Desert Companion - Oct 2017

OUR

F A V O R I T E BARS

(So, hey.)

Seriously, this isn’t, like, an official bar guide. It really is the places we’re drinking at more often than, uh, we should probably admit here on the cover.

10 OCTOBER

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PLUS

LISTACULAR?

LISTMANIA? LISTAPALOOZA? LISTRAVAGANZA?

WE DON’T KNOW WHAT TO CALL THIS LIST OF LISTS!

OEDIPUS CONTEXT

How almost killing his dad taught Brandt Tobler to be funny

RUNNING ON EMPTY

Food insecurity strikes thousands of Las Vegans — but these nonprofits are serving up help

¡HOLA, SABOR!

Celebrating the wonderful intensity of Mexican candy

ELECTILE DYSFUNCTION

How to hold an election to undo an earlier election whose results you didn’t like

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VOLUME 15 ISSUE 10 D E S E R T C O M P A N I O N .V E G A S

October

SAFETY NET

Checking in on the state of Shade Tree’s transitional housing program

By Heidi Kyser

12 HEALTH

Trying out a new mammography technique

By Heidi Kyser

14 END TIMES

FEATURES

52

OUR FAVORITE BARS

Our unapologetically personal and perhaps in places cringe-inducingly enthusiastic paeans to our favorite places to drink!

A UNLV prof on apocalyptic anxiety

By Scott Dickensheets

16 GRIM REAPING

A map of notable deaths in Las Vegas

By Scott Dickensheets

25

37 GIVE LIKE A BOSS

PAGE TURNERS

Gifts for your fearless leader

By Christie Moeller

28

DEPARTMENTS

Walter Kirn and Amanda Fortini talk bookfest CULTURE

Fifty years of UNLV’s Barrick Museum

By Kristen Peterson

32 DINING

A tasting of spicy and sweet Mexican candy

By Scott Dickensheets and Andrew Kiraly

34 HOME COOKIN’

Making lemonade out of flat beer

By Heidi Kyser

38 SOCIETY

Food insecurity strikes thousands of Las Vegans, but there is help

By Michael Lyle

44 PROFILE

Brandt Tobler’s life wasn’t always funny, until he made it that way

By Julie Seabaugh

18

60

LISTMANIA!

How do we love, loathe, consider, riff on, criticize, comment upon, ponder, note and muse upon thee? Let us count the ways in this highly enumerated feature!

EDUCATION

Checking in on UNLV on its 60th birthday

By Scott Dickensheets

20 TOTAL RECALL

When is a recall election a cynical ploy?

By Steve Sebelius

( EXTRAS ) 6

EDITOR’S NOTE

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THE DILLINGER IN BOULDER CITY

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

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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

PROPOSE A TOAST! F

all is here, a time to celebrate bounty and embrace the hearth.

In Las Vegas, that means rejoicing in another abundant martini harvest and hunkering down in front of a crackling video poker screen. Okay, so autumn in Vegas doesn’t exactly inspire thoughts of seasonal cocooning — which, er, I’m assuming was the original impulse behind fall drinking features in magazines like this? But there are plenty of reasons otherwise to hoist a glass: to farewell the end of summer, to fortify ourselves for the holiday season ahead, to engineer another excuse to socialize. For this year’s feature, “Our Favorite Bars” (p. 52), we kept it decidedly simple. We asked ourselves: What are our favorite bars, our haunts, our hangs, our places you’re likely to find us at 7 on a Tuesday evening, at 10 on a Saturday night, at 3 p.m. or possibly 3 a.m. on a Sunday? The answer is a curated case of personal paeans to the places where we simply love to drink drank dronk. (And if you’re a teetotaler, we’ve got something for you on p. 73!) Of course, this feature is about more than catching a good buzz — it’s about greasing the social gears that make living anywhere feel more meaningful and connected. And in a town infamous for its transience — in the time it takes you to read this sentence, 20,000 of your neighbors will have abruptly moved away — sometimes the neighborhood bar is where we make our most unlikely friends. So, raise a glass to community, this season and beyond.

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C O N T R I B U T I N G W R I T E R S

Jim Begley, Noah Cicero, Cybele, Dan Hernandez, Melanie Hope, Matt Jacob, Michael Lyle, Christie Moeller, Casey Morell, Helen O’Reilly, Kristen Peterson, James P. Reza, Lissa Townsend Rodgers, Brian Rouff, Julie Seabaugh, Steve Sebelius, Jason Scavone, Greg Thilmont, Kristy Totten, Mitchell Wilburn CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

Ryan Inzana, Celia Krampien, Anthony Mair, Sabin Orr, Ryan Olbrysh, Emily Wilson CONTACT

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

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A LL IN

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

10 PEOPLE, ISSUES, OBJECTS, EVENTS, IDEAS, AND CURIOSITIES YOU SHOULD BE AWARE OF THIS MONTH

The Long Way Home ONE | S A F E T Y N E T

The Shade Tree’s transitional housing program is gone, for now.

Will it come back?

BY

Heidi Kyser

T

Shade Tree Executive Director Stacey Lockhart

PHOTOGRAPHY C hristopher Smith

he Shade Tree offers two types of sheltering services for local women fleeing domestic violence, sometimes with children and pets in tow: emergency and transitional.

The first type is self-explanatory. It’s what Belinda, an Oklahoma native who’d come to stay with her aunt and uncle in Las Vegas, needed after her uncle tried to rape her.

She knew no one else in the city. A hotel couldn’t shield her from further harm or provide support in dealing with the trauma.

“I had no place to go,” Belinda says. “I had money, but I left it all at their house.”

She called a friend, who found the Shade Tree online and scheduled a Lyft to drive Belinda there.

She was lucky enough to claim one of the 204 beds in the emergency shelter. After a month there, she went home to be reunited with her husband. Hours before catching a bus to Oklahoma, tears in her eyes, Belinda said, “I think I’m ready. … I know I’m ready.”

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Hear more Listen to a discussion of the future of Shade Tree on “State of Nevada” at desertcompanion.com/hearmore

The Shade Tree’s other type of shelter is transitional, meant to bridge the gap between sudden homelessness and permanent housing. Stacey Lockhart shuttered this program shortly after the Shade Tree announced her appointment as executive director on July 11. By press time, all the transitional program’s former residents had been relocated and the lights turned off on the third floor, which housed its 160 beds.

One Shade Tree resident who might have benefitted from transitional housing, Karri, tells of escaping from her abusive, schizophrenic boyfriend when he was out one day and the “sitter” he’d sent over to watch her fell asleep. She’d squirreled away a bus pass and food stamps — enough, she figured, to make it to safety. Karri has mental and physical scars that will take time to heal. She would like to work again, but appears unlikely to be ready within the 90 days to which her use of emergency services is limited.

Does she have friends or family who could take her in after that? A daughter, but she doesn’t want to go to there. No one else.

Where will she go? “I honestly don’t know,” she says.

It’s safe to assume times are never easy at a shelter for battered women that strives to take all comers, particularly one in a city with chronically low scores in charitable giving and one of the nation’s highest rates of domestic violence. But 2017 has been remarkably tough for the Shade Tree. In March, its director of programs and education, Robert White, was arrested and charged with one count of domestic battery. Former executive director Marlene Richter put White on leave without pay the following day, noting that the seriousness of the allegations against him warranted immediate action. (He was acquitted of the charge in June.) It wasn’t the first time Richter had to handle damaging publicity. Four years ago, a television reporter interviewed residents who told of squalid living conditions at the shelter, including rampant bed bugs and rodents. The report came near the end of a lengthy recession that had hit the Shade Tree with soaring demand and sinking funds. In divvying up 2016-17 federal funding from the Victims of Crime Act, or VOCA, which the Shade Tree had received in years past, the state passed the shelter over. After nine years of service, Richter was let go in July.

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Her replacement, Lockhart, doesn’t have experience helping homeless people or those fleeing domestic violence. Discussing the changes she was making, she talked about her commitment to cleaning up the facility.

But her main focus is on a strength that she gained as director of other nonprofits: fundraising. Determined to free the Shade Tree from the whims of funding such as the VOCA grant, Lockhart launched a $2.3 million community giving campaign in August. By mid-September, she’d raised $160,000.

“We will keep it going until we reach our goal,” she said. “My hope is, in January we’re sending thank-you cards to everyone announcing that we’ve met our goal.”

The Shade Tree’s transitional program may also be the victim of a trend in homeless services. In its 2016 State of Homelessness in America report, the National Alliance to End Homelessness reported nationwide increases in rapid rehousing and permanent supportive housing programs, and decreases in transitional housing programs. Critics of transitional housing say the dorm-like facilities are stressful for families, and that the programs have poor success rates in permanent-housing placement.

But for people like Karri, there are few other options. As an independent study found, “Clark County represents nearly three-quarters of the state’s population and has the majority of victims across all crime types (including domestic violence).

However, Clark County does not receive a representative share of VOCA funds at either the individual or the grant-based level. … Clark County is made to do more with less, which negatively impacts the largest groups of victims.” Perhaps this explains why a metro area of 2.1 million people has eight organizations that provide services for victims of domestic violence — the same number as Washoe County, with its 450,000 residents.

Despite the obstacles, and under Richter’s leadership, Shade Tree achieved a 91/100 rating by nonprofit watchdog Charity Navigator. There’s much to be hopeful for, and Karri certainly isn’t giving up.

“I’d like to get a job here, to be honest,” she says, referring to the place that’s been her refuge for the past month. “The people here are really great. They saved my life, and I think I could help other people, too.” ✦

2 Green Scene What not to miss at this year’s Clean Energy Summit

The National Clean Energy Summit, the renewable industry’s annual public horn-tooting/hand-wringing, happens Oct. 13 at Bellagio (cleanenergysummit.org).

For $250, you can bask in the wisdom of luminaries such as Barack Obama, Elon Musk, and The Killers, all past presenters. This year’s lineup shifts the focus from the national stage to state, local, and military innovations.

Here’s the don’t-miss: Al Gore, Nobel Peace Prize winner and wake-the-F-up filmmaker, will deliver the keynote speech at 9:45 a.m. Friday.

Expect to be yelled at about why so little changed between his Inconvenient Truth and Inconvenient Sequel documentaries. But in a slightly apologetic Southern accent.

Former U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz will gather all 2,000 expected attendees around a stone hearth, apparently, for what’s billed as a “fireside chat” about the energy landscape.

Three five-minute, contest-winning videos, produced by college students, will provide a break from the wonky talk. Event producer Clean Energy Project solicited videos on two topics: clean-energy success stories and innovative vehicle technologies.

They’re meant to showcase Nevada’s renewables prowess.

Brian Sandoval, who is co-hosting the event with its founder, Harry Reid, will moderate a panel on states’ clean energy initiatives.

The list of participants hasn’t been finalized yet, but the smart money is on Andrew Cuomo and Jerry Brown. Heidi Kyser

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THREE | H E A LT H

Pressing Concerns New mammography technology is nice, but it’s no Star Trek diagnostic wand BY

Heidi Kyser

A

As for the Pristina’s comfort-specific differllow me to enlighten those ences, they’re minor. The plates and paddles with no close, middle-aged used to compress the breast (a necessary evil female loved-ones: Mammofor capturing useful images) have rounded grams are right up there with edges that don’t cut into your armpits and rib prostate exams and colonoscopies on the cage. Handles that help to keep patients still list of dreaded routine procedures. Worse, have been replaced by finger rests, deterring the American Cancer Society and several muscle flexion, which increases compression other health organizations recommend pain. And overall, the apparatus is smaller than having them regularly (frequency varies others, meant to render it less intimidating. depending on age and risk factors).

But let’s be honest: It’s not the square As a 49-year-old woman with a family edges or handholds or machine size that history of cancer, I’ve had my share of make a mammogram feel like torture; it’s mammograms. So when GE’s press flack the compression. And the technology that told me that Las Vegas had gotten its first eliminates the need for compression during mammography machine designed — “by a mammogram doesn’t exist yet, anywhere. women for women!” — to make the proce(Desert Radiology’s head of mammography dure more comfortable, well, I wouldn’t say also noted that most machines have rounded I jumped at the chance to try it, but I did edges these days.) agree to take one for the team.

Really, the thing that still makes the The Senographe Pristina and the room biggest difference is the imaging technology where it’s housed at Steinberg Diagnostics, itself. If possible, opt for the 3-D mammothe first local radiology clinic to get the gram, which all the local clinics now offer, new machine, aren’t remarkably differbecause it improves your early-detection ent from the norm: a phone-booth-sized chances and decreases your false-positive device standing in the middle of the beige risk compared with the standard 2-D. Linoleum-tiled floor; an X-ray unit That may help you breathe easithat rotates to shoot at a variety of OCTOBER IS BREAST CANCER er, even as you’re gripping those angles; a Plexiglas-plated control AWARENESS MONTH: handles. ✦ station in the corner.

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Everything Falls Apart And has been for a long time, as this UNLV prof’s examination of apocalyptic visions in 1800s American literature shows BY

Scott Dickensheets

T

he notion of apocalypse is having a moment — another one. Whether it’s political division or nuclear weapons in the wrong hands or Elon Musk’s fears of runaway AI, a definite end-times fever veins our culture. You can feel its electric current. One might think this bad vibe traces back to Hiroshima. Beginning his study of apocalyptic literature, UNLV professor John Hay certainly did: “My initial thought was that people started writing this after World War II, after the bomb.” In fact, it goes back much farther, as he demonstrates in Postapocalyptic Fantasies in Antebellum American Literature, out this month from Cambridge University Press. He examines works by 19th-century figures like James Fenimore Cooper, Henry David Thoreau, and a cast of now-forgotten writers as they tried to forge a new American literature, while grappling with the reality of the U.S. rising as an empire — and the implications of its eventual fall.

What did “postapocalyptic” look like in those days?

A lot of it had to do with Native American history — the numbers for Native American populations shrinking (through war, disease, etc.) were horrifying. It was catastrophic. And there was a growing understanding that you could see monuments from the past, where clearly there were not just a dozen Native Americans living here, but hundreds of thousands. There was a lot of speculation about what had happened (to them). There were a lot of stories about, “Well, these Aztec empires were flourishing in Ohio,” and then there must’ve been some kind of war, a famine, who knows, but a small remnant became Squanto — you know, those who were still in New England. There were a lot of stories like that.

James Fenimore Cooper was interested in that kind of stuff when he was writing things like The Last of the Mohicans. He was seeing that endgame, and thinking, I’m watching a people go extinct. What will be left? What does that mean, to think about extinction?

What factors influenced this way of thinking?

There are two really important components. One is that natural history as a science was really flourishing in the early 1800s. You see it with what we might call archaeology, looking at Native American origins, digging up burial mounds, hypothesizing about what empire flourished here. Also geology, which would have included paleontology, looking at animal bones — extinction had just been established as a scientific truth.

But to me, that’s coupled with this early American kind of nationalism that’s always forward-looking. We are the nation of futurity. We have a destiny, a manifest destiny. So the PHOTOGRAPHY B rent Holmes

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

idea that America was sitting on top of this extinct empire, but was also destined to be the next great empire, you get these writers thinking about, well, what about after America is the next great empire?

One thing I think is interesting is that in a lot of stuff I was reading, the postapocalyptic fantasy wasn’t negative. There was a lot of stuff, for example, when they built the Erie Canal, where people would go: Imagine a thousand years from now, when some savage sees the crumbling locks, they’re going to imagine, These guys were giants!

Americans were amazing!

W hat’s your take on our sense of apocalypse now?

The two takeaways for me are, one — and this is important — people have thought this way for 200 years, at least. So it’s not because we have nuclear weapons that we think this way; it’s not because we have a lot of political tension; or because of global warming. There are certainly things to worry about.

But people had worries 200 years ago. So when I see “Are we living in the postapocalypse” stuff — no. We’re not. Take it with a grain of salt.

But I also think about that idea that people fantasized about a postapocalyptic scenario as a way of being proud of where they are. When I moved out here, one of the first things I did was go to Hoover Dam. When they took me on the tour, (the guide) basically said, If all humans were to die today, this would be one of the last standing human structures after 10,000 years. So if 10,000 years from now, aliens visited Earth, most of it would be like some Martian landscape. You’d never know humans were around. But the Hoover Dam would still be there. And that was exactly my thinking: Yeah, you should be proud of that! People will look back 10,000 years from now and go, Those Americans really knew how to build a dam. ✦ ILLUSTRATIONS B rent Holmes

5

A Tickle on the Leg

Fear Factors

A bedbug showed up on a couch, which panicked me. Then I looked under my mattress and found more than a hundred blood-red adults and translucent nymphs on the bed frame, a nasty, horrific sight. I realized, suddenly, why my legs always itched. My skin might literally have crawled, too; I felt tingly in the worst possible way.

The internet said to keep sleeping in my bed or they’d infest adjoining rooms in search of blood.

It took months to get rid of them, during which every frayed sheet thread, every tickle of air, and even dreams would toss me into a slapping frenzy.

Lying in fear, I worried also that my girlfriend or roommates (both new)​ would kick me to the curb.

Thankfully they didn’t.

Dan Hernandez

During an October 14 “StorySlam” (artslasvegas.org), people will be invited to talk about their fears.

Here are some of ours.

Walk of Fear

On a recent visit to San Francisco, I walked from my hotel to a bar — through the Tenderloin. Some parts were a bit sketchy, but no bigs to a girl who grew up in New York City before it was a strip mall. Then I turned a corner, walked about 20 feet and found myself on a block with the streetlights knocked out, storefronts abandoned, and a powerful smell of feces and rot. Ragged, stooped figures in the shadows muttered and grunted. If I slowed my step or averted my gaze, if anyone got a hand on me — it’d be like a zombie movie and I’d just ... disappear.

The hundred yards or Mushroom Brain Slip so stretched on. Finally, One October night in 1992, I was I got to the next block, tripping on psychedelic mushwhich not only had lights, rooms with a friend. The UNLV but a damn Chipotle. I campus was affably breathing drew a breath for what and sloshing all around us. My seemed like the first friend dashed off for a moment time in five minutes, and behind a building, laughing impit occurred to me that I ishly — but then a second version couldn’t remember the of her appeared right in front last time I’d been afraid just walking down the street. of me! It was a glitch in reality’s Lissa Townsend Rodgers program. My world shattered as I realized that concepts like space, time, cause, and effect were mere veils concealing a horrifying maelstrom of chaos and senselessness! Dumbstruck with terror, I walked the city alone until dawn, convinced that this glimpse behind the cosmic curtain had driven me insane.

Andrew Kiraly

Almost Died Naked in Oregon

Veronica and I got to Cougar hot springs in Oregon, and took off our clothes; nudity was allowed. For two Ohio people, nudity was super exciting. For an hour we sat in the hot springs, feeling really good. As we walked to the car, we saw two people sitting naked on the edge of a lake. I told Veronica, I bet I could swim across the lake. I jumped in, naked and full of youthful energy.

But then my body cramped up, went into total shock. The lake was deeper than I expected, my feet touching nothing. It hit me: Something bad is happening. My organism is in trouble. I somehow knew I should flip on my back and keep my mouth above water. I floated and paddled my hands One Wrong Step for what seemed forever.

Apprehension begins on the fourth rung. Clammy hands fumble with Weird thing is, I couldn’t looped wires of red and green lights. Seventh rung: Twelve-thousand make noises with my beads of sweat cover my hairless head. Tenth rung: Arms tremble, mouth, like my mind was legs quake, and a violent pulse pounds in my throat. Top rung: Cling to too busy. System overload. stucco as a quivering foot makes uneasy contact with the ladder. The When I got to land, I little wire hook just six inches away recedes as I thrust a gelatinous started vomiting. A person arm toward the gable. Shirt shudders over my increasingly palpitating working at the park told heartbeat, and the once-incipient panic is now in full crisis mode. I me that being in the super retreat down the ladder and wait out the surging storm of my vital hot water, then going into signs. The process repeats until four hours into a 30-minute job, I hang cold water threw my body the last light, and I’m never doing this again. Scott Lien into shock. Noah Cicero N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 7

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Deadsville SIX | G R I M R E A P I N G

Everybody dies. But not everyone dies scandalously.

A map of some notable deaths in Las Vegas BY

Scott Dickensheets

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as Vegas lore is marked by, among other things, death — often of the headline-grabbing variety: the murder of Tupac Shakur; John Entwistle’s last party; Carole Lombard’s plane crash — plus David Strickland, Sonny Liston, Cornell Gunter, Joe Louis, Ted Binion, even Totie Fields — a who’s who of famous or infamous corpses.

Just in time for the Day of the Dead, here are a few more notable passings.

1 “Buffalo” Jim Barrier (April 6, 2008, at a Motel 6 on Boulder Highway) A true Vegas character.

This former wrestler’s auto-body shop was next to Crazy Horse Too, owned by notorious figure Rick Rizzolo. The two feuded for years before Rizzolo went to prison on tax charges. When Barrier died in a motel the day after Rizzolo’s release, family cried foul — but the coroner ruled he died of heart failure triggered by cocaine.

2 Danny Gans (May 1, 2009, at his Henderson home) “This was not drug abuse,” the coroner announced a month after the Strip impressionist died, attempting to quell rumors that began when Gans’ sudden death shocked the showbiz community. He used Dilaudid to manage symptoms of chronic pain syndrome, and died of “hydromorphone toxicity.”

3 Dan Wheldon (October 16, 2011, at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway) In a tragic accident during the Las Vegas 300, Wheldon died after a 15-car crash. His was one of several cars that went airborne, “the sleek open-wheel racers and drivers inside now nothing more than projectiles in low-earth orbit,” as The Daily Beast put it. He was 33.

4 Marvin Shumate (December 1967, near Sunrise Mountain) The first of two deaths on this list speculatively linked to Horseshoe boss Benny Binion. This involved a cabbie, Shumate, dumb enough to devise a plan to kidnap Binion’s

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son. Shumate’s accomplice ratted him out to Binion, and Shumate was found gunned to death near Sunrise Mountain. Binion was suspected, of course, but that’s it.

The Binion son was Ted, later the victim in one of the valley’s most lurid murder cases.

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5 Bill Coulthart (July 25, 1972, in a parking garage, Third and Bridger) The other possibly Binion-related case. A G-man turned businessman, Coulthart was among those who held the lease, up for renewal, for the Horseshoe property — and he was reportedly against renewing. The car bomb that killed Coulthart rattled more than Downtown: The leaseholders later agreed to a 100-year deal.

6 Wardell Gray (May 25, 1955, last seen at the Moulin Rouge) Likened by a jazz critic to “a comet streaking across the heavens,” saxman Gray missed a show at the Moulin Rouge. He turned up on the outskirts of town, neck broken. Was a drug habit to blame?

Mob ties? It remains a mystery.

7 Frank Bluestein (June 9, 1980, just off McLeod Avenue) Remember in Casino when cops shoot a guy after mistaking his foil-wrapped hoagie for a gun? It’s based on the death of Bluestein, son of a union boss connected to Tony Spilotro.

When cops investigating Spilotro pulled Bluestein over, they say he got out with a gun. They fired. Afterward, contracts were allegedly taken out on the cops.

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ILLUSTRATION B rent Holmes

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MURDER STORIES True-crime writer Cathy Scott on four Vegas killings

In both mob daughter Susan Berman and rapper Tupac Shakur’s cases, conspiracy theories emerged almost from day one. With Berman, a theory that she may have been killed by the mob began the moment Los Angeles police officers on the scene saw a “Wanted Alive or Dead” poster for her father, Davie Berman. He was a Jewish-American organized-crime figure and partner of Bugsy Siegel. Police told reporters she may have been killed because of her late father’s connections. In Shakur’s case, a theory circulated that he faked his death and escaped to Cuba, leaving his stardom behind. The theory still occasionally surfaces, in part because Tupac’s case remains unsolved. A commonality in the cases of salsa dancer Ginger Rios and mobster “Fat Herbie” Blitzstein was that I interviewed their killers.

In the Rios case, I went to the Spy Craft store on Maryland Parkway where Rios, who disappeared in 1997, was last seen. Shop owner Craig Jacobsen gave me the creeps. Once he fled Nevada, I (twice) called the cell number he gave me ... and asked flat-out if he killed Rios. He hung up. Later, his wife led investigators to a shallow grave in Arizona. It was the opposite with Joe DeLuca, a one-time partner with Blitzstein in an auto shop — which turned out to be a front for illegal street rackets.

DeLuca was friendly; he told me he didn’t know anyone who would want to kill Blitzstein. It turned out DeLuca had set up Blitzstein in January 1997 to be killed so the Mafia could take over his illegal enterprises.

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BACK IN THE DAY What can we say about UNLV in 192 words? Let’s find out!

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UNLV Turns the Big 6-0

Before it was UNLV, as everyone knows, it was Nevada Southern University — and if that sounds like a rather pointed reminder to Las Vegans that their school was an appurtenance to the Reno university, check out its original From a plot of land to a valley mainstay name, back when Maryland Parkin just six short decades: way was a dirt road, and classes a brief, celebratory miscellany! were being taught in local high schools and churches because the campus had no building: the Southern Regional Division of the University of Nevada, Reno.

Can’t you practically feel the north patting the south on the head? But there have been six decades, a couple of name changes, several mascots, dozens of structures, battles over north-south funding disparities, 16 university presidents (15 of them men), a basketball championship, a couple of scandals, and many acre-feet of academic activity since the school convened its first classes in the fall of 1957. No longer the “Tumbleweed Tech” it was derided as in its early years, or even the “commuter campus” it was later derided as, UNLV now solidly anchors the Midtown neighborhood (especially with recent buildings giving the campus more university-like curb appeal), and is a cornerstone of the valley’s educational, cultural, and scientific life.

HIDDEN(ISH) GEMS AT UNLV

Maurine Jackson Smith Pipe Organ Next time the door to the university’s Doc Rando Recital Hall is open, pop in for a look at a musical marvel: a pipe organ of some 3,000 pipes organized in 53 clusters — 10,000 handmade pieces altogether. (It took four years to build, paid for by a $500,000 donation.) It debuted in 2004.

With its gleaming pipework rising some 40 feet, it really is a pipe dream. unlv.edu

Houssels House

Baepler Xeric Garden

On just 1.5 acres in the center of campus, this desert garden is more than decorative — with its mix of species from arid regions around the globe, it’s a “living laboratory” for biology and landscape architecture students. Artists also use it for installations from time to time. And for the visitor to campus, it’s a space of quiet, meditative beauty.

Outside the Barrick Museum of Fine Art, unlv.edu/barrickmuseum/garden

NINE WILDLY RANDOM FACTOIDS ABOUT UNLV $1: What artist Mike Muller charged UNLV for the Hey Reb design in 1982 29: Students in UNLV’s first graduating class Founder of Weight Watchers: Who UNLV’s Jean Nidetch Women’s Center is named for The Pioneer Wall: All that’s left of Maude Frazier Hall, UNLV’s first building Honorary doctorates: Bob Hope (1970), Jimmy Kimmel (2013), Diana Ross (1984), Wayne Newton (1980), CSI creator Anthony Zuiker (2003), Frank Sinatra (1976) “Cliched,” “reminiscent of authoritarian spectacle”: One reason why artists Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen didn’t aim UNLV’s Flashlight sculpture upward Sand-Burners, A-Bombs, Nuggets: Suggested alternatives to Rebels as UNLV mascot Furniture: What was given to UNLV’s first building by mobster/philanthropist Moe Dalitz A Blackberry: Most incongruous item in UNLV time capsule, to be opened in 2058

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Twenty grand. That’s what it cost to move a house across the city back in 1983. And what a house: Built in 1933 on Sixth Street, the Tudor home was described then as the most modern in Nevada — it had a glass-enclosed shower!

And it was owned by two major local figures: lawyer Harley Harmon (namesake of the street) and gamer Kell Houssels. Saved by preservationists, it was sited at UNLV, meaning the campus’ oldest building has only been there for 34 years. unlv.edu/maps/hou

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Hear More knpr.org, search “recall”

Total Recall NINE | P O L I T I C S

With their secrecy-shrouded efforts to recall three lawmakers, are Nevada Republicans out to change the political playbook?

BY

Steve Sebelius

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t’s notable, and maybe even understandable, that nowhere in the Nevada Constitution or the Nevada Revised Statutes is there a list of acceptable reasons to recall an elected official.

The Constitution does specify that petitions presented to voters must include a 200-word list of reasons, so voters know what they’re signing. But those reasons could be anything from the righteous to the ridiculous.

And there’s no requirement — before the petitions are actually filed — to make those reasons public. All that’s required is the filing of a recall notice with the signatures of three voters who actually voted in the election in which the recall target was elected. Until the petitions are actually filed, only the organizers and the people they solicit will

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know why. There’s not even a fee to file a recall against an official.

This shroud of secrecy and ease of process has attended the filings of three recalls against a trio of state senators, women all, two Democrats and a former-Republican-turned-nonpartisan. Recall organizers have refused to return reporters’ phone calls, and those few officials who have spoken publicly retreat to the same talking point: Recall is a right under the Constitution.

Undoubtedly, but so is marching in a protest with a Nazi flag. It doesn’t mean a person is compelled to do it, or that it’s a good idea.

So, what’s up with the recalls?

First, the targets. State Sen. Joyce Woodhouse, D -Henderson, is a former grade-school teacher who talks and acts

the part. She’s had a history of close elections — she was once deposed by an ambitious Republican by the name of Michael Roberson, before winning her way back to the Senate. Her 2016 election was close: She won by just 469 votes, less than 1 percentage point. And now, a recall committee led by former one-term Assemblyman Stephen Silberkraus wants to recall Woodhouse and replace her with her defeated 2016 rival, Carrie Buck. It’s not just undoing an election, it’s literally having a do-over. Ironically, Silberkraus himself was once the target of an abortive recall filed by conservative activist Chuck Muth, who objected to Silberkraus’ vote for the 2015 commerce tax.

Then there’s state Sen. Nicole Cannizzaro, D-Las Vegas, who defeated ex-Assemblywoman Victoria Seaman in 2016 by just more than 1,000 votes in 2016. Cannizzaro, a Clark County deputy district attorney, is in her first term. A recall committee headed

by Claire Roth wants to replace Cannizzaro with attorney April Becker.

Finally, there’s state Sen. Patty Farley, who was elected in 2014 as a Republican, easily defeating former Assemblywoman Marilyn Dondero Loop. But after one session in the GOP, Farley announced she was re-registering as a nonpartisan, and caucused in the 2017 session with Democrats. (On a recent legislative report card issued by the liberal group Battle Born Progress, Farley had a perfect score, something no Republican got.) A recall committee headed by Annalise Castor (and which includes two officials with the conservative Keystone Corporation) wants to replace Farley with Jared Glover.

Of all the recalls, Farley’s is the most understandable, but also the most pointless.

Unlike the other two — who got elected as Democrats and voted like Democrats — Farley changed parties, which some voters might view as a recall-worthy betrayal.

But Farley has announced she won’t seek re-election, and conservative former state Sen. Elizabeth Helgelien (née Halseth) has said she will seek the seat in 2018. Farley’s district is also the closest in registration:

In Praise of the Scarf

Given that our winter is, oh, like 17 minutes long, we Las Vegans don’t get much chance to do all that stylish layering that you see denizens of chillier burgs doing in the streetstyle Tumblrs, dashing sinuously around their metropolis, trailing scarves, tails, flares, lapels, and belts like sartorial emoji. So when October arrives, it’s time to get my sweet metrosex on with some scarves. It’s a functional, seasonal accent without the commitment (and the slow corporate strangulation) of a traditional necktie, an urbane flourish that gives faux-sophisticates like me a placebo dose of metropolitan gusto, as though — collar popped, gloved hands in pockets — I’m running to catch the Abbessess line for a tryst in Montmartre. Okay, so I’m dashing into the Terrible Herbst for a Twix. But only because I heard they brought back the dark-chocolate version — a flavor truly appreciated by bescarved, wanna-be aesthetes like me. Andrew Kiraly

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POLITICS ILLUSTRATION R yan Olbrysh SCARF

Brent Holmes

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Democrats outnumber Republicans by just more than 1,000 voters there, while Woodhouse enjoys a 4,000-voter advantage and Cannizzaro’s is more than 5,800.

With three recalls in strategically important districts, there’s clearly strategy at work.

First, recallers want Democrats to spend money to defend the seats (and here, they’ve succeeded; “decline to sign” campaigns are going on to protect Woodhouse and Cannizzaro). Second, Republicans know the political map in 2018 doesn’t favor them winning in the traditional way — by actually winning the election. Recalls are a way to fight on their own timeline. (Roberson reportedly boasted at Attorney General Adam Laxalt’s annual Basque Fry barbecue in Northern Nevada that the GOP would control the upper house

by Christmas.)

And third, the effort may be linked to deep Republican pockets: A lobbyist for a firm that also represents the Las Vegas Sands (headed by GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson, who has indicated his intent to step up efforts to elect Republicans at the state level in 2018) was found by the Nevada Independent website to have supplied at least one of Cannizzaro’s recall backers with talking points justifying the effort.

Notably, Gov. Brian Sandoval has distanced himself from the recall attempts, saying he will not be involved. But two officials with close ties to him are: Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchsion’s law firm is providing legal guidance to the efforts, in the person of former Sandoval general counsel Dan Stewart, who now works for Hutchison’s firm. The firm usually advises controversy-averse business clients, but that hasn’t stopped Stewart from taking the cases.

Recalls, by law, are difficult affairs: One must collect valid signatures from 25 percent of the voters who actually voted in the election. Finding those voters isn’t hard: A list of who participated in each election is public record. But convincing those voters to abjure their decision at the polls has proven virtually impossible. No state lawmaker has ever been recalled, and the last recall that actually qualified — against former Las Vegas Councilman Steve Ross — failed to remove him from office.

And the deadlines are tight: Organizers have 90 days to gather the signatures from the date the petition is filed, deadlines that will come due at the end of this month and the beginning of November.

But the very existence of the recalls is a troubling prospect, the very embodiment of the term “permanent campaign.” Recalls

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have traditionally been democracy’s last resort, a safety valve for a wayward lawmaker who refuses to quit. The proponents of these recalls are courting a dangerous precedent, strategically attacking vulnerable lawmakers with special elections, fig-leafed with supposed disagreements over specific policy votes. If this were to become a trend, then every state official can look forward to at least one recall filed six months after the election (a constitutional time limit), and every member of the Legislature can expect one on the 11th day of a legislative session (a more aggressive timeline also found in the Constitution). And even after getting elected and surviving a recall, legislators still might not be safe: The law says repeated recalls are allowed, so long as proponents pay the entire cost of the second or subsequent recall election. With the right amount of money, we actually could see the era of the permanent campaign.

And it’s a sure bet that future political cartographers will remember the recalls when drawing new district lines in the 2021 Legislature, knowing that the greater the partisan advantange, the less likely an attempted recall. But the greater the partisan advantage, the less likely a lawmaker is to consider compromise when it comes to policy, an ugly result of partisan gerrymandering.

At least for now, however, Democrats are pledging they will not follow the Republican playbook. State Senate Majority Leader Aaron Ford, a candidate for Nevada attorney general in 2018, denounced the recalls as purely partisan and a waste of taxpayer money, and says his caucus will not initiate recalls themselves. He added that while recalls should remain an option for voters, the law should be tweaked to require proponents to state their reasons up front, when papers are first filed.

And the laws of pragmatism will eventually come into play as well. Whether recalls become commonplace depends a great deal on whether any of the three recalls even qualify, and whether they ultimately succeed at the ballot box. If not, they may lose their potency as a tactic.

Whatever reforms may eventually be enacted, they will not address the underlying issue painted into stark relief by these recalls: There’s really no standard for what should trigger a recall election, and there’s really no penalty (other than public opprobrium) for filing them. It seems some Nevada Republicans have opened the mirror opposite of Pandora’s box, with despair, not hope, at the bottom. ✦

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

Book Talk C U LT U R E | EXCHANGE

Married authors Walter Kirn and Amanda Fortini on the bookfest, the essay, and writing in the age of Trump

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manda: Dear Walt — Congrats on finishing your latest Harper’s column! You’ve had to be at home in Montana this fall because of the ongoing wildfires, while I’ve been teaching at UNLV, but I know you’re coming back for the Las Vegas Book Festival, on October 21st, so I thought we could email a bit about what we’re looking forward to there.

I have to say, I’m pretty excited about your conversation with Dwight Garner (“The Practice of Criticism”) who has been a daily book critic for the New York Times since 2008. Remind me, how do you know Dwight?

Walter: Before he became perhaps the best working book reviewer in America, Dwight was my editor at the New York Times Book Review, where I was a frequent contributor. This meant, because I can only think out loud, that he spent hours on the phone with me every few

ILLUSTRATION R yan Inzana

weeks listening to my theories and opinions not only on books, but current events and so on. I was crushed when he left his position, for selfish reasons. When he reappeared as a reviewer at the paper, I got uncrushed, for literary reasons. His voice is all his own, as are his tastes, and now that I no longer write many book reviews, I rely on his for guidance. As newspapers cut book review sections and lay off reviewers, Dwight’s work has become increasingly valuable to the reading community at large. Being onstage together will be a pleasure, since we haven’t seen each other in years. I hope I don’t embarrass him with my deep affection and admiration.

Amanda: I completely agree about Dwight; what’s so great about his work is that you can feel his love of language, of books — he seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself. Wasn’t it Robert Frost who said, “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the O C TO B E R 2 0 1 7

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writer, no surprise in the reader”? Dwight is so much fun to read because you can sense the fun he had while writing. Now you’ll both be thinking out loud, together, on stage! And festival goers will get to watch. What do you think about The Practice of Criticism today?

What do you think you’ll say?

Walter: I’ll be honest, I don’t think much of what criticism has become because there are few people out there getting paid enough to do it well, with their full attention. Instead, we have reader reviews, systems that award stars and points, and blogs that may mean well but generally don’t measure up to the standards of yesteryear. Oh well, journalism in general is in flux now, so why should book reviewing be immune?

What about you, though, and your panel on “Women of the Essay”? I’m a fan of Sarah Hepola’s book Blackout, and I’m looking forward to that panel. The essay is a form that seemed to go dormant for decades, but in the last few years, like memoirs, it’s been spectacularly reinvigorated.

Amanda: The lineup we have is just stellar: Sarah Hepola, Carina Chocano, and Megan Stielstra, whose book The Wrong Way to Save Your Life, I’ve been reading so I’m ready to moderate. It’s opened up my thinking about the personal essay. She has a knack for taking her personal, intimate stories and broadening them outward to consider how she fits in this larger project of humanity we’re all engaged in. The book is genius.

But to speak more generally, I think you’re right about the state of the essay. The essay is arguably where all the heat lies right now,

where much of the innovation in the literary world is happening — just as the memoir was the vital form of the late 1990s. Why is this? I teach the narrative essay (often called the “longform essay”), and I write them, and I think about it a lot. I think it’s that great essays are one of a kind; they respond to the world and explore their subject matter in an original way, without the stale conventions of “storytelling.”

It’s my belief that the reading public has become quite hip to, and a little tired of, the expected moves of narrative. This is something I’ve been thinking about for an essay I’m writing. Great essays convey the stamp of individuality — you sense the beating heart of the writer.

Walter: Yes. Thus there’s an intimate connection between writer and reader.

Amanda: Precisely. The essay as a form is something you’ve become quite the practitioner of in the past couple of years, as you write a bimonthly essay for Harper’s about politics and culture, sharing the storied Easy Chair spot with the great Rebecca Solnit. Your other panel is “Writing in the Age of Trump,” with Virginia Heffernan and Mickey Kaus. What is it like to comment on politics and its intersection with culture in the Age of Trump? Although I have written about politics and feminism a fair amount, I’ve shied away from both in the Trumpian era. Partly because I’ve been preoccupied with writing a book and teaching, but also, I’ll be honest, I also feel wary of stepping into the fray. It’s treacherous out there, so much acrimony.

Walter: Writing in the age of Trump is like walking naked into a tornado. You don’t know if you’re going to be hit by flying debris, blown against a brick wall, or sucked up into the air and dropped in a lake. You can’t please everyone, and it’s very easy to displease everyone, particularly if you write with an independent, questioning spirit rather than with a partisan agenda. Danger is exciting, though, at least for my type, who’s driven by adrenaline. The problem is you can’t write fast enough to keep up with the story, which changes hourly. That means trying to get above the whirlwind, up where you can look down on all the tumult.

Perspective. It’s easier to talk about now than actually achieve.

Amanda: It’ll be interesting to watch you and Virginia and Mickey walk naked into a tornado. What else are you interested in hearing/seeing at the festival, and why? There are so many writers I can’t wait to hear, from Tayari Jones (a current Black Mountain Institute fellow), whose novel Silver Sparrow I adored; to Kevin Young, whose poetry rocks my world; to Alana Massey, who is one of the most electric young voices writing today. The roster is world-class.

Walter: I’m looking forward to “Myths and Mysteries of Las Vegas.” After living part time here for the last few years, I’ve come across many clues to what goes on here, but I haven’t cracked the case. I suspect that would take a lifetime in this fascinating, frustrating, singular metropolis, but I plan to do my best. Maybe this panel will help me make some progress. ✦

THE NATURE OF VIOLENCE Former military intelligence officer (and Las Vegan) Tim Larkin’s latest book, When Violence is the Answer, could be mistaken for a self-defense manual. It is that, but it is also a reasoned meditation on violence in our society: what it is beyond media portrayals, how all of us benefit from identifying both predators and our own tendencies. We called Larkin for a brief Q&A. How accurate is this assessment: “When Violence Is the Answer is more of a psychology book than a self-defense book”? I would agree that my goal is not simply to train someone to defend himself, but to think about the subject of violence differently, and understand it as a tool that may be critical for them to understand at some time in their lives. The main thing I try to get across is, studying the subject and understanding how violence works does not make you violent. … The most peaceful people I know are the ones who understand how to use violence, and will do everything necessary to keep it out of their lives. The book seems to be most relevant to people least likely to read it — hotheads and pacifists. How do you solve that conundrum? The book hits the middle of the road people enough that the fringe people on both sides are beginning to come around. The reason I went with a larger publisher is to reach a larger audience for that very reason. Your focus on intention resonated with me. Is it possible to sum this up for people trapped in an auto-pilot world? In the world of self-protection and law enforcement it’s called situational awareness, but it really is the basic idea of yoga: understanding where you’re at. … I tell people that they’ve been sleeping with their head on a railroad track and telling themselves they’re fine because the train didn’t come last night. My idea is to get people to take their head off the track so they don’t even have to worry about the train. Heidi Kyser

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Table 34

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

Book It!

Featuring Chef Wes Kendricks’ contemporary American cuisine including fresh fish, wild game, duck, lamb, Certified Angus Beef, and comfort food classics. Conveniently located off the 215 and Warm Springs. Dinner Tuesday Saturday 5pm until closing (around 10pm)

Some things to see at the Las Vegas Book Festival

Previously the Vegas Valley Book Festival, this year’s event Oct. 21 will be keynoted by Y.A. authors Daniel (Lemony Snicket) Handler and Sharon Draper. Along with booths and activities for kids, there will be talks about video games, mystery fiction, the Mojave Desert, and more. Some highlights, chosen by festival volunteers Crystal Perkins, Geoff Schumacher, and (DC staffer) Scott Dickensheets

I F Y O U H A V E K I D S I N T O Y. A .

Identity Isn’t Everything: Six panelists — Audrey Coulthurst, Erin Finnegan, Jeff Garvin, CB Lee, Benjamin Alire Saenz, Dashka Slater — address LGBTQIA-plus fiction for youths.

IF YOU FOLLOW CURRENT EVENTS Race and Justice in the 21st Century: They Can’t Kill Us All author Wesley Lowery and a panel that includes novelist Tayari Jones, speaker Yusef Salaam, and journalist Jill Leovy examine one of our most vexing issues.

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bet for all your real estate needs.

Triple Consciousness: A trio of African-American novelists — Brit Bennet (The Mothers), Nicole Dennis-Benn (Here Comes the Sun), and Zinzi Clemmons (What We Lose) — join moderator Erica Vital Lazare to discuss being young, gifted black women in the 21st century literary world.

Book Festival After Dark: A powerhouse evening program at Inspire Theater features Daniel Handler, poet and New Yorker poetry editor Kevin Young, and novelist Brit Bennet.

YEARS

IN SOUTHERN NEVADA

HomeLasVegas.com

IF YOU’RE A DESERT RAT Writing the Mojave Desert: UNLV prof Andy Kirk moderates a sure-tobe-lively talk about the great desert, featuring writer-artist Kim Stringfellow, journalist Henry Brean, and travel writer Deborah Wall.

IF YOU LOVE ROMANCE Romancing Las Vegas — Onstage conversations featuring romance authors Grace Burrowes, Mary Leo, Sylvia Day, and Alisha Rai, plus writer-decorated tables for readers.

October 21, 10a-4p, Historic Fifth Street School; 5:30-8:45p, Inspire Theater. lasvegasbookfestival.org O C TO B E R 2 0 1 7

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C U LT U R E | INSTITUTIONS

Reborn at 50

No midlife crisis for UNLV’s Barrick Museum as it consolidates its mission as an art-centered ‘experimental education space’ BY

Kristen Peterson

A

50th anniversary year, a name change, and generous blessings from department heads would electrify any institution on a college campus that once faced a shaky future after losing funding during budget cuts in 2011. But UNLV’s Barrick Museum of Fine Art — formerly the Barrick Museum of Natural History — emerged triumphant by becoming what it had long wanted to be: a full-fledged contemporary art institution.

Gone are the live reptiles and ichthyosaur fossil. In its new role, the Barrick has become a leading force in the arts scene.

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Its 50th anniversary year launched in January during one of its most notable shows, Edward Burtynsky’s Oil, a hit exhibit of large-scale landscape photographs detailing America’s dependence on oil. That was followed by Process, a show looking at the making of Process Art. That led to Tested Ground, which explores land use and waste.

Rotating exhibits in Barrick’s other galleries generated equally broad appeal without diluting strong and engaging educational content — tightly curated, highly focused exhibits extending beyond visual experience.

Begun in the 1960s as an exhibit space for

the Desert Research Institute, across the boulevard from UNLV, the museum eventually settled in the second-oldest building on campus. (Renovations revealed UNLV’s old mascot, Beauregard, still emblazoned on the floor of what was once a gymnasium.) Now under the College of Fine Arts, the Barrick hasn’t left its past behind. It is a museum, after all, home to objects, thoughts, ideas, and discourse focused on the primal human need for creative expression. Object-making from the distant past plays an essential role with contemporary art exhibits, presenting conversations between the two, and offering educational value. Along with its growing contemporary art collection (including works inherited from the Las Vegas Art Museum, and pieces from noteworthy UNLV grads), the Barrick retains an extensive gathering of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican artifacts, postcolonial masks, retablos, textiles, and art from North and South American indigenous traditions.

Interim Executive Director Alisha Kerlin emphasizes creating an “experimental education space” designed to challenge people’s ideas of what art is, where creative activity, workshops, research, and collaborations come together. People are responding: A culture day this summer ushered in 460 children in one day; an online fundraiser brought in more than $6,000 to pay for buses to get children to the museum; and teacher’s night brought in more than 90 educators on a Friday evening to learn about the museum and its potential role in classrooms. The museum is also collaborating or cultivating relationships with other university departments — art, anthropology, architecture, dance, UNLV’s School of Medicine, music, and, interestingly, Tara Pike, UNLV’s recycling manager and sustainability coordinator, who was invited to help staff talk to visitors about the Tested Ground exhibit.

That’s a lot of change for a recently minted art museum and six-member staff. “A lot (has changed) within the last nine months alone,” Kerlin says. “It’s such a fun time right now.”

In celebration, this month sees another well-curated series of exhibitions crossing into several gallery spaces across campus, relating to its main show, Preservation, which examines land use (past and present) and includes an artist’s monolithic 22-foot dam structure. Amid this, the museum continues to research, archive, and share its past, while dealing with the unique challenges of contemporary art — including how to get a 22-foot dam into the building. ✦

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Hot Seat visual art

RAYMOND PETTIBON MCQ FINE ART

The little house/ gallery on Seventh Street delivers perhaps the biggest show of the fall, by one of the critical darlings of contemporary art, Raymond Pettibon. Rooted in SoCal punk art and its DIY graphics sensibility, Pettibon’s drawings and prints range widely across such topics as religion, politics, sexuality, and pop culture, layering enigmatic prose fragments to images of dizzying energy. Gotta see it. Through Nov. 3, mcqfineart.com

throwback RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL SUNSET PARK

Finally, an excuse to bust out the codpiece. Bring your best swords, armor, period costumes, and elaborate medieval fantasies to “The Age of Chivalry.”

There will be vendors, food, music, and more.

Oct. 13-15, Tickets from $15 for a single day to $45 three-day passes, lvrenfaire.com

Kid lit

MAC BARNETT AND JON KLASSEN

HISTORIC FIFTH STREET SCHOOL Timed to the anticipated release of The Wolf, the Duck, and the Mouse — words by Barnett, illustrations by Caldicott-winner Klassen — in which a duck and a mouse are swallowed by a wolf, and decide to live happily in the wolf’s belly. There’s a lesson for us all in there.

Oct. 10, 6:30p, free, thewritersblock.org O C TO B E R 2 0 1 7

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Hot Seat outdoors

GET OUTDOORS DAY CORNERSTONE PARK, HENDERSON

Want to learn about outdoor recreation in Southern Nevada but don’t know where to begin? Begin here, with National Park Service rangers giving you the lowdown.

Learn about camping, about “leaving no trace” in the wilderness, about how to use Lake Mead. There will be a rock-climbing wall and other family activities.

Oct. 7, 9a-2p, free, getoutdoorsnevadaday.org

lecture

KENNEDY ASSASSINATION PANEL MOB MUSEUM

These days, you can’t swing a suspiciously dead cat without hitting a conspiracy theory about some aspect of modern life, from the deep state to George Soros to the Koch bros. In many ways, the murder of John F. Kennedy is the wellspring of that mentality. This evening, two experts will tug at opposite ends of the assassination’s main controversy: Did Oswald act alone? Author Gus Russo says yes; author Dan Moldea insists he had mob help. Oct. 24, 7p, $20, themobmuseum.org

Pixel Shtick VISUAL ART

In his new exhibit, Eric Vozzola explores the space between the digital and the analog

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music

Melody Sweets CABARET JAZZ IN THE SMITH CENTER

If the French hadn’t already invented the word chanteuse, we’d have had to subcontract them to do it now to describe sultry performer Melody Sweets. She’s a multifaceted singer, songwriter, and burlesque performer.

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You may know her as the Green Fairy in Absinthe; now’s your chance to catch her in The Sweets Spot, a show of original songs, covers of classic numbers, and lots of oo-la-la. Oct. 24, 9:30p, $20-$40, thesmithcenter.com

o say an image is “low res” — low resolution — is to say it lacks clarity, definition, the proper density of visual information.

It’s mostly a term used in modern digital media, meaning a picture is fuzzy, cheap-looking — inferior. Low Res, Eric Vozzola’s new set of paintings, noses fruitfully through the fraught space between the digital and the analog. That dichotomy begins at the formal level: He’s probing a digital phenomenon with the analog technique of painting. Now look at the canvas above, “Balancing Curiosities.” Note how it deftly upends the 21st century’s unquestioning belief in the superiority of the digital. Through a wall of pretty squares that indicate the failure of digital imagery to resolve, we get three glimpses of something organic, mysterious, unresolvable, rendered in old-school black-and-white.

Feel your visual brain trying to divine the whole from the occluded pieces. That’s a very high-res sensation. Scott Dickensheets

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LOW RES Oct. 24-Jan. 16, Whitney Library, free, lvccld.org

WHERE UTAH’S

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Travel to Southern Utah is simple with direct flights daily from Los Angeles International Airport and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport to St. George Regional Airport.

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Snacks Without Borders D I N I N G | EAT THIS CITY

TINAJITA MANGO CHILI LOLLIPOP Made to look like the fresh mangos served at Mexican markets, the mango chili lollilpop explodes with vibrant flavor that says, YES! DEFINITELY MANGO!

DE LA ROSA PEANUT CANDY These crumbly pucks of peanut and sugar literally melt in your mouth.

Nibbling might be advised — wholepuck contact with tongue is a potent blast of ubersweet paste.

The joyous intensity of Mexican candy B Y

Andrew Kiraly and Scott Dickensheets

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alloween and Day of the Dead share a connection to the Catholic tradition of All Hallows’ Eve — a time for fond remembrance of those who have passed on. Both holidays also involve costumes, parties, and, of course, sweets. Thus it’s little surprise that the connection got us thinking about candy — Mexican candy in particular. To be sure, American sweets have their extreme variations — think Warheads, Sour Punch Straws; even the modern classic Nerds come in a sour variety these days. But Mexican candy, often informed by culinary traditions involving spices and pickling, presents a different experience. Fruits such as mango and plum, and the sticky, tart-sweet tamarind, are transformed into complex confections that are very literally mouth-watering.

Here are highlights and notes from a recent sampling we bought at Christy Candy Shop in the Boulevard Mall (christycandyshop.com) and Cardenas (various locations, cardenasmarkets.com). We tasted a range from mild to wild, from crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth marzipan treats to pucker-inducing plums. So, however bold or timid your palate, you’re sure to find a new favorite flavor. ✦

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PULPARINDO TAMARIND PULP CANDY Often an allpurpose candy ingredient, tamarind takes center stage in this chewy mini-bar. A dusting of salt and chili level it up.

DON PANCHO MILK CANDY Studded with chewy pecans, this bar of milk fudge has a mealy, crumbly texture and a tooth-rattling, sugar-forward flavor.

ENCHILOKAS MANGO CANDY If you have trouble wrapping your tongue around the idea of chili in candy, this chili-infused tamarind gummy is your starter treat. It’ll jolt your mouth without five-alarm heat.

A gateway to the Hola plums across the page.

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PHOTOGRAPHY

Brent Holmes

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DUVALÍN HAZENUT AND VANILLA SPREAD Sold in mini-cups complete with snap-off plastic spoons, Duvalín is similar to Nutella, with the vanilla kicking the sweet factor up a few notches.

You can eat it alone or spread on fruit or crackers.

GORDITAS HADA COOKIES Modestly sweet and crackerlike, these cookies taste somewhat like Nilla Wafers. They made a nice base for spreading DuvalÍn on.

CHAMOY LOLLIPOP Chamoy isn’t a fruit; rather it’s a complex flavor profile — simultaneously sweet, tart and spicy — usually based on pickled fruits such as apricot, mango, or plum. The umami-meets-Willy Wonka flavor explosion is an intense, whole-mouth experience.

SANDIAS WATERMELON CHILI LOLLIPOP Sweet and spicy are a common combo in Mexican candy, but the watermelon chili lollipop is perhaps its most satisfying execution. Better yet, the chili here isn’t just a surface coating; it’s infused in the hard watermelon candy for a lasting sweet/ spicy kick.

JAPANESE-STYLE PEANUTS Addictively crunchy thanks to a carapace of wheat flour and soy, they are nicely salty, but depart with the slightest adios of sweetness.

HOLA SOUR LEMON FLAVORED SALTED PLUM “Hola” is the brand name, and a fitting one.

These powerfully tart dried plums shout “Hola” continuously into your saliva glands. For fans of extreme sour and tart flavors, these plums should be a novel treat.

TAMBORINES CANDY An easygoing tamarind delight — its mild intensity is enhanced by the tactile sensation of the candy dissolving on your tongue.

COCONUT CANDY ROLL More subtle than you might expect, the coconut roll has a waxy texture and pleasing coconut flavor with slight medicinal undertones.

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AT H O M E , C O O K I N ’

Flat-Out Delicious A pennywise cook and a case of expensive beer gone bad B Y

Heidi Kyser

TO N OPA H Coming off a grueling, five-day backpacking trip on the Toiyabe Crest Trail, my husband, Peter, and I couldn’t wait to check into the Mizpah, shower, and grab a beer at Tonopah Brewing Company. The brews were so good that we bought a case on our way home. We swallowed our sticker shock — $4 apiece!

— because it was worth it to support a local brewery.

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ILLUSTRATION

Celia Krampien

More than an art festival.

A cherished Summerlin fall tradition.

A FREE OUTDOOR FESTIVAL OCTOBER 14 - 15 | 10 AM - 5 PM | DOWNTOWN SUMMERLIN® 100 celebrated fine artists displaying art for sale Live music, entertainment and children’s activities Delicious culinary offerings from Downtown Summerlin eateries

summerlin.com | #SummerlinArts ©2017 The Howard Hughes Corporation. All rights reserved.

STREET FOODIE

Oakey Dokey

There’s good eating at Las Vegas Boulevard and Oakey — if you know where to look. Follow us!

PHOTOS & CAPTIONS BY

Brent Holmes

MILKSHAKE AT VICKIE’S DINER, $3.50 Sometimes you just want simple — and Vickie’s milkshakes are simplicity done right, in chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry. (If you’re feeling extra, make it a malted.)

D I N I N G | #TRENDING

Sustainability in the Can Rick Moonen peels open a new approach to serving fish B Y

R I B S AT V I VA L A S A R E PA S , $1 0

MARLIN TACO AT BAJAMAR, $4 If you eat one thing on this list, it should be — must be — the Marlin Taco a Las Brasas: the smoked tuna with veggies and queso delivers an umami punch.

CUBAN AT PUERTO RICO E X P R E S S , $ 7. 9 5 The three-meat Tripletta is king of this sandwich extravaganza of a menu.

But that’s heavy, so I go for the easier-to-digest Cuban (above) and don’t feel I’ve missed a thing.

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ove seafood? Like sustainability? Well, pull back the lid on a tin of sardines or pop the top on some canned tuna. Quality canned fish is not only delicious, it’s economically and environmentally sound, when harvested responsibly from abundant species like skipjack, yellowfin, and bonito. Since it’s long-lasting, it reduces waste and keeps its value for significant stretches of time.

I learned all this recently from none other than Rick Moonen, revered chef-owner of RM Seafood in the Shoppes at Mandalay Bay (rmseafood.com).

Moonen is highly regarded for his restaurant’s selection of top-notch fresh fish, from branzino to salmon, as well as his advocacy of environmentally sound fishing methods promoted by the Marine Stewardship Council and Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch.

Moonen recently added a “Can-to-Table Crostini” appetizer dish to his epicurean offerings; it showcases wild-caught sardines and skipjack tuna. The sardine filets from BELA Brand Seafood are absolutely non-stinky and have a mild flavor profile akin to smoked Idaho trout. Plus, they don’t have bones to pick out. As for the tuna from purveyors like Matiz and Tonnino, the flaky chunks are as succulent as slow-braised chicken thigh. Add in sautéed spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, and organic hard-cooked eggs, and the savory construction is something like a warm, open-faced pan bagnat, that famed Provençal sandwich.

Beyond bringing new flavor combinations to his guests, Moonen’s can-totable menu also puts a spotlight on responsible seafood producers. “You’ve got to acknowledge them, so that everybody says, ‘Oh, that’s a good business model, let’s all do it.’”

The Mediterranean-influenced snack is Moonen’s first canned-fish foray in Las Vegas, and new dishes will eventually be offered. If you crib Moonen’s sustainable sardine-tuna recipes for your home-cooking enjoyment, just be sure to steer clear of downmarket sardines and albacore. Upscale brands are just a few bucks more, and they’ll make your environmentally conscious snack all the more delectable. ✦ PHOTOGRAPHY

Sabin Orr

S T R E E T F O O D I E P H OT O S : B R E N T H O L M E S

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Sure, you’ve had the namesake corn-pancake sandwich, but have you tried the ribs? Smoky salty, sweet, with a distinctly South American spice.

It’s my go-to.

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Greg Thilmont

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Shop

Gift Like a Boss BY

THE VISIONARY

Christie Moeller

October 16 is Bosses Day. It’s an opportunity to recognize the leaders, dreamers, and commanders in your workplace (and, yes, maybe earn a few brownie points). Here are some gift ideas for whatever type of fearless leader you have.

The idea person who thinks big and leaves the details to others FLYTE LIGHT BUCKMINSTER LEVITATING LIGHT Part desk lamp, part sculpture, part scientific wonder, the Flyte is sure to inspire plenty of eurekas! $349, Neiman Marcus in the Fashion Show Mall

THE COMMANDER

DIXIE PEPPERMINT CANNABIS DARK CHOCOLATE

The get-it-done type who expects results

Who knows what brainstorming will follow from this combo of natural caffeine, theobromine and THC? Check for prices, NuLeaf Dispensary, nuleafnv.com

THE PEER

Down in the trenches with the rest of the staff, they’re not just a boss — they’re a friend

RADICAL CANDOR: BE A KICK-ASS BOSS WITHOUT LOSING YOUR HUMANITY

BY KIM SCOTT If their tough-love management style is more tough than love, this book might give them a hint. $26.99, barnesandnoble.com

BOSS LARIAT NECKLACE FROM ADORNA

SMYTHSON “BOSS” WAFER NOTEBOOK

Sometimes, the boss simply needs an appreciative reminder that she’s the boss. $95, Nordstrom in the Fashion Show Mall

With a handcrafted leather cover, this flexible pocket notebook is perfect for jotting on the go. $60, smythson.com

FELIX GRAY TURING COMPUTER GLASSES For the boss who’s always working late, these lenses filter out blue light from digital screens, which can cause headaches, sleep loss and eye strain. $95, shopfelixgray.com

THE COACH

The motivator and goal-setter who cheers on the team

THE OVERWHELMED

The tired hero who fearlessly leads a small staff to excellence

NEUROON OPEN SLEEP MASK SET Help your hard-working boss with this sleep tracker and mask with biometric sensors that analyze brain activity, and other features such as audio-guided meditation, lucid dreaming programs and smart wakeups. $218, neuroon.com

CARPE DIEM POP-OPEN CARDS Each minicard reveals its own sentiment to brighten any employee’s day. $8, Paper and Home, paperandhome.com

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38 SOCIETY

WHERE THE NEXT MEAL IS COMING FROM Food insecurity haunts thousands of Las Vegans, but a network of charities is tackling the problem — with surprising efficiency BY

SHELF LIFE Lutheran Social Services of Southern Nevada volunteer Nancy Starkey at the food pantry.

Food insecurity affects 280,000 Southern Nevadans.

Michael Lyle

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he end of the month is a busy time for a food pantry. The people in line have usually used up most of their supplemental food benefits — if they have them — meaning their cabinets and refrigerators are bare.

But you won’t hear 65-year-old Margaret Coleman complaining about the wait at Lutheran Social Services of Nevada (LSSN): She knows that without this, she wouldn’t have food. “I make do with what I have and don’t complain about what I don’t have,” she says. “And I thank God for what I do have.”

Coleman is among the 280,000 people in Southern Nevada — one out of seven

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— who are estimated to be food insecure.

“That’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 million meals overall that people are missing,” says Regis Whaley, the business support manager of Three Square Food Bank. “Food insecurity is when there is a lack of quantity of food or quality of food within a household. It’s not just being hungry, but also the stress of not knowing where the next meal is coming from.”

The food-insecure could be seniors on a fixed income, people with disabilities who can’t work, even working families that simply don’t earn enough — when times are hard, it’s usually a household’s food budget that can be adjusted, and people go without.

“There isn’t just one single face of food insecurity,” says Rebecca Martin, whose family uses Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada’s food pantry. “I’m a disabled veteran. Yes, I get my disability, but it’s not enough to make ends meet sometimes. Whether you’re homeless or working a job 9 to 5, anyone at any time might need some help.”

The Department of Agriculture’s annual food insecurity report indicates that about one-fourth of food-insecure households are usually recurrent, but not chronic. On average, these households experienced food insecurity about seven months out of the year. Also a factor: food deserts, a term for areas that lack nutritious foods because PHOTOGRAPHY

Sabin Orr

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

there aren’t grocery stores readily accessible.

“We find lower-income areas are populated more by convenience stores than actual grocery stores,” Whaley adds. “So you’ve got a limited quantity of food, but also the quality of food.”

According to Three Square, food insecurity is measured by a few factors, including household size, unemployment rates, poverty, median household income, and population. With that, it has found the five local ZIP codes with the highest rates of food insecurity are 89106, 89046, 89029, 89169, and 89101.

A common line of defense for people who are food insecure is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helps low-income people and families buy groceries. According to the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services, the state’s goal is to reduce food insecurity to 6 percent and increase SNAP participation to 85 percent by 2018.

For the people who qualify, sometimes the money allotted isn’t enough. Kim Amato, the outreach and community liaison at Lutheran Social Services of Nevada, says she has seniors who only qualify for $20 a month. “What can you buy with that?” she asks.

While the government has its way of dealing with food insecurity, members of the community are on the front line, trying to fill the remaining need through food pantries, community meals, and resource centers. Last year, Three Square distributed 44 million pounds of food through its nearly 1,300 community partners, which includes churches, other nonprofits, apartment complexes with underserved populations, unemployment offices, and libraries. This also includes providing more than 200 schools with meals for low-income students.

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sun isn’t kind, and reflects harshly off the pavement outside of the Clark County Library. The few trees are stingy with their shade, providing little comfort. Yet the people waiting for one of Three Square’s weekly produce giveaways are restless as they eye the bags of potatoes, watermelons, onions, and pears.

From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. each Tuesday, people call Three Square to place their names on the list to receive those items being passed out in front of the library. Those who come without calling are served afterward.

Angela Thomas has brought along two of her kids. She is a certified nursing as-

THE MIDDAY AUGUST

An independent private school offering preschool through eighth grade

Desert Hills 410-7225 8175 West Badura Ave.

Los Prados 839-1900 5150 N. Jones Blvd.

Green Valley 990-7300 1725 East Serene Ave.

Summerlin 878-6418 9900 Isaac Newton Way

I n s p ir in g Ch ild re n t o A c h ie v e S in c e 1 9 6 3

© 2017, Challenger Schools. Challenger School admits students of any race, color, and national or ethnic origin.

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SOCIETY

Nicholas Galanin, Things Are Looking Native, Native’s Looking Whiter, 2012

sistant who moved to Las Vegas over the summer to be closer to her son, who was going to college in Arizona. “This was close enough that it wasn’t too close,” she says.

She was sure she would get a job when she arrived. But after 30 days and with a rapidly depleting bank account, things are getting tighter. When she saw a flier for the giveaway, she put her name on the list.

“This will definitely help,” she says. “Every little bit of assistance helps.”

The line moves slowly as people pick up items and put them into backpacks, plastic bags, or whatever improvised container they have come up with. About 150 people go through the line in the 45 minutes it’s open. This will be replicated many times around the valley throughout the week.

A variety of churches and social-service organizations, many of which rely on a mixture of food from Three Square and donations or canned good drives, have been helping to provide for those in need.

In the lobby of Lutheran Social Services of Nevada, people are waiting for their names to be called. The organization is open four days a week — Mondays and Fridays

ABUNDANCE OF COMPASSION Before browsing the shelves, Lutheran Social Services clients select their food on DigiMart, a software program, which uses a point system based on household size.

for the first 40 people, and Tuesdays and Wednesdays for seniors 60 or older. Clients select most of what they want on the computer, using the nonprofit’s DigiMart. Some 500-600 families come to the nonprofit each month. For the DigiMart food pantry, people who apply can receive between 100

and 500 points each month depending on the size of their household.

Coleman, in line at LSSN, says she moved to Las Vegas with her husband, a disabled veteran, last year. They are retired and on a fixed income, so they thought Las Vegas’ cost of living would

Premier Sponsor Louise A. Tarble Foundation Lead Sponsor Wayne And Miriam Prim Major Sponsors Anne Brockinton Lee; Stacie and Charles N. Mathewson; Mercedes-Benz of Reno; RBC Wealth Management and City National Bank

Donald W. Reynolds Center for the Visual Arts E. L. Wiegand Gallery 160 West Liberty Street in downtown Reno, Nevada | nevadaart.org

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SOCIETY

WHAT’S IN STORE Food pantries such as Lutheran Social Services of Southern Nevada step in when government food benefits run out for recipients.

help with their budget. When money got tight, it was either find a food pantry or go hungry. She heard of LSSN through word of mouth. “And I’ve been going ever since,” she says. “It doesn’t feel like a handout. The way it’s operated, you are treated with dignity.”

Coleman usually visits the nonprofit once a week and portions out the 200 points she gets for her household. On her final trip in August, she has 66 points left to spend. She sits at the computer to pick out her groceries. “I usually get meat, bread, and potatoes first,” she says.

“Once I have those, then I can add to it.”

She clicks on the meat item, and then the potato icon, and still has 60 points left. She adds bread, two packages of egg noodles, two boxes of macaroni and cheese, and some bags of chips, which she plans to give to the kids at her church. When she hits “done,” a printout of her items is sent to a volunteer, who will prepare her order.

Lutheran’s Amato says that each day, the nonprofit relies on six or seven volunteers to run DigiMart kiosks, fulfill orders, and check in clients. “Additionally, volunteers accept and sort through donated items, stock pantry shelves, and help manage the inventory,” she says.

While the volunteers work on Coleman’s order, she is allowed to fill one plastic bag with produce. She picks out apples, cantaloupe, and onions. Are those fresh green beans? “Well, look at that,” she says. It goes into the bag.

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Her box of items is brought out in a shopping cart. As there is extra bread — the pantry gets donations from a variety of stores and needs to disperse them quickly — she can pick out four types. Since the nonprofit has a surplus of items with an expiration date, she can also grab extra meat, choosing pork chops and ribs. Now she knows what’s for dinner tonight. “Smothered pork chops and fried potatoes,” she says. “I can eat that for a few days.”

Before checking out, she also gets to pick out miscellaneous items that need to be used. She grabs a prepackaged crab salad and sandwich. “That ain’t bad,” she says.

Rebecca Martin and her husband, Jonathan, began using the Catholic Charities’ food pantry shortly after the arrival of their baby in July. Rebecca is a Navy veteran and 100 percent disabled, meaning she can’t work. Even prior to having a newborn, the family’s budget was already tight, causing Jonathan to sell all but two of the nine guns in his collection. “It was really difficult and depressing to do, but it needed to be done,” he says.

Looking for a way to supplement the income she receives from disability, and get the nutrients she needs while she breastfeeds, Rebecca applied for Women, Infant and Children, a federally funded program for low-income mothers. That program also recommended the food pantry.

About 4,000 people come through Catholic Charities’ pantry every month — they

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can only come once every 30 days and have 10 minutes to select up to 10 pounds of items, which doesn’t include produce or bread. In order to qualify for assistance, people need proof of residence, any type of government-issued identification, and proof they are low-income such as Medicaid or SNAP benefits paperwork.

By design, the pantry looks like a five-aisle supermarket. Rows of canned goods and boxed items line the shelves. There is even a produce section, and a meat and dairy aisle.

Next to the weigh stations and check-out counter are bread donations.

Rebecca always imagined a food pantry as a place that just gives people a box of preselected items, a method many other food banks use. But this feels like grocery shopping to her. “It also means I can get fruits and more nutritious items,” she adds. ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉

give people set items, there is something beneficial about getting served a hot meal. That’s why Friends in the Desert, based out of St. Timothy’s Episcopal

WHILE FOOD BANKS

Church in Henderson, started. It’s one of many free community meals offered by churches and nonprofits.

People are already lined up at 4 p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon, even though the door won’t open until 4:30 p.m. “This meal is a blessing,” says one man in line. “If not for this, many of us probably would be stealing.

You think you would never steal, but that changes when you’re hungry.”

While Friends in the Desert sees a lot of homeless, Muriel Dufendach, the operations manager for the meal, says it also gets families who are food insecure and just need a meal to help them get by. Usually for them, it’s situational, and they only come for a period of time. Lutheran Social Services of Nevada also partners with two churches to put on a free community meal for the elderly.

When a person is dealing with food insecurity, says Karen Kyger, the executive director of HopeLink of Southern Nevada, they are most likely dealing with another issue, such as housing or unemployment.

The food they are getting, and even the food stamps that help them get by, don’t address

the underlying reasons why they are in this position. Beyond a meal, family resource centers like HopeLink seek to break a cycle.

Once a person or family comes to HopeLink, the case managers work beyond the crisis that brought them through the door.

“It could be food insecurity or it could be rental assistance that brought them in,” she says. “We want to see the whole picture, though, and not just a snapshot.”

That means taking a look at clients’ income, how they spend their money, and what other assistance they have, if any. “We help them budget more effectively,” she adds.

Kyger says it’s also about teaching people living in poverty how to shop more effectively so their food budget can last longer.

Case managers can stay with clients for months while they find stability and become more food secure. Even if they are able to get back on their feet again and save money, often people are one emergency away from falling back and might have to start again.

But that should never stop people from trying. “You can go up,” Kyger says. “It’s not easy, and it’s not fast, but with help you can recover.” ✦

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Hear More knpr.org, search “tobler”

PROFILE

LAUGHING MATTERS From attempted murder to a career in comedy, Brandt Tobler’s life wasn’t always funny — until he made it that way BY

Julie Seabaugh

M

urder is bad. It’s a commandment, it’s a crime, it often makes a mess. Murder rides high on any list of the most horrible things people do to each other. It feels odd to root for someone trying to kill someone else. More so when a potential murderer is the potential murderee’s son.

Comedian Brandt Tobler didn’t succeed in killing his father. But he certainly tried to.

As Tobler explains on an upcoming episode

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room, withdrew the shoebox from under the bed, and removed $80,000. Though Tobler’s boss was forgiving, Tobler, his younger brother, and his cousin agreed: This man’s lifetime of deceit had to end, the sooner the better.

Things didn’t go as planned. Poison and blunt objects failed. (Best to watch the episode for full details; it airs early next year.) Bottom line: His father hasn’t reappeared in Tobler’s life since. Which was more or less the desired outcome, anyway, and this way no one got charged with manslaughter.

“Some people don’t have stories in their life that immediately pique your interest,” says Eric Abrams, This Is Not Happening co-creator and showrunner. “This story, how could it not pique your interest?”

Tobler dreamed of doing TINH since its 2013 debut online. He submitted numerous sample tapes, receiving feedback each time to help him improve his chances. “They were pretty honest with me through the

of Comedy Central series This Is Not Happening, he used to work as a Las Vegas gambling runner. His job was hitting sports books at a moment’s notice to make high-roller wagers.

He kept outlandish amounts of his bosses’ cash in a shoebox under his bed.

Tobler’s father was an abusive ex-con addict.

Four nights after his son’s 23rd birthday — OCT BRANDT TOBLER performs at the Stratosphere which he’d forgotten — Oct. 23-29, stratospherehotel.com 23-29 he snuck into Tobler’s PHOTOGRAPHY

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back-and-forth process, like, ‘You’re just not famous, and we get so many famous people who want to do it,’” Tobler says. “Then one day, Eric called me when I was driving back from Flagstaff. He said they were ready to send over a contract.” Tobler’s episode filmed June 21 at Cheetah’s strip club in Hollywood. This season, the show’s third, also includes longform stories from Drew Carey, Tommy Chong, and Carrot Top. “He was a kid who really, really wanted to have a good father, and whose father is incapable of being a good father,” Abrams explains. “There’s a lot of emotion wrapped up in it, and he did a really good job of conveying that. It takes an intelligence onstage, and also takes a lot of work. He figured out the real meaning of the story, and how people would connect to it.”

Originally from Cheyenne, Wyoming, Tobler was voted class clown in both junior high and high school. In 1998 he moved to Vegas from Phoenix, where he’d abandoned his third attempt at junior college. In addition to his father’s theft, as a runner he was mistaken by the TSA for a bomber, had an office raided by the cops, and was robbed at rifle-point in his living room for $4,000.

Not that Tobler didn’t sow his own karmic track record. Despite “looking like a stoner,” he’s never done a single drug, including pot. Yet at various times he’s spearheaded shoplifting rings, got tossed in Imperial Palace casino jail for mouthing off to security guards, broke into Mike Tyson’s house for an entire summer, and hoisted a pair of framed Pro Bowl jerseys from a Florida sports bar owned by former NFL kicker Mike Vanderjag.

“I think I have an authority complex,” Tobler confirms. “I would never steal from a mom-and-pop shop, but I just hate corporate America. Later in life, I also realized a lot of things I’ve done were just plain douchey. So the only way I can explain it is half immaturity and half this authority complex toward authority, managers, security guards …”

After one final runner gig ended when his bosses skipped town for Costa Rica, Tobler reexamined his priorities. ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉

PRESENTING SPONSOR:

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NO SPECIFIC, THUNDERSTRUCK moment of awakening drew him to the stage. Comedy was less a calling than another crazy feat he’d always wanted to try. There was only one comedy open mic listed in Las Vegas Weekly: Sunday nights at Boomers, a dive in a lonely industrial stretch just west of the I-15. He signed up, then chickened out at the last minute. Repeatedly. Supportive

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

friends and the right amount of alcohol finally emboldened him to take the plunge.

“I hate my dad, and I hate vegetables,” his first joke began. “I wish my dad would get paralyzed so I could just say, ‘I hate vegetables.’” His second: “Two people walk into a bar … it’s probably my parents.”

The local comedy scene was nonexistent.

A handful of mainstream clubs populated Strip casinos, where corporate structure booked all the “appropriate” national talent they needed. Not that tourists would ever waste their Vegas funds on newbies when countless (and far superior) entertainment options demanded their attention.

“The clubs didn’t have any use for the locals,” Tobler says. “There wasn’t even an open mic at any of those clubs, so there wasn’t even a way to get your foot in the door.”

In bars, fledgling comedy shows inevitably competed with overhead TVs and clanging slot machines. “Countless bars were like, ‘Okay we’ll try it. …’ Then, after the third comic curses for the 10th time and one gambler gets upset, they’re like, ‘Okay, show’s done!’”

Boomers remained Tobler’s only depend-

able outlet. His material favored fictitious scenarios with obvious punch lines: “I did the old drive-through wedding … when I got to my house I realized my order was all messed up.” He told “dumb jokey-jokes” in the vein of late stand-up Mitch Hedberg.

There were even, he admits, puns.

Tobler cultivated a laidback, low-key onstage demeanor unique among his more boisterous peers. Making the same local comics laugh in a dingy side room felt like more of a hang out session than a learning process. There were no mentors to encourage him through the challenges of becoming better, performing for paying audiences, or getting booked on the road. Separated in a bubble from the rest of the comedy world, Tobler remained naïve to the professional craft of becoming funny.

In 2007, he read a MySpace post from Doug Stanhope, an underground social-critic comedian who in 1990 performed his own first open mic a mile and a half south of Boomers, at the Escape Lounge II. Stanhope’s post encouraged young comics to create shows for themselves rather than waiting for comedy clubs to

NICE TO MEAT YOU

notice them. Tobler was inspired. He messaged Stanhope, inviting him to perform in the yard behind his Green Valley rental house. Stanhope agreed. They set a date for February 2008.

Meanwhile, in the autumn of 2007, national headliners Tig Notaro, Martha Kelly, and Steve Agee were winding down their grassroots Crackpot Comedy Tour of house (and garage … and barn) shows across the country. Tobler contacted Notaro, dropping Stanhope’s name for validity. The trio graced Tobler’s backyard that September, followed

by Neil Hamburger, Brody Stevens, and Morgan Murphy in November.

Attendees brought lawn chairs. Tobler substituted a short riser for a stage, rigged a couple area lights, and tucked a mini-fridge along the rear wall, where cars passed just feet from the performers.

In February 2008, Stanhope drew more than 250. “How about the neighbors?” he began. “This is for the neighbors … (shouts into the microphone with a German accent) Why we are here is to talk about the Jewish problem! Heil Heil!” The crowd raised their arms and conspiratorially heiled back.

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D.

PROFILE (Perhaps funnier 10 years ago than in light of recent news events.)

As Stanhope remembers, “It was everything in the world I thought comedy should be: Cut out the middle man, people brought their own booze and coolers, they could sit where they liked, even up on the balcony, and it seemed like this is the way of the future.”

Tobler’s neighbors complained about the noise and parking. (“If you don’t like my sense of humor, you probably don’t want it blaring over your Golden Girls at 8:30 at night,” Stanhope surmises.) He was kicked out two weeks later.

The shows marked Tobler’s first real comedy experiences outside of Boomers.

“I thought I was kind of good, then when I saw comedians who were actually good I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m awful. I need to start all over!” he laughs. “I gradually got rid of my jokey-jokes and started talking about my real life more. I realized how much more fun it is for me to talk about real stuff.”

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SHORT-LIVED AS IT was, the backyard series marked a turning point. It was time for Tobler to gamble on himself. He went all in on comedy, picking up small road dates in Barstow, Salt Lake City, and Phoenix. After the L.A. Comedy Club opened at Planet Hollywood in 2007, he hosted for headliners like Bert Kreischer and Aziz Ansari.

Tobler lived in Vegas 11 years. In 2011, he stuffed his possessions in two suitcases and took a cab to the bus station. Los Angeles friends let him couch surf for a few months before he found his own place there.

L.A. provided another growing experience. Though Tobler became the regular road opener for Last Comic Standing finalist Jeff Dye, at home he struggled to make his seven-minute sets shine among the A-listers populating the Hollywood Improv, the Laugh Factory, and the Comedy Store.

“When the crowd walks in and sees the lineup, it’s like ‘Bill Burr, Chris Rock, Brandt Tobler third. I know when we’re going to the bathroom,’” he mimics.

Tobler was one in a sea of six-foot, chubby, bearded white guys. He wasn’t particularly attractive or inventive; he had no writing/ acting/music skills. He failed to impress any industry members open-minded enough to grant him general meetings. “I did so many L.A. shows where there were five of us in hoodies who all looked the same,” Tobler says. “I thought, ‘I’ve got to somehow do something different. I have to be memorable.’”

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He turned inward. Few had life journeys similar to his. Finally facing — and gleaning inspiration from — the hilarity and heartbreak he’d experienced felt somehow bigger than the standup stage.

This May, Tobler self-published a memoir detailing his father’s history and effect on Tobler’s life, generally for the worse.

Free Roll concludes with Tobler’s commitment to a career in standup. Intimate and engrossing, it shocked friends and fellow performers alike.

Tobler says the book wouldn’t exist without encouragement from the MGM Grand’s Brad Garrett. One night after a show at Garrett’s comedy club, the Emmy-winning actor/stand-up/poker enthusiast invited Tobler to the casino’s Whiskey Down Lounge.

“I got to know Brandt after he started playing the club,” Garrett recalls. “He began sharing some of his stories with me. When he told me about his life I couldn’t believe it.”

Tobler entertained Garrett for hours. As the night progressed and tales compounded, Garrett asked a waitress how much a shot of Louis XIII cognac cost. “A hundred-thirteen dollars,” she replied. Garrett, who doesn’t

drink, promptly bought a round for Tobler and two employees.

“Like an idiot, I almost spilled mine,” Tobler deadpans. “It would have been $160 in Brad’s lap.”

Garrett suggested Tobler put some experiences down on paper. Thirty pages or so would give him a feel for the writing process.

Maybe he’d want to continue onward from there as a movie script or book.

Known to regularly down quite a few, Tobler forced himself to remain sober for an entire month. He was certain his writings were sloppy, immature, and just plain shitty.

Garrett had other opinions.

“He later sent me those first 30 pages, and I felt that his life would make an amazing book, especially because he’s such a wonderful storyteller,” Garrett enthuses.

“I think Brandt’s book speaks for itself — what sets him apart are his life experiences.

He’s gone through things most people can’t imagine, and those extraordinary events give him a unique basis for comedic material.” Tobler sent Garrett pages for nearly three years.

Until recently, Tobler was on the road

some 40 weeks a year. He still performs in Vegas every three or four months. “It made me tougher,” he says of the city’s role in shaping his career. “I can handle any room full of drunk people.”

“It might have cost him his home that time, but still, he’s a man with vision,” Stanhope says. “Even if it puts his belongings next to a dumpster.”

Tobler is compiling a new book called You Couldn’t and You Wouldn’t. It concerns 10 girls he’s had sex with whom most guys couldn’t, and another 10 that most guys wouldn’t want to have sex with. A third project, Diary of a Piece of Shit, will contain wild Vegas stories that didn’t make the Free Roll cut.

There’s talk of producing a Free Roll TV pilot, or optioning it as a film. Both remain largely out of Tobler’s hands. His next personal task is adapting the book to stage as a one-man show. He’ll then get back out on the road, giving audiences new insights into family dysfunction. As with any good cathartic art form, processing pain through comedy is an experience best shared with others. ✦

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

To open this feature, we’ll defer to the wit and wisdom of none other than Oscar Wilde, who famously wrote, “I love this bar/ It’s my kind of place/ Just walkin’ through the front door/ Puts a big smile on my face.” What follows is not an exhaustive list of happy hours or hot mixology destinations. Rather, it’s fervid scribblings on our unapologetically personal favorites when it comes to drinking. Who are we? Authoritative lushes, apparently. Cheers!

THE DILLINGER FOOD AND DRINKERY

THE DILLINGER: CHRISTOPHER SMITH; THE DISPENSARY: BRENT HOLMES

1224 Arizona St., Boulder City, 702-293-4001, thedillinger.com

Thankfully, the namesake-gangster theme at The Dillinger, in Boulder City, is pretty understated.

Much more than the current wall sculpture, shotgun door handles, and scattering of framed images would seem way too precious in this small space.

And that would be a shame, because the casual atmosphere — kept lively by the servers’ precise mix of efficiency and personality — is almost as much of a draw as the food. Almost. The burgers come fancy: The Baby Face Nelson includes fig marmalade, and the Yakuza is topped with “a secret Asian sauce” that’s “so secret we’re not even sure what it is.” This is no secret: the Frickin’ Pickle appetizer, a pickle, wrapped in ham and cheese, and deep-

fried in wonton dough.

Worth doing time for.

Afterward, stay for live music, or stroll Boulder City’s unbearably quaint downtown. SD

BEAUTY & ESSEX

In The Cosmopolitan, 702-737-0707 There are numerous pawn store-centric drinking experiences to be had in Las Vegas — of varying levels of enjoyment, to be sure.

But surely the elaborate, retro lobby of the super-sultry and very cool Beauty & Essex in The Cosmopolitan offers the most tony and eye-pleasing secondhand retail setting. And surely the tastiest drinks, too, beyond the inner sanctum door. Sexy and alluring to the max, but still friendly, this Strip destination proffers sippable gems such as the Pink Panther with herbaceous Botanist gin, elderflower-based St-Germain, and pink peppercorn syrup under golden-hued, down-low lighting. GT

The Dispensary 2451 E . T R O P I C A N A AV E .

702-458-6343, T H ED I S P EN SA RY LOU N G E.COM

HUNTRIDGE TAVERN

1116 E. Charleston Blvd., 702-384-7377 Sometimes you want to go where not everybody knows your name.

Sure, some of them do, but most of them don’t know and don’t care, which is why both Anthony Bourdain and Exene Cervenka can drink here undisturbed.

The Huntridge’s velvet wallpaper, faded Budweiser regalia, and AM/FM sound system

➽ In a city all too often accused of ignoring

its history, Dispensary Lounge embraces its own. The décor seemingly hasn’t been changed in the 40-odd years since opening: A thick, bushy carpet recalls grandma’s house, while the raised stage for jazz performances makes you think of the set of a pastiche, failed morning show (the backdrop of a large water wheel notwithstanding). Between the silk plants scattered throughout, lighting softer than one might expect and the mirror reflecting behind the bar, you’re taken to a Las Vegas of yore — that is, if one ever truly existed.

Barkeeps introduce themselves by name (hello, Carl), meticulously taking down your tab on carbon paper as you linger. Your copy will be issued at the end of your stay, covered in hieroglyphs, with a number circled at the bottom.

In most cases, it’s a comically low number for the quality of what you get: ruthless attention to your cheap and cold beverages, with “next round?” asked once you start to run vaguely low. They’re bartenders who would double as friends if you became a true barfly, sharing in their amusement when younger people stumble in asking if they can buy weed there because of the name. The typical response — a wry, yet rueful smile — says it all. Oh, and did I mention they have the best hamburgers in town? CM

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add to the low-fi, lowkey atmosphere— not to mention that you can imbibe the most topshelf of liquors here for the price of a domestic beer on the Strip. It’s not always mellow — bands, DJs and open-mic nights pop up on weekends — but, for the most part, the HT is where you can hunker down with a glass and hide from the world, even if only for an afternoon. LTR

Strippiness of it all (or embrace it, as I do), and you’ll discover a legit live music venue with perhaps the best off-Strip sound system in the city.

The roster is usually tribute bands of the best kind (Mojo Risin’, Petty & The Heartshakers, Sin City Sinners), but I love when owner/Las Vegas native/former late-night movie host Count Cool Rider/Counting Cars star Danny Koker’s band Count’s 77 takes the stage. Crank it up, pass the chicken fingers, and raise a fist, dude! JPR

VAMP’D

6750 W. Sahara Ave., 702-220-8849, vampdvegas.com

SPORTING LIFE BAR

Grow up in Las Vegas?

Then you know Vamp’d.

It’s Moby Grape, Paradise Alley, and the Rainbow Bar & Grill, all mashed up into a delicious phantasmagoria of hairspray, tight jeans, eyeliner, and guitar riffs.

Sure, it’s all big hair and leather pants, but there are girls, girls, girls here, too; they’re the ones with the bustiers and the blue eye shadow.

But get past the Sunset

7770 S. Jones Blvd., 702-331-4647 Don’t get me going about the small-plate pork belly at Sporting Life Bar, or about the creamy polenta it’s served in a puddle of.

Or the bacon-wrapped dates. And you really don’t want me rhapsodizing about the 50-cent deviled eggs — we’d be here

Frankie’s Tiki Room

OTHER MAMA

3655 S. Durango Drive, 702-463-8382, othermamalv.com If there are more inven-

Mercedes, alighting it with a reflected vision of a quickly disappearing Vegas, is both comforting and addictive. I’ve snapped so many shots of this scene that my Instagram followers must judge me a lush, a hopeless nostalgist, or both. The neon is gorgeous, and the night beautiful, but I didn’t come to Frankie’s to stand outdoors admiring it. ¶ Inside, a dense, heady mix of hairspray, perfume, and tobacco transports me back to the Rat-Packy era of Las Vegas. Instantly, Mike, the dreadlocked bartender, steps over with a handshake and a question: Business or casual? “Casual” usually means Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum and Diet Coke. But it’s been a long day, so tonight it’s all business, and Mike masterfully mixes my customary tiki concoction, Three Dots & A Dash. ¶ This allspice-forward rum sipper scores four skulls on the Frankie’s scale — less boozy than a Ninth Island but more so than a Dr. No, my other two faves. Its name is Morse Code for “victory” — something I’ve achieved each time I step inside this living lollapalooza of a late-night Vegas that never ends. On the first sip, the allspice does its job of taking me far, far away: Another place, another moment. It’s Midcentury Modern in a glass, a Vegas I would visit if H.G. Wells built his time machine. The Castaways, Don the Beachcomber, the Aku Aku. The deeper in the Dash I get, the more misty-eyed I become. There’s simply no escaping that Frankie’s is the best escape from Las Vegas, to Las Vegas, in Las Vegas. JPR

702-385-3110 FRANKIESTIKIROOM.COM

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schlep out to Jones and Robindale on game day (especially if you’re an Ohio State University fan). If only it were a Denver Broncos bar, it’d be perfect. SD

➽ The way the vintage pink neon glances across the hood of my decades-old

1712 W. CHARLESTON BLVD.

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all day. (And what a tasty day that would be.) Suffice to say that amid the many fivefoot TV screens — 24, to be exact — ideal for sports watching, and the plentiful homey touches — bars and tabletops made of reclaimed wood from old barns and such — and a wide-ranging beer and cocktail menu, the food more than holds its own as a reason to

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tive craft cocktails shaken and poured west of Rainbow Boulevard beyond Other Mama, I’m buying the next round. Luckily for me, owner-chef Dan Krohmer’s seafood temple has amazing mixology to match its impeccable oysters, ceviche, and sashimi. The menu features evocative, old-timey lady names for its drinks, like the spicy Geraldine with

OT H E R M A M A : S A B I N O R R ; R E B A R : C O U R T E S Y ; F R A N K I E ’ S T I K I R O O M : B R E N T H O L M E S

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

bourbon, cherries, grilled pineapple, bitters, and togarashi; the punchy Rosie with gin, Lillet, framboise, and grapefruit; and the perfumed Billy Joe with gin, maraschino liqueur, cucumber, lime, and rose water. I like to scootch out of my day job a bit early on Friday afternoons now and then to stop by Other Mama for happy hour, as it’s halfway between my office and domicile.

(Note: They literally mean one hour, 5-6 p.m.) GT

MCMULLAN’S

4650 W. Tropicana Ave., 702-247-7000, mcmullansirishpub.com From Poughkeepsie to Pakistan, the world is full of “Irish” pubs. Of course Las Vegas has more than its share, but the only one that really gives a taste of the Auld Sod is McMullan’s — and we don’t just mean those perfectly poured pints of Guinness. The McMullan

family opened their first bar in Ireland more than 100 years ago before moving to this side of the pond and opening McMullan’s. Those news clippings, tea tins, boxing posters? Not bought in bulk at PubsR-Us, but treasured family heirlooms from the old country. No wonder your beer tastes better here. LTR

HERBS AND RYE

3713 W. Sahara Ave., 702-982-8036, herbsandrye.com Don’t let an unimpressive exterior discourage you from stepping into Sin City’s best craft cocktail bar with a side of beef. Once home to the Ruvo family’s Venetian Ristorante, Nectaly Mendoza’s Herbs and Rye is well on its way to earning legendary status of its own. Credit a superstar roster of surprisingly quick and friendly bartenders for the standout cocktails, and Vegas native Nectaly’s knack for forging a fantastic joint that’s at once classic and cool. Boasting a dark, chophouse feel, a soundtrack of swing and soul, and a cocktail menu spanning decades, this is one of the few spots that appeals to both the old guard and the young cats. JPR

OH LA LA FRENCH BISTRO

2120 N. Rampart Blvd., 702-222-3522, ohlalafrenchbistro.com A French restaurant located next to a Starbucks on a six-lane suburban Las

ReBAR 12 2 5 S . M A I N ST. 702-349-2 2 8 3 R EBA R LV.COM

Vegas street corner?

Sounds like something Jean Baudrillard would have loved about our hyper-real Mojave Metropolis. But Oh La La has authentic cred, too: Started

by San Francisco restaurateurs Richard Terzaghi and Nicolas Sillac, Oh La La hosts frequent happy hours and wine-tastings for oenophiles. So let’s toss back a few glasses of Pinot Noir from the Old Country in this snug and stylish refuge in the Arrondissement Summerlin. GT

➽ Whenever I hear the name of my friend

circle’s go-to happy hour hangout, I think back to my ex-, in the ’90s, pounding 3-foot metal rods into the ground along the base of our chain-link fence to keep our crazy rescue dog, Phaedra, from tunneling out of the yard. A throne-sized painting of Phaedra in Victorian gown and tiara — like the one of the pug that hung above my friend Kevin’s head at ReBAR on a recent Friday evening — would fit in at this Downtown watering hole. The “Re” is for “repurposing,” as in selling curated kitsch — the shake weights that dotted the place a few months back, for instance, or the yellow ceramic owl Kevin’s wife Heather got for $2.

It’s also for “retro,” apparent in the bathrooms’ Borax hand-soap dispensers and mid-century red Naugahyde diner booths. And it’s for “reinforcing” community, which owner Derek Stonebarger does by developing cocktails for local charities and then giving them part of the sales on those drinks. For my crowd, the “Re” is for “relaxed,” since we don’t feel quite this at home in any other bar. “Everyone actually does know my name,” said my friend Michelle, “but that might be more of a reflection of my drinking habit than their friendliness.” Or, it could be that another one of our neighborhood friends tends bar there. He, his wife, and their favorite sock monkey, Hubert, will host Socktoberfest at ReBAR on the 21st of this month. We’ll all be there. You should stop by. HK

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chills 277 miles from any tasty waves? Who cares if they screen all the Bills games when New Era Field is across the map? Just go with it. Hot outside?

Moon Doggies boasts enough ceiling fans for liftoff. Thirsty? A full bar,

3240 S. Arville St. #F, 702-368-4180 Drinking cities are notorious for neighborhood dives like Moon Doggies. So what if its vaguely surfer vibe

natch, plus an updated beer tap. Hungry?

Some say the city’s top pizza and wings fly directly into the bar from the Naked City window.

And somehow, the internet jukebox always seems to be streaming Social D or Agent

Orange (well, when it’s not “Eastbound And Down” or “Friends In Low Places”). This is such a regulars’ joint that the bartenders host themed birthday parties for ’em.

Thankfully, they’re a friendly lot: We’ve met third-generation Las Vegans here, and so many graduates of the nearby Clark High School it was almost a class reunion. JPR

BOTECO

9500 S. Eastern Ave. #170, 702-790-2323, botecolv.com

Hank’s Fine Steaks & Martinis

➽ I always slightly overdress when I go to Hank’s because a) the lambent white movie-set bar and glittering glass seem to deserve it, and b) frankly I’m self-conscious that otherwise, some hidden detector is going to flash and buzz, revealing me as some Green Valley pretender trying to bite on their breezy, tanned insouciance. But Hank’s makes me strive, and that’s what matters. And I mean it when I say the bar deserves it. I’ve been coming to Hank’s for years, and its arrant, consummate reliability — potent martinis, perfect steaks, and oh, god, that buttermilk chicken — suggests some dutiful, familial commitment to quality worthy of the Hank Greenspun imprimatur. Even the sorority martinis (and, yes, I’ve tried them all, shockface emoji) have an alcoholic sturdiness and underlying dignity. Once I’m settled in, it’s onward with the boozy people-watching: The bejeweled and braceleted matrons, the lawyer dads basking mutely in phonelight, defrazzling happy-hour yoga moms, geese-quacking Sex and the City extras, the date-nighting parents sipping with gratitude and relief. I’m not completely sure that, like most neighborhoods in Las Vegas, Green Valley really exists beyond an afterimage of municipal map-making or insistent developer brand, but this classily blingy suburban casino bar, ironically or not, exudes a decided sense of place. AK

I N G R E E N VA L L E Y RA N C H H OT E L- C A S I N O 702- 61 7-7 51 5

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Hendertucky no more!

More like Winederson.

Over the past few years, the third-largest city in Nevada has made an impressive mark on the Mojave Desert drinking map, especially with pretty, quality spots like Boteco, named after the simple, unpretentious Brazilian pubs that focus on good food and drink at affordable prices. Stop in and relax with a glass of housemade sangria or a zippy ginger-Cognac mojito — all with real imported wines, not mixes. GT

DOUBLE DOWN

4640 Paradise Road, 702-791-5775, doubledownsaloon.com Were it not for the Double Down Saloon, I probably would not live in Las Vegas. It’s true. When I used to just visit this crazy town back in the late ’90s, the Double Down was my home away from home, the first place I hit when I got in and the last place I went before I left. I recall walking in at 7 a.m. for a pre-flight cocktail, to be greeted by a drunk punk pointing at me, shouting, “The last thing I’m gonna do tonight is buy her a drink!” “You mean the first thing today,” deadpanned Ian the bartender, the only other person present.

If losing track of time is a sport in this town, the Double Down is where we train our Olympic team. You walk in for one and realize it’s three hours later, or six hours later. Or you go to the Double, leave, come back, leave, come back, like a moth around a porchlight. When I

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

H A N K ’ S : C H R I S T O P H E R S M I T H ; D O U B L E D OW N : B R E N T H O L M E S ; D OW N T OW N B R E W F E S T I VA L : F R E D M O R L E D G E

MOON DOGGIES

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

Born and Raised 7260 S. CIM ARRON ROAD 1 00 5 0 S. EASTERN AVE ., H END ERSON 702- 685 - 02 5 8 B ORNAND RAISED LV.CO M

moved to Las Vegas, I knew no one, and the Double Down was where I made friends, got laid, got up to mischief. It was the first place in this city where people knew me.

But the days and years do pass. The Double Down will turn 25 in November — it’s become a Travel Channel-sanctioned tourist stop, many of the bartenders have become parents, I’ve

➽ Las Vegas knows different. Hell, it was built and continues to thrive on different. Different is our

ACME-like magnet that attracts some 40 million-plus outsiders, and a big reason why 2 million-plus of us choose to call this place home. Which is why I’ve always found it infuriatingly ironic that our neighborhood watering holes lack the same kind of ingenuity that fuels the rest of our city. You know the drill: Uninspired food and drink menu; dark, smoky atmosphere; the ring-a-ding-ding of poker machines — lather, rinse, repeat … and repeat … and repeat. ¶ Thank goodness Las Vegas native Scottie Godino came along a few years ago to break the cycle with Born And Raised, which turned the ho-hum Las Vegas tavern concept on its head. Yes, both brick-and-mortar, 24/7 establishments — one in the southwest, the other in Henderson — have poker machines lining the bar. But the focal point and main gathering spot is a peculiarly decorated (in a good way) lounge that offers seating options ranging from an L-shaped couch to comfy chairs and booths that were cribbed from every design era from 1920 to 2020. ¶ If I were an interior designer, my head likely would’ve exploded the first time I walked into BAR. But I’m not. What I am is a sports fan, and BAR scores big points with its massive TV wall, which can be configured to show any number of games and which adds to the lounge’s family-room vibe. ¶ Speaking of sports, you know how many owners of so-called “locals” taverns are quick to affiliate themselves with non-local sports teams? Not here. Although he didn’t attend UNLV, Godino made certain his places bleed scarlet and gray, not only showcasing every televised UNLV football and men’s basketball game, but also hosting weekly in-season coaches radio shows. A locals bar that truly is meant for locals—now that’s refreshingly different! MJ

become, well, old. The days of “Topless only on the pony!” (don’t ask), double-dildo pranks (don’t ask), and pig’s heads in the bathroom toilets (no, really, don’t ask) are in the past, but things can still get crazy.

And this is still where I listen to loud music, drink greyhounds, stay longer than I intended, and feel like I’m home.

LTR

GERMANAMERICAN SOCIAL CLUB 1110 E. Lake Mead Blvd., 702-649-8503

Embrace the anachronism. A small, dollhouse-like chalet, the German American Social Club sticks out amid the gas stations and fast-food joints on Lake Mead Boulevard. Inside, white walls, wood beams, and German flags are the perfect setting for beer, comfort food, and the occasional accordion player. Tuesdays are jazz nights, with old-

2016 Downtown Brew Festival

DRINK, DRINK AND BE MERRY Don’t miss these spirited seasonal events

DOWNTOWN BREW FESTIVAL. Produced by Motley Brews, the sixth annual Downtown Brew Festival will offer more than 200 craft beers from 60 breweries, culinary offerings and live music. A portion of the proceeds will benefit local non-profits, including the Goodie Two Shoes Foundation and Nevada Craft Brewers Association.

Oct. 21, Clark County Amphitheater, downtownbrewfestival.com ANNUAL GRAPE STOMP FESTIVAL. This annual fest features two-person teams competing to stomp the greatest amount of juice from grapes. Guests can sample a variety of different wines of brands, including Barbera, Syrah, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Symphony, Desert Blush, Burgundy, Merlot, Crème Sherry, and others.

Also features wine-tasting, food, live music, artists’ booth and more.

Oct. 7-8, Pahrump Valley Winery, pahrumpwinery.com

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school Strip players blowing out some swinging classics, but other evenings might feature traditional German music, big bands, or pop and rock oldies. Other nights, it’s just chilling out with Pinochle and a potluck dinner. Las Vegas Boulevard may be only 100 yards west, but the Strip and its EDM bottle-service pleasures could not be further away. LTR

on the live tiki carving or step up to the punkrock karaoke mic. LTR

OAK & IVY 707 Fremont St., 702-553-2549, oakandivy.com

Whiskey drinks reign supreme at tiny Oak & Ivy, the best yet startup-and-stick-around endeavor to populate Downtown’s ambitious Container Park. And by whiskey, I mean a wide range of top-notch firewaters from across the globe are served for two-fingers of sipping, plus adapted classics like the Angel’s Envy Manhattan with choice Carpano Antica for the vermouth quotient.

Rare craft beers are poured, too. GT

GOLDEN TIKI 3939 Spring Mountain Road, 702-222-3196, thegoldentiki.com

C’mon baby, let me take you where the action is! And, even at 2 p.m. on a Tuesday, the Golden Tiki delivers sensory overload: The velvet paintings, the celebrity shrunken heads, the loquacious pirate skeleton, the hula videos, the Mai Tais. As the evening wears on, take in the burlesque queen cocktail waitresses, the tableside magic acts, perhaps a surf band or a jazz combo. Or get in on the act, as you dance to the DJ, cheer

PROSECCO

8878 S. Eastern Ave. #104, 702-776-7772, proseccolasvegas.com Cheers to more Henderson in our Southern Nevada drinking landscape — with Italian bubbles, no less. Located in an immense strip mall complex (of course),

Chicago Brewing Company Cigar Lounge

7700 Las Vegas Blvd.

S., 702-736-4939, bootleggerlasvegas.com With origins reaching back to 1949, the

considering how the off-duty bartender, Brad, is shouting his name every few minutes — “Bob Sah-git!” — with a ferocity that suggests contents under pressure, a tea kettle filled with dynamite. The outbursts come every few minutes, and the patrons look on, unfazed, some joining in on the impromptu game. It’s bizarre and obnoxious, and it’s absolutely the reason I love this place. Chicago Brewing Company’s upstairs cigar lounge is a bar in the suburbs, but it isn’t a typical suburban bar — it’s slipping backstage, behind the stucco and strip malls, into a dark and cozy den populated by brag-worthy housebrewed beers, good food, and a diverse mix of people. It’s impossible to go there for happy hour, between 4 and 7 p.m., and not make a new friend, even if that friend is just a giant mug of beer for $4 and a cheese pizza for $6. If you do go, ask for Brad, and tell him Bob Saget sent you. KT

702-2 5 4 -33 3 3 C H I C AG O BREW INGLV.COM

C O M PA N I O N

BOOTLEGGER

Bootlegger flaunts its status as a faithful fixture in a city built almost exclusively on the cult of new. Sure, the building is newish, but the vibe is definitely old school: 24/7 food, booze, and gambling. Visit almost any night before 10 p.m., and you’ll stumble into live music in the classic casino lounge vernacular: Jazz, a piano, a chanteuse. Why not add a gin martini and get into the groove?

I like Mondays, when a collection of classic Vegas characters — Strip entertainers, gamblers, guys, and dolls, each impossibly tan — takes over the

➽ It’s Wednesday night, and Bob Saget is in the house. He must be,

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Prosecco Fresh Italian Kitchen brings plenty of la dolce vita effervescence to the corner of Eastern Avenue and Pebble Road. Pop in for glinting glasses of sparkling pours from the Veneto and other viticultural regions. Beyond the bubbles, Prosecco is a full restaurant, too, serving everything from housemade pastas to wood-fired pizzas. GT

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joint for Kelly Clinton’s Karaoke. Hint: You won’t hear “Don’t Stop Believin’.” JPR

PIONEER SALOON

In Goodsprings, 310 NV-161, 702-874-9362 In these times, when it seems that there is no corner of the world left untouched by the slithering tentacles of urban sprawl, it’s reassuring to know that they’ll never quite reach the Pioneer Saloon. There will be no chillstep or craft cocktails or Millennial Pink here — just classic rock, whiskey shots, and bullet holes in the walls left from century-old gunfights. Built with the best materials Sears had to offer, the Pioneer has poured ’em cold for miners, bikers, and even Clark Gable since 1913.

So, flee the LED and the EDM for the old school of the Pioneer. Oh, and watch out for the ghosts … LTR

MANDARIN BAR At CityCenter, 888-881-9367

The refined but welcoming Mandarin Bar in the elegant Mandarin Oriental at CityCenter

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

offers discriminating imbibers one of the most stunning views in town. Perched with floor-to-ceiling windows on the 23rd floor of the hotel over the glittering Strip, this gorgeous aerie features advanced mixology, like the signature Golden Leaf — Hendrick’s gin, Aperol, muddled mandarin oranges, pineapple and lime juices, and a dash of simple syrup. GT

DOWNTOWN COCKTAIL ROOM

111 Las Vegas Blvd.

S., 702-880-3696, downtowncocktailroom. com

O A K & I V Y : C O U R T E S Y ; H OT D O G : S A B I N O R R

Looking to trace the beginnings of modern craft mixology in Las Vegas? Definite props go to the one-and-only Downtown Cocktail Room. Celebrating a decade of serving advanced cocktail creations in its smooth, nocturnal room, DCR set the stage for many bars to follow, especially for local joints. The best way to take in the lounge’s snazzy vibe is with a classic absinthe service. Select your favorite brand of la fée verte, and watch it drip into cold water with a hypnotic, opalescent louche swirl. The night just took a different turn. GT

T-BONES CHOPHOUSE In the Red Rock, 11011 W. Charleston Blvd., 702-797-7576

Maybe because it’s been around for more than a decade, the handsome central bar at T-Bones Chophouse at Red Rock Resort is something of an afterthought for local cock-

tail aficionados. That’s a shame, as it’s quite possibly the most stunning setting west of the Strip for tossing back a half-price Dirty Martini with Belvedere vodka, brine, and blue cheese-stuffed olives during happy hour.

Or perhaps something less burly, like a honey-kissed Bee’s Knees or a civilized Old Fashioned. Plus, the patio is perfect for mild October evenings, and there’s live music most nights in a mellow vein. GT

BADLANDS

953 E. Sahara Ave. #22B, 702-792-9262, badlands-saloon.com Ultimately, a bar isn’t about decor or drink lists, it’s about the people. Do you feel welcome when you walk in the door?

Badlands always has a smile and a stiff pour for all comers, be they male, female, gay, straight, local, tourist, or any combo of the above. The bar’s Western theme has evolved from aggressive cow print to a subtler motif of natural wood and black-and-white photos of country legends (and the occasional shirtless cowboy), but the atmosphere is really created by the friendly bartenders, the fun patrons, and the good time you’re gonna have with them. LTR

BOTTIGLIA CUCINA & ENOTECA

In Green Valley Ranch hotel-casino, 702-617-7075, bottiglialv.com Big, bright, and bustling, Green Valley Ranch Resort’s Italian eatery is colorful and

The Starboard Tack 2601 AT LA N T I C ST. 702- 68 4 - 5769

pretty, with lots of windows to enjoy the verdure outside. It features a respectable wine list, with numerous vintages from Italy to complement the fare (the house specialty, a rich, meaty pappardelle Bolognese, gets frequent praise). For a beverage with a bit more verve, savor glasses of heady grappa or sunshine in a bottle, a.k.a. limoncello. Tip: Thursday evenings bring half-price specials on select bottles of vino, a great opportunity to find your new favorite varietal. GT

➽ The original Starboard Tack was a swanky,

storied neighborhood eastside bar that had a spotlight moment in the Vegas labor wars of the ’70s as the site of a would-be car bombing. Located on the same site, the new Starboard Tack is a nod to the swank part of that era, offering rum, rattan, and enchantment-under-the-sea vibe without going into hipster-pandering thematic overdrive. Sure, it’s got a custom cocktail list and grown-up bar food like oysters and exotic sandwiches (like their Thai-style hot dog above), but my favorite thing is its odd location: on a desolate side street off Sahara, huddled against a cluster of apartments. It is hidden, which makes it alluring, which makes it a hideaway promising sweet momentary protective oblivion from my daily whatevers beyond what a typical bar can offer. (Seasoned drinkers get it: The magnetic pull of that bright tavern sign in the night ... beacon, respite, escape.) Inside the Starboard Tack, there are inviting nooks and vignettes, from a living room-style chill spot (complete with a terrarium) to a partitioned dining area to quieter corners of the bar that seem judiciously draped in an extra layer of inviting dim. The fact that it’s practically around the block from my house has resulted in the development of a decidedly Vegas ritual. I’ll decline to say how often I partake in said ritual, but I will attest to the powerful therapeutic benefits of a dozen oysters, an Old Fashioned, a $20 bill in the video poker machine, and endless, private, cozy twilit gloom. AK

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jList

j

Mania!

What this feature is about: q Lists about Las Vegas. q Lists of food. q Lists of activities. q Lists of funny things.

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Our listmakers, in order of who actually observed the deadline 1. Kristy Totten 2. Scott Dickensheets 3. Jason Scavone 4. Tie: Lissa Townsend Rodgers, Heidi Kyser, Greg Thilmont, Brian Rouff, Jim Begley, James P. Reza, Mitchell Wilburn

11. Andrew Kiraly

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

MY PERSONAL FAVORITE BIKE RIDES, DOG-WALKS, AND HIKES IN SOUTHERN NEVADA

Eight Best Ways to Circumvent Paid Strip Parking

i Leisurely ride

Crystals valet

i

!

with friends: The

i

Bonanza Trail, from

Mandalay Place valet

Bill Briare Park to

i

Bruce Trent Park

Fashion Show

i Challenging ride group: River Mountains Loop Trail

BETTER IN CONCEPT

senior rescue dog: around the jogging trail at Judge Myron Leavitt Park

i Dog walk with my

i i i i i

The Mile High Club

i Website redesigns i “By the director who brought

Haggis The Mile High Haggis Club Crocs

you 300.”

i Buying up some city’s

A dystopian future in which

downtown in the guise of

The Pittman Wash

teens with primitive weaponry

building a creative community

girlfriends: Boy Scout Canyon, Boulder City

i Hike with husband:

i History as a nightmare from i Wide-scale, massively disruptive road construction

i Comedy hypnosis i Any burger identified by the

i Commercials in which pieces of breakfast cereal cannibalistically eat other pieces of the same breakfast cereal

i American Horror Story: Spongebob -SD

6 VEGAS SEQUELS TO POPULAR FRANCHISES • Hunger Games: The Omnia Prophecy

SIX SUPERTASTY EATERIES

FOUR FABULOUS PLACES TO FIND OLD VEGAS IN CONCENTRATE

• Harry Potter

RESTAURANTS I WISH WOULD COME BACK

1. Prince Restaurant

Q Lucky Shamrock,

i Lyft -JB

and “cheese”

IN ORDER OF PLAUSIBILITY, SEVEN FICTIONAL VEGAS CASINO NAMES WITH THE MOVIES THEY APPEARED IN

i Casino Royale

Martini

Mummy Springs, -HK

(Hint: Caesars Palace and Harrah’s are best.)

i UNLV football i Smart everything i Meeting for drinks at the Blue

words “ultimate,” “bacon,”

i Resurgent populism i “So bad it’s good” i A Jeff Koons sculpture of

i Any Caesars self-parking property with a local ID

and technology hub

which we’re trying to awake

North Loop to Mount Charleston

i Venetian/Palazzo

civilization is saved by plucky

trail

TI

in a crowded workspace

spry Border Collie:

i Hike with

i

i A baker’s dozen i Talkative waiters i Microwaving flavored popcorn

i Dog walk with my

Popeye

ZAPPOS: BRENT HOLMES; NEON MUSEUM: CHRISTOPHER SMITH

(valet circle on Fashion Show is closest to Strip)

with my cycling

2. Mariscos Playa

and The Romanian Kidney Thief • Waiting for Godot II: East Lake Mead CAT bus route 210

1. Carluccio’s

• Star Wars:

Leprechaun 3 (1995)

Escondida

j Bootlegger Bistro

2. Poppa Gar’s

Q Red Dragon, Rush Hour

3. Flock & Fowl

j Neon Museum

3. Country Inn

Mediocre Buffet of

4. Manfredi’s

Unconvincing CGI

2 (2001)

Q Shangri-La, The Cooler (2003)

4. Café Mayakovsky

j El Cortez

5. Naked City Pizza

j Piero’s Italian

(the original inside

Cuisine -JPR

Battles

Limelight

• Jason Bourne: The

5. The Brewery

Q The Bank, Ocean’s

Moon Doggies

6. Carlos Murphy’s

Thirteen (2007)

Bar & Grill, not

7. El Sombrero (the

Q Lotus, Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010)

Q Luxus, Sleepless (2017) Q Whyte House, Diamonds

the fancy Paradise one) 6. Chengdu Taste -JB

Dottie’s Protocol • Iron Man: There’s a Big Fight Scene in

old one) 8. The Green Shack 9. Café Michelle

the Raiders Stadium -AK

10. Chin’s -BR

Are Forever (1971) -AK O C TO B E R 2 0 1 7

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HINDSIGHT IS 20/20 X I shouldn’t have eaten sushi in Pahrump!

X That was a school zone!

X That cat did have foam on its mouth!

X My check-engine light

4 THINGS THAT MAKE ME WANT TO STAND ON AN OVERPASS WITH A FLAMETHROWER AND BURN THE FREEWAYS CLEAN OF THEIR IMPURITIES

5 PEOPLE I’VE SEEN ON FREMONT STREET WHOM I WASN’T SURE WHETHER THEY WERE BUSKERS OR JUST NORMAL PEOPLE 1. Guy in Slipknot T-shirt vaping really large, luxurious vape clouds 2. Man in unaccountably large, battered velvet tophat

was on!

X That lady didn’t want

4. The line of traffic creeping in the right

to see my tattoo!

lane while you’re

X I am lactose-intolerant!

X Hobos don’t enjoy

3. Man in beige jumpsuit painting a grate 4. Someone in a female mouse

trying to merge and

costume, but it looked as

“bindlestiff” jokes!

three left lanes are so

though the person inside

X The words “Owen”

wide open there may

was struggling to remove

have been a Leftovers

the headpiece, which made

situation just for one

me wonder whether this

and “Wilson” aren’t a guarantee of comic

specific section of

depth and richness!

traffic.

X The DMV isn’t a good place for an

3. Middle lane? No traffic

French Marmoset Chunky Chupacabra Rocky Road — now with more rocks!

Wayne Allyn Root Beer Moist -SD

wasn’t some cultish rite of public penitence 5. Belly dancer and/or woman

impromptu slam

for miles? 26 mph

in tank top really into the

poetry recital!

sounds about right.

hourly light show -AK

X When called up

FLAVORS WE DON’T WANT TO SEE AT LUV-IT CUSTARD

2. Roughly 49 miles of

from the audience,

gridlock for one poor

I shouldn’t try to

sap dumping half an

subvert David

Arrowhead bottle into

Copperfield’s magic

an overheated Fiero

trick! -SD

on the side of the 95.

1. The 215 east/15 north

j

interchange, for which the only explanation is that it specifically captures supernatural energy born of rage and frustration for whatever third-tier municipal demon designed it. -JS

QUESTIONS FOOD CRITICS ARE ABSOLUTELY SICK OF HEARING

Official restaurant critic disguise

X What’s your FAVORITE place EVER in the whole WORLD? (It’s like choosing a favorite child, I couldn’t!

Also, it’s Le Cirque)

X Where can I get really great all you can eat sushi?

X Do they, like, KNOW you when you come in?

Do you wear a disguise?

X Tell me where I should eat, something modernistfusion French and/or Japanese, haute cuisine, you know, and within 10 minutes of my house, that’s also really cheap, maybe $15-$20 a person? Oh, and a good craft cocktail list, too. (Yonaka Modern Japanese.) -MW

10 TOWNS AND SITES IN RURAL NEVADA THAT MAKE GOOD BAND NAMES

7 DELECTABLE SANDWICHES 1. The “Est” at Rosalie: brie cheese, tomato, greens on garlic-olive

1. Carvers

oil toasted French bread

2. Carp

2. Roast Pork with sautéed broccoli rabe and sharp provolone at

3. Jiggs

Plantone’s Italian Market

4. Schurz 5. Stillwater 6. Lovelock 7. Angle City 8. Cherry Creek

5. Casino Kush

5. Peking duck bao at Fat Choy

6. Mob Boss

6. The Goodwich’s Cold Brown — roast turkey, bacon, tomato,

7. Neon Jesus

fried Spam, Cheddar, sriracha Hollandaise sauce -GT

.

3. Pink Flamingo 4. Tropicana

10. Oasis -AK

C O M PA N I O N

2. Las Vegas Skunk

4. Veggie Burger at Panacea

7. Hawaiian Benedict at Vesta Coffee Roasters — easy-over egg,

Rest Area

1. Sin City Kush

3. The KJ Prime Rib Dip at Kitchen at Atomic Lounge

Gruyère fondue

9. Big Smoky

62 | D E S E R T

10 VEGAS-THEMED MARIJUANA STRAINS

O C TO B E R 2 0 1 7

8. 3 Kings 9. Ace of Spades 10. $100 -LTR

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

UNWRITTEN RULES

5 Bread Baskets to Make You Love Gluten 1. Joe’s Stone Crab:

1.

Pretzely, cheesey,

2.

lavoshy goodness. Plus a

3.

rock of dense, aromatic

-SD

sourdough. (The crab’s good, too.)

2. STK: A golden hot round drizzled in blue cheese oil, plus more for dunking. Simple yet decadent.

5 QUESTIONABLE VEGAS STAYCATION PACKAGES

5 PLACES WHERE VEGAS HISTORY STILL LIVES

1. Fluff-n-Fold Mental Health Day 2. Cubicle Khan Royal Ergonomic Getaway

FIVE UNLIKELY CRAFT BEER HIDEAWAYS

3. PT’s Broom Closet Crashpad Weekend 4. Timeshare Warrior

1. The Golden Steer.

Where the velvet

Bacon Bar

wallpaper still muffles

Office Bar

Reset 5. Anything occuring

conversation, the red-

Money Plays

in an “extended stay

suburbanites need

jacketed waiters still

The Sand Dollar Lounge

suite” -AK

bread, too. Add a happy

make Caesar salads

Huntridge Tavern -JB

hour snack and cocktail

according to Frank’s

to this selection and skip

recipe and no one,

the steak.

but no one, mentions

3. T-Bones: Because

4. Cornish Pasty: Simple

ARTY LOCAL INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS TO BRIGHTEN YOUR VISUAL DAY

carbs.

temptation: a warm slice of dense, freshly-baked

2. Little Church of the

white bread with butter.

West. It’s been moved

How British!

three times over the

5. Carbone: Incredible olive

Photographer Mikayla Whitmore Artistic work and photojournalism (@ mikaylawhitmore)

past 70 years, but it’s

rolls, sesame loaves,

still a quaint, wood-

rich tomato bread, a dry

paneled spot for the

martini, and thou. -JPR

happiest day of your

Arts blog Settlers + Nomads Curated samples of work by Vegasconnected contemporary artists (@settleersandnomads)

life. Or, if you’re Zsa Zsa Gabor, one of the

Conceptual artist Jim White Lo-fi, avant-minimalist art pieces (@jamesearlwhiteart)

nine happiest days of your life.

Latino artist Justin Favela documenting the artist’s work and life (@favyfav) Illustrator Zet Gold whimsical, charming images (@zetgold) Photographer Nick Leonard capturing vintage signage (@ nickleonardphoto) Artist Glynn Galloway Weirdly charming assemblage pieces (@ glynnwithawhy) -SD

spouse: Savasana -HK

_ Mid-argument with 3. The Special

Warrior 3

_ At the water cooler:

Collections at UNLV’s

conspicuous “Om”s)

Lied Library. Flip though old copies of Fabulous Las Vegas magazine, admire photos from the first World Series of Poker

DMV: Tree Pose (with

_ Waiting in line at the to-handstand Downward-facing Dog-

_ Writer’s block: is really dirty)

or dig oral histories of

five; 10 if the bathroom

the Moulin Rouge and the Desert Inn

Salutations (at least

_ Putting off chores: Sun 4. Paradise Palms. Vegas’ most celebrated historic neighborhood

Crescent Lunge

_ Après morning run: Mountain Pose (very still) of the Grand Canyon:

still retains its mid-

_ Standing at the edge

century mojo.

you: Lion Pose

_ Your boss is annoying

THE PERFECT YOGA POSE FOR EVERY SITUATION

YOGA: WIKICOMMONS

5. Second floor of The D. Vintage slot machines? An old Sigma Derby horseracing game? Let’s gamble like it’s 1979!

-LTR

PLAYS ON “ELVIS” THAT CAN BE NAMES OF PETS OR BANDS q q q q q q q q

Hellvis Velvis Swellvis Shellvis Smellvis

THINGS I AND MY FRIENDS HAVE SEEN NICOLAS CAGE ORDERING l A drink at

Frankie’s Tiki Room l A cat at

PetSmart l A tank

at Pisces Reef Fish Emporium l A juice at

Jellvis

Las Vegas

Purellvis

Athletic

Elvis H. Christ -AK

Death Valley Grand Canyon Petrified Forest Zion Joshua Tree Bryce Canyon Capitol Reef Yosemite King’s Canyon Sequoia Channel Islands Arches Canyonlands Saguaro and Nevada’s own Great Basin -GT

Club l Another

~15~

drink at

NATIONAL PARKS WITHIN A DAY’S DRIVE OF VEGAS

Frankie’s -KT

O C TO B E R 2 0 1 7

.

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

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COLLECTIVE NOUNS, UPDATED A SLITHER OF BIG PHARMA LOBBYISTS /// A HAUTEUR OF POLITICAL ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS /// A BUMBLE OF SCHOOL DISTRICT MONEY MANAGERS /// AN EXASPERATION OF CABBIES /// A FLIMFLAM OF DUBIOUS-RECALL PROPONENTS /// AN UNCTION OF WEB GURUS /// A HOKUM OF STADIUM PARKING PLANNERS -SD

HELLO, I’M ON FACEBOOK AND I’M TOO LAZY OR UNCREATIVE TO THINK OF MY OWN LIST. GO! 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

8 PICTURESQUE DESTINATIONS IN THE MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE

5 FULLY LOADED HOT DOGS

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

AK

1. Joshua tree 1. Cheffini’s El

forest on

Mexicano: A

Teutonia Peak 2. Desert Studies

bacon-wrapped frank heaped with

OBLIGATORY LIST ABOUT THE R-J/SHELDON ADELSON

Center at Zzyzx 3. Hole-in-the-

avocado, onions, tomatoes, green

Wall 4. Kelso Depot

sauce, chipotle guava, garlic aioli

i Something something “Who run Bartertown?” joke

Visitor Center

and cherry pepper

5. Kelso Dunes

i Blah blah line about how in

relish. (You may

6. Cinder Cone

wake of resignations and

have to dig for the

layoffs of senior staff, average

Lava Beds 7. Providence

dog.)

2. Dog Haus’ Pig

Mountains 8. Granite

Lebowski: A big

Mountains -HK

ol’ kielbasa, piled with fries and slaw, finished with

age of reporter is now 14

FAMOUS PEOPLE I AND MY FRIENDS HAVE SEEN WHERE YOU’D LEAST EXPECT THEM i Forrest Griffin at Sweet Tomatoes i Elijah Wood at Champagne’s i Randy Couture at Home Depot i Busta Rhymes at The Orleans i Diane Keaton at Starbucks i The Smash Mouth guy at

a drizzle of BBQ sauce.

3. Buldogi’s Buckeye Dog: Your hot dog is topped with crispy bacon, caramelized

Casa Di Amore -KT

onions and cheddar

shadowy cabalistic nexus between online gaming, recreational marijuana, the LVCVA, public schools and anything else that makes a febrile plutocrat choke on his Ensure

i Blah blah something about scenario in which one day replaced with Mini Page and nobody notices the difference

swoosh of garlic aoili.

TYPEFACES WE DIDN’T USE IN THE DESERT COMPANION REDESIGN

4. Papaya King’s Upper East: Hot dog embellished with Pastrami, Sauerkraut and pickle chips.

5. Sonic’s Chicago

i Tragicomic Sans i Bodoni Infected i Helvetica Prolapse i Human Centipede

Dog: Sometimes you just want a classic from a drive-thru.

Basic dog topped

Italic

with pickles, relish,

i Oompah Gothic i Prehensile Gouda i Courier Vapid -SD

tomato, peppers, celery salt and mustard. -LTR

C O M PA N I O N

investigative series on the

op-ed page is accidentally

cheese with a

64 | D E S E R T

i Something something next

.

O C TO B E R 2 0 1 7

FIVE THINGS NO VEGETARIAN WANTS TO HEAR

REJECTED CASINO AIR FRAGRANCES

i “Where do you

i Hot dogs

get your protein?”

and basil

i “They have salad.”

i Sahara &

i “You eat eggs?” i “Don’t you miss hamburgers?”

i “I’d give up meat if I didn’t work out so much.” -HK

Maryland

i What Happens

i something blah blah behind the scenes moment where victor joecks writes column by pasting chunks of stormfront comments section into word doc

i something vending machines sell soda candy bars copies of atlas shrugged etc

i etc etc -AK

in Vegas Stays in Vegas

i Tropical Bries -KT

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

THE 9 MOST EVIL LAS VEGANS IN FILM

5 PLACES TO SWING YOUR ARMS

i JERRY DANDRIDGE

Z Throw hatchets at wooden

(Fright Night)

i (tie) BAMBI AND THUMPER (Diamonds are Forever)

i MOE GREEN (The Godfather)

i JANOS SKORZENY (The Night Stalker)

targets at Axe Monkeys

Z Toss balls at the bocce courts behind the Italian American Club

Las Vegas)

i NICKY SANTORO (Casino)

i ANDREW CARVER (Showgirls)

i TRISHELLE CANNATELLA (Real World Las Vegas) -JS

bowling lanes at The Nerd

Z Rock a hole in one at KISS

by Monster Mini Golf -GT

THINGS I’VE THOUGHT, BUT NOT SAID, TO PEOPLE WHOSE PATHS CROSSED MINE ON BACKPACKING TRIPS POST-DAY THREE D “I’ll trade you two chocolate bars for your shoe gaiters.”

Bond cream?”

A M O S , W O O D , R Y M E S : A P I M A G E S ; N E W S P A P E R : S T O R Y B LO C K S ; M O J AV E P R E S E R V E : W I K I C O M M O N S

D “Oh, you did 21

Cocteau Twins

i “Jesus in Vegas,” Chumbawumba

i “Snow in Vegas,” David Gray

i “Las Vegas with the Lights Out,” Geggy Tah

i “Your Love Is Like Las Vegas,” The Thrills

i “Don’t Make Me Come to Vegas,” Tori Amos -AK

TINDER MESSAGE OR VEGAS VANITY PLATE?

Z Pleaty -AK

Other politicians not named Michele Fiore who fill me with a mix of fascination and contempt: -AK

at Crunch Donut Factory D Dr. Dude at Pinball Hall

SPECIAL UNGATED STREETS OF LAS VEGAS

chocolate bars for your parasol hat.”

D “Could you look at this and make sure it’s just

Kitchen Dorado

Howard Hughes to Irwin

D Classic martini at

Molasky, from Andre

Hank’s

Agassi to Brandon

D Oysters at Starboard

Flowers, Pinto Lane stretch of old money.

D “I’ll trade you three

of Fame D Gyro tacos at Carson D Signature Bowl at El

1. Pinto Lane: From

is the city’s briefest

wipe, maybe?”

D Falafel wraps at Parsley Mediterranean

whooptee-friggin’-do for you!”

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER, SOME RANDOM THINGS I LOVE

D Ellen Doughgenerous

miles today? Well,

D “A medicated baby

i “Heaven or Las Vegas,”

Z Pantsional

5 NEW STRIP POOL PARTIES

Z Score a turkey on the

D “Do you have any Gold

Ha Ha, I see what you did there

Z Mocktail attire Z Business sexual

Henderson Booze District

(Mars Attacks)

(Fear and Loathing in

Z SUPGIRL Z LOLZ Z PIC PLS Z 5IN4RL Z K BYE -AK

Z Play cornhole at the

i ART LAND i DRUGS

OTHER SUGGESTED PARTY DRESS

Z Slosh ’n’ Itch Z ~SPRAYY~ Z Bobberz Z Murk Sundays Z Catfish -AK

Tack D Seafood Fra Diavolo pizza, large, at Metro

2. Ashby Avenue: A Rural Estates-zoned street of huge homes luxuriating

Pizza D An Old Fashioned anywhere -AK

on up to 1.75 acres, just 5 minutes from Downtown.

BEST BREWED ICE TEA

3. Tomiyasu Lane: Mansions on massive

1. MadHouse Coffee

ranch-sized lots near

2. Panera Bread

NICHOLAS KRISTOF

Sunset Park. Past and

3. Café Rios

I’M YOUR BIGGEST

present residents

4. Starbucks (order it

FAN OH MY GOD.”

include Wayne Newton,

(Actually, I did say that

the Primm family, and

out loud.)

Phil Ruffin.-JPR

heat rash?”

D “OH MY GOD, IT’S

without added water) 5. Panda Express, believe it or not -BR

D “Does anybody else smell a wet horse in a dumpster? It’s me, isn’t it.”

D “I’ll trade you all the rest of my chocolate bars for five minutes on your gps.” -HK

SELECT ANAGRAMS FOR DESERT COMPANION D e s e rt C a m p O n i o n Re s t e d , C a n I Mo p O n D et e r s Ma i n Co n O p Re d S et Pa n i c Mo o n - S D

O C TO B E R 2 0 1 7

.

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

| 65

A GENTLEMAN UNTIL PROVOKED 2 0 1 7 JAG UA R X F

5255 West Sahara Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89146 • 702.579.0400

67

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

The Guide

Sarah Petkus and engineer Mark Koch present their interactive hive of miniature delta robots which react to participants’ physical gestures.

Free. Art Gallery at Enterprise Library, lvccld.org

OCT. 2–NOV. 24 ▼

ART THROUGH OCT. 8

The Art of Roy Purcell

Roy Purcell’s mixed media paintings combine art with text for a chronological overview of the history of the Las Vegas Valley.

Free for members or with paid general admission. Big Springs Gallery at Springs Preserve, springspreserve.org

THROUGH OCT. 15

Inspired by the Family Album

Elizabeth Casper’s impressionist-style paintings depict moments inspired by photos of vacation scenes and children at play.

Free. Centennial Hills Library, lvccld.org

THROUGH OCT. 29

Elegant Creatures

Lolita Develay’s installation offers scintillating paintings depicting luxury fashion displays as an investigation into consumer culture. Free.

West Charleston Library, lvccld.org

THROUGH OCT. 31

A Las Vegas Symphony of Art

Cheng Yajie’s drawings and paintings reflect the early

influence of Social Realism, from his studies in China during the 1980s, and the dreamlike qualities and symbolism of Fantastic Realism, learned while in graduate school in Austria.

Free. Art Gallery at Spring Valley library, lvccld.org

THROUGH NOV. 11

The Art of Anthony Bondi

Bondi’s collages, photos, and interactive sculptures encapsulate the wild essence of Nevada, from Burning Man to Las Vegas. Free.

The Studio at Sahara West Library, lvccld.org

THROUGH NOV. 19

Rainbow’s Edge A collaborative quilt exhibit by members of the Art Quilts, Etc. Circle within Desert Quilters of Nevada. Free. Art Gallery at Summerlin Library, lvccld.org

THROUGH NOV. 26

Land and Water

David Mazur presents realistic watercolors featuring the people and land around him. Free. Art Gallery at Windmill Library, lvccld.org

THROUGH NOV. 28

Light Play

Kinetic artist

Mikayla Whitmore: There Is No Right Time

Whitmore seeks to highlight a series of unintentional vestiges of fading beliefs in order to trace a pantheon of contested principles that reflect romantic notions of the American west. Free. Richard Tam Alumni Center at UNLV, unlv.edu

OCT. 12–JAN. 2

The Art of Kip Miller

Miller presents a surreal world through his stylized paintings.

Free. West Las Vegas Library, lvccld.org

OCT. 17–JAN. 9

Desert Companion’s Focus on Nevada Photo Showcase on Tour

Winning photography selected for the Desert Companion’s 2017 Focus on Nevada feature. Free.

Centennial Hills Library, lvccld.org

OCT. 19–JAN. 7

Springs Preserve Photo Contest Exhibition

See how professional, amateur, and youth photographers have captured all things related to “10” in celebration of the Springs Preserve’s first decade in the desert. 9A–5P, free for members or

with paid general admission. Springs Preserve, springs preserve.org

OCT. 24–JAN. 16

Low Res

A new body of paintings by Eric Vozzola that celebrate and examine pixilation.

Free. Reception Oct. 24, 5-6:30P. Art Gallery at Whitney Library, lvccld.org

▼

MUSIC OCT. 5

UNLV Wind Orchestra: Bizarro

Featured guest artists include the Rancho High School Wind Ensemble conducted

by Clint Williams and Monica Guido, Bob Anderson, Vincent Falcone, and Adam Schroeder. 7:30P, $10.

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

OCT. 6–7

Makana

Enjoy this wellknown slack-key guitarist, singer, and composer of Hawaiian music. 7P, $35–$45. Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center, thesmith center.com

OCT. 7

I Love Paris

Sylvie Boisel performs a mix of French and American Jazz, plus classic songs including those made famous by Edith Piaf and Maurice Chevalier.

2P, free. Jewel Box Theater at Clark County Library, lvccld.org

OCT. 7

Empire Records

The band is the eclectic 1990s soundtrack of

smash hits and even more obscure jams. 7P, free.

Brooklyn Bowl at The Linq, brooklyn bowl.com

sic. 7P, $45–$79.

Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center, thesmith center.com

OCT. 7

33rd Annual Invitational Madrigal & Chamber Choir Festival

Voices of Hollywood

Ken Block is one of the most versatile comic impressions with over 100 impressions in each show including singers, comedians, politicians, television and movie stars — there is always something for everyone! 7P, $15.

Starbright Theatre at Sun City Summerlin, scscai.com

OCT. 8

Las Vegas Black Music Awards Rick Warren Media presents a spectacular event honoring major music legends, the stars of The Strip, and more.

5P, $25–$50. Main Theater at Clark County Library, lvccld.org

OCT. 12

An Evening with Cher, Stevie Wonder, Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand, and many more

Now is your chance to see all the wonderful variety shows we grew up with in the 1970s and 1980s, recreated

by Las Vegas’ number one impersonators of all time. 1:30P and 7P, $25. Starbright Theatre at Sun City Summerlin, scscai.com

OCT. 12

First Ladies of Disco

Martha Wash, Linda Clifford, and Evelyn “Champagne” King join forces for an evening of dance mu-

N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 7

.

OCT. 13

Clark County School District High School Madrigal and Chamber Choirs perform with a cookiesand-punch reception to follow. 4P, free. Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall at UNLV, unlv.edu

OCT. 13

The Church and The Helio Sequence

Indie rock at its best. 18+ only. 7P, $25–$30. Brooklyn Bowl at The Linq, brooklyn bowl.com

OCT. 13

Mariachis Celebrate Hispanic Culture

Experience the vibrant and colorful culture of Mexico with students from the Clark County School District’s Mariachi Program, who will showcase various styles of mariachi. 5P, free.

Concert Hall at Whitney Library, lvccld.org

OCT. 13–14

Omar Sosa

Pianist Sosa mixes elements of jazz, world music, and hiphop. He appears with his Quarteto AfroCubano. 7P, $45–$75. Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center, thesmith center.com

OCT. 14

Sonidos de Mexico Concert

A celebration of Mexican culture, heritage, and

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

| 67

The Guide community through song and dance performances by talented students from the Clark County School District’s Mariachi programs and community ensembles.

2P, free. Theatre at West Las Vegas Library, lvccld.org

OCT. 14

Oktoberfest— The Las Vegas Philharmonic

Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture, Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A Major, and Bruckner’s Symphony N. 1 in C Minor will be performed.

7:30P, pre-show conversation at 6:30P, $30–$109.

Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center, thesmithcenter. com

OCT. 15

Angelo Molineri — Wonder-Ful

“X-Factor” performer Molineri celebrates the music of Stevie Wonder.

2P, $25. Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center, thesmith center.com

OCT. 15

Sol e Mar

This six-man “Percussion Avalanche” showcases world class drummers where the lines between performer and audience are blurred through call-andresponse rhythms, songs, and dances.

3P, free. Performing Arts Center at Windmill Library, lvccld.org

OCT. 17

The Jazz Eclectic Concert Series (Vol. 1)

This show features the Jeff Hamilton Trio in addition to performances by hosts Bijon Watson, Niles Thomas, and Dame Madelyn. 7P,

68 | D E S E R T

C O M PA N I O N

.

N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 7

$25–$45. Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center, thesmith center.com

OCT. 17

UNLV Jazz Memorial Fundraising Concert

UNLV’s Jazz Ensemble I will perform with special guest jazz vocalists in a memorial fundraising concert for the Joe Williams, Paul Coladarci, and Jake Garehime scholarships.

7:30P, $10. Judy Bayley Theatre at UNLV, unlv.edu

OCT. 18

Latin Jazz Ensemble

UNLV’s Division of Jazz Studies will highlight the talented student musicians in a concert that you can expect to be excellent. 7P, free.

Main Theater at Clark County Library, lvccld.org

OCT. 19

Spotlight 1: A Night of Flute and Strings

Members of the Las Vegas Philharmonic will play their favorite ensemble pieces for flute and strings, including Mozart’s Flute Quartet No. 1 and Beethoven’s Serenade for Flute, Violin, Viola, and Cello. 7:30P, $70.

Troesh Studio Theater at The Smith Center, the smithcenter.com

OCT. 20

Serenades of Life — Doctors in Concert

This annual event features the musical talents of physicians from all over the valley. Headlining this year’s show is Don Felder, former member of The Eagles. 6:45P, $40– $125. Reynolds Hall at The Smith

Center, thesmith center.com

OCT. 21

10th Annual Socktoberfest

You are invited to Mr. Smiley and Inky Louise’s crazy Oktoberfest birthday party for Hubert D’Givenski — a Swiss sock monkey! Ludicrous accordion entertainment by the Squeezebox Hero, Oktoberfest beer, specials and sausages for sale, folks wearing dirndls, lederhosen, and more!

Held at the bar where everything’s for sale. 21+ only.

5P-1A, free. ReBAR, 1225 S. Main St., rebarlv.com and squeezebox hero.com

OCT. 21

Michael Grimm

With his soulful voice and earthy, southern manner, Grimm charmed millions of viewers as a contestant on season five of NBC’s popular “America’s Got Talent.” 7P, $20.

Starbright Theatre at Sun City Summerlin, scscai.com

OCT. 21

Stephen Stills and Judy Collins

In their first tour together, the acclaimed folk-rockers share stories and perform their hits and songs from their upcoming album.

7:30P, $35–$115.

Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center, thesmithcenter. com

OCT. 24

UNLV Choral Ensembles: Evocations

All four student choral ensembles and the Las Vegas Master Singers perform a program that includes

works from more than a dozen composers. 7:30P, $10.

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

OCT. 26

Mozart & Brahms

UNLV Faculty presents the world premiere of Charles Halka’s string trio, plus chamber music for strings and piano

by Mozart and Brahms. 7:30P, $25. Lee and Thomas Beam Music Center at UNLV, unlv.edu

NOV. 4

Tribute to Rod Stewart

John Anthony is an accomplished performer, musician, and popular entertainer who continues to captivate audiences around the world with his incredible tribute to Stewart.

7P, $20. Starbright Theatre at Sun City Summerlin, scscai.com

NOV. 4

Copland in Mexico

The Las Vegas Philharmonic presents selections from Aaron Copland and Silvestre Revueltas.

7:30P, pre-show conversation 6:30P, $30–$109.

Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center, thesmithcenter. com

▼

THEATER & COMEDY OCT. 5

Take Me Out

The star baseball player for the NY Empires is so convinced of his popularity that when he casually announces he’s gay, he assumes that the news will be readily accepted

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

OCT. 5–29

Frankenstein

Mary Shelley’s story of the grotesque but childlike creature who is cast out into an unsuspecting world by his maker.

Thu–Sat 8P; Sun 2P, $15–$25. Cockroach Theatre, cockroach theatre.com

OCT. 20–21

Philoween — A One Man Show

Conceptualized first as a memoir and now a show, Phil Faiss takes you on a journey of how horror movies have mirrored and influenced his life. $13, 8P. Vegas Theatre Hub, 705 Las Vegas Blvd. N., vegasthe atrehub.com

about. Whose version of the story do you believe? 7:30P, $16.50. Black Box Theatre in Alta Ham Fine Arts at UNLV, unlv.edu OCT. 25–29

The King and I

The legendary Rodgers & Hammerstein musical tells the story of schoolteacher Anna Leonowens and the King of Siam, who has brought her there to teach his wives and children. Wed–Sun 7:30P; Fri–Sun 2P, $36–$127. Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center, thesmith center.com

OCT. 21

OCT. 29

Las Vegas Improvisational Players

Musical and skit comedy all made up on the spot. The only “clean burning” improv show in the valley — so bring grandma and the kids! 7P, $10; $5 kids, seniors, and military. Show Creators Studio, 4455 W. Sunset Road, lvimprov.com

OCT. 21–NOV. 4

Good Kids

Something happened to Chloe after that party last Saturday night.

Something she says she can’t remember. Something everybody is talking

Sundays at 9 p.m., premiering October 1

DETROIT 67

Daphne du Maurier’s short story, which was also the basis for Alfred Hitchcock’s film, is adapted for the stage. $21–$24, Thu–Sat 8P; Sat–Sun 2P. Las Vegas Little Theatre, lvlt.org

The Birds

Poldark, Season 3 on Masterpiece

OCT. 28–29

In 1967 Detroit, Motown music was getting the party started, and Chelle and her brother Lank were making ends meet by turning their basement into an after-hours joint.

But when a mysterious woman found her way into their lives, the siblings clashed over much more than the family business. 2P, free.

West Las Vegas Library, lvccld.org

OCT. 20–NOV. 5

Channel 10

by everyone. It isn’t.

18+ only. 7:30P, $27.50–$33. Judy Bayley Theatre at UNLV, unlv.edu

The Collection on Masterpiece Sundays at 10 p.m., premiering October 8

Great Performances: She Loves Me Friday, October 20 at 9 p.m.

No Labels

ndoned by his straight parents, Terry the dog struggles between gratitude and hostility for his new gay family. 4P, free.

Main Theater at Clark County Library, lvccld.org

▼

DANCE OCT. 8, 14–15

FRONTLINE: Putin’s Revenge

This dynamic partnership between the artists of two leading cultural institutions has debuted dozens of bold new works combining raw

Wednesday, October 25 and November 1 at 10 p.m.

A Choreographers’ Showcase

Edgar Allen Poe: American Masters Monday, October 30 at 10 p.m.

VegasPBS.org | 3050 E Flamingo Road, Las Vegas, NV 89121 | 702.799.1010 N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 7

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The Guide athleticism, exquisite grace, and kinetic movement.

1P, $25–$45.

Mystère Theatre at Treasure Island, nevadaballet.org

OCT. 14

Rhythm of India

classical Indian dance, includes the four most important aspects of dance in Sanskrit: emotion, music, rhythm, and dance.

2P, free. Whitney Library, lvccld.org

OCT. 20–21

In Orchestra 3

Bharata Natyam, a major genre of

UNLV Dance will

team with the UNLV Orchestra to present Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet.

Rather than simply reconstruct the original ballet, the goal of the work is to collect a group of choreographers and tell the traditional story though the lens of

numerous dance genres. 7:30P, $18.

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

OCT. 22

iLUMINATE

Winner of “America’s Got Talent,” iLUMINATE combines music, art, and technolog-

ical magic to tell a story of adventure and romance through dance.

Ages 4+. 7:30P, $24–$79. Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center, thesmith center.com

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DISCUSSIONS & READINGS OCT. 7

Not all entertainment is on the Las Vegas Strip.

Get The Led Out October 7 | 7pm

Henderson Pavilion 200 S. Green Valley Pkwy.

Wilson Phillips

October 13 | 7pm

plus tax/fees

Recreating the studio sounds of Led Zeppelin in an awe inspiring live performance

cityofhenderson.com | 702-267-4TIX www.gtlorocks.com

Schedule is subject to change or cancellation without prior notice. Management reserves all rights.

200 S. Green Valley Pkwy.

HendersonPavilion.com | 702-267-4TIX Schedule is subject to change or cancellation without prior notice. Management reserves all rights.

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Asher Hartman Hartman generates his theatrical performance works from a radical mixture of intuition, collaboration, psychic/ magical practices, and social critique.

7P, free. Free.

Marjorie Barrick Museum at UNLV, unlv.edu

Violence in the African American Community

OCT. 20

Leisa Moseley and Franklyn G. Verley host a forum discussion on violence. 11A, free.

West Las Vegas Library, lvccld.org

Best-selling author and illustrator of picture books, Lin’s children’s books are about the Asian-American experience.

1P, free. Sunrise Library, lvccld.org

OCT. 7

OCT. 24

A photographic journey through time that explores the changing physical landscape and the extraordinary events that catapulted a nondescript western frontier town into an internationally renowned metropolis. 2P, free. Multipurpose Room at Sahara West Library, lvccld.org

A story about young love, a haunted house, and a war with a corrupt casino owner are all captured in Rouff’s unique Vegas ghost story.

Rouff will also talk about writing and publishing. 7P, free. Jewel Box Theater at Clark County Library, lvccld.org

The History of Las Vegas with Bill Marion

Saturday, October 7 Tickets start at $25

OCT. 12

OCT. 12

El Mundo Maya Mágico

Learn about the rise and fall of the Mayan civilization, including the contributions the Mayans made to mathematics, astronomy, archeology, and gastronomy. 6P, free. Multipurpose Room at Sahara West Library, lvccld.org

Grace Lin

Brian Rouff: The House Always Wins

NOV. 3

The Sinatra Stories: An Evening with Comedian Tom Dreesen

Dreesen was Frank Sinatra’s opening act for 14 years.

In this show, he shares personal stories and insights from his work with the entertainment legend. 7P, $39–$59. Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center, thesmith center.com

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

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FAMILY & FESTIVALS OCT. 11

Erth’s Dinosaur Zoo Live

A journey through prehistoric times featuring lifelike dinosaur puppets in a theatrical performance. 6:30P, $14.95–$75. Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center, the smithcenter.com

OCT. 13–29

Haunted Harvest

This familyfriendly event features trick-or-treat stations, carnival games and circus activities, a petting zoo, crafts, live entertainment, and much more fun.

Fri–Sun 5–9P, $8.

Springs Preserve, springspreserve.org

OCT. 19

2nd Annual Scare Away Epilepsy Halloween Party

A fun-filled night with food, a trunk or treat, pumpkin painting, a DJ, face painting, and much more — don’t forget to wear your costume! 6P, Free.

Doral Academy Saddle Campus, 9625 W. Saddle Ave., epilepsy.com/ affiliates/Nevada

OCT. 28

Indian/Telugu Festival

Indian Festival celebrating Telugu New Year and Sri Rama Navaratra presented

by Vegas Telugu Association. 5:30P, $10–$15. Main Theater at Clark County Library, lvccld.org

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FUNDRAISERS OCT. 7

Edible Education

Fight childhood obesity through

education. Enjoy a spectacular four-course dinner.

Benefits Create a Change Now. $175, 6:30P. Panevino Lounge, 246 Via Antonio, one.bid pal.net

OCT. 7

6th Annual PAWcasso Art & Silent Auction

Experience the Ultimate in Warm Fuzzies

Raise money for 12 local animal rescues by indulging in food, wine, a silent auction, music, and art. $30, 7P. Jana’s Red Room inside the Arts Factory, 107 E. Charleston Blvd., pawcassolv. org

OCT. 8

4th Annual Pawn Stars Poker Run Benefitting The Epilepsy Foundation of Nevada

Rick Harrison will lead hundreds of bikers through the streets of Las Vegas. The festivities will continue at Pawn Plaza with awesome music and food. Grand prize is $2,000 for the best hand and $1,000 for the worst hand. $13–$35, 8:30A. Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, 713 Las Vegas Blvd.

S., pokerrun2017. eventbrite.com

OCT. 21

ONE DROP Walk for Water

Pay tribute to the millions of women and children who spend hours a day collecting water, by taking a 2.7mile walk in their shoes from The Smith Center to the Springs Preserve.

7A, $15–$25. The walk begins at the Smith Center, springs preserve.org

Adopt a Shelter Pet Nothing feels better than saving the life of a homeless pet. You’ll experience their unbridled enthusiasm, unconditional love and steadfast companionship every hour of every day.

So what are you waiting for?

The warm fuzzies – and your new best friend – are waiting for you right now at The Animal Foundation.

Search for pets online at animalfoundation.com 655 North Mojave Road | Las Vegas, NV 89101 ©2017 The Animal Foundation

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END NOTE

BAD CANDY You don’t want to get these on Halloween!

BY

Andrew Kiraly

Graywater taffy

Menthol Roll-Ups

Bouillon Newtons

Anchewies

Shardz

Chicken in a Biskit Energy Drink & Chewels: Gravy Edition

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O C TO B E R 2 0 1 7

ILLUSTRATION

Scott Dickensheets

COLORING

Brent Holmes

There’s always room for more stories.

Introducing the all-new 2018 Subaru Crosstrek. ®

Subaru of Las Vegas 6455 Roy Horn Way (702) 495-2100 Subaruoflasvegas.com The all-new 2018 Subaru Crosstrek. The spacious interior and larger cargo area keep ®

the journey comfortable, and make sure there’s room for all that you pick up along the way.

Standard Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive + 33 mpg* makes the going good. Love is out there.

Find it in a Crosstrek.

Crosstrek. Well-equipped at $21,795.† Subaru and Crosstrek are registered trademarks. *EPA-estimated highway fuel economy for 2018 Subaru Crosstrek CVT models. Actual mileage may vary. †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 Crosstrek 2.0i Premium shown has an MSRP of $24,995.

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