, grown by your neighbors, and judged earlier that day for their beauty, great smells, and presentation. 1–4P, free. West Charleston Public Library, lvccld.org

APRIL 22

Celebrate Israel Festival

This Jewish festival will include performances, kids’ activities, kosher Israeli food, arts and crafts, and shopping.1–6P, free. The Venetian-Palazzo Ballroom, israeliamerican.org

Channel 10

West Las Vegas Arts Center, 947 W. Lake Mead Blvd., artslasvegas.org

FUNDRAISERS APRIL 15

AFAN’s largest fundraiser of the year. Penn & Teller will serve as the grand marshals. 7A, free. Town Square, afanlv.org

APRIL 15

Wine, Women, & Shoes

This fundraiser supports programs for homeless, abused, and neglected children and youth in foster care. It will include a wine tasting, food, shopping, auctions, and a “Best in Shoe” contest. 1P, $95–$150.

Green Valley Ranch Resort & Spa, stjudesranch.org

Civilizations Tuesdays at 8 p.m., premiering April 17

APRIL 27

Dress for Success Luncheon and Fashion Show

A three-course lunch, silent auction, and after party raise funds to provide professional attire, support, and career development tools for women. 12P, $20–$2,000. Four Seasons Hotel, dressforsuccess southernnevada.org

Nature: Sex, Lies and Butterflies

#VegasStrong: The Road Ahead

Wednesday, April 4 at 8 p.m.

Friday, April 6 at 8 p.m.

Unforgotten on Masterpiece

NOVA Wonders

Sundays at 9 p.m., premiering April 8

Wednesdays at 9 p.m., premiering April 25

APRIL 28

Celebrando Hispanic Festival

This event offers entertainment, food, outreach programs, guest speakers and community organizations to unite, inspire, and celebrate Hispanic culture and heritage. 2–8P, free. Sammy Davis Jr. Festival Plaza in Lorenzi Park, 720 Twin Lakes Drive, celebrandofestival. com

VegasPBS.org | 3050 E Flamingo Road, Las Vegas, NV 89121 | 702.799.1010 APRIL 2018

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END NOTE

REJECTED CANNABIS PRODUCTS

By Andrew Kiraly and Scott Dickensheets

“Family High” Pure Indica Fireplace Logs

Checker Auto Pots Car Kush Air Freshener

LimburgerCheeseWheelWithAJointHiddenintheMiddle

SlobbertimeCheebaChawChewin’Slaw RaidMAXTotalKillRoachFoggernowwithRainbow Snazzleberry Dreamtime THC Vapor 72 | D E S E R T

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On February 20, Desert Companion hosted its annual Best Of the City issue party at Jaguar Land Rover Las Vegas.

Partygoers enjoyed cocktails provided by ReBar, including the Nevada Old Fashioned - a twist on the classic cocktail. The twist? A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the drink at ReBar’s popular downtown location benefits Nevada Public Radio. Thanks to everyone who attended!

SEPTEMBER 2017

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WHEN WE WORK TOGETHER, WE CAN DO GREAT THINGS. Many hands can make big things happen. Like preventing hunger. MGM Resorts played a key role in founding Three Square, a central food bank in Southern Nevada. Its contributions help feed more than 137,000 individuals each month. That’s more than 1.6 million pounds of food per year. Over 1,300 community nonprofits, faith-based organizations, schools, businesses and government agencies have come together to feed the community.

D I V E R S I T Y A N D I N C L U S I O N • C O M M U N I T Y E N G A G E M E N T • E N V I R O N M E N TA L S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

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SEPTEMBER 2017