VEGASinsight Archives

Based on a series of articles that originally ran in Las Vegas CityLife, Matthew O’Brien‘s 2007 book Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas (Huntington Press) chronicles the hidden world of those living in the flood channels beneath Sin City. Local artist and cultural purveyor Brian “Paco” Alvarez has recreated the world captured by O’Brien with the installation of “Beneath the Neon: The Exhibition” at the Contemporary Arts Collective gallery inside the Arts Factory (101 E. Charleston Blvd.).

The exhibit is designed to recreate the aesthetics and environment of the storm drains, surrounding visitors with claustrophobic realism via graffiti, garbage, water, gravel and other discarded items composing the makeshift living spaces O’Brien discovered below the Entertainment Capital of the World. Left with only a narrow path between all the desolation around them, patrons are left feeling somewhat jarred and discomforted.

The exhibit also includes a side gallery curated by Alvarez featuring artifacts and photos from the tunnel explorations, as well as a video capturing some of O’Brien’s adventures. “Beneath the Neon: The Exhibition” runs through July 24. If you missed the preview reception on June 26, a pre-First Friday reception will be held Thursday, July 3 from 6 to 9 p.m. as well as a panel discussion and book signing on Thursday, July 17 at the same time.

They aimed for “cute.” We think they attained “gay.”

Here’s the goods on July’s rock, metal and alternative shows in Las Vegas over the next month at Rox Club (5285 Dean Martin Dr.), The Joint (Hard Rock Hotel, 4485 Paradise Road) and Jillian’s Las Vegas (450 Fremont St.):

Friday, June 27
Hard Rock Hotel, The Joint: Gym Class Heroes, The Academy Is…, Cobra Starship and Tyga at 7 p.m., $28.

Thursday, July 10
Rox Club: Mankind Is Obsolete, Ikonoklast, dreamscar at 8 p.m.

Saturday, July 12
Hard Rock Hotel, The Joint: The Roots at 8 p.m., $45.
Jillian’s Las Vegas: Searchlight, Almost Normal, The Stript, Lydia Vance, Hitting On Hannah, Red Hot Radio Guilty By Association, Give Em Hell, Antagen, Hang Em High, Billys Kid and Infernal Racket at 6 p.m., $10.

Thursday, July 17
Jillian’s Las Vegas: Suicide Silence with Walls of Jericho, 36 Crazyfists, The Seventh Plague, Secrets Kept In Suicide and Destruction Of A Rose at 6 p.m., $12.50 – $15.

Friday, July 18
Jillian’s Las Vegas: This Romantic Tragedy, Amarionette, The Material, Save The Hero and Veona at 6 p.m., $10.
Rox Club: The Disrepair, Omination and Volatile at 8 p.m.

Saturday, July 19
Hard Rock Hotel, The Joint: Gavin Rossdale at 8 p.m., $25.
Jillian’s Las Vegas: Cute is What We Aim For, Ace Enders, Danger Radio and Powerspace at 5 p.m., $12 -14.

Friday, July 25
Jillian’s Las Vegas: Terror, The Warriors, Death Before Dishonor, CDC and Trapped Under Ice, 6 p.m., $12 – 14.
Rox Club: Sicmonic, Broken End, Fallen Vegas at 8 p.m.

Saturday, July 26
Jillian’s Las Vegas: Away We Go!, We Play For Keeps, Fight Fight Fight and Burning Season at 6 p.m., $10.
Rox Club: Time Again, Zerofingers, Happy Campers, Penetrators and Mercinaries at 8 p.m.

Sunday, July 27
Rox Club: Gorilla Productions Battle of the Bands, featuring As Yet Unbroken, Urchin, Stargasm, Casualty of Youth, The Scoundrels, Shattered Wings, Bangkok Shock, The Kurgans, DarkSpade and Centaur Rodeo at 5 p.m., $10 – 12.

Tuesday, July 29
Jillian’s Las Vegas: I Am Ghost, Eyes Like Diamonds, As He Defeats, The Murder Ballad and Ministry Of Love, 6 p.m., $11 – 13.

Guess what we cropped out of this picture?

Oh, man, is it TDBFF (the day before First Friday) already??! Sweet baby Jesus, where has the month gone? We have to warn you, there are so many awesome art and music happenings tied into the June edition of everyone’s favorite monthly arts festival / emo kid gathering / heavy boozing shindig that we aren’t even sure if you can handle this much awesomeness. So be sure to check with a medical professional before reading any further.

First up, tonight, June 5, we have the official opening reception for “Breast Defense: Glamour Girls for Early Detection” at The Fallout (at the Commerce Street Studios, 1551 S. Commerce St.). It’s a collaboration between the gallery, the Burlesque Hall of Fame and the Keep A Breast Foundation to build awareness of and eliminate breast cancer. We went by the soft opening of the exhibit a few weeks ago, and it’s pretty cool – dozens of molds cast from the busts of numerous burlesque performers, painted by artists such as Amy Sol, Casey Weldon and Tim Biskup, as well as some musical boob-lovers: Kim Gordon, Iggy Pop and Mark Mothersbaugh. The reception, from 6 to 9 p.m. tonight, features live performances from some of the busts behind those casts, so stop by if you, too, love boobs. I mean, who doesn’t?

Also opening tonight is “What Is It?,” a new show by Southern California illustrator Thomas Lee Bakofsky, at Marty Walsh’s Trifecta Gallery (inside the Arts Factory, 103 E. Charleston Blvd. #108). It’s from 5 to 8 p.m., and as always, Tinoco’s Bistro will be providing the refreshments. (more…)

Tuesday night seems as good a night as any to shake ya ass to soul, funk, hip-hop, lo-fi and house music, so we guess it’s a good thing DJs Slimm, Green and Frizzle will be spinning all that and more tonight at Beauty Bar Las Vegas (517 Fremont St.) for the second monthly installment of Hi-Fidelity, starting at 10 p.m.

If you missed out on last month’s edition, which featured a performance by Trackademics, peep our photo gallery to work up your jealousy, and then burn it off tonight with a special performance by U-N-I. Kashluv.com will be on hand to take pictures, and there will be drink specials for the ladies from 10 – 11:30 p.m. Cover is free for those females, $5 for the dudes, and as always, there is no dress code.

You know what we love about Dust Gallery (900 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Suite 120-B)? The gallery hosts its opening receptions in the middle of the month, realizing that there’s no point in competing with dozens of other galleries for attention on First Friday or, as has become popular of late in the Las Vegas art scene, receptions the Thursday prior.

We also love Dust’s new location on the ground floor of SoHo Lofts, which almost redeems the otherwise offensively mediocre architecture of this condo building. The airy, echoing space is perfect for Dust’s typically minimalist contemporary art offerings. As well, the gallery will have some worthy neighbors soon, in the form of Globe Salon, which is moving from its age-old Charleston and Decatur location to the retail level of SoHo this summer, further moving downtown toward livability.

The new exhibit worth checking out at Dust is “Make It Rain,” a show featuring new works by Curtis Fairman and Jeffrey Gibson. Fairman is a UNLV MFA recipient who lives right here in Sin City, while Brooklyn, N.Y.-residing Gibson received his MFA in London at the Royal College of Art. Fancy, huh? “Make It Rain” debuts next Friday, May 16, at 6 p.m. Surely there will be refreshments and art scenesters aplenty. You know you love it.

Actual photo of Lismore. I know the kids are skinny these days, but come on!

New York City electronic duo Lismore headlines “Restless!” at Beauty Bar Las Vegas (517 Fremont St.) this Friday, May 9, sharing the venue’s backyard stage with PartyShank, Mother McKenzie and Ex-Dinosaur. Meanwhile, inside the bar, DJs AC Slater, Joee Irwin, MDY, Remy the Restless and Grimehaus will get your booty shaking.

It all goes down at 10 p.m. There’s no cover to drink and dance inside the bar, but it’ll cost you $5 if you want to see the bands (gas ain’t free, kids!). As usual, the indie-electro madness is brought to you by Remy the Restless and Indiekrush.com, the latter of which just launched a new blog full of all sorts of hipster cultural artifacts, including videos, photos and music samples.

It’s a month not worth living, that’s what. So you’d better hope your little $2 contribution at the Casino Center gate keeps this thing alive. I say, screw that, slip those volunteers a 10-spot and ixnay the extra Guinness at the Griffin later that night.

So what’s on tap for First Friday in May? How about checking out what the students, teachers and alums of the Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and Visual Arts are turning out these days, art-wise? You can do just that at MTZC (1551 S. Commerce St.) as the renegade contemporary arts gallery presents “Generation Gap,” showing throughout the month of May but debuting during First Friday, of course.

Or maybe your style is more robots and rocket pods? If so, check out Sam Davis’ latest work in “For the Love of Pod,” showing at Trifecta Gallery (inside the Arts Factory, 103 E. Charleston Blvd.). His work is about the void between here and there, back and forth strangeness. He makes us believe in the make-believe keeping us playfully aware. But more importantly, his robots are really cool. Robots, people, art featuring robots! You can never go wrong. (more…)

We’re back from a weekend full of sun, wind and hope, and we brought pictures. Yesterday, downtown Las Vegas saw thousands take to the (barricaded) streets, braving perilous road construction, assaults from giant children’s characters and hundreds of vicious poodles for Aid For AIDS of Nevada’s 2008 AIDS Walk Las Vegas. We don’t have the final tallies of funds raised or total walkers yet (AFAN’s site shows $368,000, but that’s online-only donations), but we do have a gallery of photos for you when you click here.

Also, if you didn’t make it to the inaugural “Hi-Fidelity” night at Beauty Bar last Tuesday featuring Trackademics and Honor Roll, well, shame on you. But at least we have a nifty gallery of pictures that can be viewed by clicking here.

Who loves ya, baby?

Trackademics lives in an animated world, just like us.

There’s just not enough good hip-hop clubs in Las Vegas. No, really — we’re not talking about that Jay-Z-50 Cent-Ludacris stuff that the weak-ass DJs at the mainstream nightclubs play — we mean music that gets your ass shaking without inducing flashbacks of automatic weapons, women getting bitch-slapped or shiny gold grills.

Well, for one night a month, Beauty Bar (517 Fremont St.) is being transformed into an urban music oasis when Hi-Fidelity takes over the downtown hot spot. Hearkening back to those Hypercolored days of “House Party,” Hi-Fidelity is all about fly music and fresh looks. Featuring a different featured performer each month, the party also offers DJs Slimm, Green and Frizzle spinning soul, funk, hip-hop, lo-fi, house and other tasty styles of music, as well as drink specials, event photos and a “Your Royal Flyness” competition, with contestants competing for streetwear, featured placement on fliers and the web and, of course, respect.

The kick-off is tomorrow, Tuesday, April 15, at 10 p.m., with a performance by Trackademics and The Honor Roll. There’s no cover, and ladies showing up before 11:30 p.m. enjoy special prices on libations. The only dress code is to bring your personal style in spades.

Judy Mowatt and Barrington Levy might be older, but they’ll school you in the Rasta ways like nobody’s business!

You smell that, Las Vegas? No, of course you don’t — like us, you’re all stuffed up from the damn pollen blowing around out there. But if you could, you’d smell summer right around the corner, and that means only one thing: No, not death by heat stroke. We’re talking Reggae in the Desert, baby!

That’s right — for the seventh year, the best music of Jamaica takes temporary residence at the Clark County Government Center Amphitheater, this year on June 14 at 2 p.m. The 2008 version of this annual tradition features such island music legends as Barrington Levy, Judy Mowatt, Wailing Souls, The Might Diamonds, Michael Black and the Jah Guide Band and DJ Ramma.

Tickets for the show are $20 in advance at Ticketmaster outlets and go on sale today, or $25 at the door. Food, beverages, beer and retail vendors will be available on site, but attendees are welcome to bring blankets for lawn seating and an unopened bottle of water. Because it gets hot out there, y’all — though judging by the 57-degree temps outside right now, you’d never think it was coming.